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\COMMUNITY B4

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Vote bucks

May’s provincial election
candidates get on the
campaign trail and ask for'your
money \NEWS AS | |

Moose meet
Terrace Bluebacks swim
into their new season with

\SPORTS B14

$1.00 PLUS 7¢ GST
($1.10 plus 8¢ GST
outside of the Terrace area)

VOL.18 NO. .

: By SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN
FORMER EMPLOYEES of the New.
Skeena sawmill looking to work. there
once it starts up again will still take a 20
per cent wage cut but will also share in
the profits of new owners, the Terrace
Lumber Company.
'. The wage cut and profit sharing provi-
sion had been part of a contract negotiat- .
ed several years ago with the now-bank-
rupt New Skeena and i is now included in

- Wage will be frozen the first two years
and increase two per cent annually for
four years, says union president Darrel
Wong.

The agreement 1 no ionger involves

‘any money being deducted from workers
.to:help finance a $325,000 contribution

the. union members had offered toward a

$950,000. loan to be made'by the city to

the Terrace Lumber Company (TLC).
Company officials now say the work-

v.te rracestandl ird.¢o

“What happened is they were going to

take a dollar.an hour from each guy and .
“ity recall for workers. The six-year deal.

I didn’t like that,” says TLC’s president
Mo Takhar. “If you take eight dollars a
day in wages they won’t be happy.”

. The company is still receiving a
$950,000 loan from the city which it will

“repay over 10 years at a high interest

rate. Workers will also be offered a profit

sharing plan which is still being worked

out, but Wong believes it will amount to

‘with them for six years,”

The agreement was ‘signed ‘April 20 -

and it also governms.benefits and senior-

means the TLC has the ability to. make

long term financial plans because it will

know its labour costs.

“I’m quite happy — I’m pleased with.

the deal and they really cooperated with
us and I’m looking | forward to working
* said TLC’s
chairman of the board John Ryan.

ednesday, April 27, "2005 7

ill, union ink lengthy labour deal |

The agreement takes effect April 30,

2005. and fasts until April 30, 2011.

‘We prefer to have shorter agreements
but this is a new company and we're try-
ing to ensure that-this company has some

. time to be successful,” said Wong.

' “Qur plan is obviously to work with.

them and make sure it happens.”
The deal'sees seniority retention :for

members effective as of .May. 2003. It

- means.all those members with two years

a six-year deal between the new owners

and the United Steelworkers union. .

ers will. already contribute
through wage rollbacks. _

w Shake your bank

DEREK LOVELL and Bree Kelly give out free aluminum piggy banks at the Terrace Chamber of Commerce trade show here April 23.
The volunteers say the cans hold $500 in twoonies. The trade show put oodles of local businesses and their products on display for

enough
‘company’s profits.

visitors. There were draws for free gifts and fun activities for children and adults alike.

workers getting up to 15 per cent of the

. bour cost will be.”

MARGARET SPEIRS PHOTO

- Credit union manager’s future
hinges on hearing outcome

By SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN
VAL GAUVIN broke loan lending

_ policies, provided false information

for a personal loan and shouldn’t be
in control of a financial institution,
says. the provincial government’s

' chief credit union watchdog.

Now ori paid leave from her job

as general manager of the Terrace

and District Credit Union, Gauvin,
at her request, is scheduled to appear
at a five-day hearing in Vancouver
in June before Alan Clark, the prov-
ince’s superintendent of financial
institutions.

-. One of the loan cases. involved

-a director of the credit union, who

has since resigned, and the other in-
volved a mortgage Gauvin wanted,
Clark states in an 11-page document
which followed an investi gation here
last month.

+ The March 8-11 investigation de-
termined that credit union director
Roni Bartlett became the guarantor
of $345,000 in business and personal
loans, far above the limit established
by the credit union. Approval was
based on information provided by
Gauvin and accepted by the board.

~ It also determined Gauvin pro-
vided false and misleading informa-

' regarding

tion in order to receive a residential

mortgage that would otherwise have .

not been granted.

“Gauvin knew or ought to have
known that her personal and residen-
tial loans were prohibited by the [Fi-

nancial Insitutions] act and the Ter-:

race [investment and lending policy],
and yet she continued in a course of

action which resulted in her personal

benefit,” states

On June 15, 2004, minutes of a

credit union special directors meet-.

ing also noted the ‘companies owed
approximately $200,000 to the Ca-
nadian Customs and Revenue Agen-

cy. .
At the ‘same meeting, Gauvin

,ecommended directors refinance’

Bartlett, Ritchie and the companies
to cover the $140,000 already ad-
vanced and to

the document
her -
mortgage. -

The _ infor-

ay
mation -_ relat- rect.

Information
“was materially

- provide a further

provided

incor- unsecured

Op-

credit.

ing to Bartlett
concerns __ the
discovery by June 1, 2004, accord-
ing to the document, of $140,000
loaned to himself and Rob Ritchie
and companies they controlled, one
of which was the Northwest Weekly,
that was beyond previously autho-
rized amounts.

It called the additional money that
was provided “‘a result of a loss of in-
ternal control” during a time period
when the credit union also learned
that the companies had revised what
was said to be a profit of $40,000 to
a loss of nearly $400,000.

approved the
refinancing, but Gauvin did not
provide information that all of this

would exceed the maximum allow-:

able amounts outlined in the credit
union’s lending policies, the docu-
ment shows.

The information provided by
Gauvin “was materially incorrect
and resulted in a course of action not
permitted by Terrace, and has signif-
icant adverse financial implications,”
the document prepared by Clark
says. Three of the directors who at-
tended that meeting told investiga-

$125,000 as an |
erating line of.

' Directors:

tors last month they ‘were confused

-as to the status of the loans, the im-

plications of the recommended loan
refinancing package and were un-

sure of their authority to approve it,

the document shows.
The investigators focussed on the

‘Bartlett situation and that-of Gauvin |

from March 8 to 11. Bartlett resigned
"March 11. His term would have been
up April. 19, the date of the credit
union’s annual general meeting.

Speaking last week, Bartlett said
he had no idea the refinancing pack-
age contravened regulations govern-
ing the maximum allowable amounts
allowable for certain loans.

“I don’t know that,” Bartlett says.
He continues to retain an interest in
the Northwest Weekly companies.

The credit union in its annual
general report released in March in-
dicated it is increasing its loan loss

“We know for six years what our la-

- have then gone back to the workers at the end of 10 years —

seniority can be recalled to work.

Continued Page & A2

New deal |
cuts wages,
gives profits

By SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN .

THE CITY of Terrace has officially signed a deal to lend the

Terrace Lumber Company $950,000 over 10 years to help -
-* the latter buy the’ bankrupt-New Skeena sawmill here.
The agreement provides an immediate injection of cash .

to the company which hopes to see the sale of the mill ap-

proved by the courts this week and perhaps even close by *
. Friday. The money will be repaid to the city at an undis-.

closed interest rate over the next !0 years, says s city admin-
istrator Ron Poole.

The city is using money from its budget toc cover the loan
and is not borrowing any if it, he says.

An agreement in principle last month had the company’’s |

workers front about a third of the amount, $325,000, over
five years through payroll. deductions.
In a complicated accounting scheme, that money would

when the entire loan was to be paid off. ;

But the workers have now been taken out of the-picture
after company officials said they aren’t comfortable hitting’
workers with deductions in addition to an already-agreed
upon 20 per cent wage rollback.

“Bither way we would have had to put the money up

front,” says Poole.
The amount the city will have | to come up with is actually

around $775,00. That’s because the city has already received .

$175,000 from a group of unidentified people who “see a

_- benefit to seeing the mill operate,” Poole says.

That money was given to the city without any obligations

to pay it back, he says.
“Originally when the [workers’] union came on board

| this group came on as well,” he says.

_ Poole says the loan is.in the best interests of everyone in
the community because if the mill starts running, the city can

‘start collecting much needed property taxes from the new

allowance to $400,000. That put the |

credit union into a loss position for
the year.
Even though it is recorded as

‘a loss, that $400,000 could return

to the credit union in some fashion
should all or part of those loans ever

be repaid.
Cont’d Page A2

company and the jobs will pump more money into the local
economy. If the sale of the mill is approved, the city will
start collecting forward taxes on the site by early July.

Harris gets an_
‘F’ for skipping
out on forum.

ROGER HARRIS says you can't back out of something
you were never in and he’s standing by his decision not
to participate in tonight’s all candidates forum on edu- -
cation at the R.E.MéLee Theatre.

‘The forum, organized by a number of area sponsors
is an opportunity for the public to question candidates
in the upcoming election on a wide spectrum of educa-
tional issues.

“Tt haven’t pulled out of anything,” Harris says.
“You can’t pull out of anything you never said you’d
attend.”

_ Harris was invited to participate in the forum by the
organizing committee roughly six weeks ago but de-
clined the offer three weeks back in an e-mail to the
committee.

“As we move into campaign mode, there are a a lot of
people who want to sit down with me,” he says, add-
ing he’s received invites to numerous functions which
conflict with one another.

He cites a busy campaign schedule. and his still frag- ;
ile health as he recuperates from his February heart at-
tack and subsequent surgery as reasons why he can not
attend.

Veralynn Munson, the president of the Terrace and
District Teacher’s Union and one of the forum organiz~-
ers says Harris is right in saying he never did commit to
attending the debate.

“We started planning on this three months ago and
we were quite surprised at his reluctance because the
other two candidates are quite eager to take part and
they have the same rigorous campaign commitments
that he has,” Munson says.

Cont’d Page A2