-_6 ~ Wednesday, August 16, 1995 - North Shore News

“1139 Lonsdale Avenue
North Vancouver, B.C.
V7M 2H4

PETER SPECK
~ Publisher
985-2131 (101)

Chris Johnson
Operations Manager .

Boug Foot
* Comptrolier -~

"985-2131 (133) 986-2731 (166)

Timothy Renshaw - . Unda Stewart
vv Managing Editor’ ~~ Sales & Marketing Director
885-2131 (118). 980-0511 (ai)

Peer Keston Sener
Display tone 22 Classltied it

mictined on
soe 187 ra) en cy

Cieasified, Accounting 9
& Main Office Fax 985-3227

North Shere Hows, founded in 1969 as an
ind ¢ suburban newspaper and qualified

lependen:
; under Schedule 111, Paragraph UL of the ~~

..’ . Excise Tax Act, is published each Wednesday,
“s+. Friday, and Sunday by North Shore Free Press
Ltd. and distributed to every door on the North
Shore. Canada Post Canadian Publications Mail,
Sales Product Agreement «No, 0087238,
: Mailing tates wail ble on request, see

Entire contents
© 1995 North Shore.
» Frée Press Ltd.
All rights reserved,

- nology and will shortly be trying it

ESE iaa aed EL Den ent See Sed

Dott WORRY, TLL Just Keer ¥

GONG UNTER I NVENT TRAE
COMPLETE. tes VOTER.

' WO WEEKS have passed since sum. —
-mer vacation. Time for a. professional

day in some B.C: ‘Schools, including sev. ©
: eral in North Vancouver...

;, This even though. teachers’ and the rest of

e the school system have been‘ail but hibernat-|
‘ing for the past six. weeks during the ‘lengthy .
‘summer break.

No matier that professional days represent

‘yet another ‘inconvenience ‘for’ parents | and~

another interruption i in learning for students,

The: schoolsystem has long since aban- :
*doned ‘the idea of operating for: those who”
need to be educated; It is operated for the

educators and the, massive bureaucracy that

drives the education system — — all to the detri-:

ment of education quality in this province. :
_ The. Business Council of B.C. recently
opined that the job prospects for schoo] grad-

-uates would be far brig ter if the government

Th

ie oor

WHEN NATION: “STATES

. finally disappear into histo- _
__Fy’s junkyard — by the year,
’ 2050 or sooner — they'll».

have been destroyed. not by

. nuclear war but by its tiniest,
. least lethal component: the
‘microchip. be

The microchip as in “B-cash,” ;
shorthand for electronic money and
coming soon to a bank near you.
Experimental networks in the U.K.

: are-already proving a hit. Now, the ?

Royal Bank and CIBC have
licensed the U.K. “Mondex” tech- ;

extended the school year.
The.council’s proposal called. for an extrs
=30 minutes. of instructional ‘time .in_ public .
schools each day and the addition of 15 days .
to the B.C, school year, which currently sits at
a slim 185 days. Other. countries are already.
far ghead of B.C in the number of days their
“students spend in school each year. Japan, for
instance, has a 243-day school year; Germany
a 26-day | year. :

‘But don’t expect: educators. to junip at the
Business Council’s enlightened ‘proposal.
‘Alice McQuada, the president of the B.C.
‘Teachers’ Federation, has: already . advised’

STEALS AY ETAT AS KANE

af

‘caution in any approach to changing educa- o

tion. Research, she counsels, © aan
This paper advises, instead, action, |.
More time -in school: with ‘gocd tenchers:

- and a sound curriculum can do nothing but

good for students hungry to learn.

to ‘your financial transactions, An
E-cash card will not only spend .
your money but also COLLECT

eat ee SEN iE RRB :
rrailion x

Firearms.
inequities.

Dear Editor:

When an ordinary citizen’
applies for an FAC (firearms ; J
acquisition certificate) to pur-...
chase a handgun he must State «
that it is for sporting purposes, -.
ie: target shooting, and he/she.’

must take firearms training) 4%.

_ and must show proof of mem-*
bership in a, gun club, which”
has a shooting range. “eo

You may. tot state ‘that the
handgun is: for, home protec-
tion or un FAC won't be grant-
ed. ; wee

The -handgun | must :-not

“leave the home: except’ for.

. direct routing to.the gun clu!
and be stored ina locked box’

_en route. In the home the ‘gun:
must be stored in approved
fashion in a securely locked
box not in-a highly. visible:
location. ;

The native people of B.Ce
are ‘claiming 115% of the
province of B.C. as theirs.”

Native people can, eviden
ly, have illegal firearms; ‘tak
over -private’ land ‘and shoot:
policemen. If charged the re:
of us pay their legal defence.
fees: The rest of us are: threat-

ate and: we can’t eve
buy a handgun to Protect ou
: property. °

a "Something i is wrong, here.
_R. Scott):

North Vancouver

Carol pan co are in alit

» tle shortsighted in their. com:
plaints over the: Farsi pottery
course; offered — by. ‘North
"Shore Continuing Education.

/ One such course does 10)

a / mean the country is goin Ace)

‘mayhem with al but the strongest

_In‘short, bankrupted. nation

funds for you via'any compatible /:. states — their tax revenues dec

network, You'll be able, for exam- |

ple, to bet with E-cash at an off-.
shore casino on your coraputer and

have your winnings fed directly
into your E-Cash card with nobody
any the wiser. .

Back to the nation-state whose

prime source of power has come,
so far, from taxation. With no

“hither:
and yon

via banks and other record-keeping ©
institutions — on exactly how
much money its citizens have, ©
where they get it and how they

‘out in’ Canada. The cashless system

could be widely. available here by

1998-1999,

. E-Cash consists of plastic smart

o cards with embedded microchips :
“and special accompanying software,

To'pet started they'll have funds:
downloaded into them by banks and

~ other financial institutions.
Once systems are fully opera- 24

tional, they’ll carry out every kind
of transaction electronically.
Banknotes, coins, cheques and teller

machines will belong ia museums. :

How does this glorified credit
_card affect the nation-state? The

_ answer is that E-cash differs funda-
_ mentally from credit cards.

" The latter depend on central
accounting systems that tabulate
your debt and record your payment

-of it. Just as your bank account
records the money you receive and
take out, A “paper trail” is always
there — for loan officers, credit
rating agencies and Revenue
Canada,

Bue -cash icaves no paper trail

spend it, taxes will be increasingly
difficult (when not impossible) to
assess and collect,

For the computer-literate, mas-*
sive tax evasion will be as simple.
as a few keystrokes. Innumerable
untraceable sales and purchases
each day between individuals — -
even in different countries — sill
be as easy and commonplace as
picking up ‘a carton of milk at the

mated and currencies ravished
will lose'all contro! of the ‘econ

_ my. Taking over. will be the Glob.
Village run by millions of individ-
uals and hundreds of transnational
corporations who obey only the

, Marketplace. Throw in the possibi

_ ities opened up for the loss of you

longer any means of checking — .

” funds in a computer crash, their’,
‘theft by hackers and fast money.
laundering by criminals, and E-
cash suddenly takes on a:
Frankenstein-like mask.“

All at once,-a world where.
you're completely on your own,
- with no frontiers or tax collectors;
can become a very cold, and scary
place! .

NEW in lioiastoe be Bay ‘— a}

‘ monthly discussion forum on com

corner store. And speculative inter-

-. national money trading on an even
" vaster scale than today will play’ ~

munity topics kicks off 7: 30 p.m.,
Tuesday, Sept.:26, at St. Monica’s :
Church, 6404 Wellington, with.
guest speaker Mayor Mark Sage
WRIGHT OR WRONG: A
closed mouth gathers no feet. .