ednesday, M

CREE EORD

GES AETS SPRITE

ONE SPRING Do
ON THE LOGGING

THE LOGGERS ARE
COMING THIS WAY,
WITH A D-8 CAT...

«A WELL AS A
SQUAD OF ARMED
RCTAP OFFICERS...

AND COMING UP
BEHIND THEM 1S
THE 22° ARGON.

AND HEY, LGGK...
HERE COMES
PAUL WATSON!

NEWS VIEWPOINT
Spending sense

ELIEVE it or not, politicians occa-
stonally do talk sense.

David Mitchell, independent‘ MLA
for West Vancouver-Garibaldi, is, for ex-
ample, talking much sense these days. |

He is mainly talking fiscal sense as it
relates to government, which is even more
interesting, because government and fiscal
_ sense rarely, if ever, go together.

Mitchell recently introduced two impor-
tant bills in the B.C. legislature: An Act to
Reduce the Expenditures of Government
and An Act to Balance the Budget.

if he did nothing else during his political
life, Mitchell might well be canonized by
the long-suffering taxpayer if he were suc-
cessfull in seeing both bills through the

ree ine

‘LETTER

legislature.

But, unfortunately, good sense and the
political arena are another seemingly in-
compatible pair.

Mitchell’s first act would require spend-
ing to be cut so that the current $1.6
billion provincial deficit would be 30% less
by March 1995, 60% less by March 1996
and eliminated by March 1997,

Mitcheli’s second act would simply re-
quire that. annual provincial government
expenditures not exceed annual revenues.

.Both would make governments fiscally
accountable by law.

Tough acts for fellow politicians to
follow, but bone simple for the general
public.

- OF THE DAY
Message of awareness key to success

Dear Editor:

I write in response to an article
entitled ‘‘Free .market smarter
‘than. Power Smart!’’ written by
. Noel. Wright (April 30). Mr.
Wright is wrong! ; :
It is difficult to believe that this
man would rather quadruple his
Hydro bill than turn off an unus-

Sighting free trade as a better
approach is, in my opinion, weak
and uninformed. .

The free trade system of the
"90s is one which finally offers the
consumer a supplier with a con-
science. — ;

Today’s giant corporations are
willing to accept their part in pro-
tecting the- environment.  Let’s

smokers to quit — awareness has.
Using energy efficiently is
something we all can. do. it is

something we can feel good about .

doing. .

We can become part of a global
effort, as through B.C. Hydro’s
subsidiary Power Smart Inc., the

_Message of awareness is spread

across Canada and into many

ed light bulb. . celebrate.

If, -according to Wright’s—
source, the report by Hydro’s
conservation collaborative,
awareness is the answer, and
Power Smart programs are pro-
viding the . province with this
awareness, what is the problem?

hurray!

...Peter Speck
Managing Editor... Timothy Renshaw
Associate Editor. Noel Wright
Sales & Marketing Director: Linda Stewart
Comptroller .:- : : Doug Foot

North Shore Nows, founded in 1969 as an
independent suburban newspaper anu qualified
under Schedule 11t, Paragraph Ill of the Excise
Tax Act, is published each Wednesday, Friday and
Sunday by North Shore: Free Press Lid. and
distributed to every.,door on the North Shore.
Canada Post Canadian Publications Mail Sales
Product Agreement No. 0087238. Mailing rates
available on request. Submissions are welcome but
we cannol accep! responsibility tor unsolicited
material including manuscripis and pictures which
should be accompanied by a stamped, addressed
envelope : : .

Publisher...

Newsroom

V7M 2H4

If this is the kind of economy
we are teaching Boris Yeltsin, °

Besides, raising the price would
hot necessarily produce the desired
result:: The increasing cost of ciga-
Tettes has not prompted ex-

|
Display Advertising
Real Estate Advertising 985-6982
Ctassified Advertising 986-6222

other countries throughout the
world.

Yes, Mr. -Wright, a positive
message ‘“‘hither and yon’’
quite a concept. :

Peg Ainsley .
Vancouver

RA
uP
This newspaper
contains
a recycled fibre

North Shore managed

Distribution 986-1337
Subscriptions 986-133

Fax 985-3227
Administration 985-2131 |

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SUNDAY WEDNESDAY = PRORY
1139 Lonsdale Avenue, :
North Vancouver, B.C. |

61,582 (average circulation, Wednesday, Friday & Sunday)

Entire contents © 1993 North Shore Free Press Ltd. All rights reserved.

IF YOU HATE the North American Free Trade Agree-
ment (NAFTA), cheer up. The news last week had the
proposed U.S.-Canada-Mexico pact suddenly on the ropes,

in danger of a knock-out.
Not the trade agreement in

itself, which was wrapped up last
year to the satisfaction of all three
governments while George Bush

B was still in the White House. But
fast fall George was sent packing
by Bilt Clinton — who owes a lot
of votes to lubor unions and

| ‘‘greens."'

Like their Canadian brethren,

f lunchbucket American workers do
not relish competing with Mexican
counterparts carning $2 an hour.

And despite Mexico's recent
push to clean up its act, Mexico
City's infamous smog and the raw
chemical sewage fouling rivers all
along the Mexico-U.S, border get
the adrenalin pumping overtime in
Greenpeacers and other American
environmentalists.

So to honor his 1OUs to elec-
tion supporters the U.S. president
is now insisting that the NAFTA
— which cannot itself be amend-
ed, only accepted or rejected ‘as
is’ — must be accompanied by
two “‘sidebar’’ pacts laying down
labor and environmental standards
respectively. The objective being
to shield U.S. workers from un-
fair competition by industries
below the Rio Grande which cut :
costs by penny-pinching on
wages, garbage disposal or both.

In the world of diplomacy —;
and Mexicans being proud people
-— you can’t, of course, put it .
quite as bluntly as that, Therefore
the two add-on agreements are
nominally binding on all three na-
tions. :

So far so good, if only Clinton
hadn't gone one stage further. He
is also demanding the use of trade
sanctions against a country that
violates the labor or environmen-
tal side-deals. /

Last week both Canadian and
Mexican negotiators flatly rejected
such sanctions as infringing on
their natioanl soveriengnty.

The NAFTA must be ratified by
all three governments in time to .

_ take effect next January 1. Clin-
ton claims it can’t be sold toa
semi-hostile Congress without the
side-deals backed by sanctions. If
he's right, and if Canada and
Mexico hang tough, 'the pact wiil
die. ,

Meanwhile, U.S. consumer ad-
vocate Ralpis Nader says that’s
exactly what SHOULD happen.
“If Canadians do not arouse
themselves (against NAFTA)...
the tide will be less and less re-

versible toward Canada ceasing to

as

BILL CLINTON... sovereignty-
infringer. 3 :

HITHER AND YON

be an independent natlon,"’ he
told a Washington press con-

- ference last week. NAFTA, he

warned, will simply widen the

* “devastating effect’ of the 1988

Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agree-
ment, .
Come to think, when did YOU
last hear from a Canadian made
richer and happier over the past.
four and a half years by that 1988 °
eal ;

TAILPIECES: ‘‘Music-'x1-
Muffins’* concert, 10 a.m, Thurs-
day, May 27, at the Silk Purse,
1S70 Argyle, West Van, features
soprano Joanne Neisen and
pianist Bliss Johnston — tickets

$8 at the door . . . Get a head
start Saturday, May 29, on Lynn
Valley Day from 8 a.m. onward
with a pancake breakfast in Lynn
Valley Park — then enjoy the -
parade to the park at 10 a.m.

from (9th St., followed by
day-long games, rides, entertain-
ment and a huge craft fair...
‘Further west there’s similar fun
(including karaoke) from.11i a.m.
to 4 p.m. Saturday at Lonsdale.
School’s ‘‘Spring Fling,’’ 2151.
Lonsdale . .. Many happy returns
of today, May 26, to one of |
Canada’s last media bosses with
genuine intestinal fortitude, News
publisher Peter Speck . . . And
happy 50th birthday May 27, to
Mount Seymour Lion Stan
Kryszkiewicz.

oce ;
WRIGHT OR WRONG: The best
horse cannot wear two saddles
(Old Chinese proverb).

Tans

RALPH. NADER...” worse. to
come for Canadu.. ho