A4 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, June 22, 2005 a TERRACE STANDARD _ ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988 PUBLISHER: ROD LINK ' ADDRESS: 3210 Clinton Street Terrace, B.C. = V8G 5R2 TELEPHONE: (250) 638-7283 - FAX: (250) 638-8432 ‘WEB: www.terracestandard.com EMAIL: ictal ~ Jack’ s chat .-MAYOR. JACK Talstra didn’t disappoint dur-. 3 ing his annual state of the city address, given this ~ year at the Terrace and District Chamber of Com- “merce’s annual general meeting on June 9. . ~ It’s not-often that Mr. Talstra either takés the. opportunity — or is given one — to unburden him- | self so his yearly speech is a rare opportunity to gain an insight into the thoughts of council. Most interesting is that although not all of the : _ money has been raised yet for the second sheet of ice project at the. current arena and that the project has gone, through more than its fair share of eco-. “nomic agony, Mr. Talstra is already talking about ~~ the next phase —a convention centre. In fairness, this should not really come as a sur- . prise. Those with long memories will recall that ~*~ a combined ice sheet-convention centre was one of Mr. Talstra’s original visions dating back 15 4 years or more. 7 _ But. because of costs and the daunting task of -~ selling such a large: project, the convention centre portion was hived off in favour of concentrating _ on the more popular segment, the second sheet of . “ice. a city-inspired plan to look for a private sector _ partner.to front a convention centre — combining “it with a new or existing hotel, for r example — did: ‘not bear fruit: » ~ While there’s no doubting Mr. Talstra’s enthu- 7 siasm about the city and its future, taxpayers will ‘more than likely want to see the second sheet of ice plan finally resolved before venturing out into ‘the world of convention centres. Also interesting is more proof of Terrace’s po- sition-as' ‘the’ Shopping . and service’ ‘centre. for the ‘northwest. “According to the mayor, “Wal-Mart is now the city’s largest private sector taxpayer at $336,000 a year. That’s more than West Fraser’s Skeena Sawmills’ annual payment of $327,000 and the potential $250,000 anticipated from the Terrace Lumber Company. It’s doubtful that even five years ago anybody would have ever predicted that a single big box retailer would one day outstrip the two large for- _ est products companies on the city’s tax rolls. ‘Now combine the Wal-Mart bill with the $250,000 in taxes paid by the Skeena Mall — more evidence of the shopping and service centre role Terrace plays inthe northwest. °° It’s clear that Terrace is more than ever attract- ing shoppers from around the region. Call them ‘regional economic tourists. The more the city can do to foster that kind of growth, the more diver- sified the economy becomes. With the expected _ growth in Prince Rupert from a container port and the potential of a liquified natural gas terminal in Kitimat, Mr. Talstra’s convention centre plan . might n not be that far fetched. ’ PUBLISHER/EDITOR: Rod Link ° ADVERTISING MANAGER: Brian Lindenbach PRODUCTION MANAGER: Edouard Credgeur NEWS: Sarah A. Zimmerman COMMUNITY: Dustin Quezada NEWS/SPORTS: Margaret Speirs FRONT OFFICE: Darlene Keeping CIRCULATION SUPERVISOR: Alanna Bentham _ ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS: Bert Husband, Susan Willemen 2005 WINNER | AD ASSISTANT: Sandra Stefanik NEWSPAPERS PRODUCTION: Susan Credgeur SUBSCRIPTION RATES BY MAIL: $57.94 (+$4.06 GST)=62.00 per year; _ Seniors $50.98 (+$3.57 GST)=54.55; Out of Province $65.17 (+$4.56 GST)=69.73 , Outside of Canada (6 months) $156.91(+10.98 GST)=167.89 MEMBEROF = | B.C. AND YUKON COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION, CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION AND . ‘B.C. PRESS COUNCIL (www. bepresscouncil. org) COMPETITION +CNA_ Et Communry NIWSPAPIRS a2aeeoecration Medteh Celamdis aad Fobew Serving the Terrace and Thomhill area. Published on Wednesday of each week at 3210 Clinton Street, Terrace, British Columbia, V8G 5R2. Stories, photographs, illustrations, designs and typestyles in the Terrace Standard are the property of the copy- right holders, including Cariboo Press (1969) Ltd., its illustration repto services and advertising agencies. Reproduction in whole or in part, without written permission, is specifically prohibited. Authorized as second-class mai! pending the Post Office Department, for payment of postage in cash. Special thanks to ali our contributors and correspondents for their time and talents ’ data that, “ Thosé with long memories will also note that | ’ knowledge, NOW Febery NAME IDEAS QUEEN OF QUEEN OF ) THE SCREWED fj "QUEEN OF. - The: DAMNED Se) ee Fue Fa SLROIMRGE exPecl’) 2 RASE FERRY R RATE Om, Bh = Ro SWIFT Ab WANE Crore ana ~PRESIDENT~ \= ae A SUGHT MISUNDERSTANDING OVER BC FeeRics PLANNED FUEL SURCHARGE NEEDS IRONING: Our... OIRMEOS | It’s about resources, naturally . JUST RECENTLY Statistics Canada treated us with new realistically, only economists could possibly be excited about — provincial and territorial economic accounts - for 2004. . ‘Despite the. rather dull sounding name, the data con- tained in this report reveal ‘some very interesting trends _Telated to the patterns of eco- nomic growth in Canada. With remarkable’ consis- ~ tency,, real economic growth . .by province in 2004 increased, © ’ as you move west across. the country. Canada as a’ whole * grew. by 2.8 per cent (in real, inflation-adjusted terms) last year - not a bad rate of growth ‘given the soaring value of the Canadian dollar and the down- turn in manufacturing. Ontario managed growth of 2.6 per . cent — slightly below the na. tional average. , 7 Manitoba — hit hard by a weakened agriculture sector and a high Canadian dollar — had the slowest growth in western Canada at only 2.3 per cent, placing it sixth among the ten provinces. Butas you move west across ‘the Prairies, things really pick up. Saskatchewan comes in at third in the country with growth of 3.5 per cent. Alberta placed second with growth of 3.7 per cent. And the fastest-growing province in 2004: British Co- lumbia, which expanded by a whopping 3.9 per cent. The - 1-2-3 punch for provincial _ growth took place in the three ‘western-most provinces. What is happening the in the GUEST COMMENT - TODD HIRSCH West that has led to such stel- - lar economic performances? _ s: natural re- . . sources. Last year was akin . Two. words: to the aligning of the planets as prices for almost all natu- ral resources (oil, natural gas, forestry products, coal; potash; :“.:> - base metals, and'to-a lesser de-.'. rather than real GDP since we - gree, grains and oilseeds) all” recting for the year-over-year fetched high prices. -Manufacturers in the rest of the country faltered, but in Saskatchewan and Alberta they flourished in 2004 due to the soaring oil and gas sec- tor. Steel pipe, boilers, heavy equipment for use in the oil sands, and refined petro- leum products all enjoyed a very positive environment in 2004 because of high energy _ prices and oil patch activity. ' Saskatchewan. manufacturers posted . the strongest growth they have seen in a decade with expansion of 11.5 per cent. In spite of the ongoing soft- wood lumber trade dispute with the US, the forestry sec- tor in British Columbia had a great year in 2004, with a.15 , per cent increase in both for- _ estry and sawmill operations. Of course, all of these annu- al economic growth rates (BC, 3.9 per cent; AB, 3.7 per cent: SK, 3.5 per cent; MB, 2.3 per cent) are in real dollar terms - that is, they are adjusted for’ price changes. ‘Adjusting for inflation and fluctuating prices when doing year-over- year comparisons is-important to,get a good read on overall growth trends. Without this * adjustment, price fluctuations of major commodities. ‘can cloud the picture of how well the economy is really perform- ing.. Things are a bit different when comparing the GDP across different provinces. — Here it is more appropri- ate to use _current-price,, GDP are not concerned about cor- changes in prices. There are some rather dra-_ matic results that came out of last week’s release. Alberta’s current-price GDP last year soared to $187 bil- lion - nearly 20 per cent larger than the $156 billion economy of British Columbia (which , has a third larger population). This is, of course, due almost entirely to the burgeoning oil and gas sector. Alberta’s GDP is also catch-- .ing up to the second-largest ° ‘province:in Canada - Quebec. In 2000, Alberta’s GDP was about 64 per cent the size of ‘Quebec’s. Last year, Alberta’s economy was 70 per cent the size of Quebec’s. . A decade ago, Alberta’ s: economy made up 11.8 per | cent of the national economy (in current price terms). Last year, this percent soared to 14.5 per cent. Similarly, 10: years ago the four western provinces together comprised 31.1 per cent of the national, economy; last year the figure was 32.8 per cent. Also interesting is the size of Saskatchewan’s economy. | Last year, it clocked in at’ ~ $40.456 billion, just a hair larg- , er than its Prairie neighbour to. the east, Manitoba ($40.265 . billion). This marks the first time in recent history. where. — . Saskatchewan’s economy was — actually larger in current price terms than Manitoba’s. Again, the riches of crude oil are rargey to thank. . e, numbers tell a a. compel. .. habs The, yt CHO _ling story of economic. growth ’ _ shifting west across the coun-. try. Of course, the provincial : governments in these fast- growing western regions like * to take the credit. . And to the extent that debt : repayment, balanced budgets, : _and sensible taxation policies have been followed, some credit is due. But the real thanks for the growth remains solidly’ with the world prices for natural re- - sources. By Todd Hirsch is the chief economist for the Canada West ’ Foundation. Based in Calgary, - the foundation is an indepen-’ dent, non-partisan, non-profit ' public policy research insti- tute dedicated to introducing western perspectives into cur- - rent Canadian policy debates. The Full Mountie is a surefire hit FROM TIME to time in.our public library I chance upon a. new book which has sat on the shelf for months without be- ing borrowed, unbeknownst to people like me who study the monthly acquisition list and comb the new books shelves, . weekly. The latest find is The Full Mountie. 1 Jaughed at every page and have been quoting its amusing lines ever since. _ Written by Warren Clem- ents, editor of The Globe and Mail’s weekly challenge for readers with a broad cultural _this book com- piles a generous sampling of challenge entries over its 12 year existence. The results are invariable laughable, along the style of Reader’ s Digest quips. Each week the Toronto dai- ly sets-out a literary challenge © for its readers. After 10 days the contest closes and the best entries are published. Winners receive a prize book, often a dictionary or a thesaurus. When the challenge asked readers to suggest a statement not what you’d expect to hear THROUGH BIFOCALS -CLAUDETTE SANDECKI A : from someone engaged in a profession, craft or hobby, it got such as these: Librarian: “T wanna hear some NOISE.” Or.a bank inspector: “Okay. Close enough.” One week the newspaper asked readers to imagine a fictional character opening his ‘own business. What could the business slogan be? My fa- . Vourite is Bonnie and Clyde’s Travel Inc. Their slogan? “Let us plan your next getaway.” Another week readers were to take an existing medical con-. dition, distort it while ensuring it remained recognizable, and give the diagnosis. Bicpolar disorder was diagnosed as “The inability to write with a ballpoint pen.” Biblical headlines with a modern touch offered this: Solomon Renders Split Deci- sion in Custody Battle. - Popular expressions given a - Canadian slant yielded many, including these three: Moving at a mail’s pace. CN is believ- ing. And five o’clock shadow; 5:30 in Newfoundland. A category that threatened me with injury as I read and nearly fell off my chair laugh- ing harked back to Johnny Carson’s standard How cold was it? routine, The topic was How tough "was your neighbourhood? Readers claimed their. neigh- bourhoods were so tough cats went mousing in packs. Tires didn’t squeal. The hospital emergency ward had an ex- press lane for ten injuries or less. And bank robbers got mugged while running to their getaway cars. Globe and Mail readers are . encouraged to suggest chal- - lenge topics. Even the topics can be fun- ny. One week readers submit- | ted small ads guaranteed not to ' be answered. Like “Jackham- : mer practice area needed by: apprentice.” Or “Trainee knife © -thrower needs new partner.” Clearly some readers enter.. often, probably weekly. Four: contributors appear from 24 to 42 times in this collection: demonstrating their dedica- ° tion to the contest. In fact, ' when the newspaper cancelled ’ the challenge in Sept. 1991, readers raised such a fuss the challenge was reinstated two months later. How I missed the arrival . of this book in, the Terrace li- . brary I don’t know. But unless‘. you’ve heard the book dis-- cussed by a friend or friends or « mentioned on TV, radio, or in: a newspaper or magazine, you * may never have heard of it. . At $22.99 this book would’ make an ideal gift for anyone | drawn to humour like an alco-. holic to a bar.