The Vancouver Sun from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada • 1

Jm Vancouver un www.vancouversun.com FINAL FRIDAY, AUGUST 24,, 2001 "7 -TSi -I I (3B5 i I 1 v. dd.idi 111 I iff I- iaj i 1 -J LU LOVING LOVING i 'c iy quel mm. I BUMMER Quebecers would understand, tJ says athlete I who mooned crowd 1 -) and lost medal. A3 EXAMINING WOODY Is he VuWjA carrifiln quality for quantity? Fl If) Carole Taylor joins Order of Canada. A3 Woman flees Kuwait in terror Tories caiifor surrogacy deal SUPPORT Bob Spence Is dying, but his friends are there.

Bl KEVIN At after B.C. resident signed agreement to carry baby By CHEKI HANSON A Courtenay woman who went to the Middle East to become a surrogate mother unwittingly ran afoul of Kuwaiti laws forbidding the practice. Shani Russell is back home relishing her freedom, but only weeks ago wondered if she would see her family again when the $10,000 US contract she signed with an American woman and Kuwaiti man went wrong. "I'm very, very angry," said Russell, near tears in an interview on Thursday, her 28th birthday. "I went into this so that I could pay for my own in vitro fertilization.

I went into this so I could have a baby, too; so that after I helped other people, I could help myself." Russell is unable to naturally conceive a child because she had her fallopian tubes removed at age 19. But she can become pregnant through in vitro fertilization, because she has healthy eggs and a functioning uterus. (She gave birth twice in her teens, but put the babies up for adoption. She had her fallopian tubes removed because she didn't want to risk conceiving any more children she wasn't prepared to raise, Russell said) Russell is getting married next year and hopes to begin a family, so she decided surrogacy could offset the costs of future in vitro fertilization procedures. She registered with several Canadian surrogacy agencies and posted information about herself on Web sites, including www.surromomsonline.com.

Through the site, she met the See COUPLE DIDN'T A8 TV news wars: In B.C, the stakes are high By ALEX STRACHAN The "wild, wild West" the Vancouver television mar ket is about to get even wilder, as local stations switch their network affiliations Sept 1 and several big-name news anchors change loyalties. BCTV will become Global BC, but will retain the BCTV brand for its local newscasts, while VTV will be relaunched as CTV BC. The real battleground, how ever, will take place on the local news front. That's because local news is the engine that drives a television station's financial perfor mance. The repercussions are enormous: A tick of even one rating point either way during a supper-hour newscast can have a dramatic effect on a station's financial picture, According to media buyer David Stanger, just one percentage point either way can translate to between $2 mil lion and $3.5 million in rev enue lost or gained.

Robert Hurst, general man ager for the new CTV BC, is more conservative, but even he puts the figure at $1 million. In part, that is because a suDDer-hour local newscast offers advertisers something a hit show can't: more than 20 opportunities every night to reach potential customers for their products, seven days a week, 52 weeks a year. "When you realize that virtually everything else they run they have to go out and acquire the rights to," Stanger said, "local news becomes the single most important asset a local station can have. It's what they have the most inventory in, what they have the most control over and what is most profitable for them. They own the inventory, so they don't have to share the profits with a network or anybody else." In addition, according to BCTV (Global) general manager Jack Tomik, local news lends a station credibility, defines its voice in the community and, most important, is the one type of programming a local station has com plete control over.

"It's an investment in the future," Tomik said. "For me, the currency of the future is going to be how well we answer the question, 'What can you do for And from the viewers' point of view, what we can do that nobody else can do is deliver the news, the way they like to see it, in a way that's relevant to them. See VANCOUVER'S A6 sours McKINNONSPECIAL TO THE VANCOUVER SUN assessment of any shift in Canadian policy regarding two proposed pipeline routes from Alaska to the lower 48 states. Earlier this week federal Fisheries Minister Herb Dhaliwal (Vancouver South-Bumaby) suggested Ottawa could oppose construction of the U.S.-bound pipeline on Canadian territory unless the Americans relent on the softwood lumber tariff. Prime Minister Jean Chretien later said he didn't agree with Dhaliwal, but told reporters he had warned U.S.

President iv. IT "fmA leaky condo bailout 'This is a crisis of unprecedented proportion' By PETEK O'NEIL and JEREMY SANDLER OTTAWA The Progressive Conservative party went to bat for B.C's leaky-condo owners Thursday, saying they urgently need a large federal aid package. Ottawa should come up with at least $300 million to help homeowners, many of whom have faced financial ruin because of water damage to their poorly constructed condos, the federal Tories said. Both the federal and B.C. governments have provided modest relief, including an interest-free loan program for lower-income owners, but the help doesn't come close to the estimated $1.5 billion in damage.

Tory MP Loyola Hearn urged Public Works Minister Alfonso Gagliano to think big. "This is a crisis of unprecedented proportion. The consequences as a result of this catastrophic disaster are both devastating and pervasive, not only to the individuals affected but also to society as a whole," Hearn (St John's West) said in a letter to Gagliano that was released Thursday. Hearn said the federal Liberal caucus and cabinet, in Edmonton this week for meetings and a series of funding announcements, should have spread its wings further. "You have all of cabinet in Alberta throwing around money all over the place, and what we're saying is, 'why don't you go to British Columbia and then put some money where it's pretty badly he said in an interview.

"This issue should be a priority for them." Hearn told Gagliano that Ottawa should honour the original 1998 Barrett commission request for $300 million from the federal government Instead, the federal government has con- See DON'T EXPECT A2 assurances George W. Bush that Americans must allow free trade in lumber if they expect a free flow of energy across the border. B.Cs lumber mills are laying off thousands of workers because of the 19.3-per-cent countervailing duty of softwood exports from Canada. King said that Alaskan oil and gas will reach the US. mainland regardless of Canada's position.

One possibility is to ship it down the coast to the US. See ALASKA HIGHWAY A8 Shanl Russell of Courtenay travelled to Kuwait to be a surrogate mother for a couple who sought her help. Now she's bitter about the failed deal and angry that her future fertility was put at risk. INSIDE Alaska seeks pipeline At Home Ann Landers E4 Births Deaths B8 Letters A15 Bridge E7 Lotteries A2 Business C7 Gary Mason Classified D15 Pete McMartin B3 ComicsKids B7 Movies Crossword Vaughn Palmer A14 DZD13.E8 Sports Editorials AM Theatre FS Entertainment Fl Wheels Dl Horoscope D14 Barbara Yaffe A14 Chanceof 'i9jL-'" showers Full report, A2 SI.25 RETAIL $1.35 COIN BOX $1.50 MINIMUM OUTSIDE LOWER MAINLAND US. governor says Canada can be cut out of the loop By SABAH GALASHAN The mere suggestion that Canada could oppose a major US.

pipeline project is gaining serious attention in Alaska. Bob King, press secretary to Alaska Governor Tony Knowles, said the governor has "contacted Washington" asking for an canada.com It's not who you mow, it's who we know. For quality collision repairs you can count on, visitwww.kbc.com. Search our province-wide listings for an ICBC accredited c.a.r. shop and you won't be disappointed.

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