page 2, July

7, 1976 - North Shore News

OTTAWA: 7:45 A.M. The 45-minute Canadian
Pacific flight to Toronto is crowded, but the crew is
organized and the stewardesses produce a truly
excellent breakfast - coffee, scrambled eggs, two
sausages, two pieces of bacon, a dinner roll, a
croissant, marmalade, more coffee. It’s a hot
meal, and good.

THE SPIRITS OF the
passengers pick up as the
second cup of coffee fills the
china cups. My seatmate
says to me “This airline
makes me so damn proud of
private industry. I fly about

_ four hundred thousand miles
‘a year, all over the world,
and in my opinion CP is
among the world’s best
airlines.’’ He goes on to say
that the people’s airline in
his opinion is among the

world’s worst,

passenger comfort is con-
‘cerned. -

THE CONVERSATION

turns to a general discussion -

of governmental inefficiency.
**Same flight, from Ottawa to
Toronto,’” he warms up with,
‘fon the people’s airline
you’re lucky to get coffee, let
alone a breakfast Jike this. |

" Talking (as I was last week) about North Shore
access routes, it now appears that the earliest
starting date for the new Burrard Inlet ferry
service between the foot of Lonsdale and the north
foot of Granville will be March 1977. Meanwhile,
you may be interested in one feature of the project

that has not, so far, received much publicity.

As we know, the two big
catamarans that will be
whisking you across the
harbor in eight minutes flat
will carry no cars. They are
for foot passengers only--up
to 400 on each vessel.

The other point, however,
. is the complete absence of
day parking facilities at the
«Lonsdale terminal or any-
‘where near it. In other
’ words, this will not be a
park-n’-ride operation, such
as they have in conjunction
‘with the buses at. the PNE
- and at Park Royal in West
Vancouver.
At best it could be a
." kiss-n’-embark exercise if

a civigion of north ahore free preas Itc.

BOS, 130 ‘tonadala ene.
vencouvern bo.
VIM eta

‘ Circulation: 46,000

Founded In 1060 as an Independent,
community newspaper, the North Shore
News Is published weekly, and distributed
to every door on the North Shore. it ls a
registered newspaper under Part 111,
Paragraph 111 of

Schedule 111,
Customs and Excise Act.

ollice 080-0511
classified 060-3464

clroulation 086-1337.
ate B.G,.mainiand's largess,

pos hes tee der

your spouse doesn’t happen

to be chauffering the kids to_
school at that time. But apart

from those within walking

distance of the terminal, the.
basic. idea. is that everyone.

will use the bus to get to and
from it.

I explored this situation
with the B.C. Transit Bur-.
eau, which is responsible for
the new service, and with:
North Van City officials. Both
were very proud of the plan
that will prevent you from
driving down to the ferry,
parking within reach of it and
picking up your car again on
your return from town.

ninguna sspetiantoopem tates 0 at a ti Cink hae gmmane

‘Letters
we Why should
“pay?

Publisher

Assistant Publisher
Managing Editor

Pleture Editor
News Editor

as far as .

‘continues, | today’s

we subsidize _ either
‘ business or: the Squamish

Advortising Mansger

by Peter Speck

“He gave a satisfied belch.

“They seem to run _ into.

turbulence about twice as
often, for some reason.”’

MY: SEATMATE IS in

private industry (of. course),

‘selling to foreign countries,

_ often to their governments,

and he has some interesting
comments on our Canadian
‘governmental apparatus. He
says Canada has about 700
thousand civil servants. With
dependents, this amounts
to about two miilion people,
or about ten percent of
Canada’s population. ‘‘Far

” too ‘many free rides, and

I’m ‘sure all the environ-
mental angels are on their
Side, and to a point their

logic seems sound. The main

argument of both Transit
Bureau and city spokesman
is that bus connections to the

ferry terminal from various:

parts of North Vancouver

_ ‘must be assured of maximum
_tush-hour payloads...

If the buses to the terminal

Tun half-empty because half
-the. ferry passengers are

using their own cars to’ get

_ there,then sconer or later the

bus connections. will have to

“be cut’. back—and. what
“happens, in that .case, to
_.ferry. passengers who have
“no cars?: :

' Therefore, the argument
North
Vancouver car commuters

‘who like the idea of the ferry

itself must, in addition, be
educated to travel to and
from it by bus. The best

mp esigcr en ersananeciaanteanm mi fiteouiga int tpmessnaaanatnet atti

Whose interests do the
West. Vancouver Council

.tepresent? It is surely not
‘that of the tax payer. For

what earthly reason should
big

Indian Band in the opening
of a shopping complex and
further developments?’ Fur-
ther developments that the

Peter Speck
Rox Woyler
‘ Noel Wright .
Ellsworth Dickson.
Guillermo Lam |
Bob Graham

Staff: Heather Andrews, Wendy Cardinal,
Patricla Cardio, Yvonne Chapman, Carolyn
Coleclough,: Helen Dickey, Linda Douglas,

the

Paula Ford, Linda Groen, Wendy Green,
Carol Halstead, Barbara Haywood, Randy
Hillhouse, Berni Hillard, Jennio Johnson,
Torry Johnson, Barbara Koan, Miko Keen,
Botey Knight, Ann Kofod, Guillermo Lam,
Joyce Lawry, Marna Leiren,
Loroy, Faya MoGrao, Jessie Marka, Jill

Madelolne -

Ploss, Maureon Roach, Leigh Anno Slym,.

Sylvia Sorenson, Flona Stewart,
Stowart, Alan T

Walsh.

LA RL I a

Sam

wigg, Kate Wallace, Allison

seem eone puantaieameningeietenn fan tN eH

they’re expected forever -
not only by the civil servant,
but by his or her dependents,
too.”” .

HE SAYS THAT Ottawa is
a hard place to hire a
secretary. Ottawa private
industry pays about $10,000
a year, and Ottawa govern-
ment pays $13-14,000. Con-
sequently, all the secretaries
join the government, which
. seems to have an insatiable
appetite for hiring. ‘“‘By the
time they realize that they
are trapped in_ useless,
inefficient and dead-end
bureaucracy, they are used
to making $14. grand and
they can’t afford to go back
to private industry.”

' HE CITES THE Orion
‘contract as an example of the
common and __incredibly
wasteful government bungl-
ing. ‘‘The smallest develop-
ing nation that his firm:deals
with has tighter and clearer
written contracts with any

method of education: say the

planners, is simply to leave
you with nowhere to park
your car when you reach the
terminal. . ;

‘It’s an admirable. propo-
sition, which ought to have
the same unqualified support
that motherhood used to
command. But somehow I
can’t quite get rid of the
feeling that there may be one
or two holes in the logic.

If, for example, there are
five ferry crossings an hour
departing from the foot of

Lonsdale, all filled to capac-
ity, the new service would be

moving around 4,000 comm- -

uters over the harbor each
morning and evening rush-
hour period. If all or most of

_ these’ were former car

- commuters who had seen the
light, traffic congestion on
the two bridges might be
eased to the extent of
perhaps 700-800 fewer cars
per bridge per hour.

My guess at the moment,
however, is that the majority
of ferry commuters will be
people who already take the
bus into town anyhow. If I’m

. right, the ferries will merely

. remove.a certain number of:

buses (which are not the could park-n'-embark at the

aquest nee

Squamish Band have not yet
fully disclosed to the West
Vancouver Council!

The residents of West
Vancouver moved here and
pay astronomical taxes for
the privilege of living in this

uniquely beautiful location.
. We can kiss all this goodbye
if we are going to be an
. extended shopping area for
the west end. Re the traffic
‘problem, I ‘leave that to
anyone’s imagination if we
are inundated by ten thou-
“sand more people. We have
no control over the numbers
or types of accommodation

the Squamish Band. may ©

choose to build,

- It is not too late to ‘save
West Vancouver. We do not
‘need to supply, at the
taxpayers’ expense, the fire,
water and policing services

we?

When we were foisted with

for ‘this area. Why should

supplier such as ourselves.
The contracts clearly state
that the supplier is to provide
all the necessary start-up and
interim financing. ‘I’ve
never seen ‘a contract as
poorly drafted .as the Orion
contract.””

“THE ORION  CON-
TRACT, to replace Canada’s
Argus patrol aircraft. with

new planes from the finan-:

cially-troubled Lougheed cor-
poration, was negotiated by a
committee of fifteen or
sixteen Canadian bureau-
crats, and resulted in the

‘resignation’ of a senior civil —

servant. My seatmate be-

lieves that the entire group ~

that negotiated the conctract,
which cost the Canadian
taxpayers $16 million - for
nothing - should be fired.
“‘They wouldn’t be tolerated
in private industry, with that
level of bumbling.”

AND SO TO TORONTO,
and into one of CP’s jumbo
jets, and back home to

problem) from the bridges—
but will do comparatively
little to remove cars. That’s:
assuming, of course, that the
two initial vessels are pretty
well filled to capacity by
present bus-riders.

‘If they are not—if, in fact,
there’s plenty of room left
over for repentant car comm-
uters—we still have the
problem of converting the
latter to the idea of leaving
their Chryslers and Capris in
the carport.. oot

North Vancouver is a
singularly wide-flung comm-
unity for its size. Thousands

‘of its residents, especially up

on the mountainside, are
presently a tidy hop from the
nearest bus stop of any kind.
Unless B.C. Hydro is plann-
ing to criss-cross the area
with a network of frequent
ferry-bound buses on a scale
never before seen in the
Lower Mainland, it’s going
to be a tough job to talk those
residents out of their evil
habit of heading their cars by
the shortest route for the
Lion’s Gate or the Second
Narrows.

The task might prove a lot
easier if: they knew they

ments, we were told it would

decrease our taxes. Instead,
they have shot sky-high.

Well, the average tax-payer
won't get one red cent out of

_ this new proposed develop-

ment.

Why not raise a petition

and contact the Federal.

Government to protect our
property and future...once
it's a fait accompli, it’s too
ate.

Rohan O’Grady
West Vancouver

Deserving
Indians

Since reading the article |

by George Alexander in the
June 30 NEWS Ihave a few
remarks to make,

First, people. built: homes

‘Vancouver. More _ coffee,

more pastries, milk, a hot

. towel to wipe the debris from

my moustache, some tissues

_ for my cold, a refill. for. my

coffee....and a new’ seat-
mate.

““PARDON ME,”’ he says,
**do you speak English?” I
nod and smile, and he says
“I've just got off another
flight, and I can’t get over -
the difference between the

people’s airline and this one.

Why, this is just fantastic!”’

I UNDERSTAND THE
problems facing Air Canada -
some of them, anyway.Their
massive. debt load does
nothing to aid them in
operating, and the uncertain,
top-heavy and bureaucratic
management structure is not
the most flexible in the
world. They’ve recently ap-
pointed a new president from
within their own ranks, and I
wish him well.. But they’ve
got a long way to go.

foot of Lonsdale, or at least

within a block. or. so “of the

terminal. Then—and always ~
provided there’s room on the

. ferries for both them and the
_ busriders—we might begin

to see some real easing of the
twice-dailytraffic congestion
on the bridges. That, ob-
viously, should be the object
of the whole exercise.

So I hope I’m wrong in my
present guesses about what
‘may actually happen when
the new $30 milliion ferry
service starts running. And
I'd like to hear your views, as
well. 7

If you’re presently:comm-
uting by car, why not drop us
a note saying whether you'll

. consider changing to. the

ferry next’ spring, leaving
your -car at home .. and
travelling to and from the
Lonsdale ferry terminal by
bus? We'll be glad to publish
your thoughts and sugges-
tions on the subject. I’ve an
idea the planners may be
interested in them, too.

‘so * ®

Alexanderlana: Jame ‘ex-
cuses are all you’re likely to
get from people without a-leg

ns
Dene fe

neonate sinemmetmenis heir

in hard-to-get-at areas, and
immediately. demanded
‘roads, telephones, water,
sewers, etc. And when
39,999 more people followed
them, expensive _ bediam

. ensued. | |

Second, . people _ built
homes around : and near
airports, and. raised their
voices loudly - when _ the
airport expanded and large
planes arrived...

Third, people (40,000)
built in the area of the
Squamish. Indian Band res-
erve and the voices are again

~ gaised.

At long last these Indians
are getting remuneration for
leasing them land. Of course
traffic will increase.

Why do not these 40,000
people raise thelr voices at
the ‘provincial government —
and Hydro for better bus
service—and leave their cars
at home? 7

V. Noble -
Vancouver = |