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canada.com
Peace Air hopes to add flights
by KAREN KWAN Citizen staff
An Alberta-based airline could begin expanded daily service to Prince George by this fall.
Peace Air said it will likely develop flights between Prince George and: Grande Prairie, Edmonton and Calgary in Alberta; Fort Nelson and Smithers-Terrace in north and northwestern B.C.; and Watson Lake in the Yukon. All flights would probably be daily, the company said.
“It looks like Prince George could well end up being one of the hubs in our system,” said president and owner Albert Cooper. He said the company has almost completed its market research and expects to make an announcement within 60 days. Service on a small scale could begin as early as this summer, he said.
Last year, the city lost almost one-third of its direct air links after Air Canada Regional dropped six daily flights, as part of a massive downsizing undertaken by parent company Air Canada.
“We believe that what B.C. needs is an east-west service,” Cooper said.
Travellers flying between most northern communities are now forced to connect through Vancouver.
Peace Air has been working closely with Prince George Airport manager Stieg Hoeg.
“It’s pretty exciting in that it opens up routes we haven’t seen for some time here,” Hoeg said.
“It looks like Prince George could well end up being one of the hubs in our system.”
—Albert Cooper
In addition to providing more convenience for business and leisure travellers, he said expansion of regional service would allow the airport to market the facility to tour operators.
“With all the provincial downsizing, a lot of services are being consolidated in larger centres like Prince George, but people in other areas still need to access services,” Hoeg said.
Hoeg added the airport is seeking input from businesses which can help Peace Air develop a schedule that meets their requirements and is encouraging businesses to contact the airport.
Peace Air marketing director Toni Antonietti will be traveling to northern B.C. communities next week to identify each community’s specific scheduling needs.
She will be in Prince George Thursday to meet with Hoeg.
Cooper said the service would begin with nine-seat prop-jet Pilatus aircraft, then would possibly incorporate 19-passenger prop-jets.
Prince George Chamber of Commerce president Ed Graydon has hailed the possibility of expanded service, which he agreed would make traveling more convenient for business passengers.
Peace Air currently operates a direct flight between Prince George and Fort Nelson three times a week, as well as non-direct connections to other communities.
Canfor contemplates new pulp mill
by GORDON HOEKSTRA Citizen staff
Canfor Corp. is contemplating the construction of a $l-billion pulp mill in Prince George, but cannot say with any certainty whether the project will get off the ground.
No announcements are planned.
“If it were to happen at all, it would be something that would be phased in, probably over the next few years,” Canfor president and CEO David Emerson told pulp mill workers at Northwood on Monday. “Whether we even have an announcement this year or not, I’m not sure. We understand the technical side of it, but there’s some big financial issues. It will work out to $1 billion or something in that neighbourhood. And $1 billion is not something you can just whip out your cheque book and sign for.”
Canfor — the largest lumber producer and third-ranked pulp producer in the country — has spent $1 million on wood-chip supply and engineering studies to examine the feasibility of the venture.
The technical work has been done with a Scandinavian company, which Emerson did not name.
In an interview following his question-and-answer session with pulp mill workers, Emerson said raising
“If it were to happen at all, it would be something that would be phased in, probably over the next few years.”
—David Emerson
the $800 million to $1 billion in capital needed is a major issue, particularly in the current economic climate. Pulp markets are not strong.
Emerson said he didn’t want to discuss whether the new mill was meant to be an addition to Canfor’s three pulp mills in Prince George or replace one of them.
“It’s too speculative right now,” he said. “It would be an evolutionary thing. You’d eventually reconfig-
ure all your mills to make the whole complex world-competitive. But you’d do it in a way that you’d make sure everybody was benefiting from what you were doing. But it’s a long way from that point.”
Emerson also said the prospect of building a new mill has been hurt by the B.C. government’s lifeline to bankrupt Skeena Cellulose, whose operations include a pulp mill on the northern coast of B.C.
“It doesn’t make us feel good about spending $1 billion on another mill and competing with government-supported mills,” he said.
A B.C. Supreme Court judge gave the green light to the sale of nearly-bankrupt Skeena to its new investors last week.
The deal already had the B.C. Liberal cabinet’s blessing. Northwest B.C. Timber and Pulp Co. got the OK to buy Skeena’s operations for a firesale price of $6 million.
Its current debt of about $500 million will be written off.
Emerson also cited low fees charged on Skeena’s licences to harvest Crown timber, and its ability to export a third of its logs under a recent deal signed by the B.C. government as advantages over competitors like Canfor.
SUNNY SMILES — On their way home after school Tuesday, 16-year-old Sara Joseph, left, Carmelita Abraham, 13 and June Calliou, 16, try to stay warm from the chilly northern wind. Today is supposed to bring more clear, cold weather.
PRINCE GEORGE
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High today:-10 Low tonight: -17
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Council saves Nechako library branch
Symphony, RG. Development Corp. also receive city funding
by SCOTT STANFIELD Citizen staff
City council unanimously voted Hiesday to include a deferred amount of $200,000 into the public library’s 2002 budget, which essentially saves the Nechako branch from closing.
“The bottom line is if we don’t do this, it will be a profound change in our community,” Coun. Bruce Strachan said during Tuesday’s budget deliberation.
Last week, council approved an initial library budget of $2.4 million, which was about $100,000 less than the library received last year.
Had the $200,000 not come through, the Prince George Library Board indicated they were prepared to shut down the Nechako branch by September in order to continue quality service at the Bob Harkins Branch downtown.
The Prince George Development Corporation, a revamped organization designed to attract business and create jobs, had $473,000 of their $523,000 request approved.
“It’s hard to imagine Prince George — the key city in the north — without a revitalized downtown core,” PGDC chair Bill Lynch said.
The majority of council supported this notion, including Coun. Gord Leighton, who sees the PGDC as a “major tool” to help turn the local economy.
“This is absolutely crucial to our community,” Coun. Dan Rogers said.
The only member of council opposed to the PGDC request was Cliff Dezell, who said certain organizations may weaken in the short-term and possibly not recover in the future.
“I think the number is too large," Dezell said.
The Prince George Symphony Orchestra, which has come under dire fi-
nancial times of late, also received good news with a one-time grant of $100,000.
Their request drew considerable debate among council. Leighton said the grant is just delaying the demise of the PGSO, while Rogers suggested granting $50,000 instead.
Strachan, however, went with the full amount, saying the orchestra is a cultural attraction which contributes to the development of the local economy.
“It’s costly, bold and necessary,” Coun. Don Bassermann said.
Council also approved $14,000 for
memberships in the Yellowhead Highway Association and the Northwest Corridor Development Corporation.
Council did not approve $57,000 to continue the Downtown Business Improvement Association pilot Host program, which they hope the DBIA will farther explore through other possible funding support.
A number of the other 27 deferred program initiatives had not been discussed by deadline. The sum total of the requests is $1.6 million, while city council’s discretionary funding is slightly less than $365,000.
Doctors get $50K raise
Gov’t nixes arbitration
VICTORIA (CP) — Doctors in British Columbia were given an average $50,000 pay increase Hiesday, but the Liberal government moved to erase a binding arbitration award that would have given them even more money.
Health Minister Colin Hansen said he hoped the pay increase and promises to work with doctors to better allocate health-care funds will end more than a decade of poisoned relations between B.C.’s doctors and provincial governments.
“We appreciate that this is a strong measure that we are • bringing in,” Hansen said. “What the arbitrator did was throw more money at the problem.”
The Medical Services Arbitration Act introduced in the legislature Hiesday cancels the binding arbitration decision delivered last month by former B.C. chief justice Allan McEachem.
The move angered doctors, who say getting rid of the binding arbitration provision contravenes the Canada Health Act, which stipulates that arbitration must be available to help solve doctor-govemment disputes.
“The government abolishing binding arbitration is unprecedented,” said Dr. Heidi Oetter, president of the British Columbia Medical Association. “It’s the first time it's ever happened in Canada and it’s against the Canada Health Act.”
Oetter said the government’s move gives doctors no dispute resolution mechanism, leaving them “at the mercy of the government.”
She also said doctors had no advance warning of the government’s move and aren’t sure what it means to them.
“What we see in the legislation today doesn’t give us much comfort that they are going to do as we would expect them to do,” which is honour the arbitration award’s recommendations for fee increases and increases for on-call work, she said.
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