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FRQRNXsV as same Shell adds ethane unit TORONIO rCIi Shell Ianada Resources Ltd says that facilities to recover ethane will be part of the $33million ex pansion of the Vaterton Alta gas plant Shell has deal with Dome Petroleum Ltd for sale of the Waterton ethane N0ise monitor installed MISSISSAIJOA Ont t1P lull Oil Canada Ltd has 111 stalled $301100 system at the larkson refinery here monitor noise During the last five years 2qu has spent $10041 to reduce noise Noranda increases prices TORONTO II Noranda Sales Corp has increased its price for electrolytic copper cathodes in Canada to 09125 cents pound from 0450 cents Blades get new life HAMILTON Ont lli Westinghouse Canada Ltd has announced new process to repair blades of industrial gas turbine engines press has been developed to close micro scopic holes that develop in blades after extended service spokesman said the process returns the blades to new con ditiori Argus reports slump TORONTO 1211 Argus Corp which controls such ma jor companies as MasseyIlterguson Ltd and Dominion Stores Ltd reports net income of $11050tx1 or $113 share for the year ended Nov 30 compared with $11380001 or $110 share in 1976 Income from Investments was $1 1745000 compared with $1 1909000 in the previous year Fleet builds planes FORT ERIE Ont II Fleet Industries Ltd division of Ronyx Corp Ltd of Hamilton has signed $45 million contract with Lockheed Aircraft forp of California to build units of the Orion and Aurora longArange patrol aircraft it was announced this week business notes Hold more bonds TORONTO MTV The tanadian Life Insurance Asstxdation says survey of It major life insurance firms in kmada shows they increased their holdings of corporate bonds by nearly $000 million during 1977 Increase Chevy prices DETROII tAli Prices of two models of the sub compact hevrolet hevette will rise about three percent in most of the United States on laii It General Motors orp said lhursday Issues glowing forecast We OSIIAWA Ont Tl Donald Mcllierson president of icncral Motors of fanada Ltd issued glowing forecast this week for the fanadian automobile industry in 19711 We fully expect that General Motors of Tanada as well as the automobile industry in Canada in calendar year 1978 will set new sales records surpassing those attained in 1977 he said in yearend statement The industry achicvul the onemillioh mark in car sales in 1977 for the first time with 2M accounting for 550000 in both cars and trucks Mclhcrson said 1M ex pects to sell 590000 cars and tiiicksiii197tt He said the outlook for the industry was based on confidence in continued economic growth II McIIIIIRSON isoptiinistic the examlner Saturday Doc 31 197711 boardofdirectors approach OTTAWA CP Prime Min istcr Trudeau and the 10 provin cial premiers are developing boardofdirectors approach to running the countrys economy Its an approach that may one day be used to run the country itself It will be further developed early this year in series of 11 federal provincial meetings touching everything from min ing to agriculture as the fed eral government works out way of transferring more ad ministrativc power over eco nomic program to the junior governments in return for help in managing the economy These meetings will culmi nate in an economic summit Feb lit13 when Trudeau and thc premiers will attempt to nail down joint economic deal designed to ease near Depres sionlcvcl unemployment during the next five years And that Trudeau says might lead to new round of talks on the broader question of constitutional reform and Maritimes facing energy HALIFAX 1TI The four Atlantic provinces continued to grapple with varying energy problems in 1977 In Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island the main prob lem continued to be higher clcc tricity rates they depend more than any other province on highpriced oil for power gener ation Both provinces moved to conserve fuel through feder ally financed program of home insulation grants Newfoundland thanks to hydro development has lower power rates but the highest pct roleum prices in anada New Riunswicks energy problems are less serious but the prov inces continued moving away from oilfired generation Offshore oil drilling fell to dismal low but an Imperial Oil executive said in November the most optimistic estimates would put the region in the same league as the North Sea for pet rolcuni deposits Optimism also revived for the loiigvtalked about proposal to dam the Bay of Fundy head waters and harness its 30fmt tides for hydro electric power powersharing between the two levels of government In the meantime Trudeau and the premiers have agreed that little can be done to alle viate jobless rates now running at more than eight per cent of the ttJmillionmember work force And they hold out little hope of restructuring the con stitution while one in their mid st Premier Rene Levesque of Quebec is committed to leading the province out of Con federation RELATIONS IMPROVED Ironically Levesque and the sorry state of the economy have acted as catalysts in bringing the two government levels to gcther Both decau and Opposition Leader Joe lark went out of their way during 1977 to im prove their relations with the provinces Trudeau visited each premier personally during the fall and early winter to sound them out on economic and constitutional change In late November the final feasibility study on the three best tidalpower sites con cluded that all three were technically feasible The ouiicil of Maritime Prc micrs continued working toward Maritime Energy orp which would build inter provincial power lines and powergenerating projects It might also negotiate for con struction of an underwater cablc to Newfoundland to trans mit Labrador power In Nova Scotia consumers reeled under 172percent electrical rate increase March but provincial officials fore cast no increases for 1978 Meanwhile the Nova Scotia Power Torp tNSPCi and the provincial government moved to reduce the provinces iiper cent dependence on oilfired generators The first step is coalfired generating plant under con struction at Lingan in the ape Breton coal field The first of its two 150megawatt generators is expected to begin producing in November 1979 At Wreck Tove in the Tape Clark drew up joint set of goals on the same issues with four Progressive Conservative premiers at fall mccing in Kingston Ont The premiers who with the exception of Levesque share managerial approach to government responded agreeably to Trudeaus call for an innovative cooperative nonparty approach to economic reform Even Levesque accepted his call for new form of federalrprovincial economic cooperation But specific constitutional problems remained As the year closed the Supreme Court of Canada strengthened federal authority over resource taxation and cable television two fields claimed by the provinces PREMIERS UPSET The decisions upset at least two premiers Levesque and Allan Blakcncy of Saskatche wan mbut Trudeau quickly moved to soften the effect of the ruling by saying the federal Breton highlands zoomega watt hydro project was ex pected to begin generating by February Cost estimates stand atslto million Premier Regan announced in the spring that Wimpey Canada Ltd had been awarded con tract to develop surface mine at Stellarton to supply coal to NSPC MORE MINES PLANNED In November Regan any nounccd that the apc Breton Development orp had trans ferred to the province its ex clusive right to mine surface coal on apc Breton Island He said the move paves the way for more openpit coal mines for power generation Prince Edward Island contin ued to have the highest elec tricity rates in the country but the formal opening of an under water cable link to New Bruns wick in October ended its total dependence on oil for power generation The cable rovides 60 per cent of the is ands power spokesman for the Maritime Electric Co Ltd PEls pri vately owned utility said islan government would attempt to deal with jurisdictional differ ences administratively giving ground where it considered it practical in the national inter est There would be no attempt however to work particular ar rangements over say resource taxation into the countrys un derlying constitutional lawithe 0yearold British North America Act which as British statue can still only be amendcdatWestminster Levesque Trudeau argued had quashed any hope of alter ing the constitution piecemeal As separatist the Quebec pre mier would only be content with whole new constitution that set his province apart as unique political entity But Trudeau left himself room fo some constitutional manoeuvring He said he planned to in troduce legislation that would entrench certain human rights into the countrys basic law And he would give himself leg ders should not expect any decrease in rates because the fuel savings will go to purchas ing elecricity from New Bruns wick and laying for the lease on the cable In New Brunswick construc tion of Atlantic Canadas first nuclear generating station the SSSmegawatt plant at Point bepreau near Saint John was about half completed The plant is due to begin producing elec tricity in 1980 The New Brunswick Electric Power Commission NBEPC is expanding the Mactaquac hydroelectric station on the Saint John River with two 100 JOOkilowatt units due to completed in 1979 200000kil owatt unit which will triple the capacity of steamgenerating plant at Dalhousie in 1979 will be the first in New Brunswick able to burn either coal or oil The province expects soon to become net exporter of power but in 1977 it remained by tiny margin net impor ter The imports25 million megawatts yearcome from Labrador The exports225 million megawattsgo to New islative rights to conduct coun trywide referenda or opinion polls on questions ranging from Quebec independence to constitutional reform Levesque proposed at pre miers conference in St An drews NB last summer that provinces strike reciprocal deals guaranteeing citizens the right to educate their children in French or English Other premiers rejected that idea and Levesque later turned down Trudeau suggestion that minority language rights be embedded in the constitution with the provision that provin ces could join the arrangemen ts as they desired As the year ended it was clear that constitutional mat ters would continue to preoc cupy Trudeau and the premiers for some time despite late fall warning by the prime minister that further stalling might threaten the survival of the country Levesques election he said helped us all realize we cant talk forever W095 England and Prince Edward Island The NBEPC is experimenting with alternate energy systems This year it completed solar hcated district office building at Shediac and has contracted to build another at Bathurst Researchers are monitoring small experimental windmill generator on the windy Tan tramar Marsh at Sackville In Newfoundland work began during the fall on access roads to planned 80megawatt hydroelectric project at Hinds Lake about 40 miles from Cor ner Brook For the long term the prov ince continues to pin its hopes on the Churchill River in Labr ador wtere the worlds largest hydro project at ChurchillFalls is producing large amounts of power for Quebec and the United States but none for the isand of Newfoundland No progress was reported in persuading Quebec to release 800 megawatts of Churchill Falls power the minimum amount needed to make feasible transmission line to the island Buoyant endofyear trading In Deceinlwrs first trading session the Toronto Stock llx change recorded its highest oncday total in more than year when 803 million shares channg hands almost half in the oil and gas group And many of the 20 million shares traded in the industrial listing were of integrated oil com panies total of 379 million shares were traded in the first 11 mon tlrs ol the year compared with 549 million for the 12 months of llflti VAN OllVER KEEPS PAVE The tally was similar at Van oouver Trading totalled almost 500 million shares for the first 11 months of 1977 about 40 million more than the previous years total However the Montreal market lagged behind with an 11month total of less than 93 million shares and is unlikely to reach its 119 million total for all fltt7ti Oil and gas issues held the spotlight during much of the year YEAR nm on companies with in lercsts or mmorcd interests in Iembina acrcagcs sent the grouping within Iorontos 14 unit TSIC 300C111XSllt index to 31 month high in mid November The activity pushed the ISII 500 index considered the best gauge of anadian trends into what analysts expected to be its third prolonged stay above the 10001natk in its first year of qwration The index reached its highest point for the year when it touched 10075 on luly 19 LIIVELAND Ohio monthly combined tota spurred by the National Energy Boards approval of the foothills route for transixirting northern tiatiiral gas to southern markets By early December the in dcx was edging back up to sum mer levels after hitting its lowest point of the year It drop pcd to 96101 on Oct the day after the anadian dollar plunged 1110988 cents in United States funds its lowest since September 19119 Ill But the federal governments pmmpl announcement of $15 million fund in standby credit brought another rise on the markets The TSIi 300 indexing system was adopted on the first trading lay of 1977 to replace the pevious industrial index com prising 17 subrindices gold in dex base metals index and western oils index The four in dices covered 210 stocks Analysis have been unanimous in their praise of the new Iiottrslock system under which issties are divided into major and minor groups But while analysts tiavc made known their satisfaction with the new indexing ystem they have expressed bewilden ment about the next turii it will take Many are skeptical of its ability to maintain recent highs in the face of slow national and international economy IOR IXASIS MI XIZI Market forecasters also were mixed in their views of the staying power of the upswing The Royal Batik of Canada reported that its December Trendicator suggested brightening of the economic picture The lrendicator an in dcx of leading economic iii Lake shipments down iAIi Asstxiation icports that bqu commodity shipments of iron ore coal and grain in Great Lakes commerce fell to 17 year low Iist month The association said the just less than 13 million net loiis shipped in November was the lowest since 1960 but was consistent with the low tonnages of the previous three months resulting from recent strikes at Upper Great Lakes iron mines The Lake Carriers dicators increased during the third quarter of 1977 to its highest levels in the last year Bank economist how said that if the trend continues it will lend additional support to our current forecast that anadian economic growth in 1W8 will proceed at slightly stronger pace than the dismal performance of 1977 Richardson Securities of anada echoed the prediction of minor recovery pointing out that it will not take very much growth in each sector of the economy to push the over all real growth rate into the 4s to4 percent range for 1978 But analysts have emphasiz xt that except for the cor responding plunge when the dollar dropped in October the market has virtually ignored both economic c0nditions and the route taken by the Dow Jones industrial index in New York The Toronto market was once considered slavish follower of the Dow hut in re cent months the Canadian market has struck out on its MIl the Conference Board of anada said in early December that the economys condition is equally unsure Business confidence in the economy has shown little sign of improvement in recent mon ths the private research agen cy said and this attitude reflec ts the uncertain nature of the shortterm outlook for the Canadian economy The board said survey covering about 220 business organizations and high proportion of the 200 largest fir ms in the country produced mixed results While there is reason to believe that the Canadian economy is entering period of modest recovery it is by no means certain that this is the case Nelson McDowell of Big Bay Point Road in Iaiiiswick won last weeks Wheels of Yesteryear contest by correctly identifying the automobile as 1956 Lincoln The model was the Premier fourdoor sedan As winner McDowell receives $10 gift certificate good lily at Brass and ilenn on Dunlop Street If you think you can identify this weeks entry then send your answer along with your name and address to Wheels of Yesteryear The Ex aminer Box 1170 Barrie IAM 4T6