High today: 24 Low tonight: 10
Details page 2
PRINCE GEORGE
Citizen
Serving the Central Interior since 1916
THURSDAY, JULY 20,1995
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80 CENTS (HOME DELIVERED: 47 CENTS A DAY)
Good news, bad news for consumers
by ERIC BEAUCHESNE Southam News
OTTAWA — Consumers finally got a break last month from what had been six straight months of rising inflation, but don’t expect that to translate into further interest rate relief, at least not yet, analysts warned.
Further, the good news on inflation, at least in part, mirrored the bad news on the economy.
Widespread sales and discounts kept prices stable in June and knocked the annual inflation rate — the change in prices from a year earlier — down a couple notches to 2.7 per cent from May’s three-year high of 2.9 per cent, Statistics Canada reported Wednesday.
“Consumers closed their wallets and high interest rates really killed the housing market,” said Peter Drake, deputy chief economist at the Toronto Dominion Bank. “It is a sign of slack in the economy.”
In May, inflation came in just shy of the three-per-cent ceiling set by the Bank of Canada, and a further increase would likely have forced it to push interest rates up to preserve its inflation-fighting credibility.
While a one-month easing in inflation rate doesn’t necessarily mean that will continue, “my expectation” is that inflation will ease through this year and next, Drake said. The bank expects inflation will average 2.4 per cent this year and less than two per cent next.
But June’s modest dip won’t likely lead to a further cut in rates right now, analysts agreed.
“We’ve already had a fairly substantial decline in commercial banking rates,” said Philip Wilson, senior vice-president treasury at the Bank of Montreal. The prime rate in recent weeks was cut to 8.25 per cent from 8.75 and is down from 9.75 per cent early this year.
During June, there was no change in the consumer price index — calculated from a basket of hundreds of commonly purchased goods and services — the first month this year in which prices have remained stable.
“Buyers of durable goods such as furniture, household appliances,
home entertainment equipment and recreational equipment benefited from a noticeable decline in prices in June,” StatsCan said. “These were traceable to sale’ prices offered by national chains.”
Discounts pulled clothing prices down 0.9 per cent, while a 1.1-percent drop in gasoline prices ended four months of accelerating increases.
Meanwhile, the slump in new home prices kept a lid on the cost of owned accommodation.
“At the same time consumers paid higher prices for transportation services, food, electricity, piped gas, reading material and paper supplies,” StatsCan said.
The annual inflation rate ranged from highs of 3.1 per cent in Ontario and 3.2 in Manitoba to a low of 1.6 in Newfoundland. The rates were between two and three per cent in all other provinces.
One reason not to expect lower inflation to translate immediately into lower rates here is that hope for further rate relief in the U.S. has faded in the wake of recent evidence suggesting that economy is again picking up steam.
“But over the long haul as our inflation continues to improve and we have the Canadian dollar gaining strength, we will see lower rates here,” Wilson said.”But I think it’s going to take a little time.”
FREE SATURDAY PARKING!
New TCBA chief woos shoppers
by BERNICE TRICK Citizen Staff
Free parking downtown on Saturdays, reinstatement of drop-in parking ticket boxes and redevelopment of Third Avenue will become a reality in Prince George if the Town Centre Business Association has anything to say about it.
The new executive wants these and other ideas to move forward to make downtown more attractive to customers, new president Ted Coole told the TCBA membership at a monthly meeting Wednesday.
rTo pursue free on-street and off-street parking means working with city hall and the Downtown Parking
Commission (DPC).
DPC directors have voted in favor of the off-street parking change and it’s now in the hands of city hall, said Coole.
TCBA has sent a letter to city hall regarding on-street free parking, but no answer has been received.
“It will require a change in the bylaw, so we expect it may begin on a trial basis,” Coole
said.
The loss in revenue to the city from Saturday metered parking is not known exactly, but the budget shows the average daily revenue from coins in meters represented about $1,470 in 1994.
TCBA is determined to replace the loss of parking ticket drop-off boxes removed by the city because they were too small for new parking tickets and too insecure to hold the sums of money required.
The City, TCBA and DPC have worked together to find an alternative.
“The solution proposed is to locate larger and more secure boxes on off-street parking lots,” said Coole, who hopes to see the new containers in place this year.
In other matters Coole discussed in his first meeting as TCBA president:
■ Social issues downtown are a major concern to TCBA which wants to take a proactive, rather than reactive, approach.
“We want to come up with
plans and programs to prevent situations instead of forever dealing with them after the fact,” said Coole, referring to things like alcohol-related problems, cleanliness of streets, prostitution, teenagers and the street people he calls “less-fortunates.”
■ Redevelopment of Third Avenue isn’t dead. “It’s very much alive,” said Jack Ross, redevelopment committee member.
Some businesses on Third Avenue are taking their own initiatives, said Ross.
Ongoing work involves new roofing, canopies, lighting and painting, and everyone is on board, Ross said.
Redevelopment chairman Ted Moffat and architect Des parker are scheduled as guest speakers to the next TCBA meeting in September.
Late last year Third Avenue merchants sirongly voted down a plan by city hall planners to revitalize the downtown street. The main objections revolved around canopies and reduction of parking spaces.
now
by Citizen Staff
If you’re going to give the gift of life — blood — do it now.
Today is your last chance to donate blood in Prince George for some time to come.
The Red Cross blood centre in Vancouver recently announced the suspension indefinitely of blood clinics outside the Lower Mainland as of September.
The cost of collecting blood in the travelling clinics in the North, Interior and Upper Vancouver Island is just too expensive, says the Red Cross.
It cost three times as much to collect blood outside the Lower Mainland — $60 per unit compared to $20.
Day Two of the clinic here was slow with just under 300 units of blood being collected.
Added to Monday’s 350 units, it brings the two day total to under 650.
It means the clinic is not on track to reach its three-day goal of 1,375 units of blood.
To give blood, you need to be in good health between the ages of 17 and 71, weigh more than 100 pounds and not be on medication.
If there are no lineups the process will take about an hour.
Be sure to have a substantial meal within four hours prior to donating, says the Red Cross.
The three-day clinic finishes today, running from 1:30 to 8 p.m. at the Civic Center.
Beat the heat
Citizen photo by Brent Braaten
Tara Arnold, 12, cooled off Wednesday at the Civic Centre plaza fountain, joining thousands of others in the Central Interior searching for relief from muggy conditions. Temperatures were 28 to 30 degrees C in the region Wednesday. Today’s high in Prince George is expected to be 24, but an afternoon thunderstorm is expected to bring cooler temperatures in its wake.
Needle exchange gets boost
by GORDON HOEKSTRA Citizen Staff
The Prince George Needle Exchange is back in the black.
The downtown clinic returned to its funding levels of two years ago, after the provincial government
announced $7 million for AIDS education and prevention programs in B.C. this year.
The exchange hands out needles, condoms and offers safe-sex information as well as nursing services.
Since the clinic opened in August 1991, 20 or 30 people a day come through the doors of the clinic to exchange needles. More than 900 intravenous drug users are registered there.
“We’ve been lucky,” said clinic co-ordinator Linda Keefe. “We lived with the deficit without cutting services.”
The latest Northern Interior Health Unit statistics show 60 people are HIV positive in Prince George.
Does the exchange make a difference? “Absolutely,” said Keefe.
As well as bringing education to high-risk groups, she said, you need the tools — like clean needles, bleach and condoms — to put the knowledge into action.
But even that’s not enough sometimes, added Keefe, as people won’t sustain safe practices unless they find out someone they know has AIDS or they are able to increase their self-esteem.
A question she’d like to see asked is — where is the AIDS money going? To direct services or elsewhere?
The NDP government said $1.4 million of the $7 million is going to groups managed by persons with AIDS. Another $900,000 has been set aside for aboriginal groups and $600,000 to other cultural groups, people with disabilities, youth and families.
INDEX
Ann Landers.............21
Bridge..................26
Business.............18,19
City, B.C..............2,3
Comics .................23
Coming events .......21
Commentary ..............5
Crossword...............26
Entertainment ... .21-24
Horoscope...............26
Lotteries................2
Lifestyles ..........20,21
Marketplace .........25-34
Movies..................23
Nation...................8
Sports ..............13-18
LEISURE
■ So you want to play with the Toronto Blue Jays. Even if your idea of a glove is the kind O.J.
Simpson seems to have trouble getting on at his trial, you can at least make people think you play for the Jays. New technology available at some photography stores allows you to digitally alter any picture you want. Put yourself in that major league uniform. Page 12
LIFESTYLES
■ Not only are they good for you, but they make summer kitchen duty a snap. Pasta salads are easy to make, nutritious and are adaptable to an end-
less supply of ingredients. Pasta salads can be carried cold to a picnic, served as a side dish at backyard barbecues and lend themselves to outdoor activities such as sailing and camping. Page 20
BOOKS
■ A young Cree woman gave birth to a blond-haired, blue-eyed boy and decided to give him up for adoption. She finally arranged a private adoption, but before the transaction was legally complete, she changed her mind. A lawyer for the adoptive parents said since the boy didn’t look Cree the adoption shoultj be allowed. Her story is detailed in The God-Sent
Child: The Bitter Adoption of Baby David. Page 23
NATION
■ Eager consumers might not get satellite television the first day they want to receive the much-anticipated service, but equipment supply problems could be resolved by Christmas. Demand for the paraphernalia required will likely exceed supply when the first Canadian direct-to-home service begins in September. Page 7
■ Fossil hunters have discovered the full skeleton of a 75-million-year-old ostrich-like dinosaur in Alberta’s Dinosaur Provincial Park. The skele-
ton includes one of only four well-preserved ornithomimid skulls in the world. Page 7
LOCAL
■ Driving down gravel roads used primarily by working logging trucks and lowbeds can be hazardous, particularly during the summer when clouds of dust raised by passing vehicles means next-to-no-visibility. Page 3
SPORTS
■ Greg Norman has a fragile back and the fresh memory of yet another second-place finish in a major championship. Nick Price is trying to get his game back. Nick Faldo is looking for his first major in three years. The three best golfers in the world go into today’s first round of the British Open haunted by questions but also as favorites. Page 14
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