_Ths North Shore Mews fs published try Horth Shore Froe Press Lid., Publisher Petor Sack, {rom 1139 Loasdale Avenve Herth Vaacoure, 4.6. WT aH PETER SPECK Publisher 985-2131 (101) * at ase Thavatay Renshaw Managing Editor . 985-2131 (136) q ,_ Distibulion Manage 988-1337 (124) peg” OK rade ‘ee oe , 106-2131 : SepeoTT 085-2191 (114); Andra NeCredia-Seorts/Commusity Editar 865-2331 (147) LETTERS 10 THE EXOR Letters must includa your name, full address & telephone number. VIA Internet: renshaw @ direct.ca COMPUTER 68S - $90-2027 User ID:mallbox Passwor-leters atatlan nesyapa el qahfed unde Seah Uh Paragraph 115 of the Excise Tax Act, is publishad each | Wegnes tay, Fexbzy and Sundey by North Shore Free Press Lat. fed distributed im every door on the North Shore. Canada Post Cenadinn Pubbcations Mail Seles Product Agreenert No. 07238, Maing acs wvaible on requos * Entire contents ) 1996 North: Shore Free Press Ltd.” “oy CURSED by drivers though it was from beginning to end, the $9 million Second Narrows Bridge upgrade project is a good example of government tapping the all- mighty power of financial incentive to pro- mote! efficiency. The project, which started June 6, finished Aug, 1, almest two weeks ahead of schedule. What's this? A government project complet- ed ahead of schedule. /How could this be? Simple, The company. overseeing the job, Peter * Kiewit and Sons, was inspired by a substan- ‘tial financial incentive to finish early. Never mind the daily abuse workers took on “the bridge from frustrated commuters, money talks louder than invective. The firm’s _ early- compiction bonus: $25, 000 for cach day prior to the Aug. 11. deadline. ! Because it was finished 10 days earlier, Peter Ref IS Preston Manning’s sudden dedication to political correctness about to destroy the ' Reform Party as an effective political force? When even once trusty lieutenants shy from cndorsing po Money moves | Kiewit and Sons pockets a coo! $250,000. On the other hand, for each day the project was delayed after Aug g. 15, the contractor would have been charged $109,000. The bridge project was a painful exercise in commuter frustration and transportation grid- lock. We learned that our North Shore traffic sys- . tem is a mere two lanes away from chaos at any given moment and that we have outgrown our ” two existing Burrard Inlet bridges. We need ¢ to rethink our whole transit system and our ela on the single-occupant vehi- cle. But it was also an enlightening exercise in. the government/private sector combining to complete a project quicker than expected. And it begs the question: Why not expand . such incentive throughout... government and straight to the heart of our ponderous public service bureaucracy? An incentive that would benefit us all, De without Ontario—let alone Quebec, where Reform’ s score is zero, So what can be done to stop Jean Chretien from still presiding i in a wheelchair at 99 over whatever is still left of Canada? Clearly the only answer is for Reform and Progressive Reform. _V3B 7)4 Derek &. “ Waddingham Plug into parents network Dear Editor: Iam writing on behalf of the Pen Parents of Canada support network. The network is for people | : who have experienced Prep / ’ nancy loss or the death of a’. 3 child or children. We. have.;recently lost: a ‘child and have found this . proup to be a tremendous. elp in dealing with our. grief. Pen Parents of Canada isa support network of grieving: families who provide | an opportunity for « bereaved parents and. grandparents to : F talk about their child or'chil- - dren . through ‘correspon-: dence with others in similar’ situations and. through a quarterly newsletter, ‘ Many have discovered that. : writing is a powerful, release of feelings. Sharing these ‘thoughts with someone who has: expe-. rienced the. “ultimaze.. tragedy” can be very healing: ’ This we have found to be : very true. Upon becoming a Pen. Parent, a list of parents who: have experienced similar loss~ es will be sent... Letters may be’ any parent’ on. the - lis addition to: various type : loss networks, there are con- tact lists for single: or divorced moms, sterile ™ or infertile parents. 3. >"> For more information please contact: Pen Parents of Canada ‘ a PO Box 52548 Ls RPO Coquitlam | Centre Coquitlam, BC; ° * Heathet lilman@foz.nstn.ca. Kingston, Ontario a What now has to 0 hap en is recogtition ‘by Manning and Charest of their common goal . and the impossibility of either teaching it alone in the upcoming fede work as one, or else stand guilt ,Canada's big electorate of small-c conserva- : tives-~ just as the latter were betrayed in B.C.’s May election because Liberal leader Gordon Campbell refused to ally his party with BC ral election. They must of betraying © their leader and when a much trumpeted “fresh start” finds the de facto 51-seat Commons opposition ‘drop- ping from 16% to 12% in the latest opinion poll — while Chretien’s Liberals continue to bum- ble aimlessly along at 57%—it’s a question that has to be asked with some urgency. Democracy needs an alternative government always ready to take over. With a 1997 federal election looming, Reform has current! istic hope of de cating the Grits on behalf of Canada’s smail-c conservatives —who have his- torically accounted for up to 45% of the popular . VOte. Reform remains concentrated in Alberta and B.C., and even there with some slippage (in B.C. the poll -gave Reform 19%, down from its 36% of the popular vote in 1993). Its sole Untario MP is considering whether to run again, and the party came bottom in the recent Hamilton by-election that returned Sheila -Copps to cabinet. You can’t aspire to 24 Sussex _ Aa no real-» Conservatives to make com- mon cause in a single political bloc. Both have rejected that so far—on both sides out of arrogant'pride. For Canada to have a future this must cease, whatever egos arc bruised in the process. Though reduced to two Commons seats, the PCs tied with Reformat 12% in the latest poll, giving the combination a respectable 24% on which to build. PC leader Jean Charest com- mands respect coast to coast. And his party, despite its recent misfortunes, still represents the legacy —aot lightly to be trashed—of nation-building Sir John A. Macdonald. Canadian voters who humbled the - Campbelf-Mulroney Tories in 1993 were not about to abandon Canada’s 126-year-old Conservative tradition. They were simply rap- ping its then wayward incumbents sharply on the knuckles. Meanwhile, major policy differ- ences between Manning’s “fresh start” Reform Party and today’s PCs are virtually non- ~existent. ’ ‘ship. Charest has charisma, Quebec and, history ” on his side, Manning has excellent organiza-. tional gifts. They can make a powerful Partner Finally, the coalition will need a new name— both the exi:.ing ones being a tad-shopsoiled.I suggest 4 name that says it.all, while preserving both proud pedigrees: THE REFORMED C ONSERVATIVE PARTY. You’re very welcome, Preston aud Jean. But to save Canada as well as your own political. hides, for heaven’s sake get moving —(ike °: TODAY! : 900 MANY HAPPY retarns of today, Aug.7 7, to 5 West - Van Kiwanian Hank McAdams..... More of ‘the : same Friday, Aug. 9 to West Van Legionnaire: Jim’ Irvine. ; : /. QQ Q : , WRIGHT OR WRONG: Happy. married cou ples are those who decide it was the best mistake : ; they ever made.