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Entire contents
© 1996 North Shore
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: ALEC Ua Ae

RENEE

1 Uaery.

THERE are.a handful of names in histo-
“cry that resonate long after the person to

> which the name was attached has shuf- ;

fled off and on to the next adventure.
' Norwegian Nazi collaborator Major

“Vidkun Quisting has contributed to the

English language the word quisling, for

, example. §

At broadly carries the meaning of a traitor

a who aids an occupying enemy force.

It’s not too far-fetched to imagine the pop-

“ular acceptance of a new phrase, an expres-

sion used to describe a situation in which

someone drops the ball in a big and preme-

ture way, leaving his or her loyal team, as well
as a number of voters, out of the game in mid

COURSE, WE GOTTA
ACTUALY CATCH
ONE FIRST.

ae = ; Sg
cee Vege

Ssateaaetinnaetemmocet eile iamaoediennaeheiaeaan ortebdaetaiernmerhcianesatene meen eemaraateaeen eternal

election

Polite naivete is central to the concept.

Fuzzy dogmatic thought is integral to the
definition of Larryhood. —

Any one whe repeatedly: prefaces facile
remarks with “I’m: a. businessman” as 3:
generic qualifier. will automatically rate the
status of Larrydom. |.

Those who bail out when the going’ gets
tough and then pull the plug on his or her.
teammates, thus ensuring no one has a hope
of achieving the goal set, are solid Larry. | pos

An individual who would seek to gain per-

sonal advantage by offering to.trade. away «.
team: members as easily as hockey | cards .
change hands at recess in a schoolyard will be . .

pegged as exhibiting ultra-Larry behavior.

Census
essential

Dear Editer:

I am writing to address the
concerns expressed by A,
James in a letter to the News
(May 15) concerning ihe priva-. -
cy of individuals and the, pur-
pose of the 1996 census,

Providing personal informa-
tion to anyone, whether ina
census or in any other manner,
dess involve some loss of priva-
cy. But in virtually any country
in the world, it is recognized.
that the benefits to the public of
accurate census data far, out-
weigh this loss of privacy, espe-'
cially when the information
’ kept strictly confidential and.
used only to produce statistics.

In Canada great, care,
taken to ensure that. th
collects information:  that.. is
clearly in the public interest’ and !
that cannot be obtain
tively from other sou

Many laws'are dependent o
_census data, and. the. contri
‘tion of census: informati
research, planning,

_ trative. programs
” benefits all respondén

“transportation, fire

' protection, housing,”

daycare and employmentirain

ing: programs ‘will be carried :

out. i
Because the census provides::,

information : fritical® to “eve

sector of society. the Stati

- fast-changing count
_ heed ' for:

analysis and publ

“important social and 'econom

issues, *

” ruled out any election ©

stride. ;

- - The next generation: will be saying some-
thing disdainful like: “Boy, what a Larry!”
Or “Geet that’s really Larry: Md

| Bye-bye the muddy month

PRESS deadlines having Noel

result comment in. this
space until Sunday, let’s

: briefly probe the election
» mud once again.

What made B.C.'s [996
election campaign the dirtiest,
most negative and most con-
fusing in living memory?

Three factors spring to mind.

The tone was set from the —
start by the NDP's ruthless exploitation of its
position asithe incumbent government. The
momentum, gained fram the February leader-
ship convention plus the public funds available
to new Premier Glen Clark enabled him to
launch his campaigt. 10 weeks before the elec-
tion was called — with daily promises adding
up to some $2 billion in bribes eventually te
be paid for by the taxpayer.

Once the writ was dropped, Clark continued
to flood electors with an ongoing torrent of
further financial and service promises until
Liberal leader Gordon Camphell belatedly
responded with his own arsenal of statistical
pledges. But soon the only form of counter-
attack left to either of them — and pursued
with gusto by both — was simply to denounce

_the other's numbers as lies.

occurrences,
Election 96 was really Larry.

The second and equally
obvious factor shaping this
ill-mannered, negative, nanic-
calling campaign was the
complete disarray of anti-
NDP partics — in the end a
total of eight of them, repre-
senting, by every count, at
least 60%-65% of the B.C.
electorate.

hither Traditionally, B.C. is a

and yon cy composed of free enter-

a —anmnennimeee risers versus socialists. But
this time free enterprise representation was
divided between Liberals and Reformers, who
doggedly rejected any merger for the common
goal of ousting the NDP. Worse stilt, nomina-
tion day produced half a dozen tiny anti-NDP
fringe parties, each capable of widening the
Liberal-Reform voting split enough (o produce
an NDP victory in marginal ridings.

Thus, Gordon Campbell, Jeader of the party
with the best hope of beating the NDP, found
himself just as viciously attacked by the peo-
ple who should have been his allies as by his
socialist foes. And finally he was pilloried by
both for alleged (though unproven) bids by
Literals to buy off their squabbling pygmy
competitors.

The third contributor to the mud and confu-
sion — albeit innocently — was, of course, the

The B.C. political scene has witnessed its
share of boneheaded politicking and ptrange

polarized two-party democrat"

_ Jim Selley.
" Statistics Canada.’

media. They did their job just.too competently.

Every campaign item was fully and fairly — ;
reported — in mind-numbing detaii when it~
came to figures. TV showed every blink and
twitch on the faces of battling gladiators
wielding venomous [6-second sound bites. We
commentators feaned over b .ckward to inter- :
pret it all.

The media spread the mud rich and thick,
since mud was almost all we had to work with.

- And in the end [ suspect many in our. confused

audiences — suffering a bad attack of infor-’
mation-overloaud complicated by dirt infections
~— simply ended up voting according to their,
gut. ;

As an exercise in political “extreme com-
bat.’ Election "96 amply confirmed Winstan
Churchill's detinition of democracy: “... the
worst form of government, except for all the
others that have been tried.”

Mao

CELEBRATE “Wild Wild West Vancouver’’.
Saturday, June 1, with the 10 a.m.Community
Day parade fram Ambleside Park, then all-day
Ree Centre fun — entertainment, food, saloon,
pony rides and much. much more... And many
happy returns of tomorrow, May 30, to North”
Van's Nancy Tarter.

g0G0 :
WRIGHT OR WRONG: Keep your head up.
but never look down at people. od