Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 14, 1990, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free press january Page 7 the Manf or project Recap Deal makes a mockery of the concept of sustainable development by Harvey Williams special to the free press the publication Agenda for sustainable development in Manitoba proclaims the Manitoba governments commit ment to sound sustainable develop ment continuing economic growth that is environmentally the Sale of Manfor to Recap enterprises a Multi National pulp and paper conglomerate based in makes a mockery of Manitoba sustainable development the As disclosed peekaboo fashion in Public statements by government officials and Recap Tell the real the concluded in secrecy and was made with Little thought for its economic Merit or social let alone its Environ mental recaps in a is to upgrade and expand its operation in two phase to Cost will modernize and expand the former Manfor Plant at the increasing production by 38 per from 363 to 500 tonnes of Wood pulp per raw material this phase includes the conver Sion of the Manfor Plant from soft Wood As raw to phase to Cost will see the construction of a new bleached softwood Kraft pulp also at the with a capacity of tonnes of Wood pulp per the two Mills together will prod uce tonnes of pulp per Day an amount 368 per cent greater than Manors present daily production and will consume a staggering cubic metres of Wood an Recap has the capacity to turn most of Manitoba Trees into and its landscape into Bald Rock far from being environmentally the Recap expansion is environmentally destructive some say the worst in Manitoba since the Churchill forestry industries scam an example of seventies Mega project thinking out of the incentive package used to sweeten the Deal suggests Recap is neither As competitive nor As economically viable As it claims to cutting rights the package includes Timber management and cutting rights to 20 per cent of Manitoba land and million in assistance of various kinds calculated As Fol lows d recaps Cash outlay sticker Price of Manfor Recap preferred shares in lieu of Cash shares Worth million to be sold Back to Recap for million if phase ii goes actual Cash outlay by Recap a minus b d incentives to Recap Manfor Cash on hand loan guarantees Recap to pay per year for tax credits from prior Man for losses training Grant 000 Highway construction commitments estimates Range up to total incentive package net incentives to Recap total incentives Cash equal a Manitoba based had planned construction of a wafer Board Plant at Swan River that would have created 400 new the terms of the Recap agreement gives that company exclusive Timber rights preempting the Penn co to compensate Swan Recap promised construction of a Wood Chip Plant there that would create 250 it appears now that Recap for economic reasons has abandoned its plan to construct a Wood Chip Plant at Swan River leaving that Community out in the without the Wood Chip recaps phase ii will create Only 150 All of them in the two projects following is a comparison of the two projects on the basis of Job creation present employment by Recap new permanent jobs created by Recap phase ii total Recap phases i and ii present employment by Recap jobs that would have been created by Penn co in Swan River total of Recap phase i and Penn co jobs the province Hopes in future to recoup its investment in Recap through dividends on the preferred shares in the company and not to have to make Good on the loan two firms have rights to almost All our Timber Given the highly financially leveraged state of the adventurous personality of its Princi pal stockholder and decision George and the cyclical nature of the pulp and paper things May not turn out As the Market for Wood pulp is presently in a slump and massive pulp Mill developments that could swamp the Wood pulp Market Are under Way All across by putting so Many of its eggs in the Recap the province May have made a major economic Blun not Only Are the financial arrangements of this ill considered project far out of balance weighted heavily in favor of Recap against the Public interest but so Are its social and environmental this indifference to issues of great importance to almost everyone but Recap will exact a heavy future Price from the Manitoba landscape and from its native at Issue Are the following the size of the Recap Forest management licence area one single company Recap will have sole Timber management and cutting rights to 20 per cent of the provinces land mass and 75 per cent of its productive Forest the combined Recap and Abi Tibi Price forestry licences Square Kilometres to Abi Tibi commit virtually All of Manitoba productive boreal Forest to Forest land the Lack of a plan for sustain Able forestry for the province this massive and Lon term contractual commitment of Forest land was concluded prior to the development of a sustainable forestry plan for the All other options for Forest use preserve tourism or even smaller scale resource Harvest such As that pro posed by Penn co have been fore the environmental Impact assessment which is to precede recaps construction covers Only a five year the Recap forestry licence covers 20 As according to the con if environmental or other problems resulting from recaps operation become apparent after construction of phase the Only Way the province can reduce recaps Wood quota is to Purchase the Plant As a going at a Cost which could exceed one billion Harvest resources d effects on native people native and Metis people in 11 communities Harvest Forest resources in the Recap cutting area to sur the native and Metis people will be forced to share their land base with a Large multinational corporation which so far has made no provision for who will protect their interests this Lack of planning and Consul tation is potentially destabilizing and disastrous to these native com outstanding native land claims and land commitments have not been Access by logging roads will result in Competition for wildlife with nonnative Clear cutting will adversely affect trapping and disrupting the native Way of life and increasing their dependence on d preservation of natural and culturally significant areas virtually the entire Manitoba a natural Region not yet represented in the Parks lies within the Recap Little of this zone has been examined for rare and endangered critical wildlife habitat or areas of cultural or natural extensive Cave sys tems in both Limestone and Gypsum As yet not fully underlie much of the Manitoba lowlands the caves contain Bat Hiber Macula the More fragile Gypsum caves Are thought to be important Denning areas for Black d increased pressure for logging in Parks both inside and outside the Recap cutting area under terms of its Recap has logging rights in two of Manitoba major Clearwater and grass Low Protection with so much productive Forest land in the hands of Recap and other logging enter Prises will have nowhere to go but to the provincial Manito Bas provincial Parks have the lowest level of Protection of any provincial Parks in unless something is recaps activities could jeopardize All Manitoba d effects on wildlife what Little is known about the effects of Clear cutting of boreal Forest on species such As the Woodland Caribou and the Moose is not the Woodland Caribou Are particularly in need of fees and payments for Timber cutting Recap pays Manitoba stumpage of 65 cents per cubic metre for softwood compared to Ontario which gets and British for their even when the per cubic metre Forest renewal payment for softwood is added to the Manitoba is Selling its Wood considerably cheaper than the other two Only Alberta Sells More free of charge the province will provide seed Lings for replanting free of if the Forest renewal fund is insufficient for the prov not the company must pick up the d discharge of toxic wastes con version from Kraft pulp to bleached accompanied by a fourfold increase in pulp will greatly increase discharge of pollutants including dioxins and furans into the Saskatchewan in the Sale of Manfor to development has taken precedence Over Why would the above issues still be waiting to be addressed Adam chairman of As quoted in the Globe and captured the spirit of environmental Protection in Alber upon being turned Down for a proposed pulp Mill in Zimmerman observed that environmental requirements Are wild in while Alberta kisses them pulp Mills on both Cheeks and gives them and it does Manito Harvey Williams teaches in the faculty of University of he is director of the Prairie Region of the Canadian Parks and wilderness new year sees same old session still dragging on this May be a new year and a new but for the provincial Politi it is still the same old Legisla Tive the governments Hope to Complete the process and return to a Normal schedule when a session begins Early in the year and ends by summer has there Are times when it seems Only Luck will ensure the 198990 spending estimates Are passed before March the end of the fiscal As of the session which began last May reached its 102nd sitting optimists Are talking about late february when the cur rent exercise May be pessimists talk about the end would come sooner if figures in a recent Prairie research associates poll which indicated nip support had risen by eight Points to 30 per cent of decided voters Are repeated and new democrats become More confident about regaining former they might also get sufficiently frustrated with tory policies to join the liberals on a vote of non conf under the dome Arlene Billinkoff Dence on the Bill authorizing govern ment that is not Likely to but even if it there would be no immediate financial problem be cause the Las have already approved of sufficient funds to keep the province operating for several More the latest use of the interim Supply mechanism occurred in late when they considered a Bill which provided spending author Ity of 95 per cent of the total requirement for this fiscal when finance minister Clayton manness introduced the he noted the amount and percentage set a new record and not necessarily one in which the politicians should take according to the it had been necessitated by opposition stalling which prevented completion of nor Mal House business within the appropriate therefore manness urged cooperation and expeditious consideration in order to ensure Pas Sage before the the Bill was but Liber als and new democrats refused to assume responsibility for its exis tence and resented that it had been introduced so late that debate would be it was a direct result of the governments inability to handle House charged Liberal House Leader Reg when tories said such comments were out of order and had nothing to do with the Alcock maintained the timeliness of How things came before the House was very much an Issue in this had there been appropriate management of the affairs of this the Bill would have been he accusing the opposition of delaying Progress was totally he the combination of government incompetence and ministerial filibustering had created the while his party would pass this Alcock warned the government there would be extensive debate and criticism on other items because the province was in we Are losing ground every Day As a result of tory he we Are going to be sitting Here for a very Long equally unimpressed by the governments nip House Leader Steve Ashton insisted despite tory efforts to hide their True conservative ideology in the Back room because of their minority they Are not even doing a Good Job at it was nothing More than a tactic driven by the need for political Nev while new democrats were finding it increasingly difficult As the government became More unlike would try to make the minority situation work for the How Ever it would take in january and in february and whatever months we have to sit his party would attempt to bring this government to its the tories can change their Agen acknowledge the error of their ways and listen to the Ashton but based on performance to he doubted that would he believed that if 1989 was not a Good year for the it would be even worse in 1990 and they would be the big but they cannot be big losers unless there is an if what or who will prompt the election will new democrats join the liberals or will the tories take that step voluntarily an Exchange Between Gary Filmon and Ashton last week left the Issue up in the after the critic questioned the governments failure to keep promises in regard to health the Premier we will keep All of our Campaign commitments within the time Frame of a Normal fou year govern ment All we need is the support of opposition parties to ensure that we have the time to accomplish All of those when Ashton i Hope that the Premier is not counting on either a full four years or even 51 weeks at the Way this government is liberals asked whether new democrats would Ever have the courage to Stop supporting the he reacted by challenging them to vote with his party on a contentious labor Issue the governments attempt to kill the Dps final offer selection Legisla considering the Liberal internal problems with that it was a stalemate which is exactly what the tories for the they do not seem anxious for an but that View May change within especially because of actions in despite the pre Miers reference to a fou year Manitoban could Well be marking ballots in late Spring or Early if that there May not to be another session in the current legis perhaps that is Why the politicians Are trying to stretch out the current one As Long As ;