6 — Friday, Apri) 3, 1992 - North Shore News 1VE. GOT GOOD NEWS AND BAD NEWS. BECAUSE OF ONGOING LABOR TROUBLES, WE'RE GOING TO HAVE To SEND You HOME . GEE... THATIS BADNEws! WELL, AT LEAST I GET To WAIGH THE NHL PLAYOFFS ON MY BIG SCREEN. SO... WHAT S THE. GOOD NEWS ? Lips laa) ge a. Pleasantness please T HE NDP'’s social philosophy is fast becoming Iaw in B.C. First we had the provincial gov- ernment ordering hospitals around the province to provide abortion services. Then it was the so-called fair wage poli- ey, which will require all firms bidding on goverament-funded construction contracts to pay workers within 10 to 14% of union rates, and which wil cost the B.C. tax- payers huidreds of millions of dollars and likely cost working stiffs hundreds of jobs. And now comes 2 bureaucratic absurdity catied the Provincial Cultural Advisory Panel, through which the provincial gov- ernment hupes to make this a land of pleasantness and uniformity. The panel will be responsible for ensuring that the media depict B.C. as a society that em- braces women and racial, ethnic and sexual minorities. It will be charged with un- covering ‘‘sexism, heterosexism, lookism, ageism, homophobia, misogyny, im- perialism, capitalism, industrialism and velocitism.'’ And probably a whoie lot of other ‘‘isms’’ that most British Colum- bians have never heard cf and don’t care two figs about. The panel of pleasantness will face the daunting task of deciding what constitutes any of the above ‘‘isms,’’ then presumably be charged with dishing out the gp- propriate punishment. May we suggest that offenders be forced to write ‘‘chairperson’’ 1,600 times and then be force-fed a diet of NDP dogma until {hey see the oafishness of their ways. Horseshoe Bay treated as doormat Open letter to Hon. Glen Clark, minister of finance: I have been a business operator in and a resident of Horseshoe Bay for over 19 years. I am altogether opposed to any exten- sion of sailing hours. This community already suffers disproportionately from noise pollution and traffic congestion due to the unfortunate location of a ferry terminal in our midst. Publisher Associate Editor Advertising Director . Comptroller Peter Speck Managing Editor .. . Timothy Renshaw Noel Wright . Linda Stewart . .Doug Foot It is unclear to me how the government can reconcile its pur- ported concern for ordinary peo- ple with your most recently stated goals of service to a privileged few who wish to attend late-night entertainment in Vancouver and return to the island at their con- venience, and a relatively small number of trucking companies and indeperdent truckers who see a way to enhance their profits by running all night. Display Advertising 980-0511 Real Estate Advertising 985-6982 Newsroom 985-2131 Distribution Subscriptions Classified Advertising 986-6222 Fax Administration Rather than intensify the disruption of our quality of life, i urge you to use what little influ- ence your ministry might have on B.C. Ferries to introduce some respect for and consideration of a community which the B.C. Ferry Corporation has_ traditionaliy treated as a doormat for as long as anyone can remember. David Weiser West Vancouver 986-1337 986-1337 985-3227 985-2131 North Shore managed North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an independent suburban newspaper ana qualified under Schedule 111, Paragraph Ill of the Excise Tax Act, is published each Wednesday, Friday and Sunday by North Shore Free Press Lid. and distributed to every door on the North Shore Second Class Mail Registration Number 3885. Subscriotions North and Wes! Vancouver, $25 per year, Mailing rates available on sequest. Submissions are wetcome but we canno! accept responsibility foi unsolicited material inciuding Manuscripts and pictures which should be accompanied by a stamped, addressed envelope. V7M 2H4 WE WOICE OF ORTH AnD AEST MANCOUVER MEMBER SN Sy Ba Ment mast SUNDAY - WEDNESDAY TP RDAY by 1139 Lonsdale Avenue, North Vanccuver, B.C. SDA DIVISION 61,582 (average circulation, Wednesday, Friday & Sunday) Entire contents © 1992 North Shore Free Press Ltd. All rights reserved. Are we a bit queer in the head? they ask | WHILE BOURASSA’S language police in ‘‘bilingual”’ Canada hunt down every last English word illegally displayed outdoors in Quebec, a European nation with a proud past is treading a very different path. A recent report from Amster- dam in the U.K.’s Observer news- paper, describes how the Dutch — long famous as the world’s best linguists — are now falling over themselves to use English as a day-to-day operating language. Foreign residents speaking Dutch are often told by natives to switch to English, in which many Dutch are now fluent. The trend is strongest, says reporter Peter Spinks, in educa- tion. A government-appointed commission of academics has recommended that Dutch shoutd cease to be the official teaching language in schools and univer- sities, Let them teach all subjects in the language they choose, it urges — with an eye on the new European single market. In most cases the language will clearly by English — already used widely in such post-secondary in- stitutions as Rotterdam’s Erasmus University and the renowned agri- cultural university at Wageningen. If the government acts on the rec- ommendation, they will be free to scrap Dutch altogether and even offer courses in Zulu or Chinese. Why this almost indecent flight from the Germanic mother tongue? Spinks suggests two main reasons, both underlining the real- ism of today’s Dutch — whose forebears gave civilizaiion Erasmus, Rembrandt and Van Dyck, and whose 17th century possessions stretched from Europe to Africa, Nerth America and the Near and Far East. One is the similarity of Afrikaans — apartheid (‘‘separat- eness’’) is a direct Dutch word. To ANDRIES TREURNICHT... barrasses the Dutch. em- ROBERT BOURASSA... guage police flout law. HITHER AND YON the racism-conscious Netherlanders this is a very real embarrassment, so much so that many prefer ANY language that does not link them with their Boer blood-brothers represented by South African Conservative leader Andries Treurnicht. The other reason is their recog- nition that the 21st century will make every country merely a part of the giobal village, whose major tongues — Chinese, English and Spanish — allinevitably ~~ predominate. me Dutch, a gutteral and not highly expressive mincrity language, has. no global future. Pragmatic © ~ Netherlanders accept that fact and have apparently decided to “go. with the flow.’’ CO? French, though more widely -- spoken, is also a minority lan-~ —: guage in global terms. Sono .” wonder the Dutch and the world at large are asking if the widely ©: envied Canadians are a bit queer _ in the head. How else, they reason, coul Canada be solemnly debating... - self-destruction — symbolized by language cops ticketing ‘‘For, Sale” signs in Montreal back’ .. alleys, in defiance of the very bi- lingualism law Quebec demanded _. and got? Teh DATELINES: Tonight (Friday) at - 6:30 p.m. drop by the Centennial ~ Theatre for the Waldorf School’s Soring Festival of the Arts... In. addition to Deris Orr’s'10 a.m. to 2 p.m. flea market at Highland: United Church to help homeless kitties, Saturday bargain hunters .. can add to their list the Eagles: - ~ Hall rummage sale, 9 a.m. to 12: noon at 170 West 3rd ... After lunch check the Spring Tea and” Craft Sale from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. at Kiwanis Lynn Manor, 2555... Whitely Court behind Lynn Valley Mall ... Also tomorrow, April 4, ° anniversary greetings to West’) Van’s Bob and AnneMarie ss. Graham on their fifth ... And’ ‘donate your feet’’ to charity __ Sunday at the Plaza of Nations by joining the Super Cities Walk for taultisclerosis — call 437-3244 for ° details. . a eee WRIGHT OR WRONG: The |. — most useful part of experience is knowing what NOT to do.