6 ~ Wednesday, March 7, 1990 - North Shore News Are N. Shore’s chickens coming home to roost? THERE'S WEEPING and wailing on the North Shore these _ forts largely paid for by other days — and we're not alone. Shrieks of protest and moans of agony can be heard from every community in Canada big enough to boast a firchall. Goodies are being snatched from us. Partly by rotten Michael Wilson in Ottawa — who killed the Polar 8, cut off the North Shore Women’s Centre and may yet bite achunk out of Cap College. But B.C.'s flint-hearted Socreds are at it, too — forcing school boards now to grovel to the tax- payer in referendums for permis- sion to spend more than the $5,259 per pupil he already gives them. And surely that Royal Commis- sion on health care costs must mean Victoria is plotting user-pay medicare — no more free socializ- ing in your doctor’s office. Then there’s poor Bowen Island's tiny library, forced to close because its piddling $20,000 grant has been canned. Not to mention that $5 million North Van wave pool, turned down by Mayor Marilyn Baker and three of her miserly aidermen merely because its cost came in atover 100 per cent more than the estimate. Shame on all of them! Similar anguished cries of pro- test by community crusaders and their placard-waving storm troops echo across Canada from Bonavista to Tofino. But not, of course, in support of the North Shore. ‘They’re uttered solely on behalf of the protesters’ OWN suffering city, suburb or village. All pain in the body politic is localized pain. Yet actually, from a national angle, the cuts in Michael Wilson’s budget are woefully feeble in rela- tion to Canada’s $350 billion debt burden, just as his priorities are mostly still screwed up. There are many areas of misspending and Smoother. sailing HE B.C. Ferry Corp.’s decision to upgrade its Horseshoe Bay terminal and to create a new ferry route between Nanaimo and Tsawwassen is good news, not only for the province’s commercial truckers, but also for North Shore residents. waste crying out for the axe well ahead of those where he gingerly wielded it — as our friend in Ot- tawa, Auditor General Ken Dye of West Van, testifies every year in his scathing reports. ae | KENNETH Dye ...taxpayers’ only friend. One way or another many of Ottawa's cuts are passed on to the provinces. From there — through reduced or cancelled grants — they filter down to the municipal fevel. But whether the effect comes di- rectly or indirectly, the end result is always the same. It's community jobs, community welfare agencies, community schools and the community rec centre right on our home turf which get clobbered. The innocent community is always the VICTIM. But the victim of what? Might it just be conceivable that we demand too many home com- INSIGHTS | communities — while WE groan about paying taxes for THEIRS? As the chickens come home to roost, is it possible that we and our neighbors down the street — along with every other community in Canada — are the REAL cause of that horrendous debt? Are we authors of our own misery? TAILPIECES: Aware of the billions spent by Joe Clark on foreign aid, a North Van nursing director got a rude shock the other week. She'd been chosen by her Rotary Club to visit and work for a few weeks at an eye hospital it funds in Lucknow, India, and she figured there’d be opportunities to show the flag a liule. So she called MP Chuck Cook's .fice, explain- ed her mission and asked for 30 “Canada” lapel pins. Came the prim answer: **You can only have 10 for free — extra ones cost 9¢ apiece.’”’ Oh Canada! ... Welcome aboard to three new West Van managers — Gary Seriani who replaces Tom Pengelli at Ambleside Safeway, Dave Finner stepping into Tim Mewhirter’s shoes at the Bank of B.C. and Ron Needham, successor to Norm Denniston at the Bank of Nova Scotia ... And a 101-candle salute to the grand old lady of Kiwanis Lynn Manor, Helen Fulton, who celebrates the first birthday of her second century this Thursday, March 8. WRIGHT OR WRONG: Temper is what usually gets us into trouble. Pride is what keeps us there. While truckers travelling from the central and nor- thern areas of Vancouver Island to the Lower Mainland, Fraser Valley, United States and elsewhere will have their travel times reduced by the new Mid- Island Express ferry route, even more significant will be a reduction in truck traffic congestion that currently clogs such major North Shore arteries as the Upper Levels Highway, Taylor Way and the Lions Gate and Second Narrows bridges. Government statistics show that traffic through the Horseshoe Bay terminal is about 35 per cent higher than traffic through Tsawwassen and is the highest of the four major terminals in the Georgia Strait ferry services. ; As B.C.’s tourism industry continues to grow, along with most of the communities on Vancouver Island, traffic flow through the Horseshoe Bay terminal will also continue to grow. Therefore, it only stands to reason that the Horseshoe Bay terminal must also grow if it is to meet the anticipated non-commercial traffic increases in the coming years. The $34-million upgrade of Horseshoe Bay parking and holding facilities will be money well spent if it im- proves ferry traffic marshalling and reduces North Shore road congestion. The combination of a new ferry route and the Horseshoe Bay upgrade should help improve what has become an extremely bad transportation situation. Paragragh (ab ti Wednesaay, Friday and Sunday by Norin Si Press Ltd and distrmuted ta avery dout ¢ Shote Second Class Mart Registration: Me Marbig tttes svailabae on requis welcome but we rat unsolicited mateqal me: which should be accor envelope Publisher Peter Speck Display Advertising 980-0511 i i i Classified Advertising 986-6222 Managing Editor Timothy Renshaw Newsroom 985.2131 Associate Editor Noel Wright Distribution 986-1337 Advertising Director Linda Stewart [avatlinaliaadn efter Subscriptions 986-1337 North Shore News, founded in 1960 ay at dependeat Fax Suburban Mawspaoe? and quabhed under Schedule 141 1139 Lonsdale Avenue. NOEL WRIGHT NEWS phote Terry Poters AFFORDABLE HOMES...North Van District Mayor Marilyn Baker turns the sod for the new seniors’ co-op housing development in the 2000 block Cedar Village Crescent — cheered on (right) by Howard Addison, president of Buron Co., the builders, and (left) Eric Nielsen who'll be one of the first residents. Gli FpPieelsee! SEA al North Vancouver, BC ——— MEMBER ————_— V7M 2tia z . 59,170 (average. Wednesday Ferrel S 4% Friday & Sunday} ee ae ~ a s SOLA DA TSat Oy North Shore owned and managed Entire contents 1990 North Shore Free Press ‘Lid All nights reserved