‘NE Veron pas f° Self-interest is Expert ignorance XPERTS ARE often as thick as two bricks. Theirs is a knowledge too often void of street sense and too often obscured by the intellectual murk generated in think tanks and assorted places of higher learning. Take the group of scientists from this province and Washington state who have concluded that Victoria’s archaic practice of pumping raw sewage into Juan de Fuca Strait is not a serious threat to the area’s marine environment. A degree in common sense, rather than marine biology, would tell most reasonably sensible folk that the conclusions of said sci- entists are dim and that the daily discharge of untreated human excrement and other effluent into the sea from a city of over 73,000 would indeed have a very serious impact on the marine environment. And apart from the basic environmental damage caused by such continued disregard for the sea and all that lives in it, the irre- sponsibility of Victoria — the capital city of what is beheld by the world as an enlight- ened and forward-thinking province in what a recent United Nations report concluded was the best country in the world in which to live — sends a message to less enlightened and less blessed areas of the world that the discharge of raw sewage and other pollutant. into the Earth’s seas and oceans is no big deal. Hey, according to the experts, it's not such a bad thing after all. Lord rescue us from experts. It’s time to educate them in some everyday realities before they help everyone cise wreck the planet. LETTER OF THE DAY Speed and stupidity are both killers Dear Editor: In reaction to Rob Jurca’s com- plaint about North Vancouver dri- vers, I, too, walk to work every day and am shocked by the lack of common sense of some pedestrians and cyclists. Even some fellow pedestrians aren't as courteous as some B.C. drivers. ~ Coming fram back east, | am baffled as to how people in B.C. allow pedestrians the right of way. This is not the case elsewhere in the country. That a car going 60 km-h has to stop at a busy intersection during rush hour for a single pedes- trian who cannot walk to the inter- section simply defies explanation. In other parts of the country, cars have the right of way, pedestrian crosswalks are brightly lit and flashing, and are quite scarce since intersection lights seem to fare ade- quately as a good place to cross the streets. Be forewarned my fellow walkers. your life is your responsi- bility. Don't be foolish enough to depend on or demand that cars stop simply because you decide to walk. Although this is the law, some- one inevitably always breaks the Jaw and to think otherwise is fool- ish. So in response to Mr, Jurca’s advice to drivers, pedestrians should look both ways before crossing. look both ways while crossing and if the car doesn’t seem to slow down don't assume it will — don't be arrogant enough to think vou can make it slow down simply by walking. Stupidity, as well as speed, kills. Chantal Barbier North Vancouver Publisher Managing Edito Associate Editor.. Sales & Marketing Director... Comptroller, North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an independent suburban newspaper and qualified under Schedule 111, Paragraph 111 of the Excise Tax Act, is published each Wednesday, Friday and Sunday by North Shore Free Press Ltd. 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 w6 cannot accept responsibility for unsolicited material including manuscripts and pictures which should be accompanied by a stamped, addressed envelope. seceeeees Pater Speck Timothy Renshaw Noel Wrght Newsroom V7M 2H4 Oisplay Advertising Real Estate Advertising 985-6982 Subscriptions Classified Advertising North Shore Managed 980-0511 Distribution 986-1337 986-1337 985-3227 985-2131 986-6222 Fax 985-2131 Administration MEMBER SUNGay -wRONMOTAT+ORIDAT 1139 Lonsdale Avenue North Vancouver 8.C. SDA DIVISION 61,582 (average circulation, Wednosday, Friday & Sunday) Entire contents © 1994 North Shore Free Press Ltd. All rights reserved. key to uebec election choice BY NOW, unless you live an even more sheltered life than I do — and watch even less tele- vision, which is almost impos- sible — you’ll have heard of the “good-cop, bad-cop” rou- tine. This refers to a supposed method used by police to squeeze confessions out of suspects, First the “good cop” pleasantly advises the alleged miscre- ant to ‘fess up. The alleged miscreant snarls and won't talk. The goud cop leaves. Enter the “bad cop.” He bullies, threatens and, in countries where civil rights fans end up in jail themselves if they ques- tion such incidents, applies a little dis- creet torture. ‘The suspect whimpers but holds his tongue, ‘The “bad cop” exits, The “good cop” retums. He is kindly. He may sympathize, confid- ing that the “bad cop" is disliked even by the other police for his cntelty. He mildly suggests that it would be wise if the suspect confessed at once, rather than await the next shift of the “bad cop,” who may return with instruments of more sophisticat- ed torture, or simply beat the suspect toa pulp. The suspect faces the choice that 66 There are iwo types of Quebecois, or rather, two faces of the same Quebecois identity: the ‘good thief’ and the ‘bad thief. 99 Graham Greene said confronts all of us in life: the choice between the black and the grey. ‘The suspect con- fesses. And so we come to the Quebec clection on Monday. And here I draw an insulting analogy, or so it will be seen. If there is a “good-cop, bad-cop” routine, then, in the parallel universe. there is a “good-thief, bad-thie!™ rou- tine. And this is the routine the Quebecois uses against the Rest of Canada, ‘There are two types of Quebecois, or rather, we faces of the same Quebecois identity: the “good thief and the “bad thief” The “good thief” is the federalist Quebecois. The “bad thief” is the sep- aratist Quebecois. But note well: just as the “good cop” and the “bad cop" are both policemen with exactly the same goal, differing only in method and in any event working as a team, each assuming a role us part of their plan, the federalist and the separatist Quebecois hive exactly the sume goal: the power and the survival of francophone Quebec. Andif this is at the expense — financial, constitutional. or whatever — of the others, so be it. The only dispute is over the method. What is at Trevor Lauten IEC ny GARDEN OF BIASES stake in Monday's election is simpiy which methad, The “good-thief Quebecois, the federilist, seems to be untroubled that Quebec is a transfer-payment indigent — even though it's the largest province in grea and second-most populous, Through transfer payments and subsidies, Quebec gets billions from the “have” provinces. Under the Canada Health Act alone, Quebec currently collects $3.7 billion a year in wansfer money. For years Ottawa hus been sliding out trom under its cost-sharing agree- ment with the provinces, so that B.C. currenily is paying 65% of its welfare, education and health costs, But Quebec is paying only 50% of its costs, Robert Fulford in the Globe and Mail has produced data indicating that cven the federal government is & move generous cultural sugar daddy to Quebec than the Quet«< one. So the “good thief" is none too good. It was, ulter all, the federalist Quebec Liberals who passed anti- Eugiich laaguayy legislation, and who torpedoed the 1970 Victoria Charter because then-premier Robert * . Bourassa, after agreeing to it in prin- ciple, folded against its enemies when he returned home. The “bad thief Quebecois obvi- ausiy is worse. Indifferent to the Rest of Canada, the “bad thief’ Quebecois blames the ROC and Ottawa for Quebec’s sup- posed inferior position within confed- eration — and will try to argue down Quehee’s share of the national debt if , . the province actually leaves. iS The separatist Parti Quebecois speaks vaguely of having its own mil- itary. By acquiring present federal facilities in Quebec? And the most insular kind of “bad thief Quebecois is stunningly naive. Polls show that a majority of Quebecers think that after separation Quebec would continue to send MPs to Ottawa. (Or is it the ROC that's naive — in assuming that surely Ottawa has the guts to tell them “not on your Nellic"?) So the “good thief and the “bad thief sre in agreement: Quebec's self-interest is all, that of the ROC nothing. Quebec revels in its difference. aggressively protecting its language and culture. And here's the hell of it: | under- stand why. | even sympathize. All minorities, perceiving danger or sniff- ing advantage. resort to cunning and duplicity. We'd do the same.