The understandable desire of aired owners in: predominantly single-famil communities‘ to preserve their existing te e ss com “pose dilemmas for socially ‘cow ir and DeepCove, density is a ' word. Cove residents are 4 ap gro nae the cnelghberiood” at- sre.- West: Van. council. is preparing a c area ratio’ bylaw - which would gle-family homes. | ‘counter to. the acceptance, : of the: ‘Lower’ Mainland, of increased. density’ as’ the only long-term rent housing crisis. ~ council. members ‘are elected to ‘safeguard the interests of their unities.-At- the same time, they can Remtcies to the persuasive che reasons for with sme cqucation "they can mrnlty ites e onde of ch Never have ‘the elements been talked about so much by so many as during this disastrous wet, cold June — which leads us to wonder' ifthe weather has something in common with hijackers: and other hostage- - takers: a psychopathic craving for publicity. Maybe if we all stopped taking any notice - .of the: weather, it would eventually admit defeat and cease tormenting us! 1139 Lonsdale Ave. North Vancouver, 8.C. M 2H4 v7mM (604) 985-2131 ADVERTISING 980-0511- CIRCULATION 086-1337 Publisher Pater Speck . Associate Publisher Editor-in-Chief Advertising Director ‘ Robert Graham Noe! Wright Eric Cardwell - Mana Ing Editor News Editor Sports Editor Andy Fraser Chria Uoyd Patrick Rich General Manager Creative Administration Director Berni Hillard Tim Francis Production Director Photography Rick Stonehouse Ellsworth Dickson Accounting Supervisor Circulation Director Purchaser Keen Brian A. Ellis Faye McCrae North Shore News, founded in 1960 as an dent community Nowapaper and qualified under Schedute Ill. Part tl. Paragraph til of the Excise Tax Act, is published each Wednesday and Sunday by North Shore Free Press Ltd. and distributed to every door on the North Shore Second Class Mall Registration Number 3986. Subacriptiona $20 per year. Entire contente © 1981 North Shore Free Preas Ltd. Ali righte reserved. north shore news NEWS CLASSIFIED 985-2131 086-6222 No responsibility accepted tot unsolicited material inctuding manuscripts and pictures which shovid be accompanied by a stamped addressed envetope VERIFIED CIRCULATION 63,470 Wegnesday; 62.760 Sunday og SING THIS PAPER IS RECYCLABLE _ eas -“amount of interest around "the Department of Transport these days in the tiny > Quebec port of Gros- Cacouna. Cacouna may be — destined for status as a major port, but if it happens, it will cost all Canadian tax payers a bundle. © Cacouna been has HEAVEN'S, WHAT'LL In penning that celebrated observation on the. . nature of fleas, Augustus de Morgan might well _ have been foreshadowing today’s relations bet-.: ween the various levels of government in the Canadian Confederation. The analogy emerged “Great fleas h have little fleas upon their backs ¢ to bite ‘em, _and little fleas have lesser fleas, and so ad infinitum.” promised status as a major port by ‘politicians down through the'ages, ever since Sir Wilfred Laurier become strongly when Premier Bill Bennett came to town Friday. The occasion was an informal get-together between the premier and Lower Mainland community newspaper representatives at North Van's Coach House Inn — one of numerous similar chit-chats planned for the future, according to press secretary Hall Leiren. All very pleasant and decorous over coffee and Danish. Set-piece speech- ettes by Mr. Bennett in response to polite questions rationed out between scribes from such diverse com- munities as Delta, Rich- mond, Kerrisdale and the North Shore. Significant comments or pronouncements on issues of vital community interest — nil. GAMBIER Asked why Victoria didn’t call a halt once and for all to any mining on Gambier, as urged by North Van- Seymour MLA Jack Davis, the premier appeared unaware of any public opposition to the scheme. The mining project, he explained patiently, would be evaluated in due course in accordance with the guidelines for such things — whatever that means in relation to the proposed rape of one of the jewels of the Lower Mainland's recreational backyard. There wasn't much sympathy, cither, from Mr. Bennett for West Vancouver and the 11. other municipalities that run their: .own police departments. They have been pressing Attorney General Allan Williams fruitlessly for two years for some financial aid to parallel the subsidy en- joyed by taxpayers in municipalitics that hire the RCMP. West Van would also appreciate a little help, he was told, in return for its unpaid policing of such provincial government property as the Upper Levels Highway and the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal. Nothing doing there, said the premier, until B.C. and the other provinces have sorted out their contractual dispute with Ottawa on who pays how much for the Mounties themselves. And anyway, he added, municipalities who choose “Cadillac” type policing should expect to pay the difference. BY rere rER WARD ‘River was - as the best site for trans- a thé first to try bartering yotes for federal money. This tiny port on the south shore of the St.- Lawrence ce earmarked shipment of goods from the Great Lakes. The theory was ‘that lake freighters would ‘take -their wheat and resource freight to Cacouna, and then ocean freighters would pick the stuff up there for world distribution. The St. Lawrence Seaway rather spoiled that idea. Besides, Cacouna isn't all that much of a port. The river current past that narrow harbor entrance reaches 10 knots at some seasons, when the moon is right, creating big tides. "Sand gets swirled into the harbor by suction, just the. * way it would be deposited in. ~ an old cola bottle lying in 4- ~ creek. . Sand, of course, means dredging, and that’s ex- _pensive. One might think | that dredging needed: on a .. regular basis would. be a. ; liability, but. consider the on- going political benefits of a port that ¢ontinually,.n n eds by Noel Wright for extended care patients, Mr. Bennett contented himself with Health Minister Jim Nielsen's handout about homemaker funding actually being up by one-third. this ‘year (that stil] makes it a mere 2.6 per cent of the $2 billion health services budget, with the per-patient cost of homemaker help only one-ninth that of an ox- tended care hospital bed.) WANTED TOO MUCH On broader issues the premier waxed bullish over the future of the B.C. Resources Investment Corporation, accusing his 1979 customers for BCRIC shares of wanting too much wants the task.. *’ _ however, appears to be fixed “and presents a ‘staggering “annual “bill for. @redging. It provincial Canada recently told me that - Cacouna.could be compared | to a. puddle, into which you pour “money, which of course must be dredged out again... - Cacouna’s Ss latest chance to of government’ a money to expand -the:. port’ involves natural gas. There: has. to be a southern terminal for the project to* ship —liquified natural gas out of the Arctic Islands. Several centers are vying for the nod as southern terminal, . including Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia, and Lorneville; New Brunswick. Lorneville has some problems, what with ithe extreme: Bay -of' Fundy tides, and the fact that some local citizens ‘a en't too keen on having ‘a potential big natural gas bang on their doorstep. Hawkesbury, however, would be ideal: It’s already a deep water port: ‘which could _ take the. ice-breaking'n natural gas tankers. It wou! ‘no: ‘regular dredging, : ‘and it Federal determination, on ‘Cacouna; | which will cost “ several hundreds of millions _-fo'develop as‘a suitable port. “makes ° you, : “wonder how too quickly.’ And he en- thused grimly over the tough new motor vehicle legislation to be introduced shortly —- sidestepping. a question about the shortage of police for enforcing even present driving laws adequately. The blovd- curdling new penalties alone, he. indicated, would look after that. . My colleagues from elsewhere. in Greater. Vancouver didn’t seem to make much _ noticeable ‘headway with questions about their own com- munities’ pet peeves. And soon it was time. for Mr.° Bennett to depart for a dinner with the North Shore _ Socred faithful. In fairness, he admitted it was difficult for him to be briefed as fully as he would ye _ have J liked on topics from On homemaker cutbacks — such”a wide. ‘and divergent area as. the entire. Lower ‘Mainland, But even so, one repeating: - found oneself returning in the end to the thought about the fleas. ~ * Mr. Bennett and his 4 government colleagues aré hardworking fleas upon the back of the federal government on issues important to B.C, Many of “usare undoubtedly delighted that they. continue to nip Ottawa on.our behalf. In turn, the municipalities are fleas on Mr. Bennett's _ back — and the impression gained Friday was that they ate .very ddfinitely “lesser , fleas”, As such, they'll have to learn to bite harder if they want Victoria to ‘take cofmmiunity problems seriously.