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VOEUME 71 No. 15)

20¢

CS 5 ae id

WEDNESDAY. DECEMBER 7, 1977

pre-school to help out with on-going financial difficulties.
Pre-School may have to close at the end of the month because of
lack of government support. _

Lazelle

MLA urges Local Hearing a
_ Gas Rates May Jump 22 per cent
_..... dut_Terrace Seems Unconcerned. .

1978 to
consider an application

Either the residents
and businessmen of
Terrace are too rich to
care, or they have not
realized their natural gas
rated could easily jump
22 per cent within the
next few months.

‘The British Columbia
Energy Commission,
which will be holding a
hearing in Vancouver on

- by Pacific Nort

February 1,

ern Gas
to increase their rates for
all natural goas_ sold,
according to Skeena MLA
Cyril Shelford, insists
there has been no interest
shown in this area for a
local hearing.

Shelford said there are
two increases planned in

the gas rates of 11 per

cent each; one is to go |

into effect March ist,
1978.

Shelford is trying hard
to insist on a local

. hearing, but so far there

has been little - public
support. ‘“‘Fhe wage
earners annual salary
increases may enable
them to keep ahead of the

B.C. Commissioner Opts For.
Ft. Nelson R.R.. ©:

VANCOUVER (CP) —
The financial advisor to
the royal commission
inquiry into the affairs of
the British Columbia R
ilway affairs suggested
Tuesday that the crown
railway'’s costly Fort
Nelson extension be
abandoned.

David Sinclair told the
commission that using
truck transport as a
replacement for the line
would be expensive, but
not as costly as the $35
million necessary to
upgrade the extension
and provide for continued
operations.

Sinclair said the ex-
tension in northeastern

B.C. should be written off
and noted that the cost of
relocating 600 workers
and compensating Fort’
Nelson municipality and
a

would still be less than
the guarantee of line
operations in the next five
years.

Mac Norris, railway
general manager, ‘told
the commission that a
report commissioned by
the former NDP
government on feasibility
of a merger of BCR and
Canadian National Rail-
ways was not kept secret
from the commission.

In a submission
Monday, NDP _ leader

Dave Barrett revealed -

the report, which recom-
mended against such a
merger. Barrett said he
didn't know why the
report had not been made
available to the com-
mission.

Norris said he agreed
with the report and
thought it would be in the
railway's best interest to
release the document to
the commission, He says
it was given to the
railway’s committee
handling liaison with the
commission but was
delayed on a shelf, lost
under a: mound of
documents.

The hearing continues.

energy cost jumps” he
told the Terrace Daily
Herald, Tuesday af-

- ternoon, “but the people .

on fixed incomes, Senior
citizens or on Welfare

could really suffer.”
An rsons — in-
‘dividually, singly, in

groupsoras’
organizations who are
opposed to the projected
jumps in the price af
natural gas should phone,
call or write to their local
MLA in Terrace ex-
pressing their feelings.
And they should do so at
Once,

- Tt is still not too late to
bring sufficient pressure
to bear for a local public
hearing at which time all

the facts will have to be
brought to light and the
average citizen’s voice
expressed where it will be
the most effevtive. .

‘In announcing — the
reason for planned in-
creases, hydro, oi] and
gasoline companies not
infrequently use ver
confusing terms, leg
jargon — language that
the average householder
who has to pay the in-
crease cannot un-
derstand.

A local hearing,
Shelford feels, would
provide an opportunity to
ask some plain, blunt
questions and, hopefully,
get some straight an-
swers.

BC. Gov't Doubling
Indian Band Settlement

PRINCE
GEORGE,NB.C. (CP) —
The provincial govern-
ment will increase its
land claim settlement to
the. _ local: Stuart-
Trembleur Indian band to
$100,000 from $50,000,
Labor Minister Allan
Williams said. Tuesday.

Williams said the
government discussions

| Post Office Relations Deteriorate As
Christmas Mail Rush Increases

Bs GINNY GALT

OTTAWA (CP) — The
post office says it hopes to
continue negotiations
with the Canadian Union
of _ Postal Workers
(CUPW) pending the
appointment of a con-
ciliation board to_ in-
teryene in the contract
dispute.

A spokesman for the
post office said today the

. post office applied for the

a pointment of a con-
ciliation board because
there have been a
number of delays in talks
for a new contract.

The spokesman said it
generally takes the
Public Service Staff
Relations Board between
two and three months to

appoint a conciliation -
board.

In the meantime, the
post office hopes for a
resumption. of
negotiations to resolve as
many of the outstanding
issues as possibie,

Leaders of the 22,000-
member union are
meeting this week to
decide their next move.

CUPW president Jean-
Claude Parrot said
Monday neght: “For us,
this request for as
Ciliation board is just an
admission th t they
cannot negotiate, that
they don"! ‘have the
proper authority to
negotiate.”

STRAINED RELATIONS

The post office request

for a conciliation board
has angered leaders of
the union, which rep-
resents mail sorters and
postal clerks, and has
Strained already-tense
relations just when
Christmas cards and
packages are being
mailed.

‘The last contract ex-
pired June 30, but
negotiations for a new
aJEMENT HaAe been
Sporadic. The most
recent bargaining session
was Nov. 17 and Parrot
said it was up to the post
office to set the date for
the next round of talks.

The union’s major non-
monetary ‘demands are
for protection. against

adverse effects of tech-
nological change and an
end to the use of casual,
non-union labor in the
post office.

CUPW wants the right
to veto proposed
technological changes it
feels would adversely
affect its members.

Technically, the union
will not be In a legal
strike position until after
a conciliazbgs intervened

_ and issued a report.

But the union has held a
number of wildcat
walkouts across the
country in disputes over
the introduction of
technological change and
the use of non-union labor
to do jobs normally per-
formed by union mem-
bers,

‘department

focussed on the pos-
sibility of setting the band
up in the. logging in-
dustry.

The dispute centres

‘around 389 acres of

reserve land near Fort St.
James that was taken
away by the British
Columbia Railway in 1968
for the Dease Lake ex-
tension.

The band is seeking a
10-forone land seiffement
and $1,500 a month for the
duration of the niné years
the talks have been going
on. The band is asking for
@ $162,000 cash set-,
tlement.

The band is expected to

meet again with Williams
in February.

Inuvik High Mercury Levals Revealed

OTTAWA (CV) —
Twentyseven cases of
higher-than-normal
mercury-blood levels
were discovered ‘ in
August in the Northwest
Territories community of
Inuvik, the federal health
reported
Monday.

The department tested
$8 persons and found that
71 had mercury levels of
zero to 19 parts per billlon
(ppb) of blood,. the nor-
mal r nge. Fifteen had 20

mM a

In Terrace Area

Sree

PROVENCTAL LIBRARY
PARLIAMENT BLDGS

VICTORIA BC

Auto Deaths Double

Automobile deaths and
accidents in the Terrace
patrol area are running

_ higher than last year,

according to Terrace
RCMP, Tuesday.

Budget Cut

Shocks

B.C.
Federation

VICTORIA (CP) —
British Columbia’s fish
and wildlife branch has
been ordered to turn back
about $500,000 of its an-
nual $10 million budget, a
braneh official said
Monday.

The official, who asked
to remain anonymous,
said in an interview the
move has effectivel
rendered impotent the al-
ready under-funded and
shortstaffed branch.

Because of the cuts, the
Vancouver Island region
of the branch has ordered
all of its boats out of the
water, saying they’re too
expensive to operate
under present restraints,
he said. -

As well, travel by
branch personnel has
almost come to a halt, he
said.

The cutback comes
only months after con-
sultant Bill Mair reported
i specially-
commissioned study that
the branch is badly in
need of more staff and
money. Mair recom-
mended a doubling of the
budget within five years.
NOT CONFIRMED

Finance Minister Evan
Wolfe refused Monday to
confirm the cutback, but
did say that ‘modest
alterations’’ had recently
been made toa number of
ministry budgets. . 7

Wolfe said the branch is

affected and’ that. the
cutbacks have hit all
ministries to one degree
or another...

« He said the moves are
necessary because of the

_ 40 million to $50 million

shortfall in income the
provincial government
will experience this year.

Wolfe said on Oct. 26
while releasing the
second-quarter financial
report that both the fed-
eral
governments had over-
estimated the revenues
B.C. would receive from

federally-collected in-
come tax.
To correct the

situation, he said, the
province would urge
spending restraints of
more than four per cent
in alll government
departments.
IMPACT IS HEAVY

A fish and’ wildlife
branch spokesman said
that with the end of the
current fiscal year only

about four months away, .

most branch depart-
ments have already gone
through the bulk of their
annual budget so the five
per cent figure translates
into? a much larger
percentage of the
remaining funds.

On Vancouver Island,
for example, the cut
means about 30 per cent
of unspent cash must be
returned.

Travel expenses for
fish and wildlife per-
sonnel, usually set at
about $225 to $250 a month
a month for each worker,
now have been set at a
maximum of $150 a
month,

to39 ppb and i2had levels
between 50 and 90 ppb.

The National Indian
Brotherhood considers
continuing levels of 50 or.
higher as dangerous and
continuing levels of 100 or
higher critical. The
department says that
anyone with 100 ppb or

higher is at risk.

Inuvik is a community
of 4,-000 on the Mackenzie
River Delta. Similar
evidence of mercury
contamination has been

and provincial ,

To date, there have
been 6 fatalities — one in
town (Terrace) and 5 on
the highway. Last year at
this ime there were none
in town and 3 in the
unorganized area.

For the first 6 days of
December (Safe Driving
Week) there were 16
motor vehicle accidents
with a dollar value of
$6,500 in damages; one
impaired driving charge
and four 24-hour drivers’
licence suspensions. A
total of 33 persons were
charged under the Motor
Vehicles Act for in-
fractions.

Eleven of these ac-
cidents occurred in a 4-
block downtown area of
Terrace from noon to 4

p.m. when the snow
storm struck Sunday.

In addition to the 6
killed this year in
automohile accidents in
the Terrace patrol area,
there were 100 injured
and a grand total of 602
vehicle accidents, —

Deaths are double this
year compared to 1976
when there were 3
recorded fatalities in the
unorganized area and
none in town.

The Canada Safety
Council has issued these
further grim statistics:

Between 1965 and 1975
$04 children under age 4
were killed in aute ac-
cidents in Canada, and
36,714 children were
injured,

McGeer Says School Taxes
Will Have TO Be Increased

VICTORIA (CP) —
Increasing costs coupled
with eclining
enrolments can only lead
to higher school taxes,
Education Minister Pat
McGeer said Monday.

McGeer was respon-
ding to criticism of last
week’s announcement
that the provincial
government would be
raising the local tax-
payers’ share of eduction
costs by 19 per cent in
1978,

“The costs of primary
and secondary education
have been going up ata
far faster rate than the
income to government or
the gross provincial prad-
uct,” he sald in an in-
terview, ‘‘and this is at a
time when school
populations are declin-
ing, 8o that you've got a
Tise in costs that are
outstripping the economy
on one hand, and de-
clining populations on the
other.””

“So there is a spread
that’s been growing for
two or three years and
which I suspect will
eventually be brought
into adjustment.” . ©

aie

taxes are spent, they only
come from one source--
the taxpayer.

a wg ete apres xe he: } ‘sald, that .
“Wot the only department’ “Segardiess of where the

But MeGeer held out
hope that the increase
might not be as high as 19
per cent. .

“Final budgets won't
be made up by the
provincial goverment
until well ito the new
year, so that the ministry
of fin nce may be able to
provide money for the
school system.”’-

Pat Brady, president
of the B.C. Teachers’
Federation, said Friday
he was dismayed by the
government an-
nouncement that the
basic mill rate would go
up five points to 42,5
mills.

ling aid that ac:
cor ’ to last year’s
McMath _ report 0
assessment and taxation,
the provincial govern-
ment should be payin
about 75 per cent of
school costs.

But, he said, the in-
crease announced by the
department on Thursday
indicated that the
government's share will

Doctors Lose Struggle’
To Save Pregnant Woman

NEW YORK (AP) —A
comatose ‘Brooklyn
woman, whose life
doctors were hoping to
save until the her five-

could be delivered, died
Tuesday at Victory Me-
morial Hospital.

The, fetus also died,
dectors said. -

The office of Brooklyn
District Attorney Eugene
Gold said Rosemarie
Manisealeo, 27, died at
12:34 p.m.

Her heart stopped and
doctors were unable to
get it started ag in, the
hospital said.

6. Manisealco fell
unconscious while eatin
dinner Nov. 21 and suf-
fered repiratory failure.

She had been unconscious
since then, and her
doctors said Menday that
she had developed

-// prleumonia and was in
month-old unborn baby. “

very poor’ condition.

Gold’s office has been
conducting an in-
vestigation into the
circumstances of Mrs.
Maniscaico’s seizure,
with reports circulating
that she was a victim of
wife-beating. Her
husband, John, denied
the charge, which was
said to have been made
by a neighbor.

Mrs, Maniscalco’s
mother, Marie Guaraci,
and two other relatives
were questioned Monday
at the district attorney's
office.

Half Brier Tickets

. Are Still

VANCOUVER (CP) —
Less than 50 per cent of
the seats in the 15,60)-
seat Pacific Coliseum
have been sold for the
1978 Canadian men's
curling championship,
spokesman for the or-
afeing committee said

onday. .

Clem McCloskey said
that 70,000 unit sales
have been completed and
88,000 unit sales are
necessary for the event to
reach the break-even
mark.

“The people of Van-
couver ave not

found in the Arctic over
the last year.

levels of
human.

Abnormal
mercury in

bloodstreams have been. Which

reported at .Tuktoyaktuk;
Fort Franklin, Iglootik,
Arctic Bay, Baker Lake,
and Holman Island, all in
the N.W.T.

The mercury. © is
believed to come from
eating contaminated sea
mammals, —

Not Sold

responded to the Brier
like we thought they
would,” McCloskey told a
news conference. ‘We
hope to put on the biggest
show in the history of the
Brier, but we can’t do it
unless ticket sales pick

McCloskey said that
twothirds of the tickets
were sold in March after
it was announced that
Vancouver would host the
1978 event.

Officials of the Pacific
Coast Curling Association
said they had hoped to
sell out all 11 draws
before the event begins
March 5, It ends March
ll

The Pacific Coliseum,
home of Vancouver
Canucks of the National
Hockey League, will be

e largest building in
e championship
has ever been staged.

The 1978 event will

ark the first time in 27

rs it has been held in
ancouver. It was held in
the 2,000-seat Kerrisdale
Arena in 1950. Victoria
was host to the event in
1958 and Kelowna, B.C,,

in 1968,

Pore
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