Iraq vote met with jubilation/ 14
Team copes with fatal crash /8

New show for Britney's sister / 19
Canadian talent steps up for tsunami relief / 5

CITIZEN
Serving the Central Interior since 1916
now are, I know, supportive of me and support- and so far no public announcement has been ive of getting the riding association back on a made as to their truthfulness. The in-camera meeting was to give positive track," said Harris Sunday. "There is a good mix of Quesnel, Harris a chance to defend himself to Williams Lake and Prince George the board, but he declined to attend. people. I think they will be engaging The election of the new board, hours in positive things from now on, later, put a stop to the internal ridthat's for sure." ing association discussion altogethThe last act of the outgoing board er, Harris feels. was to hold an in-camera meeting to "I think they will send notification to the national office and the leader discuss the board's position on Har(Stephen Harper) that a new board ris, who is under a cloud of allegations about electoral and financial is in place and anything that hapimproprieties. In November the pened with the previous board is board compiled a report outlining history and the direction now is posHARRIS the allegations and sent them to the itive, to work with the riding and the party's national headquarters. Member of Parliament," Harris said. "It really is a load off my mind. I know the The RCMP and Elections Canada are also each conducting a probe into the allegations, outcome of all these allegations because there

PRINCE GEORGE

MONDAY, JANUARY 31, 2005

80 CENTS (HOME DELIVERED: 57 CENTS A DAY)

Harris forces quell opposition
by FRANK PEEBLES Citizen staff Dick Harris doesn't feel caught in the crossfire anymore. The annual general meeting of the Cariboo Prince George Conservative Party Riding Association Saturday was very much a test of Harris's standing as an MP for the area, with two outspoken camps within the party vying for control of the board of directors. One was a group supporting former Conservative nomination challenger Elmer Thiessen and one supporting incumbent Harris. The pro-Harris camp won. Of the 30 previous directors, only three were returned with 27 new faces. Those 30 will now decided amongst themselves who will make up the new executive. "I think the board members that are there is no credibility to them. "We can now start rebuilding things right away. I'm going to enjoy immensely working with them." Because the election took so long (six hours, with more than 50 people on the ballot), there was no time to vote on executive positions. An interim chair, Andy Clough of Prince George, was appointed until Feb. 12 in Quesnel, when the board will choose an executive. The outgoing president, Bryan Withage of Williams Lake, said he will retain his party membership even though he was not returned to the board. "If called upon I will do what I can, but, as far as being on the board, until there is another AGM I won't be involved and I will have to decide between now and then if I want to let my name stand or not," he said.

Mills wins NDP race
by FRANK PEEBLES Citizen staff It only took a half-hour to tally, but the counting was critical. Of the votes cast for either Molly Eichar or Wayne Mills, two were spoiled, 71 went to Eichar and that left 75 for Mills, who thus became the NDP contender for the riding of Prince George-Mount Robson in the upcoming provincial election. The close vote was a reflection of the parallel points of view emanating from the two traditionalist NDPers. Eichar decried the B.C. Liberal track record in healthcare and education, as did Mills. Mills spoke against the B.C. Liberals' sale of BC Rail, cutbacks and contract tactics, as did Eichar. Eichar had the strength of having run in elections before on the provincial scene and for school board. Mills' strength came from the union movement, where he is the president of the area's labour council. In the end, "It was a the edge went to Mills by a margin great race, a of four votes. "Yes, I'm labour. It's not a bad great thing," said Mills. "The trade union experience, I movement is a political animal, even congratulate if some people don't want to say so. Wayne, who has Trade unions help people. You are held accountable to your word; a fight ahead of what trade unions go by is what's him ..." good for one is good for all. It is built -- Molly Eichar, on trust and the Gordon Campbell runner-up in the Liberals, there is no trust there." NDP nomination Eichar was quick to point her suprace for Prince port towards Mills. George-Mount "It was a great race, a great expeRobson rience, I congratulate Wayne, who has a fight ahead of him, but we are all behind him as we take it to Gordon Campbell and his best friend Chatty Kathy," she said. The "Chatty Kathy" to whom she refers is the current MLA for Prince George-Mount Robson, Shirley Bond who is also the Minister of Health Services and the deputy premier. Lined up beside Bond and Mills on the riding's ballot is Paul Nettleton, another sitting MLA who is changing ridings for this election and running as an independent. Joining Mills, Eichar and their supporters at the celebration in the Legion hall was the newest NDP MLA, Jagrup Brar, who won a recent by-election in the riding of Surrey-Panorama Ridge and was the first to raise Mills' arm in victory. "Congratulations to Wayne and congratulations to Molly, also, for a race well run," said Brar. "We have a great team...The torch we lit in Surrey-Panorama Ridge will go from community to community to reach Victoria." The provincial election will be held on May 17.

Citizen photo by Dave Milne

AT BAT -- Kirk Anthony can't get quite enough of the bat on the ball Saturday during the Pineview Snow Frolics "snow" pitch tournament.

Kemess workers poised to strike
Citizen staff Workers at the Kemess Mine northwest of Prince George are now in a legal strike position. The strike benchmark was passed at about 10 a.m. on Sunday morning, but workers are not on the picket lines just yet. A round of negotiations is scheduled for today in Prince George, with union managers saying job action could go ahead as of Thursday if no progress is made. "The mine has been setting record production levels with over 300,000 ounces of gold and 78-million pounds of copper being produced in 2004," said Brian Cochrane, negotiator for the 260 members of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 115. "Our members deserve a fair deal. Their skills and experience has assisted in turning this mine around. Only a few years ago this property was in receivership and now it is profitable and setting record production levels." Kemess Mine is a subsidiary of Northgate Minerals Corp. Negotiations with the union (10,000 members total in B.C. and Yukon) have been ongoing since October. The collective agreement expired on December 31. "We have some fundamental issues left on the bargaining table," said Cochrane. "The development and operation of Kemess North (a proposed expansion that could extend the life of the mine 10 years or more), contracting out, First Nations training, and issues tied to looking after workers who are sick or injured need to be resolved." The IUOE has represented the workers at Kemess since it was developed by Royal Oak Mines in 1996. The mine is located in the wilderness about 430 kms. north of the city in the Mackenzie area.

High : 5 page 2

Chamber president enthusiastic about China prospects
by FRANK PEEBLES Citizen staff A 10-day whirlwind trade mission to China gave Bruce Sutherland the snapshot he wanted of the business climate there. "There are some opportunities in the housing market, where they are building big homes where higherincome people live that are 4,000 to 6,000 square feet in size, but the best market I see is the multi-unit dwellings like condo developments," the Prince George Chamber of Commerce president said Sunday. "We toured some of these under construction and these are massive! Hundreds of units, some even thousands of units in one building project." He said inroads like Dream Home Canada, a woodmarketing program spearheaded by the provincial government, are starting to take effect as Chinese building codes and contractors are now looking at wood instead of steel and concrete. In fact, Forests Minister Mike de Jong was part of the tour Sutherland joined in China. Sutherland said he hopes other forest industry stakeholders will lobby the provincial and federal governments to become aggressive in pushing B.C.'s interests, because aggressive is the only way the Chinese know how to do business. "We'd better learn. They aren't going to learn our way, we have to do it their way," he said, remembering how crowds would gather in street markets to watch customers and merchants dicker over everything from shirts to bananas. "They aren't going to come running to us, this will not be easy, but in their way they are asking us for help, they are looking for partners, they want to acquire leverage, so in their fashion they are asking us to do business. And the U.S. is in there full-

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INDEX
Annie's Mailbox . . . . . . . . 15 Bridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 City, B.C. . . . . 3, 5, 13, 16, 17 Classified . . . . . . . . . . . 20-23 Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Coming Events . . . . . . . 2, 17 Crossword . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Entertainment . . . . . . . 18-19 Horoscope . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Nation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,7 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-12 World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

AP photo

A man walks past the headquarters of Lenovo in Beijing, China, one of the country's largest manufacturers. The company's moves to acquire a majority stake in IBM's personal computer business, a reported $1.25 billion deal, is just one example of the red-hot Chinese economy-- a phenomenon Prince George Chamber of Commerce president Bruce Sutherland saw first hand in a recent 10-day swing through the Asian country.
bore, big-time. As a group, we in B.C., especially in the forest and wood sectors have to market ourselves aggressively. We need, not should, we need to accelerate our presence there." He says his company has no hope of competing with Chinese counterparts in labour costs. He said their upper wages for similar work are equal to hundreds of dollars a month, not thousands. However, he said there are places where B.C. products -- and expertise could find a niche, such as instances where the wrong wood was used for certain applications. "If they have a bad experience with wood, they'll never go back to it again, then there goes that market" Sutherland said. "So we have to train them in how to use the right species, the right grades, in the right places...They don't mind wood. The imperial palace is made of wood and its been there for hundreds of years." Sutherland will now meet with area business interests and chamber members to exchange the information he gained from the trip. He also took more than 1,000 photos he will also make available to local interests with an eye on China.

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