Care for ai the TransLink bureaucrats were serious about doing something caningful to reduce the air pollu- tion in the Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley they would start by looking at the vehicles they aren’t testing. Instead, the mandatory vehicle emis- sions test fee jumped from $18 to $24 last month. Leaving aside the question of what AirCare is doing to control its costs (not much), this 33% hike will supposedly pay for more sophisticated testing equipment. This will do nothing to make the air we breathe any cleaner. Statistics from the present program indicate only a 7% initial failure rate. No immediate stricter emission standards are contem- plated in conjunction with the increase, so air pollution will continue to increase. VIEW POIN District has not reduced air pollution in the eight years since emission testing was introduced, only slowed the rate of its increase. The initial impact of the AirCare program has been overtaken by the sheer number of vehicles our increasing population wants to drive around the Lower Mainland. The TransLink answer to the prob- fem is to tax and fee the motorist into penury so he will no longer be able to afford to commute and pollute. A far more effective solution would be to start limiting emissions from all of the presently exempt commercial trucks. But why stop there? What about train locomotives, cruise ships and airplanes. Too fanciful? What about agricultural vehicles, snowmobiles, motorcycles and that king of summer Sunday polluters — the gas-engine lawnmower. The Greater Vancouver Regional ae WOU Sealed i “We smell ali the time. After a while you get used to it ... it’s kind of nice.” wi. Alice Spurrell, referring to the fragrance in her store, . The Menu Setters Fine Food and Catering, which carries more than 200 different kinds of cheeses from around the world, (Front a Feb. 16 News story.) ot i QG0 “I sure picked the wrong person in ’96!” ‘North Vancouver City councillor Bill Bell worked on successful campaigns to get Bob Skelly, Mike Harcourt and Glen Clark elected party leader. Harcourt and Clark became premiers, He admitted that he was embarrassed with his choice four years ago. (From a Feb. 18 News story.) . 000 “° “This has been a festering sore in this community.” ... North Vancouver : District councillor Ernie Crist, describing the situation before the November election when a group: calling itself the North Shore Concerned Citizens Association selected a state of candidates and dis- tributed information described as slanted by ozher candi- _ dates about the waterfront reterendum. No name or con- - tact number appeared on the flyers or in newspaper ads. (From a Feb. 16 News story.) oe » 900 . “In the long term we're going to have to find solu- tions. to. our transportation problem in the Lower Mainland or we're going to cither choke on our own traffic or we're going to have more crashes.” -v ICBC. president Thom Thompson, supporting the plan widen the Stanley Park causeway and eventually elimi- nate traffic from the park completely. (From a Feb. 18 News story. d aan : og0G -“This is a retirement home. It says so cn the bus. A lot of people think that it’s a nursing home, but you don’t have to be at death’s door to come here.” 2" West:Vancouver senior Eleanore Hume, on the quality Of life she has enjoyed since selling her family home and moving into Hollyburn House, presently West Van’s only assisted housing complex. (From a Feb. 20 Sunday Focus story. ‘ ‘ .- Werth Shore News, founded in 1969as an independent suburban newspaper and quakited tnoer Schedule 111, Parayraph 111 of the Excise Tax Aci, is published each Wednesday, Friday and Sunday by HCN Pubtications Company and distributed to every door on the Nosh Share. Canada Pest Canadian Pubscations Mail Sales Product Agreement No. 0087238. Maibng rates avaiable on request. Barbara Emo Distribution Manager 986-1327 (124) bemo@nsnews.com Mark Fancher Creative Services Director 985-2131 (127) miancher@nsnews.com Clean air is a matter of life. Native ‘vic A lifeline is being throwa to Human Resources Minister Jane Stewart — drown- ing in the Shovelgate flood — if someone can only get her to focus on it. More on that in a moment. Meanwhile, a B.C. Supreme Court hearing just launched will decide whether presti- gious 73-year-old Vancouver College and 40-year-old St. Thomas More Collegiate in Burnaby must be liquidated to pay tens of mil- lions in damages to natives allegedly abused up to 40 years ago at Newfoundland’s infamous Mount Cashel Orphanage run by the Christian Brothers of freland in Canada. The CBIC also operates the two local schools which, together, serve some ” 1,700 students through Grade 12. Mount Cashel, owned by the Newfoundland government, was a sepa- rate institution from the federal govern- ment residential schools operated on behalf of Ortawa by the Catholic, Anglican and United Churches, but rhe abuse problems in all of them were simi- lar. In the case of the residential schools some 3,000 claims for alleged abuses, again going back as far as half a century, have already been launched. A further 2,000 or so are believed to be in the Pipeline. By the time all these claims have wound their way through the courts, the total compensation bill is conservatively Gee Dhaliwal H2yPromotions Manager 985-2131 (218) dohaliwal@nsnews.com eek A ie a PETER SPECK Publisher 985-2131 (101) pspeck@nsnews.com nee Sede Terry Paters Photography Manager 985-2131 (165) tpelersteasnevs.com Generat anager 985-2131 (133) dloot@nsnews.com Valecic Step Classified Manager 986-6222 (202) vslephensongasnews.com Entire contents © 1999 HCN Pubtications Company. Al tights reserved.- (WHOS RESPONSIBLE FOR HIGH GaS PRICES ? CULPRIT IES: estimated at around half a billion dollars. In a handful of cases setded to date, Ottawa has anted up 40% of the claim, leaving the other 60% to be met by the church involved. Anyone who thinks the three denominations can come up with any- thing near $300 million without bankrupting themselves, closing churches and selling off church property whole- sale needs an urgent reality check. . That reality check has now been supplied by the separate but otherwise identical case of Mount Cashel and the two venerable Greater Vancouver schools. They are now suddenly facing closure and liquidation as early as this fall, when the B.C. Supreme Court deci- sion is expected. Lawyers for the CBIC liquidators, seeking fast bucks to meet the Mount Cashel victims’ claims, argue that the two schools rank as CBIC assets and must therefore be disposed of for cash as soon as possible. Lawyers for the schools and their supporters maintain the schools cannot be liquidated because they were created in trust to provide education in perpetuity. With eight distinct groups and their lawyers involved, Madame Justice Risa Levine looks like having her hands full this spring. So back now to Minister Jane Stewart, trying ineffectually to explain why upward of one billion dollars in largely undocumented — in numerous cases even unsolicited — handouts all really went to very worthy causes. Among them, grants to prosperous accomplice earn Neo LOAD DNSONS IW “TAOS OEM A101 ASIN SNL multinationals Jike Wal Mart and Adidas,’ dubious business enterprises in Jean) 3+. Chretien’s riding, a high-employment area like Brant (Jane’s own riding) and a=" leading Canadian bank. Oh, to be.a © Liberal supporter or bankrofler! 7 What's done is done, Jane. But how. better to clean the slate from now on by. pledging full (100%, not merely 40%) * support for the beleaguered churches -.._;, that, without it, will soorier or later, face" the auctioneer and the bulldozer, as the: native victims industry gathers momen- tum? And similar financial support right away, of course, for Vancouver College. : and St. Thomas More? ae It’s clear you have more than enough lolly for that rescue operation, even afte! providing for Wal Mart and Adidas. An the vote-catching potential is.not-to be sneezed at. oN Lethon Sa the Even if only a quarter of them attend _ every Sunday, 80% of Canadians still lik having churches around and wouldn't: ; take kindly to.a government that allowed them to be bulldozed into malls an ‘ condo highrises. Boo es : What better lifeline for you, Jane: Why not have'a quick chat with Jea ‘about it — TODAY? - me oa0.. MANY HAPPY returns of Tuesday, Feb. 22, to West Van Kiwanian David: Stevenson. oe . WRIGHT OR WRONG: Medicin consists of amusing the patient: nature cures the disease. (Right.on,' Voltaire!) a ae —niwright@uniser ve. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters must include your name, full address & telephone number. Timothy Renshaw Managing Editor 985-2131 (116) frenshawansnews.com Savid Whitwan Display Advertising Manager 980-0511 (317) dwhitmangnsnews.com Gall Snefgrove Gereial Office Manager 985-213¢ (105) gsnelgroveensnews.con? wed site — Wew.nsnews.com VIA e-mail: trenshaw@nsnews.com Display & Rize! 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