Spruce Kings win in OT /8

Seminar sheds light on epilepsy /21
Attracting wildlife can pay off /19

Say so long to Sipowicz /23

CITIZEN
Serving the Central Interior since 1916

PRINCE GEORGE

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2005

80 CENTS (HOME DELIVERED: 57 CENTS A DAY)

Council wants answers on gaming cuts
by MARK NIELSEN Citizen staff City council will be picking up the cause of community groups who have been hit hard by the drop in their share of provincial gaming money. Council members voted Monday both to send letters expressing their concerns and to seek a meeting with government representatives over the issue in response to the problems raised by the Prince George Track and Field Club. In November, the club learned that the amount it will receive will drop from $51,000 in 2005 to $33,000 in 2006 and $15,000 in 2007. The reduction is being imposed, the province says in a letter to the club, to more accurately reflect membership in the club, which has 147 athletes, as compared to other similar groups in B.C. Council members found the reduction at odds with assertions that revenue from gaming in B.C. has been on the rise. Mayor Colin Kinsley said he's come across information saying revenues have increased at a rate of 10 to 12 per cent a year, while the share given to community g roups has grown by only two to three per cent annually. Coun. Murry Krause added that such an increase comes nowhere near making up for the cuts to operating grants the same groups have suffered. However, Kinsley said the number of groups seeking a share of gaming revenues has also been on the increase. And the B.C. Lottery Corporation has launched a campaign to allow slot machines into bingo halls to make up for the waning popularity of bingo. Letters will be sent to MLAs and the Ministry of the Solicitor General and Public Protection, but Kinsley said a face-to-face meeting will also be necessary. "They probably receive all kinds of letters and we're going to have to ramp it up a bit," he said. Council also agreed that while the PGTFC's situation will be noted, the impact on community groups as a whole will be emphasized. Other groups have also taken major hits -- for example, the Prince George SPCA says its contribution from gaming has dropped by $50,000.

Truckers battle off to court
by GORDON HOEKSTRA Citizen staff Canfor Corp. moved to get logs flowing to its sawmills in Prince George and Vanderhoof on Tuesday, obtaining a court injunction limiting the size of pickets and prohibiting any interference with mill deliveries. The Prince George Trucking Association, and its partner, the United Steelworkers-IWA, said they had no plans to pull down the pickets that went up midnight Friday. The truckers and union said they plan to argue their case before the court. The injunction limits pickets to six people and five vehicles, and prevents pickets from impeding or obstructing traffic into mill yards or in logging areas. "I believe the injunctions will remove the physical obstacles to getting wood to the mills," said Canfor official Mark Feldinger. "I think probably the biggest hurdle is getting the first trucks going. Once that happens, I think we're through this frankly." Feldinger said there were already 35 logging trucks being loaded in the woods in Vanderhoof, and that operations were also moving again in Chetwynd. Feldinger accused some independent truckers of using intimidation to keep other truckers from going to work in Prince George. "We don't accept bullying in schools. Why should we accept it in the work force?" he said. Feldinger said there are truckers who would return to work following a deal worked out between the company and logging contractors for a 10.89-per-cent increase in rates and other benefits. Canfor's Prince George contractors laid out the deal to truckers in a meeting Monday afternoon. The PGTA does not represent all of the estimated 500 truckers in the Prince George area. Canfor and its logging contractors were also accused of using bullying tactics. One log hauler's wife, who spoke to The Citizen on condition of anonymity, said her husband and other truckers were being told by their logging contractors to show up to work Tuesday night or they would be fired. She said her husband was not prepared to cave in and would be returning to the picket line Tuesday night. "It's blackmail," she said. If the truckers do not bargain directly with Canfor and other forest companies, there will be no long-term benefits for truckers, she said. "We can't have a middle man because it's not working," she said. Canfor and other forest companies in the Prince George area have refused to consider changing the practice of negotiating with logging contractors, who are then responsible for providing trucking services. The pickets have spread to all five of Canfor's sawmills in the Prince George area. Pickets are also up at Lakeland Mills, The Pas Lumber, Carrier Lumber and Dunkley Lumber. Steelworkers-IWA local 1-424 president Frank Everitt said he expected the work stoppages to spread to Mackenzie, and farther west as well, as Canfor and other companies continue to refuse to talk to truckers directly. "Instead of coming to a bargaining table like most people in this country do whenever there's a dispute, they've chosen to use the tactics of intimidation and threat of loss of job if you don't capitulate," he said. Everitt said despite the pressure being put on truckers to return to work immediately, he believed they would continue to stick together.

Citizen photo by Dave Milne

HAPPY TRAILS -- Matt de Nys leads Tony Heinzmann as they climb a slope Tuesday at the Otway Nordic Centre. The trails are in great condition heading into this weekend's national cross-country skiing championships in Prince George.

Air advisory sets record
by FRANK PEEBLES Citizen staff Prince George set a breathtaking record this week. Never has an air quality advisory lasted so long in this city. The recent air advisory was issued Feb. 15 and it has continued since then, except for a few hours over the weekend when it was temporarily lifted. The bad air can be blamed mostly on road dust, according to the Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection. The dust has caused the levels of fine particulate in the atmosphere to exceed 50 micrograms per cubic metre of air. That is the level at which the ministry issues an advisory, warning of potential respiratory difficulties. "What happened this year, as everyone knows, is the snow melted off much earlier than usual, which has whipped up the road dust we usually experience in spring," said meteorologist Dennis Fudge. "If this happens in spring, there is more solar radiation, which helps flush (the air) of particulate, and we aren't getting that in February. And right now there is a weak warm front coming through, which means I don't expect the pollutants will get flushed out any time soon." In 2004, there were five air advisories issued encompassing nine total days. This month has already had seven days in a row and counting. "This is now the longest one," said Fudge. "The longest one before this was just shy of seven days, a total of 159 hours. We're at 168 hours already now and we could see a couple of more days yet." The good news is, this event is not setting records for amounts of particulate. Fudge says the levels are around the 80 micrograms per cubic metre mark, whereas several times in the last 10 years the levels have gone over 100 and the worst day ever was in 1996 when measurements topped out at 155. Fudge said things would have been worse had it not been for the City of Prince George street crews. "The city is doing a great job cleaning up the street, and the levels would have been higher had they not been out there sweeping it up," said Fudge. "They really have done the city a service by getting the streets cleaned up, which also cleans up the air you breathe." Fudge said air conditions are spiking all over the province. Similar air advisory situations are being reported across the province, except for coastal communities.

High : 7 Low : -11 page 2

Liberals pull ahead of NDP in latest poll
by FRANK PEEBLES Citizen staff The B.C. Liberals are ahead in the polls once again. Less than month ago the Liberals and the New Democratic Party were virtually neck-and-neck in polls by the Mustel Group and had been that way since the NDP closed the gap in December. The latest poll, released Tuesday but conducted prior to the provincial budget, has the B.C. Liberals back out in front by a six point margin. This shaves three points off the NDP support shown in the December poll and adds six points to the Liberals' December total. Liberal voter support is at 46 per cent, while the NDP's is at 40 per cent. Bill Belsey, chair of the government's Northern Caucus, says the numbers are encouraging but the real test will be played out of the next few months, culminating in the May 17 election. "I think the polls are heading in the right direction heading into the election," he said. "The throne speech and budget speech give a clear indication where the government wants to take this province and the polls are showing us we have the support to do just that." The New Democratic Party campaign has its momentum, says Prince George NDP spokesperson Tim Renneberg. "Business is good and we know what we have to do. We are excited," he said. "Honestly, I don't remember seeing a group of New Democrats as energized as we are right now. We are hitting the streets this weekend, we're signing new people up like crazy, and the fact the numbers are as close to the margin of error as they are, when we are only getting started, is very exciting." Both parties have cause for concern in the category of leadership approval. Half the respondents, when asked about the performance of Premier Gordon Campbell, say they disapprove. Forty per cent say they approve of Campbell's leadership, leaving nine per cent undecided. For Carole James, her disapproval rating was 20 per cent, her approval rating was 31 per cent and half the respondents said they had no impression of her. "Anytime I've brought the Premier up to our riding, people have been thrilled after talking to him and meeting him, and learning about the passion he has for the province," said Belsey. "The leadership performance that counts is in the largest surplus this province has ever seen, the largest debt payment in the history of the province, the way B.C. is leading all other provinces in job creation and economic indicators and on so many other important issues." Renneberg agrees that his leader has not had the opportunity to shine, yet, and that is what the election campaign will reveal. "That undecided factor is going to change really quickly," he said. "Carole is being nominated this week in her own riding, and that is when our work goes into full swing. People will respond well to what they see from Carole James." The B.C. Green Party amassed 10 per cent of decided voters in the Mustel Group poll, which is in the neighbourhood of their usual numbers, although slightly off the numbers of actual votes they took in the last election. A number of fringe parties are doing their best to emerge, but the poll shows all other parties combined only accrue five per cent of decided voters.

INDEX
Annie's Mailbox . . . . . . . . .20 Business . . . . . . . . . . . .16-18 City, B.C. . . . . . . . . . .3,5-7,13 Classified . . . . . . . . . . .24-27 Crossword . . . . . . . . . . . . .22 Entertainment . . . . . . . . . .23 Horoscope . . . . . . . . . . . . .27 Nation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8-12 World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14,15

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