More security The Terrace airport is one of many to have baggagge procedures tightened\NEWS A3 Let celebration begin | Terrace’s 75th anniver- sary kicks off with a birthday party for Alec Training hard Terrace’s hottest juvenile curling rink prepares for its biggest event ever\SPORTS B5 Houlden\COMMUNITY B4 $1.00 pius 7¢. GST ($1.10 plus 8¢ GST outside of the Terrace area) ‘STA MLA hints at end to Alcan tax break Find source of cash to aid region: Harris By JEFF NAGEL SKEENA MLA Roger Harris has hin- ted he favours ending Alcan’s long- standing (ax-exempl status for ils dams and generating facilities. The money could be used to build infrastructure to stimulate business in- vestment and to aid the northwest economy, he said. Harris raised the idea in a wide-ran- ging interview last week about the re- lease of a government finance com- mittee report that urges Victoria to help struggling rural areas. The MLA suggests at least some portion of resource revenues should stay in the northwest and be placed under local control. Alcan, for example, has never had to pay property tax for its Kenney Dam, Kemano generating plant and related facilities - a deal struck in 1950 to help the company build its hy- droelectric project, aluminum smeller, Kitimat and the tiny township of Ke- mano occupied almost exclusively by workers and their families. Harris said after half a century it may make sense to re-examine the ex- emption since Alcan shut down the Kemano townsite in 2000. ; “That is a legitimate revenue source,” Harris said of repealing legis- lation that exempts Alcan hydroelec- tric Facilities from taxation. “lm not looking at dragging money —_ CITY COUNCIL | MAYOR i Jack Talstra 1 Bob Erb COUNCILLORS @ Marylin Davies gm Lynne Christiansen g@ Rich McDaniel! @ David Hull i Siew Christensen @ Carol Leclerc 0 Don Coburn O Ron Vanderlee 0 Allan Mcintyre CO Rusty Ljungh ELECTION 02 out of existing budgets, I’m looking for ways to create new wealth,” he added. The idea of ending tax-free status isn’t new — the Bulkley-Nechako re- gional district has for years urged Vic- toria to cancel it. “They've had the benefit of all this More inside @ Report urges aid to help bridge rural-urban gap. A111 for a long, long time now,” said regio- nal district financial administrator Hans Berndorff. He said Alcan’s facilities within that regional district are worth an esti- mated $100 million and would gener- ate least $500,000 a year in property tax for the regional district. The Kitimat-Stikine regional dis- trict has never made a similar esti- mate, but could collect tax on the Ke- mano power station itself and tunnel through Mt. Dubose. “We've had discussions with var- ious members of government — to no avail,” Berndorff said. “But now we hear something is afoot. So maybe somebody is listening. We're hopeful.” Bermdorff said he’s had word via Bulkley Valley-Stikine MLA Dennis McKay that the idea is- gelling a fresh look. Harris wants a share of any resource revenues go into a fund to help the - northwest. He said a. share of stumpage is an- other possibility, or a fee on transmis- sion of Alcan power ~— something Har- ris has already suggested to give the company more flexibility to sell elec- tricity but ultimately make sure it’s used in the northwest. “There are resources we could tap into. It could be tied to power, stump- age or other things,” he said. Harris noted other regions of the province have funds — like the Colum- bia Basin Trust — that use water or other resource revenue to support the local area. Monies from gas revenues also stay in the northeast and are used primarily for road construction. “There’s nothing here,” Harris said. “We need some mechanism for crea- ting an investment fund.” Continued Pg. A11 SCHOOL BOARD TERRACE TRUSTEES VOTES @ Diana Penner 1,653 @ Nicole Bingham 1,503 B Hal Stedham 1,103 0} Mike Maxim 809 (7 Paul Sametz 644 THORNHILL TRUSTEE VOTES i Lorrie Gowen 139 0 Gary Turner 100 Two ne TWO new city councillors will take their seals representing Terrace next month, joining four incumbents wha were re-elected in Saturday’s munici- pal election. Stew Christensen, the city’s former director of engineering and former school trustee, and Carol Leclerc, a school district employee, took the fifth and sixth seats on council in what turned out to be a fight race among the challengers. Christensen, with 1,140 votes, and Leclerc with 1,138, edged out Don Coburn, who got 1,112 votes. The evening saw two-term council- lor Ron Vanderlee go down lo defeat Davies Christiansen with 1,070 votes. Allan McIntyre trailed with 1,032 followed by Rusty Ljungh with 775 votes. Topping the polls was Marylin Da- vies with 1,538 votes and Lynne McDaniel Hull Christiansen was close behind with 1,506. Rich McDaniel was also hand- ily re-elected with 1,431 votes, as was David Hull with 1,259. Jack Talstra was returned as Ter- JACK TALSTRA and his wife Hilda embrace as they celebrate his return as Terrace's mayor on alection night. w faces elected to council Christensen Leclerc race’s mayor for a seventh straight term. He took 2,004 votes, defeating Terrace Marijuana Party challenger Bob Erb — who got 373 votes — by a more than 5-to-1 margin. JEFF NAGEL PHOTO The three Terrace seats on the Coast Mountains school board will be filled by incumbent trustee Diana Pen- ner, chajlenger Nicole Bingham, and incumbent Hal Stedham. Penner took 1,653 votes and Sted- ham got 1,103, Bingham — who was elected with a strong 1,503-vote mandate — was the solid pick of voters to fill the vacancy left by departing trustee Marj Brown. Challenger Mike Maxim ‘trailed with 809 voles, while Paul Sametz got 644. Lorrie Gowen will be the school : trustee representing Thornhill. She de- feated incumbent trustee Gary Turner 139 votes to 100. School job fund WORK HOURS for 250 union- ized school district employees were preserved last week after a deal was reached to tap into a special account. Negotiators for the Canadian Union of Public Employees and the schoo] district have applied to use $575,000 that was held in (rust in a job security fund. It’ prevent a planned hour a day or five hour a week cut for workers such as special ser- vices assistants, custodians and maintenance workers, In the case of noon hour supervisors it means they'll keep their jobs as they work only one hour a day to begin with, local school district CUPE local president Rita Hall said last week. The cuts were to . take place as of Nov. 25. But layoff notices for ap- proximately 10 people will stay in force, Hall added. “We have had closures,” said Hall of the rea- son those layoffs: did take place. Yet Hall ‘added the school school district has advertised jobs that haven’t existed before, leading her and other CUPE: members to hope the layoff amount will be reduced. This is the third year CUPE and “the school district have used a special job security fund. '-It- was negotiated. into the . current CUPE contract and is meant to buffer any job loss due to reduced school population. “But - that collective ‘ agree- nent. concludes ‘next year ‘and - with it, the security fund, : ’ “There should be no layoffs until June 30 of next year,” said Hall. She’s not that optimistic that the job security fund will be renewed, saying it was diffi- m@ School staffers: get: pay hikes. A15 — * cult to negotiate Jast time. oo Hall, said the summer and. . fall months were “particularly.” fa. ‘hard on school district work Several hundred were i ued : notices in June their hours or jobs would be gone only to be reinstated. And then more than 250 people received a new round of notices in September. “We had people laid off and Tehired. .twice . periad,” said Hall. “We called around and had not heard of this happening anywhere else in the peovince.” “protracted the: egouatlons to ‘use the job security fund: by wariting to treat: it as a part of in that short. deal averts most layoffs its general budget. Instead, Hall continued, the- fund is supposed to be used to specific people threatened with layoffs or cuts to hours. “That’s what we got in the end. It ap- plies to people,” she said. “They wanted to get as much money as they could from that special fund,” Hall said of the: district’s bargaining posi- tion. She felt a deal could have - been reached six weeks ago . had it-nat been for. the: school district.