6 — Wednesday, September 29, 1999 — North Shore News ONESTY remains the best policy. Even in the world of politics. The trouble is B.C. has had precious little in the way of that commodity from the province’s politicians, espe- cially during the disastrous 1990s reign of the NDP. Auditor General George Morfitt has been pushing for fiscal honesty from Victoria, and his words have finally found some ears. The NDP number fudgers, who have brought the province such whop- pers as balanced budgets that were really deficit budgets and who have failed to hit a budget target over the past eight years, have been claiming that the province faces an $890 million deficit this year ever since the release of its most recent budget. The real figure, however, is much higher. Morfitt pegged it at $1.5 bil- north shore news VIEWPOINT esi urges lion. Recent news stories report that the NDP finally accepts that reality, no matter how unsavoury it is for British Columbians to swallow and no matter how it underscores the government’s fiscal ineptitude. It’s a matter of honesty. Gordon Wilson agreed. He said it was time the province’s taxpayers got a little more honesty when it comes to B.C.’s economic health. Too bad the now former finance minister also added that the province is really in pretty good shape. End of honesty: B.C. is deeper in debt than the government cared to reveal and it’s running a deficit when most other Canadian provinces are either enjoying surplus or balanced budgets. We might be on the read to aonest recovery, but we have a long way to go in recovering honesty. PAUL RAMSEY SANS HE'S COMMITTED To THE GOVERNMENT BEING MORE TRANSPARENT (Liew mailbox Lions Gate lauded for nursing numbers Dear Editor: : I congratulate Lions Gate Hospital on its successful effort. to recruit nurses in light of the nursing shortage (Nurse numbers up, Sept. 5 North Shore News). .. Y would like to debunk one myth repeated in the arti- cle. There are_not a lot of nurses going to the US., despite: ‘aggressive recruitment campaigns by U.S. agen- cies. . The Registered Nurses Association of British Columbia (RNABC) keeps statistics regarding the number of nurses : who request their registration information be sent to areas / other than B.C. These statistics indicate less than 1% of registered nus : "8 in B.C, are considering employment in the U.S. Our statistics also show that 90% of nurses who gradu- .ated from B.C. schools of nursing in 1993 are still prac- _tising here. *)” The bad ‘news is that 3 © nurses it requires. This province has always relied on recruitment to meet its nursing requirements. “Hats off to the administration of Lions Gate Hospital - for making their facility one that attracts and retains nurs- és by providing educational programs and mentoring “.. Opportunities. These activities are crucial to attracting and ~ keeping nurses. “+ “The RNABC recently presented a submission to the Ministerial. - Advisory Committee on RN-RPN -C. educates only 55% of the -. . Recruitment: and Retention urging hospitals to provide “such | programs, The ‘executive surrmary of the submission can be wed at the RNABC Web site . “ ° Werte Shore Hews, founded in 1969 2s an independent suburban newspaper and quaitied ‘under Schedule 113, Paragraph 111 of the Excise Tax Act ** oublished cach Wednesday, Friday and Surdday by HON Publications . Company and distributed to every doct on the Mail Sales Provtuct Agreement fio, 0087238. Mailing rates avaiable on request. Distribution Manager $26-1397 (128) Creative Services Director 965-2131 (127) *. 61,582 (average circulation, Wednesday, Friday & Sunday} HOW MUCH MORE TRANSPARENT CAN THEY BE? WE CAN ALREADY SEE RIGHT THROUGH THEM! in Russia — cherchez la femme! “A riddle wrapped i in a mystery inside an enigma.” In many ways Winston Churchill’s famous wartime description of Russia is as true today as it was 60 years ago. Will cight years of a chaotic, still far from complete experiment in democracy and a free economy since the break-up of the Sovict Union eventually bear lasting fruit? Or will next year’s passing of the Yeltsin regime — which, with all its faules, has spearheaded whatev- rogress has been made to date — unleash threatening new political forces within’ what is still the world’s other nuclear superpower? Yeltsin’s resignation as president and ‘the election of his successor is set for the spring of 2000. But the real key to the future could lie in this year’s Dec. 19 clections to the 450-scat State Duma. Its biggest single bloc is presently Geiicdv Zyuganov’s Communist Party with 13 seats. At the other (right-wing) extreme are Vladimir Zhirinovsky’s ultra-national- ist Liberal Democrats with 51 seats. - If either ever got their hands on the _ levers of powcr, storm warnings would be flying for the West. Aiming to end Communist domina- tion of Russia’s lower house is a recent _ coalition between the Fatherland Party headed by Moscow’s highly popular mayor Yuri Luzhkov and the All Russia bloc tepresenting the country’s 89 S051 (5) Terry Paters _ Photography Manager 965-2131 (166) Vani Sapieeo Classified Manager 956-6222 (202) regional governors. A Russian version of British prime minister Tony Blair’s “Third Way” (“Work like capitalists, share like social- ists”), one of the coalition’s high-profile recruits is Yevgeny Primakov, the most popular prime minister tsin ever fired. Fatherland-All Russia's December goal is 226 Duma seats. If — but only if — it passes the crucial election test, it could bring Russia and her western friends at least as much hope as Yeltsin once did. Meanwhile, hope often remains on hold as Russia stumbles towards a renewed all-out war against the rebel Chechnya | region, suspected —- source of the terrorist bombs that have killed 300 innocent citizens since - August. Yeltsin’s own image is now tarnished by cronyism and corruption. Wealthy mafia pangsters in league with corrupt officials — side by side with the grinding zoverty of millions — continue to make a mocaery of much of the economic reform drive sponsored by the West. But for Russia’s ultimate future nei- ther bombs nor Chechens nor the mafia may be as significant as last weck’s public mourning for Raisa Gorbachev, wife of the last Soviet leader. Her personality, intellect and elegance had made her the - first and'only western-style “First Lady” in Soviet history — and earned her severe criticism at the time from the male-dominated hierarchy of the dying © regime. No longer. body home to Moscow, the ourtpouziag' When Mikhail Gorbachev brought | hee? “ of grief, sympathy and respect from ordi-. nary Russians everywhere bod an unmis- takably western, Diana-like flavour. It recalled, too, onc particularly interesting observation by the female university pro- fessor who gave daily lectures on the past and future of her country aboard our riverboat. ° - “Russia,” she told us, “is a feminine culture. Passion rather than power is _. what motivates us. All through our histo- ry we have tended to be guic led by intu- ition rather than rationality.” So much for Winston’s “riddle, mys- tery, enigma.” Prof. Gritsenko could have enlightened him fast! NDP ATTACKS on free speech will be m addressed by columnist Doug Collins and Doug Christie of the Cenadian Fre Speech League at a 7 p.m. fiindraiser -. tomorrow, Sept. 30, in the Alice Mckay Room, Vancouver Public Library, 350. . West Georgia. Admission $10°~~ your contribution towards the ongoing battle: -against political censorship and the: tyran-_ ny of the NDP’s ei Rights Code.” MANY HAPPY RETURNS of Friday, Oct. 1, to West Van's Sylvia Kelly -.. More of the same Saturday, Oct: 2; to “West Van Kiwanian David Yassine.” WRIGHT OR WRONG: If at first you don’t succeed, skydiving i is not for you (right, Ann Landers!). na —nwrigh isis LETTERS TO THE EDITOR | Letters must include your name, - full address & telophone numbe:. : VIA e-mail: trenshaw @ direct.ca Managing Editor 585-2131 (118) “Display Advertising Manager. |. 908-6511 (517) Entire contents © 1999 HCN Publications Company, All rights reserved. - .