ney talks A good deal is the key toa _ ee restructuring package Thornhill will support\N EWS A14 | | Alver Tait carves a memorial to pole in the Nass -valley\COMMUNITY B1 Monumental tem) | Ocoey gooey — | of the day at the mud bog races\SPORTS B6 | Mega mud mayhem was the order WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 4, 1996 MLA wanted more from Re SKEENA MLA Helmut Giesbrecht says he wanted more conditions given to Repap in return for taking over Orenda Forest Products and its wood licence, The deal, approved by forests minister Dave Zirhelt late last week, pretty much gives Repap everything il wanted. Repap now has the green light to buy out Orenda and assume control of its licence to cut 342,000 cubic metres of wood a year in the Meziadin area. Repap will lose five per cent of that amount which will be placed in reserve’ or given to small business operators. The company had said it needs Orenda’s neur Prince Rupert operaling and to provide securily to borrow money for $250 million in improvements to that mill. Giesbrecht said he wanted more condi- tions for employment in the Gitwangak and Stewart areas where the wood and logging activity is located. . “Clearly they got comfort for Watson Island and [ was looking for comfort in the rest of the package,” said the MLA last week. . “I was not ready to offer them that type ‘of comfort until there was comfort there for everybody,” Giesbrecht added. Repap was given a number of conditions in return for taking over Orenda’s wood licence. Three key ones are to keep one of its two pulp plants at Watson Island operating, to keep employing the majority of Orenda’s employees and contractors and to offer C GED Forest Products, a small native-owned mill at Gitwangak, at least 35,000 cubic metres of wood a year for the next three years. Not addressed in the licence conditions were positions brought up at public meetings held over the summer to examine the takeover. The communities of Stewart, Gitwangak and Gitanyow, for instance, wanted more direct employment benefits to arise from Repap's takover. Instead, these come under expectations spelled out by Zimhelt in a letter to Repap. Zirohelt said Repap should work with Stewart to pursue a wood processing or other employment opportunities there, to negotiate in good faith with C GED over the future of sawmills in the Gitwangak area and to improve forestry-related job prospects with Gitanyow. The minister suggested that Forest Renewal B.C, might be tapped to help finance plans for Stewart and Gitanyow, Zimhelt also wants to see Repap’s plans for its tulked about $250 million in improve Continued Pg A2 —*& 93¢ PLUS 7¢ GST VOL. 9 NO, 21° Helmut Giesbrecht wood to keep its Watson Island pulp mill roe ns M@ Up and over AJALEE RODGER takes L.A. Classic over a jump at the Terrace which ke Fall horse show. The show was one of the few which wasn't can- celed in the northwest this summer, due to the sore mouth disease classes. featured dressage, pt many horses quarantined at home. The horse show flat classes as well as huntar and jumper | The debate that never was Skeena MPs may do battle on land claims SKEENA REFORM MP Mike Scott may go up against a former Skeena MP in a nationally- televised debate on the proposed Nisga'a land claims deal. Producers of a CBC Newsworld program called ‘'Politics”’ began researching the idea of putting Scott and NDPer Jim Fulton on the air last week. Newsworld, the CBC’s all-news channel, al- ready has Scott lined up but is waiting for Fulton to return from vacation to confirm his Appearance, Scott welcomed the opportunity, saying it’s an excellent way of debating the Nisga’a agree- ment in principle signed earlier this year, “I know how I feel on the isaue and 1’m sure I know how Mr. Fulton feels. Let’s get it on. Go foe to loe,”" he said, . In some ways the debate may be what the ‘1993 federal election in Skeena was not, That’s because Fulton —- who dominated the federal election scene in the. norlhwest -begin- ning when he was first elected in 1979 — de- Jim Fulton Mike Scott cided not to run in 1993, This pretty well opened the door to Scott who is one of a wave of Reformers sent to Ottawa in the federal election of that year, An accomplished speaker and proponent of land claims, Fulton is now the executive direc- tor of the David Suzuki Foundation environ- mental organization in Vancouver. , There is one wrinkle in the plan — the cable vision system in the northwest carries Newsworld only in Prince Rupert. But Scott hopes Okanagan Skeena Group’s Skeena Cablevision will find a way to somehow carry the program, ‘It would be disappointing for all of the people of Skeena not to have the chance to see this,’ he said. In any event, Scott says Skeena Cablevision should add Newsworld to its package through- out the northwest and notes that taxpayers here are paying for the channel even though they can’t Watch it “‘Y’m not a big fan of the CBC in most cases but Newsworld is pretty straight. It carries a tot of interesting programs atid news,’’ he said. Scott added that he’s been on other Newsworld programs before, resulting in phone calls from other parts of the country to his of- fice. Scott has had televised debates on the Nisga’a land claim before, In late 1994 he and Nisga’a Tribal Council president Joe Gosnell faced off in a tadio and TV broadcast produced by Okanagan Skeena Group that covered the northwest. Doctors drawn by lifestyle Specialists outnumber GPs = THERE ARE now more medical specialists than. general practioners here thanks to 2 recent surge of arrivals." And ibe good news is that they won't overly Strain the already-burdened Mills Memorial Hospital bed count. The result is an increase in the amount and variety of medical services here and the cementing of the city as the norihwest’s medical services centre. For the most part the new arrivals came for the lifestyle of a smaller centre combined with knowing there are other specialists on hand. , “When you look at the population of the area it’s some- thing like 80,000 and 80,000 is a Prince George. When you Jook at it that way then you can sce why we're getting the specialists we are now,’ says Terrace physician Dr. Geoff Appleton, the B.C. Medical Association’s northern repre- sentative. “Once you attract a certain core of specialists, you tend to gel more and that’s what’s happening,”’ he said. Recent arrivals include a podiatrist, a second pediatrician and a neurologist, The latter, Dr, Steven Clark, left his position as head of neurology at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver and his presence in a city this size is something unique in the pro- vince, . Siill to arrive is a. dermatologist, a second radiologist is now working at Mills, a second obsetrician is now working here and an opthalmologist who came here recently has moved out of Mills to an office in the new Park Ave. medl- cal centre. ; “Certainly for some they prefer to live in places other than the city,” said Appleton. All told the number of specialists now numbers 21, com- pared to the 18 general practioners in practice here, Some of the new arrivals are to assume some of the caseloads of specialists already here. For the most part that means they won’t be booking more patients into Mills which has had to close beds recently be- cause of budget cuts, Other specialists such as the podiatrist and dermatologist mg More psychiatrists arrive, Page A2 do not normally require hospital beds for their work. The doubling up of some specialties means relief for those already here who were often spread too thin around the region and who were always on call, says Michael Leisinger, the chief executive officer at Mills Memorial Hospital. “There'll be a greater benefit for the community as the workload will be shared,*’ he ssid. As with Appleton, Leisinger points to lifestyle as a rea- son for the success in recruiting more specialists. “I don’t think we could have found these people if we had to go out and look for them. We've been lucky in that people have been knocking on owr door lately,’ he said. But both Leisinger and Appleton say the bolstering of specialist services here has to be balanced against the con- tinuing financial crunch facing Mills. “We could be victims of our own success. We have to have the infrastructure in place to support them,’? said Leisinger. Appleton’s worried that the hard work spent in establish- ing specialty services here may be wasted should Specialists have to curtail their work because of bed and other shortages, = “If there are more cutbacks and they can’t make a living they'll be gone,’’ said Appleton. ow “ae .