Quebec court backs plans for patriation
  MONTREAL (CP) - The Quebec Court of Appeal rejected today by a margin of four to one the objections of Quebec and five other provinces to Ottawa’s plan to unilaterally patriate Canadian constitutional documents now in Britain.
   In Ottawa, Justice Minister Jean Chretien said today he is please with the Quebec Court of Appeal decision.
   '•It’s certainly a positive development,” he told reporters after a Liberal caucus meeting where the court’s ruling, announced earlier in the day, was discussed.
   "We’ve always said it was a political debate and not a legal debate, but we won a very important case this morning and I’m very pleased about it.” The Liberals, unlike the opposition parties, plan to introduce no “major amendments” Tuesday to the con-
OBERLE, WILLISTON ALARMED
Coal deal headaches seen
  VICTORIA (CP) - A B.C. Member of Parliament and a former Socred resources minister expressed serious concerns Monday about social, financial and engineering aspects of the northwest coal deal.
  Frank Oberle (PC — Prince George-Peace River) described the deal as “a typical Socred scheme; treated like a mushroom, kept in the dark and covered with manure.”
   Hearings and public consideration of the social and economic consequences of the project are needed. Oberle said in a telephone interview from Ottawa.
   And Ray Williston. a 20-year veteran of former premier W.A.C. Bennett's cabinet who is now president of B.C. Cellulose Ltd.. said he has serious doubts the project can be completed on schedule because of problems at both ends - at Ridley Island and on the Anzac spur line.
   The statements by both men reflect concerns nagging some B.C. Social Credit supporters about the coal deal with the Japanese.
  MLA Jack Davis (SC-North Vancouver-Seymour» has also expressed fears about the deal
   Oberle criticized two facets of the development: The creation of an instant town and the extent to which the provincial government has allowed itself to be manipulated by the Japanese.
   “There have been 42 studies done on northeast coal but not one study deals with people. Tumbler Ridge, which is going to be an instant townsite in my riding, will be a breeding ground of human misery.”
  He was offered the job of appointed-mayor for Tumbler Ridge but turned it down. Al Raine. Whistler ski developer and husband of ski champion Nancy Greene, also turned down the $60.000-a-year job which eventually was accepted by
 Pat Walsh, a former mayor of Fort St. John.
   “I am very much afraid that not sufficient care was taken to make sure that the project will wash itself (be economic) on the bottom line.” Oberle said.
   "If you want to know what was happening behind the scenes, the Japanese insisted on the Anzac route and on the townsite because their number one concern is with security of supply. When the crunch comes and the price of coal goes down, they know that, before the government closes down a town or writes off the project, it will subsidize freight rates.
   "When they have us hooked on line, they will pressure us on the price.” Oberle said.
   Williston's concerns focused on the engineering required to get the first shipment of coal to Ridley Island at Prince Rupert by late 1983.
    "Problems at both ends of the line are going to create timing prob-
 lems. I will be very surprised if they can be delivering coal by 1983.” The remote proposed 129-kilometre Anzac spur line involves construction of some long tunnels. Williston said.
   "Someone must know an awful lot more than me if they think they can do it according to the timetable. It is a very, very difficult engineering task.”
   The B.C. Cellulose president is even more concerned about Ridley Island. He has been involved for years with planning studies on the island’s potential as a seaport.
   ' The combination of rock and muskeg makes development un-predictibleand costly. I will be Very surprised if they find the conditions of construction that they anticipate.”
   Delays and cost overruns are possible. He said his gut reaction to the northeast coal deal is that the Socreds should have left themselves more leeway.
The
Citizen
 Wednesday. April 15, 1981 Prince George. British Columbia
CROWN CORPORATION
post
 OTTAWA (CP) - Soon, possibly by this fall, your mail will be delivered by a postle working for a crown corporation.
  Legislation turning the post office, scarred by labor battles and public mistrust, into a Crown corporation was approved by the Commons on Tuesday.
  • Finally,” said Jean-Claude Parrot, head of the 23,000-member Canadian Union of Postal Workers, which is settling a contract dispute with the government by conciliation.
  "We’ve been waiting for 34 years. It would have helped the service and the administration of the post office. Better now than never.”
 Progressive Conservative John Fraser, a former postmaster-general, said the legislation represents a new beginning.
  “My experience in dealing with the leaders of the unions in the post office
ns approves ce change
 lias convinced me that the rank and file of Canada Post are as anxious to reform the post off ice ... as anyone else,” lie said.
  Fraser and New Democrat Sid Parker, his party’s postal critic, crossed the floor to shake hands with Postmaster-General Andre Ouellet as MPs marked passage of the legislation with hearty congratulations.
    Ouellet has said the legislation will aid labor relations and increase post office efficiency by improving management structure and financial operations.
    It was one of three bills passed by the Commons on Tuesday as Parliament attempts to make up time lost to constitutional business over the last eight weeks.
   All three require Senate approval and royal assent before becoming law.
    Post office unions, worried about the lengthy delay of the legislation, had
 been pressing for speedy passage.
   Aggravated labor-management relations threatened to erupt unless quick action by Parliament was forthcoming. they said.
   The bill would allow the post office and the unions to bargain under the Canada Labor Code instead of the Public Service Staff Relations Act and would broaden the list of negotiable items.
* * *
  OTTAWA (CP) - Michael Warren. 43. general manager of the Toronto Transit Commission and the Canadian National Exhibition, will become president of the post office when it becomes a Crown corporation later this year. Prime Minister Trudeau announced today.
   Warren will become a special adviser to Postmaster-General Andre Ouellet June l to aid in the transition of the post office.
SHUTTLE SUCCESS ELATES U.S.
Tomorrow, the stars'
 stitutional package, Chretien said.
   However, the Liberals will be supporting New Democratic Party amendments giving greater rights to women and native peoples.
   Under an all-party agreement, all proposed amendments to the patriation package must be tabled in the Commons before Tuesday evening.
   The amendments w ill be given three days discussion and then the constitutional debate will be suspended until the Supreme Court of Canada rules on the legality of the federal measures. The ruling is expected in late May or early June.
   The Progressive Conservatives will likely introduce proposals Tuesday on an alternate amending formula and changes to the human rights charter recognizing the existence of God and the rights of property owners.
  HOUSTON, Tex. (AP) - Columbia and its jubilant astronauts, back from a remarkable maiden voyage, dramatically advanced U.S. chances of gaining a working foothold in space by 1982 - and someday, said Commander John Young, for "going to the stars.”
   The astronauts, exuberant after Tuesday’s pinpoint landing, are healthy and eager to participate in future space projects. Today they began an exhaustive week of debriefings with space agency technicians.
  When Young and Robert Crippen brought Columbia dow n from orbit to a rock-hard lake bed in California’s Mojave Desert, they demonstrated (hat the United States has a space machine that makes all others obsolete — a machine that can fly into space and return to earth like an airplane, ready to fly again, a hundred or more times.
   The astronauts, in their own way, probably said it best.
   "You can’t believe what a flying machine this is," Young said. “I think we’ve got a fantastic and remarkable capability here. We’re really not too far —•the human race isn’t — from going to the stars.”
 AstronuutH John Young and Bob
 Crippen smile after return to earth in Space Shuttle Columbia.
  Said Crippen: "We are really in the space business to stay.”
  The United States had left manned space flight to the Soviet Union since 1975.
  Shortly after the wheels-down landing on Rogers Dry Lake, the two astronauts climbed aboard space agency executive jets for the trip back to the
 Johnson Space Centre here.
   For the next seven work days they will meet with National Aeronautics and Space Administration specialists, discussing in great detail every one of Columbia’s systems to pinpoint any flaws in design or procedure.
   They have few problems to analyse. From the moment of its fiery blast-off from the launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Sunday, Columbia performed almost flawlessly.
   It was parked today at California’s Edwards Air Force Base, where technicians will carefully check it for the next week or so before it is returned to Cape Canaveral, buckled to the back of a special Boeing 747 jetliner.
   Columbia’s next flight, a four-day mission, is scheduled for August or September, w ith rookie astronauts Joe Engle and Richard Truly at the controls.
   Officials said initial inspection showed the spaceship to be in good condition. There were indications a few non-critical thermal tiles on the top of the vehicle suffered some damage. But the important ones, those that protected the underside from re-entry heat, were in good shape.
Photo, stories page 5.
Metric
 costs
feared
   OTTAWA (CP) — Converting retail food scales to metric measurements should be delayed another 10 years, a panel of grocers fighting compulsory conversion next year said Tuesday.
    Representatives from large and small grocery stores joined Bill Domm, Progressive Conservative MP for Peterborough. Ont.. in condemning a government edict that will shift meat and produce scales from ounces and pounds to grams and kilograms beginning in January.
    Domm said the cost of coverting scales could run as high as $200 million, substantially more than tlu' $2b million the government’s metric commission says consumers will have to pay in higher food costs to help pay for the switch.
   "The consensus is that we can not afford to do it alone,” Domm told a news conference.
    He said the United States won’t switch to metric from imperial measure for 10 years so Canada should slow down its conversion program. "We must keep pace with our major trading partner.” The shift should be launched as "soft conversion,” with both metric and imperial measurements written on labels and with packages remaining in traditional imperial sizes.
    In his latest attack on the metric system, Domm was backed by representatives of the Loblaws and l.G.A. grocery chains, Loeb Ltd., a food wholesaler, and Ken Gadd, president of the 4,000-member Canadian Federation of Retail Grocers Association.
   The Peterborough area was one of three cities tested for about four months in 1978 to see how consumers would react to metric measures in their grocery stores. The reaction in Peterborough was more negative than in Kamloops, B.C., or Sherbrooke, Que.
   The grocery representatives objected to being forced into coversion, saying small retailers can’t afford the cost. They also railed against (he added stress on customers, claiming those in border areas will go to the United States to shop instead of trying to cope with metric measure.
   Kathi Sackrider, consumer affairs manager for the Loblaw chain, said her company has insisted for Ihe last three years the coversion should be “cost-jus tified” for the consumer.
"Oh dear! Look where I left poor old • dad's guitar."
V_
fFEATURED TODAY
v--J
 Another loss
  Alberta, Manitoba and Newfoundland introduced new budgets Tuesday Highlights on Page 7
 Three new budgets
 The Toyota Midget Kings have lost their second straight game at the Canadian championship in Halifax. Page 13
Index                                  Entertainment....      ......32-36    
                            .......19                                        
Business..................  .....h. y  Horoscopes..........   ...........36  
City, B.C. 2, 3, 6, 10,     11, 27     International......    .............5 
Classified................. .16-23                            ...........33  
                            .......32                         .............7 
Community pages.            .......26  Kolling Stone.....     ............34 
Crossword..............     .......IH  Sports.............13-15, 30-31       
Kditoriul.................  .........4 Television............ ...........19  
 ( THE WEATHER '
   Slowly but surely, the weather in our region is improving.
   It should be cloudy with sunny periods today and Thursday, with rain tonight, and isolated showers Thursday. We can look forward to mostly sunny skies during the weekend.
   The high should reach 10 during next few days, and tonight’s predicted low is 1. The mercury reached 12 yesterday and dipped to -2 overnight.
 One year ago, the high was 14 and the low was 4
   Sunrise was 5:10 a.m. and sunset will be 7:13 p.m.
~~ \
"now hear this]
V_J
  •	The Zenith 5555 toll-free number to report forest fires in B.C. is back in operation today. The public is credited with reporting about 35 per cent of all B.C. forest fires.
  •	A local runner learned there is more to just finishing a 26-mile marathon to get credibility as a runner. At the elite Boston Marathon, where two local runners will be competing next week, you have to meet certain standards to be officially entered. For runners in the master’s category (more than 40 years old), you have to have done a previous marathon under three hours 10 minutes with a time of two hours 50 minutes set for those in the open under 40 category. Running under four hours is considered the separation point between runners and joggers
                              • *
  Got a news tip? Call The Citizen’s 24-hour news line at 562-2441.
_y
Sadrack says . .
Siinmi
I'ltlwii photo by Brork Cubic
What do you call a cross between a mountain goat and a moose? A goose? A moat? Either way, this beast was seen tenuously making his way down the Fraser River cutbanks above the BCR tracks across from Fort George Park Saturday. Possibly it was cleverly disguised prisoners making a break from tne regional correction centre on the hill.
Stepping
carefully
»