Sunday, December 13, 1992 - North Shore News - 3 Tribunal | Maverick MLA pushes free- orders | enterprise coalition in B.C. Southam - pind 7 WV-Garibaldi MLA David Mitchell says political system must change to sell ; — 44 There’s always been a negative reaction from the Liberal party that David Mitchell is a threat and he has to be brought down to size.99 paper THE FEDERAL Com- petition Tribunal has ordered that Southam Inc. sell either the North Shore News or the Real Estate Weekly. IN THE 1960s he was known as Dr. Shmorg, the lead singer of the rock band The Shmorgs, which played venues around the Greater Vancouver area. Today, he is known as a maver- wick MLA who has fallen from grace with the B.C. Liberal party. But West Vancouver-Garibaldi MLA David Mitchell, who this week broke ranks with his Liberal colleagues by announcing that he was leaving the Libera! caucus to sit as an independent Liberal, believes there is room in Victoria for a fourth political party. In a lengthy interview with the News one day after he made his surprise. announcement in the Jegislature, Mitchell talked about a number of issues, including what he believes to be a smear cam- paign directed towards him by members of his own party. He also said North Van- couver-Lonsdale NDP MLA David Schreck was correct in say- ing the Opposition Liberais are considered ‘‘the laughing stock of the legislature’’ by the legislative press gallery. Mitchell said he was forced to leave the Liberal caucus because the party was preventing him from speaking out on behalf of his con- stituents. . The West Vancouver-Garibaldi MLA was criticized by his Liberal colleagues earlier this year when he campaigned for the Charlotie- town constitutional reform package, while Liberal leader Gordon Wilson and the party's caucus opposed the deal. That internal party confronta- tion resulted in Mitchell’s resign- By Michael Becker News Reporter + Southam Inc. publishes the Vancouver Sun and the Pro- vince and owns 63% of Lower Mainland Publishing Ltd. (LMPL), a_ holding company for 12 community newspapers, including the North Shore News, and 14 real estate papers in the Greater Vancouver area. Earlier this year an action brought " against Southam, LMPL and related companies by the federal Director of In- vestigation and Research, and the Bureau. of Competition Poiicy was found by the tri- bunal to have no merit. Lawyers for the Director of Investigation and Research had claimed that the newspa- per acquisitions by Southam in 1989 and 1990 resulted in a lessening of competition for retail newspaper advertising on the North Shore and in Vancouver. The director also had claimed that Southam’s ma- jority onwership of the Real Estate Weekly resulted in 2 substantial lessening of com- petition for resaie home advertising by Lower Mainland brokers. But while the tribunal re- jected the director’s main arguments, it concluded that the affiliation of the Real Estate Weekly and the North Shore News through LMPL was likely to cause a substan- ing as Liberal house leader. tial lessening of competition ft also began his alienation in the print real estate adver- from the pasty. tising market on the North Mitchell said on Tuesday that Shore. B.C. political parties must The office of the director, undergo ‘‘radical reforms’’ and which is appealing the tribu- that free votes should be held in nal’s, overall decision, pro- the legislature. posed that either the North “I don’t believe we want to go Shore News or the Real to the extreme of wanting to have Estate Weekly de sold to 78 individual members of the remedy the North Shore situ- legislature. That’s not going to ation. happen. But I think having in- Lawyers for Southam, dependent members of the however, proposed that the legislature is good. I think we ! North Shore News sell its real need individual voices in the estate section. legislature, because people don’t But the tribunal was not want their representatives to do By Surj Rattan News Reporter lutions. When we have a vote, the division beils ring throughout the legistative buildings and all the members come to the chambers. “Some are already in there debating. Members who come to the chamber and who haven’t been in the house, don’t know what they're voting on. So they come in and they ask the party whip: ‘Are we voting yes or no?’ The party whip might say yes and they vote yes and they don’t even know what they’re voting on,’’ said Mitcheli. “That’s how ridiculous our system is, Members just come in there and they follow the party line. They're not responsible legislators, and J’m embarrassed to say that I’ve participated in that system, and it’s wrong.” Since the start of the last pro- vincial election campaign, Mitchell has been touted as one of the bright lights of the Liberal party. Those cominents came from several people, including Premier Mike Hatcourt during a televised election campaign debate. Newspaper columnists also gave Mitchell high marks. Vancouver Sun columnist Denny Boyd even predicted that Mitchell would be premicr before he turned 50. Mitchell said those favorable reviews upset some members of NDP blasts Liberal attempt to drop Mitchell from committees He added that in ihe resulting media scrum, North Vancouver- Seymour Liberal MIJ.A Daniel Joarvis, the Liberai’s caucus chairman, claimed he (Schreck) “had agreed to or somehow authorized their (Liberals’) plot.’’ “That is not true. When Mit- NEWS photo Mike W. WEST VANCOUVER-Garibaldi Liberal MLA David Mitchell says B.C. needs a free-enterprise coalition political party to stop the NDP from winning a second term. . kind. I certainly never looked for that. “Those type of stories about me being a future leader have resur- faced from time to time, and there’s always been a negative reaction from the Liberal party that David Mitchell is a threat and he has to be brought down to size.”’ the Liberal party, who thought he was ready to launch a leadership revolt against Wilson and that he had to be stopped. “As soon as I started being touted as a future leader of some kind, people within the Liberal party started seeing me as a threat. A threat to (Liberal leader) Gordon Wilson, a threat of some THE OPPOSITION Liberals came under attack from West Vancouver-Garibaldi Liberal MLA David Mitchell and North Vancouver-Lonsdale NDP MLA David Schreck on Friday after the Liberals attempted to have Mitchell removed from two legislative standing committees. Mitchell said the attempt to satisfied that divestiture of the North Shore News homes section would effectively restore competition North Shore market. LMPL president Grippo said he is surprised by the latest twist in the legal “Very much believe the facts don’t support this decision,” ““What we argued was that the proper resolution tc the issue was to either sell the North Shore News homes sec- tion or we suggested a cor- ollary would be to sell the North Shore edition of the Real Estate Weekly. The decision may be ap- Meanwhile, the parties in- volved in the case have been asked to submit by Dec. 31 an order in accordance with - the tribunai’s decision to ef- fect a sale of one publication. anything but to represent them,” said Mitchell. . B.C., he’ said, needs a free- enterprise coalition party to stop the NDP from winning a second term. | He pointed out that 60% of British Columbians did not vote for the NDP in the last provincial election. The coalition, he said, would address that 60% of the voting population and could be made up of *‘Liberals, Social Crediters and other people who are like-minded, who believe that we have to return a free-enterprise bias to govern- ment. “But within that large coming together of interests, there might bea divergence of views ... and that’s OK,” said Mitchell. He said blincd adherence to par- ty lines undermines the ability of an MLA to represent his or her constituents. “In the legislature, we have votes every day on a number of issues, clauses and bills and reso- remove him from the committees was made on Thursday night, after he had left Victoria to return to his riding. This week Mitchell announced that he was leaving the Liberal caucus to sit as an independent Liberal MLA. Mitchell currently serves on two legistative committees: the parliamentary reform and eco- nomic development committees. On Thursday, after Mitchell had left Victoria, Liberal house leader Judi Tyabji introduced a motion to have a Liberal MLA replace Mitchell on the two stand- ing committees. But Tyabji’s motion was defeated after the governing NDP party, the Social Credit party and independent MLA - Peter Dueck opposed the motion. Only six Liberal MLAs voted in favor of Tyabji’s motion. “It was very inappropriate parliamentary behavior. It is because of this kind of petty, am- ateurish behavior that I feft the By Surj Rattan News Reporier Liberal caucus. I’m thankful the house didn’t let it happen,’’ Mit- chell said on Friday. After Mitchell left the Liberal caucus, Speaker Joan Sawicki moved him to the front benches of the Opposition legislative chamber, Beside Dueck. Mitchell said the move angered the Liberals who attempted to “blackmail’’ the legislature by announcing they intend to prolong the current legislative session until Christmas on debate over the government’s proposed new labor bill. Schreck said Liberal leader Gordon Wilson again issued that threat when Tyabji’s motion was defeated on Thursday. “We now have the threat that the legislature will sit for weeks in order to pay for not letting the Liberal caucus obtain vengeance against Miichell,’’ Schreck said Friday. chell left the Liberai caucus, Mr. Jarvis sent a note across the floor asking me to talk to him in the hallway. He asked me what I had told the North Shore News about Mitchell’s move. “I told him that the Liberals had embarrassed themseives,’’ said Schreck. He added that the Liberals are “‘desperate to use a haliway con- versation to justify their inappro- priate interference in the rights of a private independent member.” But on Friday, Jarvis said Mit- chell is no longer a member of the Liberal caucus and that the Liber- als are entitled to have three members on the legislative stand- ing committees. The Liberals, he said, had planned to replace Mitchell with him (Jarvis) and Liberal MLA Alan Warnke. On Thursday, Mitchell's riding executive voted to support his decision to leave the Liberal caucus.