settled out of court for $200,000.

And its smirking rivals made their own headlines out of four major strikes that hit the newspaper in the past 20 years and nearly put it under.

One of the most bitter strikes occurred in 1971. The ideological struggle by Quebec's major union federations against owner Paul Desmarais, head of the Power Corp. financial empire, was settled after seven months when Desmarais called in a young labor lawyer named Brian Mulroney.

‘The paper has been edited by some well-known figures. Gerard Pelletier, later a Liberal cabinet minister under his friend Pierre Trudeau and ambassador to the United Nations, startled La Presse readers in 1963 by advising them to vote NDP.

Pelletier’s as editor-in-chief was the prego ai Jean-Louis Gagnon, later appointed by his

to run the equally-controversial, now- ‘ome laormaden Canada. Gagnon was also ambassador to UNESCO.

“READERS FAITHFUL’

La Presse is is a family newspaper catering to middle and upper-class readers, says Roger Landry, a marketing expert who has been publisher and president since 1981. “Our market is a family market, and our readers have been with us for generations.”

La Presse columnists are household names, and its ee have prestige in the community

Presse looks like many other broadsheet dailies in Canes Giapwinypatog rads mix of color boxes, color and splashy headlines.

In style and content it occupies the middle ground among the city’s three French dailies, between Le Journal de Montreal's emphasis on crime and sports, and the intelle- etual approach of Le Devoir.

Created in 1884 as a Conservative party mouthpiece, La Presse long ago ceased to be a party organ, but traditionally

270 Columbia Ave. ic Ph. 365-2151

between management and the paper's 19 unions.

“T’ve always said you can't have all the problems and all the faults on one side,” he said in an interview.

He also brought in the concept “that La Presse had to live by itself and not continue to live on the support of its owner.”

Desmarais kept the paper alive by absorbing its deficits

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for four years after he bought it in 1967. Accountants

“La Presse had been an institution, and like any institution, it bad lacked « sound business approach,” said 241 Columbia Ave. Landry, who put himself through the London School of Castlegar

by playing Pi 1 hockey on the side. leadership

some 300 jobs have been cut — Ph. 365-7287

MOROSO,

4 ASK CHES OR JOHN FOR

— and is up by 40,000 to about 200,000 on weekdays. That's still 90,000 to 100,000 behind Le Journal.

In Mareh, Landry launched a Sunday tabloid.

La Presse was founded by William Edmond Blumhart, grandson of a German soldier in an English regiment, on ct. 20, 1884. At the time Montreal had six English and four French dailies.

But the real inspiration was Treffle Berthiaume, a printer who took over the paper in 1889 and broadened its

Soligo, Koide & John

Chartered Accountants 615 Columbia Ave.

appeal to all income groups. Circulation quadrupled to 66,274 scilow, . copies in 10 years and at one time was the highest in Canada. Castlega: * ane Phone 365-7745

Henry John, B.Sc., C.A. Resident Partner

FIGHT FOR CONTROL After Berthiaume's death in 1915, a family feud over his estate and control of the paper dragged through the courts

Seniors share fantasies

VANCOUVER (CP) — screws are loose,” says Lind-

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for nearly half a century. Slr dort Oe Castlegar Plumbing A strike in 1964 spawned the tabloid Le Journal, and stood Heating the lengthy disputes in 1971 and 1977 helped the saucy A Gov't Certified a ‘ Led. competitor surge ahead in circulation. Whether nome oterte ality Wholesale But La Presse still carries the slogan on its masthead: B,C,D with Aor M, or X. YorZ Phonbin & Le plus grand quotidien franchais d'Amerique — The biggist ows wise s You'll Wf d 9° (or greatest) French daily in America. orX,YorZ pe oe fin rectory Heating Supplies Complete installations xes. whether your ROOSTER Gaertang pays. & Professional advice usiness name starts PHONE Commercial & industrial with A or with Z,| READY MIX 365-52 Vote Cohembie Ave. Business Directory -5210 365-3388

advertising is for

Most of the time, Milly Jack- son, Riva Lindsay, Bob Mc- Cready and Bob Peachey lead the lives of four average senior citizens. One enjoys

of the Gorgons in ancient Greece.

They come together out of a common love of life, music, dancing, laughter, wit and storytelling. To share these mutual interests, they founded the Seniors Secret Society of Vancouver earlier this year.

They meet every Tuesday in the West End community centre to read aloud sagas of adventure they have written during the past week.

The serialized i

say.

McCready says he lends the character a few of his own traits: stinginess, greed and a keen interest in the ladies.

Peachey, 67, is Lord Croco, named for his tendency to shed crocodile tears. “He pretends to be sympathetic and ery, but they are phoney tears,” says Lindsay.

“He is sly and treacherous, a disgusting character,” says MeCready. Croco's also known for his insatiable ap- petitie.

TURNS TO STONE

The diminutive 69-year-old Lindsay is Madame Medusa, the snake-haired goddess of Greek mythology who turned

you! Mother Shipton, a good witch © MeReady, who is blind, and soothsayer who is said to types his own copy. Because RATES ARE have lived in 16th-century he learned spelling by mem- ATTRACTIVE, TOO! England near Jackson's orization, his inventive, pho- Phone

birthplace of York. Mother Shipton always ends her stories with a prediction.

Although their ongoing sagas are printed in their Aweekly newsletter, Brave Old World, not all the articles in the newsletter are fantasy. Many poke fun at the foibles and trials of old age, and some are reflective and whimsical journeys back to childhood haunts and exper. iences.

The writing can also be cathartic. When Jackson moved to Vancouver from Toronto in May, she became homesick. But a trip Mother

men to stone with a gaze, and Shipton took by broomstick the most powerful of the four back to “the rocking chair, characters. the boredom and hot, humid Lindsay's Medusa, says summers” of Toronto quickly her creator, is a feminist. cured her of any longings to Jackson, 74, created go back, says Jackson.

similar to

depict the continuing exploits of their own four mythical

Lindsay created three of the characters.

McCready, 73, was dubbed Sir Marbenose, a knight in old England, strong in char. acter as well as physical prowess. “He instills fear and trembling, even though his

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PUBLISHE! The Castlegor

News is

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0019. ERRORS

The Costlegor News will not be responsible tor ony errors in advertisements atter one insertion. It is the respon- sibility of the advertiser to read his ad when it is first published

11 is agreed by the odver tiser requesting space that the advertisement is accepted on the condition that in the event of failure to publish any od. vertisement of any descrip tion, or in the event that errors occur in the publishing of an advertisement, that pdr

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CASTLEGAR NEWS Established Aug. 7, 1947 Twice Weekly May 4, 1980

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Sunday

Castles

VOL. 37, No. 87 00 Conte

Rs

legar

News

EGAR, BRITISH COLUMBIA, OCTOBER 28, 1984

WEATHERCAST

Cloudy with intermittant snow showers today. Highs neor 0. Monday will see isolated snow showers. Chance of precipitation is 60 per cent today and 30 per cent Monday

2 Sections (A & B)

. City employees Bruno Tassone and Ed Plotnikoft use eround CP Rail lineatColumbia Ave

fo tear up p

crossing which city will repave crossing.

FOR JOB CREATION

Riding given $663,000

By CasNews Staff and News Services Kootenay West will receive $663,000 under the federal government's Can ada Works program, MP Bob Brisco announced Friday.

release, and will be responsible for advising Brisco on each application submitted for consideration. Deadline for applications is Nov. 16 Under the program, up to $325 per employee per week is available to

receive $28.4 million, Ontario $27.3 million, Newfoundland $18.6 million, New Brunswick $16.2 million and Nova Scotia $12.5 million.

Alberta will get $8.7 million, Mani toba $3.2 million, Saskatchewan $1.6

NEC gets

$16

,000

for study

By RON NORMAN Editor

Castlegar’s National Exhibition Cen tre has been awarded a $16,000 federal grant for a comprehensive feasibility study.

The grant, from the Equipment Up- grading and Assistance Program of National Museums of Canada, will cover three-quarters of the $21,375 cost of the study.

NEC director Lucille Doucette says the province has indicated it will also pay up to $2,500 of the study

“The rest is going to be applied locally,” Doucette said in an interview, with some money coming from the cen. tre's coffers.

The study will examine “everything that has to do with the centre,” she said including “a number of critical issues facing the centre.”

For instance, Doucette says the centre would like to rearrange the gallery walls to provide for more space.

“We want to straighten out the

galleries,” she said. “It's difficult to hang a show,” she explained.

By straightening the walls, the centre hopes to gain as much as 500 square feet without making the centre any larger.

The change would still leave pillars in the middle of the galleries, but Doucette says, “I can live with that.”

She added that the centre has “six times as many exterior walls as we need to have,” pushing the cost of heating three times as high as it would be with straight walls.

But the changes won't be easy

“A lot of changes we want depend on whether the roof can take it,” said Doucette.

The changes also depend on whether the centre has the money to pay for them. Doucette said both the Van couver Fougdation and the Canada Works program have expressed inter. est in the centre's changes.

‘The feasibility study will also look

sontinved on poge AZ

The funds are part of $200 million which has been allocated nationally for winter projects — $48 million more than last year — according to a state ment Friday from Employment Minis- ter Flora MacDonald.

During the same period last year only about $152 million was allocated for Canada Works and Local Em ployment and Assistance Development (LEAD) programs.

LEAD projects were used in conjun- etion with Canada Works programs in

assist in payment of wages and other costs by employers or sponsors of projects.

All hirings are co-ordinated through Canada Manpower offices, where appli cations are available.

Meanwhile, MacDonald told a news conference last month that she was surprised the previous Liberal govern ment had made no provision to increase job-creation funding for the winter, even though unemployment was ex pected to remain at about 11 per cent

ridings where the rate was more than 12 per cent.

Brisco said in a prepared release that he has formed an advisory board to help evaluate the applications. The 11-member board will represent a cross-section of “local ideas” said the

critic Lloyd Axworthy said the Liberals were planning to review job-creation funding after the Sept. 4 election

Quebec will receive the lion's share of the winter funding with $78.6 million, British Columbia ridings will

million, Yukon $491,000 and the North west Territories $317,000.

About $29 million has not allocated.

Previously, to be eligible for supple mentary funding the surplus labor rate _ which excludes discouraged workers no longer on unemployment insurance roles and people on maternity leave, receiving sickness benefits or in federal training programs — had to exceed eight per cent in a given riding.

The new surplus labor rate, Employ ment Department spokesman Joan Potvin said, has been set at six per cent and is based on 1981 census figures and the most recent unemployment data available from. the Labor and Employ- ment departments.

been

. CPR is replacing voile and jnatolling robber absorbers, after

Cashews Photo by Ron Norman

Ambulance ervice

‘better’

By CHERYL CALDERBANK Staff Writer

Despite some complaints, Castle- gar’s ambulance service has not been reduced, says the Kootenay's regional manager of the provincial Emergency Health Services Commission

Al Ridhome says, in fact, services have been increased with the addition of a fourth ambulance car to the area.

The Castlegar News recently re ceived a letter to the editor from a Castlegar taxpayer wanting to know why the ambulance service provides full-time service from Monday to Thursday, while from Friday to Sun- day, part-time help responds to calls from their homes.

Ridheme explained that because of different shift structures, the two full-time employees — Don Turner and Lawrence Chernoff — now are working four days together with three days off.

continved on page AZ

DROP IN UNEMPLOYED STATS ‘RED HERRING’

By ADRIAN CHAMBERLAIN Staff Writer

The number of people registered for employment this month at the Trail Canada Employment Centre — which covers Castlegar — is down about 150 from one year ago.

And the number signed up for work at the Canada Employment Centre in Nelson has dropped 500 this month compared to April, May and June.

But the managers of both centres say the statistics are more red herrings than an indication that people Castlegar and the rest of the West Kootenay are finding jobs

The drop at the Trail centre to 1,235 is “down slightly, but it goes up and down,” said manager Jim Switzer

“In general terms it hasn't changed that much,” he said, adding that the figures only reflect those that use Canada Employment services.

Jack Roddis, director at the Nelson centre, agrees that their 14 per cent drop in people looking for jobs to 3,281 “doesn't mean a lot.”

“These are numbers that would be very easy to take out of context.”

The decline is due mainly to “the dis couraged worker factor” — when people simply give up the job search — and others, “particularly young peo ple,” moving out of the area to find work, Reddis said.

Switeer said the number of people claiming unemployment insurance at

the Trail centre this September was 1,750 — up 137 from September, 1983

“But again, you have to look at the times,” Switzer said. “There's not a lot of difference. In other words, there's not a big change. You get fluctuations from one month to the next.”

Like Roddis, Switzer said people are leaving to find work elsewhere, al though he didn't have statistics. He said most of the people that leave the area covered by the Trai) centre which includes Castlegar, Trail, Ross land, Blueberry Creek, Genelle, Fruit vale and Montrose — are relatively new to the West Kootenay.

The unemployment rate for the Kootenay-Columbia region — including Castlegar, Creston, Nelson, Slocan, Kaslo, Nakusp, Revelstoke and Salmon Arm — was 17.5 per cent this Sep tember, compared to 18.8 during the last quarter.

The current unemployment rate for B.C. is 15 per cent, and 11 per cent for Canada, according to Statistics Canada figures.

Switzer said while many of the unemployed in this area have worked in construction and forestry, those who work in related businesses have also

door miakers. That type of job has become fairly scarce.” he said.

By CasNows Staff One of the first projects for the recently assembled

Charlie Cohoe, a Castlegar businessmab appointed to the nine-person MILAP committee, is encouraging local

Modified Industry and Labor A Program

with project idegs to pick up application forms

committee will be to sereen Central Kootenay for Canada Works grants totalling $1.2 million.

The federal grants will be for loca) industry, municipalities or societies in the Regional District of Central Kootenay to set up projects creating full-time work for at,least three employees, for 2 minimum of six weeks, said committee chairman Michael Berg, a Nelson accountant.

Workers must be unemployed and referred through Canada Employment centres, he said.

and informa! the grant from the Trail Canada Employment ( Centre.

“I would hope there’s many applications from the Castlegar area,” he said. “The needs are there. and 'm sute the unemployment is.”

‘The committee, assembled last month, will assist in administering the $2.4 million federal MILAP funds

Priority will be given to,those whose insurance benefits have run out, and who have been out of work for at least eight weeks.

Wiggen of (Creston, labor couneil representative Gary McCandlish, Ted French of Nakusp, and Mayor Jack

a

ees

Work program primed and ready

Morris of Kasio.

Berg said the committee has already had its initial meeting, and will meet for the second time this Wednesday.

He said the Canada Works grants will come out of the $2.4 million designated to MILAP.

The committee will screen the applications, while administration work will be handled by Canada Employment centres.

The grants will be handed out early next year, and people should be workirig in their new jobs by the spring. Berg said.

The committee hasn't yet discussed whether priority will be given to projects which provide short-term. or long term work.

If an employer with plans for a project also employs

union members, that union must approve the project, added Berg

Another MILAP project to be discussed by the committee this year is the Career Access Program. A 50 per cent wage subsidy will be paid to employers whe hire workers over 45 years of age for at least six months.

Those hired must have been unemployed for at jeast 22 out of the last 24 weeks before applying. Berg said.

training at local unemployed workers in the area can learn new skills. MILAP funding will be administered over a two-year period ending in June 1986. The MILAP committee will receive per year, for two years, for administrative, work program costs.

up to $100,000 research and

tas

———