RIDDLE Me THIS! WHAT AAS 177 SEATS AND WEARS « ONLY ONE PAIR oF PANTS? “OW You, DIVINE > _AND OMNIPOTENT LIDERAL LEADER, 5 tate he Scag NYT TOR SEY RRA Pak eT AUS Ed SAMLELSE CADRE ANB A PLS APR RATS SINTRA ME EAB DRA RSID 3 SSD AW ARISE MT BRT UC 7 Sd LANL ASAE A A MEANWHILE BEHIND CAUCUS DOORS, THE FIENDISH CHRETIEN ON- Ti NueS % RAN AWAY THE couective 1@ OF His LOYAL MPS : READER, LANGUAGE of ‘moderation i is inadequate to. “express my anger at the.” - insolent actions of the |. British: ‘Columbia govern-: : ment in the: latest chapter of ‘the Nanaimo Commonwealth Holding _ ; Society saga. we This i isa ‘total outrage against the citizens of B.C.and against - , honorable public conduct. : ‘The sordid story of the NCHS ° “has been dragging on for three” > years. «The New Democratic Party: ‘linked society, once largely con-’ trolled by. former, provincial: NDP ‘cabinet minister and former mem- ‘ber ‘of Parliament Dave Stupich, and some allied sccieties were con- ° ‘‘ sumably against New Democrats, “victed in a scheme, of kickbacks - je money Went’ remains a mystery. “* Stupich unashamedly made it : clear years ago that the rationale of ‘the NCHS was to serve the'NDP’s “political ‘goals. i The recent ‘developments i in this long-running scandal have further ’ dragged down NDP reputations like ‘dinosaurs into a tar pit. ; . After NCHS’s conviction, foren- sic auditor Ron Parks was appoint- ed to go through the records and’ PRES We BS Rie BO: oy way’ * TOP THE presses: good sense has issued forth from Victoria. And with it a step toward helping bicycle: riders. protect their single most vital organ for formulating “and ‘storing the good sense each is blessed with at birth. ' “Phe provinciai government recently announced that legistation requiring bicycle’ riders to wear protective helmets will take effect within 1S months. |. Riders caught without heimets after that time will be subject to $100 fines. . That’s if they’re lucky. If they’re not and they’re caught without a helmet in a road accident they face far more - serious penalties, such as spending the rest of: “their days i in a coma. ‘There is no secret io the value of wearing a protective helmet when riding a bicycle or motorcycle. According to the B. C. Medical Association, heimets reduce the. risk of head injury by 85% and the risk of brain i injury by 88%. And accidents happen. ~ In: 1993, for example, more than 2,000 cyclists were involved in accidents witii motor... vehicles, the majority of which resulted in” injuries. Ten involved fatalities. Of the 10 rid- ers killed, eight were not wearing helmets. Common sense should tell those with the. wit to listen that wearing a helmet helps pro- tect heads and brains. But a let of bike riders still don’ t get it: the voluntary use of helmets ranges from a paltry , 2% for children up to 30% for adults.) 2) Making helmets mandatory for bicycle rid- . ers in B.C. will not convince all cyclists to wear helmets, but it will send a clear message to young cyclists and others with a casual. approach to their mental health that bike rid- ing can be a dangerous activity if it is utrae activity attended a ‘meeting at which the report was discussed. ’ How arrogant, how contemptu- ous of proper process can you get? » Gabelmann at least had the guts to acknowledge on Bill Good’s CKNW show that Gardiner - shouldn't have been present. . Gabelmann himself had the sense to leave when the item on the agen- “ da‘came up: previously wntamished Finance , Minister Elizabeth Cull. “In the face’of' warnings ‘that the -réport could contain information . leading to criminal charges, pre- Cull, report in hand, summoned to : .> a Meeting of the government priori- -.ties committee — a fairly new committee of several powerful min-. *. isters and, apparently, whomever ~ the government cares to invite — “not only ¢ a couple of top political _, operatives from the premier's office ~ but the NDP’s provincial secretary, Brian, Gardiner...” That's right... Fantastically, before the public’ “felease of a legally sensitive report —— which therefore should have - gone to Attorney-General Colin ’ Gabelmann — the top knock of the very party of the very’ government Elizabeth Cull insists that only notification of the receipt of the report, not its contents, was on the meeting agenda. . But the meeting's’ very exis- . tence, disclosed only by the work of Province reporter Barbara McClintock, was reprehensible: Cull should have resigned at once. If British parliamentary tradi- tion were followed, she would have. Her refusal to do so is an implied sneer at the B.C. public. There is simply nothing more o that can be said of the ever-genial, i likable Harcourt — who was also, at the meeting. ‘ Shame. / , Notice that no one has men- tioned the possibility of | using recall. That's because the NDP govern- ment, notwithstanding overwhelm- - ing public support for a recall’ ‘ mechanism for unsatisfactory \ MLAs, unhurriedly examined the law, officials signalled there was something fishy about the NCHS way back in Socred years, but . nothing was done because of the dynamite political ramifications — a special prosecutor, former B.C. Appeal Court Justice John Taggart, has been appointed to again go over the oft-tilled field, where no identifiable bodies have been - turned up... *. _ Only a faceless NDP-linked organization and a couple of others fined $150,000 for their criminal . acts. As recently, as 5 last ‘October, i in the face of contrary evidence _ lturned up by reports and the trial, “the premier was totally denying any NDP ties with the NCHS and the ... , heed for a full public inquiry — while insisting he wanted to get to the bottom of the affair’ |, ' In the in-your-face audacity of * the government calling in its politi-’ .cal henchmen and the head of its political party to a meeting involv- ing an undisclosed report that may : bear information leading to crimi- nal charges, a grave question : remains. :. Is the B.C. public shockproof = : - $0 cynical about its government, and about politicians in general, - that it is indifferent to . such a tray- i issue and then passed recall legisla: . t : tion that's too cumbersome to use. Now, the NCHS having been . approached without care or commen sense. - mailbox | Mistaken. identity : Dear Editor: : .. The © conviction: of Mr. 7], Brian Fraser. Hanna for thiev-' very in. Judge: Reginald Grandison’s court reported ‘in _ your Day in Court column has _now ‘brought to. ‘three, : the. number of occasions’ when 1 have. been, to my embarrass ment, confused. with’ this “or -| some other Brian Hanna less--|:. ic.’ confidence qe “The: first occasion’ - was ; when my application for.a dri-.: ‘ving licence ‘brought a bevy of.’ Mounties’ armed ‘to. the teeth’, crashing. through ‘the door of, : the licensing bureau.’ a The /second was. when -a. hatchet-faced lady barged into - a design * conference” with “clients and served me with ; - notice of a claim against me ” for. $80,000. or: some such. astronomical sum, *. : My wife has been’ Teceiv ig. “ solicitors” phone calls wonder- - ing: how ‘I ‘intend. to: comply : ‘with Judge ‘Grandison’s order < » that Hanna not be found on the: ; North Shore.” Brian C.W. Hanna West Vancouver: - “sul mitted his Teport this month to... 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