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CITIZEN
Serving the Central Interior since 1916

PRINCE GEORGE

THURSDAY, AUGUST 14, 2003

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SOFTWOOD LUMBER DISPUTE

NAFTA sides with Canada
U.S. told to review countervailing duties
by DIRK MEISSNER Canadian Press OTTAWA -- Crippling U.S. trade duties on Canadian softwood lumber will likely be drastically cut or even eliminated in the wake of a NAFTA panel ruling Wednesday, Canadian industry and government officials said. Canada claimed victory after the panel ordered the U.S. to review countervailing duties on Canadian softwood imports. The ruling doesn't guarantee the 19 per cent duties will change much, but beleaguered Canadian lumber companies celebrated the decision as a clear victory. "This is a good decision for Canada," said John Allan, a spokesman for the B.C. Lumber Trade Council, which represents most of Canada's largest lumber exporters. "In our view, we are not subsidized and we have put in a tremendous amount of evidence to show that is the case," he said in a teleconference from Vancouver. The Americans imposed the duties in May 2002, arguing that low provincial stumpage (timber cutting) fees are subsidies that keep Canadian lumber prices artificially low and threaten the U.S. industry. The NAFTA panel, set up to address disputes under the North American Free Trade Agreement, agreed that the stumpage fee systems have a financial impact. But it ruled the U.S. did not use the appropriate method of calculation to determine if Canadian companies benefit from that impact. It ordered the U.S. Commerce Department to issue a new determination within 60 days using a different method that stays within American law. It did not state that the duties must be lowered or eliminated. The dispute has threatened to cripple Canada's $10-billion annual export industry, based primarily in B.C. and Quebec where mills have closed and thousands of jobs lost. If, as expected, the U.S. Commerce Department recalculates the supposed subsidy Canadian industry receives, there's a enough evidence to show the B.C. Forest S e r v i c e c o l l e c t s m o re m o n ey i n stumpage from lumber producers than it spends to manage the forests, Allan said. "If the Commerce Department goes back to the methodology it commonly used in the past, there would be no subsidy at all," said Allan. John Ragosta, lawyer for the U.S. Coalition for Fair Lumber Imports, said the Commerce Department has to relook at the subsidy level as soon as possible. "We think they should find pretty much the same subsidy, if not a higher subsidy," he said. International Tr a d e M i n i s t e r Pierre Pettigrew applauded the NAFTA panel's decision. "The NAFTA panel found that the United States did not follow its own laws when it deterPETTIGREW mined the 19 per cent duty on softwood lumber," he said. Pettigrew expressed confidence the decision will result in lower duties, saying Canada has consistently stood for dropping the duties entirely. Canada is open to resuming CanadaU.S. negotiations to end the trade dispute, but it now was up to the Americans to make the first move, he said. "The ball is in their court now," said Pettigrew. "The negotiations route is a parallel track that our Canadian team adopted two-and-a-half years ago." Allan said the industry has always supported the Canadian government's two-track strategy of aggressive litigation coupled with negotiations. "We remain interested in negotiations," he said, but "We will continue through litigation as long as there's no settlement." B.C. Forests Minister Mike de Jong said he expected the NAFTA decision will force the U.S. to eliminate or deeply cut its softwood duties. "There's absolutely no doubt in my mind that will lead to a significant reduction, if not elimination, of the CVD rates," he said.

Citizen photo by Dave Milne

LIFE'S TOUGH -- Tina and Randy Sweezey enjoy a peaceful, warm summer evening on their dock on the sparkling water at Cluculz Lake. This summer has been kind to lake dwellers with several hot days, but clouds are expected for the next few days and maybe even some rain.

PROPOSED PANHANDLING BYLAW

Fine likely not cure: groups
by MARK NIELSEN Citizen staff There's no need for panhandling of any kind, let alone the aggressive type the city is trying to combat, says St. Vincent de Paul president Bernie Gould. "We as a society really try to discourage it," Gould said Wednesday. In fact, whenever she comes across a panhandler, Gould will make that person aware that not only are they being a bother, but it's not worth their while considering three meals a day are available at the society's Second Avenue drop-in centre. "We take the time to explain that the people they are approaching most likely support us because all our food and works are made possible by their generosity," she said. A draft bylaw to help the city clamp down on aggressive panhandling was presented to council Monday night. If adopted in its current form, a fine of up to $2,000 could be issued for panhandling that impedes drivers or walkers, or occurs within 10 metres of a bank or an automated teller machine. Nor would panhandlers be allowed to solicit from people who have said no, let alone threaten or insult them. Judging on what she's heard about the problem, Gould said something needs to be done, but doubts the penalty will be effective. "A $2,000 fine isn't going to mean anything to someone who is panhandling and doesn't have any money anyway," she said. Salvation Army community services co-ordinator Dennis Nore is also skeptical about how effective the bylaw will be after witnessing a similar attempt to deal with panhandlers in Kamloops. "There was a specific intersection in Kamloops that was targeted," he said. "They brought some changes in, but it still happened, it still went on." In a report to council, bylaw services manager Ken Craig said Kamloops does not have a panhandling bylaw, there is no perception of a problem and the RCMP deals with any problem people in the downtown area. The best program Nore has seen was in Winnipeg where there were little table tents in the restaurants where diners could leave donations to fund coupons for meals and coffee which were distributed among various agencies for use by their clients. "I was never accosted by anybody panhandling in downtown Winnipeg," he said. "I can't say that that's why, I just put those two things together." Winnipeg has passed a panhandling bylaw after antipoverty groups successfully challenged the city's first bylaw in the courts, Craig said.

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Prince George residents injured in plane crash
by KAREN KWAN Citizen staff An on-board power failure could be to blame for a plane crash in Princeton that sent two Prince George residents to hospital on the weekend, the Transportation Safety Board says. "The information gathered to this point suggests there may have been a power loss, and our investigation will try to find that out and why it happened," said Bill Yearwood, who oversees air crash investigations for the TSB in the Pacific region. "There's no information that the pilot lost control," he added. The single-engine Cessna aircraft was approaching the Princeton Airport from Prince George around 4:30 p.m. Sunday when it clipped some trees, struck the roof of a house and ended up in another stand of trees, Yearwood said. "The aircraft was landing and it was too low to make the airport," he said. The wreckage was being transported by truck to Chilliwack Wednesday, where TSB investigators will examine the ruined aircraft. It will probably be a month before the mechanical inspection is complete, Yearwood said, and up to a year before a final report is issued. The female passenger was planning to visit her husband in the area, a helicopter pilot from Aberdeen Helicopters of Prince George, who's helping to battle forest fires north of Kamloops. The Cessna pilot, a 53-year-old mechanic, was going to service helicopters in the area. No one at Aberdeen Helicopters could be reached for comment. According to initial police reports, the woman suffered a badly broken arm and the pilot sustained serious facial injuries. "Both the pilot and passenger will likely survive their injuries," Yearwood said Wednesday. He said investigators are waiting for the pair to begin recovering before interviewing them. Yearwood said the pilot has a commercial licence, but doesn't know how much flying experience he has, but he added the investigation is not focusing on pilot error at this point. Visibility doesn't appear to be an issue in the crash, he said.

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INDEX
Annie's Mailbox . . . . . . . . 15 Bridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Business . . . . . . . . . . . . 16-18 City, B.C. . . . . . . . . . . . 3,5,13 Classified . . . . . . . . . . . 20-23 Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Coming Events . . . . . . . . . . 2 Crossword . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Entertainment . . . . . . . 14,15 Horoscope . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Lifestyles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Lotteries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Nation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,7 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-12 World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Business friendly task force likely waste of money: union
Citizen staff Following up on the suggestions for making the city more business friendly could amount to a misguided waste of money, says the union representing the city's inside and outside workers. "Council's vote (Monday) night could see hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on `strategies' and communications plans, but not one cent on concrete actions that would improve eroding public infrastructure," said Canadian Union of Public Employees national representative Leann Dawson. Dawson was referring to city council's decision to take a further look at the potential strategies outlined in a report from the Service Delivery to Business Customers Task Force. About 40 CUPE members wearing Tshirts stating "Keep PG Strong" were in the gallery to listen to the presentation from task force chair Gerry Offet and to witness council's next move. The need to consult with a wider range of stakeholders, including city employees, was raised throughout council's discussion of the issue, but was not included in a motion later passed unanimously. That wasn't good enough for CUPE. Dawson said a promise to consult with more than just the business community should have been part of the motion. The union plans to present its own "investigative findings" to the public and city council over the next few weeks, and has requested time at the next regular council meeting, Aug. 25, to make their views known.

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