6 ~ Wednesday, August 21, 1991 - North Shore News AWRIGHT CoHo... A MILLION OF YER PALS ARE MISSING FROM B.C. WATERS ... WHERE ARE THEY ?... WHERE ARE THEY 7! INSIGHTS OKAY OKAY... ILUTALK. ... THEY'RE IN OREGON... mumigh | CROSS-BORDER SHOPPING. ¥, PESCeS: NEWS VIEWPOINT Fancy dancers ORTH Shore residents should take Nea note of a new two-step being performed by some politically astute federal politicians. It is ceed the Panamax. The dance is being Ied by Capilano- Howe Sound MP Mary Collins, and it in- volves anguished piroucttes aimed osten- sibly at saving the $60-million Panamax dry dock ownes’ *y Versatile Pacific Ship- yards Inc. Financially beleaguered Versatile, of course, wants to unload the dock to offset its debt load and avoid bankruptcy. As part of its restructured business plan, Versatile proposed selling the dock for $14.8 million to an unnamed off-shore buyer; failing that, Versatile wants the federal government to buy the dock for $7.5 million. But the sale 's Zisvordant music to the ears of local shipbuilding folk and those who zightly believe that the loss of the dry dock will erode the Port of Vancouver’s world-class status and further erode the grea’s reputation as a centre of ship- building and ship repair. What better issue, then, for the masters of the political two-step to don dancing shoes and champion? Even though they were the same fancy dancers who sold Versatile down the river with the cancellation of the $500-million Polar 8 icebreaker contract after performing a convincing Polar 8 two-step for almost five years. "LETTER OF THE DAY Older generation made grave mistakes Dear Editor: In response to Eleanor Godley’s article ‘‘Toughing it out in the age of Madonna” in the Sunday, July 14 issue of the North Shore News, unfortunately, Eleanor Godley, the state of cities such as New York and London are the way they are not because of Madon- na’s ‘‘underarmor,’’ but because of people like yourself who repre- sent generations that can’t admit to having made grave mistakes in the past. You say that you ‘‘feel ob- Publisher Managing Editor Associate Editor Advertising Director Comptroller Peter Speck Timothy Renshaw Noel Wright Linda Stewart Doug Foot solete’’ and that you belong to “the last people to have been born into the natural world.”’ By my understanding that would make you well over 200 years old, maybe even over 2,000 years old. In your favor, your photo notches you at about 60 years of age. Quite flattering for a woman of your age, isn’t it? Nonetheless, if you are around 60 years old then the “natural world” that you were born into was right in the midst of the Se- cond World War. That doesn’t Display Advertising $80-0511 Real Estate Advertising 986.6922 Classified Advertising 986-6222 Newsroom 985-2131 Oistribution Subscriptions Fax Adminisiration seem very natural to me! But, like Rostropovich, you have endured, and when Madonna is long gone and her ‘‘under- armor”’ has rusted to her like a cage, you, Eleanor Godley, will still be here clocking your third or even 21st century, epitomizing all that is wrong with our ‘‘nice,’’ ‘natural world.”’ We are the ones who are “toughing it out’’ Eleanor, not you! Dave Weekes North Vancouver 986-1337 986-1337 985-3227 985-2131 Ccva North Shore Rr managed eranus Nerth Shore News, tounded in 1969 as an independent subuiban newspaper and qualified under Schedule 113, Paragraoh il! of the Excise Tax Act, is published each Wednesday, Friday and Sunday by North Shore Free Press Lid and distributed to every door on the North Snore Second Ctass Matt Reqsiration Number 3885. Subscriptions North and West Vancouver $25 per year, Mathng rates avaiable an request Submussions are welcome but we cannot accept responsibiity for urcedicited maternal imcluding manuscnpls and pictures which should be accompanied by a stamped. addressed envelope V7M 2H4 Teal YOOCE OF MONTH BNO WEST VANCOUVER 1139 Lonsdale Avenue, North Vancouver, B.C. MEMBER SDA DIVISION 61,882 (average circulation. Wednesday. Friday & Sunday} Entire contents <) 1991 North Shore Free Press Lid. All rights reserved Common sense not the way to win elections PREMIER RITA JOHNSTON has said something sensible again. The trouble is that — like her earlier sensible pro- nouncements — it won’t help her win the upcoming B.C. election. Recently she’s called for Asian gangsters to be deported even if they claim to be refugees. She also thinks British Columbians need educating about Quebec. Both propositions are at least worth some sober thought -- but that won't stop a prompt loss of knee-jerk votes among ethnic groups and cornflake-box con- stitutional experts. Now, she has the welfare com- munity and bleeding-heart lobbies mad at her for declining to rant and roar at Ottawa over its cut- back -—— upheld last week by the Supreme Court — in welfare cost increases. She should have pilloried the feds as robbers of babies’ milk. Instead, faced over the next five years with federal handouts totall- ing several hundred million dollars less than expected, she simply an- nounced calmly that the B.C. government would be forced to adopt ‘‘far more discipline in our budget measures.”’ If that comment makes Rita sound like a soul-sister of Maric Antoinette, kindly re-check your fact sheet. Ottawa has NOT reduced its 50% share of welfare costs. It has NOT even stopped increasing them each year. All it has done is limit temporarily to 5% the an- nual hikes for the three ‘‘have"’ provinces — Ontario, Alberta and B.C. — to help reduce the $30 billion federal deficit. That being what everyone is yelling at the fects to do. Around one-third of the total federal budget is spent on transfer payments to the provinces for welfare, health and education — all of which are run and controll- ed by the provinces. So it seems hardly unreasonable of Ottawa to ask the three richest of them fora little help in tackling the horren- dous $400 billion nationai debt. It leaves the three, of course, only two options: either toughen up on welfare costs or make good the shortfall by raising provincial taxes — regardless of the fact that the taxpayer gets no compensating relief on his federal tax bill. As a vote-getter, provincial tax hikes are clearly a non-starter. There’s only one taxpayer, no matter which level of government is milking them. So although things may come to that in the end, Rita’s matter-of-fact com- Noel hes HITHER AND YON ment simply stated obvious com- mon sense: first, let’s see if we can make our welfare budget work more efficiently. But can you remember an elec- tion won by common sense? POSTSCRIPTS: Change of pace for the 199] Coho Festival (Sept. 5-8) which for the past 10 years has kicked off with an evening reception and salmon buffet in Park Royal. This year’s opening event will be a 7:30 a.m. kick-off breakfast (billed as ‘‘a piscatorial experience!’’) on Thursday, Sept. 5, at the Hollyburn Country Club, with speakers expert in the various fishery fields. Seating is limited, so book early at Eaton’s Park Royal ticket office or call 926- 6614, 925-2100, 987-4488 or 926- 7311... The Cancer Society needs more drivers to take patients to the treatment centres they must often attend daily. Mileage and li- ability insurance are provided. If you can help with this very wor- thwhile volunteer service, please call 985-8585... And from the Bet- ter Late Dept. a still warm two- day-old birthday greeting to In- glewood Lodge resident Dallas Mary Sutton who celebrated her 92nd on Monday, Aug. 19. WRIGHT OR WRONG: (from Ross Perot, a man after my own heart): If you see a snake, just kill it. Don’t appoint a committee on snakes. NEWS photo Cindy Goodman POPPY FUNDS from WV Legion Branch 60 provided the $1,000 cheque recently handed to North Shore Home Support Ser- vices’ Hilary King (left) by Legion members Iris Andrew, Dick Davenport and Mel Oughton.