road-building |

bonuses premature

Dear Editor:

I was reading an article in
the News a couple of weeks
ago regarding the new
Westview exchange construc-
tion.

The article mentioned the
potential bonus that the con-
tractor would receive if he

ot the new roads open
efore a certain date.

This got my brain a
churnin’ and it occurred to
me that another contractor
received a big bonus for get-
fing the Second Narrows

ge open early.

Whar’s my. point? Well,
I’m sure — and correct me if
Pm’ _wrong — that the con-
struction on the Second
Narrows was to be fully com-
plete by December 1996. Is
it not now. almost April
1997":

Is there not a lo of
uncompleted work on the
. bridge? ie: lights, signs, etc.
> plus’ still see guys working
over. the railing on some-
thing. (seismic upgrading?).

What's: up with that? Is

his ‘a ‘different contractor? Is
it the same one and he is now

well over his original sched-
ule? If so, is there no penaity?

Ir would seem to me that
there are bonuses attached to
getting traffic flowing but no
real incentive to actually get
to 100% complete.

Are we going to see the
Westview interchange drag
on for months z2fter we hand
over another big bonus?

Back to the Second
Narrows. I also remember
reading that the reason for
the bumpy ride over the
bridge was a result of a
design that improved trac-
tion or some other lame
excuse.

You don’t have to be a
rocket scientist to figure out
that this is absolute baider-
dash. Sure they have tex-
tured the surface to help
with traction — but this is
not why it is bumpy — noisy
yes — bumpy no.

A quick ride over the
bridge will reveal the answer
immediately,

Say you were riding over
the bridge to downtown.
Take mental notes on how
smooth the ride is and where

you are on the bridge.

You will notice that it gets
quite sinooth at the crest of
the bridge and roughs up
slightly before you exit the
bridge.

This is because when they
resurfaced the bridge they
used concrete — concrete
starts out as a liquid — ever
tried to keep water on a slop-
ing plate?

Sure concrete can be
made to be very stiff and it
may work if you were build-
ing a new bridge, but this
bridge had to remain open
while it was being resurfaced.

Asa result the bridge was
always shaking and it ruined
the nice flat surface by creat-
ing bumps as the concrete
tried to slip downhill.

Are we supposed to
accept the excuse we were
given? Why not cell the
truth?

Is the life of the bridge
going to be shorter now that
it is vibrating more than it
was designed to?

John Friswell
North Vancouver
cancon@dowco.com

“LETT ERS’ to the ‘editor must be legible (preferably typewritten) and include your name, full
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lish

all letters. Published letters niay be edited for brevity, clarity, accuracy, legality and taste.

= Submissions cart be faxed to 985-2104 bur still must be signed and fully addressed.

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Mob movie's
hard reality

Dear Editor:

Enjoyed the article Murder
witneses get trauma relief in
your March 23 issue.

People go to see a gangster
movie I guess to see Mary
Poppins dance in the flowers.
When they are entertained by
real-life gangsterism, they are
traumatized. This is a realistic
commentary on today’s thrill
seckers, just like the dead “risk-
taker” in your News Viewpoint
When thrills kill.

With today’s attitudes, ’'m
surprised = there —weren’t
demands the government pro-
vide “free” trauma de-briefing.

The person to thank for all
of this of course is Me.
Mohammed Mirhadi. He has
brought us a first-hand realistic
look at life where he is from —
thank goodness for the
Liberal’s multicuit integration
program. Give them another
$63 million. It’s only taxpayer
money. Sound harsh? Realism
can be.

Doug Spence
Lions Bay"

) i ted white, m.p.

~ FREE-RRSP. MUTUAL. FUND
AND_GIC PORTFOLIO. REVIEW _

Have you had your
spring tune up?

/ How is your RRSP or invesiment portfolio performing?
W Are you properly diversified?

o Do you have access to up-to-date, ongoing research for
all of your investments?

o Do the securities in your RRSP suit your investment
objectives and risk tolerance?

For a complimentary review of your
RESP and investment portfolios please call:

Chris Carter

Financial Advisor

925-5565

BLUE CHIP THINKING is a trademark of Midland Walwyn Capital Inc.
Meraber -

MIDLAND
WALWYN

BLUE CHIP THINKING

Canadian Investor Protection Fund

advertorial, April 297

THE INTERNET, TV, AND MORE

interest in the Internet as a research
and communications tool has been
growing rapidly lately, so it-is net

surprising that MP2 are under increasing-

pressure to provide information on policy
positions, speeches in Parliament, and
personal political work, via that medium.

| have had a fairly basic web page in
place for almost two years, but receritly
undertook a major restructuring of the
page in response to the escalating
number of requests for my Internet
address. The new page, which is now
open at http://www.reform.ca/white-t/,
includes weekly copies of my North Shore
News reports, access to all of my speeches
in. Parliament since February 27, 1996,
biographicat notes, and details of my most
recent Private Member's Bills. | am also in
the process of adding the text of speeches |
have given at universities and conferences
in connection with democratic reforms such
as initiative, referendum and recall, which
are my areas of responsibility as the Reform
Critic for Direct Democracy.

If you are interested in accessing the
sites of the major political parties, my page
offers links to those other sites. Regardless
of your political affiliation though, | am
confident that you will agree with the
observations made by a number of political
commentators; and CTV's Canada AM, that
the Reform Party uf Canada site is by far the
best presented, and most informative. (The
Party is currentiy registering more than
3,500 accesses to the site each day, up from

about 1,000 per day just a few months ago.).

COMMUNICATION VIA TV

The Internet, although undergoing

spectacular growth, is just one of a number.

of tools which can be utilized by MPs to
communicate with their constituents.
Tomorrow night, April 3rd, from 7pm to 8pm
on our local Rogers Community TV Channel
4, | will be the quest an a five political phone-
in show. The program will begin with a short
introduction and a few questions from the
host, before the lines are opened for your
input. You can always reach me fairly easily
via my North Vancouver office of course, but
this will be an opportunity for you to have
your questions answered in a public forum.

_ Please keep in mind that the host will
probably place limits on how much time can
be spent on each call, sc it would be wise to

carefully think through a concise preamble
and question before you pick up the phone.
That way, we can deal with as many calls as
possible within the time constraints of the

program.
MORE ON COMMUNICATIONS 8

On a_ completely - different. .com-
munications related topic, it appears that:
Olympic rowing star and Sitver medallist,
Silken Laumann, was recently rejected as’
the guest speaker for a London, Ontario
meeting of new Canadians soiely. because
she does not speak French. The

Minister of Immigration, Lucienne Robillard, | ::

when. asked why her office: had ‘replaced. .
Laumann with an athlete fam Quebec ‘who: .
had come 7th in the hurdics, sa’ id, "We've a
bilingual country. It's bes:
person herself. can “speak : both
languages."

Ms. Laumann has quite properly declined

to comment on the incident, but with all due f

respect to the athlete from Quebec. who
replaced her at the citizenship event,” it
certainly looks as if the Minisier has set an
interesting precedent, to say the least. We]
can only conclude that prominent Canadians:
who do not speak French have. had ‘their:
names removed from the list of guest
speakers for high profile public meetings
arranged by the immigration Department,’
and that appeasing Quebec is being taken to
ridiculous extremes by the immigration. 7
Mitister. ,

NEWS FLASH #1: Last November, in

compliance with Reform Pasty rules for
MPs planning not to run again, eight

Reform MPs announced that they were 5 .

stepping aside. At the time; the media
portrayed this as some sort of disaster.

Well, as of March 27, 1997, twenty five, f°.

yes that's twenty five LIBERAL MPs have’
left the fold. Not a squeak from the medie’
of course, which should be asking why, if
things are going so well for the Liberais,
at least 14% of thelr Caucus will not be
running again.

NEWS FLASH #2:Elections Canada
urgently needs enumerators to carry out
the door to door compilation of the
Voters List for the upcoming election.
Please call 775-5355 for informatian on
rates of pay, hours of work, etc.

:Ted d White, MP. , #302-1200 Lynn Valley Road; North’ Vancouver, B.Ci..V7}-2A2:
~Tel.: 666-0585: Fax: = 656-0509, Internet: http://www.reform.ca/white-t/:.-”

er when the. Be