| Serving th the. a Prepraeet | q “B North west a en ny m4 “[ROISLATIVE. LIBRA : 7 PARLIMENT i iotoria,: B Ce ge BY MICHAEL HOWLETT | Herald Staff Writer “henace_ The ministry. of forests took its’ con- . "_ troversial herbicide spray program to the public Tuesday in " an information session held at several plantation sites along © the Terrace-Kitimat corridor. About a dozen people, mainly -froth. ‘forestry and the media, attended. ‘the ‘session to hear what local, regional, and international experts had to say about_the problems facing forest, managers {n the area. Heading the tour was Dr, Mike Newton, a professor of _ forest ecology at Oregon State University, Newton, who has 160 articles to his credit including the. Buidelines-for silvacultural use of herbicides followed by the Envirofimental Protection Agency (EPA) in the United "States, proved tobea atronger proponent of the massive use of herbicides than local forestry officials, Newton. dismissed spray opponents worries of acute and chronic_toxicity resulting from chemical herbicides and advocated the large scale use ‘of. aerial spraying as the technique most useful to producing high yield forests and protecting workers health. Newton said local foresters were faced with an inherited situation of deciduous brush taking over coniferous plantations~ which only herbicide applications ‘could _ contral, Aithoughi he did nat blame previaus forest managers for thesituation, Newton said B.C, has been stow i in recognizing ‘that large amounts of valuable forest land: could be lost to brush’ colonies, Newton said over 100,000 acres of forest land are sprayed ; each year in Western Oregon with a variety of chemical agents. Ifa forester refused to-cuntro! brush within three years, Newton aaid the state would come in, do the . ‘necessary work and charge the cost -back fo the: forest licencee, -BecaiSe of restrictions on chemicals available for forestry use in Canada, Newton said B.C. foresters were in the situation of: “prescribing with an empty pharmacy.” “They” re out there with an aspirin bottle in one hand,” Newton said. “There are not enough tools available for them to do their jobs. " ‘Newton and several torestry offtcials located the problem with ‘Penbicide use-in: aamall minorlge : don't want'to. see herbicides used for. philosophical and "political reasons; Those groups should realize’ manual control procédurés ; involve menial labor which could be much better utilized thinning and controlling sprayed areas,-Newton said. : Spraying by ‘hand is an. “‘absolutely ridiculous'’ procedure Newtort said, because af the difficult working oom Sé0erat ‘eroiips ave’ "appealed ee Spray. “permits sel” conditions encountered. by applicators. Aerial epraying. also had the advantage of not disturbing the soil, something . Newton found in. his research to be of paramount im: portance in growing trees. Newton said properly applied herbicides with carefully chosen dosages, locations and amounts can actually help " ‘promote wildlife by bringing deciduous leaves within the - ‘grasp of moose and other grazing animals. He said fish and wildlife officials in B,C. had for the most part not. taken advantage of these opportunities.’ “It’s important to remember we're: dealing with control .and not eradication,"’ Newton said. Kalum District forestry resource officer Bill Brinnen said the aim of the tour Tuesday was to ‘show people the typical problems. in the Kalum district,” with vegetation management. “It's to establish the fact that what we are doing is good forestry practice,” Brinnen said, “Herbicides are one of the tools worth using in dealing with the problems here." - “Regional silvaculture officer Gary Lloyd’ reiterated forestry’s position that herbicide use is absolutely essential to maintaining high yields in the area. Lloyd said brush control was integral ‘to maintaining yields, keeping mills going and maintaining employment in the forest indusiry. Funds are short in-the forest ministry, Lloyd said, and herbicide spraying was by far the mes economical means of brush control. : The ministry is spraying less than-100 hectares this year in the Prince Rupert forest region although it is heading. towards spraying over 6,000 hectares annually within. five: years, Loyd said, Close to 5200 hectares must besprayed at least once right after planting in order'to keep. up-with planting efforts Lioyd said, while another 1,000 hectares of backlog must also be sprayed, . Lloyd said the ministry hoped to plant about 4 ‘million, trees annually, in the Prince Rupert région on about 20,000. hectares of land by 1987, The Prince Rupert region takes up - about one quarter of the province and stretches from the Queen Chaflottes to the Yukon border. for this year, including two Prince Rupert fisheries unions which are coneerned with spray proposals involving 2,4-D near the Exchamsiks River. Forestry officials are confident they will win a permit “appeal hearing set for Aug. 17, and say the three year length of the permit will mean spraying will go on even if. ‘the appeal delays application this year. - BCGEU favors strike action - VICTORIA (CP) — Warning that B.C.'s economy con- tinues to slide deeper into trouble, Premier Bill Bennett announced tougher limits on public spending and wage increases Tuesday. . But the 40,000-member 8,C, Government Employees Union, which released details of a vote strongly favoring a strike, said it-will not temper its wage demands, which ‘exceed Bennett's new limits. - Bennett said the economy has continued to- deteriorate since he announced his less-drastic restraints program last Contols protested . VANCOUVER (CP) — The federal government would be . _undermining the obligations of a-contract by imposing public: sector. wage controls on CP Rail employees, a Vancouver labor lawyer said Tuesday. ~ Don ‘Rosenbloom, who. represents some of ‘the railway " running trades workers such as engineers and trainmen, particularly. those at CP Rail, said if the government ‘in-- tends to restrict wages established in a- collective agreement, “then obviously: this undermines the sanctity of a contract. “What's particularly unfair, i is if a union had been made it may well have .: aware that restrictions would arise, ; negotialed other items into the agreement that might not. have been costly to the company, but items that might have -been controversial at the bargaining table," said Rosen- ; bloom. He said the union might have sacrificed desired gains in” contract areas such as technological change or arbitration procesa.in order to get a higher wage increase, only to see: the pay increase reduced without compensation i in the other — areas. ; . - Rosenbloom made his comments. after ‘Treasury ‘Board president Donald Johnston revealed the government plans. to slap wage controls on about 30 000 private-sector railway workers. | The two big national railways: bargain jointly, a practice - that was threatened by the imposition of controls-on just the CNR.-The workers } were due to get a nine-per-cent “wage : . increase and a cost-of ‘living’ borlus next Jan. Ae Te as WHY BUY NEW? ee ae “Oe you want parts to fix up your,car but your budget - won't allaw it? Beat the high cosf of new parts with 7 - quality used parts. from i _ $.K.B. AUTO. SALVAGE - 635-2333 or 635-9095 “9690 Duhan (justo Hwy. 16) | t Re ee O willing tosacrifice essential and urgent services just for the sake of restraint. Deputy. ministers,+ without. an increase. since: October, ‘February, but refused to-be- ‘specific about B. C,’s present economic condition in the “acute world: wide recession.” He said public-sector spending increases, now limited to 12 per cent, will:be reduced drastically except for health care, bul refused to detail the reductions, saying only. that “there will be major changes." B.C.’ controversial lwo-year wage restraints program, which limited increases to eight to 14 per cent, is being toughened. Public-seclor. émployees, like their federal. counterparts, now will receive only six-per cent in the first year.and five per cent in the second. But the new B.C. pregram has a twist — — wage increases - will range from zero to 10 per cent in the first year and zero- tonine per cént in thé second year, as Jong.as the section ‘average is six and five per. cent. Meanwhile, the government employees’ union annotinced its members had voted 89.6 per cent for strike action to back .contract demands. General secretary John Fryer said the réstraints would not make any difference to negotiations for 7 a new contract to replace one thal expires Saturday... ’ Talks with the Government Employee Relations Bureau are to resume today. , The union is seeking $1 an hour across the board plus five -per cent and a cost-of: ‘living clause over one year, which . Fryer said is considerably more than- Bennett's limits, —* Opposition Leader Dave Barrett accused the government 25 cents Established 1908 | Dr. Mike Newton from Oregon - State ‘University. sald Tuesday B.C. foresters - were behind the times and should use more herbicides in thelr efforts to control brush” problems and promote higher yleld forests. " Ottawa controls calle OTTAWA (CP).—A parliamentary coitimittee approved ’ the’ federal wage restraint progtam Tuesday but. the government won few friends even though it,agreed to give. 500,000 public servants limited collective bargaining rights on non-monetary issues, Progressive Conservative MPs called the government greedy. and its bill appalling because it failed to allow: federal employees to trade wages for benefits under the six- and-five salary ceiling during the next two years. ; New Democrats wanted wage restraint abolished and full’ collective bargaining rights, Including the right to strike, restored. Public service union leader's described it as ‘'a farce” and ‘accused. the government of misleading people into thinking . bargaining rights on non-monetary issues had been, _ restored. | The bill, which will likely return to the Commons Thur- sday for final approval ‘debate, also extends wage controls ~ Riot result of. ~ escape attempt are firmly convineed S Sunday. night’s riot; in which~ ‘three: guards and two prisoners died, was the result of an e: escape” « ‘of conducting a public relations campaign, and Bennett of.__atfempt and was nota bid to take contro) of the prison. © giving his first campaign speech in a re-election bid. The Opposition has proposed cuts in, travel, office dur- niture, publications ‘and | expenses during the current four- month legislative session that would have saved. more than $55 million in two years if. adopted. 1 “The government i is: acting from crisis to crisis,” Barrett: said, “Itis allowing itself-to be governed by weekly public *. opinion polls rather ‘than any. thought-out, long-term’, eronomic planning to get-B.C, out of.this recession.” Bennett declined to say exactly how much the program would reduce the projected $1-billion provincial deficit, saying only that over time it will be “handreds at, smilions ‘and even billions of dollars." < The government is trying to-reduce spending in ‘advaniee _and plan essential services spending “rather than be forced. into thé type of cuts that would be unacceptable to us as oe government: or the people as users if’: ‘we do it:in- : . ” es Cabinel’ ministers will announce “apehiting restraints, : .): ‘shortly, Bennett said, singling out health ca as a... - paramount concern. : desperation.” . ts, Saying the government will, make a ‘statement shortly, Bennett. said ‘it recognizes British Columbians are not 1980, will get_a! a. three-per-cent increase ihig year, while- assistant deputy ministers will receive no increase. Other ‘public-sector employees, whose salaries ‘were - Treen F Feb. 18, will. be dealt with within months, he said. d... ’ ay a “““At a news conference Tuesday, Luc Mantha, assistant director of the federal maximum-securily facility, refuted charges by the guards’ udion that the hour-long uprising — ‘the blodiest in Canadian ‘penal history — was actually a takeover attempt. - . He said- two-guards, including one who was killed, were dragged to the prison’s main entrance by several convicts ‘wielding homemade knives and demanding the ga tekeeper - let them through. The guard refused, said Mantha, and by the time ‘the. .. prison's emergency squad went into action, “the inmates were doing. their thing. .. killing the guards." . - Autopstes: showed two.of the guards bled to death from - Lk numerous stab wounds. A third had his head smashed ‘in. . “The ° two convicts ‘who. died, - Yvon Martin,-:27,7.and . Christian Perreault, 24; apparently ‘committed ‘suicide by taking cyanide, They have been identified as the leaders of the escape attempt. | ’Mantha sald-at feast * 30 prisoners participated in the "attacks on the guards; ‘contradicting earlier statements by - provincial. polige‘that Martin and Perreault, both serving . life sentences for murder, had done all the killing. - The 10 guards attacked as the prisoners returned to their |. _ cell blocks frorh an outdoor recreation-yard were unarmed - and-protected by only one armed colléague. ~The guards": union said it had asked the © ‘prison ‘ad- ministration to ensure guards escorting prisoners be provided with cover from armed guards. . See ‘Guards’ page 3 . * to between 30,000 and 35, 000 employees of CP Rail, Ontario. ; ‘Northland and three smaller railways. ‘When the government introduced its six-and-five for. - mula, it stripped federal employees of the right to Strike _ . and froze collective bargaining for. two: years. “Under the amended bill, undefined-non- “monetary issues can. be negotiated but only if the two sides - Treasury Board and the union -~ ‘agree. : And if an impasse arises, both sides must | agree to send the issue to binding arbitration-or it remains unresolved. Opposition MPs wanted further assurances the govern- _ ment would agree to arbitration in a majority of cases and “not let the issues die, But Johtiston argued that negotiators can't be sure union requests will always be “reasonable.” Tory labor critic David Crombie tried in the long com- mittee debate to get the government to allow unions to. * decide how they. wanted to divide wages and benefils. But George: Orser; head of Treasury Board's cam- pensation and benflts division, said his negotiators would : have litle time to bargain because they would have to : administer the wage restraint bill. Johnston warned: Crombie’s proposal: would lead to: strikes that would ‘blow the whole thing out of the water.” | Crombie reminded. Johnston the government can _ designate most employees as “essential, removing their ‘tight to strike. met ~The “amended ‘bill _ also, ‘eliminates bonuses - and roe 7 ~ eremental pay raises for bureaucrats Making. more than . $49,500, - Meanwhile, Opposition ‘Leader Joe Clark and New Democrat Leader Ed Broadbent warned that the govern- ment is moving toward national wage ani price contrat. They said the controls on private-sector railway workers _ and economic leverage on provinces and private businesses to join Ottawa’ 6 realraint Program signal that full controls might not be far away. Prime Minister’ Triideau: told the’ Commons provinces should accept Ottawa’ 'S Six ~and-five policy if they expect : new federal aid — a policy similar tothe one he says will ’ apply to private businesses seeking grants and subsidies.- _ Ne said. Ottawa has .no plans: to renege on iransfer "payments for health and education but acceptance of the . -afiti-inflation policy will be a. factor when provinces suggest _Joint projects "in growth 3 areas that require. taxpayery’ : : money. ad - 8 . : . INSIDE | Comics, noroscope Page 4. | Wide: world of sports | ‘page 5 ‘Classifieds pages 687 sot te OTM Gok nee