A6 - Sunday, April 17, 1983 - North Shore News EEE editorial page I Food for thought on the farm CANADA is the bread basket of the world. Canadians have heard that phrase so often, they seem to take it for granted that our farmers rate among the finest anywhere. Exceptional case West Vancouver council has done the proper thing by abandoning its earlier rejection of the neighborhood pub which Hank and Shirley Sager seek to establish in their Dundarave Maple Shop. Council has now agreed to reconsider the application on the basis of a new report to be submitted quickly by a committee of two aldermen, Doreen Blackburn and Alex Brokenshire. This highly unusual change of heart should be viewed in the right per- spective. No council can normally afford to reverse earlier decisions without compelling reasons. Councils are elected to MAKE decisions in -the best interests of the community as a whole and they can never hope to please all the people all the time. Constant shilly- shallying would quickly lose them the overall confidence of the public. In the Sager case, however, council was obviously misled initially by a small but highly vocal anti-pub lobby. It was only later that the impressive majority of neighbors favoring the project — who had relied on the 66% approval given in the Liquor Control Board poll — made their voices heard loud and clear. The point being that the Sagers’ is no ordinary pub application. It imvolves a concept that’s obviously attractive to many local residents. It involves concern for the future of a cherished historic building. It involves community respect and affection for the Sagers themselves. In this exceptional case, council — by being prepared to listen afresh — has shown courage and responsiveness rather than indecision. True colors? Surely the Socreds who have accused Dave Barrett of wearing red shorts beneath his three-piece suit must be confused. That would make Dave a Liberal at bottom — presumibly his_scanties should be orange and black. Also, will this newest election game force other candidates to bare all? Are Mr. Bennett's underpants green? Will Tories preserve their modesty in royal blue jocks? And how on earth shall we ever discover the true colors of the lady candidates? TOR VORCE OF NOMTIN ANG WHET YVAnCaUWER sunday news Display Advertising 980-0511 north shore Classified Advertising 986-6222 news Newsroom 985-2131 Circulation 986-1337 1139 Lonsdale Ave North Vancouver BC V/7M 2H4 Publisher Hater ‘goed b Associate Publisher Hdeotoeset cas caveaers Editor ia -chiet Novel Wrigtit Advertising Otrector Tuer bot eaeae ae. Personne! O11 ec tor : Circulation Owector Mrs theerrie tall Aecd theirs AE Mes Production Dtrec tor (Paes, Othtce Manager Berar assent Udoorveves Car aniety Terry Maton North Shore Mewa foie eho, Vo Be Gree dest eee arely Voge abla t pede er | | te A Rae Po apap et tte “ pavabeterbeesst esse to Weer bee shea ke! soatachay eo Ce oe Hoe Boe oo thie La Masa bhae woNete OU Bate Contonts YOO? North Shore kroo Prose Ltd AN nights ronerved er it i aver) per wad vp tates voafeme cupitecnn ss Noe th ariel Weel wap i ote 1. pe aan Maries Bb er te een bes one es peernt VERIFIED) © aC LATION 64 460 Wednesday 94 2/6 Sunday THIS PAPER IS RECYCLABLE Photography Manager Yet the nation’s food producers have very real problems that are little understood by ordinary Canadians. —_ DONATO ... ~ONVT Dg GRANS AND GRAMPS being a dime a dozen on the North Shore, and especially in Tiddlycove, they may be interested in (his penctraung profile of them written a number of years ago by a grade three Langicy school student and onginally pub- lished in The Langley Ad vance. It’s entitled “What A Grandmother Is”; “A grandmother ts a lady who has oo children of her own so. she hikes other people's htthe girls A grand father is a man grandmother He goes for walks with the boys and they talk about fishing and tractors and hhe that “Grandmas dont have to do anything except be there They are old so they shouldn't: play hard of run Its cnough uf (hey drive us to the supermarket where the pectend horse is and have lots of dames ready On af they take us for a walk Chey should show down past things Ihe pretty leaves on cater pillars They should never say hurry up Usually they are fat but not too fat to ae hids shoes They wear glasses and funny underwear and they can take them tecth and gums off Its Detter af they Gent lypowrile oft play cans cacept with us Phey dont hase te bee samart only answcr questfhons lhe why ops hate cats of bow Come Carmltnn tomar! Consider what's hap- pening at the present time. With spring planting just around the corner, many farmers are scurrying to By W. ROGER WORTH banks, seeking loans to pay for the fertilizer, seed and other necessities. In the fall, when the crop is harvested, the farmer sells the com- -modity, pays off the bank loan (including the interest), retains whatever is left to cover wages and other costs and (hopefully) earns a fair return on a_ heavy in- vestment. That's the way the system is supposed to work, but relatively low food prices and high imterest rates in millions of dollars to bail out the industry in Atlantic Canada. The winners in this high- cost, low-price equation, of course, are the nation's consumers. While Canadians spend about 23 per cent of disposable income on food, West Germans lay out more than 30 per cent and the Japanese pay out a whopping 35 per cent or so of their income on food. It’s true, farming and fishing are generally con- sidered risky businesses where producers can eam big returns if everything goes Mainstream Canada recent years have cut profits and, in some cases, have resulted in very real losses. Yet the hardy farmer persists, even when governments add un- certainties such as proposed massive changes in the freight rate system that may or may not be costly to producers. Our fishermen are in the same leaky boat. With the prices they are offered for their products, the fisher- men are having difficulty surviving. In fact, things are so bad, it now seems clear that governments will be forced to spend hundreds of sunday brunch by Noel Wright “They don't talk baby talk like visitors do because 1 is hard to understand. When they read to us, they don't skip or mind if it is the same story again Everybody should try to” have onc, especially if you don't have TV. because grandmas are the only grownups who have gotaume ” Ind you get the message Gitan ” LUCILLE FISHER worked with the West Van Memorial labrary from 1967 onward She started the Book mobue service for shutins and later became the Library's offic ial spokesman as its PR gal An accomplished writer hee [rcqgucal news stones on brary happenings which appeared regularly in’ The News were an cditons yoy because they so rarely necded any cditing Like hundreds of West Van hbrary patrons and hes many other show hed Inends bo was and saddened to learn oof ber death at the A hbrary colleaguc describes her as os very be pinning of April special daddy Having worked with bacthe over the years cayoytng both ber pro lesstonalism and bee happy porsonality thatn crac tly why |oteoc wallenmiss her West Nan adman Mort Graham has suspended plans to ply his trade for a while in sunnicr climes. Instead, he was nominated last week as Liberal candidate in West Van-Howe Sound Mean while, the separausts are alive and well in Jack Davis's North Van-Seymour mding where the Western Canada Concept Party has chosen professional cnginecr Ted White to challenge Jack in the May 5 clecthon SCRATCHPAD: “Yours an heat (tropical 45 ©)" as bow Dr. Don Sutherland well remembered by his North Van patents of a dec ade age signs bimself ina fetter the other day to The News from Somaha tn the born of Almeoa He's working there at othe oinvitaQon of | the Somalh government on health care for the BOO O00 tcfupees driven into that country by neighbornag Ethiopia and his tmimedmate nced ts money to sect up radiko links between the widely scattered refupec unpovernihed Camps Lob Brymer, the West Van Community Day committee MC happens this ycoar on Junc 4) asks any non commercial West Van groups interested in becomiag involved tn the festivities to Contact her at W772) 1201 Congrats to Captlang MP Roo Hunting ton and tes beam whe cele chawman of according to plan. But in Many cases, producers haven't been winners in the 1980s. Aside from economics, what's important, but little noticed by Canadians, is the fact that as a country we are indeed _ self-sufficient in food. And for that, we can thank our farmers and fishermen. Whatever their problems, they always seem to meet our demands for foodstuffs with lots left over to sell to other countries. They deserve to be treated with respect. (CFIB Feature Service) brated their 40th anniversary last Wednesday ... Margaret Ramsay, exec. director of the North Shore Volunteer Action Centre, reminds us that National Volunteer Week kicks off tomorrow (Monday, April 18) at a Pro: clamation Party, 4to6 p.m . at Delbrook Centre, 600 West Queens, North Van Hew Gwynne of St. David's United Church in West Van reports that their Refugec Committee has = received almost $1,000 in aew dona trons since The News (March 27) carmed the story of th sponsorship of Laotian refugee famihes And Pat Strfke of the West Van Gar den Club invites all flowes lovers to the clubs Ist birthday display neat Thurs day through Saturday on Park Royal South wall started in 1962 when Reeve Sean) Collier Anna Chree to organize a garden club as oa West asked feature of Vans Jubtlee Year WRIGHT OR WRONG: Marnage teaches us loyalty self restraint florebearancc and oa tot of other qualities we wouldnt anced nearly ve badly if wahad stayed singic “CLICK” vorsferny foan Tbaes