A6 - Wednesday, August 19, 1981 - North Shore News

Evergreen votes

if Muaitcipal. Affairs. Minister: Bill Vander

Zailm Ahad set his heart on alienating electors
in West Vancouver and.other municipalities
which have passed bylaws restricting tree-
cutting, he could hardly have done better.

The other week Mr. _Wander Zalm signed
into effect an amendment to the. Municipal
Act,— sneaked through the last session of
the legislature — which _ prevents
municipalities from regulating tree-cutting
within their boundaries. .

In West Vancouver the aim of the bylaw
now rendéred null and void by Mr. Vander
Zalm was to prevent the wholesale denuding
of development sites — such as occurred in
the past in British Properties and North
Van's Capilano Highlands, and within more
recent memory in Cypress Bowl. For a

‘developer the cutting down of ALL trees is
usually the most convenient and economical
approach to site preparation.

The bylaw enables West Van council to
specify which trees might be bulldozed and
which must be left standing on development
sites. Cutting down trees needlessly in a
community that regards them as its crowning

. glory is an emotion-packed issue. Now, with a
stroke of his pen, the minister has given
developers the right to strip their properties
bare, regardless of the effect on neigh-
borhoods and the overall character of the
municipality.

Maybe Mr. Vander Zalm, who comes
from largely treeless Holland, didn’t un-
derstand — or maybe just didn’t care. In any
event, he would be smart to repeal the ill-
advised veto fast, if only for the sake of his
colleague, Attorney General Allan Williams.

In MLA Williams’ West Van riding votes
bloom in the shade of evergreens.

Change of script

No parliamentary candidate was ever
touted as a more certain winner than Jim
Coutts in Monday's Spadina by-election. The
defeat of the Prime Minister's protege in
what had long been the safest Liberal seat in
the country is therefore sensational. Coming
with the Tory sweep the same day in IJoliette,
it indicates the universe is unfolding in
central Canada.

But no longer according to Mr. Trudeau's
script.

news 1139 Lonsdale Avo.

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THIS PAPER IS RECYCLABLE

North Vancouver, B.C.

About 11 years ago, when
the Canadian love affair with
Pierre Trudeau was in full
bioom, a young Liberal from
British Columbia, David
Anderson, had the temerity
to stand in the House of
Commons and criticize the
way Mr. Trudeau’ was
making the universe unfold.

. His action cast him out

forever from chances of a
federal cabinet post, a

- Senate seat, or any of the

other perks with which our
prime minister rewards his
faithful. We asked An-
derson, moments after he
had done the deed, why he
had spoiled his chances by
speaking out.

“When the emperor has no

be te newest electronic game on the market can
Be fyayed with nothing more elaborate than a

5 pocket calculator by anyone needing to buy

or sell a home. It's called “creative financing”.

The game has been
developed by the real estate
industry with technical
assistance from its cheer
leaders -- the banks, (rust
companies and credit
unions. The impetus arose
around fast February when
ungrateful home-seckers
suddenly stopped buying
houses priced 100 per cent
higher than a year earher

Why this happenedis sull,
apparently, something of a
mystery to the industry

Admittedly, North Shore
shacks on 5O-foot lots
priced at a modest $100,000
in February 1980. were now
sporting price tags of
$200,000. But surely
everyoine knows real estate
is the safest, most profitable
investment you ever make

So why should wonld be
buyers suddenly start
picking up their marbles and
quitting the game in droves
for the sake of a few extra
dollars - which, in any case,
are growing Cheaper all the
time thanks to inflaton’

The villain of the piece tt
emerged. was not the real
estate industry with its keen
sense of valuc for moncy on
behalf of both sacllers and
buyers Phe villain was Bank
of Canada governor (rerald
Boucy pushing” up interest
tates weekly in the general
dinec hon of 2S per ceat

Ihe tuhket
house an

prac oof oa

any Rood

teal

estate man would tell you
during the heady months of
1980, is really immatenal --
there are always ways and
means of fixing odd [ttle
problems hke $50,000 down
payments °

RAGING TORRENT

It’s when monthly
payments of $1,000 on a 15
per cent mortgage jump to
over $1,400 on a 21 per cent

mortgage that things get
tough
An extra $400) payout

means a taxpayer in the 40
per cent tax bracket aceds to
carn an extra $607 a month
or an additional $8 000 gross
a year When the cash flow
suddenly swells to a raging
torceat, small wonder the
would buy buyers head for
the hills

Hence “creative finan
cine” the technique of
persuading both seller and
buyer that cach will win the
game Two popular vanants
arc typical

In case A’ we have a
house already reduced lo a
tock bottom $180 000.
below whieh the vendor
tefuses to po Efe agrees
however lo Carry oine per
cent oof the buyers 2b per
ceat mortgage for che fiest
three years Buyer therctore
Kets away tor that pertod
with the equivalent of a 12
poaruent Tryon tare

here did all his clothes go?

clothes on, somebody has to
say so,” said he. Anderson
left federal politics and went
on to briefly become the
leader of the Liberal Party in

B.C., before going into
politicat eclipse. His sen-
timents, however, are still
valid. :
Today there’s a regular
chorus shouting the

nakedness of the emperor's

policies, particularly in the
economic field, but the
cabinet . courtiers and
backroom insiders — the

only voices to which the
emperor listens — continue
to praise the Trudeau finery,
despite the fact that it is
invisible to anyone who
looks with unclouded eyes.
The Canadian dollar is
involved in a record tumble.
Does that mean the Trudeau
cabinet examines its policies
to seek mistakes? Heven
forbid. The blame, we are
told, rests with the wicked
Americans who are forcing
on Canadian high interest
rates in order to keep the
dollar from total collapse.
Could it be that the policy
of buying back Canadian
industry. which has already
eaten up more than $10
billion ts forcing the value of
the Canadian dollar down?
That might be the answer of
someone who can't see the
emperor's clothes, but it's
not an enlightened view.
Could it be the stalled tar
sands and heavy oil plants in
Western Canada, which
would bring more than $20

In the end, of course, the
vendor -- by subsidizing the
sale -- winds up with only
about $160,000, even though
he “gets” his $180,000 asking
pnce. If, on the other hand,
he'd merely reduced his

price to $160,000, the buyer

Noel Wright

would have
with 21 per
start and the sale maght have
bombed

becn
cent

saddicd
from the

GRIM REALITIES

In case (Bo the scller docs

better He helps out the
buyer by giving him a three
year $SQO O00 mortgage at
say tS per cent instead of

the J0 279 percent demandes
by buver’s trendly bank He

billion in investment to
Canada, are having a
downward effect on the
value of our currency? Only
one of the unwashed who
doesn’t appreciate the
emperor's wardrobe would
suggest such a thing.

An outsider, looking at the
relative policies of the other
Western industrialized
nations, might conclude that
the spending of the Canadian
government, which
threatens to build up a
deficit of $14 billion this
fiscal year, might have
something to do with in-
flation and the falling dollar.
Finance Minister Allan
MacEachen, however, has
always seen the emperor's
clothes with particular
clarity, and he can tell you
differently. The answer, to
be sure, is a_ balanced
budget, or one more nearly
in balance. Reductions in
government s ending won't
turn the “ trick, in
MacEachen’'s view. What's
needed is reduced ex-
pectations from ordinary
Canadians, and higher taxes.
Imagine Canadians having
the nerve to harbor in-
creased expectations. Why
next thing you know they'll
be wanting raises like the
ones members of Parliament
gave themselves just before
adjourning for the summer
holidays.

David Anderson, where
are you now that we need
you so badly?

Electronic games not enough

then hocks the mortgage to
an investor, to whom hg also
gives $10,000 -- thereby
raising the investor's yield to
21 per cent. But the seller
doesn't lose because, right at
the start of the game, he's
quietly added that $10,000 to
the price tag.

All done with mirrors

The obvious aim of
crealive financing is to get
sales) moving and. in-
cridentally, save realtors
from starving. But it does
nothing to change the grim
realities of the current
market crazily inflated
prices and usurious interest
rates

The buyer remains on the
hotseat If pnces stagnate or
drop) further, so will bis
equily [If current interest
levels Continuc, he may still
be unable to handle them
two or three years down the
road) when the
subsidy terminates

As a dedicated free ca
terpriser, | hate to say it, but
there have to be some cules
If the stock exchange had
behaved like the housing
market last year, tts board of
directors would have been
fired and the  institudeon
placed in trusteeship until u
smartened up

vendor's

Po dont blame the realtors
fot trying to make the best of
a bad yob with thei creative

financing games But they
and ther chents now need
more belp chan the taws of
human nature provide

The draste kind of help
that only Oiuawa and Vic

forta can create