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The Prince George
Citizen
FRIDAY, JUNE 27, 1986
50 CENTS
Winds of war changing Sports star in movies 19 Single-industry towns 37
Ann Landers................23 Entertainment...........18-21
Bridge......................28 Horoscopes.................28
Business.................38,39 _
City, B.C...........2,3,6,8,9,11 ............. .
Classified................25-36 Lifestyles................23,24
Comics.....................18 Movies...................20,21
Crossword..................27 National.....................5
Editorial.....................4 Sports....................13-16
TAXMAN TOOK BIG BITE
VANCOUVER (CP) — The tax bill for the average Canadian family has jumped 938 per cent since 1961 but the rate of increase is slowing down, says a study released today by The Fraser Institute.
The study by the conservative-leaning research group says the average family faced a total tax bill of $1,675 in 1961, about one-third of total income.
But by the end of 1986, the combined federal, provincial and municipal tax bill will be $17,393 — more than half of total family income.
The study says the rate of tax increases began to slow in 1975 as governments engaged in more deficit financing to cover costs. But the practice only amounts to “deferred taxation,” the institute says, as tax revenue must ultimately be raised to pay the interest costs of the mounting debt.
About one-third of total taxes paid in 1986 will be income taxes while other taxes — including property and sales taxes — will account for the other two thirds.
Film centre costs gov't
$3 million
BURNABY (CP) - The provincial government will spend $3 million to develop a movie production centre in this Vancouver suburb, Industry Minister Bob McClelland announced Thursday.
McClelland said the B.C. Development Corp. will renovate the former Dominion Bridge steel-fabricating centre and invite proposals to lease and operate the site as a film production studio.
McClelland made the announcement inside a large cave set built for an upcoming movie to be shot in the building. The site has been used for several film productions, but requires major improvements.
McClelland said upgrading the cavernous building to meet safety
and fire standards and provide other improvements will cost about $3 million, but will also bring jobs and investment to B.C.
“The privatization of the Dominion Bridge facility through this proposal should allow the film production industry to grow to an annual level of over $200 million, providing an estimated 1,000 more jobs,” McClelland said.
The development corporation call for proposals to operate the production centre is the first stage of several recommendations made by a film production committee established by the government a year ago. The other phases involve the construction of additional production facilities and offices by the private sector.
Teens' smiles, humor recalled at services
by DAVE PAULSON Staff reporter
Two Prince George teenagers killed early Sunday while driving to a graduation party were remembered by hundreds of classmates, friends and family this week for their quick smiles, sense of humor and love of sports.
Lee Cameron Taylor, 18, and his passenger Leslie Dawn Norbeck, 17, died when the pickup truck they were riding went out of control on a gravel section of Chief Lake Road near Nukko Lake and struck a fence and row of trees.
The Grade 11 students — Taylor from Kelly Road secondary and Norbeck from Prince George secondary — were on their way to a Kelly Road after-grad party when the accident occurred. They were pronounced dead on arrival at Prince George Regional Hospital.
About 350 people, many clutching yellow roses, attended Thursday morning’s funeral for Leslie Norbeck at Assman’s Funeral Chapel.
Rev. Elizabeth Zook told of Leslie’s “remarkable team spirit” which often gave an emotional lift to her softball and basketball teammates.
Rev. Zook said that exactly one week ago Leslie was looking forward to having the braces removed from her teeth the next day, was a little worried about a year-end exam and was excited about going to the Kelly Road party with her good friend, Lee.
Rev. Zook told the gathering that Leslie revelled in humor such as
“Have you ever seen an elephant on skates?”
“She loved that kind of silliness,” Rev. Zook said, “but mostly she loved to smile.”
Debbie Johnson, Leslie’s best friend, delivered her own message to Leslie, saying in part, “I don’t think you realize how many true friends you have...”
Wednesday afternoon, about 200 people jammed Assman’s Funeral Chapel and another 200 listened outside under a sunny sky as Dr. Jerry Zook delivered a eulogy for Taylor at a memorial service..
Zook told the gathering he was one of the 400,000 people who attended the funeral of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Atlanta, Ga., in April, 1968, one month before Lee was born.
Zook remembered one of the lines to a song played at the King funeral read “If I can help somebody along life’s way, then my living shall have not been in vain.” Zook related the line to the Lee Taylor Graduation ?rtemorial fund established this week by Lee’s parents, Bruce and Eileen, to try to make future graduation weekends safe.
(Donations to the fund can be made at any local branch of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce.)
The gathering was told of Lee’s love for sports — softball, basketball and BMX bicycle racing — through which he collected 44 trophies. In his final year of school Lee discovered and enjoyed another hidden talent, drawing.
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"He was very romantic when we first got married, but you know how they change."
Don Yorston with computerized lathe at QM Industries.
Citizen photo by Brock Gable
THE QM PLANT CLOSURE HERE
Wr'
High-tech's value questioned
by KEN BERNSOHN Staff reporter
Does high-tech have a future in Prince George?
“We are the industry leader in technology,” says Don Yorston, president of QM Industries Ltd., which has laid off 120 workers and this week shut down its equipment fabrication division.
QM had computer-controlled lathes and milling machines which could bring a variety of tools to bear on a piece of steel, changing it into a complex finished part, automatically.
“What CART (The Centre for Advanced Resource Technology) is all about is to teach people how to program the machine,” Yorston said.
“But the solution isn’t with the technology. You can’t solve problems of sawmill (equipment) manufacturing in British Columbia with high technology. The market
isn’t big enough. We make four of this, one of that. With sawmill machinery here, no two (machines) are the same. Computerized equipment is designed for volume manufacturing.”
According to Yorston, equipment which is mass produced for sawmills, like debarkers, is imported from Sweden and Finland. The equipment and industry in Eastern canada is far different from that in the west, based on QM’s seven years of experience with a Montreal plant.
QM built complete sawmills, including Clear Lake, near Prince George, and computer-controlled machinery, for every step in pro-cesssing wood from raw logs to sorted lumber, Yorston said.
“The American market is larger, but Canadians have a higher propensity for buying American than Americans do for Canadian equipment. They don’t like us down there.”
Others disagree with this view.
“One of the reasons we set up the Centre for Advanced Resource Technology is to provide the technical base for companies which make individualized equipment, so they can cut down their capital requirements,” said Ed Cinits, head of CART.
“They had a number of very talented people at QM. I’m very sorry to see tnem shutting down. ’
One of the highest technology firms serving the forest industry in British Columbia is Porter Engineering in Richmond, B.C. It specializes in electronics and in “optimization” — the linking of computers and optical scanners to increase the amount of lumber which comes from each log.
Porter is doing well.
“(Forest) companies have always done better than the suppliers,” Andy Porter said in a telephone interview.
'City companies left out'
by MALCOLM CURTIS Staff reporter
Mayor Elmer Mercier believes that Prince George companies have been denied an opportunity to help build Louisiana Pacific’s warerboard mill in Dawson Creek.
Mercier made the comment in the wake of QM Industries’ announcement this week that is closing its sawmill equipment fabrication plant, a move the mayor called a “blow and a shock” to the city.
The closure means 30 workers will be laid off, and QM has reduced its workforce to 30 from 150 people since February.
“There didn’t appear to be an opportunity for B.C. companies to bid on this sophisticated mill work,” said Mercier of Louisiana Pacific’s $40-million mill.
The American company has received a $25-million interest-free
loan from the B.C. Development Corp. and provincial subsidies in the form of tax holidays, utility breaks and other incentives for the waferboard plant.
“If we as B.C. people are
up a subsidy then there should be a clause in there saying there should be some B.C. content,” said Mercier, who added that most of the mill fabrication work appears to be going to a Portland, Ore., company.
But Jim Eisses, Louisiana-Pacific spokesman from the company’s Inter-mountain division in Hayden Lake, Idaho, said most of the contracts for the plant have not yet been awarded.
“Where did he get his facts?” Eisses said in a telephone interview, when told of Mayor Merci-er’s comments.
“We’ve just barely got the land cleared.”
Shot fired, three held
HAZELTON, B.C. (CP) - Three men were arrested and a rifle was seized Thursday after an incident involving Fisheries Department patrol officers on the Skeena River in northwestern B.C.
An RCMP spokesman declined to give details, saying only that a news release would be issued later.
A source who declined to be identified said that the fisheries officers were patrolling the river near the Bulkley railroad crossing when they discovered six fishing nets.
They also spotted three Indian men on the river bank nearby. Officers said they heard one shot fired but could not immediately identify the source.
The three men left the scene in a
car but they were stopped by a fisheries patrol on a nearby road. They were then turned over to RCMP in Hazelton.
It is the first patrol of the Skeena this year, where fishing has been delayed by high water levels.
Teacher pact gets approval
A three-per-cent wage increase for the district’s 1,002 teachers received final approval today from Ed Peck, commissioner of the province’s compensation stabilization board.
It is effective for the the 12 months beginning July 1.
Lumber Systems Inc. of Portland, Ore. is constructing the plant building, while contracts for land clearing and basement construction have been handed out to Dawson Creek-area firms.
The contract to build machinery that converts wood into strands and mixes wood wafers with glue, worth $1.5 million, has been awarded to CAE Machinery Ltd., a Vancouver company that has provided equipment for other warerboard mills in the U.S.
Chris Nelson, director of financial programs for B.C.’s industry ministry, said there are no laws allowing B.C.-content rules to be imposed on Louisiana-Pacific and such a law would be unenforceable.
The company is nevertheless committed to providing as much work for B.C. companies as possible, he said.
Nelson noted that apart from the BCDC loan, Louisiana-Pacific is receiving benefits that are available to any other company under existing programs.
Jim Wong, vice-president of BCDC handling Lousiana-Pacific’s loan, refused to comment in anv way on the matter, referring all questions to the company.
Mayor Mercier said Prince George companies weren’t asked to bid on the project. The Louisiana Pacific mill is “a dog’s breakfast and no one wants to talk about it,” he added.
Mercier said QM’s closure of its fabrication division is “a kick in the head” for the city because it has happened just as the city is trying to attract high-tech business.
“When you lose a company like QM you’re losing a pioneer in the sawmill machinery industry.”
“Some companies feel they’ve been taken, but virtually all suppliers go bankrupt.”
Porter listed 19 sawmill equipment suppliers which had gone out of business or been forced to merge within the past five years. He could think of only two, Brunette Machinery and CAE, which had been around more than 25 years.
“The only mill built in B.C. last year (Balfour Forest Products in Prince George) is Swedish, the only one likely to be built this year (Whonnock Industries on the Coast) is probably going to be German.
“Why is it necessary for mills to import technology when we are allegedly in the heartland of the industry? I think something is radically wrong.
“If we are hewers of wood, let us be the best ones possible.
“We have the biggest concentrated market for sawmill machinery in the world. We have a market, the talent and a potential for profits in firms serving specialized needs within the sawmill market.”
“The market for sawmill machinery is now as good as it’s ever been,” Yorston agreed in part.
“We’ve gotten a lot of business, but the competition is fierce.
“We have a 35-per-cent advantage on the dollar with Americans, a 12-per-cent duty on equipment imported from the states. Canadian steel prices are lower, but we’re nip and tuck to compete with the Americans.
“It’s basically a wage problem In Toronto machinists are paid $12 an hour, here they’re paid $19.50.”
The possibility of wage reductions was not discussed with the union, according to Steve Old, business representative for the International Association of Machinests and Aerospace Workers.
According to Old, reasons cited for the closure in talks with the employees included “not being competitive in the workplace for numerous reasons, including management ones, and that when the company wanted to modernize, it found Eastern banks had lost faith in this type of company in Western Canada.”
in tomorrow's Citizen...
Saturday, you’ll read about a crucial test for the team of new Disney animators who have taken over from the legendary creators of such earlier classics as Snow White, Bambi and Lady And The Tramp.
Also planned:
■ A close look at B.C.’s labor disputes. ^
■ Rodeos, a victim of the recession in the early 1980s, appear to be making a comeback in British Columbia.