. 6 ~ Wednesday, April 18, 1990 - North Shore News WASTING COMMIES.... ANY OTHER KIS? TTL: reer Hert aire a 2, Yy yy Wy; wo oS Sikh solution HE AIRING of North Van- couver District Ald. Ernie Crist’s views on the controversial issue of Sikh RCMP officers wearing turbans is more ar airing of political hot air than anything else. His April 9 motiow that North Van- couver District Council oppese the change in the RCMP uniform code to accommodate Sikhs wearing turbans came almost 2 month after Solicitor- General Pierre Cadieux announced the change, and jong after the dust had set- tied on the controversial decision. The turban decision, as Mayor Marilyn Baker poinied out, is already a fait accompli. Crist’s motion, which passed by a 4-3 margin, remains largely symbolic. As to the actual content of the motion, Crist said the RCMP uniform should be changed only for reasons of fashion, safety or practicality, not as a result of a request from a religious minority. But it is hardly just that we would condone changing the uniform according to the dictates of fashion but not to en- courage the entry of an = wunder- represented religious minority into RCMP ranks. And Baker’s criticism of the federal government for mixing religion with pol- itics is a red herring. The intertwining of church and state is a long-standing tradition the Canadian government is unlikely to change. Without two days of statutory holidays, how else would Christians celebrate Easter? Ban burning forever Open letter to West Vancouver Council: While we are encouraged by Ald. Reynolds and Ald. Danyliu’s intent to bzn outdoor burning immediately, and Ald. Sager's in- tent to ban outdoor burning of leaves immediately, and while we understand the proposed “permit system’’ bylaw is a step in the right direction, we ask our whole coun- cil to take the final step to ban outdoor burning of garden materi- al in West Vancouver immediately. Surely by now council should be unwilling to accept both the long- and short-term health risks to our community and surrounding communities, the embarrassment to our community and the en- vironmental degradation that the burning of this valuable material incurs. We would encourage this council to act responsibly and immediately upon the positive alternatives of chipping and mulching. Worldwide Home Environmen- talists’» Network (WHEN) has submitted two detailed accounts of these alternatives (re: Feb. 4 sub- mission of Lucinda Jones concern- ing San Jose, California, Office of Environmental Management), WHEN would be happy to assist staff and council, and we have been invited by Kevin Pike to meet with him and Eric Lees in drafting a community chipping/mulching/ composting program. Our council has the opportunity to ‘join with other responsible community leaders who, in this critical decade, have acted in an environmentally sound way with the knowledge that we no longer have the time nor the right to delay our decisions to protect the air and land for our children’s future. We congratulate Ald. Reynolds for her active interest in contacting us and attending WHEN’s open meeting March 21 ac the YMCA to hear our guest speaker discuss community mulching and com- posting. Her interest, like ours, is in expending our efforts on putting the alternatives into effect im- mediately. Rather than debating a bylaw which signals the redundancy of an unacceptable, irresponsible and outdated practice we urge council to work with us NOW toward the positive alternatives. Sue Cameron and all the directors of WHEN Publisher . Wednesday. Friday and Sunday Press Lid and distubuted to Shore Second Class Mait Subscriptions Nail and We Maing rates avaraple on welcome pul we cannot accep! unsokcited matenal including ma which shoule fe accompanied Sy ¢ unvelope Peter Speck Managing Editor Timothy Renshaw THE VOU OF OHTA AND WEST VANCOUVER Associate Editor Noel Wright pesroom ope any Advertising Director Linda Stewart bere rer nr reyes Subscriptions 986-1337 North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an indepencent : “ Fan 985-2227 suburban ~ wspaper ang qualihed unger Schedule 11t 1139 Lonsdale Avenue. Paragraph al ol the Excise fae Act. is published cacn North Vancouver, BC MEMBER ViM 2H4 §9,170 :average. Wednesday Friday & Sunday) a SDA DWVISION Display Advertising Class:itied Advertsing North Shore ovsned and managed 980-0511 986-6222 Entire contents < Le 1980 North Shore Free Press Lid. All rights reserved. High time the rubes to visit out west! A QUICK trip to Toronto to see a trio of grandchildren helps a lot to clarify a British Columbian’s thoughts on Senate Reform. By and large Torontonians treat visiting rubes with a kindly toler- ance. ‘‘Hear Vancouver had a coupla days snow this winter!"’ quips the bell captain, as fakes descend from a grey April sky. ‘*How’s that funny premier of yours, Van what's-his-name, doing these days?” asks the barber, pro- ud of his political smarts. ‘‘f had an uncle who retired in B.C.,”" says the fricadly store clerk. ‘‘Just died out tuere.** Her voice implies that uncle got exactly what he deserved for his recklessness. Travel between Toronto and the wild west still seems to be largely a one-way street. Most westerners visit Ontario’s sprawling metropo- lis of 3.5 million souls more than once in a lifetime. But few Toron- tonians appear to return the com- pliment — heading, instead, to Florida in winter and the Georgian Bay cottage in summer. As a result, the B.C. visitor often feels like E.T. trying to explain his dis- tant planet to Earthlings. It’s clear that for most Toron- tonians the real Canada ends at #enora, Which would be perfectly hormiless, of course — evena quaintly attractive quirk in the tourism sense — apart from two factors. Firstly, Canada’s widely varying regional needs. Secondly, the polit- ical control exercised by Ontario and its Toronto powerhouse — plus Quebec — over the economies of the western boondocks, which rank low on their priority list. B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba elect 29 per cent of Canada’s 295 MPs. Ontario and Quebec elect 59 per cent. That’s fair on a repre- sentation-by-population basis. But it doesn’t WORK fairly in this geographically vast country whose sharply differing regions can’t ever be treated as a single economic unit. Senate reform is the only way to give the four western provinces — along with their four Atlantic sisters — the additional political clout needed to counteract central Canada’s current domination of national economic policy. £ ull SENATOR Perrault. ...Meech on the menu. MULRONEY ...Senate reform or survival, ideatly. rhe reform would mean an equal number of Senate seats for each province, whether Ontario or P.E.i.: it would mean Senators elected in their own provinces, net appointed by the prime minister of the day: and it would give the Senate wider powers to amend or kill Commons bills, as well as to initiate tegistation of its own. Which means, alas, that you can never Jook for Ontario and Quebec — with 46 rer cent of Senate seats in addition co their 59 per cent in the Commons — to support reform. Let alone Brian Mulroney, whose own slim hopes of survival are pinned on central Canada’s vote, even though an ‘‘equal, elected, effective’ Senate could do far more iasting good for national unity than nis fatally flawed Meech Accord. Especially if it inspired more Torontonians to venture out to Vancouver and start getting to know us rubes who inhabit half the country on our own turf! eke WRAP-UP: Meech is the main course at tomorrow’s (Thursday) lunch meeting of North Van Chamber of Commerce in ite North Shore Winter Club — where North Van’s very own Senator Ray Perrault wil! regale members and guests with his thoughts on the present mess ... For lighter relief try Saturday’s (April 21) com- munity dinner dance and enter- tainment at Eagle Harbour Yacht Club — tickets ($40 per couple) via 922-1575 ... Welcome aboard Park Royal's new manager Gail Spurgeon who succeeds recently retired Hugh Addison ... And from the Better Late Dept., con- grats to new North Van members of the “‘Ruby Club’ Dick and Peggy Pitt-Brooke — who cele- brated their 40th anniversary Sun- day, April 15. ke WRIGHT OR WRONG: A bee can never be an eagle. On the other hand, an eagle is useless at making honey. .