A6 - Wednesday, Jannary 26, 1983 - North Shore News Spirit of ‘67 In a jolting speech last week to North Van Chamber of Commerce one of Canada’s most articulate business spokesmen emphasized a root cause of our present troubles that many find it more comfortable to ignore. Bill Hamilton, president of the Employers Council of B.C., declared bluntly that Canada is “on the skids”, gradually falling farther behind other industrial nations. He cited thought-provoking figures — including the shocker that Canada’s BEST recent year (1977) for time lost by labor disputes was over 15 times worse than Sweden’s WORST year (also 1977). But even so, it was not our highly publicized labor-management con- that _he--+ated -as—-the main problem. Much more serious, Hamilton believes, is the continuing confrontation between labor and government, where trust and dialogue have virtually ceased at both federal and provincial levels. And he suggests that this reflects an equal lack of trust and dialogue between governments and the people of Canada as a whole — made worse by the political “fracturing” of federalism, with huge areas of the country represented by only one or the other of the two major national parties. He contrasts today’s soured relationships with the national consensus we were in- variably able to achieve on almost any issue up to the time of Canada’s Centennial, marked by Expo ’67. Hamilton sees a restoration of that spirit of 67 as the first vital step towards long term recovery. We think he’s right — and it’s a task that demands not only fresh leadership but also a conscious new effort by individual Canadians everywhere. No time to count? Development of the inexpensive quartz watch has now clogged the world’s warehouses with a plut of some 80 million unsold timepieces. It suggests they're better at electronics than arithmetic in Japan and Hong Kong. Surely someone there could have figured out just how many watches a person can wear ata time! Vota YUN OF TOOT APD WERT YAR OUVER ‘sunday news Display Advertising 980-0511 north shore 7 Classitied Advertising 986 6222 news Newsroom 985-2131 Circ ulation 986 1337 1139 Lonsdale Ave North Vancouver BC VIM 2H4 Publisher beter yqouce > Associate Publisher Hcotoest | Can ahi Editor-tn-