994 - North Shore News o < a0 1 a RR * ARR Y SEQ WNL AWN “ARH AWgS SAA : A wh Here’s to hemp RAVO TO the federal Liberals for planting the seeds of change in Canada’s outdated, paranoid poiicy towards hemp cultivation. Earlier this month, a former tobacco farmer in Tillsonburg, Ontario, legally seed- ed his field with hemp, a crop that has been banned in Canada for almost haif a century because of its naughty byproduct — mari- juana. Hemp is the fibre of the cannabis plant, while marijuana is the plant’s leafy crown. Used for centuries in the production of high-quality paper, clothing, rope and sails, hemp can be grown with little — some stud- ies suggest no — use of pesticides and herbi- cides, The experimental plantation deep in the heart of Canada’s tobacco country is being watched with equal interest by politicians, hemp advocates and Mounties. The cannabis plants being grown in Ontario have an extremely low levei of THC (cannabis? psychoactive byproduct), so that smoking the crop would have no intoxicating effect. , A federal drug bill is currently in cormit- tee following successful passage of the bill’s first two readings. Bilt C-7, which cails for the decriminaliza- tion of the commercial growing of low-THC hemp, will receive a third reading in Parliament later this year. Although not politically expedient to advo- cate anything with a whiff of the drug cui- ture attached to it, the Liberals have shown courage and conviction in promoting a crop that could well prove to be the breath of fresh air that family farmers across Canada have been looking for. Bridge costs should be shared by all Dear Editor: Re: Lions Gate Bridge. I attended the public meeting heid at West Van high school June 1. There seemed to be a view held by special-interest groups that this was a North Shore problem alone. I suggest it is not yours, mine but ours. Since we helped finance the Cambie Street Bridge, Alex Fraser Bridge and pay for upkeep and repairs on the older bridges, then we are all in it together. : I believe we should be consider- ing the most cost-effective plan, which is not a bridge replacement Managing Editor .. Associate Editor .. but the widening to four lanes of the current structure. Yes, this will mean an extra, Jane in the causeway, but there should be minimal increase in traffic as there is very tittle land left for more housing in both West Vancouver and North Vancouver. The curb lanes should be strictly for buses and minimum two-occu- pancy cars during rush hours, enforced. Financiug should be gov- ernment funded, on a non-profit basis, which eliminates private enter- prise. The “user pay” concept is out of the question, unless tolls are applied Display Advertising 980-0511 Classified Advertising 986-6222 Distribution Real Estate Advsrtising 985-6982 subscriptions + to all bridges. A $2 charge would create a severe hardship for many of those who must use the bridge. Perhaps the cost could be included in the gas/transir tax in a fairer and more equitable manner. Please notc, I am a senior who is very concerned with the tax burden the working generation are carrying, and their struggle to make ends meet while supporting the old, the young, the rich and the poor. Amy Sunstrum North Vancouver 986-1337 986-1337 985-3227 Newsroom North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an independent suburban newspaper and qualitied under Schedule 111, Paragraph 111 of the Excise Tax Act, is published each Wednesday, Friday and Sunday by North Shore Free Press Lid. and distributed to every door on the North Shore. Canada Post Canadian Publications Mail Sales Product Agreement No. 0087238. Mailing rates available on request. Submissions are welcome but wa cannot accapt responsibility for unsolicited material including manuscripts and pictures h should be accompanied by a stamped, addressed envelope. V7M 2H4 1 139 Lonsdale ‘Avenue a North Vancouver B.C, North Shore Managed ‘ax Administration 985-2131 MEMBER ia Gou SIG 985-2131 this con recytied care 61,582 (ave-age circulation, Wednesday, Friday & Sunday) ————ee newspaper tans fore SOA DIVISION Entire contents @ 1994 North Shore Free Press Ltd. All rights reserved. 10-sec sound byte wounds West Van MP AH, THE cruel irony of poli- tics! Behold West Van- Capilano Reform MP Herb Grube being crucified by aboriginals, fellow MPs and his party boss for saying what most of them have been saying for decades. What huppened was simply that Herb became the latest victim of the 10-second sound byte. [nan eifort to argue colorfully against the dependency of reserve Indians on government handouts, he paint- ed an analogy of children with a. rich uncle who pays for them to live in idleness on a South Sea island. The “rich uncle ... idle children .. South Sea island” bit was, of course, heaven-made for the six o'clock news, It came out there as: “Reserve Indians are like spoiled, lazy children living off rich uncles on South Sea islands, sayz, MP” — even though that wasn't how Mr. Grubel had phrased his comment, Jet alone meant it. No matter. For all Liberals, socialists, Indian chiefs and the oth- erwise Politically Correct, it was one more God-sent opportunity to hack and slash at the Reform party as a bunch of redneck racist wack- os. Bolting for cover, Preston 66 Herb (Grubel) has every reason to feel a tad miffed about the treatment meted out to him for merely stating the obvious. 99 Manning denounced his acolyte’s comments as “unacceptable” and left him swinging in the wind. Herb has every reason to feel 4 tad miffed about the treatment meted out to him for merely stating the obvious. The 19th-century sys- tem of sequestering Indianson reserves and doling out government « cheques to them has been con- demned for years by every right- thinking politician as well as by native leaders themselves. Loss of self-respect, alccholism and other abuses have been the all-too-fre- quent results. It’s called welfare dependency. Today, all parties agree that aboriginal communities must escape the vicious circle of welfare dependency, Big hopes are being placed on native self-government to create viable economic opportuni- ties for native people. But viable they MUST be — or it’s back to pogey. Grubel was pointing this out when he used his South Sea metaphor while speaking on a Commons bill to implement self- government in the Yukon. “There will never be in the cen- tre of Yukon an industry sufficient arco to maintain the people there by their own work ata living standard corresponding to Toronto or Vancouver,” he warned. Earlier he'd been censured by Nova Scotia for calling Atlantic Canada a charity case — which is. exactly what it is, supported by bil- lions from the three “have™ provinces: B.C., Alberta and Ontario. But in both cases he was asking perfectly reasonable ques- tions. How fair is it to subsidize indefinitely areas that are clearly incapable of EVER providing enough work for the present popu- lation? Is it right to subject 20% or more of that population to perma- nent welfare dependency — with all its social ilis? Wouldn't it be far better to encourage them to move to where jobs are more abundant? Thanks, Herb, for putting forth such sensible queries. But next time resist the urge to add colorful, easi- ly twisted illustrations. The sound byte boys will grab the latter and ignore the former. And during the six o’clock news you'll lie bleeding once again in 10 seconds flat! ene, WRAP-UP: Well-known realtor Sadru Mitha will be sworn in as 1994-95 president of North Van Chamber of Commerce at its bar- . becue dinner-dance annual general meeting atop Grouse Mountain Friday, June 17... West Van Chamber of Commerce hoids its “Business After Business” net- working session Wednesday, June 22, from 4:30 to 7:30 in Park Royal South— call Elena Hall, 925-4413, about this great marketing opportu- nity ... Did you know it’s the senior North Van Youth Band you're looking at in the newest “Hot Eats, Cool Treats” Dairy Queen commer- cial running on BCTV? ... Welcome today, June 15, to the “Golden 50 Club” Howard and Mary Mann, who've lived in the same West Van home since six months after their 1944 wedding and are reigning North Shore Gardens Contest champions ... Also today wish happy birthday to Mt. Seymour Lions John Hopcraft and John Pavlik, along with West Van Kiwanian Bud Ryckman .., And wish many happy returns of Friday, June 17, to North Van District Mayor Murray Dykeman who turns 62. WRIGHT OR WRONG: The rooster crows early to make sure of getting a word in before the hens wake up.