| YOUR COMMUNITY | NEWSPAPER SINCE 1969 (OIE OF Woe” Octeder 5, 1986 News 985-2131 Classified 986-6222 Pata ahd a COLIVER WY principal dilemma:10 ANDO WEST VAN FIRE PREVENTION Week is observed throughout North America the week of October 5 (o 11, To show the community's gratitude to the North Shore's three local fire departments, the North Shore News and local businesses have dedicated a special feature in this issue of the News. Please see page 24. Distribution 986-1337 64 pages 25¢ Union boss says Bel-Aire should have been saved THE ASSETS OF Bel-Aire Shipyard Ltd. have been sold to auctioneers despite tvvo preposals to set up manufacturing operations in the banksupi shipbuilding yard. Coopers & Lyisana Jtd., in- terim receiver for former Bel-Aire owners Pinecorp Research Cor- poration, sold the shipyard’s assets to Joiner Auctioneers Monday night (Sept. 29) for a guaranteed return of about $400,000. “It’s bad news,’’ Marine Workers and Boilermakers In- dustrial Uinion (MWBIU) president John Fitzpatrick said Thursday. “It’s down the tubes now. Here the government is promising jobs, jobs, jobs and then there is this decision. Our position is that if there were entrepreneurs willing to go into the yard and put the men back to work they should have been given a chance.” Maurice Gagne, president of In-Depth Holdings Ltd., said his By TIMOTHY RENSHAW Ne Reporter company had offered Coopers & Lybrand a cash offer of $200,000 for Bel-Aive assets and $1 million over five years. His company, he said, had plans to build pocket cruise ships at Bel-Aire and sell them to the West Coast cruise ship industry. He said market studies con- ducted for his company had in- dicated good demand for the 250 to 300-foot cruisers, which he said would carry passengers to such coastal destinations as Port Hardy and Bella Bella. Bel-Aire was selected by In- Depth because of the yard’s exper- tise in building ships in the 300- foot size range, Gagne said. Had {n-Depth’s proposal been accepted, Gagne said the yard would have opened right away and 20 workers hired immediately. He estimated the cruise ship operation would have employed 160 people within the first nine months of operation. The second proposal for the Bel-Aire yard came from Super Marine Equipment Ltd. The company’s owner Charley Myklebust said Super Marine planned to build floating docks, barges and fish pens for the blossoming West Coast fish farm- ing industry. With 120 fish farms registered in B.C. and 560 applications to operate additional farms, the in- dustry, according to Mykiebust “will be one of the biggest on the coast.”” He said the operation would have generated 30 union jobs im- mediately. Myklebust offered Coopers & Lybrand a reporicd $100,000 to take over Bel-Aire assets. Martin Hyatt of Coopers & Lybrand said Friday he could not comment on the Bel-Aire situation. MWBIU vice-president Bill Scott said the union used a $20,000 grant from the Department of Regional Industrial Expansion (DRIE) 10 study the feasibility of refloating the bankrupt shipyard. With the current slump in world shipbuilding, he said, results of the study were gloomy. Scott said the MWBIU will now seek compensation for displaced Bel-Aire workers from the federal government. Locks were placed on Bel-Aire gates at the end of January, three months after the shipyard’s ac- quisition by Pinecorp. As a result, 150 Bel-Aire employees, some who had worked with the 25-year-old yard for over 20 years, were thrown out of work. Revenue Canada lost an estimated $2.4 million that had been set aside in the Bel-Aire bank account te pay federal sales tax on parts and equipment bought for construction of the John P. Tulley, a research vessel built by Bel-Aire prior to its takeover by Pinecorp. But Scott said the displaced employees are the big losers in Bel-Aire’s collapse because they watched their livelihoods sink with the yard. “They got nothing, absolutely nothing. Pinecorp is to blame for Rel-Aire being put down, but the federal government is as much to blame for allowing the SRTC (Scientific Research Tax Credit) program to be so mismanaged."" Fitzpatrick said money from Bel-Aire assets should be put toward retraining the yard’s former employees. “Taking the plunge ‘TIMMY LAIDLER and mom Debbie take _the plunge during a Teddy Bear Swim at West Vancouver Aquatic Centre. Parents and tots play supervised games in the shallow, warm pool every Tuesday evening. Later Laurel Burrows entertains the pajama- clad children with her guitar and stories, free- ing parents to relax with a swim, whirlpool and sauna. Both Tim- my and Debbie seem to be enjoying the big splash.