Mike

FOR THE past week 1 have
had this vision.

By Brian Swarbrick
Contributing Writer

It is of a bald man with a big
mustache. He is sitting in front of
his television set, peering through
his glasses, at what appears to be
a& sporting event.

The man is engrossed in what
he sees, but he is not cheering. He
is laughing his head off.

Am I wrong; he is not watching
a sporting event. What has caused
Mike Harcourt’s laughter is the
sight of 941 Socreds shooting
themselves in the foot.

Heaven knows, as I've already
reported in this space, my own
career has been strewn with a few
political foot-shootings. But last
Saturday, as | watched Mel
Couvelier crossing the convention
floor to join Rita Johnston's
camp, it came to me that I was
about to see the Social Credit
Party of British Columbia make
the biggest mistake in its history.

There will be those who say the
decision of the Whistler conven-
tion to give the leadership to Bill
Vander Zalm was an even bigger
error.

But concede me this: the
Socreds at Whistler were clearly
taking the risk that sheer charisma
could win them an election. As it
turned out, the risk was justified.
In the present case, no such strat-

egy could be argued.

For sheer winnability, I'd rate
Rita Johnston's stock at no better
than modest. Whatever her lead-
ership gifts, she'd win no one’s
vote as a charismatic leader.

Indeed, in spite of her new-
found skill with a teleprompter,
out in the big world | would think
she’d have trouble getting on as
the hostess of a TV cooking show.
(Qh, agreed, she sure stirred ’em
up with that ‘*Yes! Yes! Yes!"
But for my money, that’s a one-
time act.)

Nor, for all that the term got
used, was party unity an issue that
got settled last weekend. Where
was party unity at risk? The only
issue in sight was the degree to
which Vander Zalm's disgrace was
to be acknowledged. Which makes
it disgraceful as an issue.

But back to Couvelier. As we
all know, the immediate result of
his floor-crossing stroll was that
many of his delegates joined him.

In blind loyalty, where he ted,
they followed. No matter that he
was about to perform 3 totally in-
explicable act; they were jolly
lemmings, and they followed.

Indeed, it must have given them
a heady sense of triumph to throw
their votes to Mrs. Johnston
because it was enough to do the
trick: 941 votes for Rita Johnston,
881 votes for Grace McCarthy.

And the immediate effect of
that was to kick Mrs. McCarthy
out of elective politics. In the
scant minutes before the second

water quality.

acceptable?”’

drinking water
acceptable.

was

On the other hand, 28.7% said
that the quality of drinking water
acceptable.

was not

The same group was asked
“Do you think logging in the
Shore watershed
affects the quality of our

North
drinking water?”’

Almost 50% said ‘yes.’

But 17.4 respondents believed
watershed logging did not affect
water quality, and 34.1% did not

know.

YOU SAID IT!

THE NORTH SHORE NEWS
recently surveyed North
Shore residents about local

We asked 496 people ‘‘Do
you find the quality of the
North Shore drinking water

Of the 496 surveyed, 280, or
68.6% said that the quality of

ballot, we can assume her people
frantically demanded of the
Couvelier followers what in the
world was motivating ihem. What

can they have replied?
They probably mouthed the
nonsense about party unity and

winnability. Clearly they were not
made uneasy by the fact that only
a few minutes earlier, Mr.
Couvelier was saying he was going
to throw in with Mrs. McCarthy.
They did not ponder what plum
their bright’ and shining leader
might have been offered to make
him change his mind. Nor did
they feel a compunction to deny
Mrs. Johnston their support, pay-
ing her back for kicking Mr.
Couvelier out of cabinet on a
pretext that onty served to

Mal uh

MORTH SHORENEN S

enhance her leadership
chances.

Au contraire, they may hav2
felt that if they were avenging
anybody, it was Mr. Vander
Zalm. They may have been
punishing Mrs. McCarthy for des-
erting him in his hour of need. (Uf
so, the fact that Mr. Couvelier
had once had the courage to do
the same was somehow not a con-
sideration.)

But what was the real cause of
the collective decision that has
probably retired the Social Credit
party from the government side of
the B.C. Legislature?

Well, it’s just a notion, but 1
got the feeling that the party had
forgotten the general temper of
this province before they went in-

own

Friday, July

a SE
SE

26, 1991 - North Shore News - 7
COS LT, SE

arcourt Is laughing

to their convention.

British Columbians were not
happy with Social Credit. Certain-
ly not under Bill Vander Zalm.
Nor, according to polls, under
Rita Johnston. She was too much
of a Vander Zalm buddy for com-
fort.

Mike Harcourt, bald head and
all, was beginning to look like an
acceptable alternative to any
Socred but Grace McCarthy. If
British Columbians were going to
give the reins of office to the
Socred establishment one more
time, there was a real desire to be
given assurance that the
establishment had cleaned up its
act.

This was not a convention to
offer that assurance.

outh is disappointed with
decision against teen’s club

Dear Editor:

Last Friday’s headline ‘Youth
clud killed” shocked me. Especial-
ly the ‘‘worries'’ of the surroun-
ding business-people who think
that we live in a dangerous youth
gang community.

I don’t see what they’re worried
about. I’ve seen very little van-
dalism around, and vandalism is
not created only by youth. The
impression they're trying to give is
that this dance club will attract a
bunch of criminals. How much
“bad activity’ can go on with

three security people outside with
“two that would patrol the sur-
rounding area businesses’?

The North Shore Youth Initia-
tives Committee received the
business proposal for the Sanctu-
ary Youth Dance Club. As a
youth representative on this com-
mittee, | joined discussions on the
issue, and both adults and youth
voted unanimously in favor of
recommending the proposal as
long as security was well dealt
with.

That’s

why 1 was especially

Teacher reps ‘politically

Dear Editor:

“Education 2000."* Don’t cheer
yet.

Of course there are good teach-
ers. There always were, there
always will be.

Some.

One of the deficiencies of to-
day’s teaching profession per se is
its insistence that all its members
are dedicated intellectuals who

have voluntarily turned their
backs on the world of industry
and commerce, where they would
undoubtedly have made their for-

tunes, to devote themselves to
service of our youth.
Unfortunately, the teachers’
demands are based on that
assumption.

The truth, however, is that

many, foo many. would be inade-

surprised at the 6-1 defeat, with
Ald. Barbara Sharp (inember of
the NSYIC) being the only one in
favor. It makes me wonder if I'm:
seeing more teenagers on drugs
and under the influence, or more
city councilmen under the influ-
ence of businessmen.

Youth have been asking for
something to do, and this is one
way to help them to use their
energy and have fun!

lan Roy
Argyle Secondary School

motivated’

quate at anything they put their
hands to. The fact that most great
accomplishments in art and
science have been achieved by men
and women whose teachers never
whined about pupil-teacher ratio
or undue stress means little to to-
day’s teachers’ politically
motivated representatives,

Alfred J. Moser

Bowen Island