The Prince C
Citizen
FRIDAY, APRIL 12,1991
70 CENTS
(Plus GST)
icfecl Low tonight: 2 High tomorrow: 10
Included nside
TV
times
Canada to aid Kurds 6
Ferry fire negligence 7
Canucks stress team play 17
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LONG LIST OF PROJECTS SPARKS OPTIMISM
on brink of building boom
City
by BERNICE TRICK Citizen Staff With a little bit of luck Prince George will escape being seriously burned by the recession that hit Central and Eastern Canada in early 1990 and the current downturn in the B.C. forest industry.
“It’s obvious the forest industry is experiencing a downturn, but indications arc there arc signs of recovery,” said Mayor John Backhouse.
“The retail sector is slowing, but not to the point where it’s worried about the future.”
City manager George Paul agrees, although he feels the recession is “becoming a little more obvious” with the unemployment rate increasing and suppliers and others who support the forest industry being affected.
“But my perception is we’re not suffering as much as other parts of Canada, and we have some pro-
jects on the go that should help cushion the economy.”
“I think it’s our tum,” said Backhouse. “There’s a mood of optimism in the community because of a number of projects slated to get under way very shortly.
“They won’t solve all the problems, but will help the flow of money and create jobs, particularly in the construction industry,” said Paul.
“I just wish they were coming on at a faster rate,” said Paul, noting that little hammering and sawing is on the agenda for 1991.
“The main construction will be in 1992,” he said, referring to the following projects.
■ The civic centre-plaza complex, estimated as a Sl2-miIlion project, will be under construction in 1992. The complex will replace the Civic Centre and provide a meeting place for residents.
■ The provincial courthouse, estimated to cost between $15 and $20 million, is being designed with a lot of local input by the B.C. Building Corporation.
The block-sized facility, which will house all legal personnel from judges to sheriffs, is to be located downtown where the vacant McDonald and Canada Hotels now stand.
■ The University of Northern B.C. — the biggest project of all is expected to entail about a $ 150-million construction project to produce the campus during the next few years.
Off-site services like access roads, sewer and water are being planned or worked upon now, with actual building construction expected to begin in 1992 and the first classes scheduled for 1993.
■ The roads program — the first major construction of new roads for many years, estimated at about
$3 million, is expected to take place in 1991 and 1992 under a province-city cost-sharing program.
The new roads are extensions of Ospika Boulevard and Cranbrook Hill Boulevard which will serve as connections to Highway 16, College Heights and UNBC.
■ Prince George Correction Centre: Long-term plans by the B.C. government are to modernize and update the facility, including the replacement of all living units.
Although correction centre spokesmen are terming it “longterm,” Backhouse, who terms it a major renovating project, believes it will be under way by next year.
■ Prince George Regional Hospital is planning an expansion to Jubilee Lodge, its long-term care facility, and renovations and expansion to the psychiatric unit. The project is estimated to cost $7 mil-
lion and construction should begin in 1992.
Under consideration is a new facility, estimated in the $2 million range, to accommodate on-site chemical dependency patients and programs. A new facility would replace the Nechako Centre, Detoxification Centre and old nursing residence now used for the programs.
■ Residents can also look forward to revitalization of the downtown with the strategy now developed and a concept plan expected to be drawn up this year.
The project began with the City Centre Strategy report to city council in November, 1989 and its formal adoption last spring, followed by $7,500 from the province’s downtown revitalization program, and matched by the city, to develop a concept plan.
Next will be a proposal call for interested consultants to make a
submission on the concept work followed by selection and commissioning of a consultant to draw up the plan, says Dave McDonald, director of development services.
The work is to be overseen by a new committee to be selected from downtown merchants and landowners as well as the public.
McDonald expects upgrading of the core area between Quccnsway and Vancouver Street and First and 15th avenues to be done in three phases.
Work will consist of a host of proposed improvements from improved and ornamental street lighting to pedestrian parks and rest areas to tree-planting to better access routes and parking to development as a winter city.
Unique shopping areas, a youth drop-in centre, public market and street traffic changes will be considered.
SESSION BEGINS MAY 7
VICTORIA (CP) — The B.C. legislature will begin a new session May 7, little more than six weeks after the last one ended abruptly.
Lt.-Gov. David Lam is scheduled to deliver the throne speech at about 2 p.m., Premier Rita Johnston said Thursday.
The session will be the first as premier for Johnston, who took office last week when Bill Vander Zalm resigned in wake of a scathing report that says he mixed public office with his private business.
Sources, meanwhile, say Johnston will shuffle her cabinet Monday in preparation for the new session of the 34th parliament.
She has already brought back Finance Minister Mel Couvelier, who quit just four days before the house was recalled. Couvelier criticized Vander Zalm for his refusal to relinquish legislative duties while under investigation for conflict of interest.
Couvelier said he expects a budget to be ready by the beginning of May.
The last sitting of the legislature lasted only two weeks in March.
The Social Credit government ended the sitting without bringing in a budget for the fiscal year beginning April 1. The province is currently operating on cabinet-approved warrants.
During the sitting, Vander Zalm came under heavy attack from the NDP after it was revealed the RCMP were also investigating business dealings related to his Fantasy Gardens theme park. The investigation continues.
Johnston, meanwhile, declined to comment on how extensive a cabinet shuffle she plans or whether she will modify or eliminate some recent Vander Zalm legislation.
Cabinet
shuffle
planned
OTTAWA (CP) — Prime Minister Brian Mulroney indicated Thursday he will shuffle his cabinet next week — even going so far as referring to Joe Clark’s work as external affairs minister in the past tense.
“He was probably one of the best ministers of external affairs since Mr. (Lester B.) Pearson,” Mulroney said. “He’s done colossal work.”
Mulroney smiled sheepishly when reporters reminded him Clark still has the portfolio. Mulroney then lauded the former prime minister as a versatile member of cabinet.
"He would be a good minister of anything.”
i
INDEX
SCHOOL AWARENESS PROGRAM
Ann Landers .... 20
Bridge.................28
Business 14,15
City, B.C.............2,3
Classifled .... 24-31
Comic..................22
Commentary 5
Crossword..............26
Editorial...............4
Entertainment . 22,23
Family.................20
Horoscope..............28
International...........7
Movies.................23
National................6
Sports..............17-19
Television.............27
This idea really took off
Teachers to debate job action
Prince George teachers will decide Monday if they will join with teachers across the province to take job action Wednesday to protest Bill 82.
The government bill can, in effect, thwart com/acts school districts and teachers have signed since Jan. 29, said Louise Gorton, Prince George Teachers Association vice-president.
She said today that a special general meeting has been called for 7 p.m. Monday at the Duchess Park school gymnasium to decide if local teachers will take part in the B.C. Teachers’ Federation call for “a day of concern for education,” which could translate as walking off the job.
The BCTF is calling for teachers to leave work one hour carly to participate in rallies.
“At that meeting the (1,000) members will decide what they are going to do with regards to Bill 82 (Compensation Fairness Bill),” said Gorton. “(A walkout) is a possibility, is an option.”
Under that bill, all public sector contracts must go to a commissioner.
“Letters have now gone out to various school districts, in terms of saying they arc to cease and desist paying any negotiated wages until such time as he has looked at their contracts,” Gorton said. “It is somewhat similar, if you think back to 1983 — Compensation Stabilization Act.
“This one goes further in the fact that it goes beyond salaries and it also goes onto things. . .class size, preparation time, all those working conditions and quality education issues can be considered part of the compensation package.”
The Quesnel school district is reported to be taking the provincial government to court over the issue because it is caught between two points of law: The district’s legal contract with the teachers and the Bill 82 demands.
“It’s affecting large groups of people,” Gorton said.
"Next time we'll get a taller plumber."
A conversation over coffee last year resulted in a drug awareness program for Prince George school children that has spread to more than 20 schools and 1,300 students and might go provincial.
Const. Randy Brown, Subdivision Drug Awareness Co-ordinator, started with an idea and after talking it over with graphic artist George Lesniewicz, the Clean N Cool concept was bom.
“The whole idea was to come up with some kind of program that didn’t involve the words ‘don’t’ or ‘drugs,’ ” Brown said Thursday. “We took the idea to the Prince George Rotary Club and they were enthusiastic about funding it....
“Teresa Saunders, the viceprincipal at Malaspina Elementary, was interested in the concept and two teachers at the same school helped build a program around the logo George designed.”
The program, designed for Grades 4 through 7, proved a success. “It helped that teachers were able to tie it to programs already in existence like creative writing,” Brown said.
For example, students would be asked to write an essay about Why I am Clean N Cool. Along with funding the program and helping with volunteer co-ordinating, the Rotary club also gives out a number of sweatshirts and rulers to each class of students.
“It’s turned out to be phenom-
One sure way of kicking up a dust every spring in Prince George is to bring out the street sweepers. Clean sweep Two of the city’s four machines are in action at the intersection of 10th Avenue and Highway 97 to
clean up the tons of sand and rubble left over from a long and severe winter.
Two youths face charges
100 MILE HOUSE, B.C. (CP) — Two local youths were charged Thursday with dangerous use of a firearm following a sniper incident Tuesday night on Highway 97.
Three vehicles were hit by bullets and a 19-year-old driver was shot in the neck as they proceeded through the Cariboo region about 300 kilometres north of Vancouver.
The victim was in stable condition in Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops.
A 15-year-old suspect was released into his parents’ custody while a 17-year-old is still being held by police. They are scheduled to make their first court appearance on May 7.
cnally popular,” said Terry Price, local businessman and Rotary member. “It’s the first time the RCMP and the Rotary have been in partnership on something like this and it’s really turned out well.”
The next step is to approach the education ministry about taking the program province-wide. Price said he plans to present it to all the Rotary Clubs in this district, an area including the Lower Mainland.
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