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home?”

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=

T’S NO surprise that North Shore
voters were unmoved by Mike
Harcourt’s passing of the tarnished
NDP baton to premier-in-waiting Glen
Clark.
The results of two North Shore News

' telephone surveys — one when Mikey

was still in the big office and one after
Clark moved in — show support for
both the NDP and Gordon Campbell’s
Liberal party remains basically
unchanged over the six-month pericd.
More than half ui tne respondents
continue to sit on the “undecided” fence.
« The front-running leadership candi-
dates have demonstrated a total lack of

LOOKS LIKE
WERE IN FOR
NASTY

A
CAMPAIGN...

T pee

OEE REE INP V CEST A ELPA RMB SENT EAI ETAT CIEE LP

vision (where is Gordon Campbell any-
way?) that has lulled voters into even
loftier-than-usual states of pre-election
apathy.

Nothing the premier wanna-bes have
said or done in the past six months has
captured the imagination of the decid-
edly “undecided.”

Vision and ideas (preferably new
ones) are what capture our imagination.

Recent battles for the keys to provin-
cial legislatures in Alberta and Ontario
demonstrate the effectiveness of a
vision.

Ralph Klein and Mike Harris sold
their “balance the budget or else” screed

news viewpoint

om quest

tooth and nail. Because of an unwaver-
ing party platform, both were perceived
as men of vision. And both won their
respective elections in overwhelming
fashion.

Cynics contend that the “best of the
worst” voter-choice mentality is what
often tips the balance of votes during
provincial elections.

Clearly, if Campbell, Clark and Jack
Weisgerber continue to err on the side of
caution when it comes to sharing their
visions, their ideas for the province,
British Columbia will enter the next
millennium ill-suited to take on its chal-
lenges and its opportunities. ;

t

tax tales

ANYONE LOOKING for
examples of government waste
will find a gold mine of squan- :
dering in che reports put out by
the , Social Sciences. and
Humanities Research Council
(SSHRC).

The SSHRC is a federal govern-
ment agency’ group which claims its
job is to “support such discipline-
based research as in the judgment. -

of scholars: will best advance”
“- knowledge.” “The only: things it
seems to ‘advance’ -are

‘performance strat-
egy ae sonal “of” expert and!
novice symphony: orchestra con-:
ductors and professional ‘ice hockey
coaches” (22 taxpayer years),

total personal income. tax. an er
age taxpayer pays'in one year’ —
' about $4,800; =. ;

“1B $57,000 to examine “rational ou

interpretation and, poetic’ fiction”
(i2 taxpayer years). :

shot from vacati

A REST area along 1-5,

, Washington State. °
? “Noel Coward wrote a.
“song that went: “Why, .

oh; why do the wrong -’
people travel, while the

right people stay at

~My question is: Fine, Noel. °
But who are the right people?
Nowadays?. . .
‘Travel has lost its charm.
You've noticed that you have
lousy holidays while other people always
describe theirs as terrific and fabulous. They
ie, ;

Real holidays are like this:

You pay too much for too little,

You move like a sheep in a giant herd, prod-
ded by the Seen and Unseen Hands of the
tourist trade.

The “locals” you meet aren’t the intelligent,
witty, knowledgeable and powerful people you
mix with at home — that does describe your
own circle, doesn’t it? — but the duil interna-
tional caste of self-service gas station cashiers,

‘ waiters, desk clerks, and unsmiling maids who
_ Speak fittle or no English (and are probably
‘ exhausted from three low-paid jobs) who are

‘everywhere the same.

Did { mention waiting at airports? Line-
ups? Um, constipation? And on and on?

Take this trip. It’s yours for the asking.

Impulsive chap that I am, I’m admittedly
unable to plan holidays.

I'm programmed all year. I don’t want to
schedule a holiday tike a dentist’s appointment.

So last Sunday I impulsively threw a few

things into a bag, the bag and
the dogs into my rusty, trusty
1981 van, and drove off. :

1 thought I might be away
three or four days. | was back
at 10 p.m., fed up.

(No, I'm not really writing
this from a rest area atong the
[-5. I'm lying.

Like all travel writers. I
excuse myself because I'm
writing with the good inten-
tion of telling the’truth.)
‘The truth is that the first
few hours were pleasant. I

meandered along country roads east of Blaine.
Then:

@ Moved on to the 1-5. Traffic north of Seattle

traffic'graduaily thickened, then sickened.

BA promised rest area wasn’t there. So drove in

without intended last look at maps.

W Lucked out. Found myself near 13 Coins

restaurant. Foolishly, ordered spaghettini and

meat balls. Spaghettini wasn’t. (It was some fat- .

ter noodle, overcooked.) Only poor meal at [3
Coins, a great favorite of mine, in 20 years.
@ Looked for place to rest head. Also that would
accept dogs. One, near Space Needle, was just
on the edge of shabbiness: price, $69 plus $10
for dogs. That’s over 100 Canadian dollars with
tax. Another, $49 plus $10, fell over the edge of
shabbiness. Actually stank.

Extra cleaning charge for dogs? Look, pal,
my dogs are cleaner than your customers.
Tried to find a low-priced AAA-recommend-
ed hotel. Couldn’t. Too pushed by traffic,
& Got into shouting match with two citizens on
Green Lake shorewalk when my handsome dog
Cole left a plinth in the grass, Fair enough. But
visitors evidently are supposed to know the rules

and bring their own. clean-up ‘bags: Sony, in.

Greater Tiddlycove's Lighthouse Park the.town’

provides them. So phooey..on you,’ Green:
Lekers. (I scorned ‘their snooty, stiotty, tones,
and, yes, I did get a bag from the van: and
returned to clean up Cole's deposit. y :

Know what?

I'm sickened by the sheer fussy precious-
ness of such oases, and the neuroses of up-tight
city greenies. ‘

Made a mental note to Tnove to the

Northwest Territories.
@ Struggled to get to the, university. district oily
to find that the motel that ‘AAA ‘advised took
dogs — University Motel,-for the record — tiot
only didn’t but wouldn't even allow dogs in the
parking iot overnight. Phooey on you, too. I
drove home.

This little venture is just a microcosm of a
world that’s becoming {oo stressed, too crowd-
ed, too hostile, and anyway too look-alike and
even taste-alike to bother seeing. *

And if I want an argument, I can have one
with my wife for free.

Lo

So the boom has finally fallen.

Lighthouse Park lightkeeper Don Graham
and others have got the chop.

Those jerks in Ottawa are paying hundred of
thousands a year to Indian claims lawyers
negotiating away the interests of 97% of B.C.’s
people (and don't believe any treaty is “final”)
and they stiff guys like the very knowledgeable
Graham, paid $24,473 a year.

Seven civil servants showed up at the light-
house Monday in furtherance of an automation
opposed by virtually every interest group and
government except the feds.

a NN TRL ONC