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general freight transport service to Stewart. Nominal rates will render the
service economic to Rivlow Straits Ltd. requirements and, at the same time,
offer a reliable, once-weekly transport service to Stewart.

4.2 s2 Inducement for Attracting Additional Shippers

Establishment of the Cassiar-Stewart Highway as a Resource Road and the
improvement of port facilities at Stewart could be a sufficient inducement
for attracting additional shippers to use the route. In the brief submitted
to the Royal Commission on the British Columbia Railway, the Ministry of

Mines and Petroleum Resources recognize the potential importance of the route.
The submission states that the Stewart-Cassiar resource road is well located
for potential mines and will provide primary access routes in their develop-
ment. The same submission points out that trucking affords a viable
alternative to rail and with the present Stewart-Cassiar road the need for a
trunk rail line to service the mineral sector is reduced. It quotes the con-
clusion of a mineral sector study by Wright Engineers and H.N. Halvorson
Consultants that "even mines on the rail line near Dease Lake appear better
off using truck transportation to Stewart, British Columbia, if suitable port
facilities were available there.". As indicated earlier, the Alcan pipeline
construction logistics program is another example of a potential user of the
route which may be induced to divert construction of equipment and supplies

to the route, if the facilities are available.

W223 General Economic Multiplier for Goods and Services

The proposed route will also have an economic multiplier effect resulting
from the direct economic impacts. It is difficult to estimate what regional
or provincial economic multipliers will result from the route. Examples
used in northern resource communities indicate that regional income and employ-
ment multipliers of about 1.25 would be conservative yet reasonable for the
concept. Provincial multipliers would likely be over 2.0. New direct
employment will stimulate the economy and activate the general economic multi-

plier.