6 ~ Friday, April 21, 1989 ~ North Shore News INSIGHTS Grits can’t take credit for Tory slump in poll POLITICAL POLLS ARE LIKE YO-YO’S — and about as useful for predicting a party’s eventual fate, especially if election day is still four years away. But the latest Gallup has one unusual aspect. Only five months after their re- sounding defeat last November the federal Liberals have jumped eight percentage points since March and now LEAD the Tories by 38 per cent to 37 per cent. The surge is clearly NOT due to anything the Grits themselves are doing to win popular support. They are, in fact, in considerable disarray. There are visible splits on major policy issues, in particular on constitutional reform. Mean- while, John Turner is expected to announce his resignation any day now — which means a leadership race in the fall with all its atten- dant in-fighting. If you’re seeking a united opposition party energetically battling for just causes, look elsewhere. So the only explanation for the abrupt switch has to be a fast growing disenchantment with the KIMBERLEY Conrad ...Hef names the day. Tory government. The reasons are not too hard to find. There’s deepening apprehension, of course, from every segment of society about Michsel Wilson’s April 27 budget, but that’s not all. Distrust is reviving about the Tories’ commitment to defend Canadian interests, and specifically social services, in the ongoing free trade negotiations. An immigra- tion policy presently favoring wealthy Asians worries many — for economic rather than racial reasons. Offshore property buyers and soaring ‘‘made-in-Ontario”’ interest rates are blamed for the housing crisis savaging young and old alike in the big cities. UI reform wins no votes among the nearly one million jobless, who ask why they’re less important than nuclear-powered submarines. Nothing tangible is happening yet -with day care, abortion and the environment — all issues of wide concern. And ‘anglo’ Canada is finally beginning to show signs of impatience with Ottawa’s toadying to arrogant and blackmailing Quebec politicians. Less than half a year into their second term, the Tories are ob- viously a long way yet from self- destructing. But they already have an awful fot of unhappy and disillusioned constituencies out there. So many, indeed, that the Grits can take no credit for this month’s poll. Its message would have been the same even if the Rhinos had been the official opposition. kak TAILPIECES: So our local Nic~ Girl Next Door has made it stick. Playboy emperor Hugh Hefner, 63, has named the day for tying Castle eyesore ASTLES DO not belong im commercial or resi- dential areas. A variety of architectural styles is vital to any the knot at his palatial L-A. man- sion with 1981 West Van High grad Kimberley Conrad, 26 — who still visits back with mom and dad in Cedardale. The wedding, 18 months after she moved in, is set (Oh Canada!) for July 1... A big salute to Cap College instructor and longtime Hospital Society director Hilary Ctark — honored with the Distinguished Service Award for her years of service to the B.C. Health Association ... Congrats to St. Thomas Aquinas students Sarah Lawler, Claudia Wytrwal and Zahra Jamal who placed first, second and third respectively in the girls’ division of last week’s North Shore Optimist Club public speaking contest — while another young STA orator, Jeff Florendo, came second in the boys’ division. Sarah now goes on to the provincial finals in Ab- botsford ... West Van therapist Giselle Roeder iectures Monday, April 24, at the Ambleside Inn on the Kneipp ‘‘water cure’’ endorsed and prescribed by the German medical profession to improve all- round health and immunity. Tick- ets ($14) includes a 6:30 p.m. light meal — call 925-2711 or 922-0101 to reserve ... And player’s luck, it seems, runs in West Van’s Mielke family. Last Sunday I told you about son Todd’s two holes-in-one on successive days. Now my spies report that Todd’s dad, Dr. Charles Mielke, just recently had a **29"" in cribbage! hae WRIGHT OR WRONG: Why is there always time to do it over again but so often no time to do it right in the first place? “Photo submitted “BEST TEAM IN INDUSTRY”... With instructor Graham Fame (centre), Cap College marketing students (left to right) Jim Moriarty, Pat McDonald, Janette Daly and Vivian Schurer won two out of three first places in the province-wide Aistine Management Simulation Competition in Richmond — earning $500 for the college scholarship fund and receiving individual cash prizes. oe ed 12 PoHnN voswmar - © s rd | urban landscape and the North Shore commumnities’ mix of architecture is gererally good — reflecting the history and tastes of its inhabitants. But a receat proposal to North Vancouver District Council to build a firearms business in the form of a medieval castle at 1496 Rupert is incongruous with the North Shore environment. Constructed of split-face, concrete blocks, the pro- posed structure will have a crenellated parapet and will be painied tangerine orange. The building, named the Castile Armoury, is intended to create a readily iden- tifiable structure which both complements and ex- presses the security requirements of the business. Structures such as this do have their place in an ur- han environment. Set in isolation, a medieva! castle- style building can bring relief to a street scene. But framed on all sides by conventional post-war architec- ture — as is the case at 1496 Rupert — the ‘‘castle’’ becomes an eyesore. Since the building is to house a business supplying the movie industry with firearm rentals, a site closer to Cannell Studios would be more appropriate —— perhaps on the large tract of land across from the studios at Brooksbank. There, the building might fit in with the area’s carnival atmosphere. Vor ites ote. fe 80-0511 986-6222 985-2131 986-1337 986-1337 ax 985-3227 Display Advertising Classified Advertising Newsroom Distribution Subscriptions Peter Speck Managing Editor Barrett Fisher Associate Editor .Noel Wright Advertising Directur Linda Stewart North Shore News, founded in '969 as an independent suburhan newspaper and qualtud under Schedule 111, Paragraph (I of the Excise Tax Act, 1 published each Wednesday. 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