manipulate them) can "do ‘with — and TO — Jus.” Which. leaves: unanswered just one _ : | fundamental question. a a ‘Merely because something CAN be done, vis that mocesanraly a valid reason for doing it? sunday news north shore nev NEWS - ADVERTISING 980-0511 1139 Lonsdale Ave , North Vancouver, 8 C V7M 2H4 (604) 980-0511 CLASSIFIED 986-6222 CIRCULATION 986-1337 Publisher Peter Speck Associate Publisher Editor-in-Chief Robert Graham Noel Wright Advertising Director Eric Cardwell Classified Manager Production & Office Administrator Tim Francis Bert Hillard Faye McCrae Managing Editor Andy Fraser ol News Editor Photography Chris Loyd Elisworth Dickson lay Administrator nna Champion Accounting Supervisor Barbara Keen North Shore News, founded tn 1969 as an independent commun v newspaper and qualitied under Schedule tll, Part ill, Paragraph tl) of @ Excise Tax Act, is published each Wednesday and Sunday. by North Shore Free Presa Ltd. and distributed to every door on the ..North Shore. Second Ciass Mall Registration Number 3885 “Subscriptions $20 per year Entire contents © 1979 North Shore Free Press Ltd. All righta reserved | "VERIFIED CIRCULATION 49,603. 48,478 (CNA smi ey ' THIS PAPER IS RECYCLABLE = burs sdiditional ‘expense, will “defeat .Conservation further. rg ‘The: expense. and, wasteful usé of gasoline in having each person drive a car to -drop off.ten'to fifty pounds of ‘recyclable material of a comparabl not though ul or efficient. Imagine 10,000 of our residents driving _ their best thin: that The op — .so named because it was conducted for Southam News by Ottawa's ~€gieton- University School urnalistn — asked 1,191 ,across Canada how they ‘would vote if the election were held the next day. The 1,191. individuals out of a population of over 23 million were chosen by what- is’ described as “recognized sampling methods to represent the national population”. The results were: Liberal — 38 per cent; Conservative — 22 per cent; NDP — 11 per cent; Others — three per cent; ;Undecided — 26 per cent. If you consider only the decided voters, the numbers become: Liberal ——- 51 per gent; Conservative — 30 per cent; NDP — 15 per cent: Others — four per cent. ALERTED eo If that doesn’t add up, from the Tory viewpoint, to secing the whites of the enemy's eyes, I don’t know how much closer you can get. The figures portrayed by the poll.in the third week of December iridicate that Mr. Clark and his fellow warriors would have to win over something better than seven out of ten of the undecided voters to have any hope of a parliamentary majority. However, the Tories can be thankful for at least one thing: they were alerted to the situation well before the main clection battle started in carnest — with a full eight weeks in which to develop and deliver their counter- attack. From = this point onward it seems hardly conceivable that they have anywhere to go but up. ‘small value ‘is pr swing. expense equitably, then, T. propos proposed’ scheim decals with... an “é: removable strip back: “cout be - peace time, avoid | h ser ra es, trailing the Libe als by: “startling 21 per: cent, :may just: possibly. bé ‘the: g, could have happened to Joe Clark and his party as they. head: for the hustings. | - By the same token, it’s at ’”: least possible that the Carleton poll may. have had . ‘the effect of shooting ¢ off too. much “of : ‘the valuable ammunition * “too early in the campaign. ‘Apart - from their proforma attacks on the Clark government's —. record,. short six-month neither the Grits nor the New Democrats have so far produced any believable new policy: alternatives of their own. If the Liberals are returned to power ‘on February 18, there is nothing yet to indicate — anything better than a resumption of the increasingly dismal Trudeau regime of the past decade — headed once more by a hastily recycled Mr. Trudeau whose announced retirement barely a month earlier had brought sighs of relief even throughout his own party. The NDP, meanwhile, has no need of new policies, since it is in no danger of being called upon to implement any policies at all. DIVIDED LAND Which brings us back to the reasons for the Carleton poll results (assuming they are broadly accurate) and what the Tories can do about them in the noxt six weeks. 4 ) One point never to be forgotten is that this poll, like all similar ones, reflects primarily the polarization between solidly Liberal Quebec and the nearly as solidly Conservative west, tempered always by the fickle Ontario vote which swings dramatically to and fro in accordance with short- term provincial interests. In short, alas. the Carleton poll painted once again the oppasition’ Ss picture of a divided nation. regionally with Ontarians heading back this ~— time toward the Liberal bandwagon because they feel the Clark government was taking them cleaners on energy prices for Alberta's benefit. A second significant point is that the poll was taken at the height of the pre- Christmas spending spree, just a week after Finance Minister John Crosbie’s moderately tough budget. The average voter had had time only to digest the fact that gasoline and a number of other valued goodies were going to cost him more. He'd had no opportunity § to consider seriously whether this, in fact, might be the only way to save Canada from bankruptcy. ANSWERS The immensely com- plicated energy issue, in- cluding the role of PetroCan and the = multinationals, continues to be a subject of wides spread confusion and cynicism among many of the electorate. There's much evidence to indicate that the country’s dire financial situation — the horrendous multi-billion debt piled up during the reckless -exesume, on ‘February, 18, the to the. task. the. .voters -tossed to them - last. May: giving (Canada a fresh s start. \ They. ‘embarked on’ ‘that task: with undeniable zeal and a good deal of courage. After the party’s 16 years in » the wilderness they were ” inexperienced, politically accident-prone and inclined *to move too fast while ex- plaining too briefly. But at any rate thé¥ demonstrated ‘in the past short six-month period that they have sbme new answers — and the guts to try them. Which is more than can be said so far of the Grits. The tough job now facing the Tories is to sell those answers as they've never been sold before — in the hope that Canadians were speaking in earnest when they sent Mr. Trudeau packing last May 22. By pointing this up to them in such stark terms so early in the campaign, the Carleton poll could yet prove a blessing in disguise The streets are for the people. Exercise your rights. Walk a block a day. BS Panncpacon Be eR ee On ar Ue