6 - North Shore Mews ~ Wednesday, February 23, 2000 EET the new boss; same as the old boss. Ujjal Dosanjh is B.C.’s new premier cour- esy of your friendly NDP delegates. The past weekend’s NDP leader- ship convention might have helped case the party’s collective guilty con- science over the legacy left by its pre- vious leader, but no one should be fooled into thinking anything has changed at the heart ef what has been one of the most inept political regimes in B.C. history. Dosanjh is not new to the NDP. He is not new to the province. He is not new to the fast ferry scandal, the party’s unbroken string of deficit budgets, its deceit over those deficits, the waterfront convention centre fias- co, Bingogate, Casinogate, the party’s anti-free-speech Human Rights Code. He is not new to any of the above VIEW POINT: new NDP outrages. His party couldn’t even make it to the leadership convention and political soul-cleansing without another whopper of a scandal: the bogus membership boondoggle and convention delegate fraud. The NDP might have a new leader who is promising to restore the NDP’s credibility with B.C. voters, to embark on new directions and adopt new attitudes, but too much water has gone under the bridge for there to be any doubt in any right thinking mind that he’s but a new wrapper on a tired political package. There’s only one way to purge the province of the political rot that has set in over the past 10 years. We need an entirely new set of politicians in charge. Only a provincial election can bring us that. The sooner the better. rmeiclibees x Get on with park causeway widening Dear Editor: "SPEC is threatening legal action to stop the causeway widening if the parks board approves it on Feb. 21. They claim the park tease prohibits such activity. -Is a commercial venture such as an aquarium a “park?” Is a clubhouse with a licensed bar a “park?” Are several restau- rants in violation of the “park” lease? No one has ever argued that those things are in violation of the lease. To not widen the waffic lanes when the opportunity -exists would leave the board and the City of Vancouver open -to lawsuits. There is a reality to this issue: the causeway exists, it has: run through the park for over 60 years, the bridge will be widened, traffic will continue to flow. The threat of legal action is irresponsible. In the words of a talk show host, “Get on with it!” Jeremy Dalton, MLA West Vancouver-Capilano NDP ouster urged * Deur Editor: : «. Hooray for Neel Wright and Liz James. Noel's (Feb. 13) “NDP quit now” column is right on the money, and no one has worked harder than Liz to rafly us and rid us of these, aptly described by Noel, “economy-wrecking; arrogant, unprinci- pled incompetents.” : ‘The problem is that while this gang of nincompoops holds ~_on to even their minuscule majority in the Legislature, they can keep the entire B.C. population at bay until their ill-gotten mandate runs out — meaning another impoverishing year at least. - " Therefore, we must realize that while striving to rid the cor- » ruption at the red end of the governmental spectrum, we must ‘take positive measures to correct the inability for action by the presently non-functional ceremonial components at the other “end — so that nothing in the disgusting manner of the exist- ing long term mess can ever happen again. Denis Mason West Vancouver Pet ae Re north: shore. 54 Korth Shore Hews, foundert in 1969 2s an . independent suburban newspaper and quattfied wader Schedule 111, Paragraph $15 of the Excise Tax Act, is published each Wednesday. Friday ang Sunday by HCN Publicatons Company and detnibuted 20 every door on the North Shore. Canada Post Carian Uublicahons. ‘Mail Sales Product Agreement No. (7177238, Msiling rates avalable on request. timo Distribution Manager 988-4337 (124) bemo@nsnews.com 61,582 (average circulation, Wecnesday, Friday & Sunday} Creative Services Director 885-2131 (127) miancher@nsnews.com Don't wait, do it ne THE torrents of printed and spoken words poured forth about the NDP leadership race have, so far, virtu- ally ignored one gut problem now confronting victo- rious Ujjal Dosanjh. What to do with the still powerful elected rascals who precipitated the whole crisis? Front and centre, of course, disgraced former premier Glen Clark. Along with him, his principal henchmen: withdrawn leadership candi- date Gordon Wilson, Moe Sihota, Harry Lali and Lois Boone — all the latter four, at least for a few days longer, ministers in the NDP government. The convention produced numerous pious homilies on the need, once the choice was made, to heal old wounds, mend partisan splits and go forth as 3 cleansed and united party to win yet again the hearts and votes of British Columbians. If you believe that heartwarming pic- ture, I must have been sound asleep for the past 11 months. It’s a picture that completely ignores the ruthless, all¢y- fighter instincts of Glen Clark, the loyalty of his Sikh soul-brothers Moe Sihota and Harry Lali, and the beady-eyed oppor- tunism of Gordon Wilson. Between them, they made life miser- able for interim premier Dan Miller. So what’s their new role when Ujjal gets down to cabinet-making next week? Can he afford to include any of them oor HPyPromotions Manager S85-2355 yi) | 985-2131 (248) pspeck@nsnews.com lorry Photography Manager 985-2131 (160) tpeters@asnews.com all Oouy For General Manager S85-2131 (133) Odhaliwal@nsr2ws.com —_ dlool@nsnews.com vstephenson@msnews.com Entire contents © 1999 HCN Publications Company. All rights reserved. OF COURSE A PROVINCIAL ELECTION MAY BE A LITTLE TRICKIER. ...WE WON'T BE ABLE in his new, “fresh-stare” NDP govern- ment? If so, what happens to some of the dozen or so ministerial stalwarts who supported his campaign — includ- ing John Cashore, Dave Zirnhelt, Mike Farnworth, Sue Hammell, Ian Waddell, Penny Priddy and Josn Smatlwoed — not to mention former finance minister Joy MacPhail, who had the guts to kick Glen in his political teeth and quit last sum- mer? Must Dosanjh loyalists be sacriticed to make rooms for Clark cohorts — even Clark himself — in the name of “party unity and healing)” {f so, what do we wind up with in Victoria but a government tainted by the same old gang that, over the past nine years, has reduced B.C. to economic ruin? Alternatively, if Dosanjh opts to rigor- ously exclude.the Clark faction from his cabinet and banish its members perma- nently to the back benches, you can bet your last buck that our new premier is in for a decidedly rough ride trying to restare trust in the NDP and economic heatth to B.C. Why? Because, numerically, Glen Clark and his gang control the slim margin of five seats that presently keep the NDP in power, Having almost destroyed his party while leading it, would Glen hesitate to revenge himself on Dosanjh — who, in revealing Clark to be under criminal investigation, forced him to quit as pre- mier — by engineering an NDP deteat in To COUNT ON THE LIBERAL VOTE. w, Ujjal! the House? That way, while hoping to live and fight another day, Clark could at least get his own back on his mortal political enemy. There is, however, a simple solution for Dosanjh to the problem of these two equally unwelcome options — the Ciark gang in government ys. the Clark gang totally backbenched: a phone calf for an immediate appointment with Lieutenant Governor Garde Gardom. In other words, Ujjal, convene the Legislature for precisely one day, make an inspiring speech about the completely new-look NDP under your leadershi . then call an immediate election and hit the campaign trail with your supporters “next week unencumbered by any Clark era baggage. Don’t hang around for nine months in Victoria for the Clark gang to tarnish our hard-won image of a new, responsi-; le NDP. ; . Take it on the road by March 1 and. trust the people's judgment of you per- -- sonaliy. - You won’t be re-elected to a third term this time, of course. But a quick spring vote is your ONLY chance of ..”. returning as a viable opposition, groom: +... ing itself as a government-in-waiting.. ~ SEND HAPPY birthday wishes Friday, Feb. 25, to North Van's Hugh McKay.” | : © O00°-.-°" ot WRIGHT OR WRONG: Music is the only language in which you can’t say a". mean or sarcastic thing. _., —nwright@uniserve LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Thmotiy Rens Managing Editor 965-2131 (116) trenshaw@nsnews.com Display Advertising Manager 980-0511 (317) Owhitman@nsnews.com Letters must include your name, full address & telephone number. © VIA e-mail: trenshaw@nsnews.com Display & Real Estate Fax : “Classified, Accounting. - ' & Rain Office Fax 905-2031 (114) News tips line {after bours "+ | ~-BBB-2I34 (gress 3)