S suggested by B.C. A forests minister Bugs Weevil, Milton Jovial had asked Herby Squish to prepare a new report showing how kiln drying his export lumber might change his profit picture. He now had the revised report and it _ looked encouraging. The report suggested that he could make a $2.93 million profit every year, rather than taking a loss of $2.54 million, if he kiln dried his lumber and value added products. Still, there were some things that continued to bother Jovial. His chief concem was that even though he could make a profit, if Weevil was right and European importers were going to be buying nothing but kiln dried lumber by 1992, he was still going to be selling his pulp chips on the domestic market at a tremendous loss. Secondly, even though a profit was promised, it wasn’t large. He had originally agreed to a small value-added component to his mill proposal to improve the profit and loss picture, and now he was being asked to add a dry kiln. This meant that the total cost of the project would be closer to $50 Jovial calls” |F¢ ameeting | million than to $40 million, and with a profit of only $2.93 million a year it would take him far too long to recover his investment. The only answer to his dilemma, he believed, was to export pulp chips. And this was something Weevil had said he was not pre- pared to approve. B.C. pulp mills, Weevil said last week, wanted his chips as a part of their guaranteed. annual supply. "Herby," Jovial shouted into the telephone in his New York office. "I want you to set up a public meeting in Terrace. You and I are going to explain to the people up there why I need to export pulp chips. Then we can sit back and let the public put pressure on Vic- toria. "I’m offering that area something in the order of 300 jobs... But it’s not going to happen unless I can make some money doing it." A was sitting in his Victoria office reviewing an inter- nal report of his own. According to information provided by his deputy minister, the government had told B.C. logging companies in 1982 that they could stop cut- t the same time, Weevil Terrace.Review — Wednesday, January 16, 1991 AT by Tod Strachan, in consultation with Rod Arnold and Doug Davies ting pulp logs for a while. There was an excess of pulp chips and B.C. pulp mills were going to be exporting a few chips. Not a lot; only about 75,000 cubic metres. And the same thing happened in 1989, B.C. pulp mills were told they could export about the same volume of chips because they were surplus to their needs. "So what’s the big deal?" the minister muttered to himself. "Jovial’s crying about chips but our pulp mills have only exported about 150,000 cubic metres in the past decade... Even if 10 percent of those chips were his it wouldn’t have changed his profit picture very much." hree hundred new jobs within 45 miles of Ter- race was an exciting prospect. Particularly for local businessmen and unions. There was little surprise, then, when close to 150 people crammed the meeting room the night of Jovial’s public meeting. "Good evening," Jovial began. "I want to explain a few facts. Then my forester here, Herby Squish, will provide you with a little more detail.” An attentive crowd listened while Jovial described his proposal; then the reasons a value-added com- ponent had been included, and the reasons a dry kiln might also be part of it. With this done, Jovial introduced his concerns. By selling his pulp chips on the domestic market he would be not only be subsidizing the pulp industry out of his own pocket, he would be contributing unneccesarily to the fall down effect as well. Also, if he couldn’t pay off his investment within a reasonable length of time, the project and the 300 new jobs that it promised, would move some- where else. "The only way this thing is ever going to become a reality here,” he concluded, "is if this community convinces the govern- ment that chip exports are crucial to the survival of sawmills in this province." This brought Squish to the podium. "The bottom line," he began, "is that Mr. Jovial can, as our forest minister Bugs Weevil has suggested, make a small profit - by adding a dry kiln... But if he were allowed to export his pulp chips he could create a financially viable enterprise. The estimated difference in annual net profit is $11.3 million compared to $2.93 million. "But don’t make the mistake of thinking this is money going straight. into the coffers of a wealthy American investor. That's not how it works. The first five or six years profit will simply pay off the debt and after that it will pro- bably be time for an expansion or major upgrade. Eventually Mr. Jovial will get a good return on his — Continued on page A8 Wondering about government priorities The provincial government’s profits from lotteries is expected to top $200 million again this year. The government has a very general set of guidelines for disbursement of these profits, but the inadequency of the guidelines was highlighted dur- ing the Bill Reid/Bud Smith scandals. It is therefore not sur- prising that the $200 million has been referred to by the media as socred ‘mad money’. Two hundred million dollars per year divided between the now 75 constituencies comes to about $2.6 million more or less, depending on whether you are in a Socred or NDP riding. This is a lot of money to make available for special projects at the discre- tion of a government sorely in need of good public relations. Recently, while driving down a $4.9 million road for a fun day on the slopes, I began to wonder about the government's priorit- jes. We have projects in Skeena which don’t seem to get the pro- vincial government's attention, let alone the lottery funds. The Terrace Regional Health Care Society is trying to get fun- ding for the development of a Supportive Housing Complex on the Terraceview site. This housing would be for patients who require care but who, with a little support from the staff at Terraceview, could live more in- dependently and at less cost than patients requiring extended care. The complex would fill a need for another level of health care service and save health care dollars over the long term. But supportive housing as proposed does not fit the health care guidelines, despite the fact that it is a creative response by the people who are in the front-line of delivering extended care. So far, the provincial government and the local MLA have been hiding behind those guidelines. In Kitimat, the Council is try- ing to get the provincial govern- ment to contribute $1.5 million. as the government’s contribu- tion to complete a $4.5 million access road to the proposed port facility. That is what is needed for the port development to be viable to a private developer. In- stead, the government commis- sions another study; this one costing $400,000. This $400,000 cow has been milked heavily for public relations since it was an- nounced last June. In Kitwanga, the largest em- ployer has been closed down since last spring. Unemployment is in the 80 percent range and it has taken the government nine months to write a letter to Wes- tar telling them to reopen the mill or have their timber licence revoked. On the other hand, a private corporation that needed help in the form of an access road to a ski hill got the benefit of $4.9 million. Helmut Giesbrecht Provincial New Democratic Candidate for Skeena Terrace, B.C. If you don’t know what’s going on, things go on without you. read the Terrace Review Poets, artists invited To the Editor; A new monthly magazine will soon be appearing in Canadian bookstores and libraries. The magazine is called The Poet's Pen, and its purpose is to pro- mote the creative work of Cana- dian amateur poets, Each issue will feature about 160 poets and their poems. _ I am now asking amateur po- ets to submit poems to The ‘ Poet’s Pen. Unfortunately, I do not expect the magazine to be financially successful for some time, and so I cannot afford to pay for the poems. What I can offer poets is the satisfaction of seeing their poems in print in a national magazine. In addition, each issue will include a feature section On one poet. Iam also seeking amateur art- ists to submit their work to The Poet’s Pen, P.O. Box 3430, Sta- tion C, Ottawa, Ontario KIY 4J6. Please enclose a_ self- addressed, stamped envelope. Thank You. Arthur Levitin Call to reunion . To the Editor; Some of your readers are some of our former students and staff. Attention, former students and teachers from Alliston Con- tinuation School and its suc- cessor, Banting Memorial High School, in Alliston, Ontario. Former Alliston High School students and teachers will come home May 3, 4, and 5, 1991 to celebrate their School’s Fortieth anniversary. The full weekend of activities, beginning Friday evening, will provide visitors with lots of time to find old friends and recall their high school days. Returning students and staff who wish information about the program or about accomodation in the area should write or tele- phone Banting Memorial High School now, at 203 Victoria Street, E. Box 3000, Alliston, Ontario, LOM 1A0; Tel No: (705). 435-0354, Fax No: (705) 435-3868. . Spaces for some events will be limited. Please let us know now of your interest, so that we may | send you registration informa- _ tion as soon as possible. Come Home to Alliston, The First Weekend in May, 1991. Larry Keogh, The Banting 40th Anniversary Committee, Banting Memorial High School, Alliston, Ontario Apologies for cancellation To the Editor; . On behalf of the Terrace White Cane Club, we extend our sincere apologies to all those people who purchased tickets for the Family Variety Show in December, 1991, and sincerely regret the cancellation of this show due to circumstances be- yond our control. Phyllis Cornfield, Tertace.