SATURDAY, MARCH 22, 2003
80 CENTS (HOME DELIVERED: 54 CENTS A DAY)
City covered in call-centre deal: official
Initiatives RG. silent on backup plan details
Citizen staff
The city’s economic-development arm assured residents Friday there are measures in place to protect the municipality’s $2.6-million investment in the LiveBridge call centre.
But Initiatives Prince George president Gerry Offet refused to elaborate on what those were. “We have security that, in the event there were a default, we would enforce and we do have backup plans, but I can’t tell you anything more than that,” he said.” So far, Oregon-based LiveBridge has been fulfilling their side of die five-year agreements, he said.
LiveBridge temporarily shut its Prince George call centre Thursday because U.S.-based BankOne — the centre’s sole-client — has suspended calls to American residents over die war in Iraq. The company also laid off 55 of its 170-member staff this month, but said most of the employees would be called back in April as the workload increases. Another 40 were let go because of poor performance.
Offet admits there’s a concern about the stability of the call centre. “But we’re not panicking. We’re satisfied, after our discussions with LiveBridge management, that they’re going to be back in business soon,” he said.
He said it would be inappropriate for a landlord to Speculate on what would happen if the call centre shuts down, even if public money is involved. Giving details of any safety measures in the contract could hurt the ability of Initiatives Prince George to bring more investment to the city, he said. ‘We’ve got to respect our client’s right to not have their business discussed by us in the public while they’re in good standing under the contract,” Offet said.
When the contract was signed last August, he said the development corporation would be responsible for repaying the city’s loan if the call centre pulled out for any reason. One option would be to find another tenant for the Second Avenue building, he has said.
The economic-development corporation also feels LiveBridge has been living up to its employment agreement, which requires die company to “use their best efforts to create and maintain jobs,” he said.
Initiatives Prince George stepped in last year to salvage the call-centre deal, borrowing $1.7 million from the city to purchase the building at 1190 Second Ave., which it’s leasing to LiveBridge.
The dty loaned another $900,000 to the economic-development corporation to finance renovations and equipment.
A British armoured vehicle Is guided over a bridge to get past an obstacle near the Iraqi border on Friday.
AP photo
Bombs rock Baghdad
Thousands of Iraqi soldiers surrender to troops
WASHINGTON (CP) — Much of Baghdad was in flames Friday after the fiercest bombardment of war in Iraq signalled the start of the colossal “shock-and-awe” campaign.
Iraq’s leadership was reeling in utter disarray, said U.S. Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld.
“The regime is starting to lose control of their country,” Rumsfeld said at the Pentagon.
“The confusion of Iraqi officials is growing. Their ability to see what is happening on the battlefield, to communicate with their forces and to control their counBy is slipping away.” .
One thousand bombing missions shrieking low thitiugh Iraq’s skies slammed into 1,500 targets and left at least one Iraqi commander punch-drunk.
The stunning volley combined with the rapid advance of allied ground forces resulted in the surrender of Iraq’s regular 51st Division, Pentagon officials said.
Eight thousand men of the division were defending the southern port dty Basra. They gave themselves up to U.S. marines swiftly advancing through southern Iraq’s desert toward Baghdad.
Persistent reports Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was injured or killed in a surgical “decapitation” strike early Thursday morning in Baghdad were impossible to verify.
British and U.S. troops in lengthy armoured columns were moving so rapidly toward Baghdad they could be there in “three to four days,” Rumsfeld said.
They will find the dtys skyline significantly altered.
Live television captured a half-dozen enormous red-orange explosions lighting up the night sky south of Baghdad. Huge plumes of smoke billowed heavenward.
Part of Saddam’s offidal seat of government, the “Old Palace” compound, was hit by a dozen bombs, one report said.
Witnesses said the palace itself appeared undamaged but a building next to it was ablaze and black smoke poured from a 10-storey building in another part of the compound.
Targets in the northern cities Mosul and Kirkuk were pummeled with equal ferodty.
Until Friday, the Pentagon’s war planners had carefully calibrated their strikes against Iraq as they conducted secret discussions with some Iraqi commanders and waited for significant numbers of their soldiers to surrender.
Their reluctance to turn on Saddam after the surgical strikes of the first two days prompted the intensified bombing.
“What we’ve done so far has not been suffi-dently persuasive,” Rumsfeld said.
So, U.S. President George W. Bush dedared Friday “A-Day” — the launch of an overpowering aerial campaign.
—See editorial on page 4; related stories onpages 14,15
High today: 10 Low tonight: 2 Details page 2
PRINCE GEORGE
Citizen
Serving the Central Interior since 1916
FOR A YEAR CONTEST!
Airport changes to boost travel costs
by KAREN KWAN Citizen Staff
New regulations around airport management will • increase costs and eventually lead to higher ticket prices for travellers, the Prince George Airport Authority warns.
Authority chair Jim Blake said the group, which takes over control of the airport from the federal government at the end of the month, is lobbying against the Canada Airports Act. Transport Minister David Collenette introduced the bill, which standardizes the governing structure at 30 airports, including Prince George, in the House of Commons Thursday.
“It will definitely add to the administrative burden
and costs,” Blake said Friday. Those costs will have to be passed on to airlines, which in turn means higher air fares for passengers, he said. “It’s just going to make the process more difficult when airlines are already experiencing trouble,” he said.
Blake said the rules also limit how airports collect and spend money, and is another layer of bureaucracy. That appears contrary to the concept of transferring control to local hands, he said. “I’m extremely disappointed with the legislation in that we’ve agreed to the terms of a transfer in January and now the ground rules are changing,” he said. But the airport still plans to start charging a $5 airport-improve-ment fee in April for people flying out of the dty.
The regulations apply equally to all airports targeted under the legislation, Blake added, meaning smaller airports will be forced to bear the same costs as facilities in major centres. Blake said the Canadian Airport Council is pushing for an exemption for smaller airports.
Collenette said the act will improve accountability and transparency of operations. Airport authorities that lease facilities from the federal government as well as those that reach more than 200,000 passengers annually over three years are mainly affected. The government said a new operating framework is needed now that the country’s major airports have been transferred to local authorities.
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rge, in the House of Commons Thursday. port still plans to start charging a $5 airport-improve- needed now that the country’s major airports have efinitely add to the administrative burden ment fee in April for people flying out of the dty. been transferred to local authorities.
>v’t gives film agency $40,000 boost
y BERNICE TRICK significant role with major produc- catcher is premiering around the timated to inject $5 million into the
Citizen staff ' tions like Insomnia (filmed in Stew- world,” said Blake. community.
by BERNICE TRICK Citizen staff '
It seems fitting Film Prince George scored big with a $40,000 boost from the provindal government during the time Dreamcatcher is premiering and Prince George is preparing for a hockey movie this spring.
In making the announcement Friday, Prince George-Mount Robson MLA Shirley Bond said the $40,000 from provindal partnership funding is aimed at stimulating and creating jobs in the local film industry.
“In B.C., Prince George has played a
significant role with major productions like Insomnia (filmed in Stewart), Dreamcatcher and now the opportunity to do a hockey film in Prince George,” said Bond. That’s why the funding announcement was held at centre ice in the Prince George Multiplex following a Cougars practice.
Jim Blake, director of Initiatives Pripce George, the umbrella agency of Film Prince George, thanked the province for its “one more leap of faith in the community.”
“It’s particularly fitting that it’s (happening) on the day that Drcam-
catpher is premiering around the world,” said Blake.
Coun. Dan Rogers told the group that during planning to build the Multiplex, he cannot remember any dis-cussion about potential for moviemaking in it, but what is happening is rewarding for the city and the province.
Walt Disney’s movie Miracle, the story of the U.S. gold medal in the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics, will be partially filmed here in May and June, said film commissioner Karen Cameron. The filming of Miracle is es-
timated to inject $5 million into the community.
The province allocated $40,000 each to five film areas in B.C. — northern B.C., Vancouver Island, Kootenay, Okanagan-Columbia-Shuswap, and Thompson-Nicola/Cariboo-Chilcotin.
The grants are renewable each year. Last year, Film Prince George received $40,000, which was a decrease from about $50,000 in 2001. The funds go into the core funding of the budget, said Cameron who works with an annual budget of about $150,000.
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16-18
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Crossword ...................28
Entertainment 25-27
Horoscope .. .*..............21
Movies.......................26
Nation j......................6
Sports ....................8-12
Television...................27
World...................7,14,15
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