Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - March 7, 1972, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free press tuesday March 7, 1972 Mill million Over budget Kasser reaction violent by Vern Fowlie free press staff writer a witness told the commis Sion of inquiry into the Chur chill Forest industries Complex monday How he discovered the River sawmills company project was going to be about million Over budget and How this news drove or. Alexander Kasser president of techno pulp the techno pulp a Blue construction contract for the River sawmills company Sawmill called the Large Blue construction was the turnkey contractor for River s Sawmill. River sawmills was one of the four forestry firms placed in receivership Jan. 8, 1971. The others Are Churchill Forest industries Manitoba Ltd., Industrial Mills Ltd with an estimated total Cost of about million compared with the million he under stood it was to Cost. He said he was somewhat shocked or. Kane testified the Origi Nal estimates were about to per Square foot for the build ing while his detailed figures worked out to to a Square foot. He said he understood that inc. Of Montclair Jersey to somewhat verbal violence. And James Bertram and son j fees of million to Blue and testifying before the commis Canada Ltd. J 9 s 0 0 0 0 for techno pulp a Sion Eric Kane a consulting Engineer and former official of Churchill Forest industries Manitoba no pulp a began tracing his involvement in the forestry project. Or. Kane 42, now living in Ontario said he came to Canada from England in 1955 with a mechanical engineering certify he said Blue was to deter j were to come out of the 312 mine the process for the Mill j million and that had t been the equipment to be used and j questioned. Ltd. And tech i the sales aspects. Techno pulp j but commission chairman c. Of Switzerland a was to do. The detailed Engi j Rhodes Smith said the River Neering drawings and put the Blue turnkey contract gave a Blue information into a logical i Price of so million while the whole. Commissioner Leon Mitchell questioned or. Kane about the Sawmill people turning to Tec no pulp a for expertise in ii Cate. His work for various firms and projects. I or. Kane replied that som he told How after a series of Basic assumptions made wer developments he was offered a incorrect. He said he did Job in Chi s Woods division and was to also work on special think River s Parent firm the pack River group in the . Projects under Allan Gall pro Ever i built a Sawmill. He said act manager at the Pas. He. Said he was prepared to work with or. Gall but not for him. Or. Kane said this was accepted and he joined Chi March 15, 1959. He said the Small Chi Sawmill was going up and Road work was progressing then. He said he decided the first Timber cutting Camp would go in at half Way Lake and he designed a portable Camp. He said he Learned the buying of the Camp was handled through techno pulp machinery of Mont Clair. Questioned then on jobs for method was to but an existing Sawmill and Nadifi. It. He said the modifying p Roba Bly Wairt the firm it self he said it could be the company would approach manufacturer and say what was wanted to be done with some of. The manufacturer s equipment and ask How they would do it he said the manufacturer could then come in to do the engineering or sub contracted but. Local people or. Kane said this is a real problem for develop ers. He said one can approach a project in terms of costs o close one s eyes to costs am aim at employment but he joined the two mentioning doing a Job As economically As possible but still doing so for the Good of As Many peo pie As possible. He said one tends to modify an owner s views on economics due to local considerations and pres sures. I he said he and two others involved were vitally concerned with local employment. He said efforts were made to take people1 without Industrial experience and try to incorporate them. In july 1969, he was told to work on Wood handling. This he details of site layout and the like. He said no one Man decided anything that several people were involved and officials were experts at using All resources in making j decisions. Forces bases he said he was to develop a Wood handling system to feed the pulp Mill and Sawmill. He came up with what he said was an unusual but attractive pro posed system of using overhead a mechanical sort ing system. Or. Kane said he was called to Montclair to discuss his re port and it was there be first met or. Kasser. He said his system would have Cost about million and was dropped for Money reasons. Describing or. Kasser he said he was very interesting had a computer Type brain for numbers usually was ahead of others challenged one to come up with one s Best but did t impose his ideas on others. He said he always Felt free to argue with or. Kasser. Or. Kane said if one did t do his Homework or. Kasser could destroy him. He said he left with a great respect for him and was satisfied his report was thoroughly gone Over. He said that while i Mont Clair. Or. Kasser said he would i like or. Kane to work for tech no pulp. This was to be further f he said this was entirely Dif Ferent from starting from scratch but he said that what tech no pulp a did could have been done by any of a dozen North american firms. On the techno pulp Blue con tract he said he opted to work from Madrid Spain where the engineering was being done. He said he checked the information he had on the Sawmill project and tried to do an accounting to see How much he had left to work with. Or. Kane said he came i master finance agreement be tween River and the Manitoba development fund now the Manitoba development Corpora Tion set a loan of up. Million. He also said the 24 per cent turnkey fee of million on the minion contract was by coincidence exactly the amount of equity which River sawmills was to put into the project along with the before Joe thing to the various reactions he was asked if. He Given any rationale Square fee that due to climatic Circum Tances it had been decided to do something not usually done and House the whole thing in a controlled environment. He said he would t argue with this idea provided the Money was also he. Said looking up Back Thelt Plant produce 100 million Isoard feet if lumber year was planned or larger possible production. Or. Kane said in january in Madrid he told Jim Zeigler of his budget findings. Or. Zeigler worked for Arthur Little of. Cambridge Massachusetts which was to Beck invoices for. The fund and which was consultant the fund asked what re action was said he sat Down. He was very much or. Kane said he did t think anyone had done in detail what he had done. Next he told or. Kasser in Montclair of the findings. He said or. Kasser had a substantial he was somewhat verbally he said or. Kasser could t be Ieve it. Or. Kane Csc joust quiet by Ian Porter Canadian press labor writer Ottawa up _ labor and government leaders had their annual Public meeting monday but were so far separated on the matter of style they never did debate issues of substance. Traditionally when the Cana Dian labor Congress presents its annual Brief to the Cabinet a certain testing of views Fol activist9 Grants under scrutiny by Richard Jackson Back to the commons on his twisted and gnarled this contorted tree pro Vides an unusual landmark at the farm Home of Tom and Roland Savage on tiny West Ham Island near the Mouth of the Fraser River about 10 Miles South of Vancouver. The Savage Brothers seen studying the tree believe it is a weeping Elm grafted to the trunk of a Maple tree. Jobs top topic i Legislatures lows. Last year for example the Exchange developed into an open and angry argument be tween prime minister Trudeau and Csc president Donald Macdonald Over the Economy and use of the War measures act in the Quebec crisis of october 1970. Or. Macdonald was on the offensive again this year with some harsh criticism of com ments by the prime minister about the problems of unemployed people. He frankly admitted he was looking for a Good Tough sex but this time he did t get it. Or. Trudeau had Little to say about the issues raised by the Csc Brief. He was More concerned about the Way in which it was 50-minute introductory statement by or. Macdonald which left Only 40 minutes for comments from 14 Cabinet ministers assembled for the meeting. We really should find some Way to use our time the prime minister said noting that All. Ministers had read the Brief in Advance. For the most part the ministers confined themselves to general and conciliatory responses to the various sections of the Brief. Or. Trudeau then thanked the labor leaders for having pre Alexander pm or. Alexander Ottawa special the Federal government in t going to use the taxpayers Money to finance radicalism and a acting manpower min ister Martin o Connell has assured the commons. He gave this undertaking monday in the House to Lincoln Hamilton was asking How Federal local Initia Tives program Grant had been Given Rod Stewart a 24-year old High school drop out to pro Duce communist plays in Hamilton which he had de scribed As propaganda directed to the destruction of the so Cial or o Connell forewarned of the question replied that the Issue had been raised earlier in the Day by health minister John Munro Liberal member Tor Hamilton East. Recently or. Munro had Cut off a departmental Grant to a Hamilton activist welfare group on grounds that it was More concerned with social disruption than helping the. Poor. Now this second Hamilton group headed by or. Stewart is paying 17 people each to help stage two plays by the German communist author be Holt Brecht. Findings. Recently Ralph Stewart l Cochrane publicly has complained that certain Federal departments. He singled out the Secretary of state s As being loaded with kooks and communists have been using tax payers Money to finance Revo. Littion and the destruction of our democratic system of gov so far the government has Given or. Stewart no Public recognition of his protests unless or. O connects reassurances to or. Alexander could be considered an oblique reply to the charge that the administration itself is encouraging dissent with As the the Cochrane Liberal my called it. By Stephen r. Hyde free press staff writer last year s closing of armed in Rivers and j. Besson said cd said or. Kasser was angry that no one had caught it before that and said or. Kasser tried to shoot Down his estimates but could then a meeting with River sawmills and Blue construction officials was held in Montclair we certainly Don to intend to move anybody out or. Benson assured 3 press conference at the Winnipeg inn following an afternoon tour of Canadian forces base Winnipeg. _ the a minister said he was very impressed by what he saw at. The base but admitted a fair amount of work must be done to renovate the installation. Some of the buildings Are a bit out vhf Date i under stand Fiat some go Back to the second world he said. So they la have to be replaced by More mod Ern he explained that his visit to Winnipeg was part of a Cross a country tour of training com Mand bases to familiarize him self with All aspects of the de Fence department. By the Canadian press Lack of jobs looms Large As a subject in Canadian Legislatures sitting and pending with opposition leaders whetting their Blades for knifing into what they Call provincial government the estimates with Little Success he said. --.mr. Skarie said that while there no official decision from then on no one was pre pared to approve or do any thing without his Okay. He said or. Zeigler would t approve anything More without checking with or. Kane.-. He then told of his numerous attempts at cutting Back costs to keep Vrishin the absolute limit of million. Among other things he said the planned production lines were Cut Back to three from seven and the drying kilns were Ait Back to four from or. Kane said that lateral meeting in Palm Springs with or. Kasser and River sawmills and Blue construction., officials v be Able to enough and or. Kasser tree Back asked or be inaction on unemployment. Nationally the Federal government got its lumps monday from the Canadian labor Congress which told the Ottawa Cabinet 1971 was a disaster year so far As employment was concerned. And Liberal opposition Leader Robert Higgins at Frederic ton has already indicated he will question the new Bruns Wick progressive conservative government on its plans to help the jobless particularly along the hard pressed North Shore where dominant pulp and min ing companies have Laid off workers in recent months. The new Brunswick and que Bec week and Quebec also has a bad Job situation to its islands Over shadowing the pm May be language the question which More than any other driving Force behind financial Nightmare by announcing costly programs be fore the election and then Call ing for fiscal prudence and restraint in the throne speech. Also was a subject in the Saskatchewan House where a govern m e n t subsidization program providing summer unemployed Young aimed at work for people and some students Simi Lar to a program used last year was announced. Labor minister Gordon Snyder said the nip govern ment plan to be called the provincial employment program will pay 50 per cent of an employee s wage to a maximum of a month for four months. Initially Mil. Lion has been designated for the fund. An employer in order to qualify for the subsidy must prove he will be creating a new position and not be displacing another worker. Socialist Point of View on unemployment and other matters was also heard in the Alberta House for the first time in five years when Grant Motley nip spirit River Fairview said there was Noth seated their views invited them to continue regular private meetings with Cabinet members and withdrew from the crammed commons committee room. There was no joust no. Repar tee no showdown. Or. Macdonald was disappointed. I Don t feel there was an adequate response to our repro he told reporters. They did t Deal with the or. Stewart who conceived the idea and sold it to the Man Power department As a. Worth while local initiatives pro Gram has been quoted As say ing the thrust of the plays the Way his group will be present ing them is to tear Down the social system ridiculing gov-1 Ern ment labor business the work ethic and other components of the democratic establishment. Or. O Connell said Only the first of four payments had been made to the group from the the manpower Grant to the Toronto group accused by Wal lace Nesbitt pc Oxford of being satan was again raised with or. O con Nell. Last week acting prime min ister Mitchell Sharp had reported the Grant had been endorsed by such people As the Bank of Montreal the Ontario health department and the Toronto Doc tors Hospital among others. Or. Nesbitt. Wants the letters of end oration tabled especially since some of the alleged sponsors particularly the Bank of Montreal and the on Tario health department have denied underwriting the project. The letters which or. O con Nell concedes Are not Allen will be tabled later in the commons. some that or. Observers suggested Trudeau had subtly but deliberately snubbed or. Macdonald possibly in Retalia Tion for the Strong personal at tack contained in the Brief. But spokesmen for the prime minister pointed out that the government earlier had asked or. Macdonald to consider a change in the format of the an Nual presentation. A 10-minute introductory statement would Lave left plenty of time for a dialogue one aide noted. Similar suggestions have been made to or. Macdonald by his own advisers in the past but his Standard response has been that government leaders have All of the rest of the year to de fend themselves. While he would accept a change in the format or. Mac Donald said monday this is the format we be had since these things began at the turn of the Grant arid that would be. All until the project had been thoroughly checked it had passed initial depart mental inspection but these local initiative programs now were getting second and third examinations. And if the plays Are what or. Stewart says they Are promised or. O Connell the group would get no More Money. The government has no in he said of helping to finance that kind of radicalism by activists he has promised to report water flow Niagara Falls the water flow of Niagara Falls soviet sub adrift Washington Reuter a soviet nuclear missile submarine remains adrift in rough seas in the North Atlantic and none of the 10 soviet ships in the area have attempted to take it in Tow in the last two Days the United states Navy said monday. Weather in the area about 800 Miles East Northeast of Newfoundland remains severe with 38-knot winds and 28-foot seas the Navy said. A helicopter operating from a soviet Cruiser was seen trans Ferring materials to the submarine during the weekend and is making daily overflights. A . Coast guard Cutter is Given another Job or to he altogether. Or. Benson was shifted to feel defence portfolio from the Posi-1 said he was Senitta Jelly to Uon of finance minister on Jan j Vancouver on another aspect of the forestry Complex and Ihetu that a number of discussed in the fall of 969jcaoini when or. Kasser would be at the Pas. Cabinet changes were an i saw Fol be said Fly still was operating that the shuffle does not Neces up sight working the Wood handling indicate that an election in the background. He said he uie Wuhu Nananne. J f he said it was decided to have i the Timber Cut to lengths in the j t Woods and Large Fork lifts were to handle unloading in the Pas. The six Fork lifts would Cost less than is million he said. But he said he thought they would be called this stopping i d accomplished of things , in. The without his Content. Some. Political observers be Lieve satisfactory Resolution of the language Issue could go far to halt the tendency toward be j Parat ism. The Issue has existed since Premier Robert Bourassa pro-1 mixed in thej070 election Campaign that a Liberal govern ment would make French the province s working language. J in other Legislatures j Ontario govern ment was hit hard by retiring opposition Leader Robert Nixon j ing in the throne speech for the i averages about tons a in the area but its offers of As Liard pressed cities and Little minute. Average drop of the the unemployed. 1 Falls is about 167 meet. Distance have not been de. Miner 59 offer expires mar. 8 at participating Winnipeg drive ins and Coffee shop appropriate for me to leave. I were being Kane said Harold Cher appearing As the j in a speech be called his last j Fyffe said funds i j he said the progressive con j Serva Tive government still be i asked to be moved and at the j Noff to supervise Dev j Heves maybe rightly that pub j same time former Energy. the Mil at the j lie funds can be used to bribe j mines and resources minister i Pas was t being told i the electorate. It had created a Tkavc Uriu Iascu i i Joe Greene asked to leave the Cabinet because of his health. They were of two major portfolios ble coming vacant it was necessary j Chernoff testified before a five per cent saving in Thunder Bay ont. Instead of being bought As they were in Winnipeg. However he said been done. Or. Kane said that after the to change the Cabinet. But i. Ulc commission of inquiry in warning for an Early was having regarding the the minister foresaw no said on May up search now available in Manitoba twin Seal 15, Montclair meeting he was one he returned to the although said slices of his time being taken up Witt problems besides Woods work. He said be was involved i All but the paper machine manufacturing Plant. He said there was no he Jiniv a torment it just happened said he had onto himself. Or. Said or. Kasher was the prime unifying motive Force. He said he the of test Jon with or. Kasser again at the a so. Us said he with or. Kasser and or. Oscar a Mica a ;