- Friday, June 12, 1987 - North Shore News

News Viewpoint

Bombshell

HE VANDER ZALM povernment is racing
headlong into disaster with its support of a seal
hunt ir British Columbia waters.

Not that a seal hunt may be wrong. Environmen-
talists, fishing interests and international trade experts
can fight the issue out. But what will prove particularly
damaging for the Social Credit government is its lack
of finesse when raising controversial issues. B.C. En-
vironment Minister Bruce Strachan’s announcement
earlier this week that he supported a West Coast seal
hunt hit the public like a bombshell.

Vander Zalm and his ministers should have learned
the lesson of jumping feet first into controversial
waters. The fracas surrounding bills }9 and 20 and the
subsequent court injunction is fresh in the public’s
mind. The premier and his ministers should have
learned from last week’s war with labor that careful
pianning, presentation and delivery are the best ways
of introducing controversial legislation or ideas.

At the heart of the seal hunt issue is whether the
hunt is really necessary. Industry spokesmen claim the
animals are gobbling up 14,000 tonnes of salmon and
6,600 tonnes of herring a year to the tune of $74.5 mil-
lion. Many environmentalists, however, are concerned
whether killing the seals might prove more damaging
to the environment than leaving them alone.

What the Vander Zalm government needed to do
was wait until the issue was deemed a scientifically
proven problem. Then, with ail of the pertinent data,
the government could present the issue to the public,
and have better odds of winning support.

innertime sh

THE CIVIC AND BUSINESS
establishment of West Van shcewed
up in force at Tuesday’s annual
g.m. and banquet of the West Van
Chamber of Commerce in the In-
ternational Plaza, where nearly 200
guests were nourished wi.') potato
and leek soup, duck and orange
salad, poached salmon, estate
wines and a commercial history of
Tiddlycove by archivist Rupert
Harrison, former municipal clerk
for 36 years.

In addition to Rupert and Grace,
the head table party included —
with their ladies — Acting Mayor
Rod Day, Speaker-MLA John
Reynolds (of whom more anon)
and Chamber president Bill
Soprovitch, later re-elected for a
further term. Among the dozens of
other well-known faces below the
salt were former mayor Derrick
Humphreys, Ports Canada chair-
man and. former MP Ron Hun-
tington, Aldermen Pat Boname

tee

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and Mark Sager, North Van
CofC’s president and manager,
Graham Reid and Peg Pitt-
Brooke, Coho Festival chairman
Don Griffiths and wife Renate, the
Chainber’s publicity director, Willi
and Martha Bruecke!, hosts of its
Ambleside Inn breakfasts, CHQM
veepee Noel Hullah and 1986 Citi-
zen of the Year David Weiser.

Valerie York stood in for MP
Mary Collins, on enforced absence
in Ottawa. Treasurer Gorden
Adair presented an admirably suc-
cinct two-minute financial state-
ment (‘‘We spent $1,000 more than
we took, but luckily we had a
reserve.’’) They gave a big hand to
25-year Chamber member Ed
Boyce. Rupert Harrison recalled
first meeting Park Royal's Hugh
Addison as a Sunday School pupil.
And the company rose in a toast to
the memory of the late Chamber
stalwart Ruth Stott.

The ceremonial highlight was the

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Noel Wright
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1a ADH HE Of the
410 Peery OF
3 Wart Vancouver $25 pe eat Mailing ete

tot UnSObe ted matali ist hung manu Opes
Entire contents %)
1987 North Shore

on 4 tights reserved.

Free Press Lid. All

| Noel Wright

® friday focus

her recent three weeks convalescing
in LGH came when Ray Baroni
from Dino’s arrived, all dréssed up
and wearing a funny: nose and
glasses, bearing Caesar salad and
cheese bread on a silver platter for
the lady. ‘‘I nearly split my stit-
ches,”’ says Rete. ‘‘The food tasted
like heaven” ... It was B.C. Tran-
sit operator Joyce Graham to the
rescue last Thursday afternoon
when an unidentified pregnant
woman boarded her northbound
bus from Lonsdale Quay and an-
nounced she was in labor. Joyce
drove her bus and all its passengers
straight to the Emergency entrance

naming of West Van's 1987 ‘‘Citi- |

zen of the Year’’. He’s Mike
Nicell, manager of Eaton’s, Park
Royal, founder-president for seven
years of the highly successful Coho
Festival and doer of many other
good deeds for the community.
The unanimous reaction: it
couldn't have happened to a nicer
guy on a nicer evening.

FOR JOHN REYNOLDS,
overlord of the Legislature and
West Van-Howe Sound’s voice in
Victoria, it was an achiever’s week.
Saturday he covered himself in
glory by winning his heat in the
Community Day Celebrity Swim at
a cracking pace. Sunday he real-
ized another lifelong ambition
when Nicole, wife of son Paul,
presented him with his first grand-
child — Ryan Dougias William
who weighed in at a bouncing eight
pounds after keeping them all
waiting on tenterhooks for 12
days.

at LGH ... And congrats to Argyle
student Gordon Smith on winning
one of the only two $6,000 inter-
national scholarships for academic
achievement presented to Cana-
dian students this year by the
U.S.-based Teamsters Union.

WRIGHT OR WRONG: A deficit
is what you have when you don’t
have as much as if you had
nothing.

Photo submitted

SFRAWBERRY FESTIVAL Bali Saturday af the Ramada Renaissance
will honor Norik Shore Beta Sigma Phi Queens (from top) Marion
Cameron, Audrey Andrews, Carol Mercier, Gale Morrison, Pat Cle-
ments, Cindy Evetts. Not in photo: Rita Barren, Fran Pelletier, Stephanie

” NEWS photo Noal Wright

WEST VAN ROLE MODELS ... 1586 Citizen of the Year David Weiser

WRAP-UP: Community dynamo f ’
(I) presents 1987 Citizen of the Year citation to Mixe Nicell.

Rete McKay’s biggest thrill during