6 - Sunday, September 30, 1990 ~ North Shore News INSIGHTS “Oa = \NERE GOING CRALY {| HERE... FLOODED WITH CALIS FROM SOCREDS HE MUGHT NOT CALL THE ELECTION THIS eee NEWS VIEWPOINT Please explain, Mr. Premier Premier Bill Vander Zaim owned a T HE FUROR over the discovery that in Fantasy majority of shares Gardens is certainly justified. Since becoming elected in 1986, the premier has repeatedly told the public that his wife Lillian owned the Richmond theme park. It was uncovered last week, however, that the premier controlled 83 per cent of the company’s interests until it was recent- ly sold. Vander Zalm claims that he was un- aware that he still owned the company outright, saying that his lawyers and ac- countants had not toid him that the shares had not been transferred to his wife. And Vander Zalm’s allies are downplay- ing the premier’s discrepancy saying that Vander Zalm has not broken the law, that he has done nothing wrong. But the premier has done something wrong. He has broken our trust. Whether or not the premier knew that he owned majority interest in Fantasy Gardens, his leadership must be questioned. If he cannot keep track of his private business holdings, how can he expect to keep track of the province’s business? And if he did know that he was majority shareholder in Fantasy Garden World inc., why did he mislead British Columbians? The premier has a lot of explaining to do and it is not about questions over con- flict of interest. What is at stake here is the premier’s credibility itself. NEWS QUOTES OF THE WEEK “That's basically saying that the solution to pollution is dilution. We disagree with that."” Save Howe Sound Society president Rozlynne Mitchell, commenting on the pumping of pulp mill effluent into deep water, following a spill of 500,000 litres of effluent into Howe Sound. “If you want a healthy meal, you can’t do better than a ham sand- wich.”’ Henning Freybe, president of Freybe Sausage Ltd., on nutrition. “1 don’t have any choice. It’s a Publisher _. Associate Editor . Peter Speck Managing Editor Timothy Renshaw . Noel Wright Advertising Director Linda Stewart news event so they can do what they want. They didn’t ask me if they could do it. As my wife said, ‘it’s not too hard to take a fat old dummy and throw it off a cliff.’ West Vancouver resident Arthur Ryckman, 63, commenting on the reenactment of his fall along the Howe Sound Crest trail and subsequent rescue for an episode on the U.S, television program Rescue 911. “The kids that are living this lifestyle are going to end up like something you see walking down Granville Street 20 years later — drug addicts and the whole bit. Tei VOICE OF RONTH AND WEST VANCOUVER SUNDAY » WEONESDAY © FRIDAY North Shore News, founced in 1969 as an independent suburban newspaper and qualified under Schedule 111. Paragraph It! of ine Excise Tax Act, is published each Wednesday, Fnday and Sunday by North Snore Free Press Lid ana distributed to every dour on the North Shore Second Class Mail Registration Number 3885. Subsenptions North and West Vancouver, $25 per year Mailing rates available on request Subnussions are accept responsibility lor unsoliciied material including manuscripts and pictures e which should be accompanied by a stamped, addressed welcome but we cannot envelope 1139 Lonsdale Avenue, Narth Vancouver, B.C. V7M 2H4 §9,170 (average, Wednesday Friday & Sunday) Lo Wy SDA DIVISION Display Advertising Classified Advertising Newsroom Distribution Subscriptions They are just going to be lost causes."” Laura Sorenson, who retrieved her 12-year-old niece from a makeshift runaways encampment in William Griffin Park. “I used to write letters home on the thin, dried-out pieces of meat which looked like parchment.”’ West Vancouver artist Joy Zemel Long, 68, recalling the dismal conditions she was forced to experience when she was con- fined, at age 23, to a sanitorium near Kamloops after developing tuberculosis. 980-0511 986-6222 985-2131 986-1337 986-1337 985-3227 MEMBER Top fall TV series beats even ‘Meech’?! THE SOAP opera industry has never looked back since Brian Mutroney’s first big hit, ‘Yankee Trader”’ in 1988, introduced today’s exciting new formats. Now he automatically tops prime-time ratings. Mulreney's new ‘Senators All’’ show is already pulling even big- ger audiences than his fantastically successful ‘*Meech Lake"’ series. The colorful historical background is rich in potential drama. In 1867 the Senate was estab- lished as Canada’s upper house to provide checks and balances simi- lar to Britain’s House of Lords. All legislation must pass through it and technically it has the same powers as the Commons to ac- cept, amend or veto laws — the only exception being some con- stitutional amendments. The unelected senators are ap- pointed exactly like ‘‘life peers’’ in the British House of Lords — on the recommendation of the prime minister to the Queen (in Canada to the Governor-General). But one helpful difference in Canada is that the 104 senators are chosen on a regional basis, thus repre- senting in theory the views of their provinces. Back to last week’s opening episode. A travelling Senate road show spends the summer discovering that over 80 per cent of Canadians want the Goods and Services Tax bill killed. So the Liber- al-dominated Senate, now at full strength, prepares to do just that. And there’s not a word in the constitution to stop it. But enter now, draped in cobwebs, an obscure clause in the British North America Act — since 1982 the Canadian constitu- tion — which allows Mulroney to ask the Queen for eight extra senators to give him the Senate majority needed to force the GST through. Never mind that it’s supposed only to be used when a Senate deadlock makes governing im- possible (clearly NOT the case here). Never mind that the only other time the clause was ever in- voked — in 1874 by Alexander Mackenzie — Queen Victoria shot it down in flames. Forget that the B.C. govern- ment is taking Ottawa to court on the whole issue, and may well be joined by Alberta and Ontario. And ignore the latest poll showing the Tories, with a record-breaking 15 per cent, to be the most un- popular governing party since polling began. In the climax to Episode One our dauntless hero Mulroney — vowing that ‘‘democracy must prevail!’’ — names his eight new rent-a-senators. The Liberals shut down the Senate by walking out en bloc, leaving the newcomers BRIAN Mulroney ...dauntless soap hero presses on. Noel HITHER AND YON stranded outside. Mulroney rushes off to New York to deal with Saddam Hussein. Stay tuned. We TV soap fans never had it so good. But ... O Canada! tae TAILPIECES: Watch for at least one local politician candidate — hopefully more! — jailed behind bars in Park Royal South Tuesday through Thursday, Oct. 2-4. It’s the Cancer Society's annual Jail- n’-Bail fundraiser which, for $25 will have your friend (or enemy} arrested by the cops and thrown into the public sla:znmer on the malt — where he/she then has to raise the bail neecec ‘o be sprung. Got someone in mind? — Call 872-JAIL for ‘‘how-to’’ details ... Not for the timid is the latest ex- hibit by well-known West Van painter Patricia Reid Grohne, opening 6-8 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 2, in the Ambleside Ferry Building and continuing through Oct. 7 from Il a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Aptly entitled ‘‘Bare Facts,” the canvasses treat their sudjects with penetrating honesty and complete acceptance ...Stifl in the art world, West Van Sketch Club’s fall show opens Thursday, Oct. 4, in Park Royal North, continuing through Oct. 1! — info from 926-1381 ... And Lori McDonald of North Van School District (987-8141) is still seeking Volunteer Tutors in- terested in helping youngsters with minor learning problems for a couple of hours or so a week. ake WRIGHT OR WRONG: Fear knocked at the door. Faith an- swered. Nobody was there. PATRICIA Reid Grohne ... a perceptive self-portrait.