6 ~ Wednesday, Nov. 25, 1992 - North Shore News yo WARNING: COMPLETELY CONCERNED WITH 350 BILLION POLLAR DEFICIT. Raw effluent ICTORIA is fast becoming the country’s leading exporter cf raw effluent, both political and biologi- cal. The NDP government is producing its share with such odiferous fegislation a= Dill 84, the new Labor Relations Code, wich sacrifices small businesses to big umic:.s, and such financial ineptitude as a $2.7 billion budget deficit, which is the largest first-quarter deficit in provincial history. Aad the residents of Victoria are doing their best to match the outpat of the poli- (cians. In_a recent referendum, Victorians voted 57% to continue pumping their raw sewage into Juan De Fuca Strait. The results of the referendum have rightly upset Washington state officials and residents, who are in the path of Vic- toria’s outfall. But when residents are enveloped daily in political effluent perhaps environmental concems are more difficult to get worked up about. Voter turnout in the referendum was abont 25%. Sewage treatment costs and assurances from some scientific quarters convinced the majority of shat 25% thal instituting minimal treatment for their sewage like most major North American cities was not worthwhile. Studies touted by the Capital Regional District maintained that currents and cold water were already doing a good job of treating Victoria’s sewage. Victoria, then, is going to let nature handle its biological effluent. But we still don’t know who is going to handle its po- litical discharge. LETTER OF THE DAY ‘Outsized box’ not in best interests Dear Editor: Now it is our turn to have a ““monster house’’ built on our street (Granada Crescent in North Vancouver District). I invite all of the district. coun- cil, municipal) planning and engineering staff to drive by and see how completely out of propor- tion it is to the 35-year-old homes Publisher . Ma ing Editor . Associate Editor. Comptroller . Peter Speck Timothy Renshaw Noel Véright Sales & Marketing Director Linda Stewart . .Doug Foot thal surround it. ft uses virtually every square foot that the bylaw allows (a bylaw that never should have been enacted). t don’t know whether it is the result of preoccupation on the part of council and municipal staff with large, grandiose projects or just the usual obsession with increasing the tax roll to provide Display Advertising 980-0511 Real Estate Advertising 985-6932 Newsroom 985-2131 Horth Shore News, founded in 1969 as an inde; « suburba: i and qualitied pendeni IN Newspape under Schedule 111, Paragraph Hb of the Excise Tax Act, 1S published each Wednesday, Friday and Nonn Shore Free Press Lid. and Distrdution Subscriptions 986-1337 Classified Advertising 986-6222 Fax Administration 985-2431 for increased expenditures on staff and municipal buildings. Whatever the reason, this out- sized ‘tbox” is mute testimony to the fact that council and municipal staff have not always served the best interests of the people of this municipality. D. Goforth North Vancouver 986-1337 Windsor blaze bill belongs to the public HER MAJESTY’S best year it is NOT. First, the ongoing Charlies and Di hate maich. Then, Andrew‘s Fergie, Duchess of York, caught having a toe job from a Texas boy-friend. And now the Windsor Castle inferno. Though most of the priceless paintings and other artifacts were mercifully rescued from the 12- hour blaze, preliminary estimates put the cost of restoring the dev- astated wing of the 920-year-old castle 36 miles west of London at up to $130 million. There's no insurance. Even Lloyd's won't touch an edifice a city block square built by William the Conqueror in the 1070s and packed with the irreplaceable treasures of 10 centuries. So what are the air-heads and their tabloid exploiters in the U.K. now screaming? “Let HER fooi the bill — it’s HER home,”’ that’s what. Adding the familiar reminder that the Queen is the world’s richesi woman and pays no income tax — though she's now said to be con- sidering it. You don’t have to be a monar- chist to blow this bird-brained argument to tatters. First, Windsor is only one of the numerous residences — among them “‘Buck House,”’ Sandr- ingham, Balmoral — occupied by the Queen and her family for varying periods during the year in the course of their duties. In that sense, they have no real ‘*home’”’ at all. Constantly pack- ing their toothbrushes and moving on goes with the royal job. Second, I’ve no doubt Her Ma- jesty COULD raid her personal Piggy-bank for the needed $130 million — one-third the cost of our recent referendum — and still get by. In any case, she'll un- doubtedly pay for restoring her own private quarters in the vast building. Bui that brings us to the whole point. Windsor Castle no more “belongs”’ to the Queen than the Louvre and Versailles belong the president of France, or the Sistine Chapel to the Pope. Primarily they belong to the British, French and Italian peo- ples. And in a wider sense they belong to the many millions of European civilization’s heirs now scattered around the globe — the U.S. and Latin America, in Canada and other Commonweaith nations. The ‘‘let-the-Queen-pay’’ mob is dead wrong in claiming the Windsor disaster is only HER loss. If the public shirks responsi- bility for preserving its history's -- fragile material legacies, what lies ahead? Instead of Windsor Castles and Sistine Chapels, wili eventual __ future generations have io sctile - for a cultural heritage of empty .- office highrises, Madonna’s sex - ast and McDonald’s Goiden Ar-. ches? . eee TAILPIECES: West Van politi- cians parade in force tonight, 25, at the British Properties. i agm at 7:30 p.m. in Chartwell Elementary Schooi — guest speakers arc Mayor Mark Sager, School Board Chair Borbara Howard and MLA Jeremy Dalton. ... Socred labor critic, MLA Lyall Hasses, talks about the new NDP labor bill Thursday, Nov. 26, 6-9 p.m. at the Canyon House, 3590 Capilano, over desserts, wine and coffee — reserve your $12 ticket prento via 926-2951 or 984-3191. ... Top . Canadian concert artists Gwen Hoebig (violin) znd David Moroz: (piano) perform their classical, romantic and contemporary reper- toire Monday, Nov. 30, for , Community Coacerts subscribers at 8 p.m. in the Centennial Theatre. ... And wish happy birthday tomorrow, Nov. 26, to Mt. Seymour Lion Bryzm Martian. . WRIGHT OR WRONG: Dogs have so many friends because they wag their tails, not their tongues. Sunday . distrbuted 10 every door on the Nosth Shore. Secend Class Mail Registration Number 3885 Subscriptions North and West Vancouver, $25 per year. Maing sates available on request isSions ate welcome bul we cannot accept tesponstbility for unsolicited matenat including manuscnpts and pictures which should be accompanied by a Stamped, acdressed envelope. V7M 2H4 SUNDAY + WKUWOSDAT - CODAT 1139 Lonsdale Avenue, North Vancouver, B.C. 61,582 (average citcutation, Wednesday. Fnday & Sunday) Entire contents © 1992 North Shore Free Press Ltd. All rights reserved. Photo subsiited : MUSIC FOR all moods... Gwen Hoebig, David Moroz here in con- cert.