soles oe TAR ULES EIDE AE NARS LA, Sift SLAP TERRE LMT OL PRE RR 1139 Lonsdale Avenue North Vancouver, B.C. saneiaalenaiams _ a ATT «suity nay if A Flag om. 4 " ees Ma ak dk ad LET THE BEAVER GO— IT'S ALL Board oveR— | REPEAT— budget LET THE BEAVER botch-up berated | Dear Editor: Thank you, Mr, (David) Schreck, for taking a stand on the fiscal mismanagement in North = Vancouver School District 44. It's time trustee Barb MacLellan quit whining about lack of funds and started working within the budget allocated. Her condescending attitude is appalling. She should put her money where her mouth is, resign, and allow someone to take the reins who isn't afraid to be accountable to the public. I'd like to volunteer for the position. The four incumbent school trustees signed the current ° tea aA PETER SPECK Publisher 985-2131 (101) Chris Johnacn Operations Manager 995-2131 (166) - Doug Foot 2 Comptrolier 985-2131 (133) Sales & Martating Ditectox Managing Editor 980-0511 (319) 985-2131 (116) 1 . Terry Peters Photography Manager 985-2131 (165) Barbara Emo Cistribution Manager Production Manager 989-1337 (124) 985-2131 (127) Fy Let TORAS ASE Wate mT CORTE] plondlines; Babee Ginn AY a ate 985-2131 900-0511 Classified, Accounting " & Main Office Fax | 985-3227 Herth Shore awa, founded in 1969 as an independent suburban newspaper and qualified under Schedule 111, Paragraph Itl of the Excise Tax Act, is published cach Wednesiay, Friday and Sunday by North Shore Free Press Led. and distributed to every door on the North . Shore, Canada Post Canadisn Publications Mai! .” Sales Product Agreement No. 0087238, Mailing rates available on request. Entire contents © 1995 North Shore Free Press Ltd. All rights reserved. Jonathan Boll NewS view poir %, fi a i ‘ve an: UEBEC HAS said No. In a whisper. Now it is the Rest of Canada’s turn to say No. In a roar. Quebecers voted 50.6% to 49.4% to reject the deceitful referendum question put to them by the Parti Quebecois that was designed to remove Quebec from the rest of Canada and thereby ruin one of the world’s great coun- tries. : The Rest of Canada is now ready to say No “to the country’s endless rehashing of constitu- tional matters that are sapping Canada’s _ Vitality and energy. ae ' No to this interminable debate over distinct societies and one rule for one province and another rule for the other nine. No to political selfishness, inward thinking and disunity. No to supporting traitors in the House of Commons. MAD MONDAY’S razor- edge vote in the Quebec ref- _erendum will go down as unique in the annals of democracy for one extraordi- nary reason. It left both win- ners and losers miserable. That is, if you can use those terms at all. And oddly enough, the 49.4% Yes-side “losers” — recov- ering fast from the short-term blow to their hopes — have less reason to be unhappy than the “winning” Nos. Conceding the separatists’ one- percent defeat, their anointed leader No to the political generation of negative nitpicking in a land blessed with so much. No to divisions over language and.culture. But yes to turning Canada’s energy to get- ting its battered fiscal house in order. Yes to ridding the country of its appalling ' debi and deficit. Yes to reducing the size and weight of the federal government for all provinces. Yes to rebuilding the country's stature in the eyes of the world and its reputation in the . international market piace. . Yes to realizing Canada’s potential. - Yes to re-examining how the country works and how it can be made to work better. Yes to working together to better the lot of all Canadians. Yes to Canada and the future. No to separatist political agendas and the past. isery rer tralization to themselves of many of Ottawa's present powers and to that extent might actually be regarded as allies of Quebec — were it not for the latter's obsession with the “two founding nations” doctrine. Its dichard separatists, less than 9% of Canada’s population and 36% of Quebec's, insist that Confederation consists solely of Quebec and the rest of Canada. They utterly reject the concept of 10 equal provinces. So whatever changes the nine anglo provinces ‘ win from Ottawa, Quebec — the “distinct society” — must win more and/or better. hither and yon _ Lucien Bouchard paid brief lip ser- vice to democracy, then promised his cheering followers that “the next time may come more quickly than we believe.” And true to form, PQ Premier Jacques Parizeau has- tened to' pour gasoline on the nationalist fumes by openly attack- ing Quebec's “No” voters. No question for the separatists - about it being game over. This was merely the end of the second inning. From a different angle muuch the same can be said of the federalists’ 50.6% “victory.” Far from finally laying the Quebec problem to rest — the hoped-for outcome in the “No” camp just weeks earlier — the problem is now on the front burner with the heat turned up for an indefinite period. - Nor is Quebec primarily Jean Chretien’s problem any longer. As former Ontario premier Bob Rae noted; “The ball's now in every- body's court.” All other nine provinces also want a major decen- From Victoria to Brockville and throughout Atlantic Canada this demand is, of course, simply a non- starter, But Mad Monday's vote brought into sharp focus another factor: the Two Sofitudes no longer consist of Quebee versus the rest of Canada. The Two Solitudes — 50,6% versus 49.4% — are now splitting Quebec society itself. Hence Parizeau’s tasteless and thinly veiled threat Monday night to his federalist fellow citizens. So where agreement. with the North — Vancouver Teachers Association (NVTA) without catculating the future value of the contract, _ The entire board signed the | new collective agreement with . CUPE increasing salaries and benefits ‘when there was no - money. ; . ‘ The entire board, in January 1995, paid outa little |, less than $500,000 in sick.’ benefits to retiring adminis- trators and granted the same benefits to the two new: administrators. : ; The board knew the dis- trict would be incurring a” deficit. This unconscionable behavior will continue until Victoria stops it. ae All individuals and organi- : zations live within budgets. Citing lack of revenue and unfair funding gets the rest of : us only a swift kick in’ the | butt. Maybe these. trustees should prepare for theirs... Joanne Stephenson North Vancouver from here? rae To an extended period of bicker-_ ing over transfer of powers from * Ottawa to the provinces on a scale to satisfy Quebec; to resultant. neglect of vital deficit-cutting and debt reduction measures; and to an eventual renewed confrontation with the hardline separatists. That's where — and it’s a pretty unhappy prospect for the “winners.” On the bright side, our buck hasn't yet plunged to 50 cents U.S. Mortgage rates are not yet in the . high teens. And Canada (by one percent) at least still remains for the moment in one piece. But contemplating a further indefinite future of Quebec-appeas-, ing, do you sometimes secretly - wish you might have been there on | Mad Monday and ended the torture for good — by voting “Yes?” MANY HAPPY RETURNS of _ tomorrow, Nov. 2, to Vintage Years columnist Eleanor Godley, pro- ducer of premium wine for vintage minds and souls! WRIGHT OR WRONG; When your dreams turn to dust, vacuum! ‘ de