4 — Friday, May 14, 1993 - North Shore News

Cooperation needed to oust N!

MAYBE I am just being
parochial.

Trevor
Lautens

GARDEN OF BIASES

Nah, let’s dismiss that explana-
tion. Any man who has recently ~
purchased a 40-ounce bottle of
Teacher’s Scotch at Chicago’s
O’Hare Airport for $10 is ob-.
viously a world traveller and reg-
istered cosmopolite.

(For fans of those funny metric
system measurements, the scotch
bottle contained 1.125 litres,
which works out to only 39.6825
ounces. At those prices, | could
afford to spill a little.)

But { am delaying getting to the
substance of this column.

So, starting afresh:

Maybe I am just being parochi-
al, but a couple of chaps from our
sleepy village of Greater Tid-
dlycove could play a very large
part — an even larger part —~ on
the provincial political scene.

They are Jim Pattison and
David Mitchell.

It is a well-known fact that
Jimmy Pattison is actually a
native of Vancouver's East End, a
place of unfashionable physical
toil and rather appalling im-
migrant accents,

But upper-class West Van-
couver, after a discreet search of
his character and especially his
wallet, graciously allowed him in.

It is also well known that Pat-
tison’s manifold commercia! em-
pire and his services to the com-
munity, most prominently his
work for Expo 86, have led to

Regional planning forum

THE GREATER Vancouver
Regional District (GVRD) plans to
spend $2.8 billion over the next
seven years.

On Saturday, May 15, from 9
a.m. to 4:30 p.m., North Shore
residents have a chance to talk
about how. that money will be
spent.

Delbrook. Community Centre,
600 West Queens Rd., is one of
six Lower Mainland sites for the
GVRD. Critical: Choices public
forum.

The $2.8 billion is slated to be
. Spent on transportation, air quali-
ty, ‘regional: parks, hospitals,
drinking water, garbage and

~ sewage management.

GVRD. spokesman - Bud Elsie

said the GYRD had originally
planned more than 30 meetings
within the next three to four
months on the issues, but decided
to conduct one televised forum-i in-
stead.

A direct television feed of the.

event will serve community chan-

nels including Shaw Cable Chan-
' nel 4 on the North Shore.

.GVRD representatives West

Vancouver Mayor Mark Sager and .

North Vancouver District Mayor
Murray Dykeman will attend the
North Vancouver forum.

The forum will also be con-
ducted in Vancouver, Burnaby,
Richmond, Surrey and Port Co-
quitlam.

‘Fhe forum’s schedule includes
the following:
°9 a.m.; introduction of Van-
couver Mayor Gordon Campbell
and other GVRD members;
© 9:30 a.m.: regional parks, land
use, the green zone;
© 10:45 a.m.: transportation and
air quality;
® noon: interviews with GVRD
directors;
© 12:30 p.m.: hospitals, drinking
water;
©2 p.m.: solid waste, liquid
waste (garbage and sewage
treatment);
© 3:10 p.m.: funding priorities of
taxes;
® 4:20 p.m.: closing comments.

To register for the forum, call
436-6954. Participants can also
tegister at the Delbrook Com-
munity Centre between 8 a.m. and
9 a.m. on May 15.

‘a CHRISTINE COLLISON
‘is pleased to announce the new location
of her

Family Dental Practice

Suite 304 — 126 E. 15th St. a
(one block east of Lonsdale) North Van 986-3358

All Patients Welcome

Come in for an even better view of the waterfront.

eS

Douglas Optical Dispensary Ltd.

1685 Marine Drive in West Vancouver

925-2140

SOS INTRALASE ANTE ee TET a tae EO ET RATE O Rem Te

some tugging at his sleeve to enter
politics and run British Columbia
as successfully as he runs his
business.

Wisely, Pattison has put his
famous trumpet to his lips and
told his beseechers to blow,
though not precisely at the same
moment.

But Pattison’s words are
observed more attentively than the
average person’s — say, 4 colum-
nist’s — and he recently said a
mouthful.

He remarked that he would not
support either the Social Credit or
the Liberal party of B.C. ‘‘untess
the parties come together to rep-
resent the free-enterprise vote.”’

Pretty clear. No join, no coin.

And Pattison is absolutely right
to say so.

Because it has ta be made
abundantly, unambiguously clear
to the two grappling parties —
clawing to get the better of each
other, while both are doing a less
than adequate job in the
legistature cuffing the New
Destructive Party government —
that they better hang together or
they'll hang alone.

While the socialist horde’s pop-
ularity plunges, and real-world
economics clashes with the loopy,
fairyland fantasies of the NDP
ideologues-who-can't-count, the
Clark-Sihota government is des-
perately trying to bestride both
camps. Which makes them vul-
ncrable to a timely swift kick.

They talked the talk of solidari-
ty with their farm teams in the
unions and academe and the
bureaucracies — and meanwhiis
they sent front man Mike Har-
court to convince business anc!
everyone else who'd listen that
they'd form a middle-of-the-road
government.

And they succeeded. They got
the sucker vote, jacluding the
suckers in the media, and they got
the essential ingredient for an
NDP victory: a vote split by two
main opposition parties separated
by only nuances of philosophical
belief but.a rich history of enmity
toward each other, hardly less
than their shared enmity toward
the NDP. ;

And so here we ate. We have a

government that makes the
cronyism of Tammany Halli of
New York and the Pendergast
Gang of St. Louis look like choir
boy stuff — corrupt, corrupt,
corrupt, and with the special! cor-
ruption of the desperation of a
one-term-threatened government
shamelessly rifling the public
treasury for jobs for the boys and
girls, knowing that this could be
their last chance in this genera-
tion.

And we have two opposition
parties both enunciating the
motherhood statement that the
non-NDP constituencies really
must get together, but otherwise
both striving to be the mother
who does that.

Pattison’s statement is a service
of notice that the two contending
non-socialist parties better start
doing something about it.

Which brings us to our village’s
second prospective big player on
the provincial tableau, David Mit-
chell.

I’ve done more flip-flops in
changing my assessment of Mit-
chell than the whales at the Van-
couver Aquarium.

But the independent Liberal
member for West Vancouver-
Garibaldi is talking more sense -—
thoughtfully worked out — about
B.C. politics than anyone from
here to the horizon.

And he has more ideas, more
thoughts on structural change to
our ancient political system, than
the caucuses of all three parties
put together.

Furthermore, as attested by a
well-attended public meeting a
couple of weeks ago in West Van-
couver, he is disciplined in his
thinking, clear in his exposition,
intelligent in discussing reasoned

: objections (which he offers
: himself) to his suggestions — and _

he’s being listened to.

Keep this in mind: if the Liber-  -
als and the Socreds, both holzing ©

leadership conventions in the next

few months, don’t find the teaders. .

with the will or the way to unite
against the widely despised NDP, .
David Mitchell is standing in the

wings — unity’s best and earliest

apostle.

INTRODUCING... |

Residential real esiate is a com-
plex, multi-faceted industry
which affects the very founda-
tion of our lives. Whether “real
estate" means home, vacation
or investment, many factors
must be taken into account in
order to ensure a smooth, suc-
cessful transaction. '

It is my intention during the
coming year to explain many
aspects of today’s fascinating
marketplace. | will explore
everything from maximizing
your profit by enhancing your
home's environment to’ obtain-
ing the optimum financing for
your particular situation. If you
are a first time buyer, ‘you will
discover that buying a home is
more possible than you may §
think. | will also cover refinanc- -
ing, investing, buying “fixer-
uppers" and a variety of other
topics.

This column is also an open
forum that will present answers
to your specific questions
regarding real estate on the

‘North Shore.

The Corporation of the
District of West Vancouver

1
i

your REGULAR garbage day,
May 3tst.to June 3rd (out by 7:30a.m.)

extra household waste and garbage

(no volume limit)

each container, item, bundle to be
less than 70 kg (150 Ibs)
tree limbs bundled and less than

1 metre in length

placed at curbside

TIRES, return to most retailers
CAR BATTERIES, return to automotive

retailers

AUTO OIL & FILTERS, return to
automotive retailers

HAZARDOUS WASTE, eg: liquid paint,
pesticides, petroleum products
“Clean green” yard waste can be

delivered directly to
30 Riverside Dr. (North Van.) for

compositing.

For further information call ‘LAIDLAW’ at 520-7840.

!! WHY NOT RECYCLE !!
or info, call hotline at 732.9253