PRINCE GEORGE
High today: -3 Low tonight: -5 Details page 2
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2002
Serving the Central Interior since 1916
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TODAY
COMMUNITY
Developer reveals casino plans
by GORDON HOEKSTRA Citizen staff
Casino Hollywood owner John Major broke his silence Tuesday over his proposal to buy a parcel of Prince George Golf and Curling Club land for $1.5 million.
Major — who had declined since early November to talk about his plans for the land at the corner of highways 16 and 97 — revealed he wants to close his casino downtown and build a $ 10-million expanded casino and hotel at the new location. So far, Major and his wife, Shelley, are the only partners in the project. He hasn’t signed a deal with a hotel, but Major said that shouldn’t be a problem if the land sale is OK’d.
The golf and curling club’s 800 members vote on
Major’s proposal tonight at 7:30 p.m. during an extraordinary meeting. A vote on the same proposal last month was turned down.
Major said he’s not holding his breath over the vote.
He noted the sale would also need city council approval, which “doesn’t look too good.”
So far, two city councillors have told The Citizen the casino should remain downtown.
“We’ll see what happens (tonight),” said Major, who doesn’t plan to attend the meeting. “If that doesn’t work, we’ll just look for another facility with parking and good access, and something that’s suitable to city council. Those are the main criteria.”
The sale of the land has been protested by user groups of the Roll-a-Dome like indoor soccer, ball
hockey and boxing. More than 10,000 signatures have been collected on a petition protesting the closure of the Roll-a-Dome, which is located on the five-acre parcel of land Major has offered to buy.
Major said as part of his deal to buy the land he will put up $200,000 towards a multi-purpose facility for the user groups.
Major said he wants to move his casino from its downtown location on George Street in the Ramada Hotel complex to a location that has better parking and where he can expand. Currendy, the size of the casino limits the number of slot machines to 220, but Major’s licence allows him to operate 300 slots.
What kind of restaurant facilities might be included in the casino or hotel haven’t been hammered out, he said. “We’re leaving that up to the golf course.”
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Aching for Oklahoma
Cornered by Baldwin
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Yoga feasibility studies
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canada.com
UNBC lands B.Ed. program, awaits funding
by PAUL STRICKLAND Citizen staff
The University of Northern B.C. has received approval for its Bachelor of Education program.
However, the start date — which UNBC hoped would be September — depends on government funding.
“We’re looking to appoint about five new faculty to begin offering the program, ramping up to 15 faculty and staff when the program is fully operational,” said Dr. Charles Jago, UNBC president. “There’s a need for this program in the North, where teacher recruitment and retention can be a challenge.”
Paul Madak, chair of education at UNBC, said the new bachelor’s degree has just been approved by the B.C. College of Teachers, the teachers’ licensing
authority in the province. The university has already begun advertising for faculty. “The final hurdle in implementation is funding from the provincial government,” Madak said. “But we’re optimistic because we’ve been talking about this for some time, and so it’s not something that would catch them off guard.”
UNBC’s two-year B.Ed. will initially offer training for students interested in teaching at the early (kindergarten through Grade 9) and senior years (Grades 9 through 12). UNBC also has plans to develop a middle years program (Grades 6 through 8).
“In addition to offering courses in Prince George, we are proposing to start our first regional cohort in Terrace,” Madak said.
The program will be open to stu-
dents who have already completed a bachelor’s degree in an academic area that is commonly taught in B.C. schools. The program features an emphasis on teaching in northern communities, working with First Nations and 20 weeks of practical classroom experience.
“Receiving approval from the College of Teachers is a milestone for us in the development of this program,” said Robin Fisher, dean of arts, social and health sciences at UNBC. “The College of Teachers has been working hard with us to develop a teacher education program of high quality.”
The proposed B.Ed. will provide new opportunities for students to become teachers, Madak said. The one-year professional development program (PDP) will not be necessary in addition
to the UNBC B.Ed. in order to be qualified to teach.
“Our program is different from a PDP in that you will get a B.Ed. from us,” Madak said.
Simon Fraser University has been offering a one-year PDP program through the College of New Caledonia, but plans to discontinue it. “SFU indicated that the cohort that started in January, which will graduate in December, will be their last cohort,” Fisher said.
Since 1994, UNBC has offered a master’s degree program in Education, providing additional training for current teachers and others in counselling and instruction.
More detailed B.Ed. information will be available soon at www.unbc.ca/edu-cation
Teachers lower demands
by PAUL STRICKLAND Citizen staff
The B.C. Teachers’ Federation has again significantly reduced salary demands in an effort to reach a negotiated agreement, says a local union official.
The teachers’ union now wants 6% a year over three years, or 18% over the life of a new contract, Sandra Davie, president of the Prince George District Teachers’ Association (PGDTA), said Hiesday.
That’s down from 22% over three years in a revised contract proposal presented to the B.C. Public School Employers’ Association (BCPSEA) last fall, which itself was a reduction from the teachers’ original proposal of 34%.
The BCTF would also work toward a compromise with BCPSEA about setting levels of staff required to help special-needs students, Davie said.
The BCTF delivered its latest contract proposal to BCPSEA at mid-morning Hiesday. “It means a total of $400 million over three years, while BCPSEA is offering $300 million,” Davie said. “So we’re closer.”
However, the figure of $400 million likely refers to just the financial impact of salary demands, said SD 57 superintendent Dick Chambers. But the total impact of other non-salary items, like
CHAMBERS
the BCTF’s proposals about ratios of non-enrolling teachers to the number of students in each school, could add up to a couple of billion dollars, he said.
The $300 million BCPSEA says it has available for a settlement is for all costs in a new contract, not just salaries, said Bev Christensen, vice-chair of the SD 57 board.
“The BCTF makes it look like we’re very close to a deal, but we’re not,” Christensen said. “Maybe it’s only $100 million more in wages, but there’s also hundreds of millions in extra costs when you take into account the reduced class sizes and additional services they demand.”
The BCTF has merely gone from the excessive to the unaffordable with Tuesday’s long-awaited proposal, said Ken Denike, BCPSEA chair. “Going from a 22% salary increase over three years to an 18% salary increase over three years can hardly be termed significant,” he said from Vancouver.
Denike said BCPSEA had reiterated throughout negotiations it had only $300 million available. “The proposal made today, at a cost of approximately $1 billion, including $722 for their salary demand, doesn’t move us any closer to an agreement,” he said.
—For government's response, see page 6
Don ’ttouch contracts: union
by GORDON HOEKSTRA Citizen staff
The B.C. government will have a “battle in the streets” if it strips provisions from current labour contracts while imposing a contract on school teachers, says union leader Wiho Papenbrock.
“If they touch our collective agreement — a legal contract — they’ve crossed the line,” said Papenbrock, regional director of the B.C. Government and Service Employees Union in Prince George (BCGEU). “There will be a battle, and it will tear this province apart.”
Premier Gordon Campbell has said the teachers dispute must be settled by this weekend. If not, it’s expected Campbell will legislate a contract. Papenbrock fears the Liberal government could use the opportunity — with the Legislature open — to change other existing labour contracts, including rolling back wages.
That would lead to direct job action by workers who are already reeling from massive civil service job cuts, said Papenbrock.
Prince George-Omineca MLA Paul Nettleton said he couldn’t comment on the union’s concerns.
NETTLETON
“If there isn’t a resolution of the teachers dispute very soon, we’ll be back in the Legislature. That’s a certainty,” he said. “But I can’t speculate what the terms of legislation might be with respect to the teachers, nor can I speculate about other concerns with respect to contracts that members of various unions may have.” BCGEU officials are also still attempting to tally the magnitude of the cuts in the Prince George region, which includes Fort St. James, Vanderhoof, Mackenzie and the Robson Valley. Papenbrock said he’s not certain figures provided by the Liberals to date — which peg the cuts at 225 in Prince George and about 275 in the region over three years — are the final tally. For example, he’s not certain Ministry of Children and Family Services cuts have been included yet. “We don’t know whether we’re looking at 100, 200, 500 or 1,000 (job losses) quite frankly at this point,” he said.
One Liberal official said a breakdown of B.C. government jobs cuts in each department is not available yet for Prince George and region, but figures may be available within a few days.
Citizen photo by Brent Braaten
SUCK ROADWAYS — There were a couple of fender bender MVAs at the intersection of Ospika and 15th Avenue Tuesday around 2 p.m. One of them saw a car rear-end a police car into another vehicle. With more snow falling Tuesday, city roads were very slippery.
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