Star-Phoenix from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada • 24

spnnmiinmjmff iowum ifmmimmmig'iiii B12 National Thursday, May 4, 1989 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Star-Phoenix De Beileval fired as president of Via Rail through his five-year term at Via, refused to divulge details of his separation package. But he said he will continue to take the train. As long as there is a train, Ill take he said. The service is better Im telling you, take train. MONTREAL (CP) Denis de Beileval says he will continue to take the train, even though he was fired Wednesday as president of Via Rail because of profound divisions with Ottawa over the future of passenger rail service in Canada.

Its not only a matter of money, de LU.UWUWJULW a Wabowden to Churchill, all in Manitoba; Winnipeg to Capreol, Sudbury to White River, Senneterre, to Cochrane, Montreal to Senneterre, and Montreal to Jonquiere, Que. Guy Chartrand, Quebec president of the Transport 2000 lobby group, said Ottawa has crippled Via. Its not just the cuts or the fact Mr. de Beileval is leaving, he said. The fact is the government has just closed the book on Via Rail.

Chartrand said Lawlesss jobs as head of both Via and CN are a clear conflict of interest because Via must pay CN for use of the tracks on which it operates, and has frequently complained that CN is charging too much. How can Mr. Lawless be president of two Crown corporations that are in conflict all the time? Chartrand said. Probably in a few weeks or a few days the minister is going to announce that Via is now a subsidiary of CN like it was in 1977. The normally outspoken de Beileval, who in recent months had been publicly calling for more government support of Via, not less, was tactful Wednesday, repeatedly ducking questions about what he thinks the Tories have done to passenger rail service in this country.

Obviously there will be painful cuts in the short term. But in the long term, I 1 dont know, said the dark-haired de Beileval. Thats now up to Via and the minister. De Beileval, 50, who took over at Via in July 1987, said he does not feel bitter even though he was brought in on a mandate to renew Via. I gave it my best shot, but there has been a debate (since then) over Via in government circles, said the dapper father of three.

When the Tories were first elected in 1984, they promptly kept a campaign promise to replace several Via services that had been cut by the previous Liberal government, and they have continued to pay the huge annual subsidies needed to keep Via operating. But they have refused to invest the massive additional amounts of money needed to upgrade and modernize the service, as many other countries have been doing. Bouchard said he told the board of di- rectors he wants a new business plan from it by mid-summer. Via chairman Lawrence Hanigan will stay on at Via. Bouchard is also expecting to receive a major study from Via in June on the options for rail passenger service in Canada over the next 20 years.

Via has been working on the $4-million study, requested by Ottawa, for two years, but Chartrand for one believes the study is now useless. De Beileval, a former Quebec transport minister who was not yet half-way Beileval said at a news conference, referring to drastic cuts in Via subsidies announced last week in Finance Minister Michael Wilsons budget. Its a matter of outlook, of what role you want the train to have in this country in the long term. Via does not exist in a vacuum, isolated from other modes of transport. There should be a global transportation policy in Canada.

He said he and Transport Minister Benoit Bouchard had reached an amicable agreement that de Beileval leave Via. But in a letter to the Crown corporations 7,000 employees, de who was also Vias chief executive officer, said his departure was at Bouchards request. Bouchard announced after a Via board meeting earlier Wednesday that Ronald Lawless, president and chief executive officer of CN Rail, will replace de Beileval while keeping his job at CN. But he did not say how Lawless would be able to handle both jobs, and Lawless could not be reached for comment. Bouchard said he had told the board it must find way to operate despite the cuts, which will shrink Vias annual subsidies to $250 million from the current $600 million over the next five years.

But he added that whatever happens, these routes to isolated communities will be protected: Edmonton to Prince Rupert, B.C. The Pas to Lynn Lake ana CP BENOIT BOUCHARD wants new Via business plan DENIS DE BELLEVAL Via does not exist in a vacuum Ontario woman gives birth to quintuplets The babies are the first for Tom and Neilsen, who have been married for three years. Neilsen, who had been on fertility drugs, was referred to the Hamilton hospital by her doctor because Thunder Bay hospitals are unable to handle multiple births, Janzen said. Janzen declined to provide further details. Tom Neilsen, 35, Karens mother and her two sisters left Thunder Bay Tuesday night to drive 1,400 kilometres to Hamilton to join the children.

Grandparents Bob and Betty Neilsen said theyll pitch in as best they can to help care for the three boys and two girls. You think of little babies and how much one is, and then you double and triple it. Well just have to see how it goes, Betty said from her Thunder Bay home Wednesday. Were excited and happy and everything all together, said HAMILTON (CP) Quintuplets born prematurely to an Ontario woman are very tiny and rather fragile but doing well, a hospital spokesman said Wednesday. Karen Neilsen, 27, of Thunder Bay, gave birth Tuesday by caesarean section, a spokesman for the Chedoke-McMaster Hospitals said.

The quints were in a warmer, which is similar to an open incubator, Cynthia Janzen. Neilson, who has four grown children, but no grandchildren until Tuesday. She said ultrasound scans showed five children were on the way, and friends have organized a committee thats already contacted producers of baby products to provide supplies for the quints. The new parents also spoke to the mother of quadruplets in the area of St. Catharines, for tips for caring for a bunch of babies, the grandmother said.

Their plans, however, were always tempered by concerns about how many children would survive birth, said Toms brother, Bob. They just wanted to see how many were bom before making preparations, he said. Tom, a millwright, and Karen, a provincial civil servant, discussed names for the children, but their plans have been scrambled by the boy-girl split in their new family, said Betty. CN trains derail SARNIA, Ont. (CP) Two CN Rail trains collided during a shunting operation in the Chemical Valley on Wednesday, derailing a number of cars and prompting 250 Indians to evacuate their homes on a neighboring reserve.

One train was undamaged but the impact put 15 cars from the second off the tracks, CN spokesman Mike Matthews said. The derailed train had been on its way into a plant to pick up chemicals and its cars were empty, Matthews said. There was a risk of explosion or leakage from the residue of ammonia gas in the cars prompting the evacuation on the nearby Sarnia Indian Reserve. Three train crew members were sent to Killer escapes MONCTON, N.B. (CP) A convicted killer slipped out of handcuffs and leg irons during a visit to a hospital washroom Wednesday, triggering a massive police search that was continuing at nightfall.

Residents of a west-end neighborhood were warned by police to stay in their homes as officers accompanied by search dogs hunted for Allan Legere, 41. He is considered very dangerous, said Moncton Police Chief Greg Cohoon. Legere was serving a life sentence for second-degree murder in the 1986 beating death of an elderly shopkeeper. Temperature probe for proper finishing time Crack theory on fire KINGSTON, Ont. (CP) One of the theories being pursued Wednesday by investigators of a spectacular explosion that destroyed a house and killed two men was that the blast occurred during the manufacture of crack cocaine.

Staff Sgt. Paul Lorenz would not confirm that the crack angle was the major focus of the probe but said it was one of the possibilites being pursued by police and a special RCMP explosion unit. Crack is made with ether, a highly-explosive gas that is used to purify cocaine by turning it into liquid and then crystals, which cake together and crack when pieces are broken off to be smoked. Jeffrey Levesque, 21, was identified by police as one victim. The identity of the other had not been established.

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The black seabirds with long necks and hooked beaks cluster by the thousands on about 20 islands. They nest in trees, on the ground or in cliffs, hunt in groups and dive below the surface of the river for fish. The strongly acidic droppings of large numbers of cormorants can destroy all vegetation on an island within a few years and eliminate nesting grounds of other species, particularly ducks, Lepage said. SEAR your moneys worth and more Open 9:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. daily and 9:30 a.m.-9:00 p.m.

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