Splish splash Terrace swimmers rack Up personal bests at annual swim meet here\SPORTS B4 protest gov't What side are you on? Unions may lead-a business boycott to cuts\NEWS A8 “* Spring signal? Unusual winter visitors raise hopes that spring is closer than we $1.00 pLus.7¢ GST. {51.10 plus 8¢ GST outside of the Terrace area) ey Jobs for timber tradition to end Planned forestry reforms could hammer rural areas By JEFF NAGEL VICTORIA is poised to carry out massive forest policy changes that would end the pravince’s long tradition of demanding jobs and community Stability in exchange for access to timber. Critics say the proposal would in essence wipe out the social compact that has long gov- erned B.C. forestry and go as far as possible down the road to Americanization of the woods without actually transferring ownership of Crown land. - The changes are laid out in a government do- cument that lays out B.C.’s offer in softwood lumber talks, aimed at resolving U.S. claims that B.C.’s stumpage system unfairly subsidizes B.C. producers, If it’s adopted, forest companies would no PROTESTERS again rallied outside Roger Harris’ office Jan. 29. Hospital Employeas Union rep Andrea LeBlane was among the de- monstrators who spoke out against government cuts and legislation that takes away job security. JEFF NAGEL PHOTO Unions say Harris betrayed labour roots By JEFF NAGEL IF SKEENA MLA Roger Harris — once an TWA union rep on the Charlottes - agrees with tearing up collective agreements, he has truly “gone over to the dark side”, local union lea- ders say. : By voting Jan. 28 in favour of legislation that strips various workers of promised pay in- creases and job security, they say Harris has betrayed any belief he once had i in the sanctily of workers’ rights. . “Shame on him,” said local labour council rep Don Philpott. “At least Blair Lekstrom had a bit of integrity to vote against this.” longer be penalized for shutting down sawmills for extended periods. Right now they may lose cutting rights if a shutdown exceeds 90 days, Nor would they be penalized if they fail to log a minimum amount of wood. Up until now “cut control” provisions meant they’d lose some of their licence if they don’t cut half their allowable cut each year and 90 per cent over five years. Nor would they be required to process timber from a forest licence at a nearby mill. Breaking the link between licences and mills -— so called “appurtenancy” rules — means timber from the northwest could be shipped to mills far to the east. Add it all up, says University of Northern B.C. forest management professor Stephen Dewhurst, and the payback workers and rural towns have always received for being on the front line of logging is severely eroded. Free-market advocates denounce constraints The Peace River MLA, also once a union sit on the other side, away from this Liberal | that protect jobs as social engineering. Eliminating them may make forest licences much more valuable and may send more revenue to Victoria, but Dewhurst said it could come at the cost rural support. “That’s great for a company. They mothball the facility, lay everybody off, take their money and invest it in the stock market for a while. It’s not so good for community stability.” “It means rural areas are going to be bearing the environmental costs, the traffic, the degraded visual quality — all the stuff associated with log. ging — but the wood is going to go right through cuts. tep, was the only B.C. Liberal to take advant- age of the free vote in the legislature ta op- pose Bill 29. Harris should have done the same, said B.C. li MLA says he came close to voting no. Page A11 Government and Service Employees Union rep Shelley Anderson. “If you really care about your constituents. you will cross the floor of the legislature and town and the jobs will be someplace else.” “The tradeoff has always been it's for the pur- pose of creating jobs. We use natural resources to maintain employment in rural areas and com- munities,” Dewhurst said. “They’re just throwing that out the window.” It may be good for big centres like Prince George, where much timber will flow, he said. But other rural towns should be alarmed. “Wood is mobile, like electricity. It can be transported to. any location where the highest value can be gained from it.” Eliminating minimum logging levels could mean much less consistent work for loggers, Under the plan, there’s no penalty even if a company doesn’t cut a single tree for five years. Similarly, there would be nothing stopping a licensee from bringing in large numbers of. log- gers from Alberta, logging their full five-year Continued Pg. A10 Retraining grants may be cut next College cash crisis intensifies By JENNIFER LANG NORTHWEST Community ‘College is fighting to save continuing education from the next round of: provincial The college is already facing a budget crunch of $1.7 | million — the biggest in its history. It’s a deficit college president Stephanie Forsyth warned could grow to $2.3: million .when severance and layoff packages are factored in. - Just over $900,000 of that looming deficit i is blamed on provincial cuts announced Jan. 17 to eight different programs that make up NWCC’s non-core budget, Forsyth now expects the provincial government to cut or reduce part-time vocational funds that account for $807,000 of “NWCC's operating budget. Rural colleges use that money for short-term retraining programs for people who are ‘trying ‘to find ’ work. At NWCC it pays for ceriificate programs like Foodsafe, First Aid , or air brakes certification. . ; “I'm urging the government not “to cut that,” she said. “Or, if they ‘cut it, give it back to us in some other forms.” . After meeting with Forsyth last « week, Skeena MLA Roger Harris agreed td raise her concerns with Advanced Education ‘Stephanie Forsyth right-wing fascist agenda,” Anderson said Jan. minister Shirley Bond. 29 when 50 community social services workers and their supporters protested in front of the - ‘MLA's office. -She said the changes imposed by the legis-_ lature amounts to a putting of collective agreements. Harris said he was surprised to Jearn the scope of the — impact his government's cuts will have on NWCC stu- dents hoping to upgrade or retrain. He said those provincial programs are more critical to a college like NWCC than “the Langaras of the world” because they help displaced workers in times of econo- Pay -will be rolled back and new legislation mic transition. “Those are probably core,” he said. opens the door for services to be taken over by new non-union operators. , Elimination of successor rights mean that if workers do go over to new employers, the Continued Pg. A2 By SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN WITH MORE than 1,000 fans packed into the stands at the Terrace atena, the air was thick with the mist from their collective breath. It was March 2, 1979 — a Mon- day ~ and the crowd was there to cheer on Terrace’s Peewee rep hockey team in the provincial cham- pionships. didn’t know it at the time, but it was the beginning of a four-year period that can be called the Golden Rra of minor hockey itt Terrace. The Terrace River Industries Pee- had never even heard of before. But the team’s rdee to the play- offs proved they had what it took to take on .— and beat — some of the oars The 11 and 12 year old players . hee wee reps were froma town the rest. Be of the big name minor hockey tears. most heavily stacked, elite teams from both the north and the lower mainland, ; The team had an amazing 13- game playoff run that year, scoring 105 goals and allowing only 18 en route to the finals, On.that Monday night 23 years Mm Special report: Terrace’s golden era of ~ minor hockey. A5 ago, the. boysifaced the elite Fraser Valley Winter Club Peewees, — Len Harrington, a Terrace: ‘sports reporter -then,. traced’ the. team’s progress and compiled a memioire of : their road to victory, While the Terrace team sat’ in Dream team glory lives on “quiet confidence” before the game, the atmosphere in the Fraser Valley locker room was more heated, he wrote. “We could hear their coaches pleading, threatening, talking,” he wrote, The game saw Terrace dominate the first two periods. Going into the ‘third the home-town boys were up 5- 1. In the third Fraser Valley put four “shots between the pipes. Terrace had to keep the elite team in check if they wanted to win the final. But Terrace’s Trevor Hendry gave . the’ bays some insuranée’ when at 15:37 he blocked a shot at his blue- cline, zipped down the ice and flip- ‘pe ‘the puck high into the goal, _ Cont'd page AS sweet- The Liberals are also expected to lift a tuition freeze at post-secondary institutions. ‘But Forsyth is ‘reluctant to view tuition fee increases as a way to increase NWCC’s revenues, . Continued Pg. A2 THE TERRACE River Industries Peewee Reps won their first 6.C. champlon- Ship title In 1979, It paved ihe way for two more provincial titles. are 4 ons Je , nf §