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VOL, 10.NO.12.

Gay tolerance rallies pl anned :

Crusader’s visit here

triggers opposition
, By CRIS LEYKAUF
RALLIES both for and against the teach-

ing of homosexual tolerance in schools -

are planned here for Wednesday, July
16, .

Controversial speaker Kari Simpson,
head of the Langley-based Cilizens Re-
search Institute, is to lead a rally that
night at 7 p.m. at the Terrace arena. The
group wants more rights for parents and
wants to restrict the teaching of tolerance,

for what they call the homosexual life-
style.

Simpson’s plans have sparked an op-
posing rally — starting at the same time
up the street at the Skeena Health Unit
auditorium — to discuss why tolerance
in schools is important.

. Simpson has spoken to more than
20,000 people throughout the province in
the last two months, as she battles
teachers’ efforts ito eliminate
homophobia in the schools. -

In March, the B.C. Teacher’s Feder-
ation passed a resolution to develop ‘‘a

program to eliminate homophobia and
heterosexism in the B.C. public school
system.”’

The information could be taught to stu-
dents within the context of the Career
and’ Personal Planning classes —
mandatory for graduation. However,
whether it goes ahead and what form it
takes has not been decided,

The Citizen's Research Institute, of
which Simpson is one of five founders,
takes the view that homosexuality is an
wnnatural lifestyle, and therefore
shouldn't be portrayed to students as

being normal or acceptable.
The Institute’s mandate is to protect

‘traditional family values.”

‘““We are not anti-gay,”’ said Simpson.
*‘We promote tolerance and respect for
the individual.’’

She believes parents have the right to
control the moral. values taught to their
children in schools. ;

When Simpson spoke at a Vancouver
rally on June 7, protesters pushed,
shoved and ripped up the signs of Simp-
son’s supporters.

Pro-tolerance ally organizer Karla

Hennig, of the Terace Women's’.
Resource Centre, isn’t predicting a
violent reaction to Simpson’s rally here.

“The more attention you give her the
worse it is,”’ sald Hennig.

But organizers of the Simpson forum,
aren’t taking chances. Entry is by invita-
tion only, and the back of the ticket
reads, ‘‘organizers of this forum reserve
the right to deny a pass or access to any
person or person’s the organizers believe
may be of a disruptive intent.”

‘Continued Page A2

Skeena solution

tions in Stewart/Hyder.

Mi Wearing the fiag

Canada Day celebrations. People gathered in Kitimat Tuesday for events that In-
cluded the Kitimat Hill Climb. Drag racers from across the Northwest converged

for the event. Other activities on the nations included International Days celebra-
a

Phone rate ‘greed’ assailed

BC Tel is aiming to

double local rates

By DAVID TAYLOR
A FORMER MP is urging B.C.’s At-
torney General to put a stop to what
he calls the “rapacious greed” of
telephone companies looking to in-
crease lucal rates,

Ray Skelly, a former NDP MP. for
North Island-Powell River is now ar
elementary school principal in Green-
ville. He says BC Tel’s proposed rate
increases are wnfair and outrageous.

“This is a huge, multibillion dollar
cash grab,”’ he says, “I can’t think of
a bigger attack on the public purse.”’

Terrace residents have already seen
thelr monthly phone rates increase this
yeer from $13.50 to $15. And accord-

ing to BC Tel’s plan, the rates will go
up by another $3 in January of 1998.

_ That’s just another step in the com-
pany’s maarch to have basic local ser-
vice rates doubled within four years
— to between $25 and $30 per month.

BC Tel isn’t alone in their bid for
higher rates. All nine provincial tele-
phone companies across Canada have
joined in asking the Canadian Radio
and Telecommunications Commission
(CRTC) for permission to hike their
fees.

On May 1, the CRTC told the phone
companies they could formally apply
for the rate increases, making their ap-
proval seem imminent.

If accepted, an extra $15 per month |

added to the 13 million phone lines in”

. Canada would net the telephone com-

panies some $2.34 billion in added
revenue,

BC Tel alone could stand to make
an extra $400 million annually.

According to Skelly, the increases
are totally unjustified, so he’s asking
B.C’s Attorney General Ujjal Dosanjh
to step in. .

Skelly says Dosanjh has the power
under the Trade Practices Act to order
a public inquiry into the rate in-
creases,

And in a letter to Dosanjh, Skelly
says if the CRTC doesn’t hold off
with their decision until after the in-
quiry, the Attomey General should
seek a federal court injunction to pre-
vent the application from proceeding.

Continued Page A2-

is weeks away

Gov't waits for analysis of banks’ proposals

By JEFF NAGEL
DON’T EXPECT any last-minute deal that
will keep Skeena Cellulose’s Terrace saw-
mill from shutting down on July11.

Provincial government officials say it will
take well beyond that date for consultants
to give them an indepesident analysis of the
restructuring proposal tabled by the Royal
ind.Toronto Dominion-banks, | ¢- ;

At issue is how much money needs to be
spent to modernize the aging and incfficient
Prince Rupert pulp mill.

The banks say they want the province to
put up a significant chunk of the $278 miJ-
lion they say is needed over three years,

Determining the validity of that claim
will take consultants ‘‘at least a couple or
three weeks”’ and ‘‘probably closer to the
end of the month,” Job Protection Com-
mission managing director Eric van Soeren
said Friday.

The consulting firm to look into the mat-
ter hasn’t even been hired yet, he said.

- All statements by employment and invest-
ment minister Dan Miller tend to confirm
that the province will take what it considers
the necessary time to consider the situation.

Van Soeren said the province and the
banks are still far apart on issues other than
the total amount of dollars needed,

“There are a lot of elements still to be
resolved before any commitments can be
made,’” he said. .

“We have said we are prepared to partici-
pate financially,” Miller said Friday.

“We are lalking about a considerable
amount of money. And it is the taxpayers’
money, so we're carrying out our duc dil-
ligence on that.”

The Pulp, Paper and Woodworkers of
Canada local 4 have also hired consultants
to look into the banks assertion that a third
of the pulp mill’s 750 workers must go to
make the operation viable.

All logging ground to a stop on Friday
and the Prince Rupert pulp mill shut down.

At least 500 loggers and contractors are
out of work in the Terrace area, wilh anoth-

-er 250 mill workers to work their last days

next week.

The planer portion of the mill will con-
tinue operating until about tbe end of the
month.

Mills in Hazelton and Smithers are ¢x-
pected to go down around July 11 as well.

A mass employment insurance claim tak-
ing for the Prince Rupert pulp mill workers
is underway there this week. Similar claim
takings are expected in Terrace and the mil}
gets closer to its shutdown date.

Skeena MLA Helmut Gicsbrecht said
he’s getting less optimistic that at least a
short-lerm shutdown can be avoided.

He said he has difficulty with the amount
of money the banks are asking of the tax-
payers, adding ihe banks are as much to
blame for the situation as Repap manage-
ment, ;

“The banks have a responsibility and
they should be prepared to swallow real
hard and not expect that they are going to
come out of this with all of their money
back,'? Giesbrecht said.

In the event the company ultimately goes
bankrupt, he added, the province will look

~ out as much as possible for the contractors,
" suppliers, and employees in the region.

“You can bet that every effort will be

made to ensure the banks pay and other
-people’s pain is minimized,’’ Giesbrecht

LAST DAY: Truck driver Randy Kluss
hauled his tast load of logs into Skeena
Cellulase's yard on Friday. All logging
anded, and the samwill closes July 11. -

said.

But Skeena Cellulose vice-president
Rudy Schwartz is optimistic the operations
will eventually restart.

“I’m confident we're eventually going to
solve this,’”’ Schwartz said. ‘It’s In every-
body's interest — the community’s, the
union, the government, the company, the
banks —— everybody. We'd certainly be
doing the world a disservice if we didn’t
find a way to solve this.” - ;

And Schwartz says selling the operations
piecemeal is no answer.

Symbiotic relationships exists between
chips, sawmills and pulpmills, he said.

No matter how efficient and profitable the
sawmills are, he said, they depend. on the
pulp milf to deal with the less valuable

: chips.

u Mayors met here from
across the northwest last
week, See story page A2.

‘*More than anywhere else in the pro-
vince, the relatlonship between the saw-
mills and pulp mill is absolutely key (in the
Northwest),’’ ;

But while operations are winding down in
ihe northwest, Schwartz says it’s too soon
lo talk about possible layoffs at the compa-
ny’s Vancouver head office,

‘We're going to be selling pulp for some
time yet and we're going to be selling lum-
ber for some time yet,” be said. ‘It (head.
office) has a job to do, it has to get rid of
product,”’ e

Community committees are being set up
this week in each affected town to deal with
displaced workers,

Michzel Riseborough, community ilaison
officer for the Jop Protection Commission
is behind the effort. It's being backed: by

‘the ministry of education, skills and train-

ing, Forest Renewal B.C,, and Human
Resources Development Camada. .,