. seat week to help the B. C. min- ing: ndustry lean up i ‘its Public by’ Michael Kelly rerce, told the gathering: he is > an” environmentalist, but he’s _.) + allso'fed up with special interest ~ +./> groups lobbying for total preser- von Vation of inineral-rich « areas:in — ol Be o> He asserted that those groups . ve are: -“hoodwinking politicians” 0 py-using selected portions of the .. . Brundtland. Commission Report --to further their own aims and “distorting the overall message the Teport was intended to con- | Business Beat A ig “vey. The Brundtland Commission . Report isa comprehensive ex-- ‘ amination of the’ world’s: en- - vironment prepared - for. the. - United Nations under the leader-. "ship of a former prime'minister — — of. Norway and ‘Teleastd, last ‘Tom ‘Waterland, addressing'a a: uncheon’ meeting of the Terrace . atid District Chamber -of Com-’ Waterland sicniltancously Iashed out - at preservationists - ‘and defended the B.C. mining industry’s approach to environ- . mental responsibility. ‘People living in places like the West End of Vancouver want the government ° to ‘preserve areas ~ like the Stikine River so ‘hey can . use them, but they don’t want _ the people who live up here to © use those areas to generate ‘wealth,”’ he said, Northwestern B.C., he said, has more mineral potential than any ‘other region-of comparable. - size in the world, and he. added - Discount sales and retail advertising © - The discount sale is a merchandising tool, often used to clear. slow-moving or dead stock and just as often used to at- . . tract and retain customers. Advertising and promotion are, in both instances, as important as the quality of the merchan- dise and the prices to which it has been discounted. The discount sale can become a. ‘regular event, timed to seasons, to the holidays, to’ special occasions like the beginning of the school year, and to the. retailer's own merchandising program. Asa regular. event, broadly promoted by Phil Hartt, _ Manager, Terrace Federal Business _ Development Bank and actively advertised, it soon is, estab- . lished with customers. _How often have you, the retailer, heard a customer say he or. she is waiting for so-and-so’ s discount sale to obtain a particular = Piece of merchandise? _- There is a danger, though, i in. having too many discount sales. o The retailer then may be sacrificing too much of his margin to at- tract traffic. Marked-down merchandise has to be kept in a pro- -«~per relationship with other merchandise. The retailer’s objective ... is a year-long. average margin which is profitable, not just quick sales on which margins are nominal. There is a further question, too, in the i image the retailer wishes to project. Some merchandise simply doesn’t lend itself to discounting, particularly whien price equates with quality in the minds of customers. Discount sales, to be successful; should be carefully planned. The retailer should have enough merchandise on hand to justify " the extra advertising and other costs that may be incurred. The extent-of the discounts has to be carefully calculated; so has the range of merchandise to which they are applied. _ “Make careful notes when selecting the merchandise to be dis- 7 counted. They'll help in the preparation of advertising, special stickers for the merchandise, and signs for posting in the win- “dows. Advertising: should. pear at least a week in advance of the sale, giving time for follow-up customer contacts by word of mouth, telephone calls and mailed reminders: The store also needs to be prepared with the discounted mer- chandise placed on prominent display. Store staff should be well briefed. Special incentives may be offered to assure the en- thusiastic support of individual sales people: Their advice should also be sought. ‘Sales people have first-hand knowledge of what customers want. A discount sale is, in many ways, an investment by the retailer and, like all investments, should be actively monitored to obtain . maximum return. Keep careful note of how merchandise is mov- ing-during the sale. Be prepared, if necessary, to quickly obtain additional merchandise of the sale is exceeding expectations. Or, if off to a slow start, be prepared to extend it and to increase advertising. - a But never ‘forget that the objective of a discount sale, as with a normal sale, is to show a profit. It should always contribute to the overall profitability of the retailer’s ‘operation, whether by. - Gleating the way for new merchandise or by increasing t the _ number of customers coming into thé store, Ee ee ena manna Wt mcararrae manatee hile er ede pa ements ' that” mine development is re- : -sponsible. for some‘of the. infra- structure that exists in - this “largely: undeveloped, ‘unpopu- lated” area.. Contrary: to popular ‘belief, | ‘Waterland went on, the. mining “industry in B.C. has only af- — fected:a small proportion of the | province’s total land base —. one-forticth of one percent — -and it'is one of the most highly - regulated — ‘industries. in. the world. ‘‘Any-new mine is subject toa rigorous planning and pro- tection process.”” The products and benefits of ° mining surround all of us — Local MP calls Bank of Canada | inflation theory ‘preposterous’ We all like to think that our - politicians. and leaders of our _ institutions are mature, clear- thinking individuals looking af: ter our best. interests. From time-to-time however, this is dif- - ficult. Particularly when Gover- nor Crow of the Bank of Cana- da says that the best way to _control inflation is to keep un-’ employment at eight percent. _And this is just what the Bank of Canada has suggested — keep the unemployment rate ‘Shigh’” — even higher than the one million people now out of work, The theory, according to Bank of Canada researcher David’ Rose, is that.an unemployment. rate of less than eight percent would add to the rate of infla- tion — now running at four per- cent. Alcan - declares — dividend, -share split Alcan Aluminum announced ~ Jast- week payment of an in- creased quarterly dividend to shareholders over the previous quarter and a proposal for a three-for-two division of the _ company’s common shares. ‘The dividend of 42 cents per common share, payable in U.S. funds to shareholders of record as of Feb. 17, is an increase of 40 percent over the previous quarter. Share dividends in that — quarter had gone up 30 percent. It’s the fifth quarterly dividend increase for Alcan shareholders in the past five years. A state- ment from the board of direct- ors attributes the increase to improved earnings and a posi- tive outlook for the economy in general. The share division proposal, which would increase the num- ber of outstanding common — shares by one-half, is intended © to make the shares more attrac- tive to a larger number of in- vestors. If approved by Alcan’s - .. share-holders at the annual general meeting scheduled for April 27, the share. division would take effect May 9. The company’s issued share ' ‘capital currently stands at about 151,734,000 common shares. “Terrace Review — Wednesday, February 15, 1989-13 including the preservationists — — in our everyday existence, Waterland pointed. out. Ex- ‘amples include everything made of metal and anything that burns gas_and fossil fuels... "Ves: there are some : technical problems, like acid’. mine. drainage,” he admitted. ‘‘But we are looking after our own problems, People see us as being destructive, but we are responsi- ‘ble citizens. It’s up to you to help people see us accurately, We're. at. fault for our image... we've been bad communicators, and we need your support. What he’s trying to say is that if unemployment is low, workers are in'a position to demand higher. wages, and this adds to the cost of goods and drives up consumer prices. On the other ‘hand, if jobs are few and work- ers plentiful, workers are in no position to bargain. And ac- cording to Rose, eight percent is the magic number — anything higher would be unneccessary but would put the brakes on inflation, anything lower would add to inflation. - “The rate of. unemployment: at which inflation would tend -heither to accelerate nor to de- _celerate’’,. says. Rose, ‘“was. about 8 percent at.the end of 1987.”" And with a current nation-wide jobless rate of 7.6 . percent, what he believes must be done is clear. -“Preposterous,”’ says Skeena MP Jim Fulton. ‘‘This just dent-. onstrates. how distant Brian Wilson and Brian Mulroney are -.. from the. millions out of work. . It’s more important to fight in- We TOM WATERLAND: need your support _ “you need us. “Help us ‘send this message to _ the policy, makers — you need . us.”? |. flation, which is at a historic low, than to fight unemploy- ment.” And what this fight amounts to, according to Fulton, is high - interest rates. But he says that - the fight is only against a strong Toronto economy while the rest of Canada is being ignored. ‘It’s punishing the rest of Cana- da,” he says. ‘Particularly Western Canada.”’ According to Fulton, the fight has caused poor performance in the sales of exports such as raw resources, the mainstay of the B.C. small and medium sized busi- nesses simply. because. debt. has become expensive. There’s nothing stopping Wil- son from targetting Ontario while leaving the rest of the country in peace, says Fulton. ‘*EHere in Northwest, low inter- est rates would create jobs, not increase inflation,’ he says. ‘*We're not suffering here — the worst problem here is the high cost of money.” ALL FREE ion Revenue Canada Taxation BRINGI VIE TAX Ifyou have a problem with your income tax return, we can heip. If you need assistance or extra copies of tax returns, schedules and forms, - we have them. Need booklets, guides, bulletins? We have those, too! ~ WEARE AT yous SERVICE This special, local tax information cantre, staffed by Revenue Canada Taxation will be at: _ ‘Terrace: Skeena Mall Starting: February 21 and until February 25. Well be pleased to help you. Revenu Canada Impot OF CHARGE ; econo-. my, and is slowing a number of . Serer OR an eee Rae RAMEE, 2 SOA IO OR ASAT EE SI OY TE TTI EN TE RAT AN MB A PE SR AS A a ANE AIRE TS ‘aia ‘ \ Naik: shtlagntinbentiemsiiin aactied ew ee Me ae ee