PRINCE GEORGE
High today: 7 Low tonight: -8 Details page 2
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2002
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No-smoking bylaw smoulders
by SCOTT STANFIELD Citizen staff
A delegation of pub owners asked city council Monday to not initiate an all-out no-smoking bylaw in pubs and other drinking establishments.
“We ask city council to give us their commitment that the city will not render irrelevant new WCB work place regulations," said Terri Burleigh, manager of the BX and the local director of the Liquor Licensee and Retailers Association.
Tabor Arms owner Brock Gable said a 100% smoking ban is not as critical in restaurants, which he said attract a different clientele than pubs.
The request follows a recent Citizen poll which indicated council, albeit non-unanimously, would vote favourably on a local bylaw to ban smoking in pubs and restaurants.
Coun. Gord Leighton told the delegation they made a valid point. They are “on the threshold of making changes” (constructing ventilation systems and smoking rooms) and that he is not interested in supporting a local no-smoking bylaw should council contemplate one.
Mayor Colin Kinsley said he does not believe in government intervention when it comes to free enterprise. On a personal level, Kinsley said if smoke bothers him, then he has the choice to simply go someplace where he feels comfortable.
Gable and company also discussed
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INDEX
Ann Landers..... .......17
Bridge.......... ........9
Business ........ . .. .20-22
City, B.C........ ....3,5,15
Classified ....... ... .23-25
Comics ......... .......18
Coming Events .. ........2
Crossword ...... .......18
Entertainment .. ....18,19
Horoscope ...... ........8
Lifestyles ....... ... .17,26
Movies.......... .......19
Nation ......... ......6,7
Sports .......... ....10-14
Television....... .......19
World.......... ....8,9,16
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the proposed changes to provincial liquor regulations, which they say eliminate the current class identification of a liquor licence and enables restaurant owners to move into the pub market.
According to the recommendations, restaurant owners may apply for a “Designated Food Optional” (DFO) area, where liquor can be served without having to order food, which is limited to the lesser of 20 seats or 10% of the current licensed capacity.
Gable said such areas are difficult to regulate, and also create a number of legal issues; for example, a 16-year-old could be serving alcohol to a 19-year-old.
The delegation asked council to review the new system of seating restrictions, and to reconsider a previous decision to not comment on DFO areas.
The city of Delta, they added, last year adopted a resolution to refuse to consider any requests from restaurants for 20-seat pub seating, except for hotel restaurants.
Kinsley, however, suggested “less regulation is better than more” and said he prefers not to mess with the 20-seat issue.
Softwood proposal aired today
by GORDON HOEKSTRA Citizen staff
Canada says it expects the U.S. will table its own proposal on how to resolve the bitter softwood lumber dispute in meetings today in Ottawa.
Canada — through forest policy reforms put forward by its provinces, including B.C. — already tabled its proposal before Christmas.
“This is really big stuff,” said International Trade Ministry spokesman Andre Lemay. “We’re looking at the Americans coming with a proposal. This will let us know whether we have enough ground to basically say, ‘Yeah, we have a framework here. We can, in fact, work towards a solution.”’
Deputy minister Len Edwards will head the Canadian delegation, which is meeting with an American delegation led by U.S. assistant trade representative Peter Algeier.
It’s the first time the two sides have met since before Christmas.
Canada and B.C. have accused the U.S. administration of stalling negotiations. Canada faces a deadline of March 21 when the U.S. Commerce Department is set to make a final ruling on countervailing and anti-dumping duties. Some Canadian industry observers have said the U.S. administration — under pressure from U.S. lumber interests — will wait until just before that deadline before offering a deal. It could put Canada in the uncomfortable position of either accepting whatever deal the U.S. puts up or face having to pay up to $1.7 billion in duties.
B.C. is sending senior government officials to Ottawa, but Forest Minister Mike de Jong will remain at home as the Liberal government is delivering its first budget today.
The province is waiting to see if the U.S. actually puts a set of concrete, written proposals on the table
“We’ve been disappointed before,” said a B.C. forest ministry official, referring to the American administration’s failure to deliver promised proposals last month and before Christmas.
B.C. has proposed a slate of policy reforms, including moving to an auction-based timber-pricing system. But a U.S. industry group — the Coalition for Fair Lumber Imports — has said the reforms don’t go far enough in eliminating alleged subsidies to B.C. lumber producers.
Homebuilders eye Chinese market
by GORDON HOEKSTRA Citizen staff
A building code for wood-frame construction must be hammered out in China before we can take advantage of the burgeoning market, says Spruce Capital Flomes president Oscar Faoro.
Without a building code, there’s effectively no protection for the consumer, and as a result the buying and selling of homes takes place in a “grey-zone,” he said. But once a building code is in place, then wood-frame housing will be accepted within the laws of China, Faoro said.
However, those changes are not going to take place overnight.
The adoption of a national building code has been delayed several times and is not expected to take place until June or July, he said.
And then, regional building codes will have to be adopted as wood-frame buildings in northern China will have to withstand large snow loads, while those in the south need to be designed for a hot and humid climate, explained Faoro.
Currently, there are also no Chinese developers with
the skills to build large numbers of wood-frame homes; all are trained in the traditional concrete-housing sector.
A number of Canadian organizations are helping China to work on its first national building code for wood, including Forintek, a public-private Canadian research and development agency. Forintek is providing technical know-how, as well as sponsoring an exchange program with China, allowing technicians to work in its lab in Vancouver.
Faoro delivered a talk on the opportunities in China at Forintek’s annual convention in Vancouver recently. He explained the huge potential of the new market. Spruce Capital Homes, owned by The Pas Lumber, has built and shipped pre-manufactured homes to China.
“We will spend a lot of time, effort, energy and money developing this market,” said Faoro. “But in the long term there is unbelievable potential in many, many different wood products.”
China’s rapidly expanding population has reached an estimated 1.27 billion. But of China’s 14 million annual housing starts, only 25,000 are villa-style homes, and only a small fraction of these are made of wood.
City asks for time on 911 decision
by SCOTT STANFIELD Citizen staff
City council hopes the Fraser-Fort George Regional District will put off any decision about a new regional 911 fire dispatch until it receives a report from city officials about the pros and cons of such a centre.
Coun. Dan Rogers, who forwarded a motion to advise district officials to table discussion of a new centre until the city has completed its review, said he hopes “common sense will prevail” at a district meeting Wednesday about the proposed facility.
The centre, targeted for Ospika
Boulevard and Opie Crescent, will be responsible for the dispatching of all emergency fire/rescue agencies within the district’s 911 service area, which includes Prince George, Mackenzie, Quesnel, McBride and Valemount.
Local firefighters have cited numerous concerns about a stand-alone facility, among them radio problems and non-emergency inquiries. They have also suggested alternatives, such as expanding the present fire dispatch centre at Seventh and Dominion, or adding a second floor to the fire hall at Fifth and Ospika.
“Our position hasn’t changed,” said
Al Leier, president of the local firefighters union, prior to Monday’s meeting. “We still believe that regardless of what the regional district tries to say, that this is a public safety issue, and that the regional district cannot run fire dispatch and deliver the same product that can be done if it’s under the span of control of the fire department.”
Following the meeting, Leier said he was pleased with council’s decision.
The regional district’s 911 committee will discuss a feasibility report about the proposed centre at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at the district office at 155 George Street.
PAGE 15
Citizen photo by Brent Braaten
BIG AIR — Mark Sarrazin gets some air as he goes off a jump on Carney Hill Monday afternoon as Amy Dawley watches. Both UNBC students are on a reading break. Sarrazin is a third year history major, while Dawley is in her second year, taking English as her major.
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