6 -— Friday, September 11, 1998 — North Shore News north shore-news-. VIEWPOINT Condo con ODspeed to the West Vancouver couple fighting the inclusion of Goods and Services Tax. (GST) in the assessed value of their condominium home. The GST federal cash grab was in itself outrageous enough, but the logic of seeing this tax calculated as part of the valuation of real property is unfathomable. GST is imposed by govermnent on something of market value being negotiated between a buyer and a sell- er. As the Wedleys point out, it is not part of the market. It is paid once on the completed product. That amount goes to a third party (the govern- ment), not the builder of the condo- minium. The GST is not part of the fee simple interest in land and improvements that the Assessment Act requires the assessor to determine. mailbox Leo Knight’s crime columns hit mark _ Dear Editor: Re: Leo Knight’s columns. : Mr. Knight happens to “tell it like it is.” The Wedleys did not perceive a tax on market value to be part of the mar- ket value exchanged between them- selves and the seller of their condo- They took the issue to B.C. Supreme Court and questioned the practice by the assessment authority of including GST in the calculation of the actual value of new homes. In a decision released Aug. 18, Honorable Madam Justice Risa E. Levine found that the Assessment Appeal Board Of B.C. should recon- sider the Wedleys’ evidence to deter- mine the appropriateness of including GST in the assessment of their prop- erty and properties in general. The Wedleys are fighting to change this boondoggie. The outcome will benefit many homeowners should they win. always on papi Gade” Drive in Dundarave and boldly approached him. “Mr, B*****.” said Lin A couple of Saturdays ago I spotted, at a considerable distance, a certain personage and his dog on the IGA side of Masine He is publisher of both the Sum and The Province . He is also president of both Pacific Press and Southam Inc., the biggest newspaper chain in Canada. (Ify you can hack your way through the corporate maze, Conrad Biack owns Hollinger and Hollinger owns Southam, and together they own approximately 63 adian papers, uniess *, Your paper is to be commended for not muzzling him. ~ Nowadays, readers who are/were victims of crime feel - helpless against “The System.” . It seems as though the victims are the ones with no rights whatsoever ... and the accused has ail of the rights. - Thank you for having such a refreshing voice on staff. _ Tt is not often that anybody has the fortitude to speak ‘out. Canadians are typically mumblers and we mutter under our breaths about things. - But wks push comes to shove and it is time to stand u and be'co;ntcd, we shrink and cower like beaten puppies, Ut is not socially acceptable thes. days to stand up for the job that the police must do to Frotect you and me from crimi- _ nals and the parasites of society. _| Who in’ their right mind would want to be a police offi- cer nowadays? Not only do the police have to face the perils of. th tin:the way-of assaults,-both physically and by weapons, but, God hep them -$hould ‘they have.to protect théméelves.-Then the weight of the: law is.actually seen. C officer becomes the one who i ison nial. . ; ic ed jurist put it seversi years ago, * “Sustice must not only.be done, i it must be seen to be done.” So what is our “justice” syscem teaching our children? d Please pass on our gratitude to Mr. Knight for a job well lone. "Dave Popil - dpopil@direct. ca Mailbox policy - LETTERS. to the editor must be legible (preferably type- -written) and include your name, full address and telephone number. Submissions can be faxed to 985- 2104, north shore Wort Shore News. founded in 1969 3% an independent suburban newspaper and quatified under Schedule 111, Paragraph 111 of the Excise Tax Act, is published each Wednesday, Friday and Sunday By North Shore Free Press {L3d. and distributed to every door on the North my best investigative reporter voice, “Iam a journalist and I would like your comment on whether, in view of the choppy stock market and economic uncertainty, there is any possibility thar Conrad jack will postpone or abandon his intention to begin a new national newspaper on Oct. 272” Don Babick — for it was he, as the old novels used to say —- opened his mouth and closed it sharply after uttering 3 single word: uote you on that?” I asked “No.” poesonay or perhaps semi-professional- “Yes,” said Don Batick. Bitingly. Bit of an inside joke here. Of course f know Mr, Babick, and he has some know!- edge of me, since 1 am one of his Vancouver Sun indecfati tigable employces. But I suppose that few passersby would have known that this man sttached by a leash to his quite innocent-looking spaniel, Noei, is one of the most powerful people in Canada —-- even among the most power- ful in West Vancouver. And Babick probably has more high- status titles, each a job in itself, than any newspaper executive in the country. pag Foot Comptrotler 86S-2131 (133) Pye lost count — Southam has just com- pleted the swap of four of ats papers for The Financial Post. gan Those jobs w “ould seem to of biases reduce anyone's prospects for mischief. But Babick is also publisher of the self-same news aper- to-be that I queried him about — the new national newspaper ares to appear Oct, 27 (ori igual Oct. § This, in the newspaper ‘ord, is sensa- tional. A new newspaper is numbingly capi- tal-intensive and guaranteed to lose money for years (is USA Today out of the red yet? It was half a billion in the glue the last time I read about ir). The paper will be published in Toronto and aims at drawing a third to a half of its circulation in that fine old Presbyterian city, now somewhat more stimulating than it used to be. Southam, dominant in every major Canadian city but | fork shut out of Toronto, now has a big old through the Post acquisition. By the way, I'd strongly advise Southam to treat the very good litde Post sensitively. It’s gradually become a better read than The Globe and Mail’s Report on Business, espccially because of its wide-ranging gen- eral columnists like David Frum, Ted , Byfield and editor Diane Francis. Don’t . fool around with its identity, Southam: 1. speak here with the heft of a not-inconse: syuential Southam sharcholder myself. So there will be an unequalled four . Teronto-based newspapers — when, his: torically, papers in the Western world have been retreating in both numbers and circu: lation for decades. When I was a youth, New York had already shrunk to seven; todzy there are three, and it’s often been said that there isn "ta good New York new: paper among them. — ’ The rest of the new paper’s circulation its printing presses, and some of its editori al content will utilize largely existing.» < Southam or Southam-contracted resources That gives the newly named ational Post a big start-up advantage.’ Also big is the’. question of whether it will compete, carini balistically, with Southam’s other p In Vancouver, the National pin eh already creamed off some outstanding reporters like Mark Hume, who have sim- . So these are exciting tirnes in c ness. Toronto’s Globe, Star and Sus jumped to attention and made changes an hired staffin not entirely friendly anticipa tidn of the National Post’s arrival. » So that’s why I describe West. .. Vancouver's Don Babick as otic of the: most powerful people in Canada. yh You never know when you ou aight n dog's influence with her master. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Lettare, must include your nama, full address 4 telephone number, VIA e-mail: trenshaw @ direct.ca Managing Editor 985-2131 (116) Agrios Promotions Manager 908-2131 (218) & Maia Office Fax Michael Becker - News Editar 985-2331 (114) Andrew McCredia - Sports/Community Editor: 985-2131 (147) The Morth Shore News Is published by North Shore Free Press Lté., Publisher Peter Speck, from 1139 Lonsdale Avenue North Vancouver, B.C., V7M 2H4