Good ship I THINK it was the Cana- dian author Robertson Davies who said Canada isn’t a country you love, it’s a country you worry about. Catherine JUST ADD WATER Well, I'm worried. Very wor- ried that the country I love is sinking in a morass of confusion, apathy and greed. 1 feel it’s no longer acceptable for any of us to blame politicians (federal or provincial) for the mess in which we find ourselves. Like most folks, I take what any politician says with a kilo of salt. - But I don't believe our politicians ‘want to see this ship Canada sink. Frankly, 1 don’t envy at ali the elected representatives who served on the Committee for a Renewed Canada, whose recommendations were made public earlier this week. ' Crafting recommendations that - would meet the demands of the various jurisdictions and groups in “this vast country brings to mind an image of John Candy walking the high wire. We can’t go on blaming politi- cians for this predicament — we have to ask ourselves whether we ” deserve Canada if: ...we're buying milk, cigarettes, furniture or appliances south of the border; ...we’re moving our businesses to ‘the United States because taxes “Where is suite logic " Open letter to North Vancouver District mayor and council: With great disappointment we learned of your decision not to extend and re-open the registered iHegal suite (RIS) program even though a housing strategy task force set up by council to in- vestigate this very subject recom- mended regulation of the suites. According to Ald. Janice Harris “the district receives 50 to 60 com- plaints about secondary suites per _year, while officials estimate a * total of 3,000 to 4,000 suites being in éxistence. This would set the rate of complaints at under 2%. Ald: Joan Gadsby does not want to increase density. Under current law, property owners are allowed to rent out their whole house to 2 family of any size with any number of cars or pets; but they are prohibited from renting out a self-contained part of their home to one person with no car or pet. - We ask you, where is the logic in this? Furthermore, Ald. Gadsby pointed out that it cost the district $190,225 to register 297 suites. .This translates to approximately $640 per suite. “ She said that taxpayers were “subsidizing the program. Why doesn’t council simply charge a and labor rates there are more conducive to higher profits; «we're still grumbling about bi- lingualism and French on cereal boxes. All those cross-border shoppers who are so intent on fixing Mulroney for his blankety-blank GST are nicely taking away jobs from fellow Canadians and put- ting, more strain on the social pregrams that make this country outstanding in the world. The individuals { admire are those who have made a decision to stop shopping regularly across the border. One couple | know, who live in Delta and thus close to the U.LS.A., decided last year to kick the Shop American habit. For many items, they admit, keeping their dollars in Canada wasn’t a huge sacrifice; the dif- ference in the dollars, taxes and duties make many American goods no bargain for the Cana- dian shopper. Where they put Canada ahead of bucks and self- imerest was in stopping their regu- Jar purchase of gasoline and ciga- fettes in the States. tam appalled (but not surpris- ed) when Jimmy Pattison tells us “Nobody has struggled to do ihe right thing and grow in a tough economy the way we have..." (Vancouver Sun, Saturday, Feb. 29). Pattison then proceeds to give higher corporate taxes, more stat- utory holidays and higher wages in Canada as reasons for moving his business to the United States and Mexico. How encouraging that, during this country’s greatest crisis since Confederation, the province's most prominent businessman con- tinues to focus all his efforts on the unending race for limitless profits. Thanks, Jimmy. . This type of concern for the country is right up there with Alberta Premier Don Getty’s comments.condemning official bi- liagualism. Since Getty wasn’t prepared to do his homework on the ever- popular ‘‘bilingual bogeyman,”’ it was left to languages commis- sioner Victor Goldbloom to in- fee of $640 for the registration of a suite? How much do you think it will cost the district to locate and close down 3,000 or 4,000 suites? Will it not be the very same taxpayers who will vay for that? Ald. Jim Cuthbert is of the opinion that the majority of resi- dents want single-family zoning to remain single-family. What is this opinion based on? When did council bother to conduct a survey on the subject to find out what residents in the district really want? For Ald. Rick Buchols the pro- . posals were not practical or en- forceable. We do not know how the pro- posals looked in detail; however, it is hard to comprehend how the City of North Vancouver can come up with practical and ob- viously enforceable proposals to regulate their secondary suites and the District of North Vancouver cannot. Times are tough and first-time buyers must make tough decisions to be able to afford that first home. Bylaws like this one make it even tougher. What will happen to the occu- pants of these suites in the event of closure? Judging from the «stimated number of illegal suites INSIGHTS anada doesn’t deserve to sink form him of the facts: that only 3% of federal civil service jobs in Alberta are bilingual, and the program costs only $13 per Cana- dian per year, As to the argument that Canada is made up of many distinct societies, let’s stop being coy and acknowledge that Quebec is a tru- ly distinct society within Canada. It is precisely Quebec’s distinc- tness that explains the massive communication problem and cul- tural gulf between Quebec and the rest of Canada. In the "50s and ‘60s I grew up in a smail town outside Montreal that epitomized the two solitudes. I never had a francophone friend, and my only regular con- tact with the francophones in the town was when I visited their stores. Though | now value the cultural richness that Quebec br- ings to Canada, it doesn’t surprise me at all that most Quebecois don’t have a clue who Lloyd Robertson is. If we lose Quebec as a real, working part of Canada, we not in NVD? in the district there should be about 9,000 to 10,000 people liv- ing in them. Where will they go? What will be the impact on the local economy, especially retail, service and hospitality industries, ‘if suddenly 9,000 to 10,000 people - leave the area? When the RIS program started a few years ago, council created a situation in which certain home- owners were given the privilege to operate a second suite in their homes while the same privilege was withheld from others. With the last decision on the subject council continues to pro- hibit new homeowners from regis- tering their existing suites while. allowing other homeowners to ‘legally’? operate theirs. We -Strongly object to such policy: ei- ther the bylaw is enforced with no exceptions or everybody should be given until 1995 to ‘‘legally’’ operate their suites. We would like to thank Mayor Dykeman, Ald. Ernie Crist and Ald. Paul Turner for their support in this issue. We support the idea of holding a town hall meeting on this issue that would be broadcast by Shaw Cable to allow viewer input. Ali and Sabine Bani-Sadr North Vancouver Friday, March 6, 1992 — North Shore News - 7 only lose the immeasurable value of cultural diversity, we face an even greater economic and politi- cal weakness that could sce some of us looking south for a future. To me, and I pray to most Ca- nadians, there is no future looking south for a country. They'd have te yank me kicking and screaming into a country where millions of overweight, overindulged children get fed Ramto as a role model while other children go unvaccinated because their parents can’t afford a doctor. I'll never forget driving along a street in Los Angeles with my husband and one of his business clients. A man and woman (white) were standing on the shoulder of the road. The woman was dressed lit- erally in rags, holding an infant and 2 cardboard sign on which was scrawled: ‘‘Will work for diapers.”’ When I commented on how disturbing | found the predica- ment of these people, our Ameri- can friend remarked in a buoyant tone: ‘Yeah, you know that’s the thing about Americans. They're too proud to go on welfare.”’ My husband and I were so astonished by this view of the most extreme case of human misery, we couldn't find words to respond. If we, as Canadians, fee] we deserve better than this (and, yes, a better Canada) then we should be prepared to act to save this country. Several ideas are turning around in my mind. One of them is to ask . anyone I know (friends, acquain- tances, relatives) if they would like to make a contribution towards an advertisement in one of Quebec’s French language dailies. The headline might be: Restons Ensemble (Let’s Stay Together). I’ve got to co something. Or I have to ask myself if I deserve Canada. Suites should be legal Dear Editor: I would like to add the fol- lowing points in support of Noel Wright’s arguments that secondary suites in the District of North Vancouver should be legal. A basement suite in a house enables elderly widows or widowers to live independently in their own home while enjoy- ing the security of knowing that someone else is there and benefiting by the extra income the suite provides. Surely council realizes that if finances permitted, most basement suite dwellers would prefer their own apartment or free-standing home. The reasons that people crowd into houses are the high price of housing and the simple fact that the cost fits their budgets. What is most important is that a person’s home should be their castle — a place they can organize, use and share, to suit N. Shore News LETTERS TO the editor must in- clude your name, written legibly, your full address and telephone number. Due to space contraints the themselves. In my view, council has no business deciding how many kitchens I have, or who will occupy my bedrooms. Council also needs to look at the secondary suite require- ments. Parking for a second vehicle on our lot would be ugly and would detract from the grace and charm of our street. Con- sidering that many secondary suite owners do not have cars, the provision seems unneces- sary. . To me, the vital question in deciding whether a basement suite is/is not ‘‘legal’’ concerns the access to the property. If one set of keys is involved, it should be legal; this involves a measure of trust. If the parties are locked out of each other’s quarters, it is no longer a single family dwelling. Streb Collins North Vancouver Mailbox policy North Shore News cannot publish all letters. Published letters may be edited for brevity, clarity, ac- curacy, legality and taste. Letters .can be faxed to 985-3227.