LETTER TO THE EDITOR — Group finds GSC office move confusing

Regarding the letter by A. Anne McLellan (“Mines minister replies to government criticism,” T.N.M., May 1/95), which was a response to a critique of the federal budget by Steven Parry, we fully agree with the Natural Resources Canada minister when she writes about putting the federal government’s “fiscal house in order.”

We have not criticized the proposed 32% cut to the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC); it is the way this cut is being implemented that has us worried.

First, the proposed office move to Victoria from Vancouver does not make sense to us (nor to anyone else west of Ottawa). Not only would GSC isolate itself from its main client base (Vancouver’s exploration community), but the cost of moving some 30 geologists and support staff to Victoria into questionable, cheaper office space looks to us like more expense, not less.

We can see the advantage of consolidating offices if services are being duplicated, but this is not the case in British Columbia. The Vancouver office includes mapping geologists, a library and publication sales, while the Pacific Geoscience Centre supports mainly the West Coast seismic network.

Surely, in this day of modern communications, the administration of these two diverse groups could be brought under a single roof, with the groups themselves remaining physically separate.

Second, we disagree with the apparent across-the-board nature of the GSC cuts. Everyone, including senior GSC bureaucrats, is in agreement that regional mapping is the most important component of the society’s mandate. Yet, because of previous budget cuts, mapping programs have been significantly impaired.

In order to maintain a strong mapping program, new cuts should be targeted towards lower-priority areas, such as mineral deposit studies, specialized geophysical work and marine geology. These should be cut back or removed completely from the GSC’s mandate.

Finally, whatever changes are made, they should be planned in consultation with the main user groups. This has not happened to date.

The minister outlined a long list of federal initiatives designed to assist the mining industry, and we applaud the effort. However, just look at two recent major discoveries, Lac de Gras and Voisey Bay, which have put Canada back on the map.

These finds demonstrate that what this country needs in order for successful exploration to occur are prospectors with the freedom to explore as much of the country’s land base as possible, a solid geological database to guide that effort, and the spirit and determination to go where no one has gone before.

Gerald Carlson

President,

British Columbia & Yukon Chamber of Mines

Vancouver