& — Wednesday, January 3, 1996 — North Shore News

I north shore

1139 Lonsdale Avenue
North Vancouver, B.C.
V7M 2H4

PETER SPECK
Publisher
985-2131 (101)

: ion ion
906-1837 (124) 985-2131 (127)

kaha tig
(Claviified Advartiaiag

: Nowereem

| Chclriatton
Diaplay & Real Petate Fax
Mewereen Fos

Cleseified, Accounting
' @ Mala Office Fax
Herth Shore News, founded in 1969 as un

and distributed to every door un the North
Shore. Canada Fost Cenadian Publications Mail
Sales -Product Agreement No. 0087238.
Mailing rates available un request.

61.582 (amrae crevtin Wednesday, — Sunday)
Entire contents
© 1995 North Shore és
Free Press Ltd. ‘conians
All sights reserved.

. mon sense can’t fix.

AND NOW We Look BACK AT
CANADA; THE YEAR IN REVIEW:
QUEBEC, QUEBEC, QUEBEC,

SLAY, BLAH, QUEBEC, BLAH,
QUEBEC, QUEBEC, FOLLOWED

| BY QUEBEC, BLAH, QUEBEC,
QueBec,

news viewpoint

Politics

ELCOME TO a new year. Welcome
to the delicious promise of life’s

pages yet to be filled.

With certainty, some of the text to come in
1996 will be provided from the political
arena. The year will see elections on the
municipal and provincial fronts. The NDP
could pull the plug on its reign in the next few
months. It will be a pivotal election for B.C.
Voters will have a chance to give the scandal-
tainted NDP a second chance under new lead-
ership. But more significantiy, voters may
choose to throw in their lot with the fiscal con-
servative movement playing out in Ontario
and Alberta. Both B.C. Reform and Liberal
parties are setting themselves up to hoist the
banner Small is Beautiful. Here’s a predic-
tion: the sentiment will fly.

Government at any level has yet to whole-
heartedly embrace the fact that today’s voter

THERE’S NO problem with
Canada that courteous com-

From Yesterday’s Man, Jean
Chretien, and his trained Liberal
seals in Ottawa there's plenty of
courtesy toward Quebec but, alas, a
complete absence of common
sense. Conversely, most of anglo
Canada's 22 million citizens
abound in common sense — not
always matched, however, by their
manners when discussing La Belle
Province.

——
AND LOOKING FORWARD... \j
CANADA; 1996 PREDICTIONS:
QUEBEC, QUEBEC, QUEBEC,
BLAH, BLAH, QUEBEC, BLAH |
QUEBEC, QUEBEC, FOLLOWED
BY QUEBEC, BLAH , QUEBEC,

beckon

demands an end to the deficit and debt sheil-
game practiced to varying degrees by ail par-
ties in power, regardless the political stripe.
The word from the street is this: public enter-
prise must be operated in a fashion on par
with the fiscal accountability faced by private
enterprise.

Before bold words bolstered by exclama-
tion marks begin to jostle for collective share
of mind on the municipal front we should all
consider this between now and election day in
November: pubic policy made at the munici-
pal levet has a huge impact on our duily lives.
We may debate gun control legislation at the
dinner table but when it comes down to the
give and take of daily life, municipal zoning
decisions and the like directly define the con-
ditions by which we live, where we live.

A worthy idea for a resolution: get involved
in the political life of your community.

tight to retain a land corridor with
the Atlantic Provinces, Fair's fair. If
Canada is divisible, so also must
Quebec be divisible.

As weil, what about the
Seaway? Canadian passports?
Quebec’s share of the national
debt? Trade with the Rest of
Canada (ROC)? And so it goes on
for as long as the possibility exists
that Quebecers will, sooner or later,
vote to separate.

Common sense dictates, there-
fore, that ROC citizens decide
without delay on the precise details

First, the facts. Quebec's rough-
ly seven million people — over
80% francophone — form about
25% of Canada’s population. The
Oct. 30 referendum last year
revealed, however, that hard-core
separatists number under two mil-
lion. That’s fess than one quarter of
the provincial population itself and
a tiny 6% of Canada’s.

Next there’s geography. Modern
Quebec is thrice the size it was at
Confederation in 1867. The top
two-thirds — the mineral-rich
north and home of the Cree and
Inuit nations — were placed for
administrative purposes under

and yon

Quebec by 1898 and 1912 ucts of
Canada’s Parliament, which can
always be repealed. Meanwhile, the
Cree and Inuit have voted over-
whelmingly to remain part of
Canada. And that’s only one of the
geographical headaches looming
for Lucien Bouchard’s separatists.
Much of Montreal, the Ottawa
Valley and the Eastern Townships
— voted “No” last October. Could
they be forced to leave Canada
against the will of their citizens?
Then there’s Canada’s self-evident

of their bottom line, should separa-
tion be forced upon them. The
Reform Party has already produced
a draft proposal entitled 20
Realities of Secession. While it
may not be the final word, it points
to the path we must follow — and
fast.

But that’s not all. Common
courtesy requires that this bottom
line be communicated to — and as
far as possible discussed with —
Quebecers well before any separa-
tion ultimatum from their govern-
ment. Calmly, politely, with no
anger or threatening. Simply an
objective statement of what ROC

maibox

Teen
centre
pian
panned

Dear Editor:

This letter is written to
address an important aspect of
the proposed teen drop-in cen-
tre planned for the former
Sportsmen's Club at
Ambleside Park.

Other issues aside, I fail to
understand the message being
sent by choosing a site that is
off the main drag, in the midst
of forest and railway, next to a
beach, in a poorly lit field. Is
this what we consider suitable ©
and safe for our youth? I don’t
think so.

Teens need strong support
while they seazch for their
individual identity and values. 7.
To slough them off into the -]:
woods, away from telephones,
other people, bus service,
where the driver can see them, *
and all the activities that make -
a community a good place'to™
live, work and play — to do.
this to our youth is both unrea-
sonable ard shameful. They
deserve better from. us, ‘thei
parents, neighbors and co
munity. :

I suggest that better action
on the part of. the.“We
Vancouver community wou!
be to convert the former We:

It has all the advantages the
proposed site at Ambleside
will never have. A coffee

oped and run by youth
front;. there is’a ‘ready
theatre, stage and. auditotiun
Proper - washroom : facilitie:
exist; as do lighting, heating’
and sound systems.,}t fronts
vital street, close to alll’
ties and communication
. Our: youth deserve ‘to

_ front and centze, .

. Donna Gallagher eo
West Vancouver

must do to safeguard its interests i i
the worst happens.
And no mote of that: 'g
dance” nonsense.. The vast
of ROC citizens dearly want"
Quebec to stay with Canada. They
enjoy and value the g; ial & and:
“distinct” flavor Quebs
the Canadian family for 233 y
They wish to keep Quebec as' ps
of what the UN calls the ‘hest:
try in the world tr live in. All thi
too, must be safe snd demon-)
strated — with the | genuine warmih:
ost of us feel. ;
mt nevertheless, we ultimate
lose Quebec, we'll at least have
done our civilized best. And our
firm bottom line will still enable, us :
to retain much cf the Canadian
dream and build on it in new: ways,
All we need now are NEW.
LEADERS who see —— and can do
it — that way!
HAPPY 85th birthday today, Jan.
3, to former columnist Himie
Koshevoy.

WRIGHT OR WRONG: Be as oy:

gentle to others’ faults as they are to :
yours. ‘