6 - Wednesday, June 17, 1987 - North Shore News THE VOICE OF NORTH A AND west VANCOUVER jhorth shore: Publisher: Editor-in-Chief Managing Editor Barrett Fisher Advertising Director Linda Stewart Hed urine Se bectuin Hl Patagragitl IN cd tae Pegg Ltd and duthtvted ia avitty door an Peter Speck Noe! Wraght Display Advertising 960-0511 Classiflod Advertising 986-6222 Newsroom 985-2131 Distribution 986-1337 Subseriptions 986-1337 North Store Hews, tounded in 1900 ay aft dependent Adaltan Ne aepdpert Cece bee ACT 4 published each dentro tay Pevlag ated Gutehig by tegen Se he ten » Shown Second Co. “fl 4 dvattatile G6 tequest Sutirnss, Ae) PC tht wth stead fe al Companies by ALAR Le) AOE tENT afro ione: News Viewpoint Suite blindness B:: lines were defined and arguments refined ari . mailed . mre 1139 Lonsdale Ave. Cot Urmaghictedd mated i dutbeny brat North Vancouver, B.C. V7M 2H4 “eo marco matanal whiney mans tie Entite contents “) 1987 North Shore “; Free Press Ltd. Alt tights reserved. 58,489 (average, Wednesday at Monday’s North Vancouver District public Fnday & Sunday) hearing on proposals to deal with illegal suites in the municipality. After almost four hours of sound and fury from close to 500 agitated district residents, some very key questions crystalized, which demand response from council if far-sighted statesmanship has a legitimate place in all of this. As things stand with council boldly steering ahead into uncharted zoning waters with one eye self-blinded, one finds needless confusion on the part of parties living on either side of the secondary suite wall. Set the bubbling emotional quagmire of public controversy and soul stifling reams of municipal reports and proposals aside for a moment and considc: what remains unasked and unanswered. Exactly how many illegal suites are there in North Vancouver District? Is it the district estimate of 2,000 or is it closer to 25 per cent of the single-family home inyen- tory such as the Vancouver reality. More importantly, what will be the impact to the district both economically and socially when faced with an exodus of students, single-parent families, elderly homeowners and young families subsidizing mortgages with income from secondary suites. To date there really hasn’t been a hard lock at these critical issues. Guesswork and in- tuition just doesn’t cut it. Especially from a municipal government that prides itself on effective long-term SDA OLVISION community planning. Let’s stop and do some homework and go ahead at least with both eyes open. Use THE SIZE of Canadian government spending deficits is staggering and alarming. Unfortunately,. Canadians have become tired of discussions about the deficit, and pressures on politicians to restore budget balance may become. minimal. It may now be time to institute some procedures that will bring back the pressures on politicians to eliminate the deficit. These pro- cedures will ideally not involve po- litical forces but instead’ will be economic. They will be designed to hurt the politicians and top civil servants where it hurts, in- the pocket book. !For this purpose I propose fegis- | lation which makes the salaries of members of Canadian legislatures | and certain top civil servants a function of the size of the fiscal deficit or surplus. Under the ATTITUDE IS Summer job hunting brings hard | i i ; By HERB GRUBEL | G . uest Columnist J scheme,- monthly pay-cheques would be equal to 70 per cent of ‘the current level.. At the end of every 12-month — period, they ‘receive a bonus equal to the 30 per ‘cent of their normal annual salary iif the budget is balanced. If, on the other. hand, the yearly ‘ budget i is in deficit, then the bonus is reduced according to a formula’ | which reflects the magnitude of the | defi cit. Under a reasonable for- , mula it is possible that the bonus IMPORTANT ONE THING I'll never miss about being a student is hav- ing to look for a summer job. This initiation into adulthood is not altogether popular and whether you’re forced into it* by parental or monetary pressures doesn’t really matter. The simple fact is that a lot of students don’t enjoy job hunting. First of all, unless you’re fortu- nate enough to have that all-im- portant ‘‘contact’’, chances are there’s going to be some hard work — and possibly some rejection — ahead of you. True, there is an enormous amount of competition for surn- mer employment, but there are certain techniques which, if pro- perly manipulated, can give you an edge over the multitude of other \ N M. SMITH candidates. For example, no matter how un- fair the stereotype may be, a lot of employers still feel that students looking for summer jobs have a bad attitude. A 1984 survey con- ducted by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business found that 41 per cent of respondents were. looking for a better attitude among young employees. I suppose what they’re really trying to tell us is that young peo- ple who can demonstrate depen- dability by regularly showing up at work on time and using some good in some years would be zero. Fairness requires that the pro- posed bonus system is sym- metrical. Therefore, in years that the budget is in surplus, the bonus is greater than the basic 30 per cent of the normal compensation withheld in the monthly cheques. The maximum positive bonus should be chosen such that there is a balance between the extreme pos- itive and negative deviations from the normal compensation. It will be said that such a system would be unjust since many forces beyond the contro! of legislators and civil servants determine gov-, ernment spending and revenue. For example, recessions and booms have unpredictable dynamics and often are shaped by influences from abroad. To deal with this objection to the proposed bonus pay system for old-fashioned work habits are bound to score big points with their employers. | It’s also worth keeping in mind realistic job and salary expecta- tions when you do finally become employed. According to the same survey by the CFIB, another 24 per cent of respondents wanted young job-seekers to lower their expecta- tions — especially wage expecta- tions. Face it. Chances are you’re not going to find a glamorous, high- paying job — not yet, anyway. But in the long run, the experience NOEL WRIGHT ON VACATION legislators and top civil servants it is advisable to make bonuses dependent upon the extent to which projected budget balances are achieved. For example, the elimination of the current Cana- dian deficits should be undertaken gradually over a period of three or four years in plans that provide for deliberate and exogenous, expected increases in taxation and decreases in spending. For each of’ these years such budget projections offer a figure relative to which the bonus pay- ments are determined in the light of actual developments. To prevent deliberate misrepre- sentations of the projections, the proposed legislation envisages their technical evaluation by an _in- dependent, quasi-judicia! body such as the Auditor General's of- fice or a Council of Economic Ad- you’re gaining is important. Keep in mind that a blank resume isn’t going to impress too many poten- tial employers next summer and besides, because of high competi- tion, more and more employers are checking references. Another unpooular aspect of job-hunting jis the door-to-door technique. It isn’t fun and no one likes to see the door shut in his face. Unfortunately, you’ve got to do it. I can’t begin to tell you the number of people I know who claim they got a job by being in the right place at the right time. Possibly there was some luck in- volved, but more often than not they were the diligent ones who just kept pounding away until they got their so-called Jucky break. But it’s unfair of me to take sole aim at the students on this issue. IPs’ paycheques to cut deficits! visers. In such matters, where there is a will, there is a way. What is lacking is the will to tackle. the deficit problem. Therefore, I predict that my pro- posal has as much of a chance for adoption as does the proverbial snowball in hell. If I were a politi- cian or civil servant, I wouldn’t even give it the time to acknowl- edge its existence. Yet, this is a pity. The im- plementation of such an economic incentive -plan for the control of deficit spending would do much to restore confidence of Canadians and foreigners in the integrity and future of the Canadian’ economy. It could only have a positive in- fluence on investment, employ- ment and growth. (Professor Grubel. is a member of the Vancouver-based Fraser In- stitute.) knocks Employers have a great responsi- bility when taking on a 15 or a 16-year-old for his or her first job. It can be a terrifying experience — especially for the first month or so — and, inevitably some mistakes will be made. However, the impressions left on a young worker can stay with him for many years, long after he’s passed through adolescence and reached the business world as an adult. It would be wrong for anyone to feel he is being charitable because he’s hired a summer student. There are plenty of eager, hard-working students who have just as much to give as they do to gain from a summer job. Try and keep that in mind because there could be a knock on your door any minute now. CFIB Feature Service