Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - May 31, 1978, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free press wednesday May More than any other phone company debt costs Telephone system by Mary Ann Fitzgerald the publicly owned Mani Toba Telephone system pays out a greater proportion of its operating revenues in debt charges than any other major Canadian Telephone company Gordon Holland Telephone system chairman and general manager said tuesday. The charges amounting to 23 per cent of total operating revenues Rose to Mil lion in 1977-78. Total reve Nues amounted to Mil lion in that year Holland told the legislature s Public utilities committee where the Telephone system s annual report for 1976-77 is currently under study. The debt charges were million in the previous year he said. Outside the committee Holland said the matter was of concern to the Board. He told reporters private Tele phone companies debt ratios tend to be lower than Public companies because they have to go directly to the Market while govern ment owned companies Are backed by the province. He noted however Alberta and Saskatchewan with publicly owned phone companies have a lower debt than the Manitoba Utility in relation to operating revenues. Questioned by Jim Wald ing nip St hol land said the ratio of debt to the system s total assets which have been paid off is 86 per cent. To drop the debt equity ratio to 70-30 per cent As recommended by the task Force on government organization and the Economy would mean a substantial rate increase he said. The Manitoba Utility would need net revenues of Between million and million a year to drop the ratio by 1.5 per cent a year he said. The system s net income for the year ended March 31, 1978, is expected to be million. It was million in the previous year he said. The Telephone system in t contemplating any general rate increase at present he said. Holland said however he believed the debt ratio once up to per cent could be reduced without any Seri Ous rate increase. The trend is he told report ers. He told the committee that because of the fluctuations in currency Exchange rates foreign borrowings have Cost the Crown Agency about million. The currency fluctuations have impacted on us quite heavily As they have on other agencies it is unpredictable. You can t plan for he said however the finance department which borrows for the Crown corporations has determined its borrowings to the Telephone system s advantage even with currency fluctuations. Holland said the task Force had discussed the matter of foreign borrowings with Tele phone officials but he declined to give his views. As a member of the task Force Holland said he had disqualified himself from legislative briefs Manitoba feels it will be adequately represented by the other nine provinces in a showdown before the supreme court of Canada about which level of government has constitutional authority to make criminal prosecutions attorney general Gerry Mercier said tuesday. Ottawa has asked the country s highest court to overturn an Alberta Appeal court judgment that provincial attorneys general have exclusive right to prosecute All criminal mat ters. The provinces have expressed concern that a judgment in favor of the Federal government would allow it to bypass the provincial attorneys general in prosecuting virtually any criminal matter. Mercier said Manitoba is interested in the outcome of the Case and seriously considered joining the other provinces. But we Felt it the provinces viewpoint would be Well and thoroughly argued. All Points obviously will be thoroughly threshed he said. Because of this and because of the Cost Manitoba decided not to join the other provinces in the courtroom he said. D d d a spokesman for the Manitoba coalition for Parks plan Ning said tuesday a meeting with tourism minister Bob Banman had t allayed his group s fears that a condominium development in White Shell provincial Park would proceed. Yude Henteleff told reporters after the meeting that Banman had been totally non committal on the group s suggestion that instead of confining itself to one development plan the government should study alternatives such As the to Sites located outside the Park which could be developed for cottages. Later questioned in the legislature by Harvey Bostrom Banman said his staff would look at different development Sites. Banman said he had also assured coalition representatives that before a master plan for the White Shell is adopted by the government they will be Able to have some d a d Manitoba data sen ices which has chalked up two successive deficits expects to reach a break even position in the 1978-79 year and to show a profit after that. Manitoba Telephone system Board chairman Gordon Holland said tuesday. Ads set up in 1975, showed a million deficit in the fiscal year ending March 31. The deficit for the previous year was million Holland told the legislature s Public utilities committee. Total revenues for the past year reached s9.1 million up from million in the previous year Holland said. He noted that original development forecasts for data services managed by but financially separated from the Telephone system indicated substantial investments in the business would be required Over the first three years to ensure it was capable of responding to clients needs and Able to provide High Quality service at competitive Industry rates. La la la businessmen must recognize that if the government is to turn to them for increased economic leadership they must. Provide that minister without portfolio Sidney Suivai said tuesday. Speaking to the annual meeting of the Canadian life Assurance association Spivak said that for Many years the business Community has called on government to allow greater Freedom in the conduct of Trade. Such Freedom can Only come with an equivalent Burden of responsibility. If reduced taxes reduced government spending and reduced government regulation do not result m a More vigorous private sector then both the politicians and the Pablic will be led to believe that the Experiment has failed and that the government must resume the function of economic Spivak said businessmen should realize a receptive Busi Ness climate exists not As a matter of right but As a matter of Pobric he said governments must provide for the Yoong. The weak and the As Weiss a climate in which the Strong the creative and the ate can make their Oku Way. In other words governments Are not sow Tsering to private Secor Bee Awse they Beneve in Swiss i weave a break we Are to you to of find a str Reg j new wow became Hope fat pc wifi Benefit Al i any discussions concerning the Telephone system so that there would be no conflict of interest. The task Force recommended the government As sume any loses incurred by Crown corporations due to currency fluctuations As a result of foreign borrow Ings committee members were unsuccessful in getting hol land or consumer affairs ministered Mcgill responsible for the Telephone com Pany to give their views on other task Force recommendations. Mcgill said the recommendations were made to Cabinet and it would be inappropriate for him to comment until Cabinet had made its decisions. Lead poisoning claim denied or. Walter Krywulak an occupational medical Consul Tant with Manitoba s labor department denied tuesday that Lead poisoning is a severe problem in Winnipeg and the province. The problem is not severe at Krywulak said in a Telephone interview. He said surveillance is carried out every two or three months in industries four or five in number in which Lead exposure occurs and some workers Are checked More often. He said about 500 people were Given tests several times last year and 50 or 60 of them had abnormal absorption. Nobody died of Lead poisoning last year nor was a single person Krywulak said. In an earlier interview with the free press published tuesday Victor Rabinovitch former head of the labor department s work place safety and health Divi Sion charged that Winnipeg might be the Lead poisoning capital of Rabinovitch now working for the Canadian labor con Gress education Centre in Ottawa also said there Are More workers in Manitoba with blood Levels of Lead above the Poison threshold than there Are in Britain where a broader Range of industries Are surveyed and the population is More than 60 times As great. Both Krywulak and Mani Toba labor minister Norma Price said however that Rabinovitch is not qualified to make those statements. When questioned in the legislature by Bill Jenkins Price said the gentleman that gave that information to the news Media is really not an expert in Medicine safety Industry or Krywulak said Rabinowitch is not a physician. Medical judgments and medical interpretation of data can Only be done by a qualified phys Ician he said one foundry was found to have excessive Lead Levels in 1975 and another was found last fall but he believed the industries were trying to comply with regulations. We do not have any Spe Cial urgent problem at pres Krywulak said. Price and unions agree on mines committee labor minister Norma Price of Manitoba and representatives of the province s steelworkers Union and mining Industry have moved closer to agreement on the size and function of a committee to look into the cause of accidents and disease in the mining Industry. Price who met with representatives of the steelworkers Union locals of Thomp son and flin flon and of the Manitoba federation of labor tuesday later told reporters a decision had been made to set up a committee of three and it was agreed to put together the terms of refer ence wanted by the government the Industry and the steelworkers into a pack age. We re basically in she said. Nels Thibault president of the labor federation said later we Are much closer and he predicted final approval would be reached within a few Days. The disagreement Over the study promised Over a month ago by Price Cen tred on the size of the committee and the terms of reference. Price said the review will Deal with anything pertaining to mining safety above and below the surface including Lead poisoning. The government has suggested Claude Wright a retired Engineer with an Exten Sive experience in safety codes As the Independent chairman. Labor will Tell the minister if he is acceptable probably sometime next week Thibault said. The mining Industry has named Donald Munn retired president of Inco As the representative of the mining Industry. The steelworkers have promised to name a representative. Originally the steelworkers had asked for a committee of 10 to undertake the study but Price said they agreed to the smaller number after the mining Industry accepted one representative As sufficient. We feel it will be much More organized and effective with three rather than Price said. She said the terms of reference will be outlined As soon As the three member committee is named possibly sometime next week. While a tentative target of nov.30 has been set for the report Price said it was not a firm Date if More time is needed. We Are As concerned As they Are and so is the mining she said. Fire near Snow Lake reported under control overtime claims filed after work done year Manitoba s Northern affairs minister Ken mamas Ter said tuesday four or five Northern Road construction employees Laid off by his department have filed for Over time totalling Between and for work done More than a year ago. The matter was raised in the legislature by opposition Leader de Schreyer. Mac master said the late Ness in filing claims made them extremely difficult to he told Schreyer that where claims could be substantiated they would be paid. We re not trying to Short change he later told reporters. But they re handing us pieces of paper some signed by each he said he found this very questionable and there was a Lack of records to substantiate them. The fact that the claims were filed after the layoffs was another surprising Fea Macmaster said. People still on staff Aren t filing such claims he noted. The minister said the claims Aren t being rejected outright and he is at tempting to take them at their he said he hoped to reach a settlement shortly. The employees were Laid off because of a change in Northern Road construction policy. A major Forest fire near Snow Lake in Northern Manitoba first detected May 20, was under control by sunday and some firefighters and equipment used to fight it now Are being demobilized Northern affairs minister Ken Macmaster told the legislature tuesday. The Cost of suppression of the fire which destroyed something less than acres of Timberland was he said. Macmaster promised a re port to the legislature after the opposition claimed the fire went undetected for four Days because the govern ment had trimmed its Aerial surveillance because of restraint. Again dismissing the opposition claims As unfounded Macmaster confirmed that regular patrols had been flown Over the area even on May 20, the Day the fire was detected by a ground patrol at 5 . While the fire was believed ignited by an electrical storm on May 16, Macmaster said air patrols Over the area May 16 and May and 20 detected no smoke. He said no patrol had been flown May 17 because of Snow in the area Brown bag a Manly gift f Gold Lor Dahl a masculine 20 Diamond solid Len Carat Gold ring for the successful Man Only a rugged Box link ten Carat Gold Chain for the Manly neck Only an Inch Mitchell Opp Iii Ioil the minister said sup pression of the fire had begun shortly after it was detected and water bombing began the following morning at 6 . An additional 125 fire fight ers plus conservation offi cers assisted. Macmaster also said that Northern aviation flight training Centre which was awarded the contract to patrol Block six in which the fire occurred beginning May 15, could t provide a valid operating certificate by the Federal ministry of transport and the contract was Given to air Park Ltd. Of Lac Dubon net beginning june 1. Mean while macalaster said the Manitoba government Aid division provided a Cessna 180 for patrols in the area be ginning May 16. Macmaster later told re porters the original under standing from negotiations with the ministry of trans port was that Northern Avia Tion was cleared to file the patrols but the ministry sub sequently ruled it was t. Auto sales trainees As one of the leading Chrysler dealerships in the Winnipeg area we re offering a sales. Training program that s a second to none to join you must be a growth oriented Man or woman who s interested in not just a sales but a sales career. While in training you la earn per week plus a company car upon completion of our training program. You will graduate to a full commission basis. Most of our salespeople after training earned substantially above average incomes last ideally you will have some sales experience not necessarily in the automotive Field. However the will to succeed and grow with our company is equally important. 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