10 ~ Friday, November 23, 1990 - North Shore News Hard to COPE with overtown Communists AWFULLY AMUSING for us North Shore inhabitants to peer over the chilly waters to Burrard Inlet and observe the strange goings- on in Vancouver politics. The recent elections showed that, in contrast to the generally liberal and enlightened political atmosphere of the North Shore municipalities, Vancouver city hall is heading in the direction of gro- tesque reaction and ultra-conser- vatism., I refer, of course, to the resur- rection of the misnamed ‘‘left- wing”’ party, the Committee of Progressive Electors. COPE won five of Vancouver’s 10 aldermanic seats in last Sun- day’s election. In Eastern Europe this party of Communists, near-Communists, para-Communists, Communist sympathizers, and — charitably, the largest group — self-styled social democrats who are dupes and patsies led around by the nose by Harry Rankin, would have been dumped straight into the ashcan by the voters. But not in Vancouver, which can now fairly claim to be further left — I'll use the conventional signpost, even though [ think COPE is a prime example of an organization that gives the word “left” a bad name — than Moscow. It would be tiresome to flatter Rankin by going over his history of loud-mouthed vulgarity which for years has enchanted and cap- tured Vancouver's booby vote. (Imagine anyone else in British Columbia politics — a premier, say — getting away with Rankin’s recent shout at Ald. Gordon Price, a gem of unconscious self- parody: ‘‘Can’t you ever stop per- sonalizing your attacks, you little rat?’’) But, as a small example, I cherish the memory of his column in the Communist Pacific Tribune when the Russians invaded Afghanistan in 1979. Rankin wrote sympathetically — toward the Russians, He championed the invaders’ justification. NS SER SHARE IS RUSHING to our Country SKI PARTY IL toll fre 1-800-663-5885 f FREE br r about where name address SKIING COUNTRY Box 4900 Williams Lake V2G 2v8 Trevor Lautens GARDEN OF BIASES Has he, in the Mikhail Gor- bachev era, ever recanted this view and similar ones? Is he still loyal to his discredited ideology — fur- ther left than Gorbachev, than even the now-contrite KGB? I don’t know. By a kind of media consent, the vicious- tongued Rankin is rarely asked about his politics beyond the parish pump, a question to which he snarts that that’s irrelevant to municipal business. (Could an alderman who, say, attended meetings of white supremacist groups, or neo-Nazis, successfully make that claim? Ha.) However, there’s no reason to doubt Rankin’s statements over the years that he is not, repeat not, a member of the Communist party. As an outsider, he’s been far more useful than if he were in. Then there’s the return to council of COPE’s Bruce Yorke, for years not only a gen-yew-wine capital-C Communist but on the party’s national executive. Former parks board commissioner Pat Wilson is a new aldermanic face, also with an old ideology. Libby Davies, who is both CCOPE’s most respected member and also its most predictable par- ty-liner, is back. Also her hus- band, the bitterly sour and humorless Bruce Eriksen —~ who once, to a reporter visiting the Davies-Eriksen household, stiffly referred to his wife as ‘‘Ald. Davies.”’ This is undeniably Rankin’s party. As the Sun’s excellent col- umnist Denny Boyd noted recent- ly, the Sunday mecting of COPE politicians at Rankin’s house determines the party strategy for the issues ahead. As you might have divined by now, !’m not enamored of COPE. And I’ve developed a marvellous immunity to Rankin’s charms. Ill give one good reason. In the early 1970s Eriksen in- vited me to a dinner meeting of the Downtown Eastside Residents Association — which, to give him his due, he led with some socially beneficial effect for many poor and confused people, even as he skilfully exploited its politics. The dinner was at a Chinese restau- rant. When I arrived I was waved, to my surprise, to what was clear- ly the head table — seated with Eriksen, Rankin, and such wor- thies. I noticed a couple of things. One, Eriksen — and everyone else — treated Rankin with abject awe. Two, Rankin ate like a pig. He shovelled in the food. He sucked it up. He snorfled it. He forked it. He knifed it. He all but put his face into it and lapped it. Now, follow this carefully. If | had thought that H< -ry Rankin was, in the kindest sense of the word, an ignorant man, a man sincere in his bad manners, who literally didn't know any bet- ter, I'd have taken small notice. But that wasn’t what I thought. Instead I saw a man who | felt sure did know better — a lawyer, for God’s sake, a leading member of the benchers — and who" was acting like a siob. Why? If I'm right about it, it was a revolting and patronizing performance to show his solidarity with the Common People. He was eating politically. And his disciples were ringed around him, gazing at him with something close to adoration. I may be wrong. But at that moment ! thought I saw it. The real contempt. “| need some insurance.” North Vancouver 10! — 1312 Lonsdale 986-4321 66 I'm Mike O°Connor and I can help you with that. So can other insurance agencies. but at NorCu we can offer vou something different — we're affiliated with North Shore Credit Union. That means we have a high standard of customer service. It also means we're going to be here for the long term, serving you with property insurance. life insurance, auto insurance and more. 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