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Outdoors
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Nation
Bizarre twist of fate makes millionaires of father and son. Page 16
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Top sprinter upset with Games selection. Page 11
m
Low tonight: 8 High tomorrow: 24
Details page 2
PRINCE GEORGE
Citizen
1
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 10, 1994
ONLY ONE WEEK TO GO
2,800 expected at UNBC opening
RSVPs are in, parking passes are out, shuttle buses are gassed up and fireworks are ready to explode for the official opening of the University of Northern B.C. in Prince George.
With just one week to count down until the visit of the Queen, UNBC organizers and officials are down to details and the public is being advised of its role.
Members of the public are invited to attend the 2:50 p.m. Wednesday opening ceremony featuring Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, the founders recognition event at 4:15 p.m. and the public open house festival at 5:30 p.m., Rob van Adrichem, UNBC media officer, said in a press release today.
Although the 2,800 guests accepting invitations all have received
parking passes, the public is on its own to share the remaining 900 spaces, or may park along the right-hand sides only of University Way and Tyner Boulevard.
However, these routes will be closed to make way for the Queen at 2:30 p.m. and 4 p.m.
To ease traffic congestion, both entrances to the university will be one-way traffic from noon to 4:30 p.m. with traffic going in along University Way and exiting along Tyner Boulevard to Highway 16 West at Domano Boulevard.
The public is encouraged to car-pool or consider parking at Exhibition Park and taking the shuttle buses running to the campus from noon to 2 p.m. and coming back from 4:30 to 6 p.m.
If you can’t make it to the campus that day, you can watch it on CBC Television with live coverage beginning about 2:50 p.m. with Alison Smith from The National (news).
Cranbrook Hill will be live with the sounds of music that day. Performing for the Queen will be the Kermodei Singers children’s choir from Terrace and the Lake Babine Native dancers.
The open house festival will offer 20 regional performers and groups, campus tours, food fair and fireworks at 11 p.m.
Jackie Watson, UNBC student from Dawson Creek, will present the Queen with a birch bark biting work by Angelique Levac of Prince George. Watson is among the first six graduates of the university and is working towards a masters degree in psychology.
RATES CITED AS HOUSING STARTS DIP
Southam News
OTTAWA — Mortgage rates have eased but not before knocking some steam out of the housing industry, the federal housing agency reported Tuesday.
Housing construction starts fell 11 per cent in July from June, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. said. Construction was at an annual seasonally adjusted rate of only 153,400 units in July, down from 172,800 in June.
Much of the decline was in apartments and condominiums in Alberta and British Columbia. .
“Higher mortgage rates also limited construction of single-detached dwellings, which inched up only in Ontario and the Western provinces.”
The CMHC report provides the most recent evidence that the runup in interest rates earlier this year slowed economic activity.
Last week the Bank of Canada reported that "it appears that higher interest rates have begun to have an impact on spending . . . (and) appear to be affecting demand for housing, as sales of existing dwellings fell significantly in May.”
However, rates have eased over the past month.
And the decline in mortgage rates continued this week, while the trend-setting Bank of Canada rate held steady Tuesday at 5.7 per cent, after falling a hefty third of a percentage point last week.
Last week’s rate drop sparked a further quarter-point cut in the prime rate, the benchmark rate for consumer and business loans, to 7.25 per cent.
The easing of rates has come with the strengthening of the dollar, which closed Tuesday at 72.85 cents US, up from 72.61 cents US Monday.
WORKER GROUPS QUESTION STRATEGY
Critical Day underlines problems at PGRH
by BILL SEYMOUR Citizen Staff
At least two groups representing health workers in Prince George won’t be part of an information campaign this Saturday which the Hospital of the North Society calls Conditional Critical Day.
A representative of the 600-strong Health Employees Union says they don’t object to the Society’s goals, just how they are trying to achieve them. John Hurren, HEU director, said today there arc mechanisms in place to get more dollars for the city’s only hospital.
“Generally the objective to achieve more funding for services are consistent with the objectives of the HEU,” Hurren said today. “We have some concerns about the process they are using, considering the funding that has been made available.”
Conditional Critical Day is a public awareness day to inform the public of problems at Prince George Regional Hospital. Terry Price, a spokesman for the society, said information kiosks will be set up throughout Prince George with society members and city doctors
handing out information.
The Hospital of the North Society was launched this summer. Calling the society non-political, members say their concern is for funding mechanisms needed to keep PGRH as a regional referral centre for northern B.C.
The loss of specialized health services is increasing because doctors are leaving and facilities are closing, says an HNS newsletter.
The society says its mission is to provide people in the North Central Interior with treatment and care necessary for good health.
But Hurren and others say it is premature to be taking action when the provincial government is actively studying funding in B.C. hospitals.
Minister of Health Paul Ramsey recently announced $50 million for hospitals in financial trouble as well as another $42 million for Closer to Home initiatives, although details were not revealed.
A report on funding at PGRH is due out next week and it is likely some of the extra money will be spent here, Hurren added.
“There are other avenues to explore,” he said. “But some of the
comments seem to be directed at the minister rather than going through the process that has been put in place.”
A spokesman for the Health Sciences Association said his membership will not be officially participating in Conditional Critical Day. Bryan Llewellyn said the 100 HSA “paramedical staff’ at PGRH are not as a group participating in the HNS.
“The HSA is not involved with the Hospital of the North Society,” Llewellyn said Tuesday.
INDEX
Ann Landers.............24
Bridge..................30
Business.............IS.19
City, B.C..............2,3
Classified...........26-31
Comics .................22
Coming events ..........25
Commentary ..............5
Crossword ..............27
Entertainment ... .21-23
Horoscope...............30
Lifestyles.........7,24,25
Movies..................22
Nation..................16
Sports ..............11-15
Television .............2#
World ..................17
Farcus
58
07
“1 don’t think this change in corporate culture It gonna pay on."
0010G
City gets ‘infrastructure’ money
The money was there but the messenger wasn’t Tuesday in Prince George.
The announcement of close to a million dollars in federal-provincial infrastructure works money for northern B.C. went ahead despite the fact the federal MP scheduled to make the announcement missed her morning flight to the city. Confusion at the airline ticket counter apparently blocked Dr. Hedy Fry (Liberal, Vancouver Centre) from boarding her flight from Vancouver to Prince George.
Despite Fry’s absence, MLA Lois Boone (NDP, Prince George-Mount Robson) named the five
projects Ottawa, Victoria and four B.C. municipalities will cost-share under the infrastructure program.
Road, highway and sewer work were listed among the projects. Ottawa and Victoria committed a total of $995,199.
The municipalities will contribute approximately $497,599 for their share.
The largest project — $405,940 — is for upgrading and paving of Highway 27 in Fort St. James.
Prince George was next with $281,520 to upgrade and enlarge sewage treatment lagoons at the Western Acres facility just west of city limits. A proposed dam and
water diversion are part of the project, said mayor John Backhouse.
The city will contribute approximately $130,000 towards the project that will include improve habitat and wetlands, he added.
The existing facility has been close to capacity for several years and the infrastructure money was important in getting the project rolling. Backhouse said.
“It’s essential,” he added. “Because we wanted to proceed with this and we haven’t been able to put the project together.”
City officials said construction of the lagoons could begin this fall.
Other recipients for funding
were Fraser Lake and Valemount. A pair of road projects, totalling $189,000, were announced for Fraser Lake. Valemount is to get $118,059 for lepaving.
The program is the only way Fort St. James could have improved Highway 27, also known as Stuart Drive East, as it cuts through the village, said Mayor Sandra Kovacs of Fort St. James. About 600 metres of downtown road will be improved with sidewalks and sewers, she added.
"It’s crucial,” she said. “Without the funds it would not have happened.”
SWITCHBOARD: 562-2441
CLASSIFIED: 5^2-6666
CIRCULATION: 562-3301
Pi
Citizen photo by Dave Milne
These tasty-looking hay bales will make good eating during the cold winter for the herd of cows in the background. The scene, with Tabor Mountain behind the herd, is the federal government’s now-closed experimental farm along the Old Cariboo Highway. Summer scenes of colorful fields and pastures filled with grain are common around Prince George during these hazy, lazy days of late summer.
Future feasts
058307001008