6 - North Shore News - Sunday, January 9, 2000 LLAN Rock is potentially a great name for a_ politician; ere’s an immediate image of strength and solidity attached to it. Of course, if you are health minister for Jean Chretien’s Liberals it would be just as easy to conjure a picture of not rocking the boat. Which is probably why the possibii- ity of the federal government requir- ing pictures of diseased Jungs on ciga- rette packets is currently making news headlines. If your party is riding high in the polls there’s no good reason to embark on any controversial legisla- tion that might damage its popularity. So it is almost standard policy to float trial balloons before major policy announcements to see who might be lining up to throw darts. VIEW POINT——— to require health warnings on ciga- rette packets to cover 60% of the space and blunt warnings along the line of “Smoking can cause a slow and painful death.” That idea was greeted with predictable puffs of outrage from the tobacco lobby and appears to have been dropped in favour of the lung pictures. But Rock still appears willing to press forward a fight with the giant U.S. tobacco industry. In November, - he released documents showing the companies’ plans to strengthen nico- tine levels and target new young smokers, and Jast month his govern- ment launched a $1-billion US lawsuit against tobacco companies alleged to have conspired to smuggle cheap ciga- rettes into Canada in the early ’90s. Good luck, Allan. Keep ’em between a Rock and a hard place. HELLO, IMMIGRATION? A year ago, Rock announced plans wo saich i “It’s so crappy, it’s not even funny any longer.” West Vancouver-Garibaldi MLA Ted Nebbeling, shocked that friends travelling on the fast ferry from Nanaimo were unable to use the vessel’s plugged-up toilet facilities. (From a Jan. 5 News story.) -o0a “Poor thing. But we were selfish for éne day.” . Linda Naughton of Tim Horton’s Doughnuts on Marine ‘Drive. The store was closed on New Year’s Eve, leaving at ~ * feast one Mountie without his favourite treat. (From a fan, : ‘$s News story.) . : 900 “This child may live long enough to see the next cen- ‘tury because of modern medicine and I think there will be a.lot of changes and opportunities for this genera- : “tion.” Kirsten Kay, mother of: the first “Y2K” baby to be born -on the North Shore, on what the future could hold for her child. (From a Jan. 5 News story.) . ; “Imagine if there was zero tolerance i in logging or Painting. How would ‘you ever paint a car?” : Al Arbuthnot; president of the B.C. Liquor Licensee and : "Retailers Association, arguing that his industry is. being nfairly. targeted by the new smoking ban. (From a Jan. 7 News story, . oa z Obviously smoking i is bad for your health — but so “‘is cating at McDonald’s and drinking beer.” : Queen’s Cross pub owner Dave Crown, on legislation at bans smoking i in bars and pubs, which he calls “the stu- Sony thing Pve ever heard of.” (irom the same Jan. 7 News : story, - ce ooo cae “No lamas were harmed in the making ‘of this com- “mercial.” Park Royal marketing director Cindy Lone responding to -an animal rights organization that protested the use of the tle animals in a commercial shot to adverdise Christmas opping at the mall. I (Prom a Jan. 7 News story, ) orth shore § North Shore News. founved in 1969 as an independent suburban newspaper and qualified under Schedule 111, Paragraph 111 of ihe Excise Tax Act, is published each Wednesday, Friday and Sunday by HCN Pubfcations Company and distributed to every door on the . orth Snore. Canada Post Canadian Publicahons “ tail Sales Product Agreement No. 0087238. Mailing sates available on request. Distribution Manager 936-1337 {124) Creative Services Disector 985-2131 (127) 61.582 (average citeutation, Wlecnesaay, Friday & Sunday} . Tomorrow it’s democracy's turn! WE great unwashed — denied by both Victoria and Ottawa any voice in debat- ing the precedent- setting Nisga’a land claim treaty -—~ are to have a chance to speak to it after all. Tomorrow, Monday, Jan.10, any. time between 12:01 am and 11:59 p.m. Without leaving home. Courtesy of the BC Chapter of the Coalition for Accountability in Government Expenditures. During those 23 hours and 58 min- utes the Coalition will hold a “Tele- Vote Referendum” asking British Columbians whether they support or oppose the treaty.in its present form. To participate, you simply dial 1- 900-565-VOTE (1-900-565-8683), lis- ten to a short introductory message 3 and then follow the simple “yes” or “no” instructions. A democratic vote in Canada should cast you nothing. But a conventional public referendum having been refused alike by former premier Glen Clark’s NDP government and Prime Minister Jean Chretien’s trained-seal Liberals, this particular democratic zight will cast you a 900-number fee of $1.99, added to your next phone bill. Of that sum, 50 cents will go toa registered charity, with the remaining $1.49 used to defray the coalition’s expenses in organizing the Phone-i in vote. PETER SPECK Publisher Human Resources 985-2131 (101) © 985-2131 (218) Terry Peters Photography Managet 985-2131 (160) Classified Manager. . Entire contents © 1999 HCN Publications Company All sights reserved. It’s not perfect, of course. Although the coalition is calling for only one vote per adult over the age of 18, multiple votes by a single individual are clearly possible. Telus, however, is cooperating to reduce © this threat to a mini- mum. In any exchanges - recording an obviously inflated vote, the phone company wil! trace it back to individ- ual subscribers and eliminate any impossi- bly high households from the final count — expected in about two weeks time. As BC Chapter chairman Liz James also notes, such multiple votes — to the extent that they emerge at all — could reasonably be expected to occur on both the “Yes” and “No” sides, thereby tending to cancel each other out: Regular readers of this column are. under no illusions about your scribe’s views on the treaty, which appear to be fully shared by the coalition. None of my criticisms: affect my . respect and sympathy. for the Nisga’a people themselves — my concern is solely for the future woes this undemoc- ratic and badly flawed document will inflict on both the Nisga’a and their non-native fellow citizens. Among those woes, some land given to the Nigga’ a is still under claim by neighbouring aboriginal bands... Individual Nisga’a citizens get no pri- vate property rights, but remain subju- - ated to a communal (communistic?) orm of government. In at least-14 areas ‘that government will have powers ENJOY “big superseding those of the provincial and- federal governments. And the treaty will: be used as a model for the four to five” dozen others now pending all over B.C.” Since the Noes 'a and future copycat’ ¢ . treaties will also be graven in stone, only an amendment of the Canadian constitution could ever bring about any oa changes. Meanwhile, B.C. stands to eventually be pockmarked with 50 or more tiny ©": apartheid-type “nations” which can only widen the gulf between natives and_; non- natives, and embitter their relation shi omorrow’s “Tele-Vote” is unlikely, : of course, to be heeded by the fools and knaves:who abound at both our levels of government. But they'll at least learn for the fitst time how British Columbians feel ab their handiwork. So be sure to tell them by dialing that 1-900 number tomorrow. Iv: s the last chance, which eve can’t veto, to assert your democratic rights or on this vital i issue. sound music Richards and his band at 7:30 p. Sunday, Jan. 23, in West Van United: Church, 21st and Esquimalt, West V: — call 921-6370 or 925-1017. for tic ets ($20) with all proceeds to: United Church outreach Programs. ” need a computer, °° nwright @uni rE. 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