& ~ Sunday, October 18, 1992 —- North Shore News | Raw politics a — poor Sales tool | for the accord — WITH FRIENDS like the CBC, the faltering Yes campaign = was in no need of enemies last week. What other conciu-. : sion to draw from the three-part Journal documentary Tax attacks C TRANSIT’S reconsideration of its Lower Mainland parking levy : should have been done before the tax rolled through the B.C. legislature as Bill $1 in July. - B.C. Transit chairman Eric Denhoff recently said that he decided to re-examine the parking levy because of heated mer- _ chant pretest. The proposed levy would tax every non-residential parking space in the Lower Mainland metropolitan area by imposing a property tax on land used for non-residen- ‘tial parking, including on- and off-street stalls serving shopping areas, office build- ings and even non-profit organizations such as schools, hospitals, recreational fa- cilities and universities. The’ levy, included in Bill 51, was con- ceived ostensibly to help Jocal environ- ments by discouraging the use of private automobiles and encouraging the use of public transit. The estimated $45 million generated from the tax would be used to help cut transit’s estimated $28.5 million deficit. ; But rather than penalize automobile users, the tax wouid really penalize reces- sion-battered merchants as a hidden prop- erty tax, thereby putiing more pressure on the already fragile retail sector. A more effective tax, for both en- vironmental and transportation purposes, would be a levy on all vehicles registered in the Lower Mainland area. We ali want cleaner air, but the fast thing we need is more taxes and less business. NEWS QUOTES OF THE WEEK | are in that house.”’ North Vancouver “That doesn’t mean you swing the -- pendulum so far the other way “that you’ve got whorehouses going up on Indian lands ..."* Nerth Vancouver Tory MP Chuck Cook, on the Charlot- tetown Accord and aboriginal self-government. “it’s like trading three junior hockey players for Gretzky, Lemieux and Lindros.”” Senator Ray’ Perra’ using a hockey analogy to illustrate his displeasure with the Charlottetown Accord, “On Sept. 22, 1692, the unfortu- Publisher Peter Speck nate Mary Towne Estey was ex- ecuted as a witch in Salem, Massachusetts. It must have run in the family: Mary's older sister Rebecca was also accused and ex- ecuted as a witch earlier that same year. “Or maybe it was just a bad year for the Estey clan.”’ West Vancouver resident John Goodwin, on the burning of. two of his ancestors as witches. **When I got remarried I sat down with my two daughters and told them, look, it’s not how much your house is worth — because they live in a fairly big house in 980-0514 Distribution children’s entertainer Norman Foote, on money versus happiness. “We're not paying much attention to the fabor bill, at least 'm not. I'm sitting on the phone talking to yor and a hundred other people about this (Mitchel) affair) idiotic thing.’’ North Vancouver-Seymour MLA Daniel Jarvis, on how tired he is of the affair over West Van- couver-Garibaldi MLA David Mitchell’s public support of the Charlottetown constitutional ac- cord. 986-1337 Timothy Renshaw Managing Editor Noel Wright Associate Editor . Sales & Marketing Director Linda Stewart Comptroiler Doug Foot North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an ingependent suburpan newspaper and qualified under Schedule 111, Paragraph Ill of the Excise Tax Act. 1S publisned each Wednesday, Friday and Sunday by North Shore Free Press Lid and disinbuted to every door on the North Shore Second Ciass Mai Registration Number 3885 Subscriptions Nortn and Vest Vancouver. $25 per year. Mailing rates avaiable on request. Submissions are welcome but we cannot accept responsibility for unsohcned matenal imewaing Manuscripts and o¢tures which should oe accompanied by a stamped, acdressed envelope Newsroom V7M 2H4 Display Advertising Real Estate Advertising 985-6982 Subscriptions 986-1337 Classified Advertising 986-6222 Fax Ted WORE OF MUST ANG WEST wuncOUVER © Printed on 10% recycled newsprnt Norn Snore managed 985-3227 Administration 985-2131 MEMBER 985-2131 SUNUAY » WEOWESORY - FmORy 1139 Lonsdale Avenue, North Vancouver. B.C. SOA DIVISION 61,582 (average circulation. Wednesday. Faday & Sunday) Entire contents © i992 North Shore Free Press Lid. All rights reserved. ‘*Anatomy of a Deai’’? Goodbye to any fingering illu- sion that the Charlottetown Ac- cord resulted from a noble exer- cise in willing all-round com- promise for the nation’s higher good by its selfless, elected Jead- ers. : The Monday to Wednesday total of nearly two hours took the TV audience backstage for an in- timate fly-on-the-wall view of the five months of wrangling, flip- flopping, horse-trading and some- times brute arm-twisting that culminated in the Aug. 28 deal. Viewers sat in on the formal negotiating sessions of the Canada Round chaired by Joe Clark — while Robert Bourassa was still sulking (though always at the end of the phone) in Quebec City. They were at the table again for the final month of Harrington Lake and Ottawa meetings, after Bourassa finally joined the party and the Prime Minister started to crack the whip in person. They joined shirtsleeved premiers and their staffers, as well as Ovide Mercredi and his chiefs, plotting strategy in hotel backrooms. Via the Journal’s host they talked to them individually, one-on-one, in remarkably frank off-the-record interviews. They saw a courteous, restrain- ed Bourassa under attack from his own aides for not being tough enough. And Ontario's voluble know-all Bob Rae — the feds’ chief ally — dominating every phase of the talks. They witnessed individual con- fusion, reluctance, frustration and anger. They caught Mercredi gloating with aboriginal followers over their triumph. They watched Clark and top bureaucratic Paul Tellier bully Saskatchewan’s Roy Romenow into line with blunt threats. And as the Meech rerun moved to its final climax, they noted the gun held by Mulroney at everyone’s head, including Clark’s — “settle it today the way [ want or I"ll settle it alone with Quebec!”’ The CBC was permitted to tape all this fascinating behind-scenes action as it unrolled on condition that the material would not be aired before a deal was reached. After which the feds maybe fig- ured the great unwashed would be so happy the problem was finally fixed that showing the fixers at work would earn nothing but ad- miration. BOB RAE... dominated all phaces. ° For the Yes side it may prove have been a major blunder. The show was great TV, a rare close-up of raw politics in action — politics having nothing primarily to do with serving peo- ;* ple or principles and everything to: do with naked battles for power. But a sales tool for the accord it was NOT. ‘To an informed, alert public it left a nagging questicn. Could the deal itself be any bet- ter than the dog-fight that pro- © duced it? : SIGN-OFF: Performing Tuesday, Oct. 20, in the:North Shore Community Coacerts series at th Centennial Theatre is talented “.. ' coloratura scprano and harpist:. Wendy Humphceys, acclaimed a: tionwide for outstanding vocal artistry coupled with a viva a entertaining personality. ... Hats: off to the Ambieside Tiddiycove Lions whose latest $9,000 cheque makes a total of $40,500 donated since 1989 to the Ambleside © Children’s Playground — an ~ $85,000 project matched _doilar for. dollar by the municipality. ... And: happy 45th anniversary wishes (o- - day, Oct. 18, 19 Woodcroft’s Ji and Phyllis Insall. " WRIGHT OR WRONG: Avoid heavy traffic — follow the route mapped out by your conscience.