00420268
November 27 - De at the Prince George
to the Spirit of the aoare Foundation ’ortnatfon call 660-26: genorth.bo.oa
Citizen photo by Dave Milne
GIRLS JUST WANNA HAVE FUN — Six-year-old Grace Burke has a big grin on her face after getting buried by thousands of coloured balls at Bubba Baloo's on Thursday. Grace and her family spent the evening sliding and climbing through the tunnels and mazes, as well as jumping in the ball pit.
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2002
80 CENTS (HOME DELIVERED: 54 CENTS A DAY)
Liberal caucus turfs Nettleton
Prince George-Omineca MLA will sit in provincial legislature as an independent
by GORDON HOEKSTRA Citizen staff
Liberal backbench MLA Paul Nettleton was expelled Hiesday from the B.C. government caucus for attacking his government by saying there was a secret plan to privatize B.C. Hydro.
The unrepentant Prince George-Omineca MLA said he’ll sit as an independent and continue to push his views on the B.C. government’s plans for B.C. Hydro. He said he will not cross the floor to the NDP.
‘Tm effectively back in Opposition,’’ said Nettie-ton, a second-term MLA, who spent five years as an Opposition Liberal before the 2001 Liberal sweep. “1 have no regrets, and I stand by my position on B.C. Hydro. And 1 expect it will become increasingly evident to the public where the government is going over the next few days.”
Nettleton said it’s too early to speculate on making a run at federal politics, something he’s been accused of doing by the Liberal caucus. All he would say is that he talked with former finance minister Paul Martin when he visited Prince George this summer.
“When he seemed to many people to be out on his ear, I said to him, You are going to be the next prime minister of Canada,’ and that I was behind him all the way.”
It’s been an intense couple of days for Nettleton, who faced an hour of questioning from the Liberal caucus on Monday over last week’s 4,100-word letter calling on his caucus colleagues to join him
NETTLETON
in his protest. There has also been intense media scrutiny, as Nettleton is the first Liberal MLA to defy his government.
But throughout the past two days, he said he’s had a sense of calm. "I really do attribute it to the thoughts and prayers of the hundreds of people who have called to say that they are thinking of me, praying for me, and are supportive,” said Net-tieton, a lawyer and son of a minister. “It’s really quite amazing.”
B.C. Liberal caucus chair John Les said Nettleton was expelled from caucus because he had deliberately and maliciously misrepresented the government’s position on B.C. Hydro. Nettleton also did not ask any questions or raise concerns with the caucus, energy minister, government officials or Premier Gordon Campbell.
“As a result, we cannot trust Mr. Nettleton to
SPORTS
E-Mail address:
news@princegeorgecitizen.com
Our Web site:
http://www.princegMrgecitizen.com
INDEX
Annie’s Mailbox . ........19
Bridge......... ........22
Business .......
City, B.C........ .. .3,5,6,13
Classified ......
Comics ........
Coining Events ..
Crossword ..... ........26
Entertainment .. . .25,27,28
Horoscope..... ........22
Lifestyles.......
Nation......... ......7,14
Sports .........
Television...... ........27
World..........
canada.com
ing
Parent, school trustees debate fate of playground equipment
by PAUL STRICKLAND Citizen staff
A Central Fort George parent is concerned about the possibility that use-able playground equipment at closed schools might be dismantled and destroyed rather than moved to schools where children can still enjoy it.
“It would be a shame to see the equipment just ripped out,” said Patty Astorino, an executive committee member of the Central Fort George Traditional School Parent Advisory Council (PAC). “I would hope they would never do that.
Astorino said that, for example, good equipment is sitting idle on the playground of the boarded-up Hart Highway elementary school, closed by the Prince George school board July 2.
“It should be moved to an open school,” Astorino said Hiesday.
PACs raise the money to purchase playground equipment installed on school property.
“If my kids had attended a school that’s closed, and if I’d raised money for the playground equipment, I would like to see that it is at least used by children at another school,” Astorino said.
Even after several bake sales, the Central Fort George PAC rarely raised more than $1,000 per year. Trees fell over onto the school grounds during a
storm recently and damaged playground equipment, including a slide that later had to be removed as unsafe. Now Central Fort George has only a giant sandbox, swings and some metal bars to climb on, she said.
At some closed schools there is adventure playground equipment that costs $30,000 to $40,000, she said. “Our neighbourhood parents could go over to tear it down and bring it over here to be reassembled,” Astorino said.
Bill Christie, board chair, said all playground equipment at closed schools will be inspected to see if it is still safe. “If it is safe, the play- CHRISTIE ground equipment will stay at the school,” he said this week. “If, after the inspection, some of the playground equipment is found not to be safe, it would be removed.
“As far as moving playground equipment from one school to another, that probably wouldn’t happen,” Christie said. “It probably wouldn’t meet Canadian safety standards.”
The issue came up at a recent meeting of the board’s education services
committee, and will be dealt with at the school board’s next public meeting Nov. 26, said Fred McLeod, committee chair.
Under building and safety codes, equipment installed at a school in the past under old safety standards may stay, but it if is moved to another school, then it must meet current standards.
That is the problem with proposals to move much of the equipment, such as swings the closed North Nechako elementary school and other equipment at Hart Highway elementary, McLeod said.
Swings at North Nechako elementary are positioned between two vertical poles. Current safety standards require that all swing sets have angle bracketing for greater structural support and stability. At Hart Highway metal play structures shaped like geodesic domes, which children like to climb in, have some metal poles that form sharp angles that a child’s head could get caught in, he said.
Some wooden adventure playground equipment at closed schools contains wood preservatives made up of compounds that may include copper, chromium or arsenic, and so it would not pass muster in terms of safety standards if moved to another school, McLeod said.
continue serving as a member of this caucus," Les said in a prepjrfed statement.
The Liberms^ave stressed repeatedly in the past week there is no plan to sell off the Crown utility’s core assets— dams and power lines. And although Hydro’s transmission system will be broken out and set up as a separate government-held agency to encourage more independent power producers to come on line, there will not be a move to market pricing as has been done in Ontario and Alberta. The Liberals have also promised the changes will not increase electricity prices significantly.
B.C. Citizens for Public Power — a coalition of labour, seniors and advocacy groups — have been saying the plan will increase electricity prices and are only the opening steps to a complete selloff of B.C. Hydro.
Mayor plans to blow some steam at B.C. Rail gathering
by GORDON HOEKSTRA Citizen staff
Mayor Colin Kinsley said he’ll pull no punches when he gets to speak at a forum Thursday in Prince George on the future of B.C. Rail.
The forum — which is being hosted by Premier Gordon Campbell and Transportation Minister Judith Reid — has pulled together rail lines from both sides of the border like Denver, Colo.-based Omnitrax and CN, which have indicated interest in B.C. Rail. Major forest products shippers like Canfor and Slocan will also get a chance to air their views on the rail line.
“Given B.C. Rail’s weak financial position and their heavy debt load, a decision affecting the assets of B.C. Rail and its operation and its future has to be made immediately,” said Kinsley. “And (B.C. Rail president and CEO) Bob Phillips and others may not be happy to hear what I have to say about its inefficiencies, poor service and organizational culture.”
The No. 1 priority is to protect the integrity of the rail line, and for the B.C. Liberal government to live up to its election promise not to sell the Crown corporation, said Kinsley.
He said he believes there is consensus among the communities along the rail line that can be done if the province retains ownership of the rail bed and line, and enters into a partnership agreement with outside operators to run freight and passenger services. “Most importantly, it’s got to have economical, reliable and competitive freight services,” he said.
“The economic impact of the railway is critical to the North and all of its communities.”
The issue of the future of B.C. Rail has been a hot topic in the Northern Interior. Communities along the rail line were particularly angered when the Liberals pulled the plug on passenger service this fall.
Campbell had said he would sell off B.C. Rail in the 1996 election, then changed his tune in 2001. However, there are critics who believe the rail line is being readied for a selloff.
Ron East, who was part of a group which tried to push the government to continue passenger service, said he believes the U.S. and Canadian rail lines will simply say B.C. Rail has to be sold off.
East, a Prince George businessman who organized Prince George North MLA Pat Bell’s election campaign, has not been invited and doesn’t like his chances of getting into the forum. “It’s a tight invitation list,” he said.
CLASSIFIED: 562-6666
READER SALES: 562-3301
High today: 7 Low tonight: 5 Details page 2
PRINCE GEORGE
Citizen
Serving the Central Interior since 1916
SWITCHBOARD: 562-2441
058307001008