To YOU always knew it, of course, but ~ the fact is that I spend most of my time in a mist of mystification. Nothing makes any sense. In Hine with that confession, here's a ques- tion for you, What would the reaction be if we still had a Socred government headed by Bill Vander Zalm and he appointed a former “neo-Nazi” as his communications director? .. The top would blow off the legislarure and the media would have a ball. So why is there no fuss about Premier Glen Clark’s having, appointed a dycd-in-the-wool former commu- nist as his communications director? The only reference to it that I’ve seen has been in BC. Repore magazine. -... The fellow in question is Geoff Meggs, .who.according to the magazine was for 10 "years a full-blown, die-hard communist. No one seems to mind. The opposition = Liberals haven’t made anything of it and “political scientist” Norman Ruff over in Victoria writes it off as being of no impor- "; tance... ; 7A few others see it ‘differently. Professor “John Redkop of Trinity Western University was $ quoted as saying: lerance pate aNaPASN GP enc ONN W RECS ABA SNE eT: ECL? or left “What if Meges had been an ex-Nazi? Yet there is virtu- ally no difference between Communism and Nazis:n. They were both brutal dicta- torships, indistinguishable trom the inside of an SS camp or the Gulag, And at least three times as many people died by Communist hands in the Soviet Union and China as ever the Nazis killed.” Another prominent acade- mic, Arnold Beichmann, said that to be a communist you have to accept the whole edi- fice of lies and then you have to repeat them. “Surely that’s relevant to being, the pre- mier’s communications director?” he asked. Apparently not. There’s a tolerance toward the left that is absent where the opposite end of the political spectrum is concerned. Think of all the fuss that’s made about people in the Reform Party. Smears are hand- ed out routinely. Sheila Copps, the loudest mouth in the country, is always Screaming about Relorm’s “racism.” Which may be why Preston Manning tosses out anyone who by liberal standards is “extreme.” other band nystifies On the left, in fashion. Isn*t Maureen Maloney an extremist? She is certainly a raging socialist, yet was appointed as a deputy minister in the provincial attorney gen- eral’s department, When she was an academic she wrote a paper called “The Case for Wealth Taxation” in which she showed that her dearest wish was for more and “extremists” are on the bigger taxes. One of her beliefs, as I recall, is that it is wrong for people to leave their houses to their children. They haven’t done anything to earn them and therefore shouldn't have them, B.C. Report pointed out that the same paper thanked Andrew Petter for his help i in putting her material together. Now he’s our finance minister, And they are living common ay, All in the family, sort of thing. Truth is that the Clark regime is every bit as screwy as the Rae regime was in Ontario and includes the same overdose of social Marxism. “Human rights” are a big item on the. ridge project worthy expenditure menu. So are affirmative action, anti-free speech measures and lots of other jollies. An indication of the way they think was provided by Commissar Clark ar the recent AIDS Circus in Vancouver. “Nothing, absolutely nothing, would have kept me away from here today,” he was quet- ed as saying. Of course not. Lots of the people he likes were there. Leftists are also popular in the universities. It didn’t take Simon Fraser University more than five minutes to approve a job in women’s studies for Sunera Thobani, the leftist “woman of color” who recently quit the National Action Council on the Status of Women. A minor example is David Lethbridge, the Okanagan College prof who didn’t have the spine to debate me on Bill 33 — and on his antics in “encouraging” hotels to deny accom- modation to speakers he doesn’t like. T have bim on tape stating that he i isa Communist. T had guessed as much. You can usually . tell. Every third word they use is “fascist” or. “neo-Nazi.” Maybe Glen cai find a job for him, teo. — The North Shore News believes strongly i in. freedom of speech and tie right of ail sides in a debate to be heard. The columnists published in’ the News present differing points of view, bur.” those views are not necessarily those of the.ne paper itself. From an economic per- spective, one of the funda- mental reasons for having government is to provide certain services which soci- ety needs, but which the free . market (ic. private enter- prise) will not — provide enough of because they, are not profitable enough. . The road and highway system, which generally costs: roughly three times’ more ro maintain and build than the revenue raised from tolls and fuel taxes, is one of the text. book examples of such ser-- vices. é Tn other’ words, the fact that no ‘private company: would (or could) take on this job is precisely the rea- son why the government should be doing it. Stephen Finlay -. North Vancouver ; Sfinkay@ popserver.sfu.ca teported i in the press earlier ' this summer. Kost writes as if the alter- native to these bridge repairs is to'do nothing and spend no money, which is certainly incorrect. Tf that. alternative were put into practice, the largest cost. impact would be the expenses incurred by allow- ing the bridge to fal} into Burrard Inlet under a full load of traffic. Even if these turned out to be less than $50 million, it is unlikely that such a pol- @ the cost. of building: an ‘icy would receive widespread entirely new. bridge; at a public support. much earlierdate. | / Finally, Kost. states that, “As. was stated. from the “no private company would: - outset: by the Ministry of - conduct business this way.” Transportation. ©.) and Many people have aimed Highways (MoTH)},. these this so-called criticism at ‘structural repairs will. make — government projects of this the bridge last loniger.. type, but that doesn’t make “In other words,‘the alter- it right. ‘ native to paying now is pay- ing a lot more later. . MoTH has fo doubr esti- - mated these cits. T do not know the’results, but they may have been However, the only way to evaluate whether repairing the bridge is the right course : _ of action is'to compare this cost to the cost of alternative ’ courses of action. o- Tf the. current” repairs were not done, the cost impact’ would include at least:. @ higher annual mainte- “mance costs .to” perform increasingly frequent “band- / aid” repairs when ‘pieces of ‘the road fall-out (including personal time lost duc t0 the | resulting delays), Dear Editor: _ Re: application for development of ofa ‘ot at 238 Fell 1 am writing to express my concern tegarding the'ab proposal for. development. Mosquito Creek should be’ pra:: tected from actions that would’ harm’ its’well-being. “The. current 15 metre ‘protected buffer’ zone _banks in North Vancouver City is ‘the absvlure minimum from a common-sense point of view and this ar least should not be violated. : . "Can the city “department explain why it is, “considering : such an application for building When there are man _ premises on the North Shore. New buildings are up for lease in the 1000 bl 3rd Street (in North Vancouver District), or the building at 900 Marine Drive partly used by Rogers Video was once pact occupied by a martial arts school ‘and that part is now: vacant I Believe. Car parking ‘i is ample round, both, the areas, Can’t the concept of making do with existing pr rather than irrevocably destroying existing crecks be i duced to the owner of the martial arts school? : Carsline Mahoncy North Vancouver July, 24 North: Shore News is.a perfect example of calcu-. lating, numbers.” accurately 1d ye ned While. com-., pletely... lecting ».° the: which jthe .num- million, Relading lost “per- / al: time — not, an ‘unrea; “ Dr. Christine Collison | is pleased to announce the relocation of her family dental practice. 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