okeena Cellulose gets economic shot in arm SKEENA CELLULOSE is bringing hun- dreds of specialized workers to Prince Rupert next month to tackle the next stage of the modernization of its pulp mill there, The mill’s B line will be shut down again from June 1 to July $ while work proceeds on the number 6 recovery boiler, said Skeena Cellulose ‘spokesman Don McDonald. The work will be an economic shot in the arm for the region and particularly Prince Rupert. “This is big,” McDonald said. “Nobody’s getting laid off. And we're bringing in 400 additional people.” There isn’t enough hotel room in the cily so the company is offering to pay lo- cals $95 per day to provide.room and board for the imported engineers, contrac- tors, consultants and other trades people. Over 35 days of work for 400 workers that adds up to as much $1.3 million Skeena Cellulose will pay to house the workers. The company expects to spend around $20 million mare on the project, boosting the capital money spent on the pulp mill so far-to more than $40 million. The province last year gave the com- pany approval to spend the full $110 mil- lion in capital money promised when il was restructured. McDonald estimated the capital money has been about half spent, More pulp mill work is still scheduled for next year, The B mill was restarted in December after about $20 million was spent on ca- pital -work to the pulp mill last year.” The pulp mill work is key to. reducing the cost per tonne of producing pulp, thereby improving profitability. Although pulp prices are rising and Skeena Cellulose is expecting pood pro- fits this year. Company president Bill Steele has repeatedly said he wants to achieve cost reductions so the operations are poised to survive the next downturn in pulp markets. PRO LIFE supporters held a short vigil May 14 at the corner of Krumm Road and Hwy 37, where people placed 107 white crosses. The crosses re- present each child aborted at Mills Memorial Hospi- tal in 1999. Pro life supporters pray this small mem- orial site will be respected by everyone in this com- ‘munity. E.|. investigators bust hundreds FIRST THEY fined the’ husband. And then they fined the wife. : The two cases were ‘among the 265 resulting in, penalties of $611,355 as- sessed by employment in- surance investigators in the northwest over the past year. In addition to the fines, | 1, 226,860 was retrieved ‘from people wha shouldn’t have received the money in the first. Place. from. the. jnsurance:program. ‘of $1,838,215 in fines and eoverpayments, says Vince eslenfeld, an investigator iwith the Terrace-based ‘unit charged with finding. ‘people abusing the system. ‘In one particularly bla- stant ease, a Terrace tra- idesmen was given a fine tof $22,155 for underreport- ding earnings which resul- ted in him collecting , 237,385 in benefits. ; The fine works out to 2300 per cent of the bene-' “fits collected, the max- ‘imum possible financial penalty, said Heslenfeld. athe tradesman will also thave to pay back the ‘money he collected. » “That works out to early $30,000,” said Hes- Jenfeld. “No doubt he'll be ‘a long time in paying that ‘back. ” + The investigation unit’s files are long and exten- ‘sive for the past year: 3 They include three suc- “cessful criminal court pro- Secutions in which each Person was given a six- month conditional jail sen- ‘tence in addition to be or- dered to pay back what they wrongfully collected. One local case is still ‘before the courts and an- “Other is awaiting a. deci- sion on whether or not ‘Charges will be laid, ‘+ Heslenfeld said the in- “vestigations unit does re- ‘Eognize that some people make mistakes in under- Standing what's required when they collect employ- ‘ment insurance, “But there are some ‘Where we just couldn’t ex- tend any benefit of the doubt. People were doing ‘things wrong and they ei- ther knew or should have known what they were doing,” he said. > The most difficult cases ;to crack involve those ; when an employer con- » spires with an employee to t defraud the system, Hes- i lenfeld continued. > One of those situations >in Terrace took place ‘when an employer hired : back a laid-off female em- ; Ployee but put the employ- -€e’s son's name on the : payroll so she could conti- hue to collect benefits. That dated back four years and took place over the course of a year. “When there’s no one honest person in the equa- tion, it makes it pretty dif- ficult for us to take action,” said Heslenfeld, People shouldn’t be sur- prised that investigators will go back several years as they can probe circum- stances that happened as long as six years ago. It?s hard-to know the’. wes aS ENE * That: makes for a total ' in terms of benefits collec- ted,” said Heslenfeld. . “Of the 265 people we assessed fines, you could say we were lucky to catch them and there could be a few more people out there who were’ a bit more lucky that we didn’t catch them,” he said. Investigators cross-re- ference computer data _bases to find cases of sus- pected fraud. But they also rely an tips from the pub- lic. Last year, an retired RCMP corporal was hired to conduct seminars for claimants on the rights and privileges of employment insurance and te tell people what will happen if > a fraud occurs. Human Resources De- velopment Canada, which runs the employment in- surance program, does have a voluntary disclo- sure policy. No fines are assessed or prosecution takes place for those who acknowledge "past | abuse provided an in- vestigation has not already started. Heslenfeld’s unit has six members and takes in the area from the Queen Charlotte Islands to To- pley-Granisle, north to Dease Lake and south to Kitimat. The local number is 634-7134 and the toll-free number is 1-800-663-6883, Local 222. There is voice mai! and those reporting a potential abuse can remain anonymous. CORRECTION NOTICE The GMC advertis- ment on May 10th ran with a copy error, Please note that the V6 engine is an extra cost item and is not included in the purchase price or lease payment shown, Wa dpolo- gize for any incon: venience this may have caused you. The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, May 24, 2000 - A13 Recipe for managing weight © | part physical activity | part healthy eating 1 pinch doctor's advice: Aaganecparnan | ° wow patlicipaction.con Mix and enjoy. Serve often. Goes great with friends. The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries is inviting public input on the Angling Guide Management System and Classified Waters Review, There will be a regional public meeting at the Hudson Bay Lodge in Smithers June 6, 2000 at 7:30 p.m. based on the proceedings of the recent joint workshop in Richmond on April 29 and 30, 2000, The Angling Guide Management System and Classified Waters Review materials {including the report of the proceedings) are posted on the BC Fisheries web site (hitp://www.gov.bc.ca/fish/) with a dedicated e-mail address for feedback. 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