SMALL SAWMILL OPERATOR PUSHED TO WALL
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VICTORIA -- If you've ever wondered how anyone can starve in a country blessed with riches, you'll be interested in the story of Northcop Sawmills.
Northcop is a small sawmill in the Saloompt Valley, about 450 km west of Williams Lake. The company has been operating for about 50 years. On April 29, Northcop shut down. The reason: no timber.
The mill sits in the middle of one of the timber-richest areas of the province. Day after day, logging trucks are rolling through nearby Hagensborg for destinations in the Lower Mainland. All the while, Northcop can't lay its hands on enough timber to keep its small sawmill going. The company's 12 employees are collecting unemployment insurance.
The valley is an economically depressed area. Despite its natural splendor, it doesn't attract too many tourists. There are majestic mountains and beautiful valleys within easier reach of the major population centres. There's only one road into the Saloompt, it's 450 km long, and half of it is gravel.
There are few employment opportunities in the valley. Government is one, Crown Forest another. With 12 employees and expansion plans that would create another 20 jobs, Northcop is, by any standards, a major employer in the Hagensborg area.
Until it had to shut down, Northcop's average production was 15,000 board feet of lumber a day. The company never had a guaranteed supply of timber, but until a year ago, it was able to buy timber on the open market for about $30 to $40 a cubic metre. Since then, the price has shot up to $83 a cubic metre. There is no way, Northcop can operate as long as it has to pay those prices. The answer is a guaranteed supply, something the big companies have.
"I don't see why we shouldn't have equal access to timber. There is no difference between us and the big operators. Our needs are the same as theirs. We need timber at a reasonable price to operate," says Darold Swanson, one of the owners of the sawmill.
When Swanson and Darryl Wyatt bought Northcop in December 1987, their venture looked like a sure winner. Wyatt had been working as a foreman for West Fraser in Terrace for 20 years; Swanson started as an engineer for Westar in Terrace and later went into logging.
"We thought we had an unbeatable combination, and it looked good when we bought the company. We wanted to expand, and now we can't even stay in business," Swanson says.
Northcop has also been unable to get any timber through the government's small business program. There is no timber available in the Central Coast Region for category 2 of the program. There is for category 1. Category 2 is for sawmills, category 1 for loggers.
In the Interior, on the other hand, auctions for category 2 are quite common. Why in the Interior and not in the Central Coast Region? The explanation is as simple as it it is outrageous, although you will not get government officials to admit to it.
In the Interior, there are quite a few small sawmills competing in the timber auctions. That means the government usually gets more than the upset price. In the Central Coast Region, there aren't that many small sawmills, and usually only one mill would bid on the timber. As a result, the government would get nothing over and above the upset price. So, the auctions for sawmills were scrapped.
A favorite government excuse for the lack of timber has been that the total annual cut is committed and that nothing can be spared for small sawmills. That excuse doesn't hold water in this case.
Doman Lumber, which holds a licence to cut in the area, has fallen far behind in its obligations. From 1982 to 1987, Doman's cut has been one million cubic metres less than its licence called for.
That undercut alone would keep Northcop going for 22 years. "Time is of the essence," says Swanson. "We have obligations to financial institutions. We can't hold out forever."
To that, I would add that neither can Parker. As forest minister, he has an obligation, not only to the major players in the industry, but also to the small operators, like Northcop.
The minister seems to have come to the same conclusion. When I asked him for comment on the issue, he told me he would try to "set the wheels in motion within days" to put some timber up for auction under category 2 of the small business program.
The following day, Swanson called me to say the minister had already been in touch with him and promised that timber would be made available.
"I feel a whole lot better today than yesterday. Our people may soon be back to work," he said. Unfortunately, even if all goes well, the soonest the mill can be back in operation is by mid-August. It takes that long to advertise, schedule and hold a timber auction.
For Northcop's sake and for the sake of the 12 people now out of work, I hope the minister is as good as his word.
AND WHERE DO YOU STAND, HUBERT?
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VICTORIA -- I have in front of me a dozen letters from readers wanting to know why I have been weaseling my way out of taking a stand on abortion, aside from a rather meek statement in one of my columns that I am personally opposed to it.
The most precisely-targeted letter is from Dr. Grant Del Begio, a family physician from Golden.
"Why are you 'personally' opposed to abortion? I would be interested to hear your reasons. Maybe you could expand on them in a future article. A man who speaks his mind like you wouldn't be afraid of criticism from a pro-choice group, would you?" Dr. Del Begio asks.
"I suspect that you would 'personally' support legislation that would protect an unborn baby from being murdered. Would this be a cause clear and safe enough to also actively support? Do your 'personally-held' beliefs allow you to go that far?" he wants to know.
Dr. Del Begio points to society's inconsistency in supporting the prosecution of a mother who kills her new-born child, but turns a blind eye to the killing of unborn children.
"Where on this slippery ethical rope will you try to hang on?" he asks me.
Judging from the skill with which Dr. Del Begio sliced me into neat ribbons, he missed his calling. He should be a surgeon, not a family physician.
Since he wasn't the only one to berate me for not having taken a personal stand on the abortion issue, I decided to deal with his letter and the others in this column. The other reason for resurrecting the issue at this time is that it will probably soon blow up again. The premier's advisory council on abortion is expected to submit its report in the very near future.
As a political columnist, I normally comment on political issues, not moral ones. I don't judge politicians on their morality, just their job performance.
Therefore, I said in past columns that the premier had no right to disobey the federal law, no matter how much he may personally detest that law. I criticized the premier for having tried to flaunt that law, no matter how much I might have agreed with his motivation for doing so.
In retrospect, I probably shouldn't even have mentioned that I personally oppose abortion on demand, but I did. And on the outside chance that someone else might want to know what my own views on the subject are, here goes.
I am personally opposed to abortion -- with some exceptions. On the other hand, I hesitate to be identified with some of the people who so actively support the pro-life forces -- fundamentalist Christians who betray their own inconsistency by clamoring for the death penalty while opposing abortion.
I would support legislation protecting the rights of the unborn. I would support legislation outlawing abortion of convenience.
But I would also support abortion in cases of rape or where severe malformation of the unborn child is proven in the early stages of pregnancy. And I would support abortion in cases where the mother's life is threatened.
I am in favor of the government's new family-support program which stresses alternatives to abortion. My only reservation is that $20 million is not enough to achieve the goals of the program. If reducing the number of abortions is as important to the premier as he says it is, the government should be willing to commit whatever resources it takes.
If no woman need fear financial hardship as a result of a pregnancy and the birth of another child, I am certain that the incidence of abortion would go down dramatically. If young, single women need have no fear of social stigma and financial burdens, more would choose to have their babies.
I weep for every child that is not allowed to be born. In my worst nightmares, I try to put faces to the 11,000 children aborted in British Columbia last year. Would that the advocates of abortion on demand could hear all 11,000 cry for life. A mighty chorus it would be.
I hold the firm belief that society will have to pay a steep price for denying thousands of unborn children a chance at life. At the very least, such disrespect for life degrades us all.
And that, Doctor Del Begio, for what it's worth, is where I stand with regard to abortion. Although, for the life of me, I don't see what difference it should make to you or anyone else what my views on this subject are. If ever there was an issue on which neither side is willing to give an inch, this is it.
MILKING THE POOR TO PAY OFF DEFICIT
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VICTORIA -- With the latest Lottery Grants Report in my hot little hand, I thought this might be an opportune time to inform you where all those dollar bills and loonies went that you spent on scratch-and-win, 6/49 and Lotto B.C. tickets.
The total paid out during 1987 by the government's lottery branch, the neatest money maker this side of income tax, was about $229 million. Looking at the details of that expenditure, it is prudent to remember that the government-sponsored gambling
activity was originally started to raise money for cultural, sports and other community organizations.
With that in mind, it is, for instance, interesting to note that more than $176 million was used to pay off debts incurred by Expo 86, while aforementioned organizations had to do with the remaining $53 million.
A breakdown shows the following allocations from lottery funds during 1987: non-profit community groups -- $10.1 million; payments to Expo legacy projects -- $9.3 million; recreation and sports organizations -- $8.1 million; cultural groups -- $6.3 million; the B.C. Health Care Research Foundation -- 3.7 million; the B.C. Heritage Trust -- $1.4 million.
As a total, those figures sound impressive. After all, few of us deal in millions. The fact remains though that four times as many groups could have received help if it hadn't been for the government's decision to pay off Expo debts with lottery funds.
If, on the other hand, the government believes every deserving group is already on the list of lottery fund recipients, it could have increased funding for individual groups fourfold. I'm sure that idea would be welcomed by many a community, sports or cultural organization, because some of the government contributions are less than generous.
For example, the Knob Hill Community Club in Armstrong got $709 in lottery funds to help with a construction of a new roof for its club house. I happen to know that it's difficult to put a roof on a dog house for $709.
The Comox Valley Fastball League was able to snare $982 for a new fence around the ball field. And then there are the New Caledonia Dancers in Fort St. James who were the recipients of a whopping $264 to help buy ballet bars and mats. The smallest contribution was $28 to the Richmond Girls' Softball Association to help offset the cost of travelling to the provincial championships.
Those are admittedly some of the smallest payments I could find in the report. There are more substantial grants such as $40,000 to the Fort Fraser Volunteer Fire Department for new equipment or $225,000 to the Columbia Shuswap Regional District to establish a ski hill near Golden.
The largest amount went to the Village of Lillooet which received 500,000 (the final payment) for a recreation complex. Other large payments included $297,000 to the Chilliwack Community Arts Council, $200,000 to the Shuswap Community Centre Society in Salmon Arm and $200,000 to the Canadian Paraplegic Association in Vancouver.
While those figures may sound good, they don't alter the fact that perhaps other communities could have received help from the lottery funds to establish ski hills and arts centres or build club houses or fences, if it hadn't been for that $176 million payment for Expo debts.
There's lottery life after the Expo debt, you say. Since that debt has now been paid off, you may assume that the groups originally intended to benefit from lottery funds can expect to get more this year or that other groups which got nothing, will now be able to tap the lottery fund.
Not so. The government has already decided to reroute $79 million from this year's lottery profits into what is alternately called the Budget Stabilization Fund, the B.S. Fund or the Socred Slush Fund.
That fund, you will remember, was set up in the last budget to provide a cushion for the ups and downs of government revenues.
In good years, money from the fund is to be used to pay off the province's accumulated deficit, in bad years to avoid an annual deficit.
That creates a problem. Experts call gambling the most regressive of all taxes. The vast majority of lottery ticket buyers come from that segment of the population which can least afford to buy them. Lottery tickets represent their dream to sudden riches.
They're the only road to life on easy street. As long as lottery profits are used for the enrichment of community life, there may still some justification for taking gambling money out of the pockets of the poor. Enticing the less-privileged to pay off the accumulated provincial deficit is not so easy to justify.
NEY WROTE THE BOOK ON PROMOTION
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VICTORIA -- If you want to promote something, anything, you couldn't go wrong getting Nanaimo Mayor Frank Ney on your team. The guy wrote the book on promoting.
Economic Development Minister Grace McCarthy evidently read Ney's book, because she named him as one of three ambassadors for tourism for 1988. The other two are former Olympic ski champion Nancy Greene Raine and Karl Schutz of Chamainus mural fame, equally good choices.
Tourism is one of British Columbia's most important industries. As a direct employment generator, the tourism industry is often criticized for paying only minimum wages, but a minimum wage is still better than none at all.
The fact that revenue generated by tourism represents new dollars to the community, rather than recycled dollars, is an important consideration. Any way you look at it, tourism is important to B.C. and should be considered by every community as a potential source of income.
Like any other product, service or idea, tourism needs to be promoted. In the promotion of tourism, the trick is to tell folks in snow-bound Regina or fog-plagued Los Angeles about Beautiful British Columbia.
Information alone, however, isn't enough to entice people to come to British Columbia and spent their dollars here. What puts the icing on the cake is hype, and boy, does Frank Ney know his hype.
Olympic champions are a definite drawing card. A skier who is torn between Whistler and Squaw Valley for next winter's ski vacation may just choose Whistler because he knows that Nancy Greene Raine operates a hotel there.
As for Schutz, anyone who has seen the murals at Chamainus must admit that whoever started the idea is worth his weight in gold to the community. Word of the little Vancouver Island town that refused to die when the mill shut down has been spread world-wide.
I have talked to tourists from as far away as Germany and Austria who had seen stories and photographs of the murals in Chamainus back home.
So, as I said, Schutz and Greene Raine are obvious choices for the annual tourism ambassador awards, but Ney is even more so. Only Ney could have dreamed up the Nanaimo Vancouver bathtub race, an event which has also generated publicity far beyond the province's borders.
I first ran into Ney some 18 years ago and have been in awe if his promotional abilities ever since. We both used to take our kids skiing on Green Mountain, a small ski area west of Nanaimo, which has since gone out of business.
On evenings, Frank would leave the lodge with as many as 20 or 30 kids to go on a "cougar hunt." There has probably not been a cougar on Green Mountain since Frank was knee-high to a grasshopper, but he would have those kids see dozens of them. Anyone who can fire the imagination of kids, has got to be great at promotion.
One week, we got snowed in and couldn't leave the hill after a weekend of skiing. Like a flash, Frank was on that radio phone to the Nanaimo radio station, talking about the drama, fear and agony of being stranded in a horrible blizzard with food running low.
Actually, we were quite cozy in the lodge and had enough to eat, but it made a damn good yarn, and the publicity would certainly help blow any challenger to his mayoralty job out of the water come the next election.
If you don't know Frank well, you could come to the conclusion that he's a scatter brain. That would be fatal if you're doing business with him. When it comes to business, Frank's got a mind like a steel trap.
Just last week, I saw Frank again. He was riding in the Victoria Day parade, dressed in his customary pirate's uniform, sabre swinging, and yelling his invitation to the crowds to come to Nanaimo for this summer's bathtub race.
You want a tourism promoter? Believe me, with the possible exception of Grace McCarthy herself, you can't find a better one than Frank Ney. Grace must have felt akin to the spirit that drive Ney or she wouldn't have gone for his appointment as tourismambassador.
Before you know it, Ney will have people lining up at the border to see whether everything they've heard about B.C. is really true.
Being a promoter of Nanaimo first and British Columbia second, Ney, I'm sure, will do his best to enhance the bathtub city's chances of getting its hands on some of those tourist dollars. But considering his awesome talent for promotion and hype, there should be enough left over for the rest of us.
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