PRINCE GEORGE
High today: -6 Low tonight: -13 Details page 2
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 20Q3
Serving the Central Interior since 1916
80 CENTS (HOME DELIVERED: 54 CENTS A DAY)
Citizen photo by Dave Milne
Josh Carter zooms around the Pineview elementary school yard on the three-wheel bike given to him by the Variety Club.
Variety Club bike helping school boy with cerebral palsy
by PAUL STRICKLAND Citizen staff
Despite cerebral palsy, 10-year-old Joshua Carter can join his friends on bike trips now that he has a bicycle he received with the help of the Vancouver-based Variety Club.
It also makes it possible to join his mom and dad, Lynn and Steven, on bike rides on the river trail system.
“He absolutely loves that bike,” Lynn Carter said. “He thinks it’s the best thing in the world.”
Because of cerebral palsy, Joshua, a Grade 4 student at Pineview elementary school, doesn’t have very good balance when trying to walk, she said.
The Discovery Freedom bicycle is built for older, larger children who do not have frill use of their arms or legs. Its design encourages building muscle tone and endurance over time through frequent use, Carter said. “We’ve found a marked improvement in his balance since he got the bike,” she said Wednesday.
Last spring the Carters approached the Child Development Centre about help in obtaining such a bike. A worker there suggested contacting the Variety Club.
“She helped us fill out the applica-
tion,” Carter said. “That was in May. We got accepted in June.”
The Variety Club gave the Carter family $2,165 for the purchase of the bike.
“It lets him get around with all the other kids around here — to keep up with them and not be left out,” Carter said. “Now, wherever they go, he can go along, too.”
Since the first week of October, weather permitting, he has been riding it outside around Pineview elementary, and supervisor Brenda Heft keeps an eye on him.
Stopping suddenly using the pedals, and travelling both forwards and backwards slowly, helps build up muscles in the legs, said Gail Henderson, Joshua’s teaching assistant.
This spring he will be receiving training with the bike from Special Olympian Paul Jalbert, who also has ^erebral palsy.
With easily-made adjustments, the bike will serve Joshua well for another four years. At the end of the four years, Joshua will give the bike back to the Variety Club for another child to use.
The Variety Club’s annual telethon is Saturday and Sunday on Global TV, Channel 12, Cable 11.
Premier adds gas tax to upgrade highways
VICTORIA (CP) — B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell is raising gas taxes tty 3.5 cents per litre at a time when the threat of war in Iraq and looming worldwide oil supply shortages could send fuel prices skyrocketing.
British Columbia’s Liberal government will raise gas taxes on March 1 to help pay for $944 million in transportation projects, Campbell said Wednesday in a televised state-of-the-province address.
The extra gas tax money will help fund ambitious transportation projects, including upgrading treacherous sections of the TVans-Canada Highway near the B.C.-Alberta border, he said.
‘Td love to tell you I can do them for free,” Campbell said. “But 1 can’t.”
The gas tax increase comes as fuel prices in Prince George jumped she cents Wednesday to 83.9 cents per litre.
“I thought he was supposed to be cutting taxes,” said David Schreck, a former New Democratic Party MLA and strate-
gist. “Every time you go to the gas pump people are going to be remind-ed of Gordon Campbell,” he said.
Campbell did not estimate how much extra revenue the province expects from the increased gas tax.
Campbell said his Liberal government will invest $609 million over three years in transportation projects designed to improve road access in rural and remote B.C. He said he will pursue a 50-50 federal-provincial cost-sharing agreement to fund a $670 million upgrade of the Kicking Horse Canyon in eastern B.C. near Revelstoke.
The Kicking Horse Canyon section of the Trans-Canada Highway has been the scene of numerous deadly crashes.
CAMPBELL
Highways in the Okanagan, Kootenay and Interior regions of B.C. wall also be in line for improvements, he said.
B.C. Rail, the debt-plagued, provindal-ly-owned railway, will soon be looking for private investors, Campbell said.
“This initiative will bring millions of dollars, it will retire B.C. Rail’s debt and provide resources to invest in other northern transportation and infrastructure projects across the province,” he said.
B.C.’s forest industry is in for big changes as the province changes to a market-based system, Campbell said.
The government will establish a onetime $275 million Forest Transformation Fund to help forest workers, contractors, industry and communities deal with the changes, he said.
“This transformation is going to be difficult,” he said. “It’s going to change the way we’ve practised forestry for a generation and more.”
Casino picks new site
Pine Valley plan dropped for land behind Mr. PG.
by GORDON HOEKSTRA Citizen staff
Prince George gaming operator John Major has abandoned plans to relocate the downtown Casino Hollywood to the Pine Valley driving range and instead has his sights set on land at the intersection of highways 16 and 97.
In a written statement released Wednesday night, Major said he has completed an agreement to purchase 5.1 hectares of Crown land behind the Mr. P.G. sign at the intersection of the two highways where he plans to build a $20-million casino and hotel complex. The move would allow Major to expand the casino from 220 to 300 slots and add more gaming tables.
Major was out of the country Wednesday and could not be reached for comment. But in his statement — originally slated for released today to coincide with the publication of city council's Monday night agenda, but pushed up following questioning by The Citizen — Major said the city has already been told he plans to abandon the Pine Valley driving range land because of traffic concerns.
A decision on whether to proceed to public hearing on the controversial purchase of the driving range land at Range Road and Highway 16 had been expected to come before council on Monday. Council had been split on the issue, with some saying the casino belonged downtown.
It’s now expected that Major’s new application will come forward on Monday, although dty officials were tightlipped Wednesday afternoon on the recent developments. If the new application does go before council, the Crown lands behind the Mr. P.G. sign will require rezoning as well and spark a public hearing.
“Stay tuned for (today’s) council agenda,” was all dty offi-dal Rob Whitwham would say on Wednesday.
Offidals at Land and Water B.C. Inc. responsible for marketing the Crown land at the highways intersection could not be reached for comment Wednesday. The full 6.6 hectare parcel of land was posted for sale at $7.5 million.
Major listed the same benefits for the $20-million development as he had for the casino relocation to the Pine Valley driving range land. Those indude the creation of 100 construction jobs, 200 permanent hotel and casino jobs, an increased dty tax base and more gambling revenues for the city’s coffers. Major said the neighbourhood behind the Crown lands will also be protected with a 100-foot treed buffer zone.
Proposed development of the Crown land at the comer of highways 16 and 97 has sparked controversy in the past decade. In 1996 it became a mayoral election issue after Van Bien residents fought the development of the land for a commercial-retail mix that could have included a motel, restaurants, a bank and cinema. Two Vancouver developers were interested at the time.
On the campaign trail in October 1996, then-mayoral candidate Colin Kinsley said he would not support commercial development at the site and wanted to see the area developed as a park and enhanced tourist area.
Major’s latest purchase agreement is the third Highway 16 corridor spot to which he has attempted to relocate the casino. A bid to buy a parcel of Prince George Golf and Curling Club land for $1.5 million was narrowly rejected by the golf membership a year ago. Kinsley softened his position in 1999 when he said he was open to development at the site that protected the adjacent neighbourhood.
Softwood talks continue
by GORDON HOEKSTRA Citizen staff
Talks have resumed in Washington, D.C., aimed at reaching a settlement in the softwood lumber trade dispute between provinces and U.S. officials.
It’s the second week of talks spearheaded by U.S. Department of Commerce undersecretary Grant Aldonas, who last month released a draft proposal for a long-term settlement of the decades-old dispute.
In the latest version of the proposal, the U.S. administration has suggested replacing the tariffs on Canadian lumber with an export tax which would be collected in Canada.
The Canadian government, which is also at the talks, hasn’t ruled out the
idea of a border tax but continues to push for a iron-clad, long-term deal.
Ottawa has also said it’s not interested in dropping its legal challenge of the tariffs at the World Trade Organization or under the North American Free Trade Agreement.
There’s a fear among some industry observers that the U.S. will demand Canada drop its legal challenges even as part of an interim solution.
“Talks are continuing, and as part of the negotiations, various ideas or proposals can be made, but Canada’s position remains the same,” International Trade Ministry spokesman Pierre Bechard said Wednesday. “As (International Trade Minister Pierre Pettigrew) has said often, we are looking for a long-
term resolution to this issue.”
B.C. Forests Minister Mike de Jong said he hopes the talks this week will help find a solution. De Jong said U.S. and Canadian officials need to focus on an interim deal that might include an export tax on lumber.
But he also said he wants a time line on when that border tax could be eliminated.
Aldonas cancelled a trip this to Japan to continue the talks on a softwood resolution, however the Americans’ latest proposal continues to ask for items B.C. has been not willing to put on the table, including opening up raw log exports.
In the throne speech on TUesday, the B.C. Liberal government pledged not to change its rules on log exports.
INDEX
Annie’s Mailbox..............17
Bridge.......................20
Business .................22-24
City, B.C................3,5,13
Classified ...............18-21
Comics ......................16
Coming Events.................2
Crossword ...................16
Entertainment................17
Horoscope ...................20
Lotteries....................14
Nation .....................6,7
Sports ....................8-12
Television...................17
World.....................14,15
Gas prices could hit $1 a litre, experts say
TORONTO (CP) — Gasoline prices in some Canadian cities could spike to $1 a litre as turmoil continues in Iraq and Venezuela, and low inventories and a bitterly cold winter cause oil and wholesale energy prices to rise.
And consumers won’t get relief until later this year when supplies are expected to increase as world geopolitical events simmer down, analysts said.
If a war breaks out in Iraq, crude oil prices could spike to $50 US a barrel, and that would add about 15 cents to each litre of regular gasoline sold in Canada, said Vincent Lauerman, global energy analyst with the Canadian Energy Research Institute in Calgary.
“That would be the peak and that would be short-lived, but at the same time the potential is there, for sure” to reach the $1 a litre level, Lauerman said.
“That will translate into higher prices
at the pumps in the short term,” he said, but any war is expected to be short and oil prices would settle back down to the $25 US a barrel level by the summer.
In the past, long periods of high gasoline prices have taken a bite out of the economy, as consumers cut other retail purchases and drove less to conserve fuel, while companies delayed capital spending to save money. It’s too early to say what the economic impact will be from current high fuel prices, although they’ve already put upward pressure on inflation in recent months and raised the costs of transportation in the economy.
While drivers gripe about rising prices — and feel powerless to do anything about it — some MPs are calling for regulation. On Wednesday, New Democrat Pat Martin introduced a private member’s bill in the Commons calling for an independent commission to regulate
gasoline prices. Other MPs accused the big oil companies — Imperial Oil, Shell Canada, Petro-Canada and Suncor — of jacking up profits at the refinery level.
The operator of a gas station in the Hamilton area in southern Ontario said he wouldn’t at all be surprised if prices topped the $1 a litre marie
“If the war comes and if it drags on, there’s no doubt it could go to $1,” he said, asking not to be named.
The price of crude oil hit $35.44 US a barrel Wednesday, off slightly from Tuesday’s 26-month high, as U.S. oil inventories fell to their lowest level since 1975 — and below what the industry considers necessary for smooth operation for refineries. Meanwhile, the conflict with Iraq could get worse Friday when the next weapons inspection report i! released and the United States will decide its next steps.
FACTBOX
Here are prices from select cities this week from the MJ Ervin 8t Associates weekly pump price survey released every TUesday:
Overall average: up 1.9 cents a litre to 80.7 cents a litre.
Highest: 89.9 cents in Sydney, N.S. (up five cents) ; Moncton, N.B. (up 9.9 cents). Yellowknife was at 94.9 cents.
Lowest: Calgary at 67.7 cents (down 2.4 cents).
Mjyor cities:
—Vancouver — 82.9 cents.
— Winnipeg—74.1
— Toronto — 81.9
— Montreal — 84.4
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