6 - Wednesday, October 3, 1990 - North Shore News INSIGHTS HES GETTING DESPERATE. NEWS VIEWPOINT Burning fireboat need users have been extremely lucky to have stumbled along for more than two years without adequate waterborne fire protection and without a flaming disaster. Y sss tave PORT industries and Since Vancouver City decommissioned its fireboat in January 1988, there has beer no effective water-side fire protection available on Burrard Inlet. But harbor traffic has since increased with skips bearing mixed cargoes, in- cluding dangerous goods and growing quantities of oil and petroleam products. _The port is also home to major shipping facilities. And 26 per cent of total proper- ties fronting the port require water-side fire suppression for entire complexes. It is unfair and unrealistic to have ex- Dear Editor: | THE DAY Contractors should clean up act The sidewalks have been block- Mount Seymour has been cut two pected tugboat operators to take up the slack. At one point the Vancouver Port Fire Protection Committee, cix-member committee chuired by the Vancouver Port Corp. and including representation from the North Vancouver municipalities and three others, contemplated equipping tugs with large pumps aad monitors. But one company expressed no interest in modify- ing its tugs, while another could not guar- antee having a tug in the harbor at all times. Participating municipalities should sup- port the plan to build four quick response firchoats and a marine firefigkting plat- forn:, Ideally the equipment will be built by North Shore shipyards and crew train- ing will be provided by the North Van- couver-vased Pacific Marine Training {n- stitute. The control over the contractors ed at times by equipment and or three times already and it has in North Vancouver District over the last summer has been inade- quate. Specifically, J refer to the litter surrounding the jobs. The workers apparently eat in their cars and throw the garbage out onto the boulevard. Out walking one Sunday morn- ing on Indian River Drive, we ran across a lady who was out picking it up — a pretty sad commentary on the situation. Publisher .. ... .Peter Speck vehicles. | have had to ask one site to clear it twice. My wife is an invalid and it is difficult if not dangerous to assist hcr on and off the curb to get around them. Then there is the matter of mud and dust being tracked onto the paved roads, to say nothing of the cuts across the pavement which are never levelled off. It seems completely inane to me that the newly paved stretch of only been resurfaced for a month! But then they don’t live out here, do they? My father was a city engineer in Manitoba and many times | have heard him telling contractors to clean up their act or he would close down the job. I gucss the difference is they knew he meant it. James H. Battershill North Vancouver Managing Editor Timothy Renshaw Associate Editor... Noe! Wright Advertising Director . Linda Stewart North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an independent suburbiin Newspaper and qualitted under Schedule 111. Paragraph IM of the Excise Tax Act. ts published each Wednesday. Friday and Sunday by North Shore Free Press Lid. anc aistsibuted to every door on the North Share Second Class Mail Registration Number 3885 Subsce.ptions North and Wes! Vancouver, $25 per year Maihng rates availaple on request Submissions are welcome but we cannot accept responsibiily tor unsolicited maternal including Manuscripts and pictures a V7M 2H4 swat oe mor amontst tacos Display Advertising 980-0511 north shore Classified Advertising 986-6222 , . : ~: Newsroom 985-2131 : news Distribution 986-1337 Fh sutscisions 986-1357 1139 Lonsdaie Avenue, North Vancouver, B.C. 59,170 (average, Wednesday Friday & Sunday) MEMBER envelope which ¢hquid be accompamed by a stamped, addressed SDA DIVISION Entire contents © 1990 North Shore Free Press Ltd. All rights reserved. North Shore owned and managed Whatever else, our Premier is never boring! THE ODDS against Bill Vander Zaltm still being around for a spring election are clearly mounting. Even so, Vil keep my betting bucks in my wallet just for the moment, thank you. The conventional wisdom is that Bill has finally sealed his doom by allegedly “‘lying’’ to the public (until confronted 10 days ago) about who owned Fantasy Gardens. The facts, nowever, have been available since 1986 to any- one wishing to check — whether in the public interest or for elec- tion campaign purposes. So just how believable is it that he was stupid enough to mislead the public DELIBERATELY, knowing that anyone could un- cover the truth at any time? Isn’t he at least entitled to the benefit of the doubt about his ‘‘honest error’’ claim? But back to B.C.’s political bear pit where, two months ago, the Socreds were catching up suf- ficiently on the NDP in the pails to make a fall vote viable. Aside from worrisome forest industry layoffs the economy was still humming along. Vander Zalm’s fair-but-firm line on In- dian claims contrasted with fears that Mike Harcourt might give away the store. The Sacreds were committed to battle the hated GST. In the now vital environ- meni department green-sweatered John Reynolds was carning straight As. Suddenly, with the ‘‘lying’”’ charges against the Premier, it all crumbled. A fall election hastily called off. And the Vander Zalm-must-go movement now rumored to include even hitherto staunch inner cabinet loyalists — desperate to get it over in time to pick a new leader before facing the voters next April. Allin ali, the Socred convention in 10 days time promises to be at least as fascinating as the fall elec- tion we've been deprived of — though not necessarily with blood on the floor. One possibility is that Vander Zalm might quit, persuaded by top colieagues that it’s his last chance to retire with some dignity. Given their tidy little nest egg (after paying off the mortgage) from the sale of Fantasy Gardens, there could be worse ways today for himself and Lillian to get on with their lives. The alternative, of course, would be a replay of last January’s resurrection act after the Oak Bay byeiection disaster. And this time it might not be merely in order to hang in until spring. If his craditional support at the party’s grass roots held firm, don’t yet rule out even a November ejection — a defiant “‘damn the torpedoes”’ act by a BILL Vander Zalm ...‘‘damn the torpedoes’'? HITHER AND YON Noe! Wright proud, stubborn man who feels, with some justification, he has done nothing that conflicts with his public duty. (We're still waiting to learn whether the same can be said of brand new Senator John Buchanan, whose activities while premier of Nova Scotia are the subject of an ongoing RCMP probe!) One thing is sure: Bill Vander Zalm is never boring. Meanwhile, if it DOES come to a leadership contest, West Van’s MLA, En- vironment Minister John Reynolds, is the man to watch. kee WRAP-UP: North Van District’s _ latest mayoralty candidate virtual- ly assures a race going right down to the wire. Ald. Joan Gadsby, who topped the aldermanic poll in 1988, was followed in second and third places respectively by her two present rivals, Ald. Murray Dykeman and Aid. Craig Clark. Gadsby has 10 years on council, Dykeman eight and Clark seven — nothing ‘‘token’’ about these contenders! ... Top Militia officer on the coast now hails from the North Shore. West Van's Briga- dier-Genera! Stuart McDonald, former C.O. of 15 Fd. Artillery Regt., has just taken over com- mand of Pacific Militia Area from Brigadier-Generai ‘‘Jerry” Silva of New Westminster ... And please give the gift of life Friday, Oct. 5, at the blood donor clinic, 2:30-8 p.m. in Park Royal South, upper level. xkee WRIGHT OR WRONG: If at first you don’t succeed, look in the wastepaper basket for the in- structions. FATHER JOHN keeps a sharp eye on son Byron Hildebrand (left) finishing off a cake at Aunt Bob's new Cap Mall res- taurant.