Dear Editor: I found David Schreck’s reasons for not extending rapid transit to the North Shore curious. David, as quoted in the News suys, it is good that BC Transit will not extend rapid transit to for such an extension would bring more development and higher densities. David seems to have forgotten that development and densities are controlled by municipalities through the zoning powers they possess. ; The Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD) also claims that we don't deserve rapid transit. But the line they use is that we don’t have enough people and cars to justify the expenditure. . That too is curious since an extension to the North Shore involves only a few miles which is certainly not the case for Coquitlam or New Westminster. What is even more curious is that the population of the North Shore is more than the population of both New Westminster and Coquitlam combined. What is clear to me from all this ~ fs that the real reason for this double standard is that the GVRD is trying .to blackmail us into agreeing to become another West End. This idea has been dear to their hearts ever since they produced the first regional plan. °- Although Devid gives different reasons to deprive the North Shore of a well-deserved rapid transit link, the. bottom line is the same. People on the North Shore will have to contin- ue suffeting. The. problem with the GVRD bureaucracy is that when they talk about planning for.a huge and cost- ly..population increase for the region, they have in mind not the well-being of the people now living inthe Lower Mainland and certain- sly not. the people on the North - Shore, but their own . well-being : «which they equate with an ever- - expanding bureaucracy and empire. . .¢ They are trying to accomplish this under the guise of ‘we can’t | * build - walls around - the Lower = Mainland,” ‘ That is ared herring. Growth can be encouraged and it can be dis- couraged: Zoning is the tool. There. are more than 360,000 - square miles in B.C. alone, never. mind the rest of Canada. Surely’ it is, not necessary to make the present Lower Mainland population alone pay the North Shore for the enormous cost for an infrastructure to accommo- date a doubling of this population in the next 20 years as planned by the GVRD. To sum up, David, rapid transit for the North Shore is more than justified both economically, environmen- tally and health wise and no, it does not have to result in a higher density. As for buses — forget it, David. They are not substi- tute for rapid transit. instead. Ernie Crist Councillor May ! suggest that, instead of repeating the political- ly motivated line dished out by BC Transit and the GVRD bureaucracy, you listen to your constituents North Vancouver District Insights appreciated Dear Editor: Re: Collins versus Kenner Tam not Jewish, but would like to commend the North Shore News on publishing both sides of the story. tt is understandable that issues such as the Holocaust, Hiroshima bombing, ct. cetera, evoke differ- ences in opinion. Judging by the arguments on both sides, it is clear that only esti- mates of the actual numbers are available. Nevertheless the Holocaust did undeniably take place and therefore it will remain a sensitive topic and | should be treated as such, | Mrs. E.D. 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We believe that BC needs a Government which is fiscally responsible, supportive of free enterprise, a defender of free speech, and a promotor . of democratic reforms such as workable initiative, referendum and recall legistation. Our MLAs will have the free- dom to represent their con- stituents through free votes in the legislature, and they will be people who can be trusted to put the concerns of North Shore voters ahead of any other consideration. Maybe this could be you, or someone you know. Maybe the successful candidates are already members of the Reform Party of BC and maybe they are not. This process is something fresh and new, like our policies, because we want to be sure that we select the very best people to be your future MLAs. For more information about, the nomination Brecess, or to join the Reform Party of BC, lease call us North Van. 5592, West Van. 926-0985 eS dozen 50 cm red roses psy Or another color A fresh bouquet from $1 5% cash & carry om? LS, Gicarry tom 5? Y Full Service Florist/(Open 7 days a week We also send flowers all over the world with AES. Fluwer Wiring Service! ¥ 1529 Marine Dr., West Van Tel: 925-3177 Fax: 925-0177 advertorial Nov, 08/95 "QUEBEC {t's not over yet. The morning after the Referendum, Bloc MPs were telllng ua we would NOT have to wait another fifteen yeara for the next vote on the separation of Quebos. They told us that win- . ning |e within thelr grasp and that they have a plan to ensure that Quebec will soon be master of it’s own destiny. As far as ‘we can tell by listening to Bloc MPs, the pian calls for Lucien Bouchard to replace Mr. Parizeau as Leader of the Parti Quebecois some- time in Oecember. Then, in the spring, he would call a provincial election and include a question on the ballot asking for a mandate to negotiate sovereignty for Quabec. Mr. Bouchard would be virtually cer- tain to win the election because he is the most popular politician in Quebec and the vast majority of RIDINGS (as opposed to actual numbers of vot- E ers) returned a YES vote in the refer- endum. He would also count on get- ting a YES to the ballot question in y order to take Quebec out of Canada. Mr. Bouchard is well aware that on referendum night the provincial Ridings of both the Prime Minister and Jean Charest voted solidly on the YES side, and Bloc MPs have already claimed that this proves that both men fave fost credibility with their areas. Mr. Bouchard probably feels confident that the Prime Minister would be J arguing from a position of great weakness in any election campaign based on a mandate for sovereignty. OFFICIAL OPPOSITION STATUS One of the most unfortunate real- ities of the past two years is that the Liberal Government has never spo- ken out against having the Bloc as “Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition” 1° and, as a result, allowed the Bloc to have a high profile platform to pubti- cize the separatist agenda. The Liberals thought that because the Bloc is not interested in becoming the Government of Canada they were not a threat, but, in my opinion, the Prime Minister seriously mis- Judged the danger and Is now paying the price for not supporting Reform's efforts to take over. the Opposition role, On October 31, Reform MP Ray Speaker asked the Prime Minister when he was going to stop support- ing the Bloc as the Official Opposition and stop electing Bloc MPs as the Vice Chairs of partiamentary commit- tees. The Prime Minister answered, “/ will be the defender of British tradition in the House of Commons ... they wanted to break up Canada and they did not succeed yesterday, so they are still members of Parliament in Canada ... | am happy to defand the British tradition.” It is true that the Party with the second largest number of seats is TRADITIONALLY given Official Opposition slatus, but it is NOT the law, In 1921 in Canada, the third party was made the Oificial Opposition so a precedent has already been set. Unfortunately, instead of supporting something that would be best for Canada, the Prime Minister continues to argue that tra- dition is a good enough reason to keep the Bloc as Officiat Opposition. Mr. Chretien further demon- strated his commitment to inappro- priate traditions on November 1 -when he rose in the House to give a tribute to Mr. Parizeau on his resig- nation. as Leader of the Parti Quebecois. | left the House in disgust when the Prime Minister, instead of putting Canada first, spoke as if Mr. Parizeau was just another politician to be honorad for his wondertul work. Ithas become quite obvious that until Mr. Chretien abandons his love for tradition, the Bloc will continue to have their high profile platform from which to run their separatist cam- paign. And make no mistake, the Bloc were just as committed to mak-: ing Quebec into a separate country as Reform is committed to getting the Federal Government to balance it's books, REFORM’S ANSWER Throughout the referendum cam- paign, Reform did everything possi- ble in Quebec to promote it's 20 point plan for a new federation. We even took out full page newspaper adver- - tisements to explain our suggested method for decentralization so that Quebecers could see how we would, amongst other things, give ALL. of the provinces exclusive control over language, culture, natural resources, and manpower training. The plan would also introduce an elected Senate, provincial. selection of Supreme Court judges, limit taxes and expenditures, and democratize the House of Commons to make it representative of the peaple rather than the parties. Unfortunately, we do not yet have a large Party network in Quebec to help seil our message and the Prime Minister refused to assist. The Deputy Prime Minister, Sheila Copps. even said on Canada AM one marning that the Reform Party | should stay out of Quebec. Despite these problems, we did what we could with our limited resources. In the end analysis though, the respon- ’ sibility for the outcome of the Quebec referendum rests fairly and squarely © on the shoulders of the Prime Minister. NOW WHAT? We are now left with an extreme- ly volatile political situation and the danger that the Liberal Government will attempt to give Quebec a consti- tutional veto without the agreement of the peopte in the rest of Canada. We. are also left with a formidable - and effective group of separatists in Ottawa and Quebec City who will not be satisfied with a veto, or any other offer, because they want a separate country. In the fifteen years since the last referendum, the YES vote increased by 10% despite a conscious effort by the rest of Canada to accommodate the unique needs of Quebec. Montreal is now an island of NO votes in the sea of YES votes which make up most of the rest of Quebec, and. if NO voters begin leaving Quebec in anticipation of anothar ref- ° erendum, 1996 might well see the separatists achieve their goal. Frustrating though it is, we cannot prevont the Parti Quebecois from using democratic methods to try to achiave their goal because the alter- native to democratic means is a much worse option. lam well aware that some people will have great difficulty accepting the certainty of another referendum and the possibility of a separate Quebec in 1996. However, | felt it was my duty to be up front wilh you so that if you dacide that you want to fight the Bloc Quebecois, the Parti Quebecois, and a significant par- centage of the Quebec population, you will know exactly what we are up against. Begin planning now, and let's hope that next time will be the last time, Ted White, M.D. . #302-1200 Lynn Valley ‘Rd. North Vancouver, B.C. V7} 2A2- :: "Tele: 666-0585 Fax: 666-0509