LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY
PARLIANENT BLDG

ATTN? KeV. CARDIN
VICTORIA BC CAN
Vay 1X4

TERRACE — The acquittal last
week of an assistant angling

‘guide charged with illegal

guiding has exposed a loophole
in the Wildlife Act that conser-
vatlon officers want closed

quickly,

Provincial court judge P.R.
Lawrence ruled that guide An-
drew Rushton who fired George
Springel had no power to

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causes problems

Four parties involved —

TERRACE. — The. parties in-
volved: in. a: ‘number of lawsuits
concerning’ large highway pro-
ject ‘between . here arid Prince

Rupert are-due back in court
‘The Guarantee . ‘Company. of
North America ‘fora St. A].
million performance: ‘bond.
“Williamson took ‘out with the: «
bonding comipany. an

this month, for final argument.
At issue’ “de- events. surroun-
ding’ removal by

fromi the Khyex to Tyee project. 7
Williamson’ was one of two...
Y ministry alleging it. wast't: give

prime;¢ 1 ni

the: project: as announced in’ oh
the fall‘of 1987. Its contract was’

-where.it was taking. construction
ot material, .

then worth-$2 $2.9 million, ;

TERRACE. =, “ths » provincial

! government won't be releasinga “--
.Hst.of suggested sites for a new.

~ gorrectional “centre, ‘after all,
‘gayi a spokesman for the British -

“Columbia Buildings Corpora

tion (BCBC)

al. cr ncorporation said aug
‘four al five sites ‘might

a seattuton ‘of where

ohn Murphy of ' ‘the: Provine

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{eadto discudsion and debate on” | ew

jal of them without coming toa. tional centre has .besn going on-
thé centre for. several years; ts, current

back the contract in the summer
of 1988, “saying - Williamson
defaulted certain of its condi- -

' tions.

It has since filed suit ‘against

© Inturn, Williamson has. filed’
suit : against « the. highways.

all the information tiecéssary.to:
work safely in rock quarry from

‘has selected, he said; fee

“We prefer to talk about the”
one we. are -considering,’*' said
Murphy in addiiig that location

won't be released until the end ‘

of January;

“Ef that preferred site.is con-..
sidered unsuitable, then the next

at te

‘Rapld Demolition of
Nanaimo, a sub-contractor to
Williamson, . has also filed suit

against Williamson — for ex-

tra costs-it said were caused by
that Jack: of information.

.. Lawyers for the highways
ministry, ‘Williamson, a sub
‘contractor to Williamson and a
‘ bonding: company. spent five
ecks the-end of last year put-
ting forward theic evidence. .
‘Rapid: Demolition ‘is asking
Williamson for $377,000 and
Williamson, saying. the
highways ministry breached its
» Gontracts is asking for” $2.372

‘Highway ‘suits continue

million. Both parties and the
provincial government are also
asking for court costs associated
with their suits.

 Williem Pearce, the lawyer
acting for the highways
ministry, estimated final
arguments should take several
days.

The Supreme Court trial is
being heard in Kelowna because
it was the closest location to
Williamson's. Vernon home
base that could. schedule it for

the earliest date possible, he
said.

‘

revoke the latter’s assistant
guide licence.

The only way a licence can be
revoked is on the authority of
the environment ministry's
regional manager, Lawrence
said, and he must follow a hear-
ing and appeal procedure set
out in the Wildlife Act.

Lawrence rejected the
Crown’s contention that the
licence becomes invalid as soon
as the assistant angling guide i is
fired,

Fish and Wildlife regional
manager Tom Chamberlin said
the intent of the law was that
guides could revoke assistants’
licences by firing them.

But Thursday’s ruling effec-
tively means an assistant guide
can operate until the regional
manager takes action.

“It looks like that right now
to me,’’ said enforcement
manager Al Breitkreutz. ‘But
we're going to have to address
that very quickly. This is
something we can’t have laying
around.’

He said the environment
ministry will look closely at the
ruling before deciding how to
respond.

“Depending on that we'll
either appeal or make recom-
mendations to have the act
chang!

He said an additional subsec-
tion may be needed in the act
spelling out that the’ licence is
only valid while the assistant
guide is employed by the guide.

“That’s one option," he said.
Another option is making due
with the process of hearings and
appeals,

“But that's cumbersome. It
would be far better if we could
get it relght in. the act.” =

‘| - Assistant guides get “their v
" licences when hired by a guide,

— who must sign the licence.
But because angling guides are

Chamberlin

restricted to a certain number.of
assistants, a guide could end up
shorthanded, unable to replace
an assistant because the
previous one’s licence could not
be quickly revoked. ,

“This could really put a
crimp on the angling guides,’’
Breitkreutz said. ‘‘They could
have a lot of assistant guides
operating almost independent-
ly. They'd certainly have to be
very careful who they gave
licences to in the future,"

But he also noted changes to
the assistant guide policy could
solve much of the problem.
With the introduction of
‘quotas, an assistant guide who
continued to guide after being
fired would have no quota to
operate under. “He simply
would not be able ta guide.”

Breitkreutz said he an-
ticipates> a swift legislative

. change to the act — “probably .
‘through’ ‘order-in-couineil - _— = to

solve the problem. ~ °
‘“‘We won't let this sit — we
can’t afford to let it sit.”

Assistant guide
found not guilty

TERRACE — An angling guide
who hires assistants cannot later
revoke their licences, a Terrace
judge ruled last week.

Provincial court Judge P. R.
Lawrence found assistant angl-
ing guide George Springel not
guilty Jan. 4 on a charge of
guiding without a licence. Spr-
ingel worked for Skeena River
angling guide Andrew Rushton.
Lawrence found Rushton had
no authority under the Wildlife
Act to cancel Springel's licence.

Springel was charged when he
continued to guide three Ger-
man fishermen on the Skeena in
July 1989 for three days after
Rushton fired him and gave him
written notice of the cancella-
tion of his: licence.

- Rushton told the court Spr-
ingel was taking his clients and
undercutting him. ‘I felt I no
longer had control over Mr.
Springel’s actions and I felt 1
had no choice but to revoke his
licence,”” he said.

Investigating conservation of-
ficer Terry McGunigle testified
Springel told him he guided the
three Germans for $60 each per
day because he was already
committed to take them.

. Defence lawyer David
Warner challenged the Crown

to show where in the Wildlife
Act guides are given the power
to cancel their assistants’
licences. The only way a licence
can be revoked is on the
authority of the regional
manager, he said, following a
hearing atid appeal procedure
set out in a section of the act.

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