PRINCE GEORGE
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FRIDAY, APRIL 19,2002
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Ann Landers .. .........30
Bridge.......
Business...... ... .17,36-38
City, B.C...... ......3,5,13
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Coming Events ..........2
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Television---- .........27
World........ ......14,15
School district layoffs loom
by KAREN KWAN Citizen Staff
Teachers and support staff are bracing for layoffs next week when the school board makes deep cuts to battle a $7.1-million deficit. But proposed school closures unveiled this week will save money and allow the school district to keep more staff.
The district had projected up to 140 staff, including teachers and support workers, could be let go if schools weren’t shut down, said superintendent Dick Chambers. “With school closures, less staff would be laid off because the money saved from utility costs and efficiencies would save people,” he said.
This would help teachers maintain educational standards for students, said Sandra Davie, president of the Prince George District Teachers Association. “Having teachers teach kids is what it’s all about,” no matter where the learning takes place, she said. “But we recognize it will cause concern about students having to change schools,” she added. Without closures, 58 of 1,200 teachers were expected to be laid off.
The news, however, is upsetting for teachers who feel a strong connection with their schools, Davie said. Layoffs will be based on union seniority, the demand for a particular teacher’s program and qualifications, she said. If implemented, school closures would also mean fewer support staff will have to be laid off, said Marilyn Hannah, president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees’ local 3742. Regardless, she said some of the 1,020 members are expecting layoff notices beginning next week.
Roughly 50 full-time equivalent positions could have been eliminated prior to any school closures, she said. “I have great sympathy for the (school) board, who are being forced to make tremendous cuts because the government is not funding education adequately,” Hannah said. The school district is expected to absorb higher medical services premiums and higher wages in the teachers’ contract, she said.
A list of 27 options for school closures was revealed Wednesday, and the board is scheduled to make a decision at a meeting Tliesday. Taken together, the first 26
options, which involve closing at least 15 elementary schools by amalgamating them with others by September, would save $3 million to $3.5 million. The final model, a package of interrelated closures of 15 elementary schools and amalgamations that also reconfigures the grade structure of some secondary schools, would save about $3 million, and could be in place by September 2003. In deciding which schools could be closed, a district committee looked at the enrolment and condition of schools as well as the distance to other schools. It costs more money to run many, smaller schools and those with partially filled classrooms than fewer, amalgamated facilities, the report concluded. While Davie said some options are probably better than others, there’s nothing that immediately stands out.
■ Parents at Central Fort George Traditional School plan to hold a rally Monday to protest the possible closure of their children’s school. They’re planning to gather outside the school district office on Ninth Avenue, then march to the constituency office of Prince George North MLA Pat Bell, from noon to 1 p.m.
Long-term lumber deal needed: Emerson
Soldiers
PAGE 13 Tough-talking teen
Citizen photo by Brent Braaten
SWEET VICTORY — Haldi Road elementary students, from left, Marina Mann, 11, Katie Shelton, 11, and Courtney Boschmann all celebrate after winning the Battle of the Books at Highglen elementary against Highglen in a sudden-death final. There were five teams competing in the contest. The teams' knowledge of 13 Canadian books was tested in a quiz format.
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by GORDON HOEKSTRA Citizen staff
Canfor president and CEO David Emerson said there’s a chance softwood lumber negotiations between Canada and the U.S. could be renewed in the next two weeks, but he’s concerned there’s a growing industry willingness to settle for a short-term solution.
Emerson still wants to see a long-term trade resolution based on B.C. forest policy changes that will eventually result in free trade in lumber. He isn’t in favour of settling for an export tax, something the U.S. lumber coalition has proposed.
“Simply volunteering to hand a great, large tax to the Americans, or the Canadian government for that matter (if its an export tax), will be bad economics for the industry in the medium term,”
Emerson told The Citizen during a visit to Prince George. “We have to be very, very careful about voluntarily going down the path of, in effect, condoning discriminatory treatment of Canada by our friendly American neighbours, which is where this is heading.”
The U.S. Commerce Department imposed duties totalling 29% on Canadian lumber imports last month. The U.S.-based International Trade Commission is expected to uphold in May its earlier ruling the U.S. lumber industry has been injured by alleged Canadian lumber subsidies. If that happens, Canadian companies will have to start paying cash duties, and will be on the hook for about $1 billion in retroactive duties. Emerson continues to be critical of Canada’s approach to the trade dispute, saying it’s
“short-sighted, wrong-headed and foolish” to not consider linking the lumber dispute with other Canadian trade and international issues. Emerson said it’s not even necessary to talk in public about what issues you want to link as that would destroy your bargaining strategy. Items that have been suggested include oil, natural gas, water, as well as support for the fight against terrorism and joint U.S.-Canada security issues.
“I think Canada will pay a very, very serious price if we don’t face up to the fact there must be linkage, because what it means is that you’re willing to be picked off one sector at at time,” he said. “If there’s no linkage we’re absolutely handing ourselves on a silver platter to the Americans.”
Canada should also be building coali-
tions with other trading partners of the U.S., including European countries, Japan and Korea. For example, Canada should be joining with others to fight the recent Byrd amendment, which allows duties imposed and collected by the U.S. to flow to individual companies in an industry that has launched a successful trade complaint, said Emerson.
Canfor’s 11 sawmills in northern B.C. are operating now as lumber prices are high enough to absorb the duty liabilities. However, if the duty must start to be paid in cash, operations will depend on lumber prices, said Emerson. “We are more aggressive, more cost-driven than we’ve ever been before in the history of the company. Is it going to be enough to avoid mill closures? I don’t know.”
—See related story on page 3
Risk of heavy flooding on the increase
by KAREN KWAN Citizen Staff
Despite warmer temperatures recently, large-scale flooding isn’t expected to hit the region in the shortterm, experts say. However, significant accumulations of snow at higher elevations put the area at risk if it gets a lot warmer quickly. Heavy rains last weekend washed away low snowpacks and swamped rural areas east of Prince George, carving out a huge chunk of South Shelley Road, which remains closed.
With the mercury forecast to hit 13 degrees this
weekend, lower-elevation snowpacks will begin melting and cause smaller streams to rise, said Dave Gooding of the River Forecast Centre. “There may be some flooding, but nothing significant is expected,” he said. Gradual melting is necessary, he said, otherwise temperatures could shoot up and cause massive flooding. “It’s getting late. We need to get some snow off.”
. Larger rivers remain at fairly low levels, so overflow is not likely to occur, he added. However, Gooding said high elevation snowpacks in the area are still growing and have ballooned quickly in the past couple of weeks.
The upper Fraser and Nechako snowpacks have grown by 8% to 13% during that time, he said. Although the levels themselves are not startling, he said the pace of recent accumulation is “fairly unusual.”
“That tends to put us in a more vulnerable position. The possibility of extreme flooding is higher now than at the beginning of the month,” if temperatures rise suddenly, Gooding said. Meanwhile, the transportation ministry is re-opening two lanes on Johnson Road, which had been restricted to a single lane after last weekend’s flooding. 1
mourned
OTTAWA (CP) — As Canadians mourned the deaths of four soldiers killed in a “friendly fire” accident in Afghanistan, Defence Minister Art Eggleto’n called a board of inquiry and promised quick answers to what went wrong.
Retired general Maurice Baril, former chief of defence staff, will lead the probe. In the meantime, the Canadian Forces National Investigation Service is investigating the incident in co-operation with the U.S. military.
The four men died and eight others were injured overnight Wednesday when an American fighter jet bombed them during a night training exercise in what Prime Minister Jean Chretien called “a horrible accident.”
The bodies of the dead were to be flown to Germany on Friday. They were expected to arrive in Canada on the weekend. The dead were identified as: Sgt. Marc Leger of Lancaster, Ont.; Cpl. Ainsworth Dyer of Montreal; Pte. Richard Green of Mill Cove, N.S.; and Pte. Nathan Smith of Tatamagouche, N.S.
— See editorial on page 4, stories on page 6
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