i a ot 6 - Sunday. January 25, 1998 — North Shore News north shore news VIEWPOINT uzzy reception AISE your remote if you’re a lit- tle puzzled over the most recent ogers Cablesystems billing campaign. Do not adjust your set. The broadcasting giant has once again, either by design or otherwise, confused its customers by offering a myriad of subscription options. By tying together its mew extended cable package with monthly billing increases slated for March, the company has found itself in full spin-doctor mode. North Shore cable customers are currently being bombarded by a sub- scription campaign that reads more like an algebraic function than a simple monthly bill. Subscribe to the new 14- channel package, we are told, and you won't be included in March’s basic ser- vice hike until next year; if you don’t want the extra channels, you will be paying more for your basic service in Aarch. While there doesn’ seem to be any underhanded motive to this fuzzy logic billing campaign, the very nature of it calls into question Rogers’ ability to manage its affairs. Like the Canadian cable provider’s public relations disaster from the failed negative billing campaign, this recent fiasco — dubbed ‘positive billing’ in company press releases — underscores some real problems at Rogers. Its no secret that the company’s technical support arm erred here — seems they can’t shut off the 14 pre- view channels — and the billing scram- ble in the aftermath of that realization appears, to customers at least, to be a way for Rogers to further scramble reception of its public relations horror show. matibox Election loser’s rani reviled by readers Dear Editor: Re: Warren Kinsella’s Jan. 18 letter to the editor. Mr. Kinsella: : The scintilla of proof regarding your “political para- chute” label] may lic in your current address. As for char- acter assassination, your letter does a very good job of ‘tevealing your character, or lack thereof. Bitter and petty are words that come to mind. Hardly the stuff I look for in a potential elected official. My negative opinion of you was reinforced by the fact that your election signs continued to litter the landscape long, long after those of other candidates. You clearly didn’t give a damn once you didn’t get your way. In my opinion, North Vancouver is well rid of you. on ledwards@dircct.ca Dear Editor: ~ I was saddened, but not surprised, to read Warren Kinsella’s letter which appeared in last Sunday's edition of your newspaper. Saddened because such a petulant rant does nothing but further corrode the public’s opinion of those who would seek elected office today. Not surprised because, given Mr. Kinscella’s chosen approach to political discourse, a temper tantrum in print is to be expected of him. Talk about a sore loser! Such a thin-skinned and ill-tempered display demon- strates his unsuitability for public office. Pity the colleagues in his Toronto law firm or clients who cross him. Lucky for the people of North Vancouver that they once again chose Ted White to represent them in parliament. David O. Marley West Vancouver north shore Noth Shore News. founded in 1969 as ani independent suburban newspaper and qualified under Schedule 111, Paragraph 111 of the Grose Tax Act, is pubkshed each Wednesday, Friday and Sunday by Notth Shore Free Press. Ug. and destrduted to every door on the North Shore Canada Post Canacken Publicabons Mat Disuibation 968-1387 (124) ‘61,582 {average cxrculation, Weanesday, Fricay & Sundry} OPPOSED to all forms of dis- crimination against minorities? Of course you are -- so take a peek again at the scandalous treatment of some 120,000 British seniors livirg in Canada. Not that it’s the fault of anyone in Canada. On the con- trary, Ottawa might just be their best slim hope of eventually righting the gross injustice inflicted on them by the land of their birth. ‘Most of them are gramps and grans who’ve chosen to spend their golden years here with their children and grandchildren, and a high proportion of them are Second World War veterans. From age 65 (60 for women) they receive the U.K. old age pension. Correction — make that in some cases as little as one-sixth of the current U.K. pension. The reason? While Brit seniors in Britain, as well as in some 36 foreign countries, ger annual inflation adjust- ments, the pensions of those in Canada are frozen the day they land here. Ditto for Brit seniors settling in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Just why four major Commonwealth coun- tries (including staunch wartime allies) were singled out for such treatment remains a mystery. There’s no mystery, however, about the tough result. And with U.K. pen- Valerie Classified Manager 905-2131 (165) $06-6222 (202) Entire contents © 1997 North Shore Free Press Ltd. All rights reserved. OKAY, LET'S Go OVER TAIS ONCE MORE... REPEAT AFTER ME: “LOST TAE WAR" You LOST THE WAR — A scandalous denial sion adjustments averaging nearly 9% a year over the past 20 years, the longer a senior has lived here the worse it gets. For example, an 80-year-old British grandpa who joined his daughter and family on the North Shore in 1978 receives exactly the same approximate £12 a week (roughly $123 per month) as when he first arrived in Canada two decades ago. If he’d settled instead in Seattle, Avignon, Munich, Barcelona, Istanbu! c even Sarajevo, his initial equivalent of some $123 monthly would by now have grown to around $609, the same as in Britain itself. Had he retired to Germany — the former dictatorship he won medals fighting to defeat — there’s a particularly bitter irony. He’d by now have $477 a month (and rising) more than he gets by spending the evening of his life with loved ones in a country that fought valiantly on Britain’s side against Hitler’s tyranny. In lump sum terms he’d be well over $30,000 richer. Despite years of lobbying at Westminster by U.K. supporters of these bilked Brit pensioners (notably the now retired Tory MP Winston Churchill) Tony Blair's new Labour government sticks firmly-to the same excuse as its predecessors: it claims it simply can’t afford the annual extra 255 million pounds (more than $600 milion) that would be needed to index pensions in of justice i the four Commonwealth countries in affected. os Veterans themselves, of course, are a diminishing group, as any Canadian” - Legion branch can attest. But that clear- ly does nor affect the continuing flow of: later generations of pensioners to. “ Canada. The injustice to these immi- grant British seniors is not going to'go - away anytime soon. : Their best friend may be the federal.’ government, because Canadian raxpay- ers foot the bill for old age supple- ments. mo So for the past 20 ycars Ortawa has firmly backed the Canadian Alliance of British Pensioners (CABP) and floated — so far in vain — the idea of an index: ing agreement with the U.K., possibly by cutting a deal to ease the cost some: what in the case of Canada’s own U.K. pensioners. ee We're talking, of course, about a mere 0.4% of Canada’s population, which hardly makes these elderly expa- triates a top national priority statistical- ly. ; But they are also, overall, the hon- - ored elder kith and kin of many times their number in valued, productive, = Canadian citizens. That, at least, gives Canada a strong moral obligation to © back them to whatever extent possible in their quest for justice long denied: 0900 MANY HAPPY RETURNS of today, Jan. 25, to North Van Kiwanis birthda boy Jim Reaviil. - GQQ WRIGHT OR WRONG: Tact is the art of jumping into troubled waters without making a splash. oo LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters must include your name, (ull address & telephone number, VIA e-mail: trenshaw @ direct.ca ‘Delay Manage Promalions Manage 960-0511 (166) 985-2131 (218) Genera 905-2131 (705) internst- http//wurw.nsaews.com Michaal Becker - News Editer = 985-2131 (114) Andrew McCredie - Sports/Commaunity Editer . 385-2131 (147) (tice Manager