4139 Lensdate Avenue lierth Vancouver, 3.C. PETER SPECK Publisher 985-2131 (101) Comptrotter a rations 905-2581 ta ) seit is (168) farsa finda Bt Sievert Managing Editor MA-2151 (118) ‘aeett | i) Patan Rvawotrom Voled Snpbenssa ae sebedze (at , disouton Mana it Production Manages S86-188 a pie 1 (127) aerating & Rada ile Pox orth Shore Wows, founded in 1969 as an indapencatit suburban newspaper and qualified woder Schedule 111, Paragraph 111 of the Facive Tax Act, is putdished each Wednesday, Friday and Sunday by North Shore Free Press Utd. and distributed to every door ou the North Shore, Cansds Fost Canadian Publications Mail Sales Product Agreement No. 0047238. Mailing cates availadic on request. eu ‘oe 158 SDA DIVISION. Entire contents, © 1996 North Shore Free Press Ltd. All rights reserved. aptite, ee if Ree SAS BN Ae TNs tet UTR MAR UG Bema STILL FEELING NEGLECTED... news viewpoint ee ea eniaanatenmneaerebeenaenenstaamianenasameteaeasceereanennebrontdebeemen camera termaneraroetnamensnmteteuesttemannemenamen caennmetent Falling apart *S APPROPRIATE that Canada has a new coin that separates when stressed by cold or being knocked about. How do we take this portentous sign of the © country’s $2 coin failing apart at the core? Some are disturbed by the flawed and seem- ingly flimsy construction. The nickel cuter ring and aluminum-bronze core are meant to stick together. Strength should have been found in essential difference. Cohesion and binding unity were meant to be realized in a fanciful juxtaposition of distinct otherness. Two different yet equally necessary metallic substances were meant to co-exist side by side in order to present to the world a sclid face of union. Yet they are not fused as one, but rather exist as components joined by right of groove and seated by pressure. Individually they are base metal trinkets. This week’s politi GUESS WHAT next! As a spectator sport and lotto game, nothing comes even close to politics. So once again place your bets ... Don't expect Hydrogate to put B.C.’s brand-new Preinier Glen Clark off his stride. It will bring only a slight pause in the game plan. What a dirty trick of Gord Campbell’s Liberal sleuths to rain all over Glen's coronation parade! They might at least have held back all those juicy details about NDP wives, daughters and pals getting the inside track on potentially lucra- Good Canadian citizens are left to contem- plate the pretty little bronze-like image of a bear in one hand. In the other we clutch The Rest of The Coin — a hellow and sadly empty nickel donut. Lest opportunity taunts us. Spending urges are frustrated. We yearn for the paper days, a time when $2 cost six cents to make rather than the 16 cents it casts to pro- duce a coin, And when ail seems lost, our fed- - eral overlords step in and do what they tend to do best when crisis worries the land: spend money on feel-good television advertising. As if they knew the Doublocnie would by rite of not-so-tender Canadian passage see these early troubled times, government set aside $2 million to sell us on something we have no choice but to buy into. They say we'll save $250 million over the next 20 years. Metal is more durable than paper. They say separation isn’t part of the equation. name it. Ina way he inirrors the frustration of many Americans about a system no longer delivering the Norman Rockwell kind of life they cherished. But our cousins to the south are no dummies, ‘either. They know in their guts — as well as from the Internet — that both Norm's and fire-breathing Pat's days are over. As are those of aging, idea: starved Bob Dole. So unfess the Grand Old Party can persuade General Colin Powell to run, the White House winner this November is obvicus: Democrat Bill Clinton for a sec- ond term. Did } ever lie to you? es 2 hither and yon tive shares in a bastard Caribbean offspring of B.C. Hydro until Glen, the latter's boss, had completed his swearing in. Manners today are simply abominable. But Glen is their match. Top heads at Hydro roll within the hour. in a brilliant stroke a former Socred attorney general is named to sort out Hydro’s sins. And the spring election is still on. Lord knows what other skeletons would come crashing out of the NDP closets if Glen left it until falt — and the Bingogate inquiry report! HOW ABOUT President Pat Buchanan as a next-door neighbor? Since he won the New Hampshire Republican primary — often a trend-setter — lots of people are tempted to take the wild man seri- ously. Buchanan is “anti” everything -— big business, free trade, Canadian imports, globalization, gays, immigrants, abortion, you WITH SALMON stocks and the © future Pacific fishery in serious jeopardy the Seymour River Hatchery, which produces — with the help of 350 volunteers — hun- dreds of thousands of salmon, steel- head and cutthroat trout each year, faces imminent closure. Ottawa says it can no longer alford its $153,000 grant for fish food and three paid employees. This, from the tax-'n-spend feds who recently blew $139,000 on condoms for jails; splurged HABANA FES RR WBA O LIONEL AYRES TLE RE TR TE IN A Liberal education viewpoint Dear Editor: The Feb. 18 response of North Vancouver Teachers Association president Chuck Dixon to D.S. Jamieson's recent letter continues the “us” versus “them” scenario. Dixon challenges Jamieson to produce examples of pri- vate-sector employment con- ditions that are less generous than the teachers’ contract. There are plenty. Dixon states that teachers . are “probably underpaid.” For some, that is true. Jam not one of the “them,” however. I am a parent, a tax- payer,'a citizen vitally con- cerned about protecting public education and ‘providing choice for those accessing education. : The B.C. Liberal Party will address . Dixon’s legitimate | concerns about funding,’ and“ also. Jamieson's legitimate concerns about sector con- ‘tracts. Most’ importantly, we will put public education as our first priority in‘ the soon- to-be-called election. _ Jeremy Dalton, MLA - West Vancouver-Capilano fp tax tales. THE FEDERAL: goveinment, aust . can't resist being inthe: busiviéss of. business, It spends billions of ourt dollars on’ businesses '::. (but)‘hasa truly appalling record. of ‘picking losers, Nevertheless, staggering sums: continue to be ladled out in handouts, to business despite the fact’. that national business groups have, called on the federal goverment to’ stop. From 1993 to 1996 the Aulantic Conada Opportunities ‘Agency hand-. ed_out’$974,495,000 to east ccast . busitiesses. — From. Tales ‘front the : Tax Trough HI, a National Citizens’ Coalition ; publication. ft | lott $139,035 to build a replica Viking - ship; and squandered nine-hole golf course in Newfoundland. . Grab your Bic or fire up your . word processor foday and help |, flood Fisheries Minister Fred » Mifflin’s mailbox with thousands of protests. His address: Parliament Buildings, Ottawa K1A 0A6 (no stamp necded). Will he listen? You bet! Can his boss risk losing one more B.C, vote? . al WELCOME to a public forum on NV. School District with Official . ‘Trustee Bob Smith, 3:30-11:30 ain. Saturday, March 2, ‘at Holy. Trinity Church, 2725 Lonsdale — co-hosted by Liberal MLAs Dan Jarvis and Jeremy Dalton .. Congrats today, Feb. 28, to West Van's Willy Braeckel, 71, hale and hearty eight years after his heart transplant ... And many happy retums of tomorrow, Feb. 29, to once-in-four-years West Van birth- day girl Irene Little. WRIGHT OR WRONG: Nothing is quile so heavy to carry than a secret. $500,000 of a a