4 Terrace Review — Wednesday, March 16, 1988

7 : . : ,
Plugging the flow
If someone came up to you on the street and asked for
a dollar, offering in exchange a piece of paper which

may or may not become worth something at some unde-
fined point in the future, it would not seem like much of

the

an argument for investment.

If, on the other hand, that

‘same individual offered.in ex-~

change for the dollar a voucher
allowing you to write off $1.33

in taxes and the same piece of.

paper, with the additional condi-
tion that if you realized any gain
the profits would also be tax-
sheltered - well, it would be dif-
ficult to resist. ©

Junior mining companies in
Canada have found themselves
in that latter position for the
past four years, and the volume
of money involved is counted in
the billions. The principle is call-
ed flow-through shares, and it is
responsible more than any other
single. factor for a frenzy of
mining development and ex-
ploration that has gripped the
Northwest in recent years.

The question of why Tory
Finance Minister Michael Wil-

son wants to scrap flow--

throughs appears to be a politi-
cal mystery of the first order.
Flow-throughs were introduced
by the Liberal government in
1983, along with scientific
research and development tax

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credits and tax write-offs for in-
vestments in the Canadian film
industry. The latter two proved
to be embarassingly subject to
abuse and were retired, but
flow-throughs seem to be the
closest thing to a magic bullet
for regional economic develop-
ment we’ve ever seen come out
of Ottawa.

The convincing ‘feature of cae
flow-throughs is that the invest- EHDIve
ment money is tagged for ex-
ploration expenses, creating a

direct pipeline from the investor es dy.
| o.

to expenditure in the field - in
places like Terrace. Even the
New Democrats, who ‘initially
opposed flow-throughs as being

continued on page 24

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‘Sack Pak ————

- The amateurs in Victoria are too

~ busy to look after the economy

You can’t really blame Howard Lloyd
for believing that history does, indeed,
repeat itself. .

A few years ago, Lloyd came to Victoria
to talk to then premier Bill Bennett on
behalf of the Central Interior Logging
Association, but Bennett refused to meet
with him, Last week, Premier Bill Vander
Zalm pulled the same trick on him.

“It'll be at least three weeks before the
premier can ‘see- you,” Vander. Zalm’s
secretary informed Lloyd.

Who the heck is Lloyd anyway to de-
mand an audience with the premier? After
all, the man is pretty busy these days,
defending his abortion policy to an increasingly hostile opposition.

Well, Lloyd is not only a Socred supporter from way back; he
also was the Social Credit MLA for what was then called Fort
George (now Prince George North and South) between 1975 and
1979, What's more important, Lloyd has an idea that could put a
lot of people to work. Ideas, however, do not seem to be in demand
at this time.

Lloyd was. wandering through the corridors of the Legislative
Buildings, all steamed up about fickle politicians who wouldn’t
recognize a good idea if they found it in their cereal bowl, when I
ran into him.

‘If we can’t find jobs for 30,000 people in an area as big as
Washington, Oregon and Idaho put together, an area with a total
population of less than 250,000, there's something wrong,”’ Lloyd
fumed. ‘‘What’s the matter with these people?”’

- Whoa, back up, Howard. Suppose we have a cup of coffee, and
you tell me all about it? After listening to his story, I agreed that
ihe had good reason to be exasperated. Here it is in a nutshell.
The Central Interior Logging Association wants to establish a
silviculture training center at the former Baldy Hughes radar sta-
tion, 27 miles south of Prince George. The association could train

:
Hubert Beyer

in Victoria

~~ up to 200 people at a time. The course would stretch over 50 or 60
_ days and instruct students in all phases of silviculture.

The plan would draw on the area’s unemployed for student enrol-
ment. The association believes federal funding would be available
to pay students during their training period. The money would be
saved on unemployment insurance payments.

The association needs the provincial government to buy the site.
It says that should be no problem, considering the province bought
another former radar station near Kamloops for $5.5 million to ac-
commodate 40 juvenile offenders in a minimum-security institu-
tion,

The only additional investment, according to Lloyd, would be the
upgrading of the old heating system which now swallows about
$150,000 in oil alone each year. Lloyd says the association wants to
convert the heating system to use wood waste for fuel.

In terms of jobs, the proposal would eventually put up to 8,000
people to work. The association says that the economic spinoff ef-
fects of that many jobs would reduce unemployment in the area to
virtually zero.

According to Lloyd, the only stumbling block seems to be a pro-
vincial government which vascillates on the question of silviculture.
“I mean, either we are committed to the idea of silviculture or we let
things deteriorate further,’’ he says.

Lloyd believes that once the students have been thoroughly train-
ed in all facets of silviculture, they'll be hired by the private sector.

He says it’s a golden opportunity to reduce unemployment and

welfare rolls and give people a chance to contribute to society.
So what's the. problem? Lloyd fias no idea, Just a few months

ago, a number of provincial cabinet ministers were all fired up by’
the proposal. Forest Minister Dave Parker liked it; so did Environ- © —
ment Minister Bruce Strachan who is the “minister of state’’ for the
area. Now nobody wants to talk to Howard anymore. _
The same goes for the federal government. Last December, the
association was given to understand that it had come up with an ex-
cellent plan that could be used anywhere in Canada, Funding was
supposed to be no problem, Now the government can’t find the»
money, Oo,
Small wonder Lioyd is angry. Small wonder he believes the whole
province is going to-hell in a hand basket. . a
Well, Howard, that’s what happens when dilettantes are put in
charge. The people who are supposed to represent our interests in
Victoria haven’t got time to deal with trivialities such as. the.

economy and proposals like yours when they have to give their un-

divided attention to the abortion issue.
You could, of course, remember that next time someone asks you ~
to vote for a smile. Ao ye

No Exaggeration Too Big

The antagonists in the great abortion debate have spared no
rhetorical hypothesis to score points in the legislature.

Again and again, the New Democratic Party hammered away at
Premier Vander Zalm's stand on abortion by pointing out that the
government would not fund an abortion for a fictitious 12-year-old
girl who has been raped and is pregnant.

In response, the premier held out an even more unlikely scenario.
With no federal abortion Jaws in place, he said, a woman can now
get an abortion the day before she’s to give birth. For added punch,
the premier said that those who first alleged the Holocaust in Nazi
Germany were also subjected to verbal abuse.

Needless to say that neither side has been very impressed with the
other’s arguments. The NDP’s Joan Smallwood was so unimpress-
ed, in fact, that she called the premier a coward. When she refused
to withdraw the remark, she was turfed out of the chamber for the
day. The debate rages on.

Whistler Update .

When the provincial government bailed out the financially shaky
Whistler Ski Resort a few years ago, a lot of people complained,

- They objected mainly to government help for a facility that sup-

posedly serves only the rich.

It turned out to be one of the best investment the government has
ever made. Whistler and the adjacent Blackcombe ski mountains,
70 miles north of Vancouver, have not only become extremely pro-
fitable, but are on the verge of becoming a world destination ski
resort. There’s no danger the government-guaranteed loans will not
be paid back. a

: : Budget Time Se blag
Shortly after 2 p.m., Wednesday, March 24, Finance Minister.

Mel! Couvelier will bring down the 1988-89 budget. Reporters will a

get a look at the budget early that morning. They won’t be able te
do anything with it though because they’ll be locked up in a room at |
Victoria's Empress Hotel until the minister gets up in the legislature
to deliver his budget speech.

The advantage of the “lockup” is that reporters have several

hours to familiarize themselves with the budget before having to
write their stories.

The thing to look for in the budget is delivery on Couvelier’s pro-
mise of a balanced budget and measures to reduce the accumulated
deficit, Good luck, Mel, you eed it,