A4 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, December 31, 2003

STANDARD

ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988

PUBLISHER: ROD LINK

ADDRESS: 3210 Clinton Street Terrace, B.C. « V8G 5R2
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EMAIL: newsroom@terracestandard.cam

No deal

THERE ARE two huge reasons why Terrace
should fight the Canada-U.S. softwood lumber
deal as currently proposed.

They are the two idle sawmills here — West
Fraser’s and New Skeena Forest Products’,

The deal, and especially its . proposed
implementation, would dash hopes that either
mill will run consistently in the months and years
ahead.

The aging West Fraser mill, one of the least
profitable in the company’s stable, would be one
of the first probable casualties of a deal.

Unless it finds new non-American customers,
West Fraser would have to cut back lumber
production by 400,000 board feet from current
levels under the deal. That would surely mean
the company would fill its quota of U.S. lumber
exports from more profitable mills, and the
Terrace mill would run sporadically, if at all.

Even New Skeena, with its more modern
sawmill here and labour concessions — and even
with different owners and deeper pockets — would
be on the ropes because it would get virtually no
allowance for exports to the US. at all.

That’s because export quotas are to be set
based on how much lumber companies shipped
to the U.S. in the past year and a half. In the case
of closed New Skeena, that number is zero, and
that’s how much quota this mill will get.

If this deal sticks, Ottawa must at a minimum
overhaul the system for assigning export rights so
that some pool of quota is held back for special
cases like New Skeena.

Although forest companies would be able to
sell quota to others, there’s merit in some kind

of government-administered auction of quota to’

rabayestis

efficiently redistribute it to those willing to pay.

But that alone is not good enough, particularly
if crippled coastal companies must outbid the
likes of Canfor and Slocan for a chunk of quota.
For that reason any such scheme should be split
up into coastal and interior versions.

The entire. deal is clearly flawed over and
above the quota issue.

It leaves a billion dollars in the hands of the
U.S. lumber barons — a huge war chest ready to
fuel their next legal attack if this deal collapses.

Whether the deal will ultimately lead to free
trade for B.C. producers in three to five years
time is doubtful. B.C.’s forestry reforms would
have to get the blessing of U.S. officials,

And the tariffs that kick in once a company
maxes out its quota are so high they preclude any
further exports.

We should buckle down and carry on the legal
fight until after the next U.S. election is over.

Armed with new rulings we can then go back
to Washington, basking in prime minister Paul
Martin’s new era of Canada-US. relations, and
bring home something closer to true free trade.

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Special thanks to all our contributors and correspondents
for their time and talents

A
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POLITICIANS IN DISGUISE

OHO

CONSERVATIVE
INACTION

| FIGURES

ALCON, 7 >

ALLIANCE To)

LEAST SUCCESSFUL CHRISTMAS GIFT

Ferry Chaos is far from over

VICTORIA — The ferry workers
behaved like thugs, management
substituted bravado for brains
and this government — and its
predecessors - set the stage for
the whole mess.

And the damage done goes far
beyond the current disruption.

You can’t entirely blame the
ferry workers’ union for ignoring
both the law and the contract they
signed. It’s learned behaviour. For
more than 30 years governments
have taught the union that illegal
strikes get results, and bring no
consequences.

And that’s the lesson again.
The union has won, gaining
binding arbitration and a promise
the company won't seek any
damages after this strike. ,

Governments occasionally,
talked tough over the years.

But their actions ‘showed the
union that law-breaking is an
effective, risk-free tactic.

When workers staged an

. illegal wildcat strike in 1997,
wlhe,.governmént promised, to

go after damages. Instead, the
union and the corporation each
ended up chipping in $30,000 for
grievance resolution training, and
the government forgot about the
loss to taxpayers and ferry users.

So it’s hardly a shock that the
union is prepared to break its
contract and the law. The tactic
has worked, and been accepted

FROM THE CAPITAL

PAUL WILLCOCKS

by government. (And the current
government has given up some
moral authority by breaking
contracts it doesn’t like.)

Ferries management should
have known the risk, and avoided
blundering into this dispute.

The system was shut down
over a relatively small issue.
Restaurants and gift shops were

nal going to be operating, so.

management wanted to schedule
lower-paid deckhands instead of
workers getting a premium for
doing those jobs. They would still
be fully trained union members,
and my reading of the Labour
Relations Board essential services
order indicates management was
within its rights.

But the union didn’t like it,

The upside of essential services
designation, from a union
perspective, is that service can be
disrupted without too much harm
to members, who largely stay on
the job. So the union refused to
work,

The company’s anger at that
is understandable. The union
doesn’t own the ships, or decide
who will staff them. But the smart
move would have been to let the
ships sail and head to the LRB
for a remedy. The focus should
be on protecting the business
and reaching a settlement, not on
symbolic victories and defeats,
(Based on my direct experience
in one strike, one lockout and toc
many’ difficult negotiations, that
focus is hard to maintain.)

Instead, the service was
shut down and Labour Minister
Graham Bruce imposed the back-
to-work order and cooling off
period. The decision looks hasty
today, but given the escalating

Stupidity at ferry terminals: on-
Tuesday, ‘i's hard to fault Mr.
Bruce.

The problem is far from
resolved. The union’s track
record suggests that it won't
hesitate to strike illegally if it
doesn’t like arbitrator Vince
Ready’s recommendations.

And the company still faces
major financial pressures as a
result of the Liberals’ move to

create a semi-independent ferry
authority.

Leaving aside ~ one-time
charges, the ferry corporation
made about $24 million last year.
But it faces immediate financial
problems. The government has
only guaranteed the $74-million
subsidy from gas taxes for five
years. And the ferry company
has to borrow some $2 billion
over the next 15 years, without
government guarantees. Lenders
will want to see a realistic
projection of profits that allow
the loans to be repaid.

Looking ahead five years,
the company faces a potential
operating loss of more than $100
million. Revenue gains, from
both rate increases and more
business, may help.

But the company will have
to cut costs. And since wages,
at $250 million, make up more
than half the operating expenses,
that’s where the savings will
have to come. The current truce

is merely a respite from: the:

problems ahead,

It’s been a grim week, and
not just for travellers and ferry-
dependent businesses.

B.C’s reputation for
destructive labour relations has
hurt the economy for years. This
strike reinforces that reputation,
at a very bad time.

Email: willcocks@uitranet.ca

Too stubborn To learn French?

LESS than two weeks after
Paul Martin was sworn in as
prime minister and promised
to make the West feel more
included, more civil service
jobs in Ottawa are to be
classified bilingual. How will
this include more westerners
in lucrative jobs?

Already 60 per cent of
Ottawa's civil servants come
from Ontario or Quebec largely
because few westerners can
qualify for bilingual postings.
We tend to blame the East for
this disparity, but of course
we have only ourselves to
chastise.

Whether we're born in
Victoria or Regina we are as
capable of learning French as
anyone fram Rouwyn or Baie
Comeau. Goodness knows the
opportunities to learn French
abound in Canada. So what's
our excuse for commanding
only English? Afterall, plenty
of westerners are bilingual
~ only their languages range
for Ukrainian to Hindi, just
not French.

My theory is we're too

THROUGH BIFOCALS -
CLAUDETTE SANDECKI

stubborn to learn French. We
feel if we do, we would be
knuckling under to Quebec,
And we harbour an inner
certainty English is superior to
French. Why else would we so
adamantly reject the language
at every turn?

The second half of my
theory involves religion.
Somehow we equate French
with Catholicism, — since
most French tend also to be
Catholics, while English tend

to be Protestant. I grew up
in a French community with
only five English-speaking
families, one of whom also
spoke Ukrainian. Everywhere
we went we were surrounded
by French and being insecure,
we were sure they were always
talking behind our back. Now
I know better.

J had the regulation four
years of high school French
and learned to comprehend
it reasonably well. But I was
too shy to speak it for fear
someone would laugh, as the
time I translated a line as, “J
love the Frenchman’s apples,”
when it should have been
“apples grown in France.” My
teacher laughed, Now, I would
laugh too. Then, I wanted to
crawl under my desk.

My youngest brother Bob,
took the opposite tack. More
willing to make mistakes, he
pursued French. He got a.B.A,
and qualified to teach high
school French, He chaperoned
his classes to Quebec City and
Paris, France.

His oldest daughter opted

TWAS THkens
ABOUT A NEW
LEAD DOG: as

Soe CA CAM Sad
ss uy es ts x)
x S roe cee ey

to take one high school year in
Quebec where she lived with
a French family. His second
daughter, too, immersed
herself in the language until
the three of them banter back
and forth switching from
English to French as thy wish.

When the oldest daughter
married a thoroughly bilingual
fellow from St. Albert,
Alberta they set up a French
household. Consequently their
3-year-old son lives in French.
His babysitter-aunt speaks
only French to him. He’ll be
attending a French pre-school.
And Grandma can’t converse
with him.

But he does understand
English. We visited his family
on his third birthday. He was
chewing on a plastic key when
] aimed the camera as he sat
on his Grandpa’s knee at the
breakfast table. “Can you take
the key out of his mouth?” I
asked him. He did. Both his
Mom and his aunt collect big
paycheques at bilingual jobs
in Edmonton. What could be
more inclusive?

am