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Free FRIDAY, November 30, 2012
Volume 7 Issue 21
TMC 20,700
Wolves became too habituated …
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ANNA MCRAE / THE NORTHERN CONNECTOR
Leisure Guide Arrives
KITIMAT - Two wolves are shown near the boat launch at Hospital Beach near Kitimat. The family of wolves had become too accustomed to humans and had to be killed. See Page 2 for the story.
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Province forgives Shames’ debt
By Staff Writer
THE NORTHERN CONNECTOR
TERRACE - The largest financial obstacle to My Mountain Co-op’s purchase of the Shames Mountain ski facility has been removed. The provincial government late last week approved two measures to deal with hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt and interest owed to it by the facility’s current owner, the Shames Mountain Ski Corporation, and by the co-op. The largest amount is debt totaling $429,010.97 plus interest for a tourism development loan taken out by the ski corporation in 1988. A proposal made by Shames Mountain to pay $125,000 for a full settlement of the loan and interest has been accepted by the province.
Shames Mountain must pay the money by Dec. 31, 2012 for the province to forgive $304,010.97 in debt plus interest. A further $130,000 that wasn’t paid by Shames Mountain Ski Corporation in royalties for the use of Shames Mountain itself will be dealt with by a combination of forgiveness and debt restructuring. The province will forgive the interest portion of the royalty debt which is $46,767 and the co-op has agreed to pay the remaining $88,579 spread out over the next 10 years. Royalties paid by ski facility owners to the provincial government amount to two per cent of chairlift revenues each year as a form of rent to use the land on which the facility operates. Shames Mountain and the co-op struck a sales deal last year
in which the co-op took on responsibility for the unpaid royalties. But the overall sales deal could not be completed until the debt owed to the province had been dealt with. The co-op operated the mountain last year under a lease deal with the ski corporation, and was prepared to do the same this season. News of the financial deal came out at the co-op’s Nov. 26 annual general meeting. Provincial forests and natural resources minister Steve Thomson, the minister responsible for Crown land, said the deal enables the co-op to buy the ski hill assets, allowing it to offer a recreational outlet for the region. “We are satisfied they have the ability to make this work.” said Thomson of the co-op. “They lined up corporate spon-
sors and they’re using their own resources and ideas.” He said the province agreeing to forgive interest and write off a portion of the decades-old tourism development loan was the only realistic option it could make given the alternative. “If the purchase agreement didn’t go through, the ski corporation would have gone into bankruptcy. There would be jobs lost and an impact on the community,” said Thomson. The province would have ended up with the ski hill assets in its possession and would have to face any and all costs associated with their disposal, he said. Still, Thomson said forgiving debt and interest should not be taken as a sign that other entities who owe money to the province can expect the same kind of treatment.
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