‘Eagle’ s nest , ‘ TONY Brand and Larry Carabatta work to remove a totem pole from the 1500- _. block Bellevue In West Vancouver. B.C. Hydro provided the service to zeal- “dente who viewed the rotting poie a hazard to safoty. tae, Sunday, June 2, 1996 ~ North Shore Mews ~ 34 “From page q diffe ce. sav. that, and: T've always taken thie ttitude that it’s never t00 late. ; ; “The series of events that led up to Friday pro-’ vided u us with a lot of press. The Liberals contact- ed us. The first I knew of any association — I . came back from Dawson Creek on Tuesday night. ‘2 “I'got a call from our team and they said we'd been contacted by the Liberals, There’s some con- Sens about: where the election’ is going. We Fi talk about it, Will McMartin (Socred cam- asemist) then went out to the Liberal cam- cea met with Greg Lyle (Liberal party "ra the political « acategists, I'm the campaign, what they: saw happening. Yhat g." Wes, tire 20 for one (20 Socred candidates “step aside for Liberal camidate Jeremy Dulten - removing himself ‘from. West Vancouves- Capilano) offer part of that? : Gillanders: “I Mhink what ended up happening | as there was some press spin on it: The Liberals indicated that there were some 17 to 20 swing rid- ings where every vote counts. We had Socreds in those ridings. My discussions with Will wer, “Good; when the Liberals call they're going to talk _ coalition and that involves, myself, Reform, PDA, _ everyone has to come in on this.’ “The way the 20 to one came up, we said if you want to have a coalition, what you have to do is make way for:an opportunity for Jack Weisgerber to be elected, Gordon Wilson and :|. Gillanders. I, couldn't move because of the Election’Act. I'm stuck in West Van-Cap. “There was never an intent to harm Mr. Dalton. Tt was just discussion, and it never went any fur- ther than that. “The Liberal strategy didn’t work and they were looking for help. As free enterprisers we said we would always be there. “Leading up to Friday my decision was that we needed to send a message to British Columbians. The message was vote for the best free enterprise candidate in your riding.” Some people got the message that that kere’s someone who was destroying the Social Credit chances. Gillanders: “I never got that feedback. I gut a lot of calls saying, ‘Larry you did the right thing.’ “Leadership is tough choices.” Was your decision to quit a tough one? Some of your candidates did follow your lead and stepped out of the race. Gillanders: “It was really tough. I spent the lust year and a half investing a lot of time and effort into the purty. “The concem was with the interior of the ’ province and that's how we saw it play out on the the summit meet-- score board, | wonder how our party president and now interim leader Ken Endean feels the day after. ‘the election. Gur Singh (Kamloops Liberal candi-" date) lost by the number of votes that Ken Endean took away. There’s a good example.” Endean s quoted as laying the blame for the . Social Credit failure at your last-minute deci- sion to withdraw. Gillanders: “We were 1% going into this elec- tion. When you tally up the votes we're probably close to 1%, We fared no different. I think Mr. Endean helped elect the NDP candidate in Kamloops.” _ The impact of the contact with the Liberals and the so-called backroom dealing and then your decision to step aside had everything todo with. perception in " the voters’ mind and may have done some last-minute damage we the Liberals. A pave. Ghat, wow have . deen.” enth coalition-building ‘3 few months ago looked like some. thing underhanded. “The press picked - up the story different-” ly than we thought they would. There was good open dis- cussion that should have happened a year and a half ago. We saw the train coming | dowa the track for all free enterprisers. We LARRY Gilianders yelled real hard, ‘It’s stirred up the B.C. time to get off the electoral soup. track’ and the other leaders stayed fixed. ” A news article in which you are quoted prior to your decision to quit has you saying, “t had lunch with Gordon Campbell at the Wedgeweod Hotel in Vancouver and he said, “Ya know Larry, we're the team to beat the NDP. All you should do is fold your tent and that's the end of the day.’ And my message to Gordon Campbeil was, ‘You know, Gordon, that kind of comment demonstrates to me that you don’t have any respect for your member- ship «+ YOu can’t expect me as leader to just fold the membership and walk away.” Gillanders: “And that’s what T ended up doing. These’s certainly a bit of irony in that. The fact of the matter is our campaign slogan is Priority B.C. ft doesn’t say Priority Me.” This coalition, had it come together, who would have been the leader in the event the other free enterprisers had taken your: bait in January? Gillanders: “What we suggested, of the 15 free enterprise nominated candidates, they would ' choose their leader. They would go to the house, each one representing their own party philoso- phics, but pledging their allegiance to the coalition for one term of government. “In my opinion it gave every party on the free enterprise side a chance to support their candidate ata joint (party) nomination meeting.” What do you say to the people in West Yancouver-Capilano who voted for you in an advanced poll prior to your pulling out of the race? Their votes were wasted. Gillanders: “We were 1% in the polls. Some people put their faith in you, those things go through your mind, but you know, the end of the day for me is the bigger picture. “Some people phoned me and said, ‘I voted for you in the advanced poll, now what happens?’ I “said your bailat is going to be destroyed. They just avanted to know. They didn't really comment “good, bad or indifferent. =, “I've received absolutely no negative com- ‘ments from anyone in this constituency about “what I did. Most everybody has said, ‘Good for you, it must have been tough.’ “West Van-Cap is not the i issue, because it's a free-enterprise constituency.” ‘Where do yon see yourself now in terms of “political activity? Gillanders: “My focus is that I'll go anywhere in this province to talk to anyone about free enter- prise at any time. I think what's necessary is that everyone work together. If the Liberals are the vehicle to do that then in order for that to happen the vehicle has to be modified and then it will work, long in B.C. We've always said that you have to be free of any federal affiliation. In the long term what seems to work in B.C. is a strong made-in- B.C. voice.” Some are saying that you have pounded the final sail into the coffin of the once-mighty Social Credit Party. Do you think it’s dead now because of what you’ve done? Gillanders: “Obviously I’m going to say that 1 think a little bit different than that. There are peo- ple in that party who are dedicated to go forward and | think it’s up to them to focus on where they're going. “T left the party debt-free, still 20,000 members and standing up doing what I believe a Socred would always do for B.C, and that is put the best interests of B.C. first. ; “You know, Noveniber ‘94, $1.1 million in debt, May ‘96, no debt. So we're in better shape in a sense than we were when we left the ‘9! elec. tion, We just don't have any members in the house.” | From page 1 “I don't think the Liberal name will sell for NEWS photos Cindy Goodman |. News gives _ seniors ads. "Seniors are eanother group ‘that , : could be more than simply i inconve- nienced by the strike. Julie Dorsemaine;.. the ‘pro; coordinator for the Capilano Community Services > gram - the Seniors’ Hub at Society, expects - the. impact to, be enormous, Many seniors on the North Shore are isolated and can't get out to do groceries from: their shopping, she said. Some order : Safeway and: have. them delivered, Dorsemaine added. , Those’ seniors will -have to-go. .. somewhere else Ping, she said. for their food ‘shop-: “Her organization provides: shop-. : ping and delivery. services to seniors -who don’t have. families ‘and can't? use the HandyDART. system. 3) During the strike, said Dorsemaine, volunteers may have to g0 a greater : distance to do the shopping and mere volunteers will be needed.” Dorsemaine added that for. many seniors an outing to Safeway or Save-On-Focds : , Social contact th: ‘provides : important at they won't receive’ during the strike. Those needing ‘more information. can call the Senidrs‘' Hub -at 988- ’ “1129 or the Information line at 983-3303. Seniors’: One- “stop The North Shore News ig offer ing free classified ads to seniors and: the disabled who need someone else to do their shopping. Free ads arc