(ISS TORES? [THINK TLL | STROLL OVER 1) THE N TREASURY BUDING.. wu! FO FINALLY AN THE PRINE OINISTERS OFFICE! AKO AM OAT | TORY BLDDEES One AT Bee _ESARLINTENT CANADA... OX.. TLL 60 DOWN TO THE DEFENCE MINISTRY AD SEE ie GAD... OH AND WHILE 1 HAVE YOU ON THE LINE... “"REWS VIEWPOINT -Fair’s not fair NOTHER "analysis ‘directed. a roundhouse -left. at the ‘ NDP’s iil-conccived Fair Wage poli- Ye te coe ie a “report released this: month, a trio of -- professors from. Simon Fraser University “and: the University of British Columbia has . - confirmed suspicions ’ held | in. various "quarters ef B.C.’s construction industry and. elsewhere in the province: the policy — introduced © in March 1992 to force. in- ‘dependent ‘open-shop. (nex-union) _com- ‘panies to pay wages and benefits on: gov-_ » emment job sites comparable to the rates the gevernment pays’ its’ own army -of ‘unionized workers —-_was poorly developed and. will ade willions: of dollars io. tax- payers’ bills: by artificially inflating the price of government construction contracts. -. ‘Among the professors’ conclusions: e above-average wage earners benefit. at has rightly. the expense of taxpayers earning below average wages; @ the policy establishes a “super minimum wage’? of over $25 per hour rather than a fair wage based on the going wage rate in a specified jurisdiction; ® the p@licy will cost B.C. taxpayers an entra $100 million per year; ® construction labor could “‘price itself out of the market.”’ But you don’t need a. university degree for common sense to tell you that establishing a policy thet arbitrarily raises the cost of providing services to the gov- ernment, regardless of prevailing market value of thasse services sets an unreal price that can only ke supported by squcvezing taxpayers yet again. As the report states, “Why this is ‘fair’ eludes the authors of this study.”’ A fair statement about an unfair policy. NEWS QUOTES OF THE WEEK : “We can iook forward to a happy Christmas at last.” _ Elderly resident of Indian Arm’s Cascade community, upon learn- ing that North Vancouver District _ had approved road access to their area. (From .a Nov. 10 News _story.j | “F don’t care if it was a nine tMillimetre, 9 .38, a shotgun, or a bazooka. It was a judgment call. I didn’t want anyone to get hurt.”’ during a break in an RCMP in- quiry into his use of a 9 mm semi-automatic gun during his in- vestigation of a church burglary. in North tions. Story.) (From a Nov. 12 News “North Shore dollars are for North Shore arts groups and not for outside carpet-baggers raiding our fittle piggy bank.”’ North Vancouver City Coun. keeping Vancouver —— on his ac-. North Shore ‘arts funds on the North Shore. (From a Nov. 12 News story.) - “When you're holding Howie Morenz’s last team jersey in your hand, the stick that he scored the final goal of his final game with — there is rec! power in those things.” West Vancouver photographer Derik Murray, on the power of hockey legends. (From the Nov. RCMP Cpl. Glenn Magark — \ Publisher Managing Editor Associate Editor Sales & Marketing Director tinda Stewart Comptrolier Doug Foot North Shore Nows, founded in 1969 as an independent suburban newspaper and qualified under Schecule 111, Paragraph i! of the Excise Tax Act, is published ‘each Wednesday, Friday and Sunday by North Shore Free Press Lid. and distributed to every door ‘on the North Shore. Canada Post “Canadian Pubtications Mail Sates Product Agreement No, 0087238, Mailing rates available on request. Submissions are welcome but we cannot accent responsibility for unsolicited maierial including | manuscripts and pictures which should be accompanied ‘by a stamped, sell- addressed envelope. .. Peter Speck Timothy Renshaw Noel Wright Newsroom V7M 2H4 Barbara Perrault, oa Display Advertising Real Estate Advertising 985-6982 Classified Advertising 986-6222 1139 Lonsdale Avenue, North Vancouver, B.C. 10 News Now spotlight feature.) 980-0511 Distribution 986-1337 Gay Subscriptions 966-1337 Fax 985-3227 Administration 985-2131 4 od 4] This newsoager Contains 985-2131 recycled fibre SOA DIVISION 61,582 {average circulalion, Wednesday, Friday & Sunday) Entire contents © 1993 North Shore Free Press Ltd. All rights reserved. FOR MANY civic voters, picking the candidates agaiust whose names tc put their ‘X° is like picking numbers for the 6/49 lottery. As the girl in the commercial says, there has to be a better way. As it is, voters may recognize the names of some current council or school board members — even in a few cases have some vague opinion about their performance. But the ballot form they take into the polling booth also throws at them anywhere up to a dozen ad- ditional names of which they know precisely zilch. This time round it’s worse than ever in the North Shore’s three municipalities, where the total of 79 contenders battling for the 32 mayoral, council and school board seats includes 53 outsiders, many of them first-timers. Unless a newcomer already has a high profile in some other major area of community activity, it’s virtually impossible during the short three- to four-week cam- paign to make any lasting impres- sion on voters who (a) don’t turn out to all-candidate meetings; (b) prefer hockey or the soaps to Shaw Cable’s TV election forum; and (c) only flip idly through the detailed candidate coverage ist the News. That adds up to an awful lot of ' civic voters — many of them this year also suffering political: burn-out from the federal elec- tion. Small wonder, then, that “‘alphabetical’”’ voting — starting at the top of the alphabetical can- didates list and marking Xs straight down for the number to be elected — has been a ; recognized phenomenon, “What it has meant in practice, of course, © is that candidates whose names begin with ‘A’ to ‘H’ have fre- quently swept to victory. In 1990, 20 of the 30 successful North Shore council and school board candidates’ names began with A to H, In the previous (1987-88) councii elections 14 of the 18 winners were in the A-H range. This year North Van City and some other municipalities are ending that despicable practice by listing candidates’ names in the order they are drawn trom a hat. This may up the odds for a few M-to-Zs but it’s about as helpful to voters 2s spelling the names backward. All of which points to the only sane solution in any municipality with a population of more than 5,000 — a WARD system. Its togic lies in the fact that neighborhood communities are the natural social and economic units of any municipality. They are the homogenous groupings which council exists to serve. Compared to the present ‘‘at large’’ system, each ward ballot would list fewer candidates. They'd be far more iikely to be personally known to a good many ward residents. Protecting and promoting ward interests would be their primary task in council. And this would give ward electors the strongest incentive to turn out and vote, Compared to federal and pro- vincial elections with their average 70-80% voter turnouts, municipal voter turnouts routinely anguish in the 30-50% bracket at very best and often pathetically lower. All the weeping and wailing in the ‘HITHER AND YON... ° world won't lure citizens into civic ‘polling stations to put Xs ‘against a lengthy list of unknown names. Only a ward system can get them genuinely involved. Let them’ decide whom along a handful of known personalities belonging to © their own neighborhood will best champion their neighborhood needs. Then fling the polling station’. © doors wide open and stand back} : WRAP-UP: Producing job-ready . grads for the real world is the . topic when BCIT president John. Adams Watson addresses North : Yan Chamber of Coinmerce’ Thursday, Nov. 18, ‘at its 11 245 — a.m, luncheon meeting in the North Shore Winter Club — call 987-4488 by Tuesday to reserve, ... All candidates meeting for.’ North Van District sponsored by Edgeinont Community*Association’. and North Van Chamber-of).5." . Commerce takes place Wednes- day, Nov. 17, at 7p.m.ia =... Highlands United Church, Edge- mont Boulevard. ... Beverly Mo- guin and Heather River discuss “Alternatives to Pain Medication” at the North Shore Arthritis Socie- ty meeting at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 16, in Lions Gate Hospital ; cafeteria. ... And also on Tuesday “’ wish happy birthday to Mt. Seymour Lion John Hilton. < 2on WRIGHT OR WRONG: Techno- logy is a steamroller. You either ride it or become part of the road. RNY ET RR JOHN ADAMS Watson... education for the real world.