24 Terrace Review — Wednesday, October 15, 1986

Northern job creation and |

development plan revealed -

TERRACE — Frank
Howard, MLA for
Skeena and New Demo-
cractic Party incumbent
in the current election
campaign, recently re-
leased his party’s pro-
posal for relieving un-
employment and crea-
ting economic stability
and growth in northwest
B.C. In introducing ‘the
program Howard said,
“By putting the interests
of people in the fore-
front, we know that
more wealth can be crea-
ted, a greater level of
prosperity attained, a
vibrant cultural com-
ponent developed, and
social stability encourag-
ed and supported.”’

by Michael Kelly

The 25-page report,

titled The Northern

Development Program,
is issued in two sections
and proposes an _ inte-
grated strategy for
economic development
and the enhancement of
social and health services
and education in the
northwest.

One focus of the paper
is forestry, and the pro-
posals are based on a
March 1986 study by Dr.
Peter Pearse, a professor
of Forestry at the Uni-
versity of British Colum-
bia. In the report Pearse
states that $24.6 million
is required to replant
prime growing sites in
the Prince Rupert Forest
Region that have been
clear-cut and not re-
forested, an area of
about 26,000 hectares.
The present Forest
Resource Development
Agreement provides
about $17 million in
silviculture funds to the
region over a period of
five years, an amount
which Pearse says ‘‘will
not be sufficient to keep
pace with current re-
forestation needs’’. The
NDP proposal! states that
the added silviculture
funding would create
over 1,800 jobs in the
Prince Rupert, Skeena,
Atlin and Omineca con-
stituencies, The proposal
also calls for the estab-
lishment of seedling
nurseries in the north-
west and a revision to
tree planting contracts
providing for long-term
follow-up work in thin-
ning, weeding and fertil-
izing to increase seedling
survival rates.

The paper’s education
section is related to the
forest component in that
it would introduce post-
secondary forestry de-
gree studies in northern
colleges with related
research and develop-
ment facilities and test
forests,

‘in

Development of
secondary industries
would be directed by
regional councils com-
prised of representatives
from northern industry,
workers, municipal de-
Signates, the general
public, and advisors
from the Ministry of
Economic Development.
The councils would be
enabled to make recom-
mendations to the pro-
vincial government on
regional development
issues and would have
access to government in-
formation and expertise.
This section of the paper
is based on a piece of
legislation drafted by the
NDP caucus earlier this

year called the Industrial
Development Act
Amendment.

Small business would
benefit under the pro-
posal from low-interest
loans fielded by the B.C.
Development Corpora-
tion. Additionally, small!
forest companies would
be allocated 25 percent
of the annual allowable
cut.

The section of the
paper dealing with agri-
culture calis for a
legislated halt to farm
foreclosures and a Par-
tial Interest Reimburse-
ment Program which
would reduce the effec-
tive rate of interest on
farm loans to two per-
cent below prime. Food
processing plants and
research and develop-
ment projects would be
encouraged to locate in
the north.

The provincial
fisheries’ jurisdiction
would be transferred toa
regional base, and the
paper cails for meetings
involving all resource
users for policy direc-
tion.

The current problems
in the mining industry
would be addressed by a
tax freeze and the
establishment of a fund
to assist single-industry
mine-based communities
to survive shut-downs

Task force

British Columbia has
been unanimously ac-
cepted as an associate
member of the Western
States Legislative
Forestry Task Force.

Task Force members
said that by working
together, cross-border
disputes that affect
forest-based economies
and jobs might well be
avoided in the future.

The Task Force meets
quarterly to receive
testimony and to act
upon forest related issues
western North

America.

during difficult eco-
nomic times and plan for
economic diversifica-
tion.

The program also calls
for regionally-based
tourism promotion,
stating that the Ministry
of Tourism is ‘primarily
oriented to the southern
portion of the
province’. Tranporta-
tion is integrated with
the tourism proposal,
calling for regional ad-
visory committees to set
priorities for Ministry of
Highways road building
and repair projects. The
proposal also calls for
the establishment of a
B.C. Ferries terminal at
Kitimat.

The stupendous hy-
droelectric dam projects
characteristic of B.C.’s
past development in
energy are rejected in the
paper as a model for
future energy resource

‘expansion. The paper

states, ‘“We believe that
a program of smaller,
environmentally respect-
ful hydro projects will
employ more northern
construction workers for

longer periods and at less
capital cost.’?

The proposal con-
cludes, ‘‘The North is a
very special and excep-
tional place to live and to
raise a family... to live
without the spector of
unemployment and
poverty requires a very
positive attitude and
positive programs. We
have faith in Northerners
and their combined abili-
ty. We believe strongly in
the people of the
North.”

Overwaites Manager Barry Derosier awards Shirley
Bentley of Terrace with a new cordiess phone. Bentley
won third prize in the store’s “Playday 86” contest.

Child development centres
agree on common Issues

TERRACE — A posi-
tion paper authored by
thé Prince George-Child
Development . Centre
outlining primary con-
cerns for the ap-
proaching provincial

election has been en--

dorsed by the Terrace
Child Development Cen-
tre. The important issues
addressed in the paper
are funding, staffing,
parent support, and

Sports groups must
pay own insurance

Sports groups using District of Terrace facilities in
future must supply their own liability insurance,
and for some groups it could prove costly. —

A clause added to the park-use permit, which is an
agreement concerning regulations of useage, states
that the user shall purchase insurance protecting
against injury, death, property and third party liabili-
ty claims to the tune of $5,000,000.

A City spokesman says sports organizations’ in-
surance policies would supplement that of the City i in
the case of a lawsuit resulting from death or injury.

But many small sports groups claim the cost.could
reach as much as $30 a person, and that’s asking a bit
too much to bear just to play some shinny hockey or

scrub softball.

The City could bump up user fees to cover any in-
surance, but this would conflict with normal in-
creases in annual rates and in some cases it would put
competing beyond the means of many potential par-

ticipants.

The City spokesman said they realize the new rul-

ing would be tough on some organizations, and.

therefore the City would allow users to sign a clause
getting the City off the hook as a target for a lawsuit.

education of health
science personnel in B.C.
universities and colleges.

Child Development
Centres throughout B.C.
receive their operating
funds from a multitude
of sources including the
Ministry of Health, the
‘Ministry of Social Ser-
vices and Housing
(formerly the Ministry of
Human Resources) and
local school boards,
creating administrative
tangles that sometimes
result in delays or denial
of funding and programs
being shuffled around
through bureaucratic
channels. The paper calls
for single-source funding
for services through the
Ministry of Health and
creation of a provincial
plan for delivery of ser-
vices.

Northern Child Devel-
opment Centres are
especially afflicted by
shortages of qualified
personnel and lengthy
delays in filling vacant
staff positions. A
province-wide scarcity of
physiotherapists, speech
pathologists and audi-
ologists, is addressed in
the paper by calling for
more places in the
U.B.C. School of Reha-
bilitation Medicine, add-

ed education funding for .
pediatric training of
physiotherapists, higher

salaries for personnel to

make B.C. a competitive

employment area in rela-

tion to other provinces,

changes to the Physio-

therapy Act to allow

foreign specialists to

practice--in B.C., and

assurance that funding

will be maintained for

approved positions in the

Centres.

In view of the fact that
natural. parents caring
for their handicapped
children receive none of
the financial support af-
forded to foster parents —
caring for children in the
same situations, . the
paper suggests an ex-
amination of the feasi-
bility for providing sup-
port to those families.

Margaret Dediluke,
program director for the
Terrace Child Develop-
ment Centre, recently
said several Terrace area
families who have
children attending the
centre will be traveling to
Prince George Oct. 18
for a regional meeting.
The concerns addressed
in the paper, as well as
other issues, will be
discussed at the meeting,
she said.

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