& - Friday, December 20, 1991 - North Shore News BRIAN?... ITS SANTA. KEMEMBER... * HE KNOWS WHEN YouvVE BEEN BAD & * oR Goop”.? ~ wees L KNOW You Said IT, BRIAN | NEWS VIEWPOINT Double ORTH VANCOUVER District should take advantage of its oppor- tunity to more than double its land base. In the new year, district council will consider the option of adding approxi- mately 96 square miles of wilderness area to the 64 square miles of property that now lie within its municipal boundaries. The area is currently contained within the Greater Vancouver Regional District’s Electoral Area B; it runs north along the Capilano River to the west and along In- dian Arm and indian River to the east. The price of annexing the land would be minimal: annexation would cost nothing; the district would incur 2 minimal aanuai administration expense the GVRD’s e e district 1989 budget for the entire Electoral Arza B was $13,500. But that expense would be almost entire- ly offset by the tax revenue from the area, which in 1989 was $11,500. North Vancouver “istrict would also be responsible for forest fire fighting costs in the annexed area, but only if the district is guilty of negligence ia, for example, not promptly reporting a fire in the area. What is left after such minimal financial outlay, then, is a vas¢ wilderness area over which North Vancouver District would have management and development authority. It would be an invaluable recreational legacy for the North Shore’s residents. | LETTER OF THE DAY Humans are not ‘born racist’ Dear Editor: As 1991 draws to a close, and we begin to catch glimpses of what the 21st century can hold in store, | dream that my three- month-old daughter will not have to live in a world with the anger, frustration and resentment that Mr. Noel Wright holds toward those who are not of western European — ‘‘white’’ — heritage. Although I do not wish to put would probably . .Peter Speck othy Renshaw Noel Wright Advertising Director .. Linda Stewart Comptroller ....Doug Foot North Share News, founded in 1969 as an independent suburban newspaper and qualified under Schedule 111, Paragraph Ill 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 Nosth Shore. Second Class Mail Registration Number 3835. Subscriptions North and West Vancouver, $25 per year. Mailing rates available on requesc. Submissions ate welcome but we cannot accept responsibilty for unsolicited materia! including manuscripts and pictures which should be accompanied by a stamped, addressed envelope. Newsroom V7M 2H4 words in Mr. Wright's mouth, he ‘tolerant’? person and, he may even believe that tolerance should be considered a moral virtue. I picture a world, tolerance is not necessary. Individuals will be acepted as equals regardless of race or color._ To be tolerant is to ‘“‘put up with; to bear; to endure.’’ It is indeed unfortunate that Display Advertising Real Estate Advertising 985-6982 Classified Advertising 986-6222 Tet VOREE OF ONT BHD WEST ARCOULER ‘north:shore. society we have individuals who cannot even act to that minimal standard. But those who tacitly condone convert ‘racist attitudes are no better than the intolerant. Human beings are not born “racist,” Mr. Wright — they simply are or are not. And you sir, are! claim to be a however, where Peter Donkers in our North Vancouver North Shore managed 986-1337 Ga 986-1337 980-0511 Distribution Subscriptions Fax 985-3227 Administration 985-2131 MEMBER SR. [A 985-2131 Cae SUNDAY - WEDNESDAY - FRIDAY a 1139 Lonsdale Avenue, North Vancouver, 8.C. SDA CIMSION 61,582 (average circulation, Wednesday, Friday & Sunday) Entire contents © 1991 North Shore Free Press Ltd. All rights reserved, i INSIGHTS AMID ALL THE GLOOM and doom over the economy and Quebec (will she, won’t she?) let’s brighten the last four shopping days to Christmas with a little positive thinking about life after divorce. Noel Wright If Quebec quits, pundits assure us, the rest of Canada (TROC nowadays to space-strapped headline writers) is finished. We'd never hack it economically, they warn, TROC would unravel at the seams all the way from Ottawa to Victoria — its remnants grabbed and exploited by the flint-hearted Yanks, with the amputated Mari- times a basket case grudgingly kept breathing by United Way agencies in Maine. Poppycock! In vulgar dellar terms the basic numbers (on which more in a moment) say that TROC could actually fare some- what better WITHOUT Quebec — the economic key being the Gross Domestic Product. The GDP is the total! dollar _ value of all the goods and services we toilers produce — and thus live on — each year. The other factor is how many toilers are involved. In 1988 Canada’s iabor force of 13.5 miflion created a GDP worth roughly $600 billion, which averages out to about $44,444 worth of goods and services per worker, Quebec’s contribution was $144 billion, produced by a labor force of 3.3 million. That $43,636 per Quebec worker — some $800 less than the Canada average — would also presumably be the best the province could do on its own, if it insisted on ending the marriage. In that case, the job of churn- ing out TROC’s $456 billion por- tior of the original joint GDP would be done by a labor force of just 10.2 million. The result would be to modestly INCREASE the average TROC worker’s output to $44,705 -—— making it worth $261 a year more than when Quebec shared our bed and over $1,100 better than the new ‘‘foreigners’’ next door would likely be doing. True, the above StatsCan fig- ures — the Jatest in 1991 reference books — are three years out of date. But not so the principle. If, in 1988, Quebec and TROC could have parted company with TROC the winner in terms of the wealth its people can earn, there’s no way that relative situation can be expected to change, now or in the future. Recession clobbers the big manufacturing industries in Quebec and Ontario alike — and victims leaving Ontario are definitely not migrating to HITHER AND YON Quebec; they're moving elsewhere - in TROC. . There are lots of logical and sentimental reasens why a majori- ty of TROC wants to save its ‘ marriage with Quebec. But the question of whether TROC could earn a good living on its own is not one of them. Leave that worry to Quebec. Once the economy rebounds, TROC has everything it takes to survive in comfort — married or divorced. WRAP-UP: Acclaimed artist Pamela Holl Hust — trained in Paris, London and Brussels — exhibits her distinctive abstract oils on canvas at North Van Courthouse from Dec. 19 to Feb. ‘19 (Mon.-Fri., 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.) ... The Music Makers are looking for male singers. Men ~ who think their tonsifs have what it takes are invited to serenade 922-7528 between 6 and 9 p.m. .... If coffee and cookies are your daytime high, drop by at Lonsdale . and 14th between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 21, for North Van City Library’s Christmas Open House ... And happy birth- day tommorrow, Dec. 21, to West Van Kiwanian Harry Martina. WRIGHT OR WRONG: a uni- versal law until 6 p.m. Tuesday: The other line will always move faster. NEWS photo Nell Lucente TWO-LEGGED PLOW HORSES... Gloria Dei Lutheran Church congregation pull plow manned by Pastor Dor Johnson (distant - top centre) at recent sod-turning for their new worship facility.