The Prince (George Citizen THURSDAY, JUNE 6,1991 51 CENTS (Plus GST) \«/—— A sour victory parade 11 A Hull of a choice 13 It’s a different world 17 ^ttntiit High school cliques 22 Low tonight: 7 High tomorrow: 20 Phone: 562-2441 Classified: 562-6666 Circulation: 562-3301 INDEX Hot meals m FOREST SERVICE EXPLAINS SPENDING Tree-planting cutbacks denied by KEN BERNSOHN Citizen Staff Allegations that spending $15 million less than is budgeted for reforestation will mean hundreds of jobs lost are untrue, says the forest service. NDP forestry critic Dan Miller claimed in a press release that $16 million in the province’s budget, but not in silviculture expenditure plans, meant 260 man-years of employment would be lost due to the government’s delay in its budget and that this would have paid for 16 million additional seedlings as well. That isn’t what actually happened, according to both the forest service regional office in Prince George and Corey Smcele, who works on the program in Victoria. “We went full bore ahead,” said Jim Sherb, silviculture survey and assessment co-ordinator in Prince George. “When we got our first special warrant (April 1), we already had contracts from last fall and the trees were already shipped. We’re right on schedule. “Our only lag is filling some staff positions to oversee the province’s expanded Forest Renewal program.” This program will rehabilitate areas logged or burned from 1982 to 1987 which haven’t started growing back to a commercial forest yet. “Seedlings for this program have been grown and this year’s will be planted,” Sherb said. Smeele explained what happened to the $15 million, across the province. “When we made out the budget, we figured there would be a four-to six-per-cent increase in prices on a lot of contracts due to inflation,” he said from Victoria today. “It turned out — when we saw real numbers for this year in April — that they came in about at last year’s level.” The announced spending was $278.3 million. Planned expenditures are $262.3 million. In addition, he said, recruiting staff has been progressing slowly due to the need to get qualified applicants before going through the normal hiring process. An exact breakdown of how much of the $15 million is due to inflation and how much is due to the delay in hiring staff wasn’t on hand today, but neither Smeele nor Sherb were aware of any specific cutbacks in work in the forest, although there may be some. When Miller was asked about this today, he said he had asked Forests Minister Claude Richmond about it in the legislature and was told there might be a shortage of seedlings or preparation for planting. “I couldn’t get a clear answer in the House and this seemed to be a way to get an answer to the question,” Miller said today. “If there is little or no cutback on work actually done in the forest, I’m delighted, but no one would tell me that.” Major research role seen for UNBC by PAUL STRICKLAND Citizen StafT The Northern Institute for Resource Studies sees a major role for the University of Northern B.C. in developing programs and maintaining research materials essential for the region’s economic development, says associate manager Don McDonald. The Vancouver-based institute’s board held its quarterly meeting Wednesday in Prince George to make plans for the future, meet with educators here and discuss how it could continue to co-ordinate its support for resource studies with the College of New Caledonia, Northern Lights College in Dawson Creek, North West Community College in Terrace and UNBC, said institute president Lome Bolton. “We see the university as a real opportunity,” McDonald said at a reception after the meeting. “One of our great concerns is that people leave here to go to the Lower Mainland to be educated, and then stay there. “That’s why the board decided to spend a day up here and meet with people in the educational system.” Founded in 1983, the institute’s main objective is “to promote, encourage and generally advance public awareness, knowledge and appreciation of enlightened economic development of the North,” Bolton told about 40 civic leaders, educators and resource industry representatives at a reception. The board of directors includes business leaders like Tex Enemark, president of PRM Resources Ltd.; David Mortimer, director of development for the Aluminium Company of Canada (Alcan); and Ken McLean of BC Tel. The presidents of the three Northern B.C. community colleges are also directors. The board, including the college presidents, met over dinner with UNBC president Geoffrey Weller about how to co-ordinate with the new university its efforts to pro- vide better research materials for resource studies in northern B.C. The institute’s board of directors announced it had made a grant of $7,500 to CNC toward scholarships for students in business-related areas. The amount will be matched by an equal allocation from the provincial government, Bolton said. The grant is the final contribution of a commitment the institute’s board of directors made to the college three years ago to provide a total of $30,000 of scholarships for students in areas related to business and resource development, said CNC president Terry Weninger. Reform Public servants expands VANCOUVER (CP) — The western-based Reform party will expand eastward beyond Manitoba and already has 15 provisional constituency associations in Ontario, party leader Preston Manning said Wednesday. He told more than 4,000 people at a Vancouver rally — the party’s biggest ever — that 92 per cent of Reform members who voted in a mail-in referendum opted for expansion. “We are a party which has been unfairly accused ... of being narrow, parochial and potentially separatist,” Manning told the audience in the cavernous Canada Place convention hall. “This enthusiastic vote on the part of our rank and file membership in favor of expansion to embrace all Canada should help lay such criticisms to rest.” Last April, 96 per cent of delegates to Reform’s Saskatoon convention endorsed expansion but the final decision was left to the grassroots. About 24,000 out of more than 56,000 eligible members voted. Reform’s 9,000 Ontario members were excluded from the vote but the party isn’t wasting any time bringing them in. Manning plans an Ontario speaking tour next week, capped by a Toronto rally the party says has already sold out its 5,000 tickets. The party’s 15 provisional constituency associations now will get the green light to start recruiting. Party organizers will also head into the Mari times and Newfoundland this summer and Manning is to tour the East Coast this fall. But the party’s plans for Quebec will depend on Quebec’s plans for Canada. “We will organize in Quebec just as soon as Quebec makes clear its commitment to Confederation,” Manning said to loud applause. Later, he admitted Reform hasn’t attracted much interest in Quebec, but he is surprised at how quickly the populist party has caught on elsewhere since he founded it in Alberta in 1987. “We thought it would take four to five years just to get the base in the West and then be able to look at further expansion. That has come along faster.” Citizen photo by Brent Braaten Paramedics and firemen load a 14-year-old student onto a stretcher after she was struck by car on Teen injured Ferry Avenue west of Westwood Drive about 3 p.m. Wednesday. The girl was taken to Prince George Regional Hospital and was treated for a broken leg. Prince George RCMP say no charges are planned. Abortion clinic on Medicare user fees suggested KAMLOOPS, B.C. (CP) — The new president of the B.C. Medical Association says the province might be forced to bring in medicare user fees to cover a funding gap caused by reductions in federal transfer payments. Kamloops neurosurgeon Gur Singh said medicare is facing a crisis and something will have to be done to solve the funding problems. “The government and the (medicare) funding situation looked at more rationally. . .is getting to a crisis or pretty soon will be with the reduction in federal funds through transfer payments,” he said in an interview. Gur, who succeeds Hedy Fry of Vancouver as BCMA president on Saturday, said the association and the government should discuss user fees. by SHERRYL YEAGER Citizen Staff The feasibility of a free-standing abortion clinic in Prince George will be discussed at a Vancouver conference in October, say members of the B.C. Coalition for Abortion Clinics. People from throughout B.C. are invited to the conference, whose organizers want to make access to abortion equitable throughout B.C., Jackie Larkin, coalition spokesperson, said Wednesday from Vancouver. “Our policy is that free-standing clinics are the best way to provide abortion services, but we don’t want to predict what people (from other regions) want to say,” Larkin said. “We are not advocating a clinic anywhere, or trying to set one up, we just want to discuss it to see what women want.” Joy Thompson, another coalition spokesperson, said Vancouver Is- land and Prince George would be the most likely communities for clinics because of their locations. Thompson said at times up to 50 per cent of the women who use the two existing clinics in Vancouver travel from northern B.C., the central Yukon and Alberta. “That is a lot of travelling for a procedure that can be safely performed in their own communities,” Thompson said. Should the people at the conference support establishing a clinic in Prince George, the coalition would assist in organizing support from the pro-choice movement, said Larkin. This would include fund-raising and lobbying the provincial government for money. Publically funded health and family organizations are invited to the conference Oct. 5 and 6 as well as pro-choice and women’s groups. Invitations are being sent now. A travel pool to defray costs for agenda those who must journey long distances will be established, Larkin said. She said the attendance goal is 100 people from the Lower Mainland and 100 from the rest of the province. Other focuses for the conference are to gather information about abortion services in B.C., such as travel difficulties and the stance of hospital boards. Larkin said another goal is determining if a province-wide position exists on a legislative agenda for the coalition and the pro-choice movement. This could include lobbying for complete funding for every woman who undergoes an abortion, counselling services or support of free-standing abortion clinics. She hopes to see a group more representative of the entire province rather than the Lower Mainland formed at the conference — either a new group or a restructing of the B.C. coalition. win case OTTAWA (CP) — A law that bars federal public servants from getting involved in partisan political activities was struck down in the country’s top court Thursday. The Supreme Court of Canada ruled 6-1 that a section of the Public Service Employment Act violates the rights of civil servants under the Charter of Rights — specifically the right of freedom of expression. The ruling affects 250,000 federal government employees but does not apply to deputy ministers and other top government officials who set government policy. The decision means federal public servants can distribute political pamphlets, contribute money to political parties and work for political candidates — the same right to get involved in political activities as the general public has. The president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada said those rights are long overdue. “When it comes to work, yes, there has to be a neutrality,” said Daryl Bean. “But that doesn’t mean when you leave the work site that you can’t participate in the political process.” The decision involved three related cases. Two involved public servants who had been refused permission by their supervisors to attend the 1984 Liberal leadership convention. The third was the case of four public servants who had wanted to work on the federal election campaign of former New Democrat MP Michael Cassidy. ‘Longshot’ joins race VICTORIA (CP) - Calling himself a longshot, little-known backbencher Duane Crandall unexpectedly entered the Social Credit leadership race Wednesday. The 44-year-old former dissident joined Premier Rita Johnston and former finance minister Mel Cou-velier as candidates for the July 18-20 leadership convention in Vancouver. “My candidacy will be a surprise to almost everyone in the province,” Crandall said. “I was not on anyone’s list of possible candidates, not even my own. 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