Andre Chevigny, general manager of Pioneer Log Homes in Williams Lake, joined his business partner and company owner, Bryan Reid in Los Angeles last week for the Canada West Trade Mission with Prime Minister Jean Chr�tien, International Trade Minister Pierre Pettigrew and the four western premiers. While in the U.S. Reid officially signed the contract for a 114,000 square foot home for Colorado Businessman Jim Moore. The home is currently being built at Pioneers site in Williams Lake.

As the owners and managers of Pioneer Log Homes are starting to mix it up with some of the movers and shakers of society these days, they may just have to modify their backcountry approach somewhat.

"I wanted to go in my denim jeans and a sports jacket," Chevigny confessed Thursday from the Los Angeles airport. "But I guess Bryan and I will both have to get suits."

Chevigny, says he was pretty excited about the formal dinner in the Century Plaza Hotel and the Getty Museum with political and economic heavy weights. When asked what he hoped to get out of the trade mission, Chevigny said he is there representing business in British Columbia. He said the focus of discussion last Thursday was the value added industry in relation to wood supply and tenure in British Columbia.

"We want to make sure nothing is sacrificed in the caribou," he said. "With so much on the table, we want to stand tall for jobs and values in the Caribou."