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‘the Northland staff.

PAGE 4, THE HERALD, Thursday, December 22, 1977 —

CP takeover
a “Ripoff”?

Last Monday B.D, Margetts, general manager
of Canadian Pacific Rail’s coastal operation was
in town to discuss implications of CP Rail's
takeover of Northland Navigation’s BC coastal
service.

Throughout the interview, with the combined
assistance from CP’s public relations

representative Charles B. Gordon the editorial P

department of the Terrace HERALD was given
repeated assurance that ‘‘no immediate
noticeable changes are indicated."

Now remember the date of this interview, for
the date is important. The date was Monday
December 19th,

‘The day before, while this editor was in
Kitimat, rumblings of the takeover were already
in evidence. Employees of Northlan
Navigation there were said to be worried about
their loss of jobs. There for we made certain to
raise the issue of job security. However
Margetts brushed it aside as though, while there
might be some minor changes no IMMEDIATE
changes were anticipated.

He (and his public relations officer) would not
commit themselves to an outright declaration of
job security for present employees of Northland
Navigation (which could easily, one would
imagine, have been included in the takeover
package deal.)

Margetts kept emphasizing the long time
benefits the all-under-one-corporation-operation
would bring to British Columbia and hew it
would enable CP to go after the big competition
for coastal and inland trade.

Wednesday the news broke that shed quite a
different light on Monday’s visit from CP Rail,
however. It seems that the Thursday before the
visit, between 25 and 30 employees of Northland
Navigation-(a number of whom had been em-
ployed with Northland for 20 years or so)received
notices they will be LAID OFF AFTER
JANUARY Ist.

To find out the facts of this dicrepancy in the
public relations visit from CP Manager of
Coastal operations, B.D.Margetts, we phoned’
him immediately (Wednesday morning) to see if
he would deny the layoff notices had gone out.
Unperturbed by our call, Margetts assured us
that CP Rail had been promised by Northland
that Northland would compensate those em-
ployees being axed (our term for the layoffs, not
his) in the takeover.

We then phoned the spokesman for Northland
Navigation to ask him about the compensation.

The spokesman- a longtime employee; seemed.
audibly meved-at the change in-cireumstances..-:

Only 10 employees in Vancouver, 3 or 4 in
Kitimat and one in Prince Rupert will remain, of

compensate everyone in one way or another,
with some financial reward for their years of
service,- he said. But how do you compensate a
person for their job? The spokesman implied the
number being laid off was more than they had
been given to expected by CP. The amount of
staff layoffs was, he said, ‘“‘Not quite what we
had expected. We had anticipated many more of
our employees would go over to CP and be ab-
sorbed in their staff than has occured.”

Our comment is as follows: Perhaps $400,000
or soa year in salaries will be saved by the firing
of 30 or so longterm and senior operating and
management personnel of Northland by CP's
takeover. This is covered by the euphemism
“streamlining of personnel,’ However, this
amount- large to those whose loss of a job it
represents- will be insignigicant to the company;
undoubtedly much of it will go into raise of
exexcutives salaries whose jobs have become
more “important” by the takeover. The total
amount would probably not cover the annual
“cost of living’’ increase in CP Rail's executive
salaries. .

What a thoughiless, ill timed, bad-for-public-
relations-corporate (and Public) image this
gives us of the giant company—and to do this just
before Christmas! .

Worse. We are also informed that wheras
Northland's head office is in Vancouver-in
British Columbia-CP's head office is in Mon-
treal, That themmacutions, instead of being
directed from Vancouver will now almost en-
tirely be directed from Montreal. That most of

the accounting , bookkeeping and other traffic |

and correspondence previously dealt with
through and in Vancouver will now be fed by a
very tiny staff to Montreal, by computer.
Why? The answer given is thal all operations
of CP -including the BC coastal operations will be
“centralized” (get that word? Centrealized?) in
Montreal. -this would appear to us as being a
case-when it comes to better coastal community

services-There goes the neightbourhood’’-over .

to Quebec. Canada’s business centralized in
Montreal? Says something, doesn’t It? _

It appears to this editor, at least, that we in
Northern B.C, are once more af the mercy of a
giant Montreal-based takeover.

The first visible act of this takeover has been
the firing of 25 to 30 regular employees.

Wheras this high conglomerate Estaern-based
company is talking about developing our nor-
thern potential, etc., what it is really after is to
grab as much as it can f the $10 billion dollar gas

pipeline traffic most of which is to be hauled

along the B.C. coast and immediate interior.
That CP Rail coastal operations is only in-
terested in coming north to cream off this
lucrative pipeline haulage trade ( the money for
which will all be funnelled through its Montreal
headquatres) meanwhile leaving the little
companies (that have struggled all these star-
vation years for enough business to keep them
aflogt)-out in the cold.

Yes, Northland would

Law reforms

By JUDY
CREIGHTON

CP Family Editor

Family law reform
legislation, undoubtedly
the key issue for most
provincial status of
women councils, ex-
perienced both progress
and setbacks in 1977.

In Ontario, the
rovincial legislature
introduced and gave
second reading to a bill
giving legal status to the
economic and socia)
partnership of marriage
and recognizing the
contribution of the
woman who works in the

home.

That bill probably will
become law next spring
because there is all-party
agreement in the
legislature on all aspects
of the family property
law bill, said Lynne
Gordon, chairman of the
Ontario status of women
council.

The Manitoba action
committee on the status
of women, headed by
Carole Swan, had as its
main occupation during
1977, a contribution
towards the former NDP
government's family law
legislation.

But in October, when
Sterling Lyon’s
Progressive Con-
servatives gained er,
action on two family law
bills proposed by the
NDP was postponed.

Under the bills, family
assets would be equally
owned and spouses would
normally have equal
claim on commercial as-
sets when a marriage
broke up. t

Maintenance awards
would be made on the
basis of need, regardless
of which spouse was
responsible for the failure
of the marriage.

BILL UNDER STUDY

In Prince Edward
Island a family law
reform bill was  in-
troduced in the provincial
legislature, last spring

‘and is currently in the
‘handé ofa committee: ~~

Billy the Dog

VANCOUVER (CP) —
Aman was sentenced toa
year in jail Tuesday on
the evidence of a dog.

Police dog Billy didn't
take the witness stand
and give evidence but
Constable Art Clarke,
who gave Billy's evidence
for him, said: “‘Without
Billy we wouldn't have
had a case.”

Not only did Billy catch
the burglar, he linked
him to the crime.

Billy with Clarke, his
handler, and Constable
John Honeybourne an-
swered a call to an early-
morning break-in at a
community centre last
June. Billy picked up a
scent inside the centre
and led Clarke to a door
that had been forced
open.

Meanwhile, outside,
Honeybourne saw a man
running from the centre.
He gave chase but the
man escaped after drop-
ping something heavy.
FLUSHED OUT
SUSPECT

During =the
Honeybourne caught only
fleeting glimpses of the
suspect, When Billy and
Clarke emerged from the
community centre, Billy
ran straight for where

chase,

“We hope it will be
brought back to the house

in the spring, although

there is no guarantee it
will,’ said Barbara
Currie, president of the
P.E.I. advisory council
on the status of women.

In Alberta, the
government introduced
matrimonial property
legislation but allowed it

to die on the order paper ©

during the fall sitting.
Merry Chellas,

chairman of the steering
committee for the
Alberta status of women
action committee, said
the bili will be rein-
troduced next spring
after public discussion
but that the general

feeling is that the Alberta:

overnment is “rather
ckward in the area of
women’s rights,”
Unified family court
legislation is on the order
paper in the Saskat-
chewan legislature.
Agnes Davidson of
Regina, spokesman for
the Saskatchewan status
of women action com-

mittee hopes
Matrimonial Homes Act
will be introduced in the
legislature in the spring.
OTHER MEASURES
SOUGHT
Councils, advisory.
groups and action
committees across Can-
ada have spent the year
working on other
measures to improve the
quality of women's and
mily life.
The latest checks in
other jurisdictions show:
Newfoundland: Bar-
bara Roberts, chairman
of the status of women
council, set up in 1972,
said that because of
complaints that . no
women were being ap-
ointed to important
rds and commissions,
names were submitted to
Premier Frank Moores.
He had said that he
didn’t know of any

qualified women to ap
point to boards or com-

missions. -"

Honeybourne was
standing and bounded
past him ' between two
jouses. Then he flushed
suspect Edward Kenneth
Parker, 23, out of some
bushes.

Although Parker had
broken into the com-
munity centre, he didn’t
take anything so there
was nothing to tie him to
the crime—except Billy’s
nose.

At Clarke's command,
Billy followed Parker’s
trail down a back lane
and between houses
where Billy found the
man’s coat. _

Billy later found ‘two
sacks Parker had used
for gloves to avoid
leaving fingerprints.
Further along the chase
route the dog found a
crowbar dropped by
Parker.

Billy had backtracked
along the same path
Honeybourne. had taken
in chasing the suspect
and linked Parker with.
the break-in.

Parker was sentenced
by Judge Jack McGivern
in provincial court to one
year for the break-in and
30 days for’ fessession of
housebreaking in-
struments.

Losers and finders

LA MESA, Calif, (AP)
— The joy of Christmas is
a scruffy striped cat
named Laura who means
“everything in the
world” to her owners and
$1,000 to two couples who
found her.

Shirley and Bill
Ramer have no children,
When their pet ran away
they offered their life
savings to get her back.

Posters proclaiming a
$1,000 reward were
distributed throughout
this San Diego suburb.
For 10 dave the publicity
produced hundreds of
phone calls but no cat.

The Ramsers put their

money in a special fund Nea

and hired lawyer W. B.
Neal to handle the
matter.

' Dozens of cats were
offered to replace Laura,

but Mrs. Ramser said, '

“To us, that is like sayin
to the parents of a kid-
napped child, ‘Don't
worry, we will give you
another child."’

True toa tip from a Los
Angeles woman that the
cat probably was hiding
near the Ramsers’ home,
she was found Tuesday
night in an empty garage
of an apartment com-
plex bu inot by the

msers/

The finders—Mr, and
Mrs. R.G. Bell and Mr.
dnd Mrs. E.G. Bays—all
face major medical
expenses and will receive
thelr reward today, said

“We're just glad to
haye her back; she’s our
baby,”’ said Ramser. ‘It
will be a good Christmas
now, good for everyone.”

a

“She was driving, officer!”
-

His own war of independence

MARION, Ill, (AP) —
Raphael Cancel Miranda
is an aging soldier in a
Puerto Rican war of
independence who has
spent more than half his
life in federal prison.

On March 1, 1954,
Miranda scattered
bullets into the wall of the
US, ‘House of
Representatives. Five
congressmen were in-

Miranda, now 47, has
spent 23 years in prisons
at Alcatraz, Leavenworth «.
and now the maximum-
security facility here.

Lawyers believe it need
not be that way and say
Miranda probably could
receive clemency and his
freedom if he would
admit his attack was —
wrong and would accept
conditions for his release.

But Miranda refuses.

“There is more at stake
than just us as in-
dividuals,”
8 of

others jailed after
the shootings.

“We don’t recognize
the legality of the United
States government over
Puerto Rico. We know
they have power ... but

er is not the same as
ving authority.”

WON'T SIGN
He said that signing the
clemency papers would
mean that “we are ac-
ting that. authority.”

A to Rico became a...is the;main:‘thing-in ‘my

U.S. commonwealth “in| life.’ Individually x... it’s -:

1952 upon a vote of the
people but Miranda in-
sists American interests
have remained firmly in
control. - :

He says 17 per cent of
Puerto Rican land “has
military bases of the
United States. They con-

trol the lives and the

minds of Puerto Ricans in
many ways,’
The

tacked. We did not come
here to invade the United
States. They sent troops
there to invade us.”

But was the sacrifice of
half a lifetime worth it?

SEES BENEFIT

- “Tt is worth it. I’m not
judging it by what has
happened to me but for
what good I’ve done to
my people. This struggle

been a high price.

“Today, the people in
Puerto Rico and many
other people who are
fighting for national
liberation see in us a
symbol of a system—a
fight—for national
liberation.”’

One of the four who

-vctnat Ys five

attacked Congress is
free. Andreas Corderro
was released Oct. 6 from
the- penitentiary at
Springlield, Mo., because
he has cancer.
Miranda is serving an
Sl-year sentence and
could be behind bars until
age 104—‘if I live that
long.” ‘Miranda _is
assigned ap menial
uties, partly by choice.
“I worked in the dining
room for a while,” he
said. “Now I’m working
in the education de-
partment. Sweeping up. I
don’t. want. higher.. than

the floors are clean in the
education department,
Miranda said, “I read. i
write a lot to thy family. ]
have two children, four
grandchildren, a wife,
sister, family, friends. 1
spend most of the time
writing. I spend most of
the time in the cell.”

Thornhill needs pied piper

Some Thornhill |
residents are being
troubled by rats caused
by messy neighbors and
eareless litterbugs.

Maureen Baker, who
until. recently lived on
Kirby Road, said the rats
became ate eatin when
garbage began puing up
at a neighboring trailer
which had been vacated.

“The dogs got at the

rabe and just scattered
t helter-skelter,” she
said. .

Since then residents in
nearby trailers have been
suffering from bother
some vermin which are

eiting under trailers and

ito chimneys.
friphtoning story was told
ightening story was
to pr by one of her neigh-
bors of a rat which had
apparently climbed into
the chimney te get warm,
but had fallen into the
chimney and gotten

stuck.
. The neighbors looked

into the chimney and
Banned

“saw these beady little
eyes staring at them,”
Baker said. ;

The neighbor shot the
rat with a pellet gun.

Baker told of other
evidence’ of rat in-
festation in the area, such
as the man who found the
wires of his truck chewed
through and strange
noises from underneath
trailers. She found two
dead rats near her while
she lived on Kirby.

Baker has_
where the rats could have
come from, but she is
sure the scatttered

arabe attracted them to

e area.

The presence of rats
was perhaps made more
apparent around the
trailers, she said,
because it is easier for
them to get protection
under a trailer tham
under a house. |

he roblem is com

cal y people
Eriving along the roads
in Thornhill ofter feel free

Mohammed film

TORONTO (CP) —
Famous Players Ltd. has
agreed to demands by the

oslem community in
this city and will cancel
showings of the $18-
million film Mohammed,
Messenger of God, a
Moslem community
leader said Tuesday.

Aslam Khan, a leader
in Toronto’s 150,000-
member Moslem com-
munity, said violence
might have been possible
if the Hollywood-made
film was shown.

The film, which

’ dramatizes the life of the

Mosiem prophet

Mohammed, violates
Moslem religious beliefs,
Khan said. Although the
face of the actor playing

Mohammed is not shown
on the'screen, his voice is
heard. a
‘Khan said the film,
starring Anthony Quinn,
has been banned in 45
Moslem countries.

A spokesman for the
movie's Canadian
distributors, Astral Films
Ltd., said that hopefully
the movies will be shown
in other Canadian cities.

The movie was briefly
kept off the screens in the
United States last March
to meet demands by a
group of Moslems holding

185 hostages in Wash-
ington.
The hostages were

later freed without in-
jury.

no idea -

to dump their garabe by .
the roadside, making it
even more difficult to
control the rats.

A group of residents in
the Kirby Road area got
together and protested
their situation to the
Pollution Control Board,.
but received little
satifaction, Baker said.

The PCB did notify the
owners of the vacted
trailer and told tem to
clean up the mess, but the
garabe is still sitting
under the snow.

The rats haven’t been
quite as much of a
nuisence since the cold
wheather hit, Baker said,
but she is particularly
concerned with getting
the garbage cleaned up
before springtime comes
and the rate begin their
breeding season.

The PCB did tell the
residents they could use
poisen on the rats, but
BAKER SAID THE
PEOPLE IN THAT

AREA DON'T WANT TO
USE IT BECAUSE OF
THE KIDS AND DOGS
AROUND.

The solution instead is
to educate people into
being more conscientious
about taking their gar-
bage to the dump.

The regional district
could help in this repsect
by opening the Thornhill
dump free once or twice a
week, Baker suggested.

Baker also feels that
Thornhill should get some
restrictions so this type of
situation did not reoc-’
curr, especially since a
new subdivision is bein
looked at for Thornhill.

“We should clean up
what we already have,”
she advised.

Baker has since moved
to another street in
Thornhi!l, but nor far
from Kirby Road, and she
is concerenced with
getting the whole area
cleaned up so that people
don’t have to put with the
potential dangers of rats.

TERRACE

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EDITOR ... ERNEST SENIOR

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