6 - Wednesday, February 22, 1989 - North Shore News INSIGHTS Send me your cleaner’s bill, Marilyn and Jack! YOUR SCRIBE ‘‘SERIOUSLY MISLED”? readers in his Jan. 18 column on illegal suites —- or so says Hugh Murray, president of the Lower Capilano Community Residents Association. With due respect, I submit that the boot is on the other foot. Mr. Murray’s letter castigating Wright in last Friday’s News suggests he had read the column too fast to understand it. Nor do all his statements match the facts. North Van District has a firm program for closing down ALL suites except those occupied by family members by June 1995. Owners were given until May 1988 to register for this program and about 700 out of an estimated 2,000 did so. The remaining unregistered suites — if or when found — can now be taken to court for immediate closure. That’s a long way from ‘‘only acting on complaints,”’ as is the Van. The District’s bylaw now obligates it to shut down every unregistered suite it comes across — whether uncovered as the result of a complaint or by any other means. And in six years ALL basement suites will be illegal unless you’re related to the owner. If this isn’t a sword of Damocles hanging over the heads of tenants and landlords alike, I don’t know what is. True, as reader Murray says, District framed its bylaw after listening to public meetings and an advisory pancl. These were ob- viously weighted on the side of ratepayer groups and real estate in- terests — ‘“‘illegal’’ landlords and tenants being hardly about to iden- case so far in the City and West tify themselves! In any case, the i : MAYOR MARILYN BAKER ...beat in the kitchen no problem. Freedom threatened HE CANADIAN government has shamed itself and ail of Canada for iis instant, obsequious reaction to the recent threats of Ayatollah Rubollah Khomeini. Responding to complaints from Moslem groups that British author Salman Rushdie’s book, The Satanic Verses, insults the Islamic religion, it blocked further imports of the bock until its contents could be scruti- nized ander the Hate Propaganda Law. After determining the book did not constitute hate propaganda, the government quickly announced it would ailow the book back into the country. But it is inconceivable that the government would even consider reviewing the book as hate propaganda when scores of other beoks receive that same charge daily. Hate literature is defined as promoting hate against an identifiable group. Rushdie’s book, like the Last Temptation of Christ, is the retelling of a story. Why then, did the Canadian government not attempt to ban the Last Temptation, which offended Christian groups? It is understandable that Rushdie’s infamous book has upset the Moslem community, and that many members of that community find the book disrespect- fal. But it does mot follow that the book should be banned. In its efforts to appease outspoken zealots, the federal government was all too happy to stop the flow of free speech. exercise was a far cry from my proposal for a formal referendum of ALL single-family homeowners to establish what kind of < suites policy they regard as fair and equitable to everyone concerned. On co-op housing as an alter- native to illegal suites, Mr. Murray ignored both my earlier comment and simple common sense: who pays the bill for subsidizing the rents of new co-ops to keep them down to those of basement suites? And really, Mr. Murray ... if my thoughts on this subject constitute “throwing mud”’ at mayors, my name must be Salman Rushdie. I’ve a high regard for Mayor Baker in most matters and she herself, being a seasoned politician, has no problem with occasional heat in the kitchen. The same goes for Mayor Loucks. In his case, my concern is simply that the City doesn’t catch the ‘‘suites’’ virus afflicting the District. The issue is unique in that it’s a human problem threatening maybe up to 12,000 North Shore residents (Le., all tenants, landlords and their families) who DARE not speak for themselves — for fear of losing their home or badly needed help in paying for it. SOMEBODY has to speak for them. If I unintentionally splattered you, Marilyn and Jack, please don’t hesitate to send me your cleaner’s bill! ° e * THE GREATER NUMBER of the 90 per cent of Canadians who claimed to be Christians in the 1986 census are not churchgoers. Yet it’s a fair bet that some, at least, sometimes wonder whether closer contact with the faith they Publisher Managing Editor Associate Editor Peter Speck Barrett Fisher Noel Wright | Advertising Directur Linda Stewart bs Bens North Shere News, lounded in 1969 as an independent wednesday world ys ‘4 ry 2 TOM MAXWELL your problems? profess could help with their per- sonal problems. Tom Maxwell might have the answer for them. Archdeacon Tom — rector of St. Paul’s Anglican Church, Ed- monton — is here this weekend to talk to just such people. Throughout Canada, and in the U.S. and England, he’s earned a reputation for doing so in a very sensitive, non-threatening way, and with wife Shella, he has a special interest in marital relation- ships. His North Van ‘“‘renewal Deh YORE OF MOST MANO WEST WARCOUNEM SUNDAY + WEONESDAY + 2 mIDAY 1139 Lonsdale Avenue. + answers to Display Advertising Classitied Advertising Newsroom Distribution Subscriptions Fax Though Khomeini’s calls for Rushdie’s death should frighten the defenders of freedom of speech around the world, Canadians should be more afraid of a gov- ernment that is willing to sacrifice that pillar of democracy in response to those same irrational threats from abroad. suburban Newspaper and qualied under Schedu'e 114 Paragraph lil of the Excise Tax Act. 1s published eacn Wednesday Friday and Sunday by North Snore Free Press Lid and asinbuted to every door on ihe Norn Shore Second Ciass Mail Regrsiration Number 2485 Suvscnptons North and West Vancouvet, $25 per year Mailing rates avadable on request Submissions are welcome Dul we cannot accept responsibility for unsolicited maternal incluging Manuscnpls and pictures which should be accompamed by a stamped, addressed envelope North Vancouver, B.C V7M 2H4 59,170 (average, Wednesday Friday & Sunday) a SDA DIVISIUN iN 0 mission," sponsored by St. Simon’s, Deep Cove, takes place at Ron Andrews Rec Centre, Mt. Seymour Parkway at Lytton, from 7 to 10 p.m. Friday, Feb. 24, and continues through Saturday, Feb. 25. If you feel like exploring a little, just let Marnie Christiansen, 929- 8729, know you're coming. You'll be very welcome at part or all of the sessions, as you wish. With no obligation. eee SIGN-OFF: Biggest-ever local high school reunion — with many North Shore alumni eligible — is Magee Secondary’s Diamond Jubilee bash May 26-27, Friday at the school and Saturday a gala dinner at the Vancouver Conven- tion Centre. If you qualify, get on the invitation list (already 4,500 but with lots more still to be located) by contacting Bill McNul- ty at Magee, 1975 West 49th, Van- couver V6M 2Ti (phone 263-2321) ... A pink congrats card to Rev. Michael Ingham, former rector of St. Francis-in-the-Wood, and wife Gwen on the arrival last week of their first daughter. Michael was recently transferred to the Primate’s office in Toronto ... And happy birthday today to North Van Kiwanian Sakerkhanu Karim. eee WRIGHT OR WRONG: He who telis all he hears often tells more then he hears. (Ancient Persian proverb.) 980-0511 986-6222 985-2131 986-1337 986-1337 985-3227 MEMBER ————————— SR"s ere Meveneere of Raw Narth Shore owned and managed Entire contents © 1989 North Shore Free Press Lid. All rights reserved.