The Prince
TUESDAY, MAY 14,1991
51 CENTS
(Plus GST)
Low tonight: 2 High tomorrow: 18
Quite some vintage	6
Winnie given six years	9
Lindros best junior	11
Put the brakes to aging	20
Phone: 562-2441 Classified: 562-6666 Circulation: 562-3301	
ALTERNATIVE: SUBSTANTIAL CUTBACKS
Report urges forestry changes
by KEN BERNSOHN Citizen Staff
The current timber supply for industry in the Prince George area should be cut back almost 20 per cent immediately if management continues to have its present goals, says a study prepared for the Forest Resources Commission.
The current level of harvesting can be maintained for 170 years, then would require only an eight-per-cent cutback if the rules are changed a bit, says the study.
The study says the problem is simple: What the forest service estimates the yield of timber to be and what the forest service is
managing the forest to provide arc two very different things.
The report on the Prince George Timber Supply Area was not included in the commission’s recent report, public background studies or referred to directly in any public documents. It was made available to The Citizen by commission chairman A.L. (Sandy) Peel and executive director Derrick Curtis.
If the forest is managed, as it is now, to keep up the amount of wood harvested, concentrating on trees past the period of their fastest growth, it would be best to cut back the harvest in the Prince George Timber Supply Area by 18.9 per cent immediately, says
Gov’t offers
a new path
toward unity
by Canadian Press
OTTAWA (CP) — The Conservative government promised Monday to put the country on the path to a united and prosperous future with measures to reform the Constitution and boost economic recovery.
“There is much more to Canadian unity than amending the Constitution,” the government said in a throne speech delivered by Gov. Gen. Ray Hnatyshyn.
“Our unity is strengthened by a strong economy. And prosperity is enhanced by a united country. But disunity in the face of the global economic challenge invites decline.”
The speech, which launched a new session of Parliament, sets out plans for an all-party parliamentary committee that will spend five months seeking public reaction to the constitutional proposal Ottawa will announce in September.
It also served notice the government will pass a bill to allow a national referendum or constituent assembly — although the government would prefer to negotiate a new constitutional deal with the provinces.
The government faces a tight deadline because Quebec plans a referendum on sovereignty by October 1992 unless the rest of Canada makes an offer to keep it in the country.
Prime Minister Brian Mulroney expressed confidence that an accommodation can be reached in time to keep the country together.
“It can be done and it will be done,” he said outside the Commons.
The 12-page speech, the first delivered by Hnatyshyn, who arrived on Parliament Hill in the traditional black landau amid the smoky din of a 21-gun salute, made no mention of the current recession.
But it called for a prosperity push to create 2.5 million jobs and make Canadians 25 per cent richer by the year 2000.
“We must make the reforms necessary to earn the prosperity that until recently seemed our birthright,” said the speech.
Finance Minister Don Mazankowski acknowledged the goals are optimistic but insisted they can be met through education reforms, free trade with Mexico and ending trade barriers between provinces by 1995.
Liberal Leader Jean Chretien complained the Tories are moving too slowly to reform the Constitution and help the unemployed.
“They don’t really know what the hell to do with any of the problems they are faced with,” he said.
New Democrat Leader Audrey McLaughlin said Canadians should be angry about the lack of new government initiatives.
“If you didn’t have a job yesterday, you’re not going to have a job today according to this throne speech and there’s not one new idea for a new process on the Constitution.”
In other areas, the government:
■ Called for a national consensus on education — a provincial jurisdiction — that would attack illiteracy, boost the number of high-school graduates and increase employee training programs;
■ Named Brian Dickson, former chief justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, to serve as a special representative of the prime minister to consult on the royal commission on native issues announced last month;
■ Promised to improve the way aboriginal education, land claims and community development initiatives arc handled and to seek an alternative to the much-criticized Indian Act;
■ Promised parliamentary reform that would give MPs more power to represent their constituents.
The speech did not mention Senate reform, but Mulroney said it was covered by a vague promise to change unspecified national institutions. More details, page 6
	
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HERMAN
58307 00100
"Get going. I want a dollar's worth around the neighborhood."
the analysis by Industrial Forestry Service.
However, the present level of harvest can last for 170 years before being cut back 7.9 per cent if the decision is made to include in the harvest trees which are at their peak of fast growth.
This would mean some areas would be cut back earlier than others and forest companies would have to move from traditional harvesting areas, but the harvest could be kept up.
This is how forest yield, as distinct from harvest, is now figured out by the forest service.
The Prince George Timber Supply Area, the largest and most
complex in the province, was chosen for the study to see if adopting management plans for smaller units — breaking the area into nine units — would change the results. The 7,733,000 hectare (29,857 square mile) area is bigger than some countries in Europe.
However, the study which ran 29 different simulations, found little benefit in breaking the area into smaller units.
analyzed, says Darrell Errico, who worked on the report.
“Another problem is that things are changing in the field so quickly, with new species being planted, new techniques for management, and the fact we’re considering far more than we used to,” Errico said in a telephone interview from Victoria.
A recent forest service study of how timber supplies are analyzed — done about the same time as the IFS report — said there are areas for improvement in techniques used in the field to manage the forest and the way the forest is
“Now the look of the forest, effect on wildlife, water and other plant species are all considered in the field and we now have to get them into the analysis as well. We have to be able to update the things we’re including more often.”
Forest Service
Regional
Manager Ken Collingwood hadn’t heard about the study.
“It’s news to me, but we’re certainly interested now that we know about it. I’m going to try to get a copy and study it before making any value judgements,” Collingwood said.
Forest Minister Claude Richmond said Monday he hoped to receive the public’s written responses to the commission’s report by mid-June. Copies are available free at the forest service regional office at 1011 Fourth Avenue.
After that, Richmond said, he will appoint a panel of experts to help develop a discussion paper on proposed changes.
Heavy damage
Citizen photo by Dave Milne
Firemen extinguished a blaze Monday afternoon at 5500 15th Avenue. Prince George RCMP said today arson is suspected in the fire, which caused an estimated $95,000 of damage, although no one was injured. Anyone with information is asked to phone police at 562-3371 or make an anonymous call to Crimestoppers at 564-TIPS.
THRONE SPEECH REACTION
Public concerns stressed
by KEN BERNSOHN Citizen Staff
The federal government’s throne speech addressed some, but not all of the public’s concerns, says Michael Sullivan, president of Dccima Research, one of the country’s leading polling organizations.
“Unlike in the last recession where unemployment was clearly the issue on the public mind, this time the major concerns are much more diverse,” Sullivan said today in a telephone interview from Toronto.
“Unemployment hasn’t soared as it did last time around. National unity, the environment, and native issues are side by side with economic issues in the public’s mind,” Sullivan said.
“This makes it far harder for the policymakers and politicians to
address public concerns, because they’re much more diffuse.
The most notable omission from the throne speech is the public’s concern about the environment.”
Addressing the throne speech’s promise of a new commission on national unity, Sullivan said, “The Meech Lake debacle led to the overwhelming reaction from people who said they wanted to be consulted, and that route certainly hasn’t been exhausted yet. The consultation process hasn't gone far enough.”
Prince George-Peace River MP Frank Oberle, a member of the federal cabinet, liked the throne speech.
“We wanted to give people assurances that the government is following a consistent plan that will give our citizens a brighter future,” the forest minister said in a telephone interview from Ottawa.
“The throne speech had three major themes:	national unity,
working our way out of this recession, and government responsiveness,” Oberle said. “We’re listening to people and want to develop a national consensus, on not only unity but other major issues affecting our country.”
Prince George-Bulkley Valley MP Brian Gardiner, the NDP forestry critic, had another opinion.
“You’ll have to dig very deep to find much in the throne speech that will excite people,” he said in a telephone interview from Ottawa.
“Given the hype before the speech about what we might expect in constitutional matters, it’s boring to just get another committee. The committee will start in September, so we have nine months before we find out what the government is going to do.”
Judgment
error
admitted
Amber doesn’t mean ‘go fast’
In the original Starman movie, the alien first observes humans driving in their cars and then confidently imitates them, remarking to his startled passenger that green means “go,” red means “stop” and amber means “go very fast.”
Prince George RCMP say there is “a marked increase” in those who drive like the alien and fail to stop for amber traffic signals.
In response, they will be stepping up their enforcement at inter-
sections within the city limits with a special campaign.
Police say there is also an increase in drivers running red lights.
Both infractions have led to an increase in motor vehicle accidents.
According to Geoff Koganow, traffic safety mangager for ICBC in Prince George, more than 50 per cent of injury accidents here
involving motor vehicles in 1989 happened at intersections.
All drivers approaching a red “full stop” or amber “caution” light at a controlled intersection are required to stop before reaching the crosswalk or stop line.
They may not proceed until they get the green light to do so.
Police ask all drivers to pay special attention when appioaching controlled intersections.
OTTAWA (CP) — A senior External Affairs official and a top aide to Joe Clark, the former minister, have apologized for their handling of the immigration case of Mohamed Al-Mashat.
Raymond Chretien, associate undersecretary of state for External Affairs, and David Daubney, chief of staff to Clark, knew the former Iraqi ambassador to Washington had applied to enter Canada.
But they did not advise the minister or “seek ministerial views or concurrence,” said a statement today by Immigration Minister Bernard Valcourt and External Affairs Minister Barbara McDougall.
McDougall was immigration minister at the time of the application. She and senior Immigration officials were not informed of the case by lower-ranking officials.
External cited a “serious error in judgment.”
The ministers should have been told as a matter of policy but their officials followed the letter of the law in admitting Mashat. He is entitled to stay in Canada as a landed immigrant.
Valcourt and McDougall said the Iraqi was not admitted as part of an intelligence operation by either Canada or the United States.
“There have been no hidden motives, no espionage capers and no conspiracies by any individual or governmental agency, either Canadian or foreign,” the ministers said.
HBmha
Mima
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