6 - Wednesday, March 27, 1985 -

Editorial Page

North Shore News

“News Viewpoint.

Foundation laid

t’s easy, but wrong, to call last week's
economic summit a total failure.

True, the 136 delegates reached no im-
mediate consensus. Representing «ach
diverse’ interests as big business, small
business, labor, women, acadeniics, the poor
and the jobless, they would have had to per-
forma miracle to achieve unanimity on
policies for economic recovery within two
short days. Dominating. the meeting, in par-
ticular, was the split between business and
labor =the former giving top priority to
reducing the $35" billion: federal deficit, the
latter insisting that. : the battle Against
unemployment must come first. a

Even so, new. ideas were not lacking i in the
30-odd position” ‘papers ‘presented. Wisely,

. perhaps, the’ government reserved judgement
» on- these : for the: ‘moment, but -at least the’

- first time, ” ‘spokesmen: for. each segment ‘of
. the‘ecénomy got in: their two-bitsworth with
‘povernment: and ‘all thé other interest groups
listening attentively. As 1WA boss Jack
Munro said: ‘‘We’ve talked. for 10 years
about being in the same room.”

“And ‘at the end, despite the differences,

-’ Prime. Minister Mulroney won a standing

nship.. The psychological value alcne of’

, Sbout themselves’ shouldn't be underrated...

eS al added “up “to. ‘ propress--modest,
-maybe, © but: certainly a worthwhile founda-

tion on: which to build. Now, the ball is back

Dispiay Advertising

. “Newsroom 985-2131

Clieuiation

vel

Marketing Director 7 ~ Operations ‘Manager

Robert: Graham: Berni. Hilliard
Advertising Director - Sases Circulation Director
. . Bill McGown

Dave Jenneson — : .
. Editor-in-Chief
Noel Wright.
Production Director
Chris Jonson

Advertising Diractor
+ Administration -
Mike Goodsell

Classitied Maneger

Val Stephenson

Photography Manager
Tersy Petars

North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an independent suburban

. “| Mewspazer and qualitied under Schedule Itl, Part 1, Paragraph ttl of the
Excise Tax ‘Act, ts published each Wednesday, Friday and Sunday by
North Shore Free Press Lid. and distributed to every door on the North
Shore. Second Class Mail . .egistration Number 3885. Entire contents
© 1985 North Shore Free Press Lid, All rights reserved.

Subscriptions, North and West vancouver, $25. per year. Matting tates
available on tequest.

' No, responsibility ‘accepted tor ‘ unsolicited ‘material including
” manuscripts and pictures which should be accompanied by a stamped,
addressed envelope.

Member of the B. C. ‘Press Council

SB 55.770 taverage. Wednesday
Friday & Sunday)

SN" &
an

“THIS PAPER IS RECYCLABLE

“SDA DIVISION

ovation ‘for his deft, good-humored chair-

chis'talent for making, Canadians’ feel. better -

‘laa0-0511
“e Classified Advertising 986-6222 .

986-1337 |

A about

something very nasty 10 all of us.

. for peace “marches, ©
once more: be: hearing. a lot -

few. months.

THE CONSERVATNVES. PARTING
THE RED SIA...

.N OUNCE OF BRAINS is all that’s needed
to recognize that something has to be done

*” Spring being ‘the ‘season
we'll

about the subject in the next
‘And’ let me

‘make it-quite. clear. from. the

start that Pm. 100° per. cent.

, “behind © the ; cail “to *tban”
“nuclear weapons. -.
‘Where. I part “company

. with the peace industry. is

over thé fact that none of-its
activists: have. ever figured

‘out a realistic way to achieve

» planet:
times . over. ’. They’ re adding

aban. we

“Let's: ‘face. it: "Sam and
Ivan ‘already ' have. enough
nukes’. to. incinerate ‘the
several . thousand

to -them, at ascost’ of $600

~ billion a year. ‘AS things now

stand, all: the: mammoth

marches, *

in the western world are’not

going to stop them.»

‘Not until something comes

‘along. ‘to. ‘replace. the - hair-

raising . deterrence theory

Assured Destruction. {t's
worked so far but | wouldn't
bet my 6/49 winnings its

The Bomb

demonstrations |
and petitions ever mounted ©

before it does

working for another 40
years, or even 10,

“That’s why Ronnie
Reagan's “Star Wars" plan
-+. which

height -- makes’ a. lot of
sense. It introduces the first
radically new
theory since the Russians got
their own Bomb. Call it

_ Mutually Assured Survival.

f ICBMs can be

' destroyed in outer ‘space be-

fore reaching their target, it
becomes pointless to launch
them. Equally pointless to
manufacture any more. Even
pointless, eventually, to keep
those you have,: except in
museums.

The immediate: problems,
of course, are mind-boggl-
ing. Right off, it’s going to
cost. $26 billion in research
just to find out whether
Ronnie’s dream is technical-
ly feasible at all. How many

- scores of billions more to
‘called MAD, or. Mutually —

perfect the orbiting hard-

ware is anyone’s guess.
Other solemn questions

abound. How tong will it

LETTER OF THE DAY

Queen safeguards democracy y

Dear Editor: ;
‘L read with disgust the let-

“ter -by E.Stewart of. North

Vancouver and wonder
whether . your paper will
print‘an opposing opinion to
Ed Press and his ‘ilk, opi-
nions that surely must be felt
in a ‘province where the
population is prominently of
British stock...
if Mr.

Stewart, whose

“century,

- name suggests synonymity

with British border | skir-
mishes of the seventeenth
does not wish to
swear allegiance to the
Queen in order to become a
Canadian citizen (his phras-
ing denotes that he has not
already done so), then he
would do well to emigrate
again to a country that
knows nothing of

the professional”
peace boys and girls are now’:
“dumping on from a great

Cold . War..

UPUREA
focus

by
Noel Wright
Pe

take? Could it stop every
nuke, or might some still get

through? Is there a risk of .

tempting Mikail to have a
bash before Ronnie’s robot
space warriors are. on the
job? And what would those

big bangs overhead do to the .

ozone layer?

So much for the dark side
of Star Wars.. The bright
side is that the mere sugges-
tion has already brought the
Russians scurrying back to

democracy. Better to swear
allegiance to an ultimate be-
ing under whom gov-
ernments and their bad

management can be changed .

by the will of the people. Or
perhaps. he would have
preferred
allegiance to our late prime
minister?

I find it difficult to believe
that a person would lift his

to have sworn. -

seless nukes our best bet

arms. “control ‘talks (they
recognize an ace wnen their
opponent plays.:one):::And
don’t forget that. Ronnie. has
even hinted at. sharing- Star
Wars know-how with them.
Outer. space; incidentally,
isn't the only threat to ‘the
future of nukes..~Today’s
state-of-the-art. ‘electronic

guidance systems ‘are rapidly
_feachiig the point where’ a
missile launched thousands

of miles away will be able to
hit: within’ yards of a tiny

.. target. With that kind of ac-

curacy, why nuclear ex-
plosives at all? TNT could
do the job just as well, with

-much less mess,

But Star Wars, if they get
it off. the ‘ground,’ hold. by
_far the best _ promise. yet of
ultimately -. banning’. The
‘ Bomb. in the only. way. that’ s
practical.

By - rendering The: Bomb
USELESS.

”! ‘That's “why.. Canada’s

peaceniks _ c+. completely

‘dependent on Uncle Sam to

save them from the nuclear
frypan --_ should’ stop. strik-
ing lofty moral poses.’ Help-
ing our guardian neighbor
develop a technology for
relegating nukes'to the scrap
heap isn’t a matter of
kowtowing. It’s an invest-
ment in survival.

roots to come to another
country: solely . because a.
monarch is.at the helm. Is he
not. aware that good Scottish

’ blood “flows : through. Her

Majesty’s veins?’ Then, of

-.course, he could: always re-

emigrate to the U.S.S.R.
where he will be welcomed

” with open arms.

Ernest Edwards
North Vancouver