LTHOUGH NEWS of 5.C.'s impend- ing ranking as the province with the highest minimum wage in Canada will be cheered in some quarters, increasing B.CJ’s minimum wage will do more to hinder low-income earners than help them. NDP Labor Minister Dan Miller has decreed that the minimum wage will rise by 50 cents in March and another 50 cents in October next year to bring the hourly wage bottom-line up to $7. Ontario’s current minimum wage sits at $6.70 per hour, making that province the holder of the most gexerous minimum wage standards in the country. It’s no coincidence that the country’s two provinces offering the highest minimum wage - standards are run by NDP governments. Dreams of worker utopias die hard. It’s too bad. the economic tinkerers were Poter Speck Publisher 985-2131 (1043 Doug Foot Comptrolier 985-2131 (133) ®t 9 THE VOICE OF HONTH AND WRAT VANCOUVER Chris Johneon Cparations Manager 985-2131 (141) blinded by the quick-fix option presented by the cash injection to what are primarily young people working in the service sector. Another opportunity, the socialist braintrust no doubt reasoned, to score some easy votes -come the next moment of truth for the ruling party. But the economy needs more than another NDP public relations gesture. A Canadian Federation of Independent Business survey indicates, for example, that 45% of its members would reduce hiring should the minimum wage increase. For teens attempting to enter the work- force, that’s bad news. For those on the bot- tom rung of the wage ladder, increased pur- chasing power is good news. But it’s a mixed biessing. Many businesses will be either unwilling or unable to absorb the cost increase and will pass it on to customers and, ultimately, those entering the job market. Timothy Renshaw Managing Editor 985-2131 (116) Linda Stewart Sales & Markating Director 930-0511 (379) THE SENSELESS slaughter continuing in former Yugoslavia reminds one that, when concentrating on the past, hindsight is always 20/20. But if you depend on hindsight to solve today’s and tomorrow's problems, you might just as well be blind. Like those age-old enemies the Serbs, Croats and Muslims — intent on bombing ong another to extinction for the alleged sins of their forefathers -— people all over the globe are equally busy righting old wrongs and settling old scores. As a result, they have no time to deal constructively with the pre- sent, fet alone the future. Holocaust survivors are still energetically promoting hatred against the Germans and their allies of 50 years ago. Middle East Jews and Arabs are still at each other's throats after centuries of strife. Somalia and Rwanda remain fratricidal basket cases. Quebec separatists are still fighting the 1759 Battle of the Plains of Abraham as they endeav- or to destroy Canada. B.C.’s 91,000 status Indians — 3% of the population —— are claim- ing nearly the entire iand area of today’s province by way of retribu-. tion for their shabby treatment by our colonizing predecessors in the 1800s. Thus, aggression and revenge persist decade after decade, century after century, even though few on either side can any longer trace any real link between the original battle and their current situation. Such longstanding vendettas between individuals, groups and nations largeiy explain the unholy mess much of mankind has always been in. Today, nevertheless, at least a few examples are emerging of how to escape this vicious circle by focusing on common goals instead of ancient enmities. One of the most dramatic is the close ties now established between the two key members of the European Union — formerly those eternal foes, France and Germany. At the bottom of the world, South Africa’s Nelson Mandela and his white predecessor F.W. de Klerk have accepted the challenge Poter Kvamsatrom Display Maneger 98C-0511 (103) Vaisrie Stephenson Classified Manager 886-6222 (202) PPL Ree tht eae | To everythi |a@ season, even HITHER AND YON to work together as tomorrow's people rather than yesterday" s soli- tudes. Yeltsin has had the vision and courage to liberate Russia, its for- mer Soviet partners and half of Europe from decades of communist tyranny. The cease-fire initiated by the Irish Republican Army gives new hope at last for peace in tor- tured Northern Ireland. Hatred destroys the hater as much as the hated, If humanity is to survive, its past sins and failures must eventually be wiped from the slate and 20/20 vision applied . instead to its common future, As the wise man of old wrote: “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven ... A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down and a time to build-up.” For all 20/20 hindsighters still stubbornly turning their backs on the future, the Book of Ecclesiastes, Chapter HI, is recom- mended reading. Available in a vol- ume containing much other helpful advice at a bookstore near you. SIGN-OFF: Celebrating their 25th birthday, West Van Adult Community Bands perform in concert tomorrow Monday, Nov. 28, at 8 p.m. in Mount Seymour United Church, {200 Parkgate, with refreshments to follow. Call 980-6857 to reserve seating (a col- lection will be taken). WRIGHT OR WRONG: Blessed are those too busy to worry by day, and too tired to worry at night. 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