6 ~ Wednesday. October 21. 1998 — North Shore News north shore news VIEWPOINT Sal E NDP’s treaty propaganda machine is shifting into high gear. It’s new motto: if you can’t beat ’em, indoctrinate ‘em. There is cause for alarm on the gov- ernment front. Blind public acceptance of the Nisga’a treaty is not proceeding as planned. The more press it gets the more questions are being asked. And the more light shed on the treaty, the more concerned members of the public are becoming about what the premier has called a template for the 50-odd native treaties currently under negotiation in B.C. In spite of the best intentions of the government’s propaganda machine, issues such as the establishment of a racially-exclusive and constitutionally- enshrined native government with powers to rival those of the province es job have raised more than eyebrows. They have raised the ire of B.C. res- idents everywhere. So in addition to the government's $5-million taxpayer-funded Nisga’a sales job currently under way, the NDP plans to move into B.C. schools with its treaty propaganda to bend young minds to the government way. Victoria, of course, says the distribu- tion of treaty curriculum in schools is just part of the education process. It’s good, argue the NDP, for young people to know the facts about what is an historic agreement. But the key word is facts. When they are produced by the government, they are not facts at all. They are propaganda tools. B.C.’s students need to be educated about the Nisga’a agreement; they should not be indoctrinated by social- ist spin doctors. GLEN CLARK'S TWO-PRONGED STRATEGY To GET THE NISGA'A DEAL PASSED: FIRST, WE MAKE THE NISGAA TREATY PART OF THE ScHool. CURRICULUM, rigcrilives Lots of crime but not much punishment Dear Editor: T read with amazement the (Sepr. 27) News article abour Const. Ron MacDougall being punished for kicking a burglar and aliowing his dog to bite the poor fellow. He was tined $500, placed on probation and ordered to perform 50 hours community work. I was just wondering what the poor burglar received? A conditional sentence perhaps? Every occupation has its hazards and in the case of crimi- nal employment one should be prepared to expeet some phys- ical consequence, on occasion. The poor criminal could apply to WCB for injuries sustained in the line of duty; heck, he could get Judge Jerome Paradis so write a fetter on his behalf. Judge Paradis is “at the end of his rope” regarding the RCMI"s use of police dogs for apprehending criminals. Clearly, this is a violation of the Criminals Code of Conduct and the police should cease this practice immediately. In the future, the RCMP should use the services of the Judicial Canine Seetion. This isa highly skilled and trained unit of judges and their canine compaiiions. Don’t let the poodle fool you ... if the criminal moves, this little critter will artack. At erial, the criminal will then be severely punished by the judge for the 10 B&Es he has committed. He will have a curfew imposed, in addition to his exte:s% probation! The problem here is that, had the judicial sf donc its job as it was designed to, the citizens and police wos not be as frustrated as we all are. The scales of justice are weighed so heavily to the advantage of the bad guys thac it leads to frustration and a lack of confi- dence in our judicial system. Ac many trials, it is the victims, witnesses and police who are on cial. ‘The accused is seldom held accountable for his actions. The funny thing is thar his role is much like that of a judge’s. The next time you want to report a B&E or any other serious crime, please call a judge. They’re sure to take a real bite out crime! Paul Bittante paulb87@bc.sympatico.ca ee py Bre north. shore. . . Nosth Shore News, founded i 1969 as an independent suburban newspaper and quakted under Schadule 111, Parsgraph 111 of sne Excise Tax Act, is published eerh Wednesday, Friday ang Sunday by North Stare Free Press, btd avd destntaned to every door on the North ‘Swes Product Agreemerd No. 0687238 Maning rates available on request. Jonathon Ball Creative Services Manager 995-2131 (127) 61,582 (average corculation, Wedresday, Friday & Sunday} Distribution Manager 866-1397 (124) “THE third way?” What are we talking about? If you don’t know — but want to — you'd better take a crash course in Advanced Political Thinking 101 right away. Nor that it’s all chat easy, Even fervent disci- ples of the Third Way often have problems explaining it in simple language. So until a qualitied teacher comes diong, your faithful scribe will have ro do his best to fill in. The first ching the Third Way means is that we must junk forever those two hoary old ideological labels that have dominated polities for the past 150 years: LEFT and RIGHT. Nor, however, that this means we're talking about the “centre” as currently understood — the all-things-to-all-men approach that’s kept the Liberals ruling Canada for two-thirds of this century. There’s infinitely more ro the Third Way than the crafty Grit trick of simply steering a middle course between right- wing rednecks and bleeding-heart lefties. The high priest of the Third Way is Britain’s “socialist” prime minister Tony Blair, who sends his children to posh private schools and parades in public as the hand- holding hubby of a lawyer wife who reportedly carns more than he does. _ More clearly than any of his contem- poraries, Blair has recognized the need PETER SPECK Publisher 985-2131 (101) ‘. Stophensoa Classified Manager Photography Manager 986-8222 (202) 88S-213t (160) 985-2131 (133) for a partnership between social demoe- racy and the market economy — the indispensable engine for propelling a society along the highway to prosperity. Capitalist smarts with a socialist heart could be another detfi- nition — requiring, in practice, some major compromises on both sides of the equation. On the sociafist side, for example, Blair believes government should not intervene in any blanket way in its citizens’ lives, but only ona selective basis to help individuals cope with the problems of a privately owned and managed economy. So he abandons the U.K. Labour Party's traditional womb-to-tomb wel- fare program. Instead, he emphasizes “social invest- mene” (¢.g., such measures as state sup- port for higher cducation and retrain- ing). A confirmed pragmatist, his approach is to do what seems best in cach new situation. Be still our brother's keeper — provided brother first gen- ras hither and yon uinely tries to stand on his own two feet. On the capitalist side a major concern is the over-hyped global economy whose dress rehearsal the greedy “little Asian Tigers” (now pathetic pussycats mecow- ing for IMF handouts) messed up so badly — giving numerous other coun- tries a nasty bout of economic “Asian flu” in the process. In the international marketplace the delicate balance between individual and collective rights — the essence of the AND TREN WE LOWER THE -—--—~~- Qn taming the capitalist beast social contract in any democratic nation- state — does not yer exist. Transnational corporations, loyal only to their own bottom fines and able to switch capital instantly from one corner of the globe to another with a few com- puter keystrokes, cail all the shots. National! governments, as we see around the world today, are left helpless to avert the consequences for their own people. ‘That’s why some form of global reg- ulatory machinery, especially in relation to the environment and labor practices, is a top priority of Blair and his fellow Third Wayers. In summary, their philosophy would, I guess, run something like this: Money and commercial know-how are impor- rant to society because they alone create its wealth, Bat they're not everything and must be reasonably controlled to avoid destroying lite’s equally important non- material values. Hence, the Third Way goal is to accommodate the free market while at the same time taming it. Thar’s quite a tall order. But all other political concepts tried, froma totally free market (the pre-1997 “little Asian tigers”) to.total state own- ership of the economy (Stalin’s Soviet Union) and everything in between, have proved at best far from perfect and at worst outright disastrous. So the Third Way — once they get all its rules down pat — is clearly entitled to at least have its day in court. Q00 WRIGHT OR WRONG: The only way to fight a bad idea is with a better one. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters must inchide your name, full address & telephone number. VIA e-mail: trenshaw @ direct.ca Managing Editor Comptrolier 895-218 (116) Agries Promotions Manager 985-2131 (218) Entire contents © 1997 North Shore Free Press Ltd. All rights reserved. Gall Snelgrove General Oltice Manager 985-2131 (105) 985-3227 Michael Becker - News Editor 985-2131 (114) Andrew McCredie - Sports/Community Editor 985-2131 (147} B.0.,.V7M 284 | acs yi pov tort