Se RS ee ae oN eat ee ee Peas ehtnaaee, = pete DY aetna Pa Reem bnne may an pT NTS aes. mle 12b Terrace Review — Wednesday, April 5, 1989: The Forest Resource Develop- ae a ment. Agreement: is coming -up. for renewal.in the next year. In- dications:. for: ‘its. “success: are. area a aby Michael Kelly oS government to replant trees. and... a perform. other silvicultural. pro-. » jects on areas: of land sithin the? Layee _ province that: have been. clear” cut. but have not regenerated. a commercial. forest. A-number. of political: cori: | m siderations have complicated the ve! ; issue, . There-is. hardly. any. ‘question . that:'the’ first FRDA: agreement. a FRDA; to. put: it briefly, . is ‘a 50-50 joint partnership ‘between. the federal and- B.C. provincial . ‘spent ;to: rehabilitate thousands-- of. hectares: of forest--land.:. ‘Renewal. of the agreement. -has, “however; ‘become: tas ‘prominent: “target. ‘and a : fashionable deficit. reduction matter:in Ottawa... The.i issue: has- many. ramifica- - - tions. ‘Reforestation i in-B.C. has” “conie ‘under~ ‘numerous ‘federal-.. provincial . agreeinents : forthe... “past quarter-century, and: FRDA . is the”. ‘Taost “ Tecent, fitle:. -arid, succeeded: “over a period of five have: ‘been: simultaneously ‘been i _ complaining “about.” escalating: - ” | costs from’ tlie government: and” “crowing “(quietly) © to . their” . shareholders: about record. prof-- . its. During the same period’ Sec: | -NCBr . - Brush).. - _ tion’ 88. credits have . been - " suspended, ‘but ot: ‘statutorily repealed, : ‘by ministerial policy. - Section 83 is the section of the ~ Forest, Act that allows the ; ministry ‘to compensate com- panies for expenses’ incurred: through. “toad building, silviculture. and the construction. of recreational facilities i in their tenured-areas. - 9° >. In 1985, for example: the Sec: tion 88 credits on Tree ‘Farm: License’ #1 amounted to more than the ‘total stumpage fees .paid by the licensee, Westar. The present FRDA contract expires. next year, but the renewal is being viewed. warily - by: the federal government. Two ‘weeks ago a report from ‘the: notoriously debt-obsessed Inter- national. Monetary - Fund that ; recominended . drastic... cuts in Canada’s ‘long-term debt was. leaked to the press — the first ‘time an IMF report has ever been leaked prior to- disclosure ‘of the federal budget. Political cynics believe that t the draconian ‘report was leaked: deliberately. to provide a: pleasant.’ contrast to ‘the budget that Finance Minister: ‘Michael . Wilson : presents “to. Parliament. Speculation: has: it. that the budget will be'a deficit-" slicing-. -exercise;, -and - -FRDA” ‘could-be toward the front of the’: line for the chopping. block. -The FRDA’ funds. go. ‘toward work that the: ‘B.C. -Forest Ser- ' vice and. the: forest -companies . ‘should have: done in. the. first . "place: reforestation of areas that “were-clear: cut; Those- areas fall: into.two categories according to the Ministry of Forests. The fitst oot A, is) NSR (Not. Sufficently: - :-- ‘Restocked) and the second iso ‘(Non- -Commercial” “Both | -indicate - silvicultural ‘failures, . through failure to replant or tree: . plantations that. - failed. to; generate a forest’ of: commercial - value.’ 2: . Although renewal - of? the . agreement crosses. party ines, a : being : ‘supported by. ‘B.C. -MP’s: © of all Parties, including : ‘Tory. ~ Forest’ Minister’ Frank Oberle, “the question ~ being ‘asked: | (primarily by . Tory . members -_ “from Ontario and Quebec: who : form the majority. within: the ‘government majority); . is .why should the federal government. ‘buy in to a program like FRDA - ‘when the beneficiaries — -the. B.C. government - and - the © : B.C.-based forest companies —° : ‘are declaring: record. revenues?: Off- the-record. recommenda: * tions “have .included’. ‘throwing © -FRDA into -the Western’ Diver-- - sification Program; ‘a fund that ‘ presently stands ‘ at. around. $21 | continued on page 120. yanenietnnidetecrtibethtineen ails any seinen medica uname «| ‘either : i.