August 11, 1991 Classifieds 986-3222 Office, Editorial 985-2131 NEWS photo Stuart Davis PHILIPPINE-BORN musicians Choy Vicera and (in background) Buddy Supat make up the Golden Twin Guitars. The duo have played together for over four years and performed last Sunday in Horseshoe Bay. Display Advertising 980-0511 Carol Crenna on fall fashion trends Fashion: li Distribution 986-1337 40 pages NV mayors seek action tO Seve ailing shipbuilding industry NORTH VANCOUVER-based Versatile Pacific Shipyards Inc. (VPSI) is expected tc know on Monday if its many creditors will allow it to stay afleat or sink in bankrupt seas. Meanwhile, the two North Van- couver mayors have written to Prime Minister Brian Mulroney urging him to take whatever ac- tien necessary to save the ailing West Coast shipbuilding industry. In March, VPS! was granted B.C. Suprem2 Court protection under the Company Creditors Ar- rangement Act ta allow it to restructure its finances in a bid to stave off bankruptcy, On July tS VPS! filed a restructured business plan with the court. The pian asks for federal government approval to sell its $60-million floating Panamax dry dock to an unnamed Asian buyer for $14.8 million, Another option is to have Ottawa purchase the dry doct. far $7.5 million. By Surj Rattan News Reporter North Vancouver District Mayor Murray Dykeman and North Vanceuver City Mayor Jack Louck. have sent a letter to Mulroney ueging him to not only keep the dry dock in the Port of Vancouver but to also take measurt: to protect the area's shipbuiiding industry. “*The (VPSI restructured business plan), which includes the sale and removal cf the 36,000 tonne dry dock from the West Coast, is not an acceptable resolu- tion,’’ wrote the two mayors. “We are very concerned regarding the disposition of the dry dock 44 Everyone is using their influence on keeping the «dry dock in the Port of Vancouver. 99 — Tom Ward, Vancouver Shipyards co. general manager VPSI's_ creditors save been reviewing the business plan. They will meet with VPSI on Monday at the Centennial Theatre in North Vancouver to tell the idled North Vancouver shipyard if the business plan is acceptable. If it is not, VPSI will likely be forced to file for bankruptcy. VPSI had asked the federal government to inform the com- pany by last Friday on whether or not it would be allowed to sel! the dry dock, the profits of which would help pay out creditors. Ottawa orginally invested over $28 million in the dock. Tom Ward, general manager of North Vancouver-based Van- couver Shipyards Co., said Friday that a task force has been cstab- lished in an attempt to convince the federal government to keep the floating dry dock in the Port of Vancouver. The task force in- cludes Ward and Marine Workers and Boilermakers Industrial Union president George MacPherson as co-chairmen. “The federal government — is working, very hard on this. The dry dock issue is getting a high priority. Everyone is using their influence on keeping the dry dock in the Port of Vancouver,” said Ward. botit as an employment base for our communities and as a service to the Canadian and U.S. coastal fleets and the international mari- time and cruise line industries.”* Dykeman and Loucks have urg- ed Mulroney and his government to: *take the necessary steps to acquire the dry dock, infrastruc- ture and service structures to allow the facility to remain intact: ¢ make the dry dock available on a long-term lease basis to a viable commercial operator ar consortium; * provide funding for an inten- sive promotion of the dry dock to the international maritime mar- kets. The two mayors added that the City of North Vancouver is prepared to consider any rezoning changes that might be needed to keep the dry dock in its present location. “Given the millions of dollars of assistance provided in) other areas of Canada in an attempt to rationalize the national ship- building industry, we believe that it is only fair that we receive the full support of your government in dealing with this vital issue,’ wrote the mayors.