80 CENTS (HOME DELIVERED: 50 CENTS A DAY)
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 5,1998
INDEX
PRINCE GEORGE
High today: -2 Low tonight: -9 Details page 29
Serving the Central Interior since 1916
Forest firms want action to cut costs
SATURDAY
REPORT
PAGE 13
It’s gizmo heaven at high-tech show
SPORTS
■ The Prince George Cougars are heading off on a long road trip on high note after beating the Red Deer Rebels 6-4 Friday night at the Multiplex. First-line centre Blair Betts marked his return from a knee injury with a two-point night.
PROVINCE
■ Hearings to probe RCMP clashes with protesters at last year’s APEC summit will proceed despite the sudden resignation of panel chairman Gerald Morin, says the head of the Mountie watchdog agency. /5
City jobless rate jumps to 18.7%
MUSIC
■ What music best contributes to a person’s quality of life? Don Campbell, author of The Mozart Effect, claims the master’s work can heal the body, strengthen the mind and unlock the creative spirit./22 .
Citizen photo by Dave Milne
LIGHTING CEREMONY — The lighting of the Christmas tree in front of the courthouse was done Friday with the help of mayor Colin Kinsley, right, Canfor representative Don Stewart, left, Town Centre Business Association president Jack Ross and seven-year-old Megan Isabelle, who won the right to light the top of the tree in a draw. The tree-lighting ceremony included a visit from Santa and his elves, songs by the PGSS choir and the Sweet Adelines and horse-drawn sleigh rides down George Street. The tree was donated by Canfor.
loss would have hit Prince George as it’s the largest community, said Human Resources Development Canada labor analyst Bruce Johnston, who didn’t nave specific job-loss figures for Prince George.
The job losses are directly related to troubles in the forest industry, he said.
“We’re not a particularly diversified economy. . .And as everybody knows the forest sector is having a lot of problems.”
The ripple effect then spreads to the retail sector as people stop buying, said Johnston.
“It’s not going to improve until one of two things happens — the forest industry gets better or the economy gets more diversified,” he said.
The Peace River region, which has a more-diversified resource sector with oil and gas, has the lowest unemployment rate in the province at 3.6%. Next door in Alberta, the provincial unemployment rate is 6.2%.
by GORDON HOEKSTRA Citizen staff
The jobless rate in Prince George jumped dramatically in the past month, bucking a national trend where the rate has reached its lowest point this decade.
Statistics Canada figures released Friday peg the city’s jobless rate for November at 18.7%, up from 15.2% in October, and the worst it’s been in at least three years.
Last year at this time, the unemployment rate was 13.5%.
The national average has reached 8.0%, its lowest point this decade, and in B.C., the jobless rate is 7.9%.
There have been 2,600 jobs lost in the past month in the Cariboo region that encompasses 100 Mile House, Williams Lake, Quesnel, Mackenzie and the Robson Valley, as well as Prince George. The region’s unemployment rate is 15.8%, the worst in B.C. The next worst rate is in the Kootenays, which stands at 11.7%.
The majority of the region’s job
SCIENCE
■ Chances of “little green men” from Mars or elsewhere deliberately seeding Earth with life is the stuff of science fiction, writes Todd Whitcombe in this week’s Science and You column. But the building blocks of life . combined in interstellar space and ending up here is possible. /35
Cornered by Baldwin
information on how overloading effects truck accidents;
■ And regrouping the various departments like WCB, Ministry of Forests and motor vehicles that have jurisdiction over industrial roads.
The WCB said the new weight restrictions were brought in because workers were being injured and killed because of overloading.
But the Council of Forest Industries (COFI) countered that there was no evidence to back that claim, adding if research could prove the WCB’s claim, they’d go along with the solution.
“We never did deny the fact that there are problems to do with getting good statistics, partly because of the varied number of jurisdictions that you’re dealing with,” said Rowe. “Truthfully told, nobody has taken the issue and sat down and addressed it.”
The WCB-industry controversy was sparked after C.T. Hazelwood of Northwood said the regulation changes would add costs of $3.08 per cubic metre of wood, essentially wiping out a $3.50 provincial government timber harvest fee cut.
by GORDON HOEKSTRA Citizen staff
A joint WCB, industry and labor committee has wrapped up its deliberations on an off-road logging truck regulation change that industry said would significantly increase costs.
The committee has put forward its recommendations — which include extending the regulation phase-in period — to WCB’s head office.
A decision on the recommendations is expected within two weeks.
The committee was formed this fall after the forest industry said cost increases from the new WCB weight restrictions wiped out a timber harvesting fee reduction by the provincial government.
“I see resolution down the trail bearing in mind the disastrous state of the forest industry,” local WCB official Dave Rowe said Friday.
Rowe headed up the joint committee that also included representatives from COFI, the Central Interior Logging Association, other logging associations and the IWA.
Other recommendations include:
■ Getting much better statistical
‘Rugged romantic seeks elegant lady. Must like hunting and gathering."
E-Mail address:
pgcfiews@prg.southam.ca
Our web site:
httpV/www.
princegeorgecitizen.com
Auction tally hits $12 million
Ann Landers .. Around Town .
Bridge..........
Business .......
City, B.C.......
Classified
Comics .........
Crossword ... Entertainment Horoscope ... Lifestyles ....
Movies.........
Nation..........
Sports ........
Television World ..........
About $12 million in sales was mix of equipment including every-generated at the Ritchie Brothers thing from construction, earth mov-Auctioneers unreserved auction Dec. ing, road building, logging and mill
1 in Prince George, an event that equipment to snowmobiles,” Willows
attracted bidders from all over the said.
world. Bidders came from eight
There were 2,000 registered bid- provinces and territories, 18
ders participating in the winter sale, American states, Australia and
said George Willows, regional man- Africa.
ager. Ritchie Brothers holds four sales
“It was a large sale with a good annually in Prince George.
Citizen photo by Dave Milne
NATIVITY SCENE — Tessa Rhodeizer and Mark Lapointe look over one of the more than 150 creches from all over the world on display at the Church of Latter Day Saints on Fifth Avenue. The exhibit has grown from 50 last year. This creche from China is made of brightly painted paper. The display will be open 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. today.
Hottest Christmas toy up for bids
%Slfeda •com
Start Your Search From Home.
Bids on the popular Christmas presents will be accepted for the next three weeks.
The bids will be collected from the offices at 4 p.m. the day prior to the toys being awarded — Dec. 9,16 and 22 at the United Way office, 1306 Seventh Ave.
The four highest bids each week will get the furry, gremlin-like creatures.
Canadian Tire has donated 12 Furbys, this year’s hottest Christmas toy, to the Prince George United Way for a fundraising venture through a silent bid auction.
Submit your bids at The Citizen, Canada Trust (Pine Centre and Victoria Street locations), Canadian Tire, Free Press and United Way offices.
0 58307 00100
058307001008