Food first | Meet the Salvation Army’s new community services director and his to-do Downtown perks up Lakelse Ave. is going to look different as changes occur over the next few _They’re tough The Thyee Lake Triathlon lures brave athletes from Terrace\SPORTS A14 list\COMMUNITY B& months\NEWS A10O $1.00 pus 7¢ GST (51.40 plus 8¢ GST outside of the Terrace area) Gd THE CITY OF | TERRACE | ANNIVERSARY 2003 Gov't gets NORTHERN LIBERALS have told their government not to cut long term beds until alternative home care or other supports are in place for inde- pendent living. The message was delivered in the form of a motion al a July 18-20 policy conference in Prince Rupert attended by northern Liberals, Premier Gordon Campbell, cabinet ministers and MLAs. It was introduced by Terrace coun- cil member Lynne Christiansen in her capacity as a member of the city’s health task force monitoring group. She crafted the motion in response to plans by the Northern Health Au- thority to close 25 of its 75 beds at Although the authority says it will increase community care, details and a budget for that have yet to surface. Christiansen said she’s worried that the home care services won't increase once the beds are closed. - She spoke to the motion in front of a panel of elected Liberals, including health services minister Colin Hansen. “The premier spoke before that and he. said one size does not fit all and that’s exactly what we think here,” said Christiansen. “We don’t think their plan will . work in arural and remote area.” Christiansen said she had to buy a $10 provincial Liberal membership in order to speak to the panel. i-bed cut message M Local health care advo- cates start a letter writing campaign to protest Terra- ceview bed closure plan. Page A2 way to a full-blown provincial Liberal convention next year, says Lael Mc- Keown, president of the B.C. Liberal Skeena constituency association. “This was one area where we had a chance to bring an issue of concern to the premier, cabinet and caucus,” said McKeown. “Even though it won't get voted on for a year (at the provincial conven- tion] and it might get voted down, they know this is a-concern that can’t be ignored,” she continued. Christiansen was less successful in having ancther health motion passed. An attempt to obtain a blessing for a regional trauma centre at Mills Memorial Hospital was altered, she ' said, by delegates from Prince Rupert. Terrace and Mills were absent from an amended motion which instead ad- vocated using high technology to im- prove trauma services in the northwest. It also called for a reassessment of where a trauma centre should go. A regional irauma centre at Mills is the primary health care goal of Chris- tiansen and other health care advo- cates in Terrace and area. The northwest does not have such a centre now. But Terrace woaéss tagged more than a 7 decade ago as the loca- tion for a g centre by a provin- _ cial trau- ma serv- ice sj commit- tee. Lynne Christiansen Terraceview Lodge in Terrace. @ Reptilian IGGY the iguana hitches a ride clinging to its owner's head. Brandon Larkin, 16, took his unique pet for a stroll in the completely at ease. SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN PHOTO The resolution will now make its rider beautiful sunshine July 25. The brilliantly coloured reptile was Alcan hurts region's economy by selling power, study says By JEFF NAGEL THE SALE of power by Alcan comes at the expense of jobs in the northwest, a study com- missioned by the District of Kitimat has con- cluded, The study by Roslyn Kunin and Associates tallies up economic and job losses or gains that result from changes in aluminum produc- tion by Alcan. “Any change in employment there is going _ to have a very large impact on the local econ- omy,” Kunin said. Kitimat officials hope the study will bolster their argument that the province should work with them to maximize aluminum production and resist Alcan efforts to expand its ability to sell power. The study concludes every loss of 100 Al- can jobs translates into a-loss of about $2.1 million in provincial tax revenue and a $56.5 million per year reduction in total industrial output. Alcan’s move to cut 200 -jobs since 2001 has resulted in spinoff job losses to the region, Kunin projected. She said it ‘would have added up to a loss of 50 more jobs in Kitimat itself and 38 jobs in Terrace and area. The 200-job reduction is also projected to have added up té a loss of more than $4 mil- lion in provincial tax revenue and $226 million in tolal industrial production over. the past two | years. Economic spinoffs from extra jobs; industri- through the sale ~that al production and government tax revenue “can only be realized by aluminum produc- tion or other in- dustrial utiliza- tton, and = not of power,” the study found. ‘Kunin did not investigate close- ly the possibility Kemano | electricity could power other in- dustry in the re- gion as an alter- native to alumi- num production. “I’m not aware of major investment appor- tunities immediately on the horizon,” she said in an interview. “If there were other industries that generate employment they would have different multi- pliers than the aluminum industry, " said Ku- nin; an economist and former federal official. ’ Kitiniat paid $21,000 for the study. Kitimat mayor Rick Wozney said the find- Rick Wozney ngs are proof that power sales are bad for B.C. when job and tax losses are tallied.” oe “Even if no-further jobs are cut, the loss to the provincial economy, over the next 10 years will be more than $1 billion,” Wozney said. Kitimat council fears Alcan — if it can sell power without restriction — will modernize its smelter to employ only 800 people, minimiz- ing aluminum production and maximizing power sales Wozney says that would cut employment by 1,000 jobs from 2001 levels. Based on the Kunin study, that would mag- nify the loss to the B.C, econamy to $500 mil- lion per year, or more than $5 billion a decade. “Selling the power for export robs the prov- ince of those benefits,” Wozney said. “Alcan is scaling back production in B.C, at the same time that it is increasing aluminum production in Quebec,” he said, “Unlike B.C., Alcan is not permitted to shut down capacity ‘to sell excess power in Quebec.” Wozney said the Nechako River is a “magnificient public resource” that could power a smelter of 600,000 metric tonnes per year. "I am concerned that Alcan might under- mine the public benefits of this resource by re- building a smaller smelter than the resource would support in order to pursue power sales,” Wozney. said. “Alcan is attempting to permanently gain the right to sell electricity at the expense of aluminum production and jobs,” he said, “The loss to the province in terms of value-added _jobs and exports will be huge.” There have been no meetings between Kiti- mat and the province sinced June. City’s 75th party continues during Riverboat Days WITH EVERYTHING from the traditional parade to a homecoming celebrating the city’s 75th birthday to Canadian rock legend Prism, fe 2003 edition of Riverboat Days begins July 1, The 75th anniversary celebrations continue with a Memory Lane social Aug. 1 from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the arena. That'll be followed by a homecoming dance the next evening, also at the arena. Turn to Page B1 for an overview of the ev- ent, Pages BI to B7 for a schedule and stories and Page A15 for a separate offering on River- boat Days sporting events. Weak salmon stocks mean no fish sales By SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN ABORIGINAL PEOPLE here may not be allowed to catch and sell sockeye salmon as federal fisheries offi- cials have cut back on the commercial sockeye fishery. The cuts come in an effort to protect weak sockeye returns to the Kitwanga River and the Nanika further in- land, says fisheries official David Einarson. As a result, aboriginals in the Terrace area may not have a crack at Excess Salmon to Spawning Require- ment (ESSR) fishing opportunities. When returns come in stronger than expected fisher- ies officials may issue special commercial permits to First Nations to harvest a certain number of the abundant fish to sell. “Currently there’s no sign of it, for both the Nass and the Skeena, there’s no sign of a surplus developing,” Ei- narson said. He said if one does take place it'll likely be more inland toward the Babine Lake. Last year there was no ESSR fishery for the Nass and Skeena, while a small allottment was made at Morice- town for roadside sales of pink salmon. The Kitselas also don't have a commercial catch al- lotment, he said, which means any fishing done with the fishing wheel is solely for food, social and ceremonial purposes, he said. “The in-river fishery is in the same fix as they are out here,” Einarson says, referring to commercial fishermen in the Prince Rupert area. Though sockeye stocks are coming back in greater numbers than officials predicted this year, fewer days are being allotted for commercial harvest in an effort to protect weak Nanika and Kitwanga stocks. “We predicted it would be 1.2 million and currently it looks like it's coming in at about 1.8 million,” says Ei- narson, estimating 650,000 sockeye have been caught by commercial fishermen so far this season. That compares to a 2.4 million return to the Nass and Skeena Rivers last year allawing a catch of 1.2 million. The main two weeks that those stocks return to Kit- wanga are in the fast week of July and the first week of August, Einarson said. Last year commercial anglers had 12 days of sockeye fishing in July. This year that number is seven with the chance of one more opening this week. This season’s fishing plan has drawn fire from com- mercial fishermen who say the effort to protect weak stocks is amounting to a 40 per cent reduction in their catch. But Einarson says it’s just one fishing plan for one year — it may change next year based on how well the stocks come in.