The North Shoro resis pablishod by Korth Shore Freo Press itd., Publisher Peter Speck, from 1739 Loausdals Avoaue Marth Fracouver, B.C., VIM 244 PETER SPECK Publisher $85-2131 (101) Doug Foot _ Ghuis dohasoa Comptroller” ~,’- Operations 7 885-2131 ia) gOS 208 (105) Managing Editor.:"” ‘gues §85-21 2131 (178) . Seo" 18) Bicpley & Real Retate Fax : Roemneons Fax Ciassifisd, Aocossting 8 Misia Ofice Fax Marte Share Hows, founded in 1969 as an independent suburban newspaper and under Schedule 111, Paragraph Itl of the Excise Tax Act, ix published cach Wednesday, Friday and Sundsy by North Shore Froe Press Led, and distributed to every door on the North Shore, Canada Fost Canadian Publications Maif Sales Prduct Agreement No. 0087238. Mailing rates aveilable on request. Enlire contents © 1996 Nortls Shore Free Press Ltd, All rights reserved, om oo Pees mailbox Dear Editor: _-For years I have flipped casually through this local paper with vary- ing degrees of interest. Every so often I've glazed over Doug Collins’ column — shaking my head in sad disbelief. As a true apa- thetic Canadian, however, I had not ‘voiced any public disagreement (until now) with Mr. Collins, not finding it worth my time to counter his archaic views. ; Instead I resigned myself into accepting that Mr. Collins will slowly fadé out of our social influ- ence while he churns out (year after year after year) redundant articles of . self righteousness. I was content to watch him and his. decrepit. ideas dwindle into the twilight so. that future generations could go on liv- ing their lives without. this. sour . bugle of hatred in their newspapers. . Unfortunately for him my apathy . was worn off upon realization that a tax taies NATIONAL CITIZEN'S Coalition Tales From. The Tax Trough Hl tefls.us this about government waste: In 1994, the Federal Regional Development Agency for Quebec, FORD-Q, announced it was spending $3.5 million on an indus- try theme park in the riding of Prime Minister Jean Chretien (723 taxpayer years). Another windfall to Chretien’s news viewpoint Ee 2 pte Ge i ge FO No solutions in Collins. younger audience has fallen victim to unwarranted anger (“Young ‘racist’ advised,’ March 20). Understandably this woman chose to vent her frustrations on. sympa- thetic fascist ears; those of Mr. Collins. I assume the angst of this anonymous writer’s livelihood in North Vancouver reflects an inabili- ty to understand her. social sur- roundings, participate in urban. . growth, and to respect equal citizen- ship. But please Mr. Collins, don’t stroke this flame of ignorance: our . .impressionable youth don’t need any extra hatred in their lives. You offer us resentment — not a solu- tion. Consequently the result of “the . alternative road” may indeed prove to be harder for you to swallow for it holds promise for Canadians as people; not as races. Kyle Griblin West Vancouver riding was the $500,000 of our taxes’given to the Canoe Hall of Fame (103 taxpayer years). Meanwhile on the federal cor- rections services front, in the first eight months of 1994, the federal government spent over $139,600 on condoms (29 taxpayer years). A taxpayer year is the amount of total personal income tax an average taxpayer pays out in one year —- about $4, 800. womens Pay UAB AEE ANETTA OPEN TTA AGI AEE MS REALE DT BOAT NANTES OEE ARR ARNESON V-chip ready to save the |2ist century IT’S THE size of a thumbnail. Noel It’s all-Canadian. And it may 2 make the everyday world of the Wright 21st century a whole lot safer than today’s. The tiny V-chip is the brainchild of Simon Fraser University engineer Tim Collings. It can enable individual view- ers to black out TV programs contain- ing levels of violence or purnography that they personally find unacceptable — or unacceptable for their children. Protecting the latter from the flood’ of TV violence now available to them daily is sudden’ y becoming ‘a top! priority. Arguably, violence is the major social disease of the later 20th cen- ; tury. And in recemt years more and more research by psychologists and- psychiatrists among violent criminals points inescapably towards one- conclusion. Violence is not natural in the newborn. Violence is learned. And above all it is learned — or nor learned — during childhood.. - : As a teacher of violence to an’ often captive audience of. “home meneD alone“ kids with both parents out working, nothing surpasses much of today’s U.S.-produced TV. At least seven of the some 350 characters... appearing daily in prime time are murdered and dozens more injured, . : beaten up or threatened. After TV industry deregulation in the early 1980s, violent cartoons soared from 90 minutes weekly to 43 hours each week. For children the most damaging features in all this TV mayhem are that: (1) violence i shown as'the normal, acceptable way to solve problems; and (2) the; . perpetrators of violence are shown to suffer no nasty consequences So much for the basic problem, which now has governments work wide determined ‘to tackle it... : ’ Ever since Jinuary spectacular progress has m-mai Clinton has signed into law a bill requiring Mr. Collings’. Canadian . chip to be installed in all new U.S.-made TV sets. A few ‘days. Intec the alli European Parliament voted-to make V-chips. mandatory i European TV sets. Just oie problem remains. .” To make the V-chip useable, programs must carry a ‘classificatio: code denoting their,level of violence and/or porn, if any. Only then’ the viewer program his chip to black out unacceptable program Initially the big U.S.-TV networks — who recite the First; ‘Amendment on freedom of expression like Christians recite the Lord's Prayer — screamed ‘ “censorship” and flatly refused to-play. ABC, ‘now owned by Disney with its “family-values”. bias, was the first ink Since then, the other three (CBS, NBC and Fox) have agreed, all somewhat’ grudgingly, to work together towards an early classification system, : oh Although Canadian broadcasters have been planning ne fe time, the U.S. system will be the key. That's because the bulk violent programming flows in via Canadian cable, from’ t ing neighbors below the border, with their “high- Agreed, the state has no right to censor. But provided. freede communication is not denied to’anyone else, individuals do EY right for their children —— especially if, as experts are.co measurably reduce the numbers of violent adults in years ahe' dd ° eo Lions: ns bintdsy boy David Sinclair. WRIGHT OR WRONG: Genuinely great people make: 2 ev great. ; in ae seamathtaintent ionopoly money HE STAMP people took a licking Te week and rightly so. _Canada Post, a Crown corporation with a monopoly, is unaccountable to the public and competes with unfair advan- tage against private enterprise business- es such as the one that publishes the newspaper you are presently reading. To put it bluntly, Canada Post i is an advertising flyer junkie. The corporation’s conduct in this area drew a lot of heat at the Canada Post mandate review in Vancouver. A federal- ly appointed commission is in the process of travelling to six Canadian cities to gather public opinion on Canada Post financial and policy mat- ters. We ail like to think that the priority for the corporation is the efficient deliv- ery of first-class mail, it just isn’t so. Canada Post certainly isn’t bringing in the green by paying its workers on average 12% more than comparable jobs in the private sector. It’s not making money through its Admail (advertising flyer delivery) ser- vice either. Although the corporation’s annual, report indicated that 41.7% of its busi- ness volume was accounted for by unad- dressed Admail, that area of its opera- ; tions generated just 5.2% of its total reve. enue for the 1994-95 period. :. - a Newspapers are also in the | advertis- ing flyer business. The revenue. helps to sustain taxpayers, those of us. lucky enough to have jobs. The publishers of newspapers, Urs inclusive, smell a rat. Many believe the corporation is subsidizing its Admiail ser- vice, putting: private enterprise at a dis” advantage in terms of costing. Combine: this with the fact that Canada Post has’. direct access to the individual maiiboxes’ of. apartment dwellers and youve got yourself one very large rat indeed. .