The Privi.ee	T
Citizen
TUESDAY, MAY 7,1991
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STRACHAN TO HEALTH IN EMERGENCY SHUFFLE
Couvelier quits cabinet - again
by PAUL STRICKLAND with Canadian Press
B.C. Finance Minister Mel Couvelier resigned today, touching off a cabinet shuffle that sent Prince George South MLA Bruce Strachan from advanced education to health.
Couvelier quit days after it was revealed he tipped former premier Bill Vander Zalm about possible problems with the sale of Fantasy Gardens.
Premier Rita Johnston said following a review by the Attorney General’s Ministry she was left with no alternative but to accept Couvelier’s resignation, the second
time he’s quit the post in two months.
She said the review found Couvelier breached the confidentiality section of the Financial Institutions Act. Couvelier told Vander Zalm’s office that real estate agent Faye Leung, who sold Fantasy Gardens, might be in violation of the Real Estate Act.
‘‘That was my commitment when I was sworn into this office,” Johnston said. ‘‘There will be no deviations because the people of B.C. demand and deserve no less.”
When Johnston took over as premier from Vander Zalm she said she expected the highest
standards of conduct from her cabinet
The resignation came hours before a new session of the legislature was to begin with a speech from the throne and nine days before a new provincial budget was to be brought down.
Couvelier had been touted as a possible leadership candidate.
The sudden resignation came as a surprise because Couvelier had said last week he had no intention of quitting. And Johnston said then that she did not see any inappropriate action on Couvelier’s part.
Johnston said Health Minister John Jansen will take over finance, with Strachan moving to health.
Strachan said today he was pleased to have been given the health portfolio. ‘‘It’s a big responsibility,” he said from Victoria. “It’s the biggest spending ministry in government, and this is a very senior ministry.
“I’m pleased that Rita Johnston has this confidence in me,” he continued. “It’s with regret that I leave the ministry of advanced education and technology.
“That was a ministry I personally felt very close to because of the building of UNBC”
Stan Hagen adds advanced education, training and technology to his education portfolio.
“It’s a double portfolio,” Stra-
chan said. “Actually the cabinet is downsizing.”
The Socred government is obviously falling apart, Prince George North NDP MLA Lois Boone said today from Victoria.
“Never before have we seen a cabinet shuffle on the very day of the throne speech and, with a budget due in two weeks, we find ourselves with a new finance minister, John Jansen.
“It’s obvious this government is in total disarray, and have lost the confidence of the people.”
Strachan confirmed once again that the budget allocations for UNBC are safe.
"I’m assured by Stan Hagen —
and I know from funding in the capital budget I have put in place in terms of preparing for the budget, and in terms of legislation I introduced last year — that the university is off to a good start,” he said today.
“I don’t see any delays or deviation at all in the fast-track progress on the university.”
Asked if he saw a cancer clinic in Northern B.C. as one of his goals as health minister, Strachan said, “Naturally a major concern is better health care programs in the North.
“I will make that a priority, in view of our aging population in the North.”
CAMPGROUND FACILITIES CLOSED
Council ponders downtown rezoning
by BERNICE TRICK Citizen Staff About 20 downtown Prince George property owners may end up with higher assessment values
and higher taxes if a proposed rezoning goes ahead at city hall.
City council is inviting affected property owners to an informal meeting at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday
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Ann Landers .	
Bridge		
Business ....	. 10,11
City, B.C. . . .	. . .2,3
Classified . . .	. 18-22
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Commentary .	
Crossword . . .	. . . 19
Editorial ....	
Entertainment	. . 16
Family		. . 8,9
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International .	. . . . 7
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National ....	
Sports		13-15
Television . . .	. . 20
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’My wife blew up that one
in council chambers to discuss the proposed zoning change to C-l (Central Business District) from M-l (Service-light industrial).
The businesses are located in a narrow strip from Queensway to Victoria Street and from the south side of First Avenue to the lane running north of Second Avenue.
Council is considering the blanket change after receiving several applications for rezoning from property owners along the strip, including the Native Friendship Centre, which owns several properties within this boundary; Krazy Willy’s, which is non-conforming for its current use; Group Six Sales, at the southwest comer of Dominion Street and First Avenue; and Imperial Oil, adjacent to Group Six Sales.
Mayor John Backhouse likes the idea and says it will take some convincing for him to see how expanding the Central Business District by one block can be damaging.
“It would mean an increase in assessment values over time. No doubt, taxes would go up, too.
“But it would enhance First Avenue as a major entrance to the city,” he said, explaining it would allow more services which cater to travellers and tourists.
Property uses under the new zoning would be the same as the rest of the CBD which deals in retail sales and service.
Aid. Monica Becott is concerned the rezoning will lessen opportunities for new light industrial manufacturers in the area.
“Retail alone will not support the downtown,” said Becott, who wonders if property owners want to rezone for opportunities to sell in a better zoning area.
Aid. Ron Thiel supports the idea, “expecting it to enhance downtown revitalization with the addition of more commercial property.”
Following Wednesday’s meeting, planning department staff will consider input from property owners and report to council on May 27 with a recommendation to proceed with a rezoning bylaw or alternatives to the plan.
Should the first two readings of
a bylaw be approved, the next step would be to hold a public hearing June 17.
If the area is rezoned to C-l, several properties would be rendered legally non-conforming as to use. These include the Honda North auto dealership at First Avenue and Victoria Street and two warehouses at the Queensway end of the affected area.
Dave McDonald, director of development services, surmises the C-l expansion will cause an immediate increase in assessed values of the affected properties, but any further increases will be determined by the general economy and the degree of revitalization in the area.
He doesn’t see the rezoning affecting assessed values in the rest of the Central Business District.
“The area is obviously not attractive to business. Businesses won’t flock there,” he told council.
The proposed courthouse and civic centre-plaza developments will have a greater impact on the rest of the CBD, McDonald said.
Mayor leads Scandinavian campus tour
Mayor John Backhouse leaves Prince George Wednesday to tour five or six Scandinavian universities to “examine aspects which are of interest in developing the University of Northern B.C.”
He will be with a group of six members of the UNBC campus planning committee, including two others — Des Parker and Myron Sambad — from the city.
During stops at Swedish, Norwegian and Finnish universities, the committee will examine mission statments, academic planning and campus development.
“There are obvious similarities to Prince George to be considered, like climatic conditions,” said Backhouse.
“Prince George is a winter city as they are. We want to find out how they have coped”
On returning, the committee will prepare a report^ for planners and officials.
Aid. Anne Martin will be acting mayor during Backhouse’s absence until May 18.. :
Inquiry into Oka crisis urged by MPs
OTTAWA (CP) — The federal government should hold a full-scale judicial inquiry into last summer’s Oka crisis and other justice issues facing native people in Quebec, says a Commons committee.
In a report released today, the committee on aboriginal affairs said the 78-day standoff over a land claim at the Kahnesatake Mohawk community near Montreal is only one subject that should be examined.
Also on the table should be “all other policing and justice issues affecting aboriginal people” and other areas of conflict between native and non-native communities in the province.
The committee said Ottawa should “invite” the participation of the Quebec government but did not explain how the two levels of government would co-operate in the inquiry.
MPs on the committee heard from 112 witnesses earlier this year in a limited inquiry into events at Oka.
Federal officials and Armed Forces personnel testified, but no Quebec police, government officials or politicians appeared lo answer questions.
The Quebec government refused to appear before the committee.
Christos Sirros, the provincial aboriginal affairs minister, said events at Oka weren’t representative of relations between natives and non-natives in Quebec and the province would rather not focus on them.
by MARILYN STORIE Citizen Staff
Spring in Prince George means signs freshly mounted in the windows of local businesses: “Treeplanters! Buzz cut special S7,” “Treeplanters welcome here,” and “Special for treeplanters.”
If you go to buy a Walkman at J and A Sound downtown you’ll discover all units are on sale: for treeplanters, of course. W.D. West is another business canny enough to take advantage of the seasonal business, offering photo specials to planters on an annual basis.
But the sign at the City of Prince George campground at
EDITORIAL, PAGE 4
Munro Street says, “Campground
closed for the season. No trespass-
• ^ * * mg.
The campground officially opens today, but tents begin sprouting throughout the latter half of April like morel mushrooms underneath the trees of the city campground and adjoining parcels of land.
A tour of the site Monday showed planters are roughing it in unsanitary conditions that would bring fines for treeplanting companies if the tents were parked in the middle of a forest instead of the middle of a city.
“We’re bringing money into the city, so I think they should open up when the season starts,” said Michael Lauzon, 20, a student from Toronto.
In his second season of treeplanting, Lauzon said most of the people he has run into make an effort to treat treeplanters well.
Another treeplanter huddled under a stand of trees with 15 others said he and other trceplant-crs with nowhere to stay but the campground were “hassled a bit the first day.”
He waved a hand at the camp-
Treeplanters: No room at the inn
Citizen photo by Brent Braaten
Visiting treeplanters jumped the gun recently and have been Illegally using the city campground near Exhibition Park.
site of some 60 tents. “There’s got to be a hundred people here — there’s more over there in the next lot.”
Mae Frenkel, deputy director of Parks and Recreation said Monday, “We’ve had bylaw enforcement officers working up there every day — but as fast as they move the people out, another group comes in.”
When asked why the campground opening date, generally in early May, isn’t moved forward, Frenkel said she could not comment
One planter at the site complained Monday that park washrooms had been “locked out.” “We have to go all the way over to Alfredo’s Pub to use the washroom in the morning,” he
said. “They’ve been really good about it even when we go over in groups of 20 or so.”
One planter hailing from New Brunswick said he figured treeplanters spent an average of $300 each in the community. “We can’t afford a lot at the beginning of the season, but we could certainly afford to pay for the use of portable
toilets and running water — hot water,” he added.
But temporary quarters across from the noise of the nearby SPCA kennels and the overflow from the Munro Street garbage dump, does have one charm for the spring season’s planters.
“We can’t totally knock it — it’s free,” said one.
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