Skier to lead new university /6
Filming starts on Tommy Douglas movie /17
TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2005

New facilities for nationals /8
Jackson trial opens /14

CITIZEN
Serving the Central Interior since 1916
George was actually not as bad as the numbers released at the time, and the rate of improvement even stronger than originally thought. The unemployment rate in the area today is 9.1 per cent. Trevor Smith, the city's financial planning manager, said the magazine's take on annual operating costs for cities was also off. It showed an annual operating cost figure of $21.5 million for Prince George. By comparison, the number for Vancouver and Toronto was about $23 million each, while Edmonton's and Kelowna's figure was in the $20-million range. "I can't see how we are even close to Vancouver," he said. "I can't see how those numbers are representative of anything at all. They certainly aren't based on anything I would have given them as a reflection of our operating costs."

PRINCE GEORGE

80 CENTS (HOME DELIVERED: 57 CENTS A DAY)

City managers, Chamber blast magazine story
by FRANK PEEBLES Citizen staff Business leaders and city staff cannot figure out how Canadian Business magazine came up with the statistics that put Prince George as the seventh most expensive city in Canada in which to live. Chamber of Commerce president Bruce Sutherland is livid at the suggestion. "It totally pisses me off. It's stupid," he said. "We don't need that kind of thing. And we all know it's wrong. It doesn't make any sense whatsoever and doesn't do our community any good when people write articles in a national magazine without an accurate view of the way things really are." Sutherland points to the price of housing as a clear example of how much lower costs are in Prince George, as opposed to even other B.C. cities like Kelowna and Kamloops. Costs for general goods and services being essentially even across B.C. puts little else on the table for comparison. The only other cost that varies from city to city is municipal taxation (school fees, garbage collection, sewer, water, etc.). Again, Prince George is less than similar sized cities in B.C. "We are very comparable in general, and lower than Kamloops and Kelowna in terms of tax dollars," said city manager of financial services Sandy Stibrany. "Our most recent numbers show that the average municipal tax rates are: Prince George at $2,552, Kamloops is $2,641, Kelowna is $2,627, Nanaimo is $2,617 and Richmond is $3,263. So no, our tax rates wouldn't spike our cost of living." The unemployment rate for Prince George, as stated in the article, was also misleading, showing it improved by only a third of a percentage point, which is true for the years 2002 and 2003. "(But) that's a bit of ancient history, and they had access to more timely numbers, certainly," said Human Resources Development Canada labour analyst Dwayne Prokopowich. "Looking at 2003 to 2004 would be a better indication of what's going on in our community today. In that time frame, the unemployment rate in the Prince George area improved from 12.9 per cent to 9.5 per cent, so that is a 3.4 percentage point decrease according to the old way of compiling data." Prokopowich said Statistics Canada reviews their stats system every five years to make sure old numbers are in keeping with the most modern of calculation formulas, and that review just took place. It revealed that the unemployment rate for Prince

Crime stats untrue, police say
Local RCMP say the Canadian Business magazine story, which showed Prince George as having the highest crime rate in Canada, simply isn't true. "We're having a hard time taking the (magazine's) numbers seriously," said Prince George RCMP spokesperson Const. Mike Caira. "We are actually number 10 in the province, so how could we be the highest in Canada at the same time?" Canadian Business did get the numbers right, but in a misleading fashion. According to the Ministry of Public Safety and the Solicitor General, Prince George would, as the magazine states, show a number of about 21,000 criminal code offences in 2003 if it had a population of 100,000 people. If that was true, it would make Prince George the highest among those cities compared in the article. However, local police point out that it is nowhere near the highest municipal crime rate even in B.C. The problem is the way the magazine chose to present the numbers. For example, most of the Lower Mainland is simply referred to as "Vancouver" with no indication how Surrey, Burnaby, Richmond, North Vancouver, West Vancouver, etc., did. Similarly, the Capital Regional District is referred to as Victoria/Saanich with no qualification. The same holds true for the Toronto boroughs as well as the various cities connecting to Ottawa, etc. Kamloops also came out looking worse than it really is. It ranked as second highest for crime in Canada, whereas it is actually ranked number 21 overall in B.C. Nanaimo scored third worst in Canada, but it is actually 23rd in B.C.

Citizen photo by Brent Braaten

TIMBER -- Nick Hawes, a faller with TDB Consultants, finishes cutting down a pine tree Monday morning at Pine Valley golf course. The city is removing 1,345 trees from the course, leaving about 800 left.

E-Mail address:

news@princegeorgecitizen.com
Our website:

No end in sight to truckers dispute
by GORDON HOEKSTRA Citizen staff Canfor Corp. gave no indication Monday of softening its stance on giving recognition to the Prince George Truckers Association or its partner, the United Steelworkers-IWA. I n s te a d , C a n fo r o f f i c i a l M a rk Feldinger said the company has put enough on the table in a deal it has agreed to with its logging contractors -- including a 12.42-per-cent rate increase -- and it's time for truckers to accept that deal and go back to work. Feldinger noted that truckers in Vanderhoof, Mackenzie and Quesnel have all returned to work. Quesnel truckers, who walked off the job the middle of last week, returned to work Sunday night. "It started here (in Prince George), it developed its inertia, momentum, and spread as far as it could until people finally said, `This is stupid,' particularly given the offers that are on the table in terms of money and some of the other issues," said Feldinger. "Now, people are going back to work because there's no point not to be there, unless you're linked into the Steelworkers agenda, which is to sign up more members and get more money. That's the only thing today, frankly, The truckers have shown no sign of folding, and an estimated 200 of them rallied at the Multiplex on Sunday to publicly demonstrate their solidarity. The truckers have said there's no deal unless Canfor and other forest companies bargain with them directly. The truckers are still angry that Canfor never responded on a deal they believed they had worked out last week. Elements of that deal -- including the 12.42-per-cent rate increase -- were then presented directly to truckers. While the deal promises trucker involvement in Canfor safety and road maintenance committees, and continuing discussions on a new rate structure, nowhere does it formally recognize the Prince George Truckers Association or its union partner. "(Canfor) never did come back to us," said trucker Stan Wheeldon. "The more that you get rattled by people's dishonesty, the more it tends to fuel you." Wheeldon acknowledged that truckers returning to work in other communities have made it tougher on Prince George's stance, but said truckers have resolved to stick together. He said recently they've agreed not to haul timber to Mackenzie from the Prince George area.

http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com

High : 9 Low : -4 page 2

INDEX
Annie's Mailbox . . . . . . . . .17 Bridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 Business . . . . . . . . . . . .22-24 City, B.C. . . . . . . . . . .3,5,6,13 Classified . . . . . . . . . . .18-21 Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 Coming Events . . . . . . . . . . .2 Crossword . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 Entertainment . . . . . . . . . .17 Horoscope . . . . . . . . . . . . .20 Movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 Nation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6,7 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8-11 World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14,15

Citizen photo by Brent Braaten

Canfor continues to deliver logs by rail to some of its sawmills, part of its normal practices. These logs sit on a siding near Canfor's Rustad Bros. sawmill Monday. Canfor says it's examining all its alternatives in trying to minimize disruption to its sawmills as the log truckers' strike enters its 11th day today.
that's keeping us from going back to work." Feldinger's comments followed on the footsteps of a somewhat conciliatory message expressed by Canfor president and CEO Jim Shepherd in a story in Monday's Citizen. Shepherd said the dispute should be a wake-up call for his and other forest companies to be more responsive to the concerns of truckers. However, Shepherd didn't offer any immediate solutions on how to break impasse, which is in its 11th day today. Striking truckers set up information pickets at area sawmills beginning Feb. 19, which brought all log hauling in the area to a halt.

0

58307

00100

8

Your new way to go
Toronto $
FREE FLIGHTS! DETAILS ON
Departures are from Prince George. One way web fares. Taxes and surcharge extra. Subject to availability. Visit jetsgo.net for details.

207

More low fares to even more destinations like Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Saskatoon and Montreal at jetsgo.net

44429656

Pay a little. Fly a lot.

SWITCHBOARD: 562-2441

CLASSIFIED: 562-6666

READER SALES: 562-3301