Wednesday, July 1, 1992 @

Pulp mediation goes nowhere

@ Third shot at mediation comes up empty as pulp parties refuse to budge

Scott David Harrison EDITOR : British Columbia’s 16-day- old pulp strike rages on. Amid allegations of union busting and industry bleeding, it took mediator Vince Ready just three hours to call an end to a third attempt at negotia- tion. After meeting separate- ly with the Pulp and Paper In- dustrial Relations 4 and

its two striking uniong}Ready walked away from talks Sat- urday saying no settlement could be found.

“We didn’t have any amend- ments to our position,” the PPIRB’s Dave Reid said Tues- day, “and (the Pulp, Paper and Woodworkers of Canada and the Canadian Paperworkers Union) didn’t have any

RCMP to investigate vandalism

entrance sign cut down by chain saw

Scott David Harrison EDITOR

The Castlegar RCMP thinks vandalism has erupted on the Celgar picket lines.

Local RCMP are inves- tigating an weekend inci- dent which saw the Pope and Talbot sign at the en- trance to the Castlegar sawmill cut down with a chain saw.

According to an RCMP news release “police spec- ulate that the damage was strike related as the pick- et line is set up at that ex- act location.” Police esti- mate that the damage could exceed $2,500.

Pulp, Paper and Wood- workers of Canada Local 1 spokesman Al Middleton acknowledged the investi- gation, but denied any Lo- cal 1 involvement.

“We are taking the stand that we have noth- ing to do with it,” Middle- ton said Tuesday.

“We know it happened, but we don’t know when it happened, we don’t know how it happened and we don’t know who did it,” he said. “We're taking the stand that there was no (union) involvement until it is proven :

amendments to theirs.

“There was nothing to talk about.”

The breakdown in negotia- tions was followed by an in- dustry researcher’s claim that the direct loss of revenue to provincial and municipal gov- ernments is estimated to be $1.1 million per day.

Based on that claim, the two levels of government have lost: some $17.6 million in sales, capital and fuel taxes, electricity charges and stumpage fees since a strike by 12,000 unionized workers erupted on June 15.

“There is a huge amount of revenue the province loses when a major industry shuts down,” Reid said. “There's also a chain reaction that takes place.”

Reid said the industry- backed figures didn’t include the 12,000 striking workers

who are no longer collecting and spending paycheques in their respective communities.

Locally, the strike by Cel- gar’s 325 PPWC Local 1 mem- bers equals an estimated loss of $52,000 in daily wages. The subsequent layoffs of 279 workers at Pope and Talbot pushes that total to some $97,000 a day.

Despite mounting losses, the Public Affairs Director with the Ministry of Labor says the province isn’t plan- ning on legislating the union back to work. Ed Walls says it’s up to the parties to reach an agreement.

“We're not interested in do- ing people’s negotiations for them,” Walls said.

“We are looking after the health, welfare and safety of all British Columbians, that is why we are keeping an eye on this strike.” °

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2 Wednesday, July 1, 1992

Wi Local MLA says B.C. Hydro more interested in profit than problem

Scott David Harrison EDITOR

Ed Conroy has come out swinging.

Frustrated over depleted water levels at the Arrow Lake Reservoir, the Rossland- Trail MLA accused B.C. Hy- dro of betraying its own.

“B.C. Hydro is doing it for the money,” Conroy said. “They don’t care about the en- vironment, they don’t care about the wildlife, they don’t care about the fish. All they care about is money.”

Conroy says B.C. Hydro is sitting pretty with the Co- lumbia River Treaty. He said the thousands of gallons that are being drained from the Arrow Lake Reservoir equal profits for the Crown corpora- tion.

“Right now (the United States) is bleeding us for its own purposes and B.C. Hydro is helping them do it,” he said.

Conroy said the water be-

ing shipped south is helping American tourist spots stay afloat, He said “those down- stream benefits” are all but destroying the summer tourist trade at Scotties and Syringa Park Marinas. -

Conroy says B.C. has to dump the Columbia River Treaty. Calling it “a classic ex-

, ample of Canadian shortsight- edness,” Conroy says

Ja new deal has to be oe arranged.

Ed Conroy “Right —_—_____—_———. now, we're shooting ourselves in the foot,” he said. “Every time the Americans want water, all (B.C. Hydro does) is open the gates up.”

Conroy said B.C. Hydro must adopt a new business plan.

“I know B.C. Hydro is do-

ing their job,” Conroy said. -

“They have a mandate to use that water to their advantage and they’re doing that, but things are going to change.”

Conroy is urging the province to enter into negoti- ations with the United States. He said the Columbia River must be properly managed on both sides of the border.

“We have to set up some sort of multi-use plan that equally benefits, not only Canada and the United States, but the environment as well. We have to look at what this treaty is doing to fish stocks, wildlife and the recreation-based industries.”

Conroy ‘says B.C. Hydro should adopt a new plan which focuses on bilateral wa- ter management. He said the Columbia River is a shared resource that shouldn’t be taken for granted.

B.C. Hydro spokesperson Vern Pryor declined response to Conroy’s comments, saying a newspaper isn’t an appro- priate place to air a com- plaint.

“We don’t respond through the press and we won't nego- tiate through the press. If Mr. Conroy is concerned, we would like that he make those comments to us.”

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Castlegar mall closer to reality

Mi Council bends rules to-help speed up Castlegar’s first mall project

No. 71.

Scott David Harrison EDITOR

Believe it or not, Castlegar’s long-awaited shopping mall appears to be on its way.

City council agreed in principle Monday to change in its own, paving the way for Castle- gar’s first shopping mall. Counti ignate the proposed site near Blue Top Burger a specified area, enabling the city to lay the ground work for the Southcentre Shopping

The specified area bylaw would see the city finance 50 per cent of all off-site servicing costs for $348,250. In turn, the city will bill 100 per cent of the costs to the project’s developer.

“Short of having an actual mall built, this the closest we’ve ever come to having a mall,” e city administrator Gary Williams said Tuesday.

Originally proposed by the Reid Group, the Southcentre mall has taken on a new owner in

Rick Holdings Ltd.

Rick Holdings Ltd. is no stranger to shop- ping malls. According to a.company brief, Rick

Holdings Ltd. has constructed 70 malls across Western Canada and it wants Castlegar to be

So determined to build in Castlegar, Rick Holdings Ltd. has agreed to reduce the city’s fi-

agreed to des-

nancial contribution to the project’s servicing costs from $298,500 to $174,125. Rick Holdings Ltd. is expected to pay a total of $552,375 or 75 per cent of all servicing costs.

The 67,000 square-foot mall has already se- cured two major clients — the Met and an undisclosed grocery chain.

According to Rick Holdings Ltd.’s engineer- ing firm representative — Kucera Engineering of Golden — the specified area bylaw helps the project get a head start. The representative said he hoped to have the shell of the 20-store development completed by winter.

No completion date for the project was giv-

n.

Meanwhile, Gary Williams said the status of Castlegar’s other mall project is unknown. The project — to be located near the Sand-

man Inn — is proceeding, said Williams, but

the First Allied Development Corp. has had no discussions with the city.

Rains provide slight relief from forest fires

Neil Rachynski NEWS REPORTER

We're not out of the woods yet.

The recent rainfall in the Arrow Forest District has re- duced the forest fire danger in our area, but it isn’t the amount of precipitation the district planner had hoped for.

Ted Evans says the danger rating has been reduced from

extreme to somewhere be- tween low and moderate. “ But he says if “we get the same weather we had last week, it could put us back

Meteorological technician Ron Lakeman from the South- east Interior Weather office says 32 millimetres of rain had fallen from Sunday night to Tuesday afternoon. Lake- man couldn't speculate on how

much more rain is expected.

Evans says he’s thankful to have some of the weekend’s rain. But he would like more.

He says some of the rainfall gets caught up in what he calls the canopy, and it doesn’t take long for the sun to dry it out.

Evans says 30 new fires broke out from Friday to Sun- day. That brings this year’s to- tal to 53, with 14 hectares burned.

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