6 - Sunday, August 11, 1991 - North Shore News CLEAN UP YOUR YARD BOB...1TS INSIGHTS NEWS VIEWPOINT Right to know HETHER YOU agree with their tactics or politics, the Greenpeace protesters who oc- cupied the office of Associate Minister of Defence and West Vancotver-Capilano MP Mary Collins on Wednesday raised two fundamental questions regarding the nature of the democracy in which we find ourselves. The focus of the protest was this week’s visit to Vancouver gort by ‘‘Mighty Mo,”’ the USS Missouri. The massive battleship, which is nuclear capable, is just back from duty in the Per- sian Gulf, where the vessel and her men pounded Iraqi troops on the beaches of Kuwait and lobbed close to 300 Tomahawk craise missiles into the battlefield. Lecal peaceniks challenged two federal policies with regard to nuclear arms. First, the government's position that the general public has no right to know if nuclear weapons are aboard such warships when they visit Canadian ports. And secondly, defence minister Marcel Masse’s statement that ihe federal government does not sup- port locally declared auclear weapon-free zones. Back to the issue of democracy. Those who hold power, by authority of popular vote, fall prey to autocratic and pater- nalistic behavior once plugged into power. The public right to know and to act ac- cordingly — do we not concern ourselves with hazardous goods in our backyard? — is a basic tenet of open government. Federal dismissal of municipal political ection, such as the declaration of a nu- clear-free zone, is indicative of a broader contempt of grassroot sentiment. OF WEEK “The North Shore Museum is one of the great untold stories of North Vancouver.”* New North Shore Museum and Archives director Robert Inglis, on the North Shore’s museum. “] protested by saying, ‘Stop, stop, that’s enough.’ F asked him several times, ‘Would you really kill me?’ He replied that he was North Vancouver home. “Just imagine if you were told you had terminal caucer and then had doors slammed ian your face. These people (door slammers) are handing them nails for their cof- fins.” North Vancouver volunteer Joanna Tudan-Sainberg, on her battle with cancer and the cold Squamish band spokesman Sam George on the reason why the lease for the Lions Gate Golf Centre will not be renewed when it expires on Aug. 29. “Traffic tickets and speeding tickets shouldn't be the only things we see from police on the reserve.”’ Okanagan native Lance Mar- Doctor Death to me.”’ Occultist Richard Sprung, on an alleged attempt on his life made at a gathering of occult folk at a organizations. Peter Speck Timothy Renshaw . Noel Wright Publisnar ..... . Managing Editor Associate Editor Advertising Director Linda Stewart Comptrolier Doug Foot North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an mdependent suburban newspaoer and quatihed under Schedule 111, Paragraph IIt of the Excise Tax Act, is published each Wednesday, Friday and Sunday by North Shore Free Press Lid. and distributed to every door on the North Shore. Second Class Mai Registration Number 3885. Subscriptions North and West Vancouver, $25 per year. Mating rales avatable on tequest. 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All rights reserved ‘D’ word is the big obstacle in debate on unity THE WEEK’S most imaginative contribution to saving the nation — maybe the most imaginative since the death of Meech — is startling in its simplicity. A ‘‘why-didn’t-I- think-of-that’’ brainwave. Financial Post editor Diane Francis, one of Canada’s brightest politician-watchers, thinks the root of the problem with Quebec is the word ‘‘distinet,”’ as in ‘*distinct society.’ By suggesting that La Belle Province should get special treatment not accorded to the other nine, the word is like a red rag to a bull for The Rest Of Canada (TROC). But that’s aot the reality, she says. The truth, Francis argues, is that Quebec is not a ‘‘distinct’® society in any pecking-order sense. It is simply a French society. So since even the reddest-necked Albertan can hardly quarrel with that description, let's take the heat out of the debate by calling Quebec henceforth what it really is. Not distinct. Just FRENCH. That done, cornflake-box Anglos might get to consider — calmly and without blowing their fuses — two other undisputed truths. First, Quebecers are no ethnic Johnuy-Come-Latelys, In fact, they are the senior of the two founding races, Jacques Car- tier having arrived well ahead of TROC’s ancestors. Second, they number 25% of us. Meanwhile, we encourage Greeks, Ukrainians, Hungarians and Scots to dress funny and do the wild dances of their homeland at the drop of a hat. So what’s wrong about the equal concern of six million Quebecers to save their language and culture from being swamped into oblivion by those of their 280 million Anglo neighbors? Sure, they went overboard ban- ning outdoor English signs. [ hope they’ rethink one day. But that’s no reason for killing Canada. There’s more fhan language to the unity debate, of course. Like the transfer of federal powers to Quebec — and any other province that wants them. Senate reform, Jacques Parizeau’s separatist nuts, trying to rewrite history by deny- ing Quebec and Canada are one. But the Francis thesis is that all these other problems could become solvable, once we remove the mental block caused by that irritating, inaccurate word “distinct.” It seems well worth a try. While we're at it, let’s toss in another creative unity thought. Why always talk about ‘‘Quebec , FRANCIS... rewriting OIANE Meech. Wright H HITHER AND YON remaining part of Canada?"’ How about Canada remaining part of Quebec? After all, it was Jacques Cartier who named the country, SIGN-OFF: Art and music take over West Van all next week at the Harmony Arts Festival featur- ing North Shore artwork in over 65 store windows, art being created in the parks while you watch, tours of artists’ studios, a creative kids day and a closing outdoor art auction — plus free noon-hour concerts at Ambleside Landing and evenings from Wed- nesday in Ambleside Park and at Dundarave Pier. Get out, around and enjoy ... Gift-of-life days again 2:30 to 8 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, Aug. 12-13, at the Lions Gate Hospital blood donor clinics — they’re counting on you ... Anniversary congratulations to North Van's Louis and Marjorie Cordocedo who yesterday, Aug. 10, celebrated their 55th ... To- day, Aug. 11, a 93-candle birth- day salute to North Van’s Frank Pew ... And happy 30th anniver- sary tomorrow, Aug. 12, to West Van's David and Beth Mathieson. WRIGHT OR WRONG: Adoles- cence is a time of rapid change. The period from 12 to 17 often ages parents as much as 20 years. = JACQUES PARIZEAU... rewriting history. .