The Vancouver Sun from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada • 35

843.46 UP 3.20 TSE 00 3629.85 UP 5.01 1823.50 UP 4.99 3455.64 UP 11.61 mm 20,533.38 DOWN 206.91 LOfiDCfj PT1C3 QGWNtj HATbS SEND 6789.74 UP 371 .53 CANADIAN $.7916 us DOWN $.0012 CANADIANS? 89.99 UP .03 VSE DOWN $.0065 $338.60 us UP $1.60 COLD (SLY.) $3.94 us UP $.07 silver (o.) rtniriiimii ii iffMirrntiiiii iirrar tniii iiTiiM Mmu i iw i i Minn in tJMiMMijMMMM fy TERESA SCARR BUSINESS EDITOR 732-2520 Thursday, April 15. 1993 SECTION "ill WJ" ECONOMIC OUTLOOK i 'p" f0mm Better growth despite high unemployment ERIC BEAUCHESNE yl. VHA Southam News OIL (W. TEX. INI) $20.40 usam.

DOWN $.05 COLUMN OTTAWA High unemployment will continue to act as a drag on the recovery but, thanks to a further surge in exports, the economy will expand 3.7 per cent this year, the Conference Board of Canada said Wednesday. That after-inflation growth, up from 0.9 per cent Tfmnri ntf j-ff nn TTrMlttWfWffffiP1 last year, is almost half a percentage point stronger than forecast three months ago and is entirely due to a more bullish outlook for exports, the private economic research group said in its spring forecast. RALPH BOWERVancouver Sun EVOLUTION is what aquariums are all about, says John Nightingale, director of Vancouver's venue ATTRACTIONS Exports are expected to increase by 8.2 per cent. three points more than predicted in December, while the demand for goods and services in Canada will rise by a "pitiful" 1.7 per cent, down from an earlier fore cast 2.1 per cent. "Exports are fuelling Canada's economic recovery New director keen to keep aquarium in forefront as public teaching tool and the gap is widening between the performance of the foreign trade sector and the domestic economy," the board said.

It will take until mid-year for the strong export sales to begin spilling over into solid employment growth at home, it said. "Weak employment growth continues to be the main reason for our poor domestic performance," said James Frank, the board's chief economist. Manufacturing firms are reluctant to take on new employees, while the shedding of employees is spreading to the service sector, he said. This is really our goal for the future, to put on exhibits and programs that keep us in the forefront of conservation and education. JOHN NIGHTINGALE "The transportation and utilities sectors are just Gold, bonds behind markets' move forward Stocks took support from rising bond prices in New York while Toronto perked up Wednesday thanks to rising gold stocks.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's 300 composite index was up 5.01 points to 3,629.85. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 11.61 points to 3,455.64. Higher gold prices helped the gold index rise in Toronto by 2.3 percent. Rising bond prices in New York helped push down interest rates. But that in turn is generally good news for stocks because they induce investors in search of better returns to switch from fixed investments like bonds to stocks.

But recent signs that the American economy remains sluggish, including disappointing March retail sales announced Tuesday, have left investors concerned that corporate profits might be hurt. Those fears were borne out in a number of earnings reports Wednesday. "It's been an interest-rate, inflation-driven market for all these months, and that's keeping (the Dow) up, whereas economic indicators have not been that strong," said Rob Stovall, president of Sto-vall-Twenty-First Advisers. The slow recovery has put a lid on interest rates and inflation, which has helped keep corporate costs down. But it has also dampened profits in many industry sectors, Stovall said.

Even lower interest rates are generally expected for the short-term, said Ira Katzin, a broker with Richardson Greenshields in Toronto. The Vancouver Stock Exchange index was VSE index was up 3.20 to 843.46 on volume of 25,197,565 shares. Arbor Resources was the most active trader among equities, up seven cents to 32 cents on 539 364. BC Tel put on hold in bid to boost rates BC Tel's bid to increase residential and business telephone rates next month was delayed Wednesday by the federal telecommunications regulator, which said the public must be given a chance to comment on the application. The telephone company had asked the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission on April 1 for permission to implement interim rate increases May 1.

Increases are granted without public hearings only in exceptional cases, the commission said. A similar application from Bell Canada was turned down in late March pending public hearings next month. The commission is inviting written submissions from the public the latest to announce major downsizing plans. Most firms are focusing solely on improving productivity and cutting costs. Right now there's very little room to manoeuvre in terms of hiring." With an increase in employment the recovery will be more balanced next year as export strength wanes and the U.S.

economy loses steam. But the growth will be only 3.6 per cent, marginally less than this year. ALAN DANIELS Sun Tourism Reporter VANCOUVER AQUARIUM, the city's number 1 tourist attraction, aims to boost attendance over 800,000 this year, but still faces an operating loss of between $100,000 and $200,000, director John Nightingale said Wednesday. "We are projecting a small deficit, under five per cent of budget. Our goal is to get that fixed." Nightingale, who comes to Vancouver from the New York Aquarium in Coney Island, Brooklyn, by way of the Seattle Aquarium and the Maui Ocean Centre in Hawaii, succeeds founding director Murray Newman, who has headed the Vancouver Aquarium since it opened 37 years ago.

Last year, the Stanley Park atttraction drew 741,761 visitors, of which 83 per cent were from outside the Lower Mainland. Nightingale says the aquarium's "slow, steady, continuous, evolution" has made it one of the world's best in terms of the scope of its exhibits. "And it's got to be one of the top two or three in terms of interpretive presentation. "If you are serious, you can learn more here than just about any other place you lion to $6 million and helped boost attendance to a record 959,000. "Obviously, we can't be opening $5-mil-lion exhibits every six months," Nightingale said.

"Our goal is to have enough new activity going on that there's always something to experience and discover." Nightingale has no sympathy for animal activists who campaign for the release of whales and other marine mammals. He argues that aquariums play a vital role in teaching people to care about marine life preservation. "Whales are not kept here for the enjoyment of the staff, nor, increasingly are they kept for predominantly marketing reasons. "They are kept because we can't explain the marine ecosystem without fosterftig a sense of caring about it and that comes from people seeing these animals for themselves. Slides or videos won't do it.

"I think it's absolutely critical that everybody become more involved, more educated, more knowledgeable and eventually more involved. "I think we humans are going to face some monumental changes in lifestyle over the next decade and I think the aquarium is a very good way of helping that educational and motivational process along." But the weak link in the chain remains the con sumer and consumer spending will not rebound until employment prospects improve," Frank said. Unemployment will ease only slightly this year and next, first to 10.7 per cent from 11.3 in 1992 and then to 10.2 in 1994. The federal deficit will fall $3.7 billion in 1993 and another $2.7 billion next year. want to go.

And this is really our goal for the future, to put on exhibits and programs that keep us in the forefront of conservation and education. "Yet it has to be a thoroughly enjoyable experience, and getting that word out is the focus of our marketing." Last week, the aquarium's $350,000 Indonesian exhibit of tropical fish was officially unveiled, and in July the renovated entrance to the Amazon Gallery, including a new exhibit of giant freshwater fish, is due to open. Both were financed by private donations. The last major aquarium exhibit, Arctic Canada, opened in 1990 at a cost of $5 mil Corporate profits, which plunged during the recession, will continue to recover rising 22 per cent this year and another 17 per cent next year. Short-term interest rates will rise by about one percentage point next year from their current levels though long-term rates will continue to ease.

Inflation will average about 2.5 per cent this year and next. WOODWARD'S RETAIL Park Royal store one of four in layofffocus Job worries, weather sap sales Canadian Press Department store sales I Feb. '93 I Yearly PROVINCE (millions) change Newfoundland 8.7 Prince Edward Island 2.6 Nova Scotia 21 .6 New Brunswick 14.2 Quebec 120.5 Ontario 290.6 Manitoba 29.4 Saskatchewan 20.1 Alberta 76.2 British Columbia 106.6 Canada 690.6 Source: Statistics Canada BRUCE CONSTANTINEAU Sun Business Reporter The Hudson's Bay Company has identified at least four markets where layoffs will be necessary after it swallows up Woodward's stores in B.C. and Alberta, Woodward's vice-president Richard Moignard said Wednesday. Park Royal in West Vancouver and Penticton, Red Deer and Calgary (Sunridge Mall) have been singled out as locations where the Hudson's Bay Company will have to close retail space.

"Those are places where they will likely close down their existing (Bay or Zellers) stores and move them into our locations," Moignard said. "That means you will have a group of workers on one side or the other that will be redundant." Woodward's has 4,500 workers throughout its 25 stores and an undetermined number will be offered employment at the Bay and Zellers outlets that will move into some of the locations. Details of a Bay offer to buy Woodward's will be outlined in an information circular to Woodward's creditors and shareholders that will be distributed next week. A vote on the offer is scheduled to be held May 3 or May 4 and if approved, conversion of the Woodward's stores to Bay or Zellers outlets could begin in early June. The Coquitlam Centre Woodward's location is a likely candidate for a new department store like Sears because the mall already houses a Bay and a Zellers.

Moignard said no one from Hudson's Bay has officially talked to Woodward's executives about their future but he expects to be looking for work if the merger goes through. "After these stores are merged, they're certainly not going to need any more executives." He said Bay officials are monitoring Woodward's daily operations now but they are not calling the shots at the company yet. "We are keeping them informed of all the decisions we make but we are making those decisions based on a going-forward, Woodward's standalone company," Moignard said. "We have to because until the (merger) vote passes, we have to make sure we don't jeopardize what might happen if the vote fails." OTTAWA Department store sales dropped 7.4 per cent to $690.6 million in February over the same month last year, Statistics Canada reported Wednesday. Included in the figure is $40.3 million in sales by concessions travel agents and other services that rent space in department stores.

The dollar value of sales dipped in every province and all major metropolitan areas surveyed, said the federal agency. The size of the drop ranged from 11.0 per cent in Quebec to 0.3 per cent in Nova Scotia. In British Columbia, sales were off 5.4 per cent. "There isn't a saving grace anywhere," said Toronto-based retail consultant Len Kubas. The numbers indicate consumers worried about job security in a period of high unemployment remained reluctant to part with their money in February, said Kubas.

CANADIAN PRESS There isn't a saving grace anywhere. LEN KUBAS, retail consultant up to April 30, after which BC Tel can file a response. The commission said in a news release that if the rate increases are allowed, they will take effect June 1. BC Tel officials were still assessing the move Wednesday. The proposed increases range from $4.05 to $4.15 a month for residential customers and $3.05 to $4.15 for business subscribers.

In its application, BC Tel said it faced a $61-million revenue shortfall this year, blaming new competition in the long-distance market. BC Tel also announced earlier it would file an application for a general local rate increase with the CRTC in early summer when more details would be announced. The company said its last general rate increase, three per cent over-all, was in 1985. worse winter this year than last year." Among the metropolitan areas surveyed by Statistics Canada, department store sales were down in Ottawa-Hull 12.2 per cent; Calgary 8.5 per cent; Montreal 8.4 per cent, and Toronto 6.8 per cent. Snowy weather likely put the chill on sales as consumers opted to stay home, said retail analyst John Winter.

"It was partially if not largely due to the weather, which affects retail sales," said Winter. "The snow was a barrier. It was a much.