S TANDARD TERRACE
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VOL. 25 NO. 30
www.terracestandard.com
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Sawmill open for business A full crew of Terrace workers showed up for shift Monday as Skeena Sawmills swung into full operation. The sawmill, which prior to this summer hadn’t cut a log since 2007, now employs 50 local workers and is expected to hire more according to mill officials. After a lumber-making test period this summer, the sawmill has secured enough buyers for its lumber to operate from 7 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. “That means employment for the people in Terrace first and foremost,” said Gian Sandhu, spokesman for Roc Holdings Ltd., the company which owns the mill. “And it means that there’s going to be some wood produced and we’re going to look forward to better economic conditions for everyone in the town.” The mill will be making specialty sized lumberproducts and has secured customers in China, Alberta and the eastern Canadian market, explained Sandhu.
“Our intent is to push the button on Monday morning and then keep going,” he said last week. While keeping going in lumber and logging is never a sure bet as it’s a commodity, economic conditions for sales look good right now said Sandhu adding one hitch the company currently faces is finding the log supply to make more lumber. The company has three cutting licences in the area — TFL 41, which is a tree farm, and two forest licences, one of which is in the Nass. The three amount to an allowable cut of 317,000 cubic metres per year. Whether or not a second shift will start up is dependent on log supply, said Sandhu. “We’re working on different relationships with stakeholders who own logs in the area. If we’re able to tie log supply for the second shift we’ll put that on,” he said.
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Lauren Benn PHOTO
Skeena Sawmill’s Andrew Nichols, maintenance superintendent, and office administration assistant Deana Campbell stand before stacks of newly-made lumber at the mill’s site in Terrace on Hwy16.
College suspends mechanics program NORTHWEST COMMUNITY College has suspended its heavy duty mechanics program, citing low demand and old equipment as the prime reasons. Senior college official Beverley Moore-Garcia said applications and registrations dropped as people realized the kind of equipment they would train on was outdated compared to industry standards. “It was really intertwined,” she said of how one circumstance affected the other as word spread about the state of the college’s equipment. “We knew we were reaching a point where we could not be providing the desired learning outcomes on what we could offer.” Moore-Garcia said the college turned out one last apprentice
group in the spring after which it decided not to offer an introductory class, called a foundations class, this fall. The foundations program could take up to 16 students and cost approximately $91,000 which was provided by the Industry Training Authority, a provincial agency aimed at generating skilled trade employees. The decision comes at a time when the college has been recasting itself as a trades and training centre for the region in anticipation of the need for skilled trades employees on billions of dollars of large industrial projects either underway or planned. Just this fall, college officials began lobbying local government officials for support in seeking $45
million for a fully-equipped new trades building at its Terrace campus. Moore-Garcia said the foundations class instructor also retired this year and efforts are underway to find a replacement. The college also applied for a portion of the $17 million the provincial government said it was providing this fall to improve trades training based on a review of programs across the province. Moore-Garcia wouldn’t reveal how much money the college wants other than to say it is substantial and is needed for replacement equipment and equipment it has never had before. “We had a consultant from the [advanced education] ministry come up and look at our facilities,”
she said. “That review hasn’t been completed.” There’s no word as to when the province will announce how much money the college will get but Premier Christy Clark, while in Prince George in September, said $5 million of the $17 million will be sent to northern colleges and that the College of New Caledonia in Prince George can expect a “good portion” of that northern $5 million. Moore-Garcia said the decision to suspend was difficult but was the only one that could be made. “It needed to be addressed and that’s a statement of fact. Budgets are tight through every ministry,” she said. The decision also worked against the college’s philosophi-
cal foundation that people who are trained in the north will stay in the north, she added. The college was fortunate enough to be able to keep the $91,000 it received from the Industry Training Authority for the nowsuspended heavy duty mechanics program and spent it in other trades areas. It also received $839,000 from the province in the spring to spend on trades training and will be using that money on a program intended to introduce trades to high school students. The idea is to expose students to various trades in Grades 10 and 11 so they’ll have a better idea of what’s involved should they wish to pursue one specific trade, said Moore-Garcia.
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Keep it up
Local music teacher honoured as educator of the year \COMMUNITY A23
Alleged drug trafficker denied bail after two-day hearing \NEWS A20
The Skeena Jr. B Girls volleyball team does it again in Prince George \SPORTS A33