6 — Wednesday, April 1, 1998 — North Shore News

orth shor

VIEWPOINT

, Ld
a
j |

? you were hoping for a bold bud-
get. to address, B.C.’s rapidly

sunravelling economy, you put your:

‘money on the wrong government.
True to its fuzzy approach to life
itself, the socialists in Victoria deliv-
-ered a feeble fiscal affair on Monday
that tosses crumbs to everyone it can
‘think of in hopes of. currying favor
“across: the land when much sterner
measures were called for. >:
: Rookie . finance minister Joy
: ‘MacPhail, ‘for. instance,, will add
< another, $i billion toa B.C, debt that
is already at $30 billion. | '

‘Once the, envy of other; Canadian

provinces,’ B.C.’s economy under the
NDP government has stalled and is
fast headed for recession: : :

According ‘to. Statistics Canada .

forecasts, the growth in’ investment
this year for B.C. will: be 1. 3% com-

pared with 9.8% for neighboring
Alberta and 6.2% for Canada as a
whole. *
The NDP has heeded some input
from an. emergency meeting of busi-
ness leaders, called by Premier Glen
Clark earlier this year to address

-B.C.’s failing economy, and has also

listened to other embattled quarters.
Small cuts in’ personal income

taxes for British Columbians -—- 2% in

1999. ~~ and small business taxes —
11% by 2000 — are included in the
budget.

The corporate income tax is also

-being reduced. Not being reduced,

however, is the size of government.
It is one of many issues that need .

addressing now with bold and deci- 7

sive leadership..
Both unfortunately remain -in
short supply in Victoria.

rain 2000. it dh

rezon oe g sonia

Rez GXY, publ he ng March 31

Vene

blic F 4 WS vireually nothing about this |

ecn "kept compl tely i in the dark. :
no publ meetings t to sxpiin what i is

ce" ‘Dollacton. area trans:
hd traffic: analysis w Was pro-*

‘that our li weability won't be he degraded.
no publ information mecting has, been

ade mockery. of the. .

y9
‘perforinéd a Brave injustice to your com:

railroaded i into compliance.
aes

Shore views, freed in 1969 8 an” .

“computers and ec:

‘from the sky, shut down power grids, <!
-turm all ceaffic lights to red, stop elevators’:
- berween floors, cause hospital services to
break down and grind industries to a halt.

you've been vacationing for a

year on. another planet, you’ve
read all about the horrors lurk-

ing on that dreaded me

date in our wired.

world.

Blame it onthe -
uncaring idiots who

wrote sofoware in the
_1960s to. 1980s for com-..

uters Of 1¢ day with

_bird-size memories and .
“s@ decided ta save mem-

ory space by using orly ».
rae last ovo digits of the:
year in al) dates — never

thering to.ask whar would happen at’

_ midnight on‘ Dec. 31,1999. That’s when
© the new:year will suddenly | be shown as
“00” and computers will cither assume it

means:“1900" or, more likely, crash in
terminal confusion. ,

So much of life-siday depends on
“phwerized [equipment
that the Year 2000 *toblem”.could shut /!

down everything front ‘your microwave to i

the Pentagon.’

oh Left unfixed; it yould make aircraft fall :

At least onc major airline reportedly plans
to take no risks by grounding all its
planes worldwide on Jan.1, 2000. :
Getting more personal: ‘employees and
suppliers wouldn’t get paid; pension and
welfare cheques wouldn’t go out; credit":

‘cards would’ be rejected; insurance poli-

independent sutwiban newspaper and quakes .
cider Schedute 111, Pazagraph'111 of the .

. Evers Tea Act, 1s published ssach Wednesday,
Friday ara Sunday by North Shore Free Press,
Ut and cisinouerd to evesy door on the North

"Classified !
_ S06-6222 (202)

news

THe Be economy’
BefoRe THe 1998

“BubeeT..

“des could suddenly be. voided; and, -mort-

Bage payments duce om your home could
be back-dared 100 years.
Governments and businesses are now

* belatedly scrambling to solve the ton

~— though maybe :
. already too late to do
‘. so completely within .
the next 19 months. -
Zillions of lines of soft-
ware have to be rewnit:
ten.
Relative ro the enormi-’
ty of the rask, qualified
computer geeks: are in
an sad on short supply. Colleges «.
, | extra courses in main-~: .
Trame computer lan-'

guages. Send your kids to one and: they"ll: 2 tit
fF eally sonhisutaved ener

live a life of milk-and-honey itil. their,
richly funded retirement (they might help :
yours, too!),

But the real story of the “Year 2000

! Problem” is much more sinister. {¢ points .
» the way-to entirely new means of, waging

warfare and international terrorism

not tomorrow, at latest the day after. 2
If the feared Year 2000 chaos can be

caused simply by careless software writers

20-40 years ago, consider. what could

happen if it were deliberately created by'a

hostile power,

: Given repeated success storics over th

‘ years of skilled hackers penetrating com-
puter networks’ believed to be completely .
- secure, who can doubt. the potential of:
“information warriors”. to render armies; .

tanks, missiles and fighter bombers com-
pletely obsolete in the brave new third
millennium? ~,..

If you'can bring u utter chaos and the”

are being pressed for.’

ey car 2000 Problem’,
_ cally paintes :

_ depend the most'on. omputer system:
capable-of being Wi

- fare. But surel

safeguards

that sort of thing; whi ch:

access to an enemy

~ Hardly.
_ Skille cryptograph

‘break almost any ¢
‘proved with the famed Germat
codes‘in the Sec a World W.

I guess what all this adds'up.

Reel

warfare — is that we

- ed ourselves.’ No long

’ for our country; welll’

‘order to end to power blackouts’ and ‘ai
line: cancelations:

- LETTERS 10 THE F EONTOR.

Letters must include your name, :
ful address & telephone’ umber.

VIA e-mail: ens @ disc ve

Display & RealEstate Fax 985-1435 >:

ei ee

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