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FIFTY unemployed Bel-Aire Shipyard workers waited in the snow and ice at the gates of the bankrupt company Monday for the promised reopening of the shipyard.

But the gates remained closed and the shipyard’s ownership fail- ed to make a scheduled ap- pearance.

A Bel-Aire security guard told the assembled workers that Paul Pigeon, corporate secretary of the Pinecorp Group of companies, had phoned to say he would be arriving at 9 a.m. and that the North Van- couver shipyard would be back in business.

Coopers and Lybrand Ltd. was appointed Feb. 14 as interim receiver for Bel-Aire, the Pinecorp Energy Research Corporation and the Pinecorp Research Corpora- tion.

According to a Pinecorp press release, the receiver wil! supervise the ‘‘management and affairs of the company while it works out any financial difficulties."’

The seizure of Pinecorp assets from the corporation’s unfinished $20 million Lonsdale Quay research centre was begun by Rev- enue Canada Feb. 6 and expanded to include Pinecorp’s corporate offices at 999 West Hastings Feb. 10.

$20 MILLION

Revenue Canada is seeking close to $20 million in taxes.

Stories in the News in Jate 1985 and early 1986 charted Pinecorp’s real estate acquisitions using $18 million raised through the sale of Scientific Research Tax Credits.

The company received the cred- its because of a proposed project to turn forest waste into foodstuffs and cosmetics. ;

But the Pinecorp group of com- panies has become mired in debts estimated at $37.4 million.

Monies owed by Pinecorp Energy Research Corp are estimated to be $15 million; Pinecorp Research meanwhile is $19 million in debt; and Bel-Aire Shipyard Ltd., which was pur- chased by Pinecorp in Sept. 85 and closed down at the end of Jan. 1986, has a $3.4 million debt load.

In addition to the lawsuit filed against it by the owners of North Vancouver's Harvest Eating House, also purchased by the cor- poration in Sept. 1985, Pinecorp faces a $2.8 million lawsuit from Burnaby's Gama Construction

By TIMOTHY RENSHAW

News Reporter

Ltd., the sub-contractor on the Pinecorp research building.

Standing outside the locked Bel-Aire gates awaiting the arrival of Pigeon, president of the Marine Workers and Boilermakers {n- dustrial Union (MWBIU) John Fitz- patrick said, ‘Pigeon promised he'd be here and that the yard would be back in business today. But what kind of work there'd be for the men is the $64,000 question.”’

UNION FEARS

Fitzpatrick said Jater he doubted if Bel-Aire could survive under Pinecorp management with all the problems surrounding that cor- poration’s dealings, ‘‘And if Pinecorp can’t run this yard and no reputable shipyard management can be found to take it over, we would be willing to take it over. Some of these guys are getting ptetty desperate."

Bel-Aire general manager Al Horner told the waiting men he hoped Monday’s promised opening was the start of the shipyard’s revival, ‘tand from here we will be going after all the work we can.

‘*Y¥es, Pinecorp is still in con- trol, but I can't tell you any more, I don’t know anything niore at this point.’’

EXODUS

At 9:30 a.m., with no sign of Pigeon and refusal of Bel-Aire se- curity to allow the waiting men in- to. the shipyard’s lunchroom, former Bel-Aire shop steward Quentin Delvecchio led a mass ex- odus to the offices of North Van- couver-Burnaby MP Chuck Cook.

“Before the election he told us the shipbuilding industry would be a top priority,’ Delvecchio said, “but since the election nothing has happened. He doesn’t want to come near us.”’

The MWBIU was scheduled to meet with Cook Tuesday after- noon.

To press time, Pigeon was unavailable for comment on his non-appearance and the future of Bel-Aire.

¢ announced March 7

SRT Rill ats