1 DONT UNDERSTAND fT LATELY, | FEEL A SENSE oF HOPELESSNESS, LIKE THERE. 1S NO NO FUTURE. 1(h DRIFTING IN OA SEA OF DESPA And NOBODY Fair is fair HE RECENT flap over the _squelching of self-expression impos- ; -ed by the provincial government’s Bill 33 bas jeft many. British Columbians questioning how much freedom they really :. Have. . With human suffering inflaming coun- ‘tries throughout the world, such philo- sophical wool-gathering on freedom and liberty often takes on an ivory tower tone. But such diligence is vital. - The B.C. Press. Council is pushing the NDP government to introduce legislation that would protect B.C: newspapers from litigation stemming from published fetters | to the editor. B.C, is the only province in Canada that does not have “fair comment’ legislation. -A two-page fair comment bill — Billi: M 201 —. was introduced in the last reund of the legislature by NDP MLA Leonard Krog, but was passed over by the NDP- controlled house. Currently under provinciai jaw, a publisher bears equal responsibility with 2 letter writer when a lawsuit arises from a defamatory or inaccurate published letter. The result is that editors balk at running certain letters — even if they are in the public interest — for fear of being hauled into court. The explosion of litigation in the last two decades has gone a long way in stifling free thought and free speech. The province, through Bill 33, has. ‘al- ready taken the first step on a slippery slope. The passing of a fair comient amendment would add' some much-needed traction for: those who wish to foster freedom of expression. “LETTER OF THE DAY $10M can n buy some badly needed action Lear Editor: At the same time that the Tory "government has been underfun- ding services for women victims of violence, it has spent $10 million ‘on’ the’ report of. the Canadian ‘Panel on Violence’ Against - Women,’ which tells Canadians what we already knew — that vi- olence .. against women in our society is frighteningly widespread. The true perversity of this ex- pense is that this money could have been|spent on concrete ac- tions to address this problem. So what could be done with $10 million ‘if, we had a federal gov- ‘ernment with concrete action as its The provincial government has indicated that for $10 million it has provided funding for. addi- tional counselling services in over 100 communities for women who are victims of violence; for 1! new sexual assault centres; for com- munity-based research, education and training projects aimed at vi- olence against women; for training programs for various people in the criminal! justice system, medical and social offenders. In other words, $10 million can buy some badly needed action if a government is willing. What makes this situation even worse is that Mary Collins, the federal minister responsible for the status of women, is not prepared to put some money where the federal government's mouth is when it comes to violence against women. At a time when government should be about priorities, the Conservative government in Ot- tawa can’t get its priorities straight when it comes to violence against women. They have money for study but not action. And some people thought Kim Campbell, as Canada’s first fe- male prime minister, would make a difference. Graeme Bowbrick NDP candidate priority? ‘ Publisher |: . Peter Speck Managing Editor " Timothy Renshaw Associate Editor . Noel Wright Sales & Marketing Director Linda Stewart Comptroller Doug Foot North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an independent suburban newspaper and qualitied under Schedule 111, Paragraph iI! of the Excise Tax Act, is published ‘each Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. by North Shore Fiee Press Ltd. and distributed fo. every door on the North Shore. Canada Post Canadian Publications Mail Sales Product Agreement No. 0087238. Mailing rates availabie on request. Submissions are welcome but we cannot accapt. responsibility for unsolicited material including manuscripts and pictures which should ba accompanied by a stamped, self-self- addressed envelope. Newsroom SUNDAY V7M 2H4 Display Advertising Real Estate Advertising 985-6982 Classified Advertising 986-6222 Foe VNC bo Own ate EBT waneCOUIA 1139 Lonsdale Avenue, North Vancouver, B.C. 980.0511 Distribution 986-1337 Fake, o Subscriptions $86-1337 FESS) this newspaper Fax 985-3227 Kae) contains Administration 985-2131 pea@] secyciec fibre North Shore managed MEMBER 985-2131 + WEONESDaY = FmIDAY SOA DIVISION 61,582 (average circulation, Wednesday, Friday & Sunday) Entire contents © 1993 North Shore Free Press Ltd. All rights reserved. POLITICAL FRIENDS (yes, I do have one or two) get quite edgy when the tatk turns to recall, the procedure enabling constituents to fire their MP or MLA for cause in mid-term. Small wonder, too. Nobody happily contemplates his own mortality, even if it's only political mortality, Which explains why the Mike Harcourt gang desperately continues to avoid introducing the recall law demanded by over 80% of B.C. voters in the 1991 refer- endum. If ever our shop-soiled political system is to be cleansed and sanitized, recall must be one of the detergents available, but like any heavy-duty cleanser it has to be handled with care. First, there’s the petition for recall. It should give the reason for recall and be signed by at least 51% of the registered voters. For-or-against media advertising ‘would be forbidden, but there would be no ban on news reports, . editorial comment or readers’ let- ters. ; Signatures should be collected over @ period of up to two weeks at designated official centres like poiling stations — with no door-to-door or freelance can- -vassing allowed. The whole pro- cess should be supervised and checked by the Chief Eiectoral © Officer's staff. All of which, as may already occur to you, adds up to a pretty costly exercise. If less than 51% of the voters sign, it’s simply money down the drain. If the petition is. carried, there’s then the consider- able extra expense and time-delay of a byelection. / It may be possibie, however, to avoid recall’s high price tag in two ways. One is simply to threaten an unsatisfactory MP or MLA with a recall petition unless he or she smartens up by a given deadline. Remember that congenitally lazy employee whose work dramatically improved after the boss called him in? ‘I never had it explained to me so clearly before,’’ he told his wondering colleagues. A kindlier and much more ef- fective solution would be the free caucus vote — the most urgently needed reform in our pariiamen- tary system. This would enable in- dividual MPs and MLAs to vote against their party leadership without causing the defeat of the government. . Party whips would disappear. All caucus votes would be by secret ballot. Party leaders who failed to win their followers’ sup- HITHER AND YON. port ona specific issue would simply return to the drawing board. But how, ask my politician friends, would anything ever get done without party discipline? My answer being that once they’ve got my vote, party discipline does far . too many things I never voted for. Nobody ever said democracy. ~~ was as tidy and efficient as four- .. year dictatorships. That’s why we need recall as our final option. eo 6 oe SIGN-OFF: Saluting the North . Shore’s elder statesman, Senator Ray Perrault last week presented Derrick Humphreys, former . four-term mayor of West Van, |. ’. earlier a West Van and North Van. © /City alderman, with the Canada‘. 125 Medal for his ‘‘significant * ” contribution to compatricts, community and to Canada’ North Shore Alano Ciub cele- .. brates its 20th anniversay Sept.’ 7 17-19. All 1973-93 members::' : should call Vicki, 986-8699, for. an invitation to this memorable. reunion ... Ireland takes over the . Centennial Theatre Aug. 17 — Sept. 4 when Sally Duffia presents. his one-man comedy dramas." + Brendan Behan: Confessions of an .:- : Irish Rebel and The Importance of |). being Irish — call 984-4484 for: . tickets ... And happy 56th anni-: versary tomorrow, Aug..14, to ||. West Van’s John and Pearl Bar- : rett. e ° ° WRIGHT OR WRONG: Why on earth do politicians invent. lies about each other when the truth © works even better?. Photo submitted | FLANKED BY Senator Ray Perrault (left) and David North, former West Van mayor Derrick Humphreys (centre) displays his Canada = 125 medal. .