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Dispatch from 1976

This week we take a look at Ter- race’s econontic evolution over the past three decades through the pages of an old newspaper account.

The following is a story published by

_ the Toronto Globe and Mail in 1976

about Terrace and its struggle at that

“time to survive a crippling recession.

For an analysis of how much things have -or haven’t - changed since then, see the counterpoint below by the Ter- race Economic Development Author-

_ity’s Ken Veldman.

By MALCOLM GRAY The Globe and Mail

TERRACE B.C. - The business

men in this soggy town in north- western British Columbia have a slogan, Terrace is Terrific. It is a statement of faith and hope rather than a description of reality.

~ Terrace is yesterday’s boom town on its uppers. Like most of the other settlements in the province’s thinly settled north, Terrace has relied hea- vily on one industry. Here it was for- estry and for the past two years the

news coming oul of the woods has

all been bad. . The international wood market has

.been soft, a government-run pulp mill -at Prince Rupert that used timber cul here has closed and, the fatest blow ~ another pulp mill has closed its wood- cutting operations for the winter,

throwing 40 more Terrace workers out

_ of work.

25 to 30% jobless In many ways, Terrace is suffering

“through the civic equivalent of being on welfare. Social assistance, in fact,

is one of the biggest sources of money coming into the community — $3,600 a day in September to support 370 fami- lies.

From 25 to 30 per cent of the work force is unemployed and the member of Parliament for the area, [ona Cain-

‘ pagnolo, got $1.9-million in Local In-

itiatives Projects for her Skeena ri- ding, the largest LIP grant in the caun-

try. Now, as Terrace enters what could

be’ thé worst! Wintér ‘in’ its history) its’ ”

Former Premier David Barrett says

-Terrace’s plight is a disgrace and is . calling for government action.

> There’s nothing wrong with that, except that Mr. Barrett was in power

-when the decision was made to close

the government-owned pulp mill al,

Prince Rupert and turn it into a kraft

mill. Nothing was done to provide ‘other jobs for the workers affected by the conversion.

‘Both Mr. Barrett and Premier Wil-

‘liam Bennett say Terrace is the most

economically depressed town in B.C.

‘but neither has done much te help the

town through the rough times, The government held a highly pub-

-licized cabinet meeting in Terrace in

September, highly publicized because

Mee ee!

CHARLIE GRAYDON, president of T

Mr. Bennett announced a program of road, rail and port development to sti- mulate the economy of the depressed northwest.

It didn"! cause much excitement in Terrace. This isn’t the first time Mayor Gordon Rowland has heard Prince Ru- pert, 96 miles away, named the major port for shipping coal from north- eastern B.C. ;

That will benefit Terrace of course because the town will get a mainte- nance centre fer the coal trains, but not until 1980. By that time, the Cana- dian Cellutose mill in Prince Rupert is supposed to be working again.

Mr. Bennett also announced that $17-million would be spent on road improvements in the area this winter. Local residents aren't betting on it, saying that most of the money won’t be spent until next summer when the rainy season is over,

No one stays long in Terrace with- out getting used to the rain. The rain makes waiting for a plane in Terrace a game of chance, When the planes can’t get through the clouds to the air- strip surrounded by mountains passen- gers get a free bus ride over 96 miles of rough road to Prince Rupert to catch a flight there.

But the rain does more than delay the arrival of newspapers from Van-

-couver. It makes it difficult to cut

> down trees on hillsides turned to mud

and it means that those trees are likely to be soft and pulpy and overmature.

Trees take almost 100 years in this climate to grow, putting the district at a disadvantage with lumber-growing areas in the United States and Latin America where trees prow in a quarter the time.

“Secondary industry. Everyone tells me we need secondary industry here.” Mr. Rowland said. “Well, it’s a great calch phrase, but no one seems to sure what kind of industry would have a chance of surviving and creating em-

_ ployment here.”

big issues in town, along with the number of houses for sale and vacant apartments. For slorics on Terrace’s depressed economy have been to ap- pear in outside newspapers, something that both alarms and irritates the busi- ness community.

Editor under fire

“Bad publicity can effectively kill a small business,” Fred Weber, presi- dent of the local radio and television outlet, said. He mentions a slore owner whose supplicrs hinted they might de- liver on a cash-only basis after Terrace was depicted as a boom town gone sour. Banks have tightened their mort- gage-lending policies slightly.

Four real estate firms, angered by the co-operation of the editor of the Terrace Herald with a Vancouver re- porter, withdrew their advertising from the newspaper.

Al issue were statistics on houses for sale and vacant houses in the Ter- race area. Editor Patrick O’ Donaghy said he did not supply figures that turned up in a story saying there were 200 houses vacant and 400 for sale.

The four real estate firms were as irritated that Mr. O’Donaghy said any- thing at all that wasn’t positive about Terrace as with any involvement he might have had with incorrect statis- tics.

“The paper should take a more po- sitive attitude toward Terrace,” said Stan Parker, who conducted a survey that found 130 houses for sale and 34 vacant. “He (Mr. O’Donaghy} should be boosting Terrace, not knocking it.”

To that Mr. O’Donaghy replied that he had an obligation to his readers to tell the truth about the town, even if it was unpleasant.

Car Dealer Packs Up

Examples of hard times aren’t hard to find. The local Datsun dealership has just closed. Trans-Provincial Air- lines is in receivership and hoteis in town are half empty.

Getting a dinner reservation at the

“Terrace isn’t about to become a ghost town on the banks of the Skeena River, but somehow it must get

years start happening.”

through several-rough years before the woods industry __repitation #Skin ecdndtnie basket cave’ FeVIVeS:orall:the wondrous: schemes of coal ports, road ~. Ras attracted the attention’ of outsiders. °’ and rail developments that have been talked about for

Terrace isn’t about to become a ghost town on the banks of the Skeena River, but somehow it must pet through several rough years before the woods industry revives or all the won- drous schemes of coal ports, road and rail developments that have been talked about for years start happening.

Some people can't wait for that. Terrace’s population in the 1971 fed- eral census was 9,991. This time it will be around 10,000. That means that in the good years before the woods in- dustry: collapsed several thousand people came and went from Terrace.

How many have left is one of the

ea OTS : d ICI Intellicom, is

Oc COM a one

local entrepreneur who's an example of the diversification of the Terrace economy. since the 1970s, His companies have done well serving the high-tech requirements of other businesses in the northwest. -

Bavarian Inn, perhaps the most fash- ionable restaurant in town, isn’t a pro- blem. Al 9:30 on a Wednesday night there is one customer looking over the candle, flickering on empty tables.

The beer parlor in the Terrace Hotel has an even more bizarre sight. The Hitching Post is downstairs, through a door that doesn’t quite keep out the cold winds. Everyone wears ski jackets and parkas. Everyone, that is, except the two strippers dancing on a con- crete floor, hired by the hotei to draw in business.

“Ef T don’t catch cold in this joint, it’ be a miracle,” one woman said.

Counterpoint 2000

The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, June 7, 2000 - AS

Terrace struggled to hold on the good times returned

MAJOR HIGHWAY improvements were one of the many promised fixes to the northwest’s economic troubles in the 1970s. It was one of the few things that came to fruition and arguably did the most to help Terrace become a regional retail and business centre.

Ted Taylor, the president of the Chamber of Commerce, runs a men's clothing store. It's a nice, well-lit place, with rows of ski jackets, plaid

sports jackets, nothing very stylish but -

stuff that will keep you warm without being too eccentric — except for two beautifully tailored fawn-coloured men’s coats standing in fonely splen- dor in the middle of the sales floor at $225 each.

“That's beautiful stuff but we don’t get much of a chance to seil material like that here,” Mr. Taylor said. He, like other businessmen, has been hurt by the poor economic conditions.

His message is that Terrace is only part of a sick economy across Canada and the best way to improve things here and elsewhere is through self- help.

“Our message is pull up your socks. All of you have a job to do, a job of preater understanding, a job of helt- tightening and a job of stimulating confidence in communities with an eventual benefit to all of Canada.”

He believes Terrace will be a better town after those that can’t tough it out have gone ia sarenye

Somehow it is hard to apply this to William Sauer. He has been: in -busi- ness hauling logs since 1950 and now owns seven trucks. But Mr. Sauer says he hasn't made any money in the de- pressed lumber market for three years and is on the edge of bankruptcy.

With the Terrace is Terrific rallying cry, the business community and local officials have closed ranks to present an optimistic face to outsiders. But it doesn’t disguise the fact that Terrace needs more than facile slogans to overcome its problems, problems caused by reliance on one industry,

Some hope is being pinned on the town’s getting a new maximum-secur- ity penilentiary to replace an aging and half ruined prison in New West- minster.

In Strategic Position

+ at

This idea is so new it is nowhere near being considered seriously by the federal Government, now looking around B.C. for penitentiary sites.

Cyril Shelford, the Social Credit MLA for Skeena, frankly criticizes the provincial Guvernment for its lack of action of help toward the area. Above all he wants to sce federal-provincial co-operation making the northwest an attractive place for new industry.

Meanwhile, Terrace itself goes on, a little shabbier each day, as the mu- nicipal government cannot afford to Keep the place spruced up.

Unlike its néighbours, Prince Ru- pert and Kitimat, Terrace has little in- dustry within its boundaries. The few sawmills don’t add much to the reve- nues of a town constantly pinched for money. It shows in the unpaved roads, and lack of sewers in about 20 per cent of the town’s area.

It is one explanation for why Ter race, two years after hard times ar- rived, is only now hiring someone to seek out new industry for the town.

“These fellows cost money, you know,” Mr. Rowland said. “[ think ,Cranbrook, isthe only other place. in B.C. with one. It’s going to cost around $50,000: to set up an office and ‘the town doesn’t have much money.”

Like many other places in the north, this is still tomorrow land. For the point about Terrace is that it isn’t about to become a ghost town. Not with its strategic position between the ports of Kitimat and Prince Rupert, both figured to become important ports.

With that going for it, with the added hope of the woods industry making some sort of comeback, the trick is to hang on until the good times return.

For those who give up, it’s easy. The bus terminal is right next door to Manpower and Unemployment Insur-

. ance Commission offices.

City now diversified

Simple road improvements, not a flashy big industry, gave us the tools to become a regional centre. It still rains though.

By KEN VELDMAN IT’S STILL soggy at times but yesterday's boom town has grown up a lot in the last 25 yeals.

In some ways, the most noticeable thing about a profile of Terrace circa 1976 is how many things haven’t changed.

On this note, be sure to note the government-run pulp mill at Prince Rupert, the provincial and federal governments pointing fingers of blame al each other, the slim chanees of an airplane landing in December, and the grumbling about the local newspaper editor.

Much more important, although perhaps less obvious, is how much things have changed due largely to the seeds thal were sown in 1976.

Given the circumstances, the resi- liency of the local business commun- ity in 1976 was remarkable.

Their recognition of the seif-prophe- tic negative effects of bad publicity, their ability to work together to deve- lop a common message of optimism, and their courage to believe that they could help themselves were very evi- dent.

It was this vital attitude that forged so much of the identity of Terrace, and laid the foundation for the community of entrepreneuts that have been at the root of the city’s economic develop-

ment.

The role of senior governments in this issue is also very interesting.

Several potential public-sector pro- jects were mentioned at the time, in- cluding a maintenance centre for trains, a maximum-securily peniten- tiary, and various road, rail and port developments. However, it was the least sexy of these projects that came to fruition and provided the most value.

It was the highway improvements that occurred over the next decade that formed the basis of new economic activity in the region, and greatly im- proved trade flows throughout the northwest.

Terrace’s development since 1976 is a direct result of the continued vi- tality of its business community and its improved competitiveness as a ser- vice and supply centre.

Local entrepreneurs recognized the opportunity that came with improved access to the businesses and consu- mers in the northwest.

More importantly, they took ad- vantage of it. Capital investment, em- ployment growth and economic diver- sification resulted.

That diversification, of course, has come not through new industry in Ter- tace — the city still has little industry within its boundaries. Instead, it has come through the community binding itself to the variety of industrial en-

gines throughout the rest of the region.

There was no mention in 1976 of the importance of the aluminum, mining, or commercial fishing industry to Terrace.

Similarly, the significance of retail dollars from every northwest commun- ity did not generate a comment.

Today, however, they form a sub- stantial part of Terrace’s economic backbone, ;

With that diversification has come increased stability. The slump endured by the forest industry in the late 1990s caused growth to slow, businesses to rationalize and belis to tighten.

However, this time the community did not lose population, downtown did not become a plethora of boarded up windows, and Terrace was not viewed as an “economic basketcase”.

Terrace, and northwest B.C., still faces its share of economic chal- lenges.

We still need to move toward in- creased secondary industry.

We still need to diversify further away from resource-oriented industgies,

But if history has taughtg thing, it is this: iia

There are no quick fixes.

The best help is self-help.

You never get used to the rain.

Ken Veldman ts executive director of the Terrace Economic Develapment Authority.