“Le gach "Wednesday, . Frid:

6 - North Shore News ~ Wednesday. A

ugust 9, 2000

———- VIEW

nest effort

U win some; you Jose some.

In the case of David Stockeli

and his quest to make political

budget numbers count for more than

spin-doctored public relations blarney,

the Kelowna businessman has both
won and lost.

Last Thursday he lost his four-year
fight to overturn the 1996 provincial
election when Justice Mary
Humphries found the three NDP
MLAs named in Stockell’s Jawsuit not
guilty of fraud.

Stockell filed his lawsuit in the wake
of the provincial election and revela-
tions that the NDP’s promised bal-
anced budget was instead one in 4
series of NDP deficit budgets.

Stockell’s suit alleged that NDP
MLAs knowingly misled their con-
stituents by campaigning on the ficti-
tious balanced budget and thereby

Good decision by
Squamish Nation

‘Dear Editor:

» North. Vancouver: -

u

Taxing times trouble

“Re: Puil-Tax.: -

According to Mr. Puil the proposed aver-
age $75 vehicle levy is necessitated by the
federal: government’s reluctance co return.
various transit taxes to the province. Already

~ bad enough, the feds will then add GST to
‘this Puil levy.: This will not be just a tax on a

. tax: — more ‘like a: double-double - tax...
Unchallenged this (convolution) could easily

escalate into xing on ‘the principle .of

apposed / mirror. reflections’ —| Taxing to”

infinity. May God and Newton help us?

_ Marth Shore News, founded i 1969 a5 an Independent
- subirtan newspaper and qualified under Schedule
“oft, Paragraph 111 of the Excise Tax Act, is published
x ay. “and Sunday by HCN
~, Publications Company and distributed to every door

Gn ‘the North: Share.” Canada Post’. Canadian’ fm
Publications ‘Mail Sales Praduct Agreement No.

_ 0087238, Mailing ‘rates available on request. Entice
“~-gontents © 2000 HEN Publications Company. Al
“tights “reserved.: Average circulation | for

dnesday, Friday and Sunday is 61,582.

~ RCMP Deputy Commissioner Giuliano “Zack”
- Zaceardelli, head of the newly formed :

breached the Election Act.

His suit was subsequently delayed,
diverted and otherwise sandbagged
for the next four years. Aided by the
invaluable National Citizens’
Coalition, Stockell proved more than a
match for the government’s publicly
funded rope-a-dope tactics.

He failed, however, to convince
Justice Humphries that the govern-
ment engaged in fraud in misleading
the public about the province’s fiscal
health.

But Stockell has been successful in
keeping the issue of government hon-
esty at the forefront of public debate.
He has been successful in seeing a fis-
cally retarded NDP regime institute
balanced budget legislation and preach
honesty in government budgeting.

Those successes far outweigh his
court defeat.

THE message hasn’t
changed, but maybe,
just maybe, something
is being done about
organized crime at the
political level.

Last week the province of
Ontario hosted an interna-
donal organized crime sum-
mit which demonstrated the
complete lack of effort and. ;
will by the federal government to control the
problem.

Antonio Nicasio, an internationally recog-
nized expert on the subject and the author of
nine books detailing the activities of the gang-
sters, told the assembled participants that
Canada is a haven for every major organized
criminal group in the world. ;

Reyular readers will know I’ve been beating
on this drum for the past couple of years, One
of the biggest stumbling blocks for law
enforcement is the lack of action, caring and
possibly even the complicity by the federal gov-

-ernment. And, for the most part, the various

provincial governments, ours especially, have
only added to the problem. But things may be
changing.

Nicasio, an advisor to the Nathanson
Centre for the Study of Organized Crime, a
York University think tank, pulled no punches

. addressing the audience of cops, politicians, .

journalists, prosecutors and government man-

darins. He identified the problem neatly when

he said it’s cougher in Canada to import a case

"of cheese than a suitcase full of dirty money.

- “Canada has always been a welcome wagon
for organized crime,” said Nicasio, in a shock-
ingly pointed and direct accusation leveled at
the government. His sharp remarks forced

A He/Promavions Manager }
985-2138 (219) ---

POIN

VIRILE
srw got A

LIBERAL

PHOTO OP #563 —

EXTREME BUXGEE JUMPING

LAST IN A SERIES DEMONSTRATING CHRETIEN'S STAMINA:

Organized criminals love Canada |

Organized Crime
Directorate, to say the gov-
ernment has done same good
things. What exactly those
were, he didn’t say. But it
Was interesting to see him in
a position to defend the mas-
terful inactivity of che federal
government in the face of a
crowd stunned by the com-
ments of Nicasio. Well, the
non-police part of the crowd
actually. The cops know all

crime and
punishment

about it.

One of the outcomes of the conference was
an initiative announced by Ontario’s Attorney
General Jim Flaherty. Finally a government has
realized the way to attack these groups is to go
after the money. Flaherty said Ontario will
enact legislation allowing the Crown to seize
assets. This goes much further than the federal
Proceeds of Crime legislation and more closely
approximates American statutes.

Flaherty also called on the Libs to amend
the Criminal Code to make it an offence to be
a member of an organized crime group. He
also made sure he took his shot at the feds. “1

think the federal government is ina position of -

being embarrassed with respect to its failure to
make a significant dent in organized crime in
this country,” he said at the conclusion of che
conference. :

One of the other key messages delivered to
the summit came from Toronto police chief
Julian Fantino. He underlined the concept
that the public has to understand that orga-
nized crime affects each and every one of us
and is not the romantic lifestyle portrayed in
Hollywood. He calied it a greedy and violent

. threat to our communities.

Fantino also beat on the “life must mean

life” drum. An interesting point when we com-

pare two organized crime figures'in two coun- -

* tres, ..

" LETTERS TO THE EDITOR must include your
name,. full address _and_ telephone number.
Submit via e-mail to: mbecker@nsnews.com

‘After Hours Rews Tiys: 985-2131 (press 3):

Terry Peters.
Ed'torial Manager
925-2131 (160)

Mark Fanchor

Valerie
Creative Services Director

John “Dapper Don” Gotti, former head of ©
the Gambino Mafia family, was convicted in
New York under the RICO statute and was
sentenced to life imprisonment without the
possibility of parole. He is ina masimum-secu:
rity instituze, locked dowa for 23 out of 24
hours a day. He will die in jail.

Alphonso Caruana, head of the Cuntreza- ©’
Caruana crime family and one of the world’s
most powerful criminals; was convicted in
February in Toronto, of conspiracy to import.
cocaine and several other offences. The maxi-
mum penalty for the offences was life, but he
got 18 years. He will be eligible for parole in’
2006 and is eligible tur day parole and *
unescorted absences in 2002. He'll probably
dic in his own bed wearing silk pajamas. ;

Fantino put the blame on the federal gov- :
ernment and called for tougher faws. “We lack
the laws, the resources and the political will to
effectively tackle the problem of organized | ~.- -
crime,” he said. [t’s the “political will”. part of
that statement that really has the most signifi
cance. How else do we explain the toral lack o
commitment by the federal government to sto;
the criminals from tuking over our country?

In the United States, they routinely use:the

IRS to attack mobsters and their ill-gotten

gains. The next time that happens in Canada
will be the first time. The feds have an army of;
people working at Revenue Canada and they
consistently bug the little guy over small pota:
toes while there are Hells Angels living in the
British Properties and owning whole blocks in:
Deep Cove. oe es :
To effectively fight organized crime it is:
necessary to go alter. the money. It’s the.m
efficient way to hurt the bad guys: Finally, one

’ government in this country has got the mes:
- sage. Now, if only the federal Liberals will:

assume their responsibility and demonstrate
their allegiance to the citizens of this ‘coun

‘and not the gangsters... °° | ;
— lknight@directca °°.

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