6 - Sunday, May 20, 1990 - North Shore News INSIGHTS " BLISTERS, BUNIONS, BRUISES — $3.95- MINOR SPRAINS, HEAD COLDS-$5.95...WE HAVE A 2 FOR! on House CALLS...“ Bleak future ceouver yard of Versatile Pacific Ts FUTURE of the North Van- Shipyards Inc. is becoming in- creasingly bleak. Layoffs this week have left it with a skeleton crew of a half dozen workers. And while Versatile officials say the layoffs are only temporary, there is little on the yard’s horizon to suggest that many workers will be recalled in the near future. The once vital North Vancouver ship- traditionally the ‘argest Lower Mainland and the employer of thousands of shipyard workers, recently designated a repair facility by yard, Versatile. Coupled with the steady reduction in shipyard staff, the message, whether in- tentional or not, is that the yard is head- ed for closure. “It’s the nature of the beast.” Versatile Pacific Shipyards Inc. personnel manager Bill Evers, commenting on shipbuilding employment and the most recent layoffs at Versatile’s North Van- couver yard. “Mr. Crist is displaying ignorance and bigotry with a comment like that.” North Vancouver Tory MP Chuck Cook, commenting on North Vancouver District Ald. Er- nie Crist’s statement that the $680-million Polar 8 icebreaker contract would not have been cut if it had been promised to a Quebec shipyard. “People say it’s 3,000 miles to y. Friday and Second Class Mail Registration Number welcome envelope. n newspaper and qualitied under Schedule 111. Paragraph Wt of the Excise Tax Act, is prbdlisned each Wednesd. Sunday by’ Worth Shore Free Press | ta, Vand distributed 1o every door on the Noun Subscriptions North and West Vancouver, $25 per year. Mailing rates available on request. Submissions are but we cannot accep! responsibility for unsolicited material including manuscripts and pictures e which should be accompanied by a stamped, addressed But what will replace the shipyard if it does close should be of concern to all North Shore residents. Versatile sits on seven hectares of prime waterfront property that could be worth millions if converted to commer- cial or residential use. But it has also been the industrial heart of North Vancouver that has pumped a steady flow of rich economic blood into the city’s system for decades. Without that industrial vitality the city’s economic in the was heatth would be much impaired. And converting the property to resi- dential or commercial use would require an environmental clean-up that could end up costing more than what devel- opers are prepared to invest. An idle Versatile would be a monu- ment to North Vancouver’s grand ship- building past and an ominous harbinger of a depressed industrial future. send our tax dollars to Ottawa and 30,000 miles for it to come back.”” Tom Ward, general snanager of Vancouver Shipyards Co. Ltd. (VSCL), on the Canadian tax system. “We're a bit disappointed. Usually you sample ail the ships."’ Keith Hebron, head of emergen- cy operations for the Environmen- tal Protection Service, commenting on the decision by Transport Canada to refrain from taking fuel samples from the vessel now believed to have spilled up to 900 jitres of diesel oil into Burrard In- et. “We believe that to destroy a forested arez more than one-third the size of Stanley Park in order to develop a golf course would be ir- responsible in these days of heightened environmental awareness.”’ West Vancouver residents Katharine and Michael Steig, op- posing the development of a 27- hole golf course on Hollyburn Mountain in West Vancouver. “lt would appear that the district implemented a policy for two years of violating its own bylaw.”’ Vancouver alderman Jonathan Baker, the lawyer who represented North Vancouver resident Terence Lynch in his successful battle with North Vancouver District to over- turn approval of a permit for a monster home that was blocking his view. Publisher ........... Peter Speck jeeEEEErEe Display Advertising 980-0511 Managing Editor Timothy Renshaw Glassiied Advertising 986-6222 Associate Editor ..... Noel Wright Disiibetion one ear Advertising Director . Linda Stewart Subscription . SUNDAY’: WEOMEEDAT + TREAT ptions 986-1337 North Shore News, founded i in 1969 as an independent Fax 985-3227 1139 Lonsdale Avenue, North Vancouver, B.C. V7M 2H4 59,170 (average, Wednesday Friday & Sunday) SDA DIVISION MEMBER Saket ReenaeTe wt Amen e moute Making you pay for bulidozing the Wail TODAY’S BAD news for Canadian home buyers and businesses comes not from Bank of Canada boss John Crow but from West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl. West Germany has long vied with Japan for Number One spot in the global economy. And not only by selling industrial and con- sumer products of every kind to the rest of the world. In recent years, with a rock-hard deutschmark, it has also been a major exporter of capital to capi- tal-hungry countries like Canada. But that particular export is about to be drastically cut back — if not cut off almost entirely. In- stead, the Bonn government is now planning large-scale bond issues designed to lure long-term foreign investment INTO West Germany. The reason being the staggcring cost of rebuilding the moribund East German economy, virtually from scratch, as reunification rap- idly rolls ahead. The Unity Fund, as it’s called, is expected to make a special pitch for Japanese loans, thereby reduc- ing the a:ncunt of Japanese in- vestment available to debtor na- tions like Canada. And the Fund will also scil off large chunks of state-owned East German industry to investors in other foreign coun- tries, as well as at home. What it all signals is a sudden massive in- flow of world money into the reunified Germany. Like any other commodity, the supply of world money is ultimate- ly limited — even though Brian Mulroney and Michael Wilson don’t seem to grasp the fact. So John Crow may not need inflation much longer to justify high interest rates. In face of this stiff new competi- tion from Germany, high interest rates may well be the only way Canada can continue to attract a big enough slice of the world money pie for our own needs. Hope I haven't spoiled your Victoria Day with the thought that your crippling mortgage or business Ioan instalments may be helping to pay for bulldozing the Berlin Wall And please don’t shoot the mes- senger! gee BREATH OF FRESH AIR ... POSTSCRIPTS: A formidable po- litical lady is rumored to be a con- tender for the president’s job when West Van’s branch of the Reform Party-on-a-roll elects its 1990-91 slate at the Constituency Associa- tion’s a.g.m. June 6 at 7:30 p.m. in the Masonic Hall, 1763 Bellevue. Well known for her community service work, Helen Stevenson is also very much a po- litical sign of the times — she’s a past president of the Capilano- Howe Sound Progressive Conser- vative Women! ... Well-known West Van artist Patricia Grohne — an,abstract colorist whose works grace homes and offices on two continents — turns her and Jurgen’s new Bowen Island home, corner of Adams and Bowen Bay Road, into an indoor-outdoor gallery from 1 to 6 p.m. next Sun- day, May 27, with a showing of new and retrospective paintings. Throw in the short ferry ride and it promises to be, quite literally, an exhibit with ‘‘a breath of fresh air’’ ... Pandora’s Vox director Gillian Hunt, pianist Jennie Westcott and organist Elinor McLean provide ‘Magic Mo- ments’’ at next Saturday’s, May 26, dinner concert at St. Monica’s Church, Horseshoe Bay. For $16 dinner-concert tickets (or $12 for just concert and dessert) call Noreen, 921-9112, or Julia, 921- 5246 ... Meanwhile, a double ra- tion of happy 51st anniversary wishes today, May 20, to West Van’s Bob and Beryi Joan Spray .+. Likewise to North Van’s Ernie and Irene Timbers ... And while I’m away until June, don’t forget to send ‘‘Goiden SOth’’ anniver- sary greetings May 24 to North Van’s Charlie and Gertie Todd ... The same again May 25 to Frank and Millie Bosco, also of North Van ... And happy 92nd birthday wishes May 29 to West Van’s Ken Macpherson. wee WRIGHT OR WRO2G: Joggers make highly dependable spouses. In those outfits where else can they go but home? Photo submitted artist Patricia Grohne enjoys the sun at the outdoor gallery of her works on Bowen Island.