by Tod Strachan

Alexander Highet, vice president
and regional general manager of
the Federal Business Development
Bank’s B.C. and Yukon region,
was in Terrace last week and
talked to the Terrace Review about
the current financial picture in our
part of the province.

In general, he says, we're in
pretty good shape.

This is the best province in the
country to be either in business or
starting a new business right now,
and the Northwest is the healthiest
region in B.C. And this trend
might be particularly exciting to
the native community; Aboriginal
Credit Corporations — on-reserve
lending institutions —- are on the
way.

Helping to get these Aboriginal
Credit Corporations off the ground
will be a new FBDB staff member
in Terrace. Bob Watch will be
arriving in Terrace Aug. 9 to take
on the full-time job of administer-
ing all FBDB training programs
from Houston to the Queen Char-
lotte Islands and north to the
Yukon border. And in training, the

area will see more on the topic
of the Goods and Services Tax, but
FBDB might have a better idea of
how to do it right. In the works are
one-on-one training sessions
geared to help everyone understand
what this tax means to them as
individuals. ~~ ae

Northwest is best

"Last year was a real good year,"
says Highet, “It was our banner
year.” Things have changed a little
since then, however.

Interest rates are up, and, "This
year’s not going so great." When
Highet makes this last statement,
though, he’s not talking about us.
He’s talking about the national
scene. Perhaps you caught an item
on national television that predic-
ted doom and gloom and said
bankruptcies were skyrocketing.

Well, that’s not us either. At least

not yet.

According to Highet, Canadian
bankrupticies are on the rise, but
not in B.C. It’s Ontario and Que-
bec who are producing the num-
bers that make the national scene
look so bad, "That’s where the big
blip in the chart comes from,"
according to Highet. But in B.C.,
"We're not complaining as far as
our clients are concerned... There
are people who fail all the time,
but it’s not reached epidemic pro-
portions."

If B.C. is the best province to be
in business, then, how does our
area stack up against the rest of
the province? According to Highet,
we're in pretty good shape. In fact,
the Northwest is probably the best
place in B.C. to be in business
right now. Terrace FBDB manager
Paul Williams says that in terms of
the number of the dollars loaned
his branch is up about 15 to 20
percent for the first half of 1990

compared to the same period in
1989,

Hi

Banker likes —
economy here

_ one really knows what’s going to

economic climate in the province.
Williams credits an active mining
industry and the Kemano Comple-
tion Project with this fact, but also
notes that the tourist industry is
healthy in the Northwest as well.

According to Highet, the south-
east corner of the province is the
most undesirable part of B.C. to be
in business at the present time,
with the northeast and southwest
falling somewhere in between the
extremes.

Highet does offer some caution,
however. Even in the Northwest,
where businessmen project an air
of confidence, many expansion
programs have been put on hold

due to high interest rates. Many of
these people are waiting for inter-
est rates to fall a little before they
expand. "It’s only the cost of
money that’s deterring them at the
present," says Highet.

But there is perhaps a more
ominous warning; the traditional
delay between eastern and western
trends. "It’s not so bad here... but
it could happen," cautions Highet.
"If the historic pattern repeats
itself, maybe 12 to 18 months from
now we’ll be having the thing that
they're having now. It always
seems slower to happen here, and
then we’re later to get out of it.
That’s what happened the last
time, in the early eighties."

And with this, he points to the
reality of the financial world. No

Terrace Federal Business Development Bank manager Paul Williams (left) has an idea that might
take the confusion out of GST... one-on-one counselling sessions that address each business's
needs. And Alexander Highet (right), FDBD vice-president and regional general manager for the
B.C, and Yukon region, agrees. "| think Paul is onto something here," he says.

Canada’s Parks and Historical Sites

Sources
. of wonders!

They're all around you. In every part
of the Country. Canada's National 3
Parks and Historic Sites. Very special s
places where our natural wonders a
are protected and our ancestors are
remembered.

Staffed by friendly, knowledgeable
people, these unique places are there
for you and your family to discover.
To enjoy. And to cherish as part of

happen, so the best advice might
be to follow the current trend and
cross your fingers. "We're not
complaining,” Highet says. "We're
telling our people in the east it’s
not so bad here..."

First.
profit
share

cheques

By that measurement, ‘Says
et, we're living in the best

at SCI

Repap’s Skeena Cellulose
operations in Terrace paid
their first profit share to all
employees of their woodlands
and sawmill operations,
excluding their three senior

the first of what will be an
ongoing serics quarterly
expected to all Terrace
employees of Repap's Skeena
Cellulose.

Repap official Reg

your own family’s traditions. So make
them part of your travelling plans
this year.

For detailed brochures on Canada's
National Parks and Historic Sites
please call

managers, on July 19. Repap (403) 292-4495

presently employs just over .

200 people in their Terrace or write

operations. Canadian Parks Service
The profit-sharing payment, P.O. Box 2989

an equal distribution of a Postal Station M

portion of the profits for the Cal Alberta

previous three months, was TOR sh8

share it’ |

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te

Lightfoot says the new profit
share plan is part of the
company’s philosophy that -
"those that make it should ee
a ie Environment Canada Environnement Canada
: . Parks Service Service des parce

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