The Worth Shore News is published by Nocth Shore Free Press Ltd., Publisher Peter Speck, from 1139 Lonsdale Avene North Vaacouver, B.C., V7M 2H4 i a PETER SPECK Publisher 985-2131 (101) mi mat, ~—— Dee Dhaliwal * Human Ri lesourtes Managet 385-2131 (17) . oe i, Daug Foot rotat (133 Linda Stewart Sales & Marketing Oitectos $80-0511 (319) Timothy Renshaw Managing Editor: 985-2131 (116) “Peter Kvarstrom - «Display Mananer Classified Manager 960-0511 ; "> Barbara Era ._- Distribution Manager’ Creative Services Manager: : 886-1337 (124) "885-2131 (127) ni oer (114) MeCrodie Sprts/Camsiuaty 85-2131 (147) ; LETTERS TO THE EDITOR a i ater must include your name, full address :& telephone number. . i VIA Internet: trenshaw @ direct.ca” COMPUTER BBS - 980-8027, North’ Shore Hews,’ find i in 1969 as an independent suburban and qualified under Schedule LL, Paragroph 111 of the; Excise Tax’ Act. is publishod each Wodneaday, Friday and Sunday by Noth Shore Froe Press Lid. and distributed ts every door on the North Shore. Canada Post Canadian Piblications Mail Sales Product Agreement No, : Entire contents © © 1996 North’ Shore: Free Press Ltd. : ”. All rights reserved. Valeria Stephoaamn : FRAIL RTD Se WS AIR TLE Ma END ae Et 8 DS, HEY. | HEARD my DAD TALKING ABOUT 4 i, iE, EL ‘a CMON, HE SAYS T'S THE MOST REVOLTING “THING HES EVER, ‘N Yy NS Zi Tracks stop . “HE bloody carnage continues, There | has barely been time to digest, let: . alone implement, the inquest recom- ‘mendations stemming: from the August 1995. runaway ‘truck’ deaths: of Baljinder Singh and Wayde Police in | North Varicouver. “ Again’ the North Shore is thé scene of-a sickening. trucking accident. Trucks getting ‘into trouble due to malfunctioning brakes is an lall- -too common theme around here, : ‘The government, industry and Public. at. large are in agreement. °° | Safety is being comproniiged. Driver training, truck maintenance and enforce- “ment. of regulations already i in place are des- Perately i in need of a major tune-up. | One preventable death is too many. We ate beyond accepting such losses of life as the sorry consequence of accident. We are Pushing our speed limits Dear Editor: Re: raccoons and Marine » Drive (bad) drivers. While ] agree with the per- son writing aie raccoons | in your Wednesday (Sept..18) newspaper and hate to see the - growing number of small-car- casses on the road, I feel that the writer put too ‘much: a, emphasis on his animosity.” towards the slow driver in the | Toyota. In case no one has both-” cred to look recently, eed A. timit ic. the maximum, one > ‘Marine Drive is 50 km/h (30 m.p.h.), but just try driving § 50, km/h. In no time you will be su to have someone so close. to. your bumper that you'can’ even see their headlig behind them yet another . ‘stopping when: dog or perhaps, child J) -into the road, you are gua _ teed to. have a, close encounter with the moron on your! bumper. : You then have but two. - now in the realm of manslaughter, ao! a2. and risk’ B 3 On the North Shore, where the worst of | |) chain reaction tailgating. these kinds of incidents happen by virtue of, | jt seems that man the lay. of the land, it has come down to a matter of self survival. : The provincial government won't act fast . enough. Our? municipal officials can: “make the’. choice now to ban commercial trucks from , our steep roads. They can also, choose to dedicate’ more | police time to regular checks of truck. road. worthiness.’ The message has to: be clear to truckers that the North’ Shore i is too hot for : sloppy drivers and their potentially deadly © "In the meantime! rigs. ' fs experiment, try driving 50. As matters stand the situation is out: of | aan oe control. The six children left behind | by Wee ers couver Bjorn Bjornson, the pedestrian killed.’ mie ; Friday, know this all too intimately. , LOOK ne farther than your clothes closets for one particularly nasty con- tributing factor to stub- rr high unemployment. | i They probably contain their share of familiar, trusted brand names — Arnold Pahuer casuals, Gortex winter wear, Rockport shoes, etc., etc. But recently 3 newspaper report moved me to check for the first’time those tiny \ ‘made in” labels hidden i in most items of cloth- ing. | Aside from suits, I discovered well over 75% of my total wardrobe — bursting with North . American and English brand-names — came trom China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Indonesia or Bangladesh, plus odd items from Brazil and Guba. All good material and well made, into the » bargain. | And that’s just a beginning. Elsewhere in most Canadian and U.S. homes nowadays it’s a similar story: everything from carpets and kids’ soccer balls made in Pakistan to calculators and TV zappers from Malaysia. So. when quality and price are right, what's wrong with this happy picture of the Global Village’s developing countries working to raise their living standards towards the level of our own? What's wrong, of course, is that the picture is often the very opposite of happy. The news item that started me going through my clothes closet was a survey by the Geneva-based International Labor Organization (ILO), a United Nations agency. It told of at least 73 million children between 10 and 14 years of age who now labor in the. ’ towns and cities of developing countries, where their numbers have been steadily rising. They regularly work berween eight and 10 hours a day, every day of the week, sometimes for as little as six cents an hour. The 73 million youngsters covered by the survey represent. over 13% of thar age group worldwide. But it gets Worse. “These figures only tell part of the story,” says the ILO. “No one really:knows how! many children under 10 are working, ... If all toiling. children were taken into account, the total num- ber of child workers around the world today . might well be in the hundreds of millions.” Many of them -—- wickedly exploited in heartless sweatshops — are, according to one U.S. labor official, “literally slaves, literally prisoners\” That thought can take a lot of the funlout of wearing those smart brand-name shirts, blouses, skirts and pants from the Third World. “Especially” when'the enslaved youngsters who may well have made them also represent jobs lost to Canadian. neighbors. For those who feel strongly about the’ matter there are rwo ways to do something about it" Once is to check country-of-origin tags before.” buying and then choose clothes made in Canada,: «'. _ the U.S. or anywhere else free of child labor. The often surprisingly small differences ini price tell ’- where the sweatshop profits 80: man it’ S not to. the customer. ; The other way is to ask your favorite brand- a name firms with Third World suppliers to certify : ‘ that no child labor is involved, If they won't, tell -your MP, name them in an open letter to your. “newspaper and switch to brand-names that will: so certify, ; If Canadian and U.S. clothes customers don’ bo do it to help both the Third World’s slave-chil- dren and their own jobless, who will? | HAPPY BIRTHDAY wishes Friday, Oct. 4, to. North Van’s Cameron Wardell ... More . same that day to West Van's CarolAnn Reynolds. a QO0 : WRIGHT OR WRONG: Adversity always, comes with an instruction book. a i : the The North Shore News belicves strong in in, freedom of speech and the right of all sides in a debate to be heard, The columnists published in the News present differing points of view, bit those views are not necessarily those of the news paper itself.