DGE WINK, Wink) ? udget beginnin _TTENTION CYNICS, skeptics and pocket-picked taxpayers. Do not yet | bandon all hope: government bud- gets can be controlled. The simple expectation that any govern- ment anywhere could, just once, deliver a _ budget without an increase over the budget , before it has sorely tried the faith of the com- mon folk in their elected representatives. But West Vancouver has shown that it can -be done, At its Monday night meeting, the municipality’s council introduced a 1994 ‘ budget with no overall tax increase. ” With some additional sharp accounting - pencilwork, the document actually delivers a modest 0.2% decrease in general taxation. _- That such budgetary initiative is so rare “ and therefore such. big news is lamentable. Taxpayers are far more used to the fla- grant disregard for fiscal responsibility dis- played by/the provincial and federal govern- ments and their out-of-contre! bureaucra- cies, which.spend in order to survive and clog the arteries of local commerce like bad eco- nomic cholesterol. And while it is commendable, West. Vancouver’s 1994 budget should be just the first step in stanching the flow of public spending in that municipality and an exam- ple for other jocal jurisdictions to follow. The diligence of a concerned group of citi- zens in chronicling what it believes to be budgetary fat in West Vancouver and its efforts in presenting those findings to council and the public should also be conmmended. The lesson from their exercise: the thick ears of governments can be penetrated. ‘The message for the rest of us: make gov- ernments listen and make them accountable for the public purse. “1 think I’m batting one hit, two passed balls, and one strike- out.” West Vancouver District Coun. ' Andy Danyliu, on his performance during a recent council debate after proposing four amendments to the municipality’s zero-tax-increase budget. (From the April 29 North Shore News Garden of Biases col- ann) Publisher... Managing E Associate Editor. Sales & Marketing Comptrolier. -Peter Speck “Maybe my grandson can teach me what I need to know.” North Vancouver District Mayor Murray Dykeman, pondering how he might get up to speed on com- puters and the computerization of district hall. (From an April 22 North Skore News story.) “Liberation from an ordained role (that of orthopedic support), Display Advertising Classified Advertising Newsroom 986-6222 Fax 980-0511 Distribution Real Estate Advertising 985-6982 Subscriptions 985-2131 Administration from a confined territory (the . intimate), from a symbology which is mythicized (the ‘stacked’ sex goddess), or condemned as evil (the bra as symbol of subor- dinate femininity).” Cristina Morozzi, in the fore- word to the book Brahaus, on the liberation of the brassiere. (From an April 17 North Shore News fash- ion story.) * 986-1337 986-1337 985-3227 985-2131 this ewspaer weaned ‘re North Shore News, founded-in 1989 as an independent suburban newspaper and qualified under Schedule 111, Paragraph 114 of the Excise Tax Act, is published each Wednesday, Friday and Sunday by North Shore Free Press Ltd. and distributed to every door an the North Shore. Canada Post Canadian Publications Mail Sates Product Agreement No. 0087238. Mailing rates availatle on request, Submissions are welcome but we cannot accept responsibility for unsolicited material including manuscripts and pictures which shauld be accompanied by a stamped, addressed envelope. V7M 2H4 1 139 Lonsdale ‘Avenue North Vancouver B.C. North Shore Managed MEMBER Gu S SDA ee 61,582 (average circulation, Wednesday, Friday & Sunday) Sere Entire contents © 1994 North Shore Free Press Ltd. All rights reserved. Cai ‘Tories be catalysts for THE NEXT provincial clec- tion could be only 12 months away. Anti-NDP voters will almost certainly exceed the 60% in the 1991 election. Nevertheless, the NDP will sweep back to power for a second term. Our first-past-the-post election rules make this the inevitable out- come. dear reader —- UNLESS, that is. an overnight miracle happens in B.C.’s big but suicidally divided: right-wing camp. Gordon Campbell's official Liberat Opposition may be lucky to - collect even half of the anti-NDP vote. Most right-wing B.C. voters see the Grits as simply socialists in suits, vhom no self-respecting Socred, Reformer or Conservative / could ever stomach supporting. Meanwhile, the Social Credit Party appears to be in its final death throes, leaving tens of thousands of former Socred voters for the time being without a political home provincially. ‘Their natural alternative, Ron Gambie’s B.C. Reform Party, is still denied recognition by Preston Manning and the federal party — despite the lens of thousands of votes Socreds gave the latter. Enter Peter Macdonald, leader of the moribund B.C. Conservative Party, who recognizes the acute dangers of a divided right wing and wants to do something about that urgently needed overnight miracle. . Back in January he hit the head- lines with his “TaxCap” crusade — a proposal for legislation limiting lotal government taxation to a pre- scribed percentage of the Gross Domestic Product. For quite a time he’s also held a monthly Conservative Forum at the Georgia Hotel — noon-hour talks” by an idcologically wide « cross-sec- tion of speakers who happen to be in the news. After the regular open forum on May 10 (with Troy Lanigan of the Canadian Taxpayers’ Federation)’ he’s organized an even more intet- esting closed meeting. - Invited to gather with him to discuss a post-NDP future for the province are B.C, Reformer Ron Gamble, a Socred representative, Gordon Wilson of the Progressive Democratic Alliance, Kathleen Toth of the Family Coalition, Libertarian Wayne Marsden, Independent ex-Liberal David Mitchel! and even Stuart Parker of the Green Party (which is not quite GORDON CAMPBELL ... no match alone for NDP. HITHER AND YON so chummy. these days with Mike Harcourt). Liberal leader Campbell — who turned down the Tax Cap initiative : —~ was not inyviled, For Peter, tax relief is non-negotiable. Are there areas of mutual inter- est and agreement, he'll ask bis guests, on which they could build? If sof can B.C. Tories become the 66 i can B.C. Tories become the catalyst for working . togeth er under some common banner to defeat the Harcourt : government?... 99 catalyst for working together under some common banner to defeat the Harcourt government in 1995-967 And if right-wingers don’t unite," who WILL oust the NDP? SCRATCHPAD: Jurying by North Van Acts Council forthe 16th- annual Folkfest Craft Fair contin- ues Thursday, May 5, from 3 to 6:30. p.m. -— for appointment call Ella Parkinson, 988-6844 ... Still with the arts, the exhibit of water- colors by Ruth Grant costinues at North Van City gallery, 141 West 14th, weekdays until May 18 ... Plants, hanging baskets and free advice from master gardeners are yours at the Irwin Park School Garden Sale 2455 Haywood, West Van, from- 11] a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday, May 5. ..... And Handsworth school is holding its Grad *84 Reunion Saturday, July 16 — if you qualify for the fun, call soonest Lisa Hubbard, 985-1463, Chris Cunningham, 983-6986 or the schaul, 987-3381. WRIGHT GR ‘WRONG: Swallowing angry words right, away is much easier than eating them later. :