6 - Wednesday, March 24, 1995 — North Shore News Pa HE cruth hurts. When it comes to fiscal realities, British Columbians have been shielded from the coarser edges of government mismanagement by the ever-compas- sionate NDP. But the province has been forced to observe those rougher edges courtesy of the recently released report from auditor-general George Morfitt. Cruel realities larded the 238-page opus: budget surpluses were culled from obvious deficits; the upper ech- elons of the NDP played fast and loose with revenue forecasts; revenue optimism turned out to be little more than political hokum; numbers were used to turn government defeat into victory. Then came the removai of the sub- sequent Jayers of wiggle room, spin north shore news VIEWPOINT infully honest Oh cruel deception! Now with the masks off, the polit- ical circus ring leaders have been shamed into a closer regard for the truth, But is it any more comforting? The first revelation under the new regime of grudging reality is that the province's deficit will be $500 million — almost five times larger than what yas forecast under the old system of revenue optimism and public charade. The comirg provincial budget will also carry the government's cighth consecutive deficit since the NDP took power in 1991. Painful truth indeed. More trou- bling still is that this might not even be the final version of the honest-to- God truth. It might just be another layer on the way to uncovering what is shaping up to be some mighty excruciating long-term public pain. A Ve UNRELENTING, THE MEDIA CONTINUES THEIR DASTARDLY doctory and carny flim flam. Tismelheax it’s time for Gien and nis gang to go Dear Editor: The foliowing is an excerpt from the chronology of events in 1975 when the Governor General Of Australia dismissed the government of Gough Whitlam and his ALP arty. . P “.. this Bill be not further proceeded with until the government agrees to submit itself to the judgment of the people, the senate being of the opinion that the prime minister and his government no fonger have the trust and confidence of the Australian people ...” I strongly suggest a similar situation exists in B.C. today, Glen Clark and the NDP no longer have the trust or confidence of the people. To ail but the mast blind and idealistic government supporters, this government won clection on a platform of deception, lics and concealment. The NDP continue to govern on the same principles. They have also proven they are fiscally incapable of running this province and if left in office to fulfil their mandate, will make this province the laughing stock of North America. The NDP are ercating such a wasteland of red ink we will have to mortgage not only our children’s futures but our children’s, children’s futures to pay off the massive debts this inept and disgraceful bunch of self-serving dem- agogues is incurring. T would suggest the following changes to the above excerpt: wo and parliament, through whatever legal means of statutes or past or present laws or peoples laws or how- ever possible, be dissolved immediately and the govern- ment agree to submit itself to the judgment of the British Columbian people, the people being of the opinion that the premier and his government no longer have the trust and confidence of the said people ...” M.). Trigg North Vancouver north. shore. hews : Sorat dependent suburtan newspaper and quattes under Schedule 111 Paragraph 111 ot the Encrse tax Act, 16 publtied each Wedneshay, Friday and Sunday by Korth Shore Free Press Lt and destribvted to every duot on the Nortn ‘Shore Canada Post Canscian Pubtecahons Moet Sales Product Ajresment Hy 0067238 Tag rates avadable on equest i Barbara Emo Distribution Manager 986-1337 (124) £91 582 leverage terdaion ec esaay. Friday & Suraay; NOBODY could ever accuse the Rt. Rev. Bill Phipps, Moderator of the United Church of Canada, of hanging back when it comes to grabbing the headlines. Some 18 months age he won national noton- ety by personally ques- tioning the diviniry of Christ. This time his tar- get is more earthly. With a serics of Internet seminars enti- tled “Consultation on Faith and the Economy he has launched a blister- ing attack on capitalism and market economics. “The ideology of the so-called free market is obliterating all other criteria for the development of huinan society,” he thunders. “The market is the way of sal- vation, The market has become our God.” A false god — the good Moderator hastens to make clear — whose perni- cious influence must be fought tooth and nail. But he is aiming, of course, at the wrong target. What he appears to ignore is that, for all its thousands of years, humanity has failed to develop any alternative to the two basic models of social and economic life: the state-run authoritarian society and the society operating on individual freedom of choice. He also overlooks the fact that systems in themselves are seldom good or bad. They ace only as goad or bad as the peo- ple using them ” PETER SPECK Pubtisher 2131 (101) Jonathan Bett Creative Services Manages 985-2131 (27) Classified Manager Photography Manager 986-$222 (202) 985-2131 (169) Enlie contents © 1997 North Shore Free Press Lid, Ail righls res CAMPAIGN TO TOPPLE THE NDP GOVERNMENT UC Moderator damns A truly benevolent and efficient dicta- torship could theoretically be an excellent way of running our affairs — were it not for the fact that human failings automati- cally make such a regime a contradiction in terms. Ask any vic- tim of Hitler’s concen- tration camps or Stalin's gulags. Conversely, democracy — which Churchill called the worst form of government except for all the others that have been tried — cannot be faulted for the individ- ual freedom of social and economic choice it allows. Only the individuals exercising that freedom can be blameworthy. So the Rr. Rev. Phipps’ real target is not the free market system at all, but merely the peo- ple who abuse it. Whatever “abuse it” means. The truth is that the free market economy has given us the world’s highest-ever standards of living on every rung of the ladder — including the pour who otherwise would inevitably be even poorer. Sure, 2 minority of free marketers become obsessed with grabbing ever more of the pot, to the exclusion of everything else in their earthly lives. IF Phipps feels they deserve co finally wind up ina much hotter climate than the rest of us preter, so be it. But tor the vast majority of us the free market is not the be-all and end-all rhat he assumes, If we work hard and use whacever talents the good Lord has bestowed on us, most of us and our fami- LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters must include your name, full address & telephone number. Ss d VIA e-mail: renshaw @ direct.ca Doug Foot thy Rensh Comptroiter Managing Editor 985-2131 (133) 385-2131 (326) anaees ae Aren Evers Acting Display Manages 980-0511 (307) Promotions Manager " 985-2131 (218) Gall Snelyrove General Ofi.ce Manager 985-2131 (105) lotermet- http//waw.nsnews.com the market lies are happy to reap its benefits without the slightest urge to devote every waking minute to its rat race, And even at that, we may often have a little cash and time left over for helping those less fortunate. In short, the free market itself — which has provided more goodies for more people than any other economic systent, and continues to do so — is not and never was the villain. That title belongs to the relatively few who ruth- lessly exploit it and to the alternative sys- tems suffered during the 20th century. As a substitute for the tree market the Moderator talks about a “moral econo- my.” I've vet to hear his detailed defini- tion of this. But as we're talking about earthly bread-and-butter — not manna from heaven — one wonders how far removed it would be from the repressive- ly egalitarian dictatorships of the Soviet empire, Mao's China, Castro's Cuba and other disastrous socialist experiments. By definition, the free market's faults are correctable by peaceful means, Changing its discredited rival system — as Witness Yeltsin's Russia — is a much more chaotic and violent process. 900 SENIORS’ MONEY — how to protect it is the subject of a video and talk tomorrow, March 25, 1:30-3:30 p.m. in St. Martin’s Church Hall, Windsor and St. George's, North Van, sponsored by the Nerth Shore Seniors Health Consumer Council. Call 985-3852 for rides. Q90a WRIGHT OR WRONG: Amazing how generous people think they are when they. give free advice. HOW: TOSREACHEUS! 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