Canad OE got two more reasons, albeit Statistical, to be proud of his Canadian heritage this week — and a potential change in his drinking habits. According to a United Nations ranking, Canada has been judged the world’s best country in which to live — the seventh consecutive year we've been number one of 174 countries ranked. The survey assesses longevi- ty, education and standard of living. "And according to a national poll conducted by COMPAS, 73% of Canadians would stay here even if they. could Jive anywhere else in the worid. nos ‘The. percentage of English Canadians to claim the Maple Leaf _ = forever was even higher, but. the : final number was brought down by “the number of French Canadians ‘ | you said it “I don’t smoke it to get high. I smoke it so I don’t get Sick.” 2 VIEW POINT—————— who would prefer to live in the U.S. Things like the demise of profes- sional hockey in the land of its birth did not factor into the UN ranking, possibly explaining our continued life at the rop of the UN heap. However, while Molson may make the beer that Joe advertises in his patriotic fervour, the company is bailing on the Montreal Canadiens franchise and that fact could possi- bly have influenced the Quebec response to the COMPAS poll. The price of the U.S. greenbacks which hockey players contract to receive in their overly stuffed pay packets is too expensive in terms of our national funny money, but our income tax laws are also to blame. Canada may not know how to cel- ebrate success but it sure knows how to tax it. AS George Puil battles for Gy Nyy G < WSS Vs NEN TSN S SS we YY. SMARTER. exclude cars altogether, with no parking YW WE NATURALGAS 1] - North Vancouver resident Tom Wieland has a doctor's pre- scription for marijuana to ease the side effects of the drugs he takes in his battle against cancer. He can’t fill it legally. (From a June 30 News story. ) ST As . 400 : ; vo “We get.the lawn mowed, there’s no mosquitoes or cougars and the students have discovered The Raven and ‘-Honey’s doughnuts.” ._. a . -SFU archeology professor Dana Lepofsky, on some. of the side benefits of the university’s training dig taking place in Deep Cove’s Strathcona Park this summer. (From a June 25 News Sunday Foetus story.) wee ee 8 DOO, co “We (in B.C.’s culture) don’t problem-solve, we prob- lem-create, ‘... There’s.an entitlement attitude here.” oO! vill hurt. classroom morale. (From a Jane 30 News Inquiring Reporter column.) © -. foe Soe Be J to. have a third option. Ef we don’t, we're sunk. Social Credit) ran this province for 30 years (and) it was the best province in the country. (B.C.) went from the top of the ebonom.” ee Socred . party -director-at-large Spencer Acker high on his : pany: stated membership of approximately.12,000 and the need abs 30, News story.) speil-e aide Mark Johnston arguing that the re-" ducation aides created by a new CUPE contract. B.C: choice other than the Liberals and NDP. (From a June Greater Vancouver’s complex, costly new transit plan, he'll doubr- less be cheered by ‘news from Europe. Overtaxed local car commuters won’t. According to Car- Free Times, an Amsterdam-based .. * Internet newsletter, Europe’s towns and cities “are totally fed up . _ with cars ... They want ~ less traffic, not more.” Small wonder in such a densely populated area with over 190 million cars already and three million - more added every year. From Paris ro Athens — where the " Parthenon often disappears behind the’ smog — city life is one endless, appalling traffic jam... i vs London rush-hour traffic now.moves “ more slowly than in 1900. Exhaust fumes kill 80,000 Western Etiropeans a ycar, _ ,according to the World Health . Organization. Hence, the war now -Jaunched against the automobile clean ~across the European’ Union — ranging from. teraporary car bans in city centres to building “auto-free” neighbourhoods, * Numerous Italian cities now ban auto- mobiles on the first Sunday of cach month and several have banned them completely from the downtown core, Elsewhere, permanent pedestrian zones |; are being set up in older city districts... and with occupants contracting to live without cars, have been successfully: developed. There are some very ~ basic differences, how- ever, between the European scene and the situation on North America’s west coast. Europe started with public transit, to which everyone was accus- tomed long before the arrival of the personal automobile. Here it was: largely the other way round. Years before most of our cities devel- oped their present urban sprawl, western Americans and Canadians already regard- - ed the personal automobile as their God- given birthright. In fact, the private car was a leading cause of that urban sprawl by enabling city workers to build their homes in the - peace of outlying suburbs spreading ever ‘> farther from their central workplaces. Meanwhile, urban freeways (much less. common in Europe) provided casy access to key downtown areas, "> ; Today, of course, North Ameriz. is rapidly catching up to Europe in terms of oo traffic congestion in the city core itself. Even though our downtown streets are _ often wider than in many European cities, they are rapidly becoming clogged; some-: rota oD “North Van Kiwanian Ken Emso: times with total gridlock fooming. But.- nonetheless, our long addiction to the, * - independent mobility. only the personal * Noith Shere News, founded in 1969 as an indspendent ria rotated Se 1, Paragraph 111 of the Excise Tax Act, is pubished iday and Sunday. by’ HON and distributed to every door. London is looking at banning private cars from Trafalgar Square. <>... 5 And in Edinburgh, Amsterdam an -:Viennia even housing projects that _ automobile can provide makes the sim- |, plistic European solution of “ban-ban”: : reentry eT ey European car ban not needed here. tion? aan os Ultimately, smal, nwo-seater, elect cally or fuel ceil-powercd commuter ve cles, causing no air pollution and taking less than half the downtown parking “So what IS the North American solu - -space now needed. A low-cost second ‘cai _for suburban dwellers needing a conven tional aute for longer, non-city weekend and vacation trips. And someday, ¢ network of daily car rental stations? *: around the city limits where you park: your gas-guzzler and, for a few bucks, pick up a two-seater tor. your downtown ~ business and errands Nothing in this picture development of public tran: imum degree viable. But in! the globe public tran » efficient, can never micet the legitimate need of so many of us to go anywhere for as long as we wish; at any. time We decide. x . That freedom, unknown t _ Europeans until 50 years'or.so ago, now in direct con: ith the: livabili .Of their historic cities. So drastic measu: may well be thei-only ansiver,: But this -doesn’t make'such measures the answ yet for North America’s very diffe automobile culture. 7 j UDAY giceting July 2, to North Van’s Marilyn Cleven .. More of the same Tuesday, July, . totally unrealistic here, no matter how’ ° |. ~ ~ much Mr, Puil lectures u LETTERS 16 THE EDITOR must inclive your ., fama,” full address and. telephone. number. 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