6 - Friday, June 12, 1992 ~ North Shore News 0 INSIGHTS Yanks respond differently to Te Wi Za The good Earth EMEDIES to the Esrth’s en- vironmental woes will likely be rare commedities at Gie Earth Summit in Rio de Jancire. While everyene claims te be fighting for one common goal -— setting policies that will save the environment — almost every one of the 160 countries involved has an excuse for why it can’t live up to the car- th-saving measures that have been propos- To preempt further antagonism from the rest of the world, U.S. President George Bush declared long before the con- ference his refusal to sign anything that would hurt the American cconomy, eVen in the short term. Arab countries representing OPEC are already complaining about any reference to fossil-fuel reduction or energy efficiency in the summit’s Cext. And the Vatican, which has been criti- cized fos failing to support efforts by some countries to reduce population growth, hasn’t agreed io alter its stance to contre! the world’s exploding population. As one Canadian official at the summit observed, it will not be easy to reach meaningful solutions to the world’s prob- lems. if the environment is te be protected, he said, people must leam to act and think internationally, even in their own homes. DAY Deep Cove residents will be heard Dear Editor: I was at the North Vancouver District Council meeting with a ““Cove’’ contingent where the Cates Park seawall proposal was discussed. During the 15-minute pre-coun- cil meeting question period, 1! listened to an eloquent speaker make a statement and ask ques- tions. I observed Ald. Ernie Crist jumping up and shouting at the Publisher ait Man ‘i oF . ri Editor Adoring Director . Comptrolte! Peter Speck . .Timothy Renshaw Noet Wright . Linda Stevsart Doug Foot mayor to stop this gentleman from speaking. I also observed him chastizing the mayor and alluding that he doesn’t know his job. Later on the agenda it was time to discuss the proposed Seawall Task Force, the reason we were there. Again. Ald. Crist was on his feet poiating his finger at the Deep Cove taxpayers. We are reasonable people in the Disptay Advertising 980-0511 Real Estate Advertising 985-6982 Howth’ Shore News, founded in 1969 as an Paes rf and qualified . FF independent suburban newspape: under Schedule 111, Paragraph III of the Excise Tax Act, is published each Wednesday, Friday and yy by North Shore Free Press Ltd. and Vancouver, $25 per Mailing cates available on request. roaporsibity for unsokehed material Including lity far unsolicited mate: ing manuscripts end pictures which should be accompanied by a stamped, addressed enveiope. year. bmi 1139 Lonsdale Avenue, North Vancouver, B.C. V7 2H4 Distribution Subscriptions 986-1337 Classified Advertising 986-6222 Fax 885-322; Administration 985-2131 Cove. I’ve been in this area over §0 years and have seen many dif- ferent mayors and councils. This is the first time I have sat and listened to one of your cohorts lecture us on democracy. Get a grip, council and Ald. Crist, because our wishes for this area will be heard and listened to. That’s democracy. Bruce Anderson North Vancouver 966-1337 7 MEMBER 61,582 (average circulation, Wednesday, Friday & Sunday) Entire contents © 1992 North Shore Free Press Ltd. All rights reserved. voter despair FOR A prime example of one dig contract betweea the Americans and us look no further than the computer billionaire who’s giving both George Bush and his Demeo- crat challenger Bill Clinton bad dreams. Noel Wright Although Ross Perot — an in- dependent with no party affilia- tion — isn’t yet officially a presidential candidate, last month's Time-CNN poll gave him 33% aginst Bush's 28% and Clin- ton’s 24%. Later polls have kept him firmly in the lead. It may not last, of course, but that’s not how the smart money is bet}i1g right now. He'll declare his candidacy, he indicates, when he has enough signatures to put him on the ballot in ai} 50 states. The way things are going that may not take long. He’s ready to spend up to $100 miliion on his ‘‘people’s cam- paign’’ — a high-tech operation based on a toll-free 800 number and a marzmoth computerized mailing list. Frustration with standard- medel politicians is rampant both north and south of the border to- day. Like Preston Manning's Reform Party, the party-less Perot offers himself.to voters as their ‘‘none-of-the-above”’ aiter- native. But there the parailels cease. Perot personifies the classic American dream. He quit as a top IBM computer salesman when the company put a cap on his com- missions, faunched his own com- puter software firm on a $1,000 shoestring and sold it 20 years later to General Motors for $2.5 billion. ROSS PERAOT... salvation or snake oil? Policy-wise, this tycoon who could just possibly win the world’s most powerful office is hard to pin down. He rejects ideology and stresses practical solutions. On some issues — social ser- vices with higher taxing of the rich, aid to Russia, pro-choice in abortion and stricter gun contro) — he sounds unexpectedly liberal. But his major goal is to bring down the soaring U.S. deficit, whether by spending cuts or taxa- tion. No gain without pain is his message. A businessman-folk hero with a genuine “‘tough love’’ recipe for at last saving the nation? Or just a super-huckster peddling political snake cil to gratify his own ego? Whichever, the significant fact is that U.S. voters — desperate HITHER AND YON for solutions none of the old po- litical gang offer — are correstly flocking to him by the milRons. In Canada voter disillasionmneat runs equally dexp. But Manzing’s mired for the moment z¢ aroend 12%, even though polls oa specific issues point to a far greater nationwide support for many of their key idexs. Cautious Canadians hang back, asking: ‘‘Yeah, but will it wa:k?”" — and not knowing the zareer, lapse again into political despam. Gung-ho Americans, signing mp for Perot in droves, waste mo tec on questions there’s only ome way to answer. They figure takiag a chance on the oetoome beats past sitting there mozning and grozo- ing. POSTSCRIPTS: Congrats to Cap College’s Bev Beid (Conemmica- tions/Media Resources) whose film The Street Where Prescitia Lives won the Golden Appie Award from among over 1,208 entries at last month’s US. Na- tional Educational Film and Video Festival. A hopefal portrayal of Street children in a crowdied Philippines stum, it will be scem on national TV this fall ... The influence of Reg Watts’ other great love — music — cam be traced in the West Van artist’s wide-ranging exhibit. of fand- scapes, seascapes, still ife and portraits all this month at West Van Memorial Library ... Thme’s running shor? now to register for the June 20 Nesth Shore Tallest Show (ages 13-21) at Presentation House — call 922-6069 for det.atis . And tomorrow, June 13, with happy anniversary to City Mayor Jack Loucks and wife Olive, celebrating their 46th. WRIGHT OR WRONG: Asking dumb questions is a whole lot cas- ier than fixing dumb mistakes. a