~ Wednesday, October 6, 1993 - North Shore News

A fe

Pieter

STRICTLY PERSONAL

THIS IS an election in
which none of the great
issues are being addressed.
It is the emptiest, most

- mundane federal election I
can ever remember,

It’s as though the Canadian -
mass mind has suddenly flatlined,
or our politicians have al! devel-
oped myopia, a condition where
all you can see are the small
things, close up.

Somehow, the election is being
fought entirely on incredibiy

‘ unimportant red herring issues,
like the deficit, social services,
7 funding, handouts, taxes.

At is the actuaries and accoun-
tants who have taken over, not the
lawyers, after all. ‘ }

«Everything has been trivialized
-as it sometimes happens in fami-
lies where people have been:argu-
. ing for so long that they are.

_ arguing by now about the‘argu-
ments themselves, not about any
original issue.
~ ‘Our leaders are all éiying to
~ look like they know what to do::
Cut here. Suck blood there. Am-

putate. Incinerate;‘Downsize.._

By retreating to Keynesian eco-
nomics, which calls for priming

_ the pump with government“ ie
“money, the Liberals are, in fact,
putting forward an interventionist
_ platform. .

"But by promising to tritn fat,

and cut out idiotic schemes like

the EH-101 helicopter scam, ‘they

‘present it as part of some kind of
: miraculously balanced, budget,

leading to a gradual reduction of

the deficit anyway.

“It’s like everyone has to
genuflect as they go by any sym-
bol of the deficit. Ah yes, the
deficit. Yes, slash, slash.

This time around, there isn’t
even your basic left-right clash of
ideas to stimulate the political

. thinker.

“With the NDP so far down you
can hardly see them, the conflict is
between various versions of con-

-servatism. .;

Jean Chretien is a Tory, Kim
Campbell is a bluer Tory.

But never mind the left-right
debate. What has happened to the
environmental debate?

The environment isn’t
noticeably in any better shape now
than it was four years ago, when
Brian Mulroney promised a
massive cleanup.

The vaunted Green Plan was
hacked down from $7 billion to $3
billion, less than half of which has
been used.

Centipedal foot-dragging has

zen the order of the day under a
succession of Tory environment
‘ministers, the most recent, and

_ dismal, of whom was Jean
Charest.

According to Elizabeth May of
the Sierra Club, Kim Campbell
has such a bad track record on
environment that May finds
herself ‘‘nostalgic’’ for Mulroney.

Bad as he was, he was great
compared with Kim, whose nur-
turing instincts appear to be zero.

She endorses clearcutting,
displays no grasp of global
ecological issues, is a friend of

_ drugs.

megaprojects, big industry,
multinationals, the usual cabal of
businessmen, bureaucrats and
bankers.

OK, so, awful as the Tories
have been as environmental
stewards, what are the alter-
natives?

Even if it rated big enough any
longer to be much of a factor, the
NDP has squandered its en-
vironmental credibility at the pro-
vincial level over the last couple of
years, and McLaughlin never
showed very much sympathy for
animals anyway.

The Grits have Paul Martin Jr.,
a whiz-kid on eco-stuff, but with
the polls indicating an electorate
that appears to be brain-dead
about the environment, Chretien
gets away with being brain-dead
himself. ;

With left-wing concerns, i.e. the
poor, and the environment having
been buried alive as fit subjects
for debate. are we Canadians be-
ing confronted with choices over

‘gut issues, then? Like, abortion.

Or the decriminalization of soft

How about the endless conflict
with the native people? If Israel
and the Palestinians can sign a
peace accord, and South Africa
can get this close to democracy,
surely a giant country like Canada
can get, around to recognizing the

leral election without

hundreds of small nations within
its boundaries that were never
smothered by the weight of oc-
cupation.

But that would have substance
and meaning, and that's not the
flavor of the month in this zom-
bie-walk of an election.

So. No debate about natives,

environment, the poor (except, of

course, how many to kick out on
the street), no fundamental clash
of political visions.

Except, of course, in Quebec.

But even there, so what? Whether
Quebec walks away from Canada
or not, the ozone layer will con-
tinue to be depleted, and global
warming will intensify, and the
weather and climate will start to
go crazy because we cannot
achieve even a few simple policy
objectives, like cutting back on the
use of greenhouse gas-causing

fuels.
Deficit-smeficit! We should be

talking about how to survive in
the midst of biomass crashes, or

leart or

SOU

at least talking about euthanasia,
factory farming, the death penal-
ty, something, anything, that
would touch a nerve, so that I
could get a feeling. So far, there’s
no feeling at all.

It's all number-crunching. Even
Lucien Bouchard presents his case
like an insurance salesman. An
election without soul or even
heart, just degrees of
heartlessness.

Order your fresh Turkeys for
Thanksgiving now... oo

North Shore Quality Meats will be epen |
on Sunday and Thanksgiving Day.

NORTH SHORE QUALITY MEATS
1406 Lonsdale Ave., N. Van.

985-2412 ©

LYNN. VALLEY MEATS

1243 Ross Rd., N. Van.

OLD AND VISIONARY LEADER -

A GANADI

AN TO WATCH

MacLean’s Magazine

% Twenty year resident of

the North Shore

Married with two children

Partner, Dohm & Jaffer

Law Firm

Owner of a smail
business

Girl Guide and Boy Scout |
leader, North Vancouver |

Canadian Panel and

Chair of B.C. Task Force

on Violence Against
Women

& Member of Lions Gate

Hospital Moms’
Campaign

#% Chaired committee to
; establish North Shore

Liberal Women’s Comm.
Scholarship at Capilano

College

=

ts

Recipient Distinguished
Citizen Award for the
District of North
Vancouver

Recipient of YWCA
Women of Distinction
Award. ,

Recipient of 125 Medal
awarded by Prime :
Minister for Community
Service

Recipient of Dr. William
Black Award

Recipient of Canadian
High Achiever’s Outreach
Award from AKC of B.C.

“It is time for a new approach to governing. The Canadian government must listen to the
Canadian people and respond to their needs. It is only by abandoning the old, elitist
approach to governing and by involving Canadians in their government that we can

strengthen our economy and regain our
traditional sense of security and

confidence in Canada.”

ON MONDAY, OCT. 25TH, ELECT

jj