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MAYOR GIVES UP FIGHT AGAINST PROPOSAL
ke bid for 1981 B.C. Winter Games
20' Copy
Tuesday, October 31,1978 Vol. 22; No. 211 Prince George, British Columbia
City tp ma
by TOM NIXON Citizen Stuff Reporter City council decided in a close vote Tuesday to bid for the 1981 B.C. Winter Games after Mayor Harold Moffat changed his mind about opposing the plan.
Aldermen, led by mayoralty candidate Elmer Mercier, voted 6-5 for the games bid.
“If I send this back (for reconsideration) then you’d be too late, wouldn’t you?” asked the mayor, “I’d be real happy to go out of this place saving the city $68,000.”
A Moffat veto may have stalled the bid past the Friday deadline for proposals.
But the mayor, who ends nine years in office this year, changed his mind later after getting the city solicitor’s opinion of the legality of the veto move.
Told he could invoke the veto but had to bring the motion back to council for consideration at the first opportunity, which-might mean the same night, Moffat gave in.
“Give me the bid,” he told civic properties and recreation
manager Bill Woycik, “I’ll sign the bloody thing.”
Moffat and aldermen Jack Sieb, George Gibbins, Vic Lit-nosky and Bob Martin opposed the bid. Litnosky and Martin are also mayoralty candidates.
"We don’t look after the kids,” said a bitter Martin, "but we look after the Games.”
Council had previously voted to delete four outdoor skating rinks from the winter program.
The games bid was also opposed by the civic properties and recreation commission, wnich argued that the terms of reference for the games set by the provincial government were too onerous.
A budget for the games shows they will cost the city almost $70,000 in excess of the $190,000 paid by the province.
Mercier said the reference terms can bfc negotiated after the bid is accepted.
He says the games will stimulate the city's faltering economy and show B.C. that the city has great potential.
Alderman Monica Becott said those in opposition exhioit “negative thinking.”
Alderman Brian Brownridge said the games really would show a $2,000 profit once the city gets a $70,000 bonus promised by the province to those who stage a successful games.
Woycik says, however, that the $70,000 must be spent on support of amateur sport activities.
The Winter Games are held the first week in March and involve more than 2,000 athletes in 21 sports.
The majority of sports are indoors, ranging from badminton to wrestling, with outdoor sports from broomball to skiing.
Competitors come from eight zones throughout the province and Prince George is the largest centre in zone eight.
NEAR PULP MILLS
Citiien photo by Doug Weller
Tons of mud cover the B.C. Rail track where two workmen died Monday.
CONSTITUTIONAL CONFERENCE
PM offers resources deal
OTTAWA (CP) - Prime Minister Trudeau told the provinces today that he is ready to strike a new deal on control of resources and other joint concerns.
And he suggested establishing a committee of junior ministers and officials to work out detailed proposals for consideration at the next ful 1-scale constitutional conference in January.
As constitutional talk turned
to power-sharing on the second of a three-day meeting of government leaders here, Trudeau listed seven areas which he described as priorities for negotiation,
Among them was a commitment to “clarify the respective powers” of the two government levels over natural resources.
It was important, he said, “that a fair share of the be-
nefits from natural resources accrue to the people of the province where they are found, without depriving other Canadians of a reasonable share of these benefits.”
Trudeau’s call for a new con-stitutional committee of attomeys-general and intergovernmental affairs ministers came after some premiers, in the words of Newfoundland leader Frank Moores, feared “we will be
Rail workers not happy with tentative agreement
by JAN-UDO WENZEL
Citizen Staff Reporter
Rank and file members of B.C. Railway unions are not happy fvith a tentative contract which ended a 60-hour strike Monday.
“We are doubtful that the majority will ratify the agreement,” a BCR employee in Prince George said Monday.
The tentative pact was reached after a 17-hour bargaining session. Both the Joint Council of Railway Unions and BCR management decline to give details.
But rank and file members in Prince George said the agreement calls for wage increases ranging from 5.6 per cent for the higher paid groups, such as enginemen, to about 12 per cent for the lower paid groups, such as truck drivers and maintenance -of-way personnel.
The across-the-board increase is about 50 cents an hour, but the lower-paid groups would reqeive an additional increase, bringing their total raise to about 90 cents an hour, according to Prince George sources.
The joint council had rejected a company offer of 8.6 per cent in wages and benefits, because lower-paid groups would have not been able to catch up on wages.
Because there are a large number of job categories, the average wage, of a BCR employees cannot be established as a basis for wage increases. However, the lower groups were behind by about $1.70 an hour.
This disparity resulted from
the across-the-board percentage increases under the federal government’s Anti-Inflation Board guidelines.
Several Prince George union members said they were not happy with the wage increases and would have rather seen more pay than increased fringe benefits.
“Fringe benefits are long-range, while we need the money now,” one employee said.
Other union members said, should the ratification by rejected, “it would be back to square one.”
“We will probably resume the strike,” the employee said.
Although the members are unhappy with the catch-up provision, some union officials say there is an alternative.
Under the agreement, the
lower-paid groups can appeal to Dr. Kenneth Strand within 90 days to have the disparities investigated.
Dr. Strand, who was appointed head of an industrial inquiry in 1977 to investigate labor-management problem on the BCR, can then make recommendations to remove the disparities.
It was the first time that the council had bargained for its seven member unions, representing about 2,100 BCR employees.
The ratification vote is expected to take 10 days.
Meanwhile, BCR operations are getting back to normal, said company spokesman Hugh Armstrong.
“By Wednesday everything should be back on track,” Armstrong said.
here for an eternity” negotiating all issues in detail.
Right, replied Trudeau.
“There is an urgent need to demonstrate to ourselves and to our fellow countrymen that early progress can be made on important constitutional questions.”
Premier William Davis reacted favorably to the suggestions;
“I have no objections to the general approach... I sense a degree of flexibility I haven’t sensed before.”
Trudeau suggested that the government leaders seek a way to divide spending powers between the two levels of government, to commit themselves to fighting regional disparities, to ease disagreements over federal power to override provincial jurisdiction, todivide taxation powers, to ease disparities in family law throughout the country and to study changes in control over communications.
Earlier, the discussion bogged down in a squabble over claiming the constitution from Britain.
Both sides accused the other of foot-dragging.
Trudeau said the time has come when provinces must “make up their mind” about bringing home the constitution. As it was, the junior governments refused to accept socalled patriation without some agreement on the division of power between the two levels of government.
NEW LOCATIONS
Bus stops irk residents
Residents are already objecting to the city’s new bus service — even though first runs don’t start for almost a week.
City crews have installed about 300 new bus stop signs so far which have sparked about 50 objections to the positioning of the stops, engineer Ernie Obst told council Monday.
Practice runs for drivers on the new system are scheduled Sunday, with a Monday start for public service.
The city is getting six new buses for the new system to increase the number of buses here to 12. The system is to be run by Prince George Transit, which operates the current system.
Obst said the positions of bus stops were
carefully considered, but likely a number will be changed once the service is running and errors become known.
“The stops have to be in front of someone’s house, though,” he said.
City manager Chester Jeffery said full page advertising in The Citizen will outline all routes, bus stops and bus times.
Information booths for bus patrons will be open at McLeods on Fourth Avenue downtown Thursday, Pine Centre Friday and Parkwood Saturday.
Staff will be there to explain schedules, transfer systems and routes to the public.
BCR mudslide
leaves 2 dead
Court backs UIC rules on maternity
OTTAWA (CP) - Unemployment Insurance Commission rules for maternity benefits do not discriminate against women and do not contravene the federal Bill of Rights, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled today.
It rejected 7 to 0 the appeal of Stella Bliss, the Vancouver woman denied maternity and regular benefits from the UIC.
Mrs. Bliss was fired from an office job in January, 1977, because she was pregnant. The UIC refused her maternity benefits because Section 30.1 of the UIC Act says that to be eligible for payments a pregnant woman must have worked 10 weeks before conceiving a child.
Keable probe limits outlined
OTTAWA (CP) - The Supreme Court of Canada ruled today that the Quebec government’s Keable commission exceeded its constitutional authority to investigate the RCMP but that it can re-open and pursue a limited inquiry into alleged Mountie wrongdoing.
But the high court imposed strict limits on the Quebec and all provincial inquiries into the RCMP.
It said provincial commissions can look into individual Mounties’ involvement in allegedly criminal acts but that they have no constitutional power to investigate the RCMP as a whole.
NEW BUS STOP
by DON MORBERG
Citizen Staff Reporter
A B.C. Railway crew, clearing a mudslide, was caught by a second slide Monday afternoon, leaving two men dead.
Francisco Mastroianni, 46, of 1821 Upland St. died en route to hospital after being buried by the slide, three km north of Prince George Pulp at 1:30 p.m. Monday.
The second man, Efrem Vio-lato, 52, of 905 Tabor Blvd. died of an apparent heart attack during the rescue operation.
Leon Beaulieu, BCR superintendent in Prince George, said the two were in an eight-man crew attempting to clear a slide which had covered the two tracks midway between Northwood Pulp and Prince George Pulp, along the west bank of the Fraser River.
“The first slide was about 60 feet wide and about 14 feet deep,” Beaulieu said. “It had come down the night before and the crew went out to blear it.”
Beaulieu said the crew was using two earth-clearing machines and a drag line to clear the mud from the track above a culvert.
At about 1:30 p.m. they had a path cleared through,” Beaulieu said. “The deceased (Mastroianni), who was the section foreman, was walking from one end to the other when the slide hit.”
Beaulieu said that workmen shouted a warning to Mastroianni; but because of the thick, sticky mud, he was unable to get out of the way.
The slide came from a cliff 125 feet above the tracks and followed the path of the stream which ran through the culvert under the tracks. Tons of silty mud, mixed with clay covered the tracks.
According to Beaulieu, the workmen located Mastroianni within two minutes and freed him from the mud. He was put on a speeder and taken to the BCR bridge yard and a waiting ambulance near the Prince George Pulp site.
Violato, road master on the crew, suffered what is believe to be a heart attack during the rescue operation and died at the site.
Beaulieu said there has been a problem with mud slides on the line since it was opened in the late 1950s.
“It is difficult to pick one spot and say it’s a trouble area,” Beaulieu said. “We have done work in various locations along there."
The line, which is part of the BCR main line, was blocked about a dozen times by slides last year in that area. There were three slides last month and a slide two weeks ago just missed the caboose of a BCR train, according to B.C. Rail workers. Last year a slide carried away a flat car.
Beaulieu said the clearing operation is continuing and the jine should be open about mid afternoon today.
RCMP said the matter had been turned over to the Prince George coroner. An inquest is expected.
Food price drop ends
OTTAWA (CP) - The annual autumn drop in food prices has ended, says the federal anti-inflation board.
In its monthly report on food prices, the board says its food-at-home price index jumped during October by 1.9 per cent. The index now stands 16.5 per cent above its level at the same time last year.
TODAY
FEATURED INSIDE
Oil flow cut off
More than 37,000 refinery workers are on strike today, shutting off Iran’s $22-billion-annually oil exports. Page 5.
From QB to coach
After 19 years of breaking passing records in the Canadian Football League, Ron Lancaster has retired and accepted an offer to coach the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Page 7.
Index
City, B.C..... ..2, 3,11, 15,29 .............28
Classifieds. ...............5
...............6
Crossword. ......................20
Entertainment. .10, 27, 28
THE WEATHERj
Prince George’s forecast for today calls for cloudy skies with gusty winds up to 45 km per hour. Wednesday should be cloudy with rain showers and winds up to 30 km per hour. '
The expected high today is 9, the low 3. Wednesday’s forecast high is 11.
The high Monday was 4, the low 3 with no precipitation. On this date last year the high was 5, the low -3.
NOW HEAR THIS)
• Motorists are warned that tonight the streets will be the property of hordes of tiny goblins and witches making their annual Halloween rounds for goodies. Many of the tiny folk wear masks that impairs their vision, and they just may not see you driving down the street. Be careful.
• Horse-loving Harold Moffat has got back at an alderman who’s always using the mayor’s favorite animal in folksy sayings. So, said Vic Litnosky, “We’re catching the horse before it gets out of the barn.” “Cut out that horse business,” retorted the mayor, “you usually get him at the wrong end of the shafts.”
• “I take back all I said last week about mayors,” Mayor Harold Moffat told council Monday. Moffat said mayors had no power. “I’m going to veto everything from now on and let the new council decide it all. In your dying days you can get them (councillors) back a little," said the out-going mayor.
• Multiculturalism abounded in the civic centre during the Italian Club’s wine festival. It went right down to the table set aside for the musicians. A sign on it said, “Reserved for the banda.”
United Way
Turget: $185,000 Today's total: $114,010