Now member Hit ruts out OF steam, just cali a Press can NEWS VIEWPOINT Log off IRE GREATER Vancouver Regional! District (GVRD) has approved chlo- . Fine as its disinfectant of choice for the ‘secondary treatment of Lower Mainland drinking water, but the debate over local water quality is far from over. At its June 29 meeting, the GVRD board voted 17-3 to reject chloramine — a more powerful, yet potentially more environmen- tally destructive disinfectant, and approve the addition of more chlorine to local water. The decision followed unanimous rejection of chloramine by the GVRD water commit- tee, which embarked on its search for sec- ondary disinfection of Capilano and Seymour reservoir water in 1988 to bring it up to national standards. Secondary disinfection prevents bacterial growth in the water system; primary disin- fection kills bacteria before the water gets into the distribution system. But adding more chemicals to it does not address the basic quality of that water. It is a manmade chemical answer to a ‘quality problem that goes back to the source: our watersheds. The goed health of these watersheds depends on less, not more, human interven- tion: less chemical doping and less logging, which is currently carried out in our water- sheds under the guise of forest maintenance, but which was not needed before the urban- ization of the Lower Mainland and is not needed now. Logging in watersheds increases turbid runoff and decreases water quality. The next step in improving local water quality should be away from more chernical Band-Aids and back to undisturbed water- sheds. NDP dismantling B.C.’s healthcare system Dear Editor: The NDP government is dis- mantling our healthcare system to the point where we see significant waiting lists in our hospitals, early hospital discharges with no follow- up Care in many cases and commu- Publisher Managing Editor . Associate Editor .. Petar Speck Timothy Renshaw nity nurses on strike. Is this the beginning of this gov- ernment’s promise of a “Closer to Home” community-based heaith- care model? The Opposition has urged this government to slow down its implementation of this 980-0511 985-6982 986-6222 Fax Oisplay Advertising Real Estate Advertising Classified Advertising Distribution Subscriptions new system. I am concerned that there is no accountability in a healthcare system that appears to be in absolute chaes. The NDP has added costs and reduced services. Daniel M. Jarvis, MLA North Vancouver-Seymour 986-1337 986-1337 985-3227 Sales & Marketin: Newsroom Comptrollet North Shore News, founded in 1869 as an indapendent suburban newspaper and qualitied under Schedule 111, Paragraph 111 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 Shore. Canada Post Canadian Publications Mail Sales Product Agreement No. 0087238. Mailing rates available on request. Submissions are welcome but we cannot accept responsibility for unsolicited materia} inciuding manuscripts and pictures which Id be accompanied by a stamped, addressed tert V7M 2H4 Le tp aamemmcn mtr mac cacinns, North Shore Managed 985-2131 Administration MEMBER 985-2131 1 pune Aventie North Vancouver 6.C. SDA DIMISION 61,582 (average circulation, Wednesday, Friday & Sunday) Pa ac heh hel leech acetates LON Entire contents © 1994 North Shore Free Press Ltd. All rights reserved. Bumpy ride for casino project bothers Mikey BACK AGAIN last week to hustle his proposed three- quarter billion-dollar gam- ° bling ghetto for Vancouver’s eastside harborfront was Las Vegas casino czar Stephen Wynn. Anxiously watched by Mikey and gang. Not that the Premier and his NDP colleagues have anything against Mr. Wynn. Quite on the contrary, their concerns are solely about the marked lack of public applause to date for his project. In encounters with talk-show hosts and columnists Mr. Wynn has been finding it tough sledding, This month he has taken four chunks of time on Rogers Cable TV in an effort to sell the local rubes directly on the benefits of becoming Las Vegas North. As I've previously noted, the reasons for a polite “Thanks but no thanks — bye-bye!” to Mr. Wynn are as obvious as Stanley Park, the Lions Gate Bridge and the twin- kling Grouse Mountain lights at dusk. Tourists will continue to flock to this Pacific jewel — one of the world’s six most beautiful cities — without any help from The Strip. For-profit casino gaming may be a gocsend to an empty desert ora seedy New Jersey resort. In Vancouver it is simply not needed. Least of all by Vancouver shops, restaurants, hotels and other tourist amenities. A big casino- hotel complex becomes a black hole swallowing up all the available cash of visiting gamblers, 90% of whom would head straight back home when the money runs out without ever glimpsing Pacific Centre, Robsonstrasse or Granville Istand. Even less in need of Mr. Wynn’s one-armed bandits and non-stap roulette wheels are B.C.’s charity casinos. Many of the deserving causes that now depend on them would be dealt a lethal financial blow. Nor does B.C.’s overburdened social welfare depart- ment need a single extra problem added to its already daunting case- load. But business and moral issues aside, there’s one even stronger reason to turn thumbs down on Las Vegas-type gambling in B.C. The very last thing we should allow any government today is a new source of easy money — which is exactly what Mikey and his gang are greedily eyeing in the casino complex proposal. It could bring them several hundred mil- lions a year in extra revenue. Would that windfall ease B.C.’s punitive taxcs? Would it go to reducing Victoria’s current billion- dollar-plus deficit? Would it even- tually help to pay off the province's $26 billion debt? Dream on! The NDP record indicates that such a windfall would be :quandered entirely on vote- winning exercises of no relevance to the most pressing needs of the B.C. economy — lower taxes, an attractive investment climate and a loosening of the iron grip of the unions, The most pressing need of secialists, on the other hand, is to CONTROL the lives of their fellow citizens. This is an increasingly costly process, which is why Wynn's pro- HITHER AND YON ject is so tempting for the NDP cab- inet — now involved in a six- month review of B.C. gaming laws ° which, the Premicr hints, could. lead” to their “possible expansion” . (translation: we must find 4 way to iegalize Wynn’s money-machine), Meanwhile, Victoria has so far shown no enthusiasm for the only - democratic way to resolve the issue “ of large-scale, for-profit gamblin in B.C.— bya province-wide ree erendum. . In light of the bumpy reception - Mr. Wynn got last week from the” media, it’s small wonder Mikey is = reluctant to consult the voters, |: badly though he needs that extra...’ ‘!’ quarter-billion or so a year. To get it he may be ready to sa rifice quite a lot of democracy. WRAP-UP: Volunteer drivers and phone callers are needed to work . with the Seniors’ Hub of Capilano Community Services Society. If you can help, please call Jean, 988- 7115 or 988-1129 ... Nerth Van High School’s Class of '74 is plan- © © ning its 20-year reunion for Saturday, Sept. 10 -— contact Bernadette at 988-9217 for info ... For séniors seeking moderate out- door exercise the North Shore Neighbourhood House Take-A- Walk program this Friday, July 8, features an excursion to the Yew Lake Trail — phone 987-8138 for details ... Meanwhile, congrats to Ambleside and Tiddlycove Lions Club member Harry Wyckoff of Woodcroft, recipient of the Club’s 1993-94 Service Award of the Year. WRIGHT OR WRONG: Nobody is ever sicker than someone who’s MIKE HARCOURT ... control- ling citizens costs money.