6 — Sunday, October 29, 1989 - North Shore News ‘Only hope’ for Canada slow in materializing! REMEMBER THE GREAT FREE TRADE battle last November? Tory assurances that free trade was cur only hope and would give us a land of milk and honey? Liberal and NDP doomsters portraying Canada as a ruined serf of the ruthless Yanks? With Canadian-U-S. negotiators still haggling over the fine print — and expected to continue for sev- eral years — it’s obviously too ear- ly to forecast Canada’s final! fate. But any benefits to the ordinary citizens so far remain strictly on paper. If anyone on this side of the 49th parallel is already laughing all the way to the bank as a result of the Free Trade Agreement, we've yet to hear from him. Indeed, it’s doubtful whether the average Ca- nadian today readily remembers much at all about the details of the deal which had voters clawing at each others’ throats just 12 months ago. Food and other consumer items IVAN Ackery ...Vimy veteran, showbiz legend. are no cheaper. Prices, as usual, are tending to nudge upward, along with taxes and inflation. At the border the customs officer still takes the same cut on our pur- chases in Bellingham. And six months into the FTA, Canada’s trade surplus had plunged from a healthy $1.1 billion to $129 mil- tion, the lowest in a decade. As to jobs — job creation being among the free traders’ major sales pitches — the best you can do is stick a pin into one of the various numbers. Brian Mulroney recently boasted about 189,000 new jabs created since January 1, but didn’t say how many (if any) were a result of free trade. Asked earlier by opposition MPs to identify any jobs created by the FTA, Trade Minister John Crosbie couldn't name one. On the other ¢*:te of the ledger the Conference Board of Canada reported a 57,000 increase in unemployment between January and May. Meanwhile, Canadian Labor Congress researchers claim- ed that 33,000 job losses were di- rectly linked to the trade pact. As horse-dealing over fish, energy and subsidies progresses, things may get better ... or worse. But one moral can already be drawn from the FTA to date. When the Mutroneyites now tell you the nine per cent Goods & Services Tax is Canada’s only hope, remember the last time they told you about Canada’s ‘‘only hope’’! see TAILPIECES: The suffragettes — to mimic Zsa Zsa Gabor — ‘‘vos a Wave goodbye new aquatic facility, it may be necessary to con- I F LYNN VALLEY is ever to reap the benefit of a sider scrapping the wave-pool concept. The idea that the Karen Magnussen expansion would tong time ago, darlink!"’ but Irene Howard of Vancouver is anxious to contact the families of anyone who took part in the 1910-1917 women’s suffrage compaign for a book she's writing. She wouid par- ticularly appreciate hearing from the families of one Fred Dolk and wife, a Mr. Perry, a W.R. Trotter, May Ward, Miss A. hawksworth, a Miss Alexander, a Miss Jobnstene and ‘others in the tailoring or garment trade at that time.’’ If you can help, call frene at 224-2361 mornings or after 6 p.m. ... Well worth a browse- around when you’re in Park Royal next week are the latest works of art of your neighbors — on display in West Van Sketch Club’s Fall Show which opens there tomor- row, Oct. 30, and runs until Nov. 12 ... Over 50 and concerned about stress, diet and your immune system? Speaker Victoria Hogan will tell you ali about them at Keep Well’s free drop-in tomorrow, Oct. 30, from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Neighbourhood House, 225 East 2nd, North Van — with lunch at a nominal charge ... Birthday boy of the week at West Van Rotary’s dinner meeting last Wednesday, Oct. 25, was Percy Dobson, a 27- year member of the Club who turned °8 that day ... And still in the same decade, many happy returns to the Orpheum’s living legend from its movies heyday — Ivan (“‘M:z. Showbiz’’) Ackery, a Vimy veteran and 90 years of age tomorrow, Oct. 30. WRIGHT OR WRONG: Friend- ship is like a bank account. You can’t keep drawing on it without making deposits. © sunday brunch® "EWS photo Mike ‘Waketleld JOIN THE FAMILY!...Attaching a Block Parent sticker to the bumper of # North Van RCMP car are program coordinator Sharon Falls and xs. cir Doherty — promoting the need for additional Block Parents in orth Van. fill. a niche by providing the entire North Shore with a unique form of aquatic recreation is laudable, but isn’t proving financially feasible, as evidenced by the high bids that were received prior to the cancellation ef building tenders. Not only that, the exclusion of a regular lap pool in favor of the leisure pool has already caused some waves. While 2 wave pool would draw a good number of people, it would also alienate those whe want to combine swimming fun with fitness. As a aumber of local swimmers emphasized in their comments to members of the committee overseeing the project, a pool without the capacity to provide good laneways for length swimmers is, in some people’s eyes, not a pool at all. A lap pool can be extremely adaptable to a variety of recreational pursuits, depending on the imagination of the design and the creativity of the pool staff. ‘‘Basketball’’ hoops, rope swings, slides, heated pools for children and adults, various flotation devices — all are means by which leisure-time fun can be enjoyed in an arena also appropriate for length swimmers. While it would be difficult for people who have dedicated themselves to this project since 1987 to give up the idea of a wave pool, they would receive ac- colades for doing so from many swimmers — as well as taxpayers. ‘NEWS Cindy Goodman TRICK-OR-TREATERS will get a spooky surprise if they visit this haunted house at 945 Glenora, North Vancouver, Halloween night. The house is decorated with a vampire, ‘rummy and other horrifying displays. Dek VORCE_OF MOTH AND WEST VANCOUVER 980-0511 986-6222 985-2131 986-1337 986-1337 985-3227 Display Advertisine Classified Advertisir; Newsroom Distribution Subscriptions Publisher... Peter Speck Managing Editor... . Barrett Fisher Associate Editor .Noet Wright Advertising Director Linda Stewar! 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