6 — Sunday. November 8. 1998 — North Shore News

HE single biggest problem in

Canadian society is not the

debt. It is not the deficit. It is
not the ozone layer, salmon stocks,
big box stores, Teletubbies or Gillian
Guess.

It is voter apathy.

Or more precisely, a feeling that
your opinions and concerns aren’t
worth two cents. A societal sense that
special interest groups and well-fund-
ed lobby groups, those and only those
with the government’s ear, are the
forces that affect change.

We need look no furzher than our
own fair province to see the anger,
frustration and resentment that build
from feelings of helplessness as elected
governments plow ahead on a course
steered by them and their political
allies. “Don’t worry,” they say. “If
yeu don’t like it you can vote us out

gentsia?

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nT ee a
WPCSLE SASANSE OX

“Luckily, he never raised that pistol.”
North Vancouver RCMP Const. Tom Seaman, on a
man who pulled out a pellet gun at the RCMP front
counter in the hopes he would be shot by police. (From a
Nov. 6 News story.)
903

“I don’t know why people are so conservative out
here. I used to live in Montreal, and people there
wouldn't blink an eye if they saw a nude sculpture. I

ess there’s just a different culture on the West

oast.”

Handsworth secondary school art teacher Helle
Simonsen, who is also a painter and sculptor, after a fite-
sized ceramic nude was removed from an art show at North
Vancouver City hall in September. (From a Nov, 6 News

story.)
aoa

“It just exploded and there was glass everywhere. I
followed them and they were hurling Roman candles at
the (police) car and strings of firecrackers at the car.”

West Vancouver Police Const. lan Craib, describing
part of his Halloween evening. West Van police were busy
with five times the usual number of Saturday night calls.
(From a Noe. News story.)

900

“One student pays for the trip. The other two offer
a comfort margin.”

West Vancouver school board principal of international
programs Ed Jackson, on the success of signing up three
Korean students at a Seoul education fair for a West
Vancouver education. (From a Non 4 News story.)

ag

“The last view was of Larry’s flailing arms out of
the window trying to grab me because the flames were
at his feet ... He burned alive in front of me.”

North Vancouver resident Susan Ennis, on her attempts
te rescue a man trapped in a car wreck, Ennis received a
rare St. John Ambulance Society life saving medal for her
efforts. (From a Nov, 4 News story.)

De et Dye oe
north shore.
gf. - 5 Homth Shore News, founded wn 1969 2s an
independem suburban newspaper and Gualdied
undet Schedule 111, Paragraph 111 of the
Exease Tax Act, 1s published each Wednesday,
Friday and Sunday by Nerth Shore Free Press,
‘Aid. and distributed to every door on the North
‘Shore. Canada Post Canadian Publicahons Mad
Sates Product Agrament No, 0087238.

Jonathan Boil
Creative Services Manager
985-2131 (127)

61,582 {average circulation, Weanesday, Friday & Sunday)

Distribution Manager
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north shore news

VIEWPOINT

for change

next election.”

Is this a healthy democratic politi-
cal system at work? Or is it an ailing
anachronism based on a century-old
parliamentary model suited more to a
class-system ruled by an elite intelli-

As the North Vancouver-based
Canadians for Direct Democracy
group points out, “In Canada, the
people have a voice only one day every
1,460 days — on voting day.” A pret-
ty persuasive observation.

Direct democracy has worked for
over 100 years in Switzerland and for
decades in a number of American
states. Critics, mostly politicians, say
the majority will tyrannize weak
minorities under direct democracy.

Don’t believe them. They’re just
scared of being held accountable, and
heaven forbid we ask that of them.

RICH in natural wonders and
nice people, Ecuador — which we
visited last month — is still very
much a “developing” country,
with poverty (by

North American

standards) to

match.

Average wages are
low ~- offen, we were
told, in a range equiva-
lent to $1.50 to $3 Cdn
per hour for an eight to
11-hour workday, But so,
fou, are Most prices,
except in the big vlitzy
shopping malls catering
tor tourists and the minority of wealthy
Ecuadoreans. So carnings and basic living
costs tend to even out, though average
lifestyles are markedly more modest than
the average Canadian enjoys.

Away from the smart shopping boule-
vards of central Quito the suburban and
rural infrastructure with its potholed roads
shows frequent signs of decay. Meanwhile,
villages and small towns within a 100 km
radius of Quito — most with intriguing
native names like Saquisili, Latacunga,
Oravalo — are predominantly Indian ter-
ritory, pure aboriginals forming 25% of
Ecuador’s population

Ir's in these pint-size outer commuai-
ties that you find Ecuador's famed Indian
markets with their wealth of textiles, jew-
elry and other crafts. We browsed and
bought for happy hours in three of them
— Oravalo, 80 km north of Quito, being
reputedly the biggest Indian marker in
South America.

PETER SPECK
Publisher
285-2131 (101)

ra

= oo
Photography Manager
985-2131 (160)

Classified Manager
988-0222 (202)

Entire contents © 1997 North Shore Free Press Ltd. All rights reserved.

Back for a moment to basics, Ecuador
is a democratic republic modelled on the
U.S., with an individually elected presi-
dent (currently Jamil Mahuad) and a sepa-
rate single-house Congress. Among its
chief economic activities
are food processing,
textiles, clothing, cof
tee, bananas and petro-
teum — the fatter five
also being, major
exports. By religion,
95% of Ecuadoreans are
Roman Catholic. Their
language, Spanish.
English isn’t widely
spoken, so don’t forger
your Berlitz Spanish
Phrase Book,

A word, too, about the equator, just
22 km north of Quito. The spor is
marked by a collection of restaurants and
gift shops, and an impressive monument,
the path to which is divided down the
middle by a yellow highway lin, with a
notice reading “Latitude 070°G*."
Suaddling it, Dorothy and [ had our
statutory photo taken, each with one foot
in the northern hemisphere, the other in
the southern,

One more surprise about life here on
the equator is that it can get pretty darn
cool! Quito lies some 9,500 tect above sea
level. Hence, its year-round temperature is
theoretically almost perfect: a high around
22-24" Celsius by day, a night-time low of
8-10° Celsius. But being there at the start
of the cooler, rainy season, our unheated
8-degree hotel room became positively
chilly early in the morning.

One factor allegedly robbing Quito of
increased tourist business is the active vol-

hither
and yon

=

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\\

x

~~ Yes, we shivered on the equator!

cano Pichincha high above the capital. A
repeat of the major 1870 eruption, neces-
sitating a major evacuation, is regularly
predicted. Not to worry, we assured
Ecuadereans — similar gloomy forecasts
about Vancouver's next big earthauake
have had no effect whatever on that city’s
booming tourist industry.

Happily, another alleged tourisin
“downer” has just been resolved — a
messy 37-year “mini war” with Ecuador's
southern neighbor Pera, which invaded
and occupied a chunk of Ecuador in
1941. ‘The day before our departure
Ecuador's president and his Peruvian
counterpart finally signed a peace treaty
brokered by Argentina, Spain and Brazil
inv the latter's capital of Brasilia.

All in all, a near little nation. Friendiy,
hospitable totk. Good hotels. Politically
comfortable. And for Canadians, dirt
cheap with “rillions” co spend! [four
own experience as bumbling, unilingual
aringos is anything 20 judge by, you can
look forward to a warm welcome and lots
of fun while you explore!

O00
BREAKFAST Thursday, Nov.12, with
West Van-Suashine Coast Reform MP
John Reynolds at 7:30 a.m. in the
Dundarave Cafe, 2427 Marine, West Van.
Topic: the United Alternative. For tickets
call 926-6659 ... Many happy returns of
tomorrow, Nov. 9, to West Van Kiwanis
birthday boy Bert Fleming ... And the
same again Tuesday, Nov. 10, to his fellow
Kiwanian Ed Fielder.

eoaa
WRIGHT OR WRONG: Surest way to
go broke is to sit around waiting for a
break.

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