Check it out At long last Getting ready city council and city councillors\NEWS A5 It’s time for the annual review of - After years of trying, there’s a sweat lodge at the correctional centre\COMMUNITY A13 Athletes prepare for the Northern B.C. Winter Games in Prince Rupert\SPORTS B12 WEDNESDAY =§ —— 93¢ PLUS 7 GST. VOL. 11 NO. 37 Red tape, taxes choke Santa THIS CHRISTMAS toy run may be Santa’s last in B.C, Red tape and high taxes could force Santa Claus to stop doing business here, wams the Council of Santa Claus (CSC). In a strongly worded statement issued last week from the North Pole, the CSC said the cost of doing business is so high in B.C., Santa may have to skip this pro- vince in favour of Alberta, “You wouldn’t believe the number of ' permits we require for B.C.,’’ said Santa. “Ever since the Santa Practices Code (SPC) came in, I’ve had to have two elves fulltime just on paperwork, It’s ui- “What I’m trying to do is simply pro- vide a service to all the boys and girls, bul it’s becoming impossible.’ The CSC is made up of Santa Claus and the unions representing the reindeer and elves. In a rare move not common in B.C., the combination of labour and manage- ment united in a single cause should point out the seriousness of the situation. “There's no question reindeer have their own issues. But in regards to red tape and taxes in B.C., we must take a united front,’’ said Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer of the Flying Reindeer The CSC notes that the binders full of regulations which make up the Santa Practices Code, when piled up, are about as tall as the average elf, ‘Sure, we may have made mistakes in the past — taken more than our fair share of cookies and milk — but we've changed and we are now more responsible,’ said Santa, He quickly reeled off a list of main complaints of the CSC: mi To visit each house, a Chimney Entry Permit is needed. @ Santa’s flight plan must be approved by three separate government ministries BB Santa is allowed just one ‘‘ho, ho, ho’’ call at each house. WA duplicate copy of cach toy request must be made and filed when received al the North Pole for submision to the Santa Practices Review Board, a stand alone agency created under the SPC, Wi The age of each person making a re- quest must be recarded and fed into, a government compuler system to determine if they qualify for children’s status as defined in the SPC. “This simply doesn’t exist in Al- berta,’’ fumed Santa. ‘“We’re welcomed with open arms, as long as we're carcful not to fly tao close to the oil derricks.’ Provincial officials in Victoria were quick to refute Santa’s claims. . ‘We've met with the CSC on tlumerous occasions,’’ said an official who requesled anonymity. ‘We've even waived the requirement that Christmas wrapping be made of B.C.-only paper products. Even tow, we're pulting the final touches on a Jobs for Santa Accord,” But the official noted there is only so far the goverment is prepared to go. “We are the government. We know what's best, even for Christmas.” believable,”? Union, Local 1. . Sing it sisters! at least 30 days prior to Christmas Eve. Gov't dives into regional surgical debate THE HEALTH MINISTRY has put itself into the middle of a touchy health care debate by recommending that Ter- race be the base for the region’s two orthopedic surgeons. By custom and tradition, Kitimat bas been the location of one surgeon and Prince Rupert the other. But with both those positions are now vacant, the issue of where they should be located needs to be examined, says a health min- istry official. “Our position on. orthopedic services is that we very much want to see an integrated program and we certainly ” want to see consolidation,’’ says Stephanie Slater. ‘Terrace is probably the logical site, but because of ge- ography and support slaff, Prince Rupert would be fine, too,’’ she added. ‘They don’t have to be in the same place, but from the ministry’s point of view, Terrace is the nattral place,”’ The topic of where specialists should be based has al- ways been controversial in the northwest, Specialists are highly prized for their economic worth as they create sup- port jobs and increase the budgets of hospitals at where they practice the most. And there have been understandings between com- munities to base specialists at various hospitals so each receives an economic benefit. Yet at the same time, deci- sion making, regarding specialist services is difficult as there is no overall regional health care authority. Local community health councils instead have to work things aut amongst themselves, A recent letter from Terrace-based surgeon Dr. James Dunfield to the health ministry suggesting that orthopedics be based here drew calls of interference from the com- munity health council in Prince Rupert and a request for au Students at the Centennial Christian School performed Samson, a musical of mighty proportions, Dec. 17 at the Terrace Christian Reformed Church. These little girls were busy singing when Samson used God's strength to bring down the temple and con- —_quettes and playing games. quer his enemies. The schools Christmas bazaar was a great success this year. More than $5000 was raised from selling crafts, kitchen wares, polnsettias, baked goods, sausages, cro- apology. Work sharing at West Fraser could lengthen ‘By JEFF NAGEL A FEDERAL work-sharing program that means the difference between a paycheque and a layoff notice for about 90 West Fraser workers could be extended to mid-June. The six-month program — scheduled to run out March 20 and which would trigger layoffs at Skeena Sawmills — may be extended by 13 weeks, says general manager Lou Poulin. That would keep the 136 mill employees working and buy the sawmill more time to wait for stronger prices in lumber markets. ‘*] have talked to the union and we have every intention of applying for a 13-week extension to get us to 39 weeks,” * Poulin sald late last week. *In June we're hoping the Japanese are going to find a trillion doflars and start buying lumber again,’’ he added, Poulin said economists are forecasting tough times for the first two quarters of the new year, but there’s some hope of improvement by the third quarter. West Fraser had told its workers layoffs will likely result whenever the work-sharing program ends. It is now ran- ning one shift, shared between its normal two-shift work- force, with Employment Insurance paying benefils to make up the difference, An end to the work-share would mean climinating the equivalent of one of the mill’s two shifts, They all know that when the work share ran out we were going to have to make a tough decision on who stays and who goes and it’s going to have to be done based on - SKEENA SAWMILLS workers, such as the one pic- tured above, may banefit from an extended work- share program which feaures Employment Insurance payments to top up wages. seniority, taking competency into account,” Poulin said. The result will likely be that only those workers with 20 years or more of seniority will survive, he said. “The morale of the crew and people is pretty good con- sidering the situation,’’ Poulin added. kkkkk Both West Fraser’s sawmill and Skeena Cellulose shut down for Christmas Dec. 18. Both mills are slated to re- start operations Jan. 4, following a normal two-week holiday shutdown. Poulin said West Fraser had originally planned a three- week Christmas shutdown. abe But a one-week closure in October and another in No- vember allowed them to take enough down time that the holiday season closure will be just the normal two weeks, Most of the region’s specialists are in Terrace where they can rely on each other for assistance and from where they can fan out across the northwest when needed. That ability for mutual support shouid aiso be applied to orthopedics, said Slater. ‘‘It would be easier for them to Cont'd Page AS More jobs forecast if wood quota upped SKEENA CELLULOSE officials say they could hire 500 more workers at its north- west sawmills if the company is allowed lo export more lumber to the U,S. The company has launched an appeal of its quota restriction under the Canada-U.5. Softwood Lumber Agreement. If the move is successful, said company spokesman Don McDonald, Skecna Cel- lulose would be permitted to sell much more lumber to U.S, markets without being subject to a tariff. “Tf our quota is increased we could end up employing 500 more people in the saw- mills and we would probably be able to add another shift at the pulp mill,”? McDonald said. ‘‘Cbviously there would be jobs in woodlands for contractors in addition.” He said a third shift could be added at the company’s milf here and mean more people at its Carnaby and Smithers mills, essential- ly doubling the workforce. A previous appeal through the B.C. Softwood Lumber Advisory Committee was unsuccessful, McDonald said, bul this time the company is appealing directly to foreign affairs minister Lloyd Axworthy to give the company a bigger share of the Ca- nadian export quota. . The company contends its export quota was incorrectly calculated, in large part be- cause it was based on a year when Skeena Cellulose was exporting most of its lumber ‘eo , to Asia and very little to the U.S. That now should be corrected because the U.S. market remains the natural market for its products, it says. The company also claims undue hardship in @ particularly hard-hit region of the pro- vince, “They secm to have a pretty good case,” said city councillor Val George, who per- suaded city council to write a support letter, “T think we can claim thal we have been hit to a greater extent than other parts of this province and other parts of the coun- try,’’ he said. “Other producers in other parts of the country are still making money in ihe lumber business.’’ McDonald wouldn’t specify how much extra lumber the company could export or ihe revenue a successful appeal would bring. George estimated it might yield 16 million more board feet — boosting lumber production by five to seven per cent. The provinclal government is pressing Ottawa for a re-examination of quota al- locations. Skeena MLA Helmut Giesbrechit said he also wants lumber export quotas to be broken down not jusl by company but by each mill, He said (hat would require companies like West Fraser operate all their mills — in- cluding money-losing ones like Skeena Sawmills — or give up part of their quola. t i) 1