Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - June 27, 2004, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free press sunday june 27, 2004 a3 developers chosen to build on the waterfront by David Obrien several developers have been selected to build a Range of commercial and residential projects along waterfront drive according to the president of a company that was hired to close the negotiations. Sandy Shindleman of Shin Dico realty said construction along the Scenic water front in the East Exchange District will begin within 12 months. I expect people will be living there next year Shindleman said. Centre venture development corp., the City a downtown development Agency sought development proposals for the waterfront earlier this year. The deadline for receiving the proposals was the end of april and several proponents have since been selected Shindleman said. He declined to identify the proponents or to say How Many there were. He also did to know when an announcement would be made. An official with Cen tre venture could to be reached last night. The original request for proposals included six parcels of land Between Bannatyne and Pacific avenues. Shindleman said his firm was hired following the departure last May of Cen tre venture Sceo Ron Margolis. A replacement has not been hired. We be been involved in the final negotiation of the contracts Between Cen tre venture and the people they be selected he said. Its going to be exciting he said of the new developments. Exciting architecture and exciting places for people to live in the Centre of the most of the proposals involve new construction he said adding they include a significant amount of new housing units. Centre venture a Board members have previously said Winni Eggers would be impressed with the finalists. The people who Are coming Forward these Are big operators with big Money said Board member Jim Burns an executive with Power financial corp. By David Obrien the Manitoba government sent another 20 firefighters to British Columbia yesterday to help Battle Forest fires that Are again ravaging the province. They will join 42 Manitoba firefighters who left Winnipeg on wednesday. Tom Mirus supervisor of the provinces fire program said the fire fighters will be deployed in the Williams Lake Region in Central . Forest fires destroyed hundreds of Homes and forced thousands of evacuations in the Kelowna Region last year. About 350 fires Are burning in the province now Mirus said. There Are no major fires in Manitoba currently thanks in part to the cold wet weather although some 70 Small fires destroyed 404 hectares of land earlier in the year he said. If the situation changed the province still has More than 100 firefighters on standby he said. And Manitoba a firefighters will be Back in two weeks for a break after which they could be sent Back to . Or used locally if the need arises he said. The work is More dangerous in . Because of the mountainous terrain and the bigger Trees said gunner Oneill the Crew chief for the 20 firefighters deployed yesterday. Oneill said some Trees hold Back Boul Ders which can be let Loose during a fire. There a a lot More things to worry about he said. Nevertheless the men sign on to fight fires and they re looking Forward to some action Oneill said. The request for assistance was made to Manitoba through the Canadian inter Agency Forest fire Centre which co ordinates available resources on behalf of individual provinces. Mirus said the . Government will pay All the Bills for the Manitoba fire fighters. The province sent firefighters last fall to help . Crews with severe late sea son blazes. In recent years Manitoba has also sent Crews and aircraft to help fight fires in Oregon Montana and Alberta. pm optimistic despite latest scare in . says inconclusive be test wont interfere with reopening of Border by Andrew Mcintosh and Anne Dawson d despite a preliminary finding of a Case of mad cow in the United states prime minister Paul mar tin said yesterday he was confident that the Border would soon be open to the shipment of Canadian cattle. On Friday the . Department of Agri culture said there May be a second Case of mad cow disease in the . After an inconclusive test on an animal was positive. It will be retested for confirmation. A . Government official said the animal in question did not enter the food Chain and stressed the result of the test did not mean there was another Case of Bovine spongiform encephalopathy or be in that country. Its the first such test result the depart ment has received since june 1, when it started using rapid test kits As part of a new program to test More cattle. The faster test carries a greater risk of false positives. I a very confident that we Are going to get the Border open. Within a reasonable period of time the prime min ister said while campaigning in Brampton ont. But Manitoba cattle producers yesterday predicted that a new Case of be would mean More bad news for the Canadian Industry. Its not Good for us. Its not Good for them. Its not Good for anybody said Interlake cattle rancher David Reykdal a director of the Manitoba cattle producers association. It shows there a More sick cattle around. I have a sneaking suspicion politics is going to play this right Down to the another Interlake cattle producer fed eral conservative candidate James Bezan figures the americans sure wont have time for Canadian cattle now. It could Side track the whole Issue of Border reopening because they be got another Domestic problem to Deal with Bezan said. It May make them do the Turtle and pull within the state level agriculture officials won dered yesterday whether the animal was from their areas. Until conclusive mad cow disease results Are done the . Agriculture department would not identify the Ani Mal the state it came from or the Facil Ity in which it was killed. A Liberal source said yesterday the Good news is the animal probably in to from Canada. If there was any sense it came from Here they would have already said so the source said. The first Case of mad cow disease Dis covered six months ago in the . Was traced to Alberta and it is blamed for delaying resumption of Canadian live cattle Trade. Since an Alberta cow tested positive in May 2003, mad cow disease has Cost the Canadian livestock Industry $3.3 Bil lion ? or $20,000 per cattle farming fam ily. Martin said canadians can expect american political will Power to open the Border. The discussions that agriculture minister Bob speller and i had with the americans and the discussions that i had with George Bush in Georgia is that they Are going Flat out to get the Border open said Martin. They be put an enormous amount of human Power into the file. What they re trying to do is have a situation where once they get it open that there a no danger of yesterday . Government and beef Industry officials were downplaying the find telling Consumers not to worry about the safety of meat As they await conclusive results of tests to determine whether there is in fact a new Case of mad cow disease. Meanwhile Tom Devine Legal director of the government accountability project a private watchdog group maintained yesterday the us a surveillance is systematically flawed and the potential new Case is Only the tip of the ? can West news service with files from staff and Canadian press ;