Sunday evening’s -severe accident on
Taylor Way in West Vancouver, — when a
huge semi-trailer heading downhill to Marine
Drive lost its brakes — is a warning that
Highways Minister Alex Fraser would be
unwise to ignore.

The California-based rig, whose licence
had: reportedly expired, crushed one car,
critically ‘injuring its woman ¢gccupant, and
damaged several others — thoygh mercifully

with no other serious human c

runaway. trailers. on the. long hill
Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal which,. like
Taylor. . Way, comes under |
- Ministry jurisdiction. In response to’
from Mayor Derrick Humphreys the ministry
beefed'‘up warning signs and inspection
patrols.at the summit of the descent from the
Upper Levels.

Similar action by the ministry has now
become urgent at the top of Taylor Way —
the other major danger spot for runaways —_-
where there is so far only a small warning
notice and no stop-test-brakes enforcement
at all. Sunday’s crash demonstrated the grim
possibilities, especially if a heavy com-
mercial. vehicle should go out of control
during a peak traffic period. During the
morning rush hour on Taylor Way the
carnage could he orrific.

‘The’ responsibility for doing everything
possible to ensure that it doesn’t happen
again on either of West Van's two. steep.
hillside links from the Upper Levels lies
squarely with Mr. Fraser.

Enforcement measures similar to those
instituted at Horeshoe Bay should be put into
effect without delay on heavily travelled
Taylor Way. Even one disaster like that of
Sunday is one too many.

Soul saving

On a recent visit to the Vatican’s private |
garage Pope John Paul told thé Holy See's 40
chauffeurs that their cars deserved the same
loving care as the human soul. His Holiness
should consider visiting Detroit with the
same message.

A little more loving care in the design of
Pinto gas tanks and automatic transmissions

might help save the car-makers’ immortal
souls, too.

TR VOICE OF NORTH AnD WERY VANDOVVER

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_ but

OTTAWA. (SF): - A new

: technique © in stlling federal

governnient actions to. busi-
ness and fhe public is being
used with considerable suc-
cess by the Trudeau Cabinet,
it’s an extremely
dangerous game. It's akin to
political guerrilla warfare.
The major developing
issue in Canada involves the
conflict between “Alberta
Premier Peter Lougheed and
Prime Minister ~Pierre

‘The irrational urge that drives many a nice girl

Canadian Comment

BY PETER WARD

Trudeau, as manifested by
their respective energy
ministers, over an oil pricing
agreement, and the future
development of the Alberta
tar sagds oil deposits, - The

into the arms of a rascal — to her eventual sorrow

— may also be at the root of today’s widespread
public disillusionment with politicians.

“Charlie is so solid and
dependable,” says Nice Girl
about her rejected good guy.
“But Roger, with all his
faults, is more fun.”

It matters not that Roger
may routinely beat his
women before abandoning
them, or be destined for an
inevitable jail term.

Roger has “style” — a
quality with an irresistible
appeal to most women and
most voters. Charlie has no
style, though he may have
everything else.

Theo meaning of the word
used to be confined to a
person's manner of writing
or speaking — to female
fashions and the shape of
automobiles. But personal
“style” as we understand it in
1981 embraces much more:
a promise of excitement and
inspiration, seasoned with
the unexpected and
packaged in a certain aura of
mystery.

There isn’t much style of
this kind around among our
present-day political leadcrs
especially when com-

pared to the giants of
history.
TOO MANY CHARLIES

Sir John A. Macdonald,
who boasted that the voters
preferred him drunk to his
opponents sober, had real
atyle. So had = Lincoln,
Disracii, Laurier and Ltoyd

+

George,
way.

Style was the dominant
characteristic of Winston
Churchill, Franklin
Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy
and Charies De Gaulle.
Particularly De Gaulle, who
stayed home in great dignity
tending his garden until they
begged fim to return as head
of state.

Currently, Pierre Trudeau
(whatever clse one may
think of him) can hardly be
accused of lacking style.
Britain's Margaret Thatcher
has it. Ronald Reagan, if he
keeps his finger off the
button, may well prove to
have it.

But otherwise
decade has been chiefly
notable for a surfeit of
political Charlies — solid,
well-meaning characters
completely devoid of
political scx appeal. -

The Gerry Fords and
Jimmy Carters, the Bob
Stanfields and Joe Clarks,
the Bd Broadbents and Bill
Bennetts. Nice to

each in his own

have

around as brothers but
hardly the stuff of which
flaming love affairs aro
made.

Numerous of them — had
they been capable of
arousing a little more
passion in the clectorate —
might well have proved to
have been as strong on
substance as they are weak

the past -

tar sands, remember, con-
tain something in excess of
800 billion barrels of oil —
more than the entire oil pool
of the Middle East. It's
expensive oil to recover. It
costs $9 billion to build an
extraction plant which can
_ Produce 125,000 barrels
- daily of synthetic crude oil.

Construction price is
_ escalating daily, because of
inflation, yet Alberta won't
«give the green-light to
planned tar sands operations
‘until a pricing agreement on
oil generally is reached with
Ottawa.

In late fall a story came
out of Mr. Lougheed’s office
to the. effect that - federal
Energy Minister Marc
Lalonde had been asked at a
private. dinner what the
federal government would
do if Alberta persisted in
denying permission for tar
sands plant construction.
Lalonde, according to the
story, was dining with seven
or eight others, and so he
must have known that his
remarks would be passed
around.

His reply was reported to
be that if Alberta proved
stubborn, then Ottawa
would invoke the Petroleum

. by the federal government:

Administration Act, de¢
national interest, and
over jurisdiction of the t
sands from Alberta. .

Something that extrem
would be sufficient to indi
revait in Alberta. It migh
even mean the use of for

. The Lalonde remark
remember, may not ha
been made at all. The j
portant thing is that.
Premiere Lougheed’s offic
it is believed that Lalo
expressed those intenti
You won't find Loughe
office asking the fed

change took place, beca

there would be no point. Ti
Albertans would not beli
a federal denial.

It's possible, howev
that the Lalonde rema
actually were made, witho
the Minister in question hi
ing any intention of t
the action he said was po: i
ble. It could be, in othet
words, the political use:
scare tactics.

Remember when we were
all petrified over ..th
MacEachen budget, bef
it was produced? Leaked s
ries about the tax incre:
coming were horrifying.
the extreme. They made the
actual budget, when it was

son. Tactics, that’s what:
are secing. Danger
tactics.

Focus:

by
Noel Wright

on style. But love affairs,

political or personal, rarely —

stem from substance alone.
Its absence becomes a
problem only at a later date
— which explains today’s
growing public disen-
chantment with the political
process.

ASKING TOO MUCH?

Prime Minister Trudeau
first swept to power in 1968
by conquering the heart of
the electorate with
techniques similar to those
employed by Anthony on
Cleopatra. After 11 years the
relationship has produced no
substance at all. The west is
suing for divorce and only

short-lived
might, after all, have
a more worthy mate: ‘for:
Canada in these hard,
unromantic times.

But what use is that:
thought if you allow the)
media to photograph you!)
chewing apples and havin
your mouth wiped in public
A Churchill or De Gaull
would never have fallen in
such a trap. Donato’s photo#:
montage elsewhere on this
page shows that Mr. Clark’ ‘
image problem is by 10;
to ‘ti

means due solely
cartoonists.

Canada is not alone.
same sense of overall le
down by the body politi ;
exists today in other western;
democracies. Until we onc
again breed leaders Ww
possess style and substs
in equal quantities, it’s lik
to persist. *

On the other hand, ma
we're demanding too m
with our craving, politic
for great lovers who are
exomplary husbands. -.
problem of finding some (
who combines the virtyes&
Charlie with the oxcitéms
of Roger has plagued
girls aince the beginal
time, 4 “

Not to mention
voters. |