A4 - Sunday, November 11, 1984 - North Shore News

S

Strictly personal

by Bob Hunter

ODAY’S QUESTION is this: do we really
live in a conservative era? Ah yes, names like
Mulroney, Bennett, Thatcher, Reagan, etc.

come to mind.

On the surtace, it seems
obsious that we're notin the
midst of a tettist pienic.
Union membership is down

Except for Manitoba, there
are no NDP governments
lett But what does any ot

this mean?

1 once had a discussion
with historian Theodore
Roszak, the author of such
brietly epochal works as The
Muking of a Counter Culture
and Planet Person, in which
he pointed out that ‘‘eras”’
are shaky indexes at best, and
quite often total iusions He
had come within a whisker
himself of disbehesing that
there had ever really been a
Reftormation of 4
Renaissance

Another intellectual type |
know, a cultural an
thropologist named Terry
Simmons, tells me flatly that

the “Dark Ages” were a
misnomer. There were
pockets of peace, harmony

and relatively good govern
ment that made later eras
look gloomuer by far
Thinking about this, at oas
depressing to see how people
in this province appear to
have become habituated to
“Yeft° of ‘right?’ mindsets
Nowadays you can seldom
get a tational answer out of
anybody If you're with the

NDP, you must be in favor
of abortion and against pro-
fits df vou loathe Bennett.
you must be in tavor of tree
love oor busing back
MacMillan: Bloedel from
Noranda

‘*Nowadays you
can seldom get

rational answers
out of anyone.”’

The most absurd side ef-
fect of this is that halt the
people wall tell vou we dwell
in a Socred paradise, the
other half think thes’.e been
cast mto some kind of hell

Militant unionists can
holler all they want that BC.
has become a social bar-
renland somewhere between
Middle -arth and the land of
Oliver Twist, but measured
against any historical model,
that just ain't the case

In the bad old days (lhke
the Retormation.

the

dious labels

Renaissance, and yes, the
Dark Ages) the sufferings in-
fhicted on the school system
in B.C., tor instance, would
have seemed hkhe warm rain

Mark my words, Brian
Mulroney will be a fot more
liberal in office than Pierre

Trudeau ever was That
doesn't mean he'll go tor
cast-in-stone leftrst doctrine

(ft you don’t count Medicare,
unemployment insurance,
welfare, tamily allowance
and Crown corporations) but
it does mean he'll hesitate to
unleash the poste-Charter
equivalent oof the War
Measures Act

Reagan? Be charitable A
bit of deregulation here and
there It nothing else, it's do-
ing wonders fort S airlines,
inatypieally brutal but ettec-
tive Capitalist was

And if there as good reason
tO question the way the
wreckage of the Ma _ Bell
system has collapsed on the
little guy. and will soon do
the same thing here, it re
mains that all this stutt os
classical 19th Century laissez-
taire liberal vaptalist
economics, hardly
conservative

Neither Mulroney,
Reagan, Thatcher or even
Bennett dares, in a modern
industrial democracy, to do
much more than fiddle
around the edges of the
“safety net’’, certainly not
even hallucinating about
vanking it away

Council agendas

“SN VAN DIST. COUNCIE,
Tuesday 8 pm Revoning.
1826 Crown Street Solid
waste disposal Recte
ational vehicle park location
analysis North Store

Bourd oof
Ost sharing

{onion

Health
ag Eccemicil

AMBLESIDE HOBBIES & CRAFTS
1425 Marine Dr. West. Van

922-3512

open 6 days a week
9:30 -6.p.m.

Council indemnioes, pro
posed imcrease Papa oX6
Committee, Dastoct tundiuap

Land matters

N VAN CEEY COUNCHI
Tuesday 730 pm (ON RID re

proposed five veat compe

Fridays til9pm

Ce

Accident claims &

Personal injury law
(Free initial consultation)
Contact Michael J. Slater

Fox, Morgan, Slater & Phillips
Barristers & Solicitors

669-3441

14053-1166 Alberni Street, Vancouver, B.C V6E 3273

Wwe we a crtmelh ry

on you!

nent plan for regional parks
Zoning (Porthon Lot 12),
Shelter ¢
fonimng, Ports © anada prop
city

Crenstat orp
Telephone system con
tract award
"6d bast loth St

Poaamily suite,

WEST VAN COUNGCIE two
meeting this week

N VAN SCHOOL BOAKD
Noomecttitn this wook

WEST VAN SO MOOT
BOARD Nao ecetip this
week

WZ

\ reru
\ ye

14 nights from

carly im | 179 an ZA;

7

Mi

reeds travel

; South Park Royal

922-9301

TTT

When you look at the
world around you — at the
behavior of real people you
actually know — do you real-
ly see conservatism? Sure,
everybody wants a job. But
we uncritically accept radical
tech — everything from birth
control to computers, ar-
ufigial prolongation of life,
global travel, solar-powered
digital calculators,
Microwave ovens and
mopeds, holographics, space
shuttles, bisotechnology and
attempted communicauions
with alien races — as perfect-
ly ‘‘normal”’.

That's not conservative at
all As anera goes, this one is
ad lot trickier to pin down
than that. Good luck work-
ing on a utle Keep in mind
that labels are odious,
especially when they are a
substitute for looking at the
teal situation End of lecture.

FOR NV DISTRICT
ALDERMAN

RE-ELECT

Economist &
Marketing Analyst

y

forbade oo |

caffe otedat l.

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the

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10°) DISCOUNT :
TO SENIORS

1929 Lonsdale 980-5545

DON GRIFFITHS

| offer you my continued leadership to
maintain West Vancouver s life-style and
traditions | will hear your concems carefully. |

j wil respond to your needs promptly. and |

wil take actions that utilize your ideas thought
fully Together we can keep West Vancouver

the place we all love, respect and are proud to
call home

Re-Elect ALDERMAN

in WEST VANCOUVER

0,
Kirsch blinds

| local drapery fabrics
\ 30 0 oft

Off

|

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