6 — Sunday, July 11, 1999 - North Shore News A bridge too C tie-ups from North Vancouver’s two Second Narrows Bridge interchanges are an expensive waste of time and gas. Everybody agrees something needs to be done, but nobody has agreed on what. In November, North Vancouver District residents will vote on whether to authorize the municipality to bor- row the funds to build a new two-lane bridge over the Seymour River adja- cent to the existing Dollarton bridge. The cost of turning the present bottle- neck into two lanes each way is $6 mil- lion, although council may choose to borrow less than the full amount. Doubling tke width of the ‘Dollarton crossing has been in the cards since council went into a back room with Canadian Occidental Petroleum about seven years ago and north shore news VIEWPOINT came out with an agreement om sharing, the costs of realigning and widening Dollarton Highway to service lands owned by CanOxy. But that agreement stopped short of the bridge over the Seymour — leaving a four-lane highway to funnel into a two-lane bridge. Council is now willing to correct the situation — if enough voters say they like the idea — but it will be too late to start work on the new bridge, never mind finish it, before commuters lengthen our traffic tie-ups when avoiding Lions Gate Bridge upgrade work next year. Seymour residents’ best hope for some immediate relief is a plan to meld the Dollarton and Main Street on- ramps — a plan with a $1.5 million price tag that has yet to win Victoria’s approval. | WONDER WHAT WE CAN DOTO PREVENT you said it ' “How do you know it’s an election year? So far we've heard calls for the (chewing) gum police, the bus stop police and now the newspaper box police.” . North Vancouver City Coun. Bob Fearnley, en coun- cil debate over new restrictions governing newspaper vending boxes in the municipality. (From a July 7 News story.) 7 Qaag “Jt’s a convenient way to get rid of a car.” Steve Street of the Kidney Foundation, on the organi- zation’s Kidney Car Program, which takes donations of old cars to raise moncy for people suffering from kidney disorders. (From a July 9 News Auto story.) "Jt gives a different kind of ambience in the city. Part of what you want to do is sit down on a bench - with a smokey.” -> 1) “North Vancouver City Coun. Barbara Sharp, on the value of street vendors selling hot dogs. (From a July 7 NG aoe . eR et ; ‘90Q . .4We've got more food services and more restau- “rants; I think these peopie will be more of a nuisance “than anything, I certainly don’t fee! it’s apprepriate ‘in the city as I see it.” : , . . North Vancouver City Mayor Jack Loucks, not quite “so enthusiastic about the value of those same street ven- |. dors. (From tise same July 3 News story.) “This. will not solve. the traffic problem, it will xacerbate existing problems. We. will merely move bottlenecks.” : ov: North Vancouver District Coun. Ernie Crist, opposing '.aldistrict plan to build 2 new bridge over the Seymour River adjacent to the existing Dollarton bridge. (From a July? News story.) a, ; ‘f : : gQaQq - ; “That's why we tcll kids it’s called dope.” . ; North Vancoaver:RCMP Const. Tom Seaman, after a Jorth Vancouver man dropped off a photo film canister jor. developing that contained marijuana instedd of film. (From a July.9 News story.) jnorth shore. af : ° North Store News, founded in 1969-25 an independent suburban newspaper and quatfied under Schedule 111. Paragraph 111 of tha Excise Tax Act, s pubtisted each Wednesday, Friday and Sunday by North Shore Free Press Utd. and disoibuted to every door on the Nosth ‘Shore. Canada Pest Canadian Publications Mail + Sales Product Agreement No. 0067238. Mailing rates available on request. ¥ CiveRciismaes Barbara Emo Distribution Manager 986-1337 (125) Creative Services Director 905-2181 1127} - 61,582 {average circulation, Wednesday, Fri¢ay % Sunday) Tho Worth Shore News is published by Horth Shore Free Pr Taming the judges now an urgency LAST Wednesday this column asked: “Who’s in charge: MPs or judges?” The media have now brought us Jean Chretien’s answer: “The judges — and me. So kindly shut up!” My own question had been sparked by the recent B.C, Appeal Court confirmation of the acquitzal earlier this year of John Robin Sharpe on charges of possessing pornographic photos of young chil- dren. The original trial judge ruled that to convict for mere possession of such kiddy-porn would violate Sharpe’s Charter Right to privacy. In its majority decision the B.C. Appeal Court agreed -- though judging by public reaction, few ordinary Canadians did. So what we now have are laws with the clearest possible intent (e.g., the law against. kiddy-porn) passed by our elected representatives. But — uniquely in Canada — we also have two other things that are increasingly flouting the intent of our elected lawmakers. First, the badly flawed Charter of Rights and Freedoms -— the so-called supreme law of the constitution — writ- ten in such broad general terms that skilled legal word-twisters can intrepret it in relation to more precisely worded laws (over which it takes precedence) to mean anything they wish. EVER SPECI ‘ Publisher aman Resources Manager 985-2131 (191) 905-2181 (177) Torrg Peters Photography Manager 985-2131 (160) ere ea sae es eyes Anveressoreareeneveseseosedoosssesasssersoeass : aS ' Classified Manager 986-6222 (2021 Entire contents @ 1999 North Shore Free Press Ltd. Alt rights reserved. ess td., Publisher Petar Spock, from 1139 Second, non-elected, non-accountable judges appointed solely, exclusively and privately by the four-year dictator whom, in Canada, we call the prime minister ... Increasingly over recent years, there- fore, such judges (notably the nine on the Supreme Court) whose job should be simply to administer the laws enacted by Parliament are becom- ing lawmakers them- selves. This they achieve by running every law by the Charter — with its very broadly defined “rights” and complete’ absence of any balancing responsibilities — and deciding in more and more cases that the law and its clected creators must therefore be wrong in terms of the Charter. . But could the judges sometimes be wrong becausc of personal prejudices? Do - the electors whose laws they are entrusted with administering have a night to know of any such personal prejudices? That was the question considered recently by the Institute for Research on Public Policy, a non-partisan think tank. In a report released last week it slammed: the pres.nt system of Supreme Court judges appointed solely by the prime - minister as “shrouded in vagueness, | unsubstantiated rumour ani : incompatible with a modern federal. democratic constinution governed by the rule of law.” _ The report calls for public input and . « gossip [and] ° parliamentary participation in choosing Supreme Court judges because today they “exercise 8 power as great as that of the federal cabinet.” It proposes a nomi- nating committee to present the PM with a short-list of candidates for vacancies as they arise, plas a parliamentary confirma- tion procedure similar to the Senate con- firmation hearings in the U.S. Surprise, surprise — Prime Minister Chretien is solidly opposed to such non- sense! “It would limit the choice of excel- {ent candidates,” he wrote last year in the Canadian Bar Association magazine, “as many would not want to undergo the ordeal of public and partisan-motivated attacks.” oe Nonsense, says the IRPP report |... -°- ; author Jacob Zicgel, professor emeritus at. the University of Toronto, politely. .°-.. Noting that potential judges should : undergo public review because their views: and values influence the lives of 211 a Canadians, “it is critical,” he writes, “vo inject a democratic and balancing note in the appointing process.” Oe .._Ifthat makes sense to you =~ and if you dislike kiddy-porn droolers escapiz, scot-free — go twist your MP’s arm, : especially if a Grit ‘Tell him/her that . judges are YOUR business, rot just “Chretien’s, a - row, July 12, to Holland’s gift to West “Van, birthday ‘gal “Jackie”. Van, binhday et“. WRIGHT OR WRONG: How come we drive on parkways and patk ondrive Wayst i LETTERS 0 THE EDITOR Letters must include your name, full address & telephone number. Managing Editor 985-2131 (116) David Dispiay Advertising Manager 888-051 (317) VIA e-mail trenshaw @ direct.ca_ Genesat Office Manages + 985-0151 (105). Display & Roal Eststs Pax: 905-1495: | - eee enaroom Far 98508 | * “& Rain Gtites Fax. 86 ant ‘ichsel Beckar - Neves Editar ORS-Z13T 114) 2