@ — Wednesday, November 6, 1991 — North Shore News

brand teste

And you though
} only Canada had
ancial woes!

THE DYNAMOS in Europe’s powerhouse are groaning
more than a little these days as they labor to supply the |
overload put on them by the liberation of Eastern Europe
from Communism. It’s taxing the western three-quarters of
Helmut Kohl’s reunited Germany to the limit.

NEWS VIEWPOINT

Planetary priorities

O IT’S geing to cost the world
$1,288 billion over the next decade if
we are to save our planet. Big deal.

Nations of the world have plenty of
money to work with — they’ve just decid-
ed to put it into other arenas.

Currently, we spend $1 trillion on mili-
tary might worldwide each year. That’s
$1.9 miilics US every minute.

Instead of using our momex ‘o save the
planet, we are investing in izchnologies
and ideologies that threaten thz security of
its peoples and their environment.

The dollars put towards militarism could
not only rehzbilitate our ailing planetary

health, they could make substantial im-
provements to Third World living condi-
tions as well as generate increased
empleyment for all.

Giving up only two minutes of world
military expenditures would provide
enough money to save the lives of the 3.5
million children who die of dehydration
worldwide each year.

And a 1976 US study showed that $1
billion spent on the military created 76,000
jobs, while the same amount spent on ci-
vilian programs generated 160,090 jobs.

The price tag on saving our planet isn’t
bigh. it’s our twisted priorities that will
cost us dearly.

LETTER OF THE DAY

BBB not only consumer outlet

defective goods or services.

We invite enquiries from con-
sumers seeking reliable and impar-
tial information and assistance in

Dear Editor:

Rick Bestwick’s letter (Oct. 23)
has left the impression that no
agency, Other than the Better
Business Bureau (BBB), monitors
consumer complaints and res-
ponds to pre-pu-chase enquiries.

If he is not uware that the Con-
sumers’ Association of Canada’s
Vancouver Help Office is an op-
tion for consumers seeking pre-
purchase information or resolu-

Peter Speck
Timothy Renshaw
Noel Wright

Managing Editor . .
Associate Editor

tion of marketplace disputes, his
staff are, since from time to time
they refer people to us.

For 19 years our office has been
a major source of pre-purchase
information on  product-testing
results enabling consumers to ob-
tain the best value for their
money. In addition, we provide
information on consumer rights in
the marketplace and directly me-
diate with business on behalf of
consumers seeking redress for

Display Advertising 980-0511
Real Estate Advertising 985-6982

Classified Advertising 986-6222 Fax

Distribution
Subscriptions

dealing with their marketplace

transactions.

Evelyn Fox

President

Consumer’s Association of
Canada

British Columbia Branch

986-1337
986-1337
985-3227

North Shore
managed

Advertising Director .. Linda Stewart
Comptroller Doug Foot
North Shore News, founded in 1969 as ar
independent suburban "and qualified
under Schedule 111, Patagraph tll of the Excise
Tax Act, is publishet each Wednesday, Friday and
Sunday by Norin Shore Free Press Lid. and
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Second Class Mail istration Number 3885.
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Newsroom

SUNDAY >

V?7M 2H4

“TOE Wreck OF NORTH ANG WEST WaRCOUVER

‘north shore

vs PRIA

Administration 985-2431
MEMBER

@ <> SE

985-2131

to Sn

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North Vancouver, B.C.

61,582 (average circulation, Wednesday, Friday & Sunday)

Entire contents © 1991 North Shore Free Press Ltd. All rights reserved.

And one of the headaches is all
too familiar to Canadians.

The basic problem, of course, |
comes from the industrial collapse
of former East Germany. Despite
efforts to sell its state-owned fac-
tories to the private sector, most

are stil! in government hands. Ob-

solete, worn-out equipment, and
unmotivated workers and manag-
ers keep productivity 70% lower
than in the West. Unemployment
is 12% (vs. the West’s 5%) and
heading towards 30% in 1992.

Aside from the East’s million
jobiess, another two million are
on part-time ar ‘‘zero-time.”* The
latter collect their wages (averag-
ing 60% of thase in the West) and
return home, because their plants
— being among the 90% unable
to compete on the free market —
are idle.

Meanwhile, prices, especially
for housing, are rising fast and
with them the threat of growing
inflation. At the moment it stands
at 4%, but big unions are current-
ly seeking 10% wage hikes.

Allin all, the German federal
government today is forced to
pump the equivalent of $65 billion
a year into the reunified East and
faces a 1991 budget deficit equal
to about $85 billion Canadian.
Proportionate to the 78 million
population, that's in almost the
same ballpark as our own $31
billion deficit.

But Canadians may also be in-
trigued to learn that no small part
of Germany’s present crisis is
caused by “‘refugees’” Ncoding in
from eastern Europe at the rate of
30,000 2 month. The 199% total
will be around 230,000 — 95% of

i“ 1

ran

HITHER AND YON

them bogus applicants from aa- -
tions like Poland, Romania and - i
Albania trying to cash in on Ges-
man prosperity. This, too, in a
country that has traditionally beez
one of the beast “multicultural”

and least immigrant-oriented in -
the world. :

As in Canada, German law
allows in almost anyone who can
utter the words “‘politically  . . j
persecuted’ -- German taxpayers
then picking up the tab for their. &

Gesmans — average PER =.
CAPITA income $25,009 Cena-

HELMUT KCHL... paying for
the unification bash..

DERRICK HUMPHREYS... no

“exit’’ on his agenda.

hit them.

POSTSCRIPTS: Local Reformers
and those thinking about it can .”
update themselves tomorrow, -~’
Tiursday, Nov. 7, on the latest BRR
adventures of Preston Mensing’s
happy legions —- now busy in-
vading Ontario — when Joka .°
Casamizs, B.C. menaber of the _. 5
Reform Pazty’s Executive Coun-.,
cil, addresses a'7:30 p.m. public: j
mecting at Gleneagles Golf Chub.

.-. Saturday, Nov. 9, brings the
bumper Christmas Faw at St...
Mozica’s, Horseshoe Bay, from: ¥
9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. with gifts”. -
galore, bakes, preserves, plants —
plus morsing coffee, plowman’s
lunch, bargain-hunter’s tea and

lots for the kids, too ... “Gift of
life’? day comes Friday, Nov. &.'
with Lynas Valicy Centre's 2:30-8 .
p.m. blecd donor climic ... And:
many happy returns today, Nov.

6, to ever-busy former West Yan
mayor Derrick Huraphreys -— no
relation, by the way, to Derek —
Humphrey (no ‘s’), U.S. author i
of the eutharasia book Final Exit! &

eee
WRIGHT OR WRONG: The
older we get, the better we used to |