4 - Suaday, September 29, 1985 - North Shore News Burnt-out Fraser victim of system POOR JOHN Fraser. He was a victim of a system that has got out of hand. ft has been obvious for a while that he was suffering some sort of burn-out. [1 was, in fact, a common subject of gossip among journalists, en- vironmentalisis and Indian leaders here on the West Coast. Whenever you saw him on TY, his face had the quality of a Squashed grape. A punchy look in his eye. There was no doubt about it — the stress was there. It has to be getting to him. At one point, an aide practically had to carry him out of a Vancouver radio sta- tion, he was so stretched. It didn’t used to be that way. I remember seeing John Fraser at public meetings, usually some forum dealing with conservation, in the years leaditig up to the high point, where he became Joe Clark's minister of the environment. He was always alert, eager to learn and discuss. Quite calm. Quite certain that political solutions could be found. The environment depart- ment is an agency, remember, that has a distinct West Coast identity — the only such ministry, I might add. After all, the first environment minister was Jack Davis, nam- ed to the spanking new ministry just as the 60s were ending, back when ecology was fashionable. British Columbia, you will strictly personal Bob Hunter ee recall, had the most’ eco- freaks, from Greenpeace to the tragic Squamish Five. I do believe that kind of envinon- ment was a B.C. invention, and when John Fraser got the spot under Clark, there was a brief Prague spring, so to speak, Fraser taught, sincerely, that conservation and Conser- vatism weren't necessarily mortal enemies. He under- Stood the issues. He was, in fact, very well-informed on everything from the dangers of supertanker spills to the NOTICE ALL WEST VAN VOTERS I Drop me a line about your concerns with municipal coun- f cil. All letters confidential & acknowledged. BERT FLEMING Box 91541 West Van, B.C. - V7V 3P2 ' Aconcerned citizen for 40 years NARRATED IN PERSON avr THEIR PRODUCERS » SCOTLAND _ with Sherilyn Mentes * BELGIUM with Jean Luc Sterckx * YUGOSLAVIA with Chris Borden * INDIA with Frank Kiicar + ROME and tho ROMANS with Clay Francisco * PORTUGAL with Fran Reidelberger * THE CARIBBEAN with Phil Walker & THE CARIBBEAN ly with Phil Waiker 4 + SAN FRANCISCO ‘with Doug Jones ¥ O.5.T 5:30 and 8:30 p.m. B North Van, Centennial Theatre BH MATINEE 2:00 p.m. also 6°00 & 8:30 p.m. . SEASON TICKET FOR EIGHT FILMS SAVES MONEY! SEASON - 1985/86 8 FASCINATING FEATURE-LENGTH TRAVEL FILMS CHOICE OF FIVE COMPLETE SERIES m Sol. (+ show) $7.50, 6.75, 6.25 Stu, 5.00 plus .75 abt Sea. (8 shows) $41.00, 39.75, 35.25 Stu. 32.50 : Tickets: VTC, CBO, EATON'S & WOODWARDS STORES Credit Card Line: 2980-4444 information: 280-4411 PROSPECTUS MAILED ON REQUEST ALL SUBSCRIBERS ARE ELIGIBLE TO WIN A AIR OF TICKETS TO BRITAIN COMPLIMENTS OF WARDAIR Oct. 7-8 Oct. 28.29 Nov, 12-13 : Jan. 14-17 a Jan. 27-28 Feb. 10-10 : Mar. 7100 ff Mar, 7-11 Apr. 7-8 iB peculiar sensibilities of Kit- silano eco-hawks and Alert Bay fishermen alike. Everywhere 1 travelled along the coast in the last few years | heard praise for John Fraser. Of course, the Clark government fell before Fraser could do much more than catch his breath, then they were out. But he kept up the networking while back in Op- position. And the only disap- pointment when the Tories swept back in was that Fraser went to fisheries, not environ- ment again. Too bad. ‘The woman who landed en- vironment was a nerd. She's gone, too, but not in the spec- tacular, bloody fashion that Fraser sank. In retrospect, one can sec it was a no-win situation for John. In the fast decade, the fisheries department has become truly unworkable. OPEN ore? DAYS A WEEK (ae Now, for a limited time only, your whole family can take advantage of these fantastic specials and see for yourselves how our quality, service and value have made us the leading Perm family haircare specialists in North America. There is just no way of recon- ciling the needs of East Coast fishermen, West Coast fisher- men, environmentalists, In- dians, whites, Newfoundland- ers, French Canadians, oil companies, sealers, gillnetters, trollers, foreign fleets, sport- smen, Hydro, loggers, bureau- crats — all of whom have a stake in Canada's once-mighty fishery, or at least in the ocean. . I say ‘‘tonce-mighty’” because the resource is going down the tubes, and the fisheries department is basical- ly incapable of preventing the collapse. Anybody who becomes fisheries minister nowadays is ultimately doom- ed as a politician, just like finance ministers. Look at Romeo the Blank and his snarly little successor, the last two Liberals to hold the portfolio. A true damned- -if-you-do and damned-it-you- Cut includes: Shampoo © blow-ary © condition @ precision cut © no hidden charges EACH SALON INDEPENDENTLY OWNED AND OPERATED ¥ NO APPOINTMENTS NECESSARY FantasticSams Fantastic Sams 838 W. 15th st, —- 1256 Lynn Valley NV. it 79 right next to 980-7211 “Dairy Queen” | The original family” haircutters? Opens Oct. 1 -don’t scenario. There have been reports that Fraser was adventure- some in his exercise of power. He changed rules on the spot, rattled the bars of his cage, in- furiating the swivel servants below. In the end, they got him. The entire tainted tuna caper was a tempest in a fish can. No one has suggested that the Starkist stuff was poison- ous. It was just something called unfit, whatever that means. Anybody who has ever watched bureaucrats at work, including health inspectors, knows they make some pretty arbitrary rulings themselves. I'm one of the 10,000 dogs that started barking at John Fraser’s heels the moment he was named to the fisheries post. Several months ago, | was beefing about him dis- criminating against Indian fishermen here on the Coast. ts 519% Reg le 1 0 1S peg. °24 EXPIRES: Oct. 14/85 For franchise Info call 530-3177 t i Yet, funnily enough, when I talked with Indians after Fraser's demise, they express- ed a great deal of regret. So, too, did local environmen- talists whose normal line of work seems to involve warm- up exercises in the morning that consist of bashing a cute little fisheries minister until he bleeds. The fisheries department is too big for any one man to ride herd on any long. It is, in fact, a monster of bureau- cracy. Speaking of deregula- tion, how about deregulating the fisheries department, breaking it up into a dozen manageable pieces? The truth is, you have to be Mahatma Gandi to cope with fisheries these days, and even he would probably hase a ner- vous breakdown sooner or later. Fraser tried. Nice try, John. What more can { say?