4 ~ Friday, February 26, 1993 ~ North Shore News oming soon: stamps for Canadian MY HACKLES did not rise when I learned that the Ca- nadian taxpayer is funding a film that gives the ter- rorists’/killers’ version of the FLQ crisis of October 1970. { checked. Not a singie hackle rose. It takes a surprise to raise my hackles. a I was not surprised that the Na- tional Film Board signed a $9,000 contract as long ago as in 1984 for the film rights to a book by cen- victed terrorist Francis Simard, one of the assassins of Quebec Labor Minister Pierre Laporte — his body found stuffed in a car trunk. Two or three years after that vicious episode that put all Cana- - dians under the rights-suspending power of the War Measures Act, I predicted — in print, I believe — . that the day would come when the faces of the cowardly crew of FLQ “‘intellectuals’’ would hero- ically stare out at us from postage stamps, honoring their exploits. Quebec stamps? Canadian - Stamps? Either. Because it was plain then, noting the largely far- leftist revisionism that. had already boldly been launched, that these creeps would eventually be reha- bilitated under the unrelenting pressure of Quebec nationalists. “That would oceur if Quebec separated, and thus inevitably turned linguistically and culturally even more inward. But it would also occur if Quebec remained in Canada, because Quebec will always intim- idate Ottawa, will always hold the ultimate threat of separation from the rest of the country, and . therefore has got Canada over an - eternal barrel. ’. There will be an endless fresh new crop of young Quebec na- tionalists to exercise hugely disproportionate power over the Park Royal Trevor LAULeNS GARDEN OF BIASES whole nation, since they half- legitimately represer.: a quarter of the aspirations of the Quebec francophones, even if they’re only an eighth of the population. And any Quebec government will pass on this leverage, even a non-separatist one, shrugging and explaining that realpolitik requires it to blunt the nationalist appetite by satisfying just cnough of it with a bone or two here and there. : Of course in the fullness of time, barring a major realignment in provincial politics, the Parti Quebecois will become govern- ment and have the opportunity to separate — or continue the Quebec-Canada dance with in- creasingly higher cover charges. Readers can turn to their leather-bound copies of The Col- . lected Columns of T.L. and find the bland remark I made after the employees angry over termination A FORMER Park Royal Shopping Centre employee has criticized mall management for what’ she said was the re- cent termination of severa! al employees, some with as:much as 20 years’ service. But a Park Royal spokesman said the employees, who were employed as maintenance workers, worked for a company under con- _tract for Park Royal and that the shopping centre simply decided to give the contract to another com- pany. The: Ulira’Tech Cleaning Ser- vices employees were let go Feb. 12. Park Royal director Rick Amantea ‘said the shopping centre has decided to employ the secvices of a company connected ‘with the _ Marriot Corp. 2 «© But North Varicouver resident Kelly Millin, who was Jet go from her job as marketing director last ' August, said Park Royal . has treated the terminated employees poorly. “They just wanted to get rid’ of us ‘all. They: (Park Royal) don’t care. “Poor treatment through ig- norance and lack of concern for human resousces has left all former employees shocked, ‘miserable and now destitute and without jobs,”’ said Millin. She added that Park Royal began terminating employees shortly after the West Vancouver shopping centre was purchased by the Larco. Group from British’ Pacific Properties Ltd. in 1990. Millin said the maintenance crew, which was originally hired by British Pacific Properties, was told: by Larco after the purchase that the maintenance duties would be privatized and that they were free to apply for jobs with Ultra Tech Cleaning Services. She. added that many of the maintenance staff were hired by ‘the private Gutfit to work in Park By Surj Rattan News Reporter Royal. “The employees that came: with Park Royal (sale) were commited, optimistic and most importantly, loved Park Royal like their own home,’’ said Millin. But Amantea said the decision to give the maintenance contract to Marriot was simply a sound business move. He also denied Park Royal has fired anyone. “‘Nobody was let go by us. We just changed contractors. We have entered into an agreement with the Marriot Corp. They bring to us a full service, and { think we’ve now upgraded the service. “We simply made an astute business decision,"’ said Amantea. Yolo CORRECTION NOTICE — February 24 Flyer Please be advised that on page 6 of the above flyer we have advertised 35% off Entire Selec- tion of Children’s Spring Outerwear size 12 mth-3X, 4-6X and Girls 7-14. Boys 7-14 outerwear is not being advertis- ed in this flyer. We apologize for any inconve- nience this may have caused our Woolco customers. failure of the Oct. 26 referendum: “The results aren’t in yet."" The funding of the October crisis gospel according to the ter- rorists — based on Simard’s book, arrogantly entitled Pour en finir avec Octobre, translated as The Last Word on October — is a reminder that the Canadian unity problem did not go away when the votes were counted and Cana- dians resoundingly said ‘‘no’’ to the Charlottetown Accord. 1 voted ‘‘yes’’ on the basis of the Appeal-to-Our-Better-Selves argument, even though I disliked many of the ingredients as much as any of the naysayers did. But I didn’t expect then, nor would I now, that either accep- tance or rejection would bind Ca- nadians indisolubly together for all time. Meanwhile the bottomless price of being Canadian would have to be paid. So my hackles were unraised. Only a surprise raises them. The payment to Simard by the NFB — which has already put $50,000 in- to development of the film, out of a total cost, according to furious Senator Philippe Gigantes, of $2.6 million — ts par for the Canadian course. Gigantes, a Quebec Liberal senator appointed by Pierre Trudeau, one of Canada’s great characters, and a former journal- ist for the London Observer well known under his byline of Philip Dean, reportedly was horrified by the script, predictably sympathetic toward the terrorists of the FLQ — the Front de Liberation du Quebec. Simard went to prison for life, which was bilingually translated into 11 years, for his part in the slaying of Laporte. Incidentally, Laporte too had been a journalist. Laporte was hardly a likely candidate for kidnapping and assassination by the FLQ crazies. Britain’s high commissioner of the day, Richard Cross, also kidnap- ped, was fortunate to escape the same: fate. Trudeau’s imposition of the War Measures Act turned Canada overnight into a less-than- democratic nation and profoundly shocked Canadians’ self-image. I thought then, and think now — despite the gush of revisionists _ who whistled loudly after passing the graveyard — that Trudeau’s - action was sound. His critics found it easy to win cheap mora! Brownie points by declaring that, see, nothing hap- pened to destroy Canada as we ’ know it, so the imposition of the emergency measures wasn't justified. After the fact, anything . can be argued. ’ It’s certain that many Quebecers, including a present cabinet minister, were alarmed enough that they contemplated forming a temporary and unclected government if the terror has spread. And, as in any insurrection, many were waiting nervously to see which way the winds would blow. The FLQ numbers were trifling, but no revolution or insurrection has ever been started by a miajori- ty — as the Russian Bolsheviks and the German Nazis attest. The enemies of democracy in the Western world were stronger in the 1960s and 1970s than atany : time for a century or more. : Now the murderous remnants of the FLQ and compliant hangers-on and weak officials are trying to make their sordid enter- prise reenectable. Watch for those postage ~ stamps. earn interest rates which exceed your retirement savings @ xpectations. Think, Twice and Deposit Now! But don't make . your RRSP contribution anywhere else until you've stopped by your nearest North Shore Credit Union branch. Together we'll discuss your retirement plan and ensure the best return for your RRSP program. *8.375% interest rate applies to 5 year term RRSP. Subject to