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Poge 6 - March 9, 1977 - + North | Shore News -

The latest Ga lap poll on the question of who is

the popular choice for

prime minister at the

moment ielis us more about ourseives than about
the candidates. And some of the things it tells us
about ourselves are not very comforting.

Last October Pierre
Trudeau’s popularity had
sunk to the point where even
a number of his followers
were quietly wondering
about the possibility of
finding a new leader, before
the Liberal Party had to face

the restless natives at the |

next general election.

‘The Gallup Poll at, that |

time showed Conservative
leader Joe Clark romping

ahead as the public favorite
for prime minister, with 36
per cent of the vote to a mere
28 per cent for Mr. Trudeau.

Last week it was suddenly |:

Mr. Trudeau who was doing

the romping. The latest poll

gave him a dramatic 43 per

cent, while Mr. Clark stag-

gered back to 30 per cent. It

was as if the Canucks had.
become, overnight, a shoe-in

to win the Stanley Cup.

KICK IN THE TEETH

In view of the battering.
that Mr. Trudeau and_ his
government have continued
to take over the past 18

months for their dismal

record on unemployment, -

inflation, economic stagna-
.tion and public scandals, Mr.
Clark has every reason to
wonder why the gods abrupt-
ly turned on him and kicked
_ him in the teeth. |

Actually, the gods are not
to blame. The reason for Mr.
Clark’s unexpected kick in
the teeth can be summed up
in two words: Rene
Levesque. ;

The landslide victory of

Quebec’s separatist party |
four months ago confronted —

us, all at once, with the
possibility that Canada might
indeed come apart at the.
seams, unless someone acted
fast and firmly to stop the
rot.

Acting fast and firmly
against separatist rumblings
happens to be one of the
limited number of. political
acts at which Mr. Trudeau is.
extremely good. We have no
idea how good Mr. Clark
might be at the game, too,
because we haven't tried
him. But in a crisis like
separatism it may be a case

of better the devil you’ know
than the devil you don’t. —

That seems to have been
the thinking of the respon-
dents in the latest poll -- a.

handful of citizens chosen by’
‘a computer as being repre-

sentative of the country as a
whole. However tattered his _
record may be in other vital.

areas, they apparently decid- pushed aside by the colorful

ed in a hurry that Mr.
Trudeau was the only federa-
list with sufficient clout to
finish off Monsieur Levesque
and his Pequistes.

_ SNAP ELECTION?

As a ‘result of
sensational change in his
fortunes. there are now
increasing rumors that Mr.
Trudeau may. call a snap
election before midsummer

_in order, at the same time, to
‘slaughter Mr. Clark 2nd the

Conservatives «before they
can get off the ground.

Four months ago the
thought of going to the polls
this spring “made as much
sense to an Ottawa Liberal as
the idea of impaling himself
on a samurai sword. The best
hope for Mr. Trudeau and his
battered administration last
fall was to hang on through a
fourth. year and pray for a
miracle.

Monsieur Levesque oblig-
ingly provided the miracle 18
months ahead of time.

Supposing Mr. Trudeau --
purely on the strength of his
reputation as a Levesque-
basher -- does call a late
spring elelction and wins,

there is not going to be any

highway extending
Ambleside.”’

into

He described the Indian
study as ‘‘a starting point for
several
discussion and negotiation.’’

‘Such negotiations,’’ he
stressed, ‘‘must start now
and be vigorously pursued,
because decisions are need-
ed quickly for the orderly

planning of West Vancouver

and the North Shore."’

Among specific areas to be
discussed and _ negotiated

obvious areas of

with the Squamish Band
Mayor Jones listed:

-Overall land use, inelud-
ing density and traffic.

-Provision for mutually
acceptable modifications to
an dverall plan.

-Areas in perpetuity for
Indian cultural activities.

-Provision in perpetuity of
park, open public and rec-
reation space.

-Detailed and binding
agreements on taxes and
services.

More council news page 8.

this .

there will be quite a lot of
food for thought as we settle. -

down to yet another 50

months of Liberal rule.
NATIONAL UNITY

For a start, we’ll never
discover how good a Leves-
que-basher Mr. Clark him-

‘self might prove to ‘be, or
-how the Conservatives would

handle separatism and the
whole question of national
unity. You €an’t know
whether something works
until you try it out...

What we do know from
experience is that. Mr.
Trudeau’s own long-term
contributions to the national
unity in such fields as
bilingualism, biculturism
and federal-provincial con-

ferences have, thus far. been
something less than

etter’ =) Wwe SR ee. 2 aa

ling success. Is it ‘possible

that Mr. Clark is capable of

doing even worse?
Statistically .speaking, a

' fourth Trudeau election vic- .

tory at the present time
would be based on national

disunity = rather than the.

opposite.. His big gains in
last week’s Gallup Poll came
from Quebec and Ontario.

-Though he ‘also made some

progress in the Prairies, Joe
Clark still holds the west and
actually increased his popu-
larity in B.C.

Then there remain those

dark realities of 900,000 ©
‘jobless, inflation at over 6

per cent and
stagnation --_

_ economic
temporarily

separatist issue. Would Mr.
Trudeau and his colleagues

‘suddenly discover how to

wrestle them to the ground,

-along with Monsieur Leves-

que? Reading the dismal
monthly messages from Sta-
tistics Canada, one wonders.

ONE-PARTY STATE

The ‘most thought-provok-
ing aspect of a further
Liberal victory this spring,
however, -would be its
confirmation that Canada has
become -- to all intents and
purposes -- a one-party state.
lt would. mean that the

Liberals had run the country

for almost 40 out of the
previous 50 years; for 18
years in a row (1963-81) this
latest time round. Becoming,
in the process, no longer just
a.party but a permanent
habit of mind.

That’s a record unheard of
in other western democra-

cies. It’s one that even many -

one-party
might envy.

Maybe Joe Clark hasn’t
the answers, either. But at

dictatorships

least it might be fun to find .

out -- before we doze off for
another four years and
eventually awake to find we

. haven’t any option left.

*

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