uke iran — ee eer y "s P -in program on the housing crisis in North Vancovaer District achieved almost nothing in the way of consensus among either council menibers or callers. The only area in which any hint of general agreement emerged” ‘was that of illegal suites. second suites in single-family homes would be the quickest and simplest way of providing ‘immediate’ relief in the present acute accommodation. shortage. So far, such suites have been officially banned.on three main grounds — the charge that they “freeload”” on. ‘taxpayers; fears about inadequate health and safety standards; and their possible (though unproven! effect on property values. . to assess the sacoal fap taxes nd perm by force: - health. and safety ‘There is little doubt that | the legalization of | By NORMAN SEVERUD It never fails. Put a hard luck story in print involving “welfare” and the rednecks spring forth to spew their malicious, self-righteous intolerance. Take the recent example of the _ major response to the North Shore News story about the woman who felt such despair she proposed to place her children in foster homes to ensure their security and survival. give bet life than she felt she could give. So.-what. does her cry of pain, bring, forth? It brings rho: approv Nowadays, it is not only the homeless who need the relief legalized suites could bring. Many “younger. homeowners also urgently _ need the revenue from. such. suites to cover their exorbitant mortgage payments. _ The world fs changing. Some.of the sacred housing’. concepts - of the” ‘sixties. no longer correspond to today’s realities: We suggest it is high.time. councils moved to legalize suites in single-fa homes — ander proper controls’ and with the blessing of the neighbors. NOT so greedy? How much do B.C. doctors — who threaten to balance bill patients after April 1 — really make? According to the B.C. Medical Assn. the average GP nets about $49,000 a year after expenses — based on an average 66-hour week. _ That works out at just over $14 an hour, with no overtime rate. Suddenly, the doctors’ demand for a sizable pay hike doesn’t look so greedy. sunday news north shore news NEWS 985-2131 1139 Lonsdale Ave . North Vancouver, B C V7M 2H4 (604) 985-2131 ADVERTISING CLASSIFIED CIRCULATION 980-0511 986-6222 986-1337 Publisher Peter Speck Associate Publisher Editor-in-Chief Advertising Director Robert Graham Noel Wright Enc Cardwell General Manager Creative Production Administration Director Rick Stonehouse Berni Hitiard Tim Francis Faye McCrae Managing Editor News Editor Photography Andy Fraser Chris Uoya Ellsworth Dickson Accounting Supervisor Circulation Director Barbara Keen _ Brian A Elis North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an independent commun) ly Newspaper and qualified under Schedute Il Part fll, Paragraph il of the Excise Tax Act, ts pubdtisned each Wednesday and Sunday by North Shore Free Press Ltd and distributed to every door on the North Shore Second Class Mail Registration Number 3886 Subscriptions $20 per year Entire contenta © 1981 North Shore Free Press Ltd All rights reserved No responsibility accepted for unsolicited manuscapts and pictures which should be stamped, addressed return envelope Maternal inc tading ACCOMpaMed Dy 4 VERIFIED CIRCULATION 60,870 Wednesday 49,913 Sunday oy THIS PAPER IS RECYCLABLE For the umpteenth time in this century the Tory heirs of Sir John A. Macdonald have come within a hairbreadth of committing hari-kiri in public. And for Canadians of whatever political persuasion it’s no laughing matter. Ironically, if the Tories are to survive their latest suicide bid, the only physician capable of nursing the patient back to health is the leader whom one-third of the delegates at last weekend's party convention in Ottawa tried to kill off — - Dr. Joe Clark. Thirty-four per cent of the delegates voted for a Ieader- ship convention. In any other political context the remaining 66 per cent would rank as a healthy majority in favor of no change. But a significant vote indicating doubts about the party leader isn’t quite the same. It means the party is left tor an indefinite period with a gaping inte wound, It means Mr. Clark is Icft to battle on during one of the most critical periods in the nation’s history with once- third of his troops rumbling mutiny. You don’t have to be a Tory supporter to recognize the dangers of that situation. Any democracy depends on ” a healthy, vigorous and united opposition to keep the ruling party of the day accountable to the people. Healthy, vigorous and united are hardly the adjectives to describe the Tories at the present moment. Mr. Clark has had the courage to follow the only course likely to save the party from its self-inflicted injuries. He has refused to call a leadership convention and intends to continue as the Tories’ 66 per cent confirmed leader. From the party's own viewpoint the alternative hardly bears thinking about. A teadership convention could not possibly be organized in less than six months, but would more probably take 12 or even 18 months. For all of that - time Canada’s. parliamentary Opposition would be a toothless tiger, headed (if youll excuse the mixed metaphor) by a self-avowed lame duck. And this, mark you, during a period when Prime Minister Trudeau's constitutional plans are splitting the country asunder — with separatism bubbling in the West, the economy at a crisis stage and the Liberals’ energy policy ao patent disaster. Somebody has to speak with strength for the other half of Canada during these dangerous montha. Whatever his perceived defigiencies, Mr. Clark has been doing just that for the “slioes.”” ‘Whether or not this ‘the intolerant who. “wo id: _ boil her in public ink, lash her “with the whip of their own self-righteous rhetoric,” ‘and tar and feather her with _ their own cruel, bigoted ~ ignorance. Can it be that . “shear the ghostly, gloomy _voices of Scrooge and -today’s reality, crying: “Are” ‘there no workhouses? Are~ there no prisons?” An” old. country and~ .. western ‘Song Says: Before you criticize and - abuse, walk a mile in my woman is right or wrong is.” not the point, and cannot be. judged from one newspaper — story. ‘We do not know the chain .of events leading to this crisis point. We do not know this woman’s strengths or her weaknesses, her tolerance level for pain and her ability to cope and make decisions under stress. It is too easy to be smug and self-righteous. But is it any harder to be sympathetic and understanding? Has the milk of human kindness all turned sour in an acid rain of apathy and intolerance? What kind of world are we creating and leaving for this woman's children, and our own? I am filled with sadness and pity for those who must blindly wave their tattered © and dirty laundry of bigotry and ignorance in full public view. Welfare? Hell, the truth is we're all on welfare. We live (Norman Severud: freelance writer, EA ot B . is 4 3 a 3 al So let’s open our hearts and extend of friendship to on and intolerance, we will suffocate in a pollutio: foul. West Vancouver.}. ship months down the road cou! well be the signal for. th embattled Ottawa Lil to pull the plug and y snap election while : opponents were in disa Despite his medit manufactured “image problem . and his, earlier’) boopers. nobody questi by - Noel Wright past year — with increasing effectiveness. For the immediate future there's simply nobody else around to do this vital task. And there are two other points about Mr. Clark's full- sicam edoes decision. op SNAP ELECTION? Firstly, the Tories have still to produce any leader- ship contenders who offer a better chance of succeeding where Mr. Clark may have failed. He's already a scasonced pro and it's entirely possible he would win the crown once more against any newcomers starting from scratch. Secondly, a Tory leader- he remains one of the. pay two Tory leaders in the past 50 years to win a national election. He still has. plestt that he does. It's sans 80 ae , that an estimated per cent of the delegation last one solidly supported him...» As North Van-Burnaby MP Chuck Cook has ob- served, Canada's future more important than Mr. Clark's. But given the nature: our arc, closely intertwined. Not 't mention the future of the’ Progressive Conservative, f Party itself, : Whether or not the 44 per: cent of dullards in the party’ recognize it, the Tories have, only two options at f point. One is to rally solidly. behind their reaffirmed leader and get on with the: job Canada urgently poeds them to do. The other is to finally ta their death wish at the ne election.