6 - Sunday, August 18. 1991 - North Shore News INSIGHTS AAAAAWH THE WEEKEND., TIME 10 GATCH UP WITH ty CORRESPONDENCE... A SCATHING LETTER 0 BRIAN MULRONEY. ONTHE GOT _ A BLISTERING EPISTLE 10 CLAUDE RICHMOND, OVER THE EXPORT OF YEW BARK...A DEVASTATING DISPATCH TO RITA JOHNSTON... NEWS VIEWPOINT Regional recognition OT ONLY is Canada rife with distinct societies each vying for rec- ognition, now we have ‘‘disiinct body types.”’ According to recent data released by the Canadian Fitness and Lifestyle Research Institute in conjunction with a 1988 survey, Canada can be broken down into regional body types. Finally, after years of caricaturing our fellow Canadians as Ontario fat-cats, vice-ridden Frenchmen, pseudo-Califor- nians or strapping big prairie farmers, we can rest assured our stereotypes have been accurate. The survey, which assessed the health and lifestyle of 23,000 Canadians in 1981, revealed that there were distinct regional dtiferences in body shape and lifestyle habtts. \esterners, long portrayed as iean fron- tiessmen, came off the lankiest. And the California influence is also evident: we are the least likely to smoke and the most like- ly to diet for health reasons. This, in con- trast with Quebecers who live the good life, oblivious to the dangers of the cancer stick and ieast fikely to diet for health reasons. Both regions display a distinct lifestyle choice. As for Ontarians, they tend to be short and, well, fat. Men and women from the affluent province are the most likely to be overweight. Ontario women, (except Mila, of course) are the fattest in the country, says the survey. In the light of these findings, perhaps Canadians will want to include in the con- stitution a recognition of distinct body types, and their right to self-government — the right to maintain one’s body shape ac- cording to the regional specifications. NEWS QUOTES OF THE WEEK Canny Couvelier hedging his bet on his queen? IF KILLING a political party were a criminal offence, Mel Couvelier could wel! be charged with attempted murder. By walking out Thursday on the leader he gave the Socreds three weeks earlier, after battling her for that post, he may have sealed their election fate. “The house was a pig sty but the iguana room was pretty clean.’* Winston Wing on the environ- ment in which he found his ab- ducted iguana, ‘Plastic is pushing leather aside in a sexy new trend.”” Fashion Statements columnist Carol Crenna on the ascendancy of vinyl. “This morning someone called me at 6:30 in the morning because a garbage truck was working early and woke them up. So they thought they would wake up the mayor."’ West Vancouver Mayor Mark Sager explaining how half the fun of being mayor of Canada’s Publisher... Peter Speck Managing Editor Timothy Renshaw Associate Editor Noel Wright Advertising Director _. Linda Stewart Comptroller . .Doug Foot North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an indepencent suburban newspaper and qualified under Schedule 111, Paragraph If! of the Excise Tax Act, is published each Wednesday, Friday and Sunday by North Shore Free Press Ltd. and distributed to every door on the North Shore. Second Class Mail Registration Number 3885. Subscnptions North and Wes? Vancouver, $25 per yeat. Mailing rates available on request. Submissions are welcome but we cannot accept responsibility for urccicited maternal mcluding manuscripts and pictures which should be accompamed by a stamped, addressed envelope. richest community is talking to people. ‘“‘North Vancouver is auto theft heaven.” North Vancouver RCMP Const. Marty Blais reacting to police Statistics showing that between January and July of this year alone, 643 automobiles were reported stolen in North Van- couver, “Pve been told things like, ‘You're dead. We have a bullet for you.’ They’ve shet at my house and broken my windows and damaged my vehicles.”" Squamish Band peacekecper and acting chairman of the Squamish Tribal Council Sam Display Advertising 980-0511 Gistribution 986-1337 Real Estate Advertising 985-6982 Subscripticns 986-1337 Classified Advertising 986-6222 Fax 985-3227 Newsroom 985-2131 Administration 985-213 north shore 1139 Lonsdale Avenue, North Vancouver, B.C. V7M 2H4 61,582 (average circulation Wednesday, Friday & Sunday) Entire contents © 1991 North Shore Free Press Ltd. Ali rights reserved. George describing the trouble he’s had attempting to keep the peace onthe reserve lately. “Yes, I bave been discriminated (against) because of my age. A lot of times you walk in a store and you get treated really badly, which really shouldn't be done by the people who work there because we may be young now, but we're future customers for that store. They treat us like dirt and we're not going to go there when we're older. I didn’t really do anything about it, 1 still go there, but still — they treat us like dirt, man, and it’s not Fair.’’ Jeff, 14, answering Zap! ques- tion of the weck, ‘“‘Have you ever been discriminated against because of your age?” MEMBER Last-minute miracles do hap- pen, but not often. With the clock at 11:59 p.m. poor flummoxed Rita Johnson and her bickering troops now need miracles in the worst way — not any more high- profile defectors. The pollsters aren't always right. U's perfectly believable that they reflected the public mood when they found Grace McCarthy would be the only Socred leader with a fighting hope of beating the NDP. By backing Rita in- stead, Mel chose to ignore the fact that the voters, nol party power- brokers, decide elections. Now, in her hour of dire need, he’s aban- doned the queen he himself crowned. The excuse given — his wife's health — commands sympathy if it is his sole reason for suddenly quitting. But surely that situation was known a month ago, when Bud Smith, Claude Richmond and Dave Mercier announced their retirement plans. Did canny Couvelier hang in awhile just to assess whether his July 18 handi- work would pay off for him? If so, he soon had grounds for dejection. Within days a blatantly electioncering railway junket at public expense that turned into a public relations disaster. The Premier's wild-west-sheriff ap- proach to jaw and order, The looming scandal over bids for a new Lower Mainland racecourse. And at mid-August the party still without nominated candidates in half of its constituencies. Meanwhile, Couvelicr faced a potentially tough battle in his own riding, where some strong opposi- tion to his stance had emerged. Then came Rita’s debut last week on the national stage, telling Premier Robert Bourassa that British Columbians needed educating about Quebec — and Joe Clark that she was all behind him on the Constitution. Maybe the right things for a guest to say there, but they'll go over like a lead balloon on the B.C. hustings. So Mel may finally have decid- ed his queen was even less elec- table than one month ago — that four years as an opposition MLA held little appeal and the time had come to vacate his deckchair on the Titanic. But also perhaps figuring that, Noel Wright HITHER AND YON if the miracle does happen, Rita won't forget her creator when handing out the plum non-elected jobs in Victoria. Punters call it hedging your bet. SIGN OFF: Grand finale of West Van's Harmony Arts Festi- val 2:30 to 5 this Sunday after- noon is the Ambleside Park auc- tion by Bob Dawson -- to the sound of Dixieland jazz by Six- uvus — of special Harmony works created during the Festival by tal- ented North Shove artists... Salute GVRD air analyst Ken Stubbs of North Van, elected to the board of the international Air and Waste Management Association as its first director from B.C. at its re- cent a.g.m. in Vancouver... To- day, Aug. 18, it’s ‘*Golden 50th’’ anniversary congrats to former longtime West Van residents Pat and Eleanor McGillivray, now liv- ing in Chilliwack... Together with birthday greetings to North Van's Clara Peters... Then, many happy returns of tomorrow, Aug. 19, to North Van's Jennifer Adams... And the same again to West Van birthday boy ard former alderman Gordon Rowntree. WRIGHT OR WRONG: As Robert Benchley noted, there are only two kinds of travel —- first class and with children. . photo submitted FIRST FROM B.C... Ken Stubbs (right) congratulated by Air and Waste Management Assn. past-president Charles Pratt (left) on his election as B.C.’s first AWMA director.