& - Wednesday, September 15, 1999 — North Shore News

Chinese migrant story gets
loopier by the day. Updates on
the latest arrivals in trans-Pacific

rustbuckets <aid their progress through
the Canadian immigration systera are
new as regular as weather rts.

Canadians have learned in the
process that their country is a prime
destination for illegal migrants and the
criminal forces who ship them our way.
It’s a prime target because Canada’s
policies of embrace-first-and-ask-ques-
tions-later favour the cheat and the
crook over the legitimate refugee.

Canadians have also learned that the
- federal government lacks the backbone
to act on the country’s behalf and make
the needed immigration system
changes.

And more recently they have learned
from 4 report in the daily press ‘that

north shore news

VIEWPOINT

loads of migrants back.

China rightly argues that even con-
sidering the migrants for refugee status
will encourage more arrivals and more
human sm ig.

Hey, why didn’t we think of that?

Well, guess what: we didn’t.
Immigration Canada is not about to be
stampeded into doing what both
Canadians and Chinese want.

The deparnnent is not about to send
the boat people back. Likely in part
because it wouldn’t be able to find all
444 who have recently arrived even if
the department wanted to — many
have already disap .

Meanwhile the migrants still in cus-
tody at CFB Esquimait are now watch-
iag TV and playing leapfrog with the
RCMP officers assigned to guard
them. Hollywood couldn’t make this
stuff up.

Wcortia TOES CAAGH DEBT WaO BLES ee ua ni Accor ann CN

eT aNoTHER BoaTLOaD OF

{LEGAL MigRaNTS
TURNS UP ON The
WESTCOAST...

China wants Canada to send the boat-

mailbox
How far do we go
with field user fees?

Dear. Editor: ;
*“After reading Mr. Tetry Long's (Aug. 29) letter to your
ewspaper, in “regard to..user fees for “special interest
s groups,” I felt i it necessary to comment on some of the state-
ments madc.:.
- It is clear from Mr. Long’s letter he is not aware that
‘ sport, groups have been paying uscr fees for some time in .
form or another, °° e
: ‘auth soccer has no problem with the condept; subject t to”
the, funds Bes targeted to ‘facilities vanetstaed In both The

Pal

individua! freedom’s price tag

TWO centuries ago the French:
Revolution embraced liberty and
equality (throwing in “fratern:-
ty” for good measure) as its
watchwords in the
fight against tyran-
ny.

Te has taken most of
the past'200 years for
modern democracy. —
one of the more iinpor-

tant legacies of those
tumbrels carrying .

~ France’ ‘92. aristocracy: to
the. guillotine — to
. uncover. the »sad truth

» about the < revolution’s

many sports -users piy for ‘maintenance on a.

s draina| e repair, goal-post installation,

ind backstop repair, .

Soccer fnas' for some years paid fees for the usc of fields

tournaments, ‘which interestingly enough, actually

reduces revenue for local business such as restaurants, and
from the many visiting teams. °°

year alone the members of the North Shore Youth

t Association will pay,over $11,009 in user fees associ-

with our field perraits, in addition to levyi ying a fee on

each player for field iniprovements.

While cautiously supporting user fees, 1 have to ask the.
"question, i if, as Mr. Long ‘believes, youth i is.a “special inter-
est group” docs that mean dog owners are too?

“Does: he mean tennis players are subject to user fees?
Docs he ae mean that people who use walking tzails should

charged? *

One has“to be very ‘careful,’ “Mr. Long, about what you
call a special interest group or the next thing we will have i is
‘an entry fee for all parks and activities. ;

: ee you really advocate that Mr. Long?
Les Sinnott...
North Vancouver -; __

__ Mots Snore Kews, founded in 1969 as an
"independent suburban newspaper and qualited
Under Schedule 111, Paragraph 118 of the
Encise Tax Act, is published each Wednesday,
Friday and Sunday by HCN Publications
Company and distributed to every door on the
North Shove. Canada Fost Canadian Publications
Mail Sales Product Agroement No, 0067238.

_.. Mave Fancher
Creative Services Director *

‘985-2131 (127)
61,582 {average circuration, Neches Ftiday & Seay

Distribution Manager”
986-1337 (124)

“once sacred watchwords.:: ;

: Liberty (or freedom): and equality are
mutually opposed concepts, Individual
freedom can never survive amid total
equality. ust as surely, total equality
spells the Neath of individual freedom.

Today, the baitle between freedoin and tal misfortune — is solely upto us.. How:

equality is increasingly defined in patitical
terms — the champions of individual free-.

. dom being the political right: Reformers,

Conservatives and busincss. -

Backing equality over all other goals is |
the political left — the NDP, half of the
Liberal Party, the labour unions, militant

” feminists, gays and lesbians, and the maulti-
cultural industry; plus a Charter-fed judi-
_ ciary and those scourges of individual free-

dom cverywhere, the Human Rights:
Commissions.

Their perpetual cry i is for “a level, play- -

ing field” in all life’s endeavours, some-
thing that -no genuine 'freedom-lover

- would ever deny them. Equality of oppor-

‘Gee Dbatiwal
Honan Resources Manager
986-2131 (177)

PETER SPECK
Publisher ..
‘c6p-2181 (103)

~ Photography Manager
. 985-2131 (166)

_is an obvious universal ri

"Classified Manager
986-6222 (202)

_ Entire contents © 1999 HCN Publications Company An ats reserved

tunity — the chance for everyone to start
towards their goal on an equal footing —

ight i in any s eivi-
lized socizty.

Bur i's not just “a level playing field”
the high priests of total
equality want. What
they really seck is not
only equality of pppore
tunity but equality of
outcome. In short, when
the finai whistle blows
on the level playing
field, ic must be a tied
game every time, Never
any winners, never any
losers, ;
Which, of course, can
never happen as long as
the human species survives.

At the risk of stating the obvious, we
are all different. In any endeavour we’re-
entitled to start out on exactly the. same
footing as our competitors. But after that,
the end result — aside only from acciden-

hither
"and yon

good we are at what wé do, how’ hard we
work at it, these are the factors that inz

ly determine the outcome of our individ-
ual efforts.” Without that. basic freedom
there can. be no true: excellence: in any
field.

Hence the fallacy of “discrimination,”
the constant battle cry of the total equali-
ty seekers. What about those; they ask,
who are denied equality of opportunity
solely because of what.they are —~ people
of a culturally different race; women, gays,
the -disabled: —. without: regard to what
they can DO? “That’s why “affirmative
action” employment laws are essential,
_ they argue, 2°" :

~ battle

But, of course, this anti-discrintination
weapon: is a double-edged sword. If an
Afro-Canadian is the best qualified for a
job, he should get if °°." ;

But if — solely in order not to discrinn: Le
inate against coloured people — he gets it!
despite being less quaiified than a white",
male applicant, it’s the latter who i is clearly 7.
discriminated against. °

Substitute, any other minority group
member who wins out for a job’ despite
being the lesser qualified, and the answer .-~

is the same.

In the sacred name of quality” ;
better qualified applicant is, denied . the
freedom to excel, while the employe
denied the freedom to operate in
efficient manner.’

What's the answer to. tod: vy’
between Canada’

authoritarian”. equality-m ngers

‘ wrapped in our: flawed Charter of Rig

— and the defenders, of indivi

The only possible answer is fo the, fat
ter, not the tyrannical: cgalitarians,
the’: —— but with i more ‘sensiti

: respi

often shown: to-date.'.
With: tolerance, civility,

anda reddiness,. wheriever: need

P'
Freely accepting the du
low humans is surely not too: high’a pri
for frecdom itself.

quality has no finish line
roriahtn

LETTERS 10 THE EDITOR :

Letters must include your name, =
full address & telephone aumber. -

Managing Editor
988-2051 (118)

Oavid Whitman
Display Advertising Manager
900-0511 17}

"VIA é-mait: trenshaw @ ditectica

Gall Snelyrove
‘General Office Manager
885-2131 (105)

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‘ongoing :
increasingly’