oan BY THE WAY... ANY WORD ON HOW THE 6.0. GOVERNMENTS STOCK PORTFOLIO IS DOING? - ———4 wy Sato) antearet SS kee ee ; NEWS VIEWPOINT Go away guns WHE TIME has come for Canada to ;, lead the'continent in sensible handgun ~ policy. ; -. 2 Federal Justice Minister Allan Rock said : earlier this week that Ottawa will discuss the concept ofa. complete ban on the lethal _ weapons. = ~ And not a moment too soon. — - 3 -Hiindguns, as the song goes, are imade for ~~ Killing, ‘They’re ‘good for nothing else. - . Forget the collectors and setdier of fortune “wannabes. Too often the: sale of handguns results in the killing of inxocent Canadians in ~ their’ own backyards, ‘regardless of waiting . + periods and sieve-like red tape. - Handguns are unacceptable i in a society . 7 “that prides itself on human rights and human ‘preservation, - Of course, a complete ban on the weapons will have “ance and even-balanced nature. : to be backed up by. legislation that : mekes the possession of a handgun a major offence, not the slap on the wrist it is today. Juveniles with any sort of firearm in their possession should be stripped of their right to hyide behind the veil of youth. Try them as adults. Police must also be given the chance to see their arrests count — something that will return confidence in the system and make criminals more accountable for their violent actions'in our peaceful neighborhoods. =“ Violent crime has ravaged the fabric of ‘American society, leaving thousands dead | iH ‘and lives in tatters. This is one import from down South we do i not need. . Canadians take great pride in their toler Intolerance’ of handguns, however, wil only n make us prouder, “LETTER OF THE DAY | ‘Let the Holocaust wounds heal at last war can produce. Millions died, millions suffered the loss of family, health, and a million starved. 1 believe we do not need monu- » Dear Editor: I read, with’ atisuétion the arti- ‘cle “Hollywood propaganda” by Mr. Collins, which‘ran in the March 9 edition. {am not against Jewish people; they got a raw deal 50 years ago, but I am tired to my bones of the constant presentation of the Holocaust. It was! an unfortunate event which never should have hap- pened.- \ . It seems to me there i is no end to . rubbing salt into aa open wound, All this propaganda, hype and hate, start to defy the purpose af remembering the Holocaust. Many of us are beginning to grumble, to bulk at all the stories of woe, and i would nol be surprised if there might be, in. the future, a wave of anti-Semitism, as it has already started in small doses here and there, : i: Mr. Collins is right in stating | that there have been many holo- causts during the course of history. I call the Second World War one ugliness a ments for all these “unsung heroes.” We are living proof to the world and to ourselves that pro- longed hate is destructive. Tam thankful to be able to look back at those terrible years without “hate; otherwise it would be a heavy chain to drag around. Margot Larsen North Vancouver instead of letting it heal. Publisher Managing Edilo Associate Editor... Sales & Marketing Director. inda Stewart Comptratter.... Doug Foot North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an independent suburban newspaper and qualified under Schedule 111, Paragraph 111 of the Excise Tax Act, is published each Wednesday, Friday and Sunday by North Shore Free Press Ltd. and Gistributed to every doar on the North Shore. . Canada Post Canadian Publications Mail Sales Product Agreement No. 0087298. Mailing rates available on request. Submissions are welcome but we cannot accept responsibility for unsolicited materiai including manuscripts and pictures which should be accompanied by a stamped, addressed envelope, . ..Peter Speck imothy Renshaw Noel Wright Newsroom V7M 2H4 for certain. | have experienced the Display Advertising Reat Estate Advertising 985-6982 Subscriptions Classified Advertising 1139 Lonsdale Avonue North Vancouver B.C. Norton Shore Managed 986-1337 986-1337 985-3227 985-2131 980-0511 Distribution 986-6222 Fax 985-2131 Administration —_—— MEMBER —~ Gu Shs YAN SDA DIVISION / 61,582 (average circulation, Wednesday, Friday & Sunday} - this ews recyed ‘re , Entire contents © 1994 North Shore Free Press Ltd. Ail rights reserved. Dollar-A- Year. Gang’ § enlight THE DOLLAR-A- YEAR Gang -+ the Fiscal Five whose’stunning analysis of West ‘Vancouver's finances wes cited i in this column two weeks ago — has struck again. And, again, devastat- ingly. The earlier analysis showed that . West Vancouver taxes had soared compared with their historical lev-. els, inflation, and the rise in popu- lation. ‘The latest one shows how numbingly high they: are compared ~ with those of other municipalities. © West Vancauverites have loug. had a pretty good idea that their taxes were loftiest in these parts. The figures assembled by the ' Dollar-a- Year Gang — that’s just ‘my name for them; explanation later — do more than confirm that feeling. per capita tax revenue is a moon- shot higher than the runner-up on a list of 17 Lower Mainland rounici- palities. Way, way, way ahead. And, since every revenue dollar is spent, for “revenue” you can equally read “expenditure.” Based on B.C. Ministry of. Municipal Affairs data for 1991, (66 They ‘re convinced -that there’s at least. $2 million ef fat.in the West Vancouver: budget .... 99 the most recent available, every man, woman and child in West Vancouver — the population was then 38,783 — paid $747 in munic-... ' jpal taxes that year. ~ Next highest was Burnaby — at $552 per capita. The city of - Vancouver was third-at $544, more than $200 less than the. West Vancouver figure. Lowest on the list of 17 was Langley, where the per capita figure was only $347, ~ about 46% of the West Vancouver figure. Okay, you can argue: you only” get what you pay for, Would West Vancouverites want to live in (shudder) Surrey ($369), Richmend ($423), or Maple Ridge ($360)? © we Or even in our poor cousins, neighboring North Vancouver City ($477) and North Vancouver District ($425), where it is believed that West Vancouverites charitably send their used designer clothes when they're bored with them? Not on your Nellie. Maybe we residents of West Vancouver (which also boasts B.C.’s and one of Canada’s wealth- iest postal codes, V7W) even take a kind of perverse pride in leading the tax parade, and a mile in front of the rest. These taxes pay for beautiful, lavish parks and flowers (you've seen those gorgeous yellow tulips They show that West Vancouver , fervor GARDEN OF BIASES on the median in Dundarave?), for. police who don’t have much to police, for firefighters who rarely ~. fight & fires, for a library that is one of the most patronized in Canada.. But the Dollar-a-Year Gang are . a thrifty and hard-headed lot. They’re convinced that there’s at least $2 million‘of fat inthe West ©... Vancouver budget — to be set this. month (last year it was $37 mil- lion). Tnat’s two million smackers that could be saved without reduc-. ing West Van’s handsome style or” services, of And these aren’t a bunch of ordinary tavern grumblers, The five . — David A? Hall; Ronald We. 22 "Baldry, William G. Brown, and °; __ chartered accountants H.J. Brice” Macdougal! and Gordon G.C. Kerr’ — are, at the very least, expert and - highly qualified grumblers, And= poe they offer constructive criticism, as...::° * ~ it’s called, unless you are on the. ae receiving end of it. °. me I’m calling them the Dollar-a- ‘Year Gang because they propose a: community-spirited committee of volunteers with operations manage- ‘ment experience in the practical ;. world — plenty of those in West ° ', Vancouver, they say — to sttidy ' municipal finances and make rec- | ommendations to council within six | months. Bill Brown compares.them « ’ to the dollar-a-year businessmen ; who contributed tremendously to =: * Canada’s Second World War effort for.the noininal one buck; while their companies continued to pay their salaries and expenses. —_ Getting back to the West Van, _ proup’s latest chart, it also shows these figures (with rank among the 17 municipalities in brackets): ° Total debt per capita: West Vancouver $381 (6th), North — - Vancouver City $27 (16th), N.V. District $29 (15th). Highest: Vancouver $866; lowest: Port © Coquitlam $24. * Debt charges per. capita: Ww. Ve $102 (3rd), N.V. City $28 (15th), N.V. District $21 (26th). Highest: Vancouver $157; lowest: Port ' Coquitlam $17. Expect to hear more from this: fiscally fierce fivesome. Footnote: Last Friday I noted that. the West Vancouver School Board - had voted to give preference during question period to West Van resi- - dents and parents. To his:credit, newcomer Michael MacDougall was the only trustee opposing this motion; which’ was Supported by Ken Haycock, Chris. Bird and Barbara Howard. It’s a bad way. to deal with perceived trouble-makers.