eR A6-Wednesday, September 17, 1980 - North Shore News editorial page Bennett's baby The hundreds of thousands of British Columbians who hold shares in the B.C. Resources Investment Corp. following Premier Bennett’s handout last year have every reason to feel disturbed about BCRIC’s current takeover bid for Kaiser Resources Ltd. So has the premier, whose brainchild BCRIC is. | The corporation's offer of $55 per Kaiser share — a 70% premium over the last trading price — hardly smacks of a smart business deal. However, there is a rumor that BCRIC decided it must move swiftly to prevent a counter takeover by the Alberta Energy Company which would have brought Kaiser’s important B.C. coal holdings under the control of the Alberta government’s sub- sidiary. If this story proves correct when all the facts emerge after the BCRIC offer expires on October 9, BCRIC’s high price for the shares may appear more justifiable. Harder to explain to BCRIC shareholders will be the reports, if confirmed, of huge personal fortunes made by certain in- dividuals as a result of the $23 per share premium offered by BCRIC. According to one report, 19 Kaiser employees spent nearly $5.5 million this summer acquiring Kaiser shares that will be worth more than $9 million if the takeover succeeds. The per- sonal wealth of Edgar Kaiser Jr., says another report, could increase by a cool $5.6 million because of his stock transactions from March onward. The NDP .wants to know whether there were leaks of inside information prior to the September 2 takeover announcement. Despite his insistence that BCRIC no longer has any connection with the government, Premier Bennett would be smart to agree. He can't completely disown his own baby. Empty gesture? President Jimmy Carter will be represented by an empty chair in Sunday's planned three-way TV debate which he has refused to share with rivals Ronald Reagan and John Anderson. It somehow recalls Winston Churchill’s quip about the then leader of the Labour opposition: “An empty taxicab drew up and Clement Attlee got out.” sunday : news north shore |. news 1139 Lonsdaje Ave North Vancouver 6 C V7M 2H4 (604) 985-2131 NEWS AOVERTISING CLASSIFIED CIRCULATION 985-2131 960-0511 086-6222 986-1337 Publisher Peter Speck Associate Publisher Editor-in-Chief Advertising Director Robert Granam Noel Wright Eric Cardwell Classified Manage: Productiqn & Office Administrator Tim Francid Berni Hilliard Faye McCrae Managing Editor News Editor Photography Andy Fraser Cnns Uoyd Ellsworth Orckson Accounting Supervisor Barbara Keen North Shore News, founded in 19069 a3 an mdependent comma ty newspaper and qualihed under Schedute I Part i) Par egret: UE cof the Excise Tan Act is published each Wednesday and Swany bry North Shore Free Press Lid and distibuted to avery JOor on the North Shore Second Clans Mau Flea perste catie oe Niuartit ese bese’ Subscriptions $20 per year Eating .¢ SPRL Neoetfs abseor es Free Press Lid All aghts rene ved mw leyests No responsibility ae Coptedt tor te ee MaAnNUsCHptS and prctures wt Bayt rc abet toe ts stamped addrossed return envelope VERIFIED CIRTUL ATION §0,870 Wednesday 49.913 Sneode ¥ SF SIN A THIS PAPER IS RECYCLABLE By DOUGLAS KNOLL Pastor of Canyon Heights Chapel Perhaps one of the most controversial elections on the North Shore is to be held tonight at the annual election of new board members for the North and West Vancouver Hospital Society. As a minister of the gospel I am both delighted and saddened at the same time because of this over- whelming response of the North Shore citizens to have a Voice in this election. I am delighted because this response of 5,400 members including 3,800 new members this year shows a real interest by our residents in con. munity activities. Certainly if this same interest is shown in all other community projects there is nothing that could not be accomplished. However, I am extremely concerned that our response has been exclusively predicated on an emotional issue -— that of whether abortion should or should not be performed. Certainly I would hope that we would not choose someone to act on our behalf simply because he agrees with us on one issue. What havoc and discontentment would set in to our whole society if we elected our municipal, provincial or federal representatives in this manner. | A | pastor looks at abortion I am sure that each of the eighteen previous members who were chosen to serve on this board of directors has done an excellent job ad- ministratively, including the five endorsed by the North Shore Pro Life Society last year; and would prefer their re-election to be based on their total accomplishments, not On one emotional issue. If, the total however, “I had the most awful nightmare last night.” Pierre's retirement Haste is of the Devil. — The Koran. Almost everything that could be said and written about last week’s failed constitutional conference has already been said and written — except for one all-important point which the media elsewhere ha‘ e seemingly been too polite to stress. Bluntly, t1e main problem is Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau himself. Let me hasten to explain that this statement has nothing directly to do with Mr. Trudeau's vision of Canada; with his insistence that national interests must take precedence’ over provincial interests if it comes to the crunch: even with his arrogance and one-upmanship. nor famous intellectual It has to do purely with his Personal timetable, and “personal” 1s the operative word. That 1s what finally brought about the collapse of last week's crucial meeting with the 10 provincial premiers. The personal reasons for Mr. Trudeau's hustle are well known. He wants to retire within the next (wo or three years (having already formally retired for three weeks last fall before suf- fering resurrection to fight the February election) And when he retires in carnest, he wants a Canadian consti- (ution in place as his lasting monument 14 WEEKS LEFT In addition federahst victory in May's Quebec Mr there was the last referendum Trudeau interpreted this as Meaning that the aspirations of loyat Quebechers must be salisfied immediately before they changed thew minds Actually the 60% of Ouebeckerm who opted to slay oin Canada set ae specific short-term deadline for constitutional change. Nevertheless, Mr. Trudeau decided that the British North America Act must be brought home from its filing cabinet in London, England — all ready to be amended in Quebec's favor, at any rate — not later than December 31 of this year. Amid the ruins of the constitutional conference, and with just 14 weeks left, that’s) still Mr. Trudeau's stated timetable. Which means that he will now presumably have to keep his threat, issued before the conference began, to patriate the constitution uni- laterally in the event of non- agreement with the provinces on the vital amending formula Smali wonder the 10 provincial premiers felt last week that they negolating with a pointed at them heads were gun LOYAL VISIONS A little perhaps. IV sas tro ulate unexpectedly. they emerged on 10 sincere and ar pohtcal with = has loyal vision of Canada as well as of his own province leaders. cach own But since those visions could not be recone tled in) the) short space of five days. with that of Mr Trudeau the latter's arbitrary deadhne reduced the mecting to a classi example of “heads | win. taths you lose 7 Noel Wright Later this week the prime minister will be announcing his next steps. Technically, all he needs is a joint resolution from both houses of Parliament (each Liberal-dominated) asking the British parliament to transfer the BNA Act to Canadian jutisdiction. No problem there. There ar¢ some _indi- cations at the moment that he might first hold a national referendum based on one or two inevitably simple “motherhood” questions. Ontano and Quebec voters alone (despite Rene Levesque’s opposition to unilateral patriation) could probably swing that one in hes favor Over at Westminster there might be a htde token op poston by Labour Party MPs sympathenc to native Indian claims that Canada's original inhabitants are being left out of Che con stitution-making process altogether But given Prime Minister Margaret’ That- chers sohd) majority such accomplishments of the board of directors are reflected in the number of abortions that are allowed at Lion's Gate Hospital — where allegedly 55 abortions live births and a reported 99% of abortion applications | were approved last year then : perhaps a _ second took should be given to the choice of directors. Scripturally I would have to support the Pro Life Society since God's -word Very clearly states in Psalm _ 139: 13-16 how it is God who fashions or makes the little babies and records this event in His book. The time to decide “pro life” or “pro choice” is before conception. If 83%-of applications for abortion at Lion's Gate Hospital were approved because the ap- plicant “was in no position to raise a child”, then we asa - society are paying a high price for birth control. God help us to stan' for that which is morally and scripturally right regardless of what the majority may or may not do. plan opposition in Britain is” unlikely to amount to much. © PROBLEMS IGNORED So the way seems clear for. Mr. Trudeau's persona timetable to prevail — and. to hell with the provinces once the constitution is» safely lodged in Ottawa. What his purely self-~ interested hustle will do to Canada's already fragile unity is another question. Even if less than perfect, the BNA Act has served Canada reasonably well for 113 years. It’s hardly likely that another few months, even another year or SO, devoted to reaching agreement between all the partners in Confederation (including the native peoples) is suddenly going to wreck the country. Meanwhile, the prime minister's single-minded obsession with the con- stitutional timetable has led Ottawa to virtually ignore the eraly urgent problems crying aloud for attention ~— rising inflation and un- employment; a stagnant economy (apart from Alberta and BC.) & crushing $14 billion federal deficit, no coherent economic or energy policies, nor even a budget for almost two years. One would think Mr. Trudeau and his colleagues would be wrestling with these problems day and mght, but there is no in- dication here of any sense of urgency. They are the kind ol problems thal can wreck a country. But Mr Trudeau gives the impression of being oblivious to that possibility — determined only to ensure that his own retirement plan are not wrecked It's a strange pnontices order O