Rain again
Citizen photos by Chuck Nisbett, Dave Milne
If we wanted Vancouver weather, we’d move to Vancouver. However, we seem to be stuck with it anyway, although only a 10-per-cent chance of rain is forecast for Friday after 20 mm fell Wednesday. At left, Mark Wallace, 7, and brother Cameron, 9, walk home through the rain along Laurier Crescent after attending classes at King George V Elementary School in Grades 3 and 4, respectively. The more experienced pair at right — Ginnie Jenkins and Diane Lampert — stay drier than the youngsters.
32 DEAD, 50 MISSING
Dollar dip: Some good, some bad
by KEN BERNSOHN .
Citizen staff
What's sauce for the goose ain't sauce for the gander.
The dollar, buffeted by a European Financial crisis and weakened by the sluggish economy and referendum debate, closed Tuesday at a new four-year low of 80.93 cents US, down from 81.10. Today it’s even lower at 80.78 cents US.
Whether this is bad or good depends on what you do for a living* says Cam Lustig, an economist with the B.C. Central Credit Union in Vancouver.
Every drop by a penny in the Canadian dollar’s value against the American buck means more than $100 million of help annually for the Canadian forest industry, says
Bruce Mac Arthur from the Council of Forest Industries Prince George office. COFI is the main forest company trade association in Canada.
“If you’re an exporter it’s good news, if you’re an importer you get creamed,” Lustig said from Vancouver.
“The mining industry, for example, says every penny drop in the Canadian dollar means $25 million to the industry.
“If you import computer software it will cost you more. And if you’re ordering from L.L. Bean (mail order U.S. clothing store), it will cost you more for a chamois shirt.”
Canada Post has a new $5 surcharge on all mail orders of goods from the U.S. as well.
One place the lower dollar will show up
quickly is at the supermarket where some fruit will quickly cost more.
“And since food is one of the things measured to gauge inflation, higher fruit prices mean more inflation, and that means people will want more money (in their paycheques),” Lustig said.
“For exporters, lower dollar values mean there’s opportunities, especially for resource industries (pulp, paper, lumber and mining) whose products are traded in U.S. dollars.
“But if you’re thinking of buying that shirt from Bean, you may consider the dollar value and decide against it. There’s a temptation to say what the appropriate dollar value should be, but that depends on who you are.”
FEAR OF RISING INTEREST RATES
Banks see mortgages locked in
TORONTO (CP) — Fear the free-falling Canadian dollar will drive up interest rates Ls prompting people with mortgages to lock into longer terms, bank officials said Wednesday.
Peter Gilbert, mortgage manager at the Bank of Montreal, said over the last two weeks the number of
Bank rate
OTTAWA (CP) — The Bank of Canada bank rate rose today to 5.69 per cent from 5.34 per cent last week.
THIS WEEK: 5.69 per cent.
LAST WEEK: 5.34 per cent.
TREND: Up for the third week in a row. Highest level since July 2.
new mortgage customers choosing Five or seven year terms has increased to more than 40 per cent from 30 per cent.
“It hasn’t been dramatic but there has been a noticeable increase,” he said.
Current customers who have short-term or convertible mortgages also have been switching to longer terms, he said. A convertible mortgage, which is usually six months or a year, generally allows the holder to switch to a longer term at the same rate without paying a penalty.
“There’s some concern with consumers that rates may turn the other way,” Dianne Gannon of Royal Bank said from Montreal.
People are uncertain whether the pressure for higher interest rates is just temporary, Gilbert said. “The greater the uncertainty ... the
longer people tend to go when they select their mortgage terms.”
After months of steady declines, mortgage and other consumer leading rates are expected to rise this week after the Bank of Canada hiked its key bank rate today to bolster the beleagurcd Canadian dollar.
The central bank raised the rate last Thursday, but lending rates didn’t follow.
The dollar’s plunge of 1.61 cents US since Monday has been blamed on a currency crisis in Europe, Canada’s upcoming constitutional referendum and the weak economy.
“We have seen more people moving out to long terms ... it’s definitely a trend,” said Tom Perris of Royal Trust.
However, consumers are still divided over whether any rate in-
crease
said.
will be temporary, Perris
“There’s some people who arc not going to want to take a chance,” and they’ll lock in today’s rates for Five years, he said.
Mike Braid, Toronto-Dominion’s vice-president of mortgages, said about 50 per cent of the mortgages issued or renewed so far this month at his bank are for six-month or one-year terms while a third are for five years.
“With the concern over interest rates, we’ll probably see a lot more deciding to lock in long,” he said.
A spokesman for the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce also reported a slight increase in the number of customers choosing longer-term mortgages this week.
Storms, floods cripple France
VAISON-LA-ROMAINE,
France (CP) — Rescue workers gave up hope today of finding about 50 missing people swept away by flash floods and Fierce storms in southeastern France.
At least 32 people were found dead after rivers in the Ardeche, Drome and Vaucluse regions burst their banks Tuesday, creating torrents of mud and water that devastated towns and campsites, toppled trees and houses and swept away cars and camping vans.
“Technically there is no chance of Finding anybody else alive,” said Yves Cavalier, head of the rescue operation in Vaison-la-Ro-maine, the town worst affected by the floods.
The water level rose so fast that vehicles were sucked up by the current and hurled over inundated bridges. Onlookers watched helplessly as people inside cars and campers waved from behind the windows in despair.
One pedestrian crossing the old Roman bridge in Vaison clung to a road sign for three hours before losing strength and being swept away. A mother fighting the current dropped her baby out of exhaustion and saw him drown.
In Vaison, 21 people were killed and at least 30 houses and a campsite destroyed. Telephone and electricity lines to 30,000 homes were gradually being restored today.
Tuesday’s disaster was the worst in Vaison’s modem history. The Roman bridge in the picturesque town, surrounded by vineyards, fruit trees and holiday homes, was last submerged in 1616.
Interior Minister Paul Quiles declared a disaster area and earmarked $1 million to help victims and repair the extensive damage.
Some locals blamed the severity of the flood’s impact on the gradual decline of agriculture in the area, saying the soil would have withstood better if more of it had been cultivated.
Residents returning after the storm found roofs ripped off their houses, furniture in ruins and belongings buried under mountains of gravel.
More than 1,600 policemen, firefighters and emergency workers conducted a house-by-house search for bodies while helicopters plucked flood victims from roofs and treetops.
Weather forecasters described Tuesday’s five-hour downpour as "tropical rainfall.” Winds reached 160 km-h.
Three people also died in the Ardeche region further north.
Weather forecasters said the same storm system struck England on Wednesday, swelling rivers in the south and central regions. No deaths were reported but highways and rail lines were flooded, and thousands of commuters stranded.
Italian authorities reported two people missing in flash floods in the Savona area on the coast near the French border.
Senior pension rising by $ 1.88
OTTAWA (CP) — The federal old age security pension will rise to $378.19 per month for the final quarter of the year to reflect inflation, the Health and Welfare Department announced today. This is an increase of $1.88 per month over the previous quarter.
The maximum guaranteed income supplement will increase to $449.44 from $447.20 for a single person or a married person whose spouse doesn’t receive the old age pension or a spouse’s allowance.
For a married person whose spouse receives an old age penison and a married person whose spouse receives a spouse’s allowance, the maxiumu will increase to $292.75 from $291.29 per month.
THEATRE CLOSING
The 726-seat Spruceiand Theatre will close next Wednesday, Brian Rogers, spokesman for Famous Players Theatres in Vancouver, confirmed today.
He refused further comment, directing all inquiries to Brenda Carrier, public relations officer in Toronto. Carrier is ill and unavailable for comment until Friday, he said.
Don Maidment, local Famous Players manager, confirmed a Sept. 30 closing date, but referred all media inquiries to Famous Players’ Vancouver or Toronto offices. Those offices directed inquiries to Carrier.
Last year Famous Players closed its 786-seat Parkwood Theatre. The closure of Prince George’s two largest theatres leaves the city with two Famous Players screens at Plaza 400 and three Cineplex Odeon screens at Third and Vancouver.
Meanwhile, Confederation Life is negotiating the sale of Spruceiand Shopping Centre to a dentist based in the Lower Mainland, mall manager Coral Britton said Wednesday.
“It’s in the process of being sold, but nothing is final as yet,” she said. “It’s still going through the legal channels.”
The sale is expected to be announced Oct. 15, “when all the legal paperwork is taken care of,” she added.
The buyer is a Dr. Benjamin Young. His hometown could not be confirmed this morning.
At Confederation Life’s Toronto offices, Leslie Spencer, assistant vice-president of communications, and Barry Graham, vice-president of insurance investments, could not be reached for comment.
The Prince George
Citizen
Trudeau strikes sparks 5
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Boy divorcing parents 11
Hard-hat Huskies here 13
No shortage of boo-boos 31
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24,1992
51 CENTS
(Plus GST)
Low tonight: 3 High tomorrow: 14
Phone: 562-2441 Classified: 562-6666 Circulation: 562-3301
INDEX
Ann Landers U ... 16 Bridge . . . . . 30
Business ... 22, 23, 24
City, B.C 2,3, 9
Classified .... 26-32
Comics.................33
Commentary 5
Crossword..............29
Editorial...............4
Entertainment ... 33
Family............16, 17
Horoscope..............30
International .... 11
Lotteries..............19
Movies.................33
National................10
Sports . . 13-15,18, 19
Television..............30
Wheds..................25
Farcus
Canada No. 1 in education spending
bourg, Sweden, Japan and Germany. Turkey is the poorest among the 24 countries studied.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Canada tops a 20-country list when it comes to overall education spending, says a report by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development
When counting public and private education funding, Canada was the top spender at 7.2 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product, followed by Denmark with 6.9 per cent, and Findland at 6.8.
But when it came to public funding, Canada’s 6.4 per cent ranking was fourth behind Denmark and Finland (lied at 6.8 per cent) and Norway (6.6), the Paris-based intergovernmental agency says.
The OECD report is the first to compare education systems among industrialized countries, and represents the most wide-ranging
and reliable set of international education indicators ever published.
“We have never before had a comparable database” because of the differences both in education systems and in methods of data collection, said Albert Tuijnmann of the OECD Secretariat
Tuijnmann, who helped prepare the report, said in an interview that the countries began work about five years ago to standardize definitions.
They agreed to use 1988 data, taking the national income and dividing it by the entire population, and then adjusting it for what the money really buys.
According to the report, the United States is the wealthiest industrialized country, followed by Canada, Switzerland, Norway and Luxem-
The report’s charts on education spending include no Figures for Greece, Iceland, New Zealand or Turkey.
In public funding of education, the United* States spent 5.0 per cent of its Gross Domestic Product, just above the 20-country average of 4.8 per cent Japan was last among the industrialized countries at 3.8 per cent.
With private funds added, the United States spent 5.7 per cent, the average for all the countries combined. Japan was tied with Portugal at the bottom of this list, at 4.9 per cent
But U.S. Education Secretary Lamar Alexander said the report “reminds us that money alone is not the answer.”
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