The mushroom industry in British Columbia markets and distributes through a central selling agency under the trademark Money's Mushrooms. This member owned agency also exercises control, through production area quotas, on member production. This study analyses the market behavior of the B.C. mushroom industry¹, in order to ascertain whether producers collectively exercise monopoly control over the industry. The main structural components of the industry are described in a mathematical model using a partial equilibrium analysis. The parameters which affect demand are estimated with econometric equations. Supply is formulated by minimizing a cost function subject to a Constant Elasticity of Substitution Production Fuction. A major feature in supply is the joint-product relationship between mushrooms which are sold fresh and mushrooms which are sold processed. Policy implications arising from the structure of the industry and its observed behavior in the market are then analysed. The econometric analysis indicates that the demand for fresh mushrooms in B.C. over the period 1982 to 1986 was influenced by own price, advertising and the price of a complement, beef. The ability of the association to set prices in the fresh market is confirmed by the results. In the processed market, it was found ¹In this study, mushroom refers to the commercially marketed variety "Agaricus Bisporus". that imported processed mushrooms are very close substitutes for domestic processed mushrooms. The factors which influence processed mushroom demand are consumer income, and price of imported processed mushrooms. A mathematical model of the industry is formulated with two opposing models of market behavior -perfect competition, and monopoly power. The model generated results are then compared to actual market data. The results support a model of competitive market behavior in the B.C. mushroom industry. That is, producers do not collectively, through the marketing association, set prices above competitive levels. In addition, the analysis indicates that the production quota is not a binding input on production. Therefore, given the existing production technology, no societal welfare gains can be realized by increasing the total allocation of quota in the B.C. mushroom industry. It is concluded that the centralized marketing of mushrooms in B.C. provides benefits to producers through scale economies in inputs and in marketing/distribution. However, the limited powers that the association has available to enforce cooperation amongst members has recently placed the association in financial difficulties. Specifically, the low prices (relative to cost of production) for processed mushrooms in 1986 has recently resulted in several growers opting out of the association in favour of forming their own marketing agency. There was also a significant increase in volume of illegal sales in 1986. The reduced volume of patronage, illegal sales, and competitive pressure from the newly formed marketing agency has resulted in lower prices for members of the association. / Land and Food Systems, Faculty of / Graduate

This thesis explains why individuals are active in the British Columbia Liberal Party, considering it was finished as a viable force in BC politics following the 1975 election. What are their motivations and incentives, and the factors that govern them, given the party's inability to reward its workers in terms of winning elections? The analysis is conducted using a two-pronged theoretical approach. This approach posits first, that incentives are dependent on, and independent of, the Liberal Party's ends, including its political principles and its goal of being elected. Second, it posits their incentives arise from both personal gain and psychological needs. Using survey data collected from the BC Liberal Party 1987 leadership convention, I demonstrate that activists are inspired by a variety of motivations that are both dependent on, and independent of, the party's ends. Due to their distinct ideological orientation and purposive concerns, the activists would not fit in any other provincial party. Analysis also reveals that there are two groups of Liberal activists—optimists and realists regarding the future success of the party. Paradoxically, the least optimistic are the most involved in party activity, and the most hopeful are the least involved. I demonstrated that closeness to the federal Liberal party influences the realists' activism in the provincial party. The existing literature on incentives for political party activism tends to focus on patronage, ideology and party-related concerns, such as policy, issues, leaders and candidates. As such, it diminishes the importance of psychological motivations. This thesis found the latter played an equally powerful role in governing motivations for political party activism. In this regard, this thesis has contributed to a more comprehensive understanding of party activism. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

Entry-limiting regulations imposed on common property fisheries have been suspected of encouraging fishermen to substitute unregulated for regulated inputs. This imposes a cost upon society in the form of a reduced amount of resource rent generated by the fishery. Almost no research has been done to provide quantitative estimates of substitution possibilities and the associated degree of rent dissipation. The thesis provides the first estimates of the harvest technology for the British Columbia commercial salmon fishery, one of the first fisheries in North America to experiment with limited entry controls. Estimates of cross-price elasticities of input demand and of elasticities of intensity are given. These elasticities exhibit a greater degree of input substitutability than has heretofore been assumed in the theoretical literature. Two of the four vessel types used in the fishery are observed to be responsible for most of the resource rent dissipation. Potential rent for 1982 is shown to be $73.1 million. This represents 44% of the total value of the landed catch. Actual rent for the 1982 season is estimated to be -$42.8 million. A model of a fishing firm subject to input restrictions is developed in the thesis. The empirical model uses a flexible functional form proposed by Diewert and Ostensoe (1987). The major advantage of the normalized, quadratic, restricted profit function over the translog is its ability to distinguish differing degrees of input substitution between pairs of inputs, while imposing convexity in prices upon the functional estimates. The function is estimated for one output, three variable inputs, and three restricted inputs. Four samples are used which correspond to the vessel types that fish salmon. This allows rent to be calculated for the entire fleet, as well as for each of the components. The study of the salmon fishery is completed by addressing the important issue of rent dissipation. The actual amount of rent is established by using the predicted input demands of each vessel to calculate total fleet costs for the number of vessels that fished in 1982. This is compared to the potential rent that would be generated by an efficient fleet. To determine the characteristics of the efficient fleet, the optimal amount of (the restricted) net tonnage for each vessel is determined. Predicted output levels for each vessel are then used to calculate the minimum number of vessels required to take the 1982 harvest. This is done for each of the four vessel types. This exercise is repeated for two alternative scenarios, including the assumption of a greater degree of substitutability per vessel than actually found and a change in the distribution of catch among the vessel types. A comparison of rents generated in each scenario with an estimate of the actual rent from the 1982 fishery suggests that input-substituting activities of the fishermen may cause a substantial amount of rent dissipation. In addition, fleet redundancy and an inefficient catch distribution are found to contribute to the problem. The thesis concludes with a discussion of the implications for effective fisheries management. In particular, the findings of the research endorse the (Pearse) Royal Commission on Pacific Fisheries Policy (1982) recommendation of a fleet reduction scheme to be used in conjunction with a royalty tax on catch. On the other hand, evidence of input substitutability suggests that a vessel quota restriction might be successful in preventing some rent from being dissipated. / Arts, Faculty of / Vancouver School of Economics / Graduate

Many professionally trained immigrant applicants receive high marks in the selection process for their perceived value to the host Canadian society and economy. Upon arrival, however, many new immigrants find that employers and industry-regulated accreditation boards do not recognize their foreign degrees and work experience. In this thesis, I interview 25 underemployed or unemployed foreign-trained engineers in Vancouver to investigate the diversity of their experiences in the labour market. I focus on how they perceive the obstacles they are facing and how they are responding to these barriers in seeking employment. This thesis is situated in a growing body of literature that considers labour markets as complex, place-contingent, socially and institutionally embedded constructs. Using a "socio-institutionalist" approach, which refutes conventional neoclassical economics' theories of labour markets as free, self-equilibrating, and uninterrupted markets, enables me to compose, then put to work, a multilogical theoretical model that examines the ways in which various institutions control, shape, and govern access to professional engineering jobs in Vancouver. In particular, I draw upon theories of regulatory, social and cultural institutions in the labour market. I find that regulatory institutions, such as the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia (APEGBC), create licensing obstacles that are indeed profound for new immigrants. In addition, many recent immigrants are excluded from local social networks that diffuse information about professional job availabilities; assistance is provided through inclusive immigrant and ethnic networks, but this rarely leads to professional employment. Lastly, many newcomers perceive their cultural institutional affiliation to be wanting, and so pursue Canadian academic credentials in an attempt to gain entrance into the market. / Arts, Faculty of / Geography, Department of / Graduate

Major questions regarding the roles of school psychologists and delivery system reforms have appeared in the school psychology literature over the last of couple decades (Benson & Hughes, 1985; Fagan & Wise, 2000; Jackson, Balinky, & Lambert, 1993; Jerrell, 1984; Lacayo, Morris, & Sherwood, 1981; Reschly, 1988; Reschly & Wilson, 1995; Roberts & Rust, 1994). Consequently, many U.S. national survey studies have been conducted (Anderson, Cancelli, & Kratochwill, 1984; Benson & Hughes, 1985; Curtis, Chesno Grier, Walker Abshier, Sutton, & Hunley, 2002; Fischer, Jenkins, & Crumbley, 1986; Hutton & Dubes, 1992; Lacayo et al., 1981; Reschly & Wilson, 1995; Smith, 1984; Smith, Clifford, Hesley, & Leifgren, 1992; Stinnett, Havey, & Oehler-Stinnett,1994). However, there is little current empirical research on the roles and functions of school psychologists in British Columbia. Research is needed to help assess the state of the art in this province and explain what psychologists are doing. The profession of school psychology is unregulated in B.C. and so it is possible that persons practicing in the schools have a variety of training and offer a variety of services. Further, there is much existing uncertainty regarding the future path of the profession (Benson, 2002). The purpose of this study is to explore the job roles and functions of practicing school psychologists in B.C. and to examine the impact of various personal, professional, and job-site characteristics and external influences on job roles and functions. Survey methodology (N=42) was used with five select follow-up interviews for a sample of school psychologists around the province. Results revealed that the majority of respondents held a masters degree in school or educational psychology. Although respondents allocated a majority of their professional time to the role of assessment, school psychologists occupied a broad number of roles and desired to increase their time allocated to the other roles of interventions, consultation, counseling, and research and evaluation. Further, job roles were impacted by the number of students and schools served by psychologists, and psychologists' supervisors' field of specialization. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

This thesis will deal with the hydrographic survey of the BC coast and the international boundary settlement conducted by HM ships Plumper, Satellite, and Hecate from 1857 to 1863. It will examine the geo-political importance of the pursuit of "knowledge as power" in light of American expansionism and the utilisation of the surveyors as a significant force of law and order; their importance to the social and commercial development of BC; and their contribution to the safety of navigation and the exploration of the BC coast. / Arts, Faculty of / History, Department of / Graduate

This study dealt with college registrars in the Canadian province of British Columbia. The purpose of this study was three-fold: (i) to gather information concerning the personal characteristics, career paths and academic preparation of college registrars, (ii) to identify the types of professional development activities to which these individuals subscribe, and (iii) to determine the professional development needs and preferences of college registrars. A review of the scholarly literature revealed a limited number of studies dealing with college registrars. No Canadian studies were found which dealt with this subject matter. Other related literature was sought out, particularly studies which dealt with the personal characteristics and work histories of other nonacademic post secondary educational administrators. A questionnaire was mailed to all college registrars in British Columbia (N = 18). Seventeen individuals responded. From the information gathered via the questionnaire, several conclusions were drawn and a profile of the average college registrar in British Columbia was developed. This profile identifies the registrar as being a male who is roughly forty-six years of age. He is employed by a comprehensive community college and earns approximately $64,000 annually. He has held this position for close to eight years. This individual has completed an undergraduate degree in the field of science or mathematics although, he believes that there is no "preferred" form of undergraduate education for potential registrars. He has developed an understanding of the computer technologies utilized at his college through "hands-on" experience and is largely self-taught. Prior to becoming a registrar he had worked full-time for twelve years and had held at least two other positions within a college or university. When desire or circumstances necessitate a job change, this person would seek a position such as Dean or Director of Student & Ancillary Services or Vice-President, Student Services and Administration. This individual did not actively pursue the goal of becoming a college registrar. Given that this individual did not intend to become a registrar, it is not surprising to find that his academic preparation was not planned with a view to future work as an administrator in an institution of higher learning. The college registrar enjoys attending workshops, seminars and meetings sponsored by the British Columbia Registrars' Association (BCRA). He is a member of this organization as well as the Association of Registrars of Universities and Colleges of Canada (ARUCC) and, the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO). Several conclusions were drawn and recommendations were made. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate

This thesis examines and evaluates the British Columbia Community Tourism Action Program (CTAP), a provincial program that aims to help communities broaden their economic bases by developing tourism. Specifically, it questions how isolated single-industry towns implement the British Columbia CTAP, and how they evaluate it, using the examples of Golden and Ucluelet, both of which have been using the program since 1991. The thesis does not base its conclusions on financial data, but on the communities' responses to a questionnaire about the CTAP, on meetings with each community's tourism action committee, and on a comparison of theories of tourism planning with the actual workings of the British Columbia CTAP. After establishing why single-industry towns may have a special need to diversify their economies, the thesis traces the evolution of the British Columbia CTAP from two other programs: its predecessor—British Columbia Tourism Development Strategy— and the Alberta Community Tourism Action Program. Following this history is a brief description of why tourism planning is necessary, including some of the environmental, economic and social effects of tourism, and then a review of the literature concerning tourism planning. A detailed study of the Golden and Ucluelet plans, several evaluations of the program, and recommendations for future research complete the thesis. Since the town representatives responses to the British Columbia CTAP have been favourable and since the program matches several of the most important theoretical requirements of tourism planning, the thesis concludes with qualified approval of the program. Reservations about the program's effectiveness include concerns about how well all the residents of a town are represented, how the program is evaluated, and how the program deals with sustainability issues. The final recommendations section sketches in how these problems might be addressed and also suggests some supplements to the CTAP. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

The sureness of the modern educational project has been undermined by shifting epistemological and material conditions. The shift from modernity to postmodernity develops its own incongruencies and anomalies as well as highlighting those extant during modernity. Institutions like British Columbia's community colleges cling to the artifacts of modernity, leaving postmodern environments and discourse unacknowledged. This study applies rhetorical strategies, devices and the methodologies of literature and poststructural social studies, including the use of deliberate ambiguity and unstable signification, to write in opposition to the plain prose privileged by the technical instrumentality of mainstream adult education discourse in the North American academy. This de-centring of traditional academic discourse reframes and challenges prevailing constructions of Canada, education in Canada and community colleges in British Columbia. Exhuming and exposing some of the operational myths of modernity as they found expression in Canada through academic discourse and quotidian practice while offering an alternate story is the means by which my narrative proceeds. This re-storying, in turn, is used as a strategy to challenge modern mainstream educational and educational administrative practice, while attempting to normalize ways of seeing community colleges in British Columbia based outside of modernist orthodoxies. / Education, Faculty of / Graduate

In 1967, the Vancouver Art Gallery held an exhibition entitled Arts of the Raven: Masterworks by the Northwest Coast Indian in celebration of Canada’s centennial. The following thesis discusses the way in which the curators of the Arts of the Raven exhibit constructed the Northwest Coast “Indian-Master” artist as a strategy that figured into a larger, shifting cultural field. The intention of the exhibit organizers was to contribute to the shift from ethnology to art. While this shift can be dated to the turn of the century, this thesis deals primarily with the period from 1958-1967, a decade described by the preeminent First Nations’ political leader, George Manuel, as the time of “the rediscovery of the Indian”. How the formation of an Indian-master artist (and his masterworks) intervened in art historical practice, and dovetailed with the meaning that the affix “Indian” carried in the public sphere, is considered. In the 1960s, this meaning was fostered, in part, through a reassessment of Canada’s history in preparation for the centennial. This event drew attention to the historical relationship between Canada and aboriginal peoples through public criticism of the government by public interest groups, Indian organizations, and civil rights and anti-poverty movements. The category of mastery, which functions as a sign of class, taste and prestige in European art canons, “included” the Indian under the rubric of white male genius. Yet the Indian as a sign of upward mobility was incommensurable with the Native reality in Canada at the time. In other words, the exhibit produced an abstract equality that eclipsed the concrete inequality most First Nations peoples were actually experiencing. This thesis concludes by arguing that the Arts of the Raven exhibit came to serve the important purpose of creating a space for the “unique individual-Indian” from which collective political First Nations voices would speak. / Arts, Faculty of / Art History, Visual Art and Theory, Department of / Graduate