Jailed Canadians |Lj
victims of set- “up

Dear Editor:

Please excuse me for failing to.

respond earlier than this to the usual
Doug’ Collins’ filth printed. (regret-
tably) in your April 19 edition this
year: | have been in Canada only
“three weeks in the last ‘five or six
months,
“Mr. Collins has provided us, in
* this column, with more of his usual
distortions and lies about Christine
Lamont and David Spencer, who are
- the young Canadian couple still lan-
- guishing in Brazilian jails.
“For example. he refers to them as
a.‘Marxist couple.” His source for
' this appears to be just such a label
used in a Brazilian newspaper article.
. Presumably there is a Doug Collins
type on that newspaper. But God pre-
serve us from more than one. :
The local Doug Collins: also
writes “the potice raided the place.”

Another distortion. Actually, © the °

“police surrounded the house, there
was a’ standoff, a siege. bargaining
and negotiations with intermediaries,
including a cardinal of the Catholic
church. In fact “the raid” was so pro-
‘longed ‘that the proceedings figured

«° [on national television for some hours. —

Mr... Collins ‘also. wrote that
“Christine doesn’t want to exchange
her. cell: (in. Brazil) ‘for. one ‘in
_ Canada.” suggesting that her comfort
» there i is the reason.

-- The truth (often - avoided, by Mr.
Collins) -is : that . Christine’ will not
switch to'a Canadian prison because
‘< this could only be achieved. if she

_ Were. to. say she was guilty and give:
up “all: “possibility * of any: further. .

2 appeal.

{Mr: Collins: also writes that

~“Christine helped to build the cell”,

(which. ‘housed the kidnap victim).

: There is absolutely no source for this.”

“ nonsense — unless Mr. Collins stood
watching the cell construction. a
And, (Doug Collins asserts). that
“the trial was‘a fair/one.". Does Mr.
Collins ever. read | anything but his

-*+ own disgusting garbage? Before ‘the -
“trial the police tortured : five of :the:,

kidnappers. The police have admitted . ~

this now in public, Police evidence in
Brazilian courts is of the form “the
witness told me." even though ‘the
witness is available. This type of evi-
dence was accepted in this trial.

Finally, the police commissioner
was, at the time of the trial, a candi-
date for governorship. To .convict
someone — anyone — of kidnapping
was ‘a feather in his cap. Kidnapping
was rife and the police had not been
at all successful .in limiting this
crime.

If there is still any doubt in Mr.
Collins’ tortured mind he must have
heard that a Canadian parliamentary

“justice committee in 1992 stated the

trial was a miscarriage of justice.
Finally, the House of Deputies of

Brazil investigating the trial stated

that torture had been used, that the

police were coerced and that the sen-,

tences were absurdly severe.

But it seems that Mr. Collins .

knows better,

Why does he continue this
smirching? We know that his readers
expect filth from him, but he could

.also add some truth.

_ And why -does ‘he. continue:-to
belabor Christine and David? (After
all they are in jail.) Is it because he
has fost this argument so he acts. like
the boy, vanquished by another, who
continues to shout back obscenities
as he retreats?

Michael Priest

New Westminster. :

Thanks to
bag lady ©

Dear Editor: : i
I would like to express my prati-

tude and appreciation to the kind :
‘Jady-who turned in my bag of pur
~ chases left at the bus stop in front of.

Sears, Capilano Mallon July 11.

Amy Fothergill’ -
North Vancouver

Dear Editor:

If the recently published B. c, Liberal, Caucus
Community Charter comes to fruition, it will be the
most far-reaching atiempt.to reform the way govern-
ment is being conducted at the local level:

The idea’ behind Gordon Campbell's effort i is simple.
Not only will municipalities be given the powers to deal
with issues under their newly spelled out jurisdiction,
but they will also be given the resources ta deal with
them. This is fundamentally different from the’ present.

Up until now, the provincial goverment, through a
myriad of open and hidden taxes. has extracted money
from local taxpayers, shipped it to Victoria and then, on
an ever-diminishing scale, doled it back ‘out to the
municipalities. That is after generously feeding their
own ever hungry and numerous bureaucratic way sta-
tions along the way. i

This arrangement has also served as an idea! usnbrel-
la to make huge cutbacks in municipal funding schemes
while avoiding direct responsibility for its effects.

The new charter lists key‘rules and regulations gov-
eming municipal procedure/and jurisdiction; it is fun-
damentally different. Rather than listing all the specifics
municipalities are permitted to do, which under the pre--
sent municipal act fills a thousand chapters and is’so ~
archaic that it defies the imagination, the new charter |
simply lists the areas that are outside: municipal juris-
diction. Everything not listed is a local government

Come Join
~ Popcorn, Balloons and:

me XX for the whole family * Infants. ‘Children’s. Ladies’ « Men's

Park Royal South 925-9982

(across frora Chub Monaco)

responsibility,

The last serious attempt to reform the municipal act
was under Bill Vander Zalm. He promised to simplify
the act which, at that tinie, consisted of S00 chapters. -

When the task was completed, the municipal act had
a thousand chapters and ¢ its size had grown from 1" to’
a io

The NDP also promised to reform the act. But.a
promise it remained. i

Today. municipal- provincial ‘relationship is more.
bureaucratic, more hypocritical and more outdated than
at any time before.

But there ‘is and all along has been method behind

* Victoria's madness, Making municipalities: responsible

for governing at the local level and at the same time giv-“
ing them neither the powers nor the resources to do so’
has allowed the province not only to keep all its fingers
in the pie, but also enabled them to maintain: a huge
bureaucracy, which is always-an important factor in the”
power structure of any political establishment. ;

As far as the proposed charter goes, there are pitfalls. ;
The key is to ensure that the additional resources :

“municipalities have been promised to cope with their.
‘ responsibilities will ia more that. Just the . already :

exhausted property tax.
Ernie Crist,

Councillor, :
: Disirict of North Vancouver

The Fun