A6 - Wednesday, September 12, 1984 - North Shore News

EE editorial page

Follow or lead?

mid the host of economic and finan-

cial problems facing the new Tory

.government the election campaign
also highlighted two major moral issues which
will not quickly go away : abortion and capital
punishment.

However the former is eventually resolved,
there’s little doubt that our present loose
abortion law does not address the concerns
of Canada’s solid Pro Life faction nor even
all the concerns of Pro Cheice supporters.
The Pope’s current visit is likely to give
renewed emphasis to the whole question.

The capital punishment issue is more clear
cut but morally no less difficult. In abol-
ishing capital punishment a decade ago, the
Canadian government followed the
humanitarian lead of numerous other
Western countries -- arguing that the noose is
not a proven deterrent and that legal
‘“‘murder’’ is no more justifiable than any
other murder. While the latter argument may
be ethically sound, dismissing the deterrent
effect of capital punishment may be a less
convincing theory in light of the increase in
violent crime over recent years. Meanwhile,
numerous opinion polls have indicated that a
large majority of Canadians now support the
return of the death penalty, at least in the
case of police officers and prison guards
slain in the course of duty.

If or when Parliament eventually reviews
abortion and capital punishment, two things
are essential. A free vote of MPs according
to their consciences, not their party. And a
clear recognition by MPs that their duty on
such sensitive issues is sometimes to follow
public opinion -- and sometimes to lead it.

Hidden payers?

ive the Union of B.C. Municipalities

**A’’ for effort for its ingenious pro-

posal that the province and the feds
should pay 96% of all police costs because
police spend 96% of their time enforcing pro-
vincial and federal laws. Applied clean across
Canada, this would cut average municipal tax
bills by around $113 per local taxpayer. The
only snag is what happens to your provincial
and federal tax bill — or are there 10 million
hidden taxpayers oul there we’ve never heard
of?

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1139 Lonsdale Ave., North Vancouver. BC V7M 2H4
Publisher Peter Speck

Editor-in-Chief
Noo! Wright

Associate Publisher
Hobert Graham

Advertising Director
Tims Fearne is

Personne! Director
Berne Hillard

Classified Manage:

Vat Sherpas

Ctroulation Director
bal MAG 0 etre

Production Director

Co obarge

Photography Manager

Wootae ise ots Terri y btertere:

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Hope and the ancient truths

HAT IF THE POPE celebrated mass at
Abbotsford Airport and nobody turned

up?
That was the crazy
nightmare I had the other
night.

The immense field capable
of holding 250,000 people,
the towering altar, the hun-
dreds of concessions, the
2,500 portable biffs -- but
nothing for the cameras to
focus on except the papal
party, the idle traffic mar-
shals and a dozen or so
gawking locals. One wept
for the TV crews and ther
expectant viewers, No
crowd, no show! Cut back
to Bill Good Jr in the stu

dio

Don't worry, there ssn't
the remotest danger of it
happening Not after the

hundreds of thousands
who've thronged to the
Pope's debut in Quebec

Over the next 10 days sev
crat mithons more will cager
ly subject themselves to the
considerable physical
challenge of getting to sec
him in the flesh bess than
half of them nominal © atho

hes and of those, less than
once om three a repylar
churchgoctr Wihty,  cractly,

wall they dow?
At next lLuesday's Ab

botsford mass, for example,
the organizers want everyone
in place on the field by 9
a.m., nearly six hours before
His Holiness arrives. During
the night and dawn hours an
estimated 65,000 vehicles
will be moving up the Valley
along five separate
highways, fighting all the
regular traffic from big rigs
thundering through the
darkness (oO the incoming
commuter torrent Surrey
and Coquitlam pilgrims may
be able to sleep in unul
about 3 a.m. North Shore
residents are advised to start
out shortly after midnight
That’s peanuts, however,
compared to Toronto, where
they've readied Downsview
Au Force Base for a con
gregavon of over one mil
hon At Fort Sampson in the
NW TT) people were told to
catch a ferry to the uland a
week in advance, bringing
tents and food Nothing lke
uoohas ever been
Canada before.
For the devout, of course.
it's an intense spiritual expe
nience, but they probably
number less than one in five
among the. hordes par

seen ns}

LETTER OF THE DAY
Women enlighten Davis

Dear bE dbtor
Whete has our MLA
Davis been tor

Jack
the last few
His letter of August
demonstrates complete
what oaffir
mative action means cther in

years’
ISth
isnorance — of

Ptineiple of practise

aff_ir
mative acthon ws cnteens hed in
Our C oOnstitution

The principle oof

whieh sets

out the tundamental sabucs

cof cout Serdety Ob vreruasdy ites
therefore not merely a tren
dy Ate an sberpeatty as tre
Nays

AT hetereative ae trete one 1

concept is based first on the
deeply held principle that all
Canadians should have equal
opportunity (a principle to
which Davis, himself. albert
somewhat grudgingly

adheres) Secondly the
recognibon that ia order to
achteve this goal of equal op
portumity, certain disadvan
taged groups that have
histortecally suffered
Dscemination in out society
may require assistance in the
form of special measures pro
grammes of actie ities

In practice, Affirmative

ticipating in what = cynics
dismiss as simply ‘‘the big-
gest PR operation in histo-
ry’’. ' '

True, the papal visit is a

focus

ees

Noel Wright

PR man’s dream of heaven,
a once ina lifetime, “'l
there’? occasion’’ But
this doesn’t fully explain the
80 per cent of sightseers with

was
even

no religious commitment
who could watch the whole

thing much more comtor

action docs not mean that
qualifications of Competence
moa yob are set aside, nor ts tt
just a

thinks

“nose Count’ as Davis

We would like oto en
courage Mr Davis to stop
looking in his schoolboy dic
Honary for definitions of
complex concepts, whether
they be affirmative acuon.
equal pay for equal work.
Liberalism oof “'Soctal
Creditism We regret that
he did not avail himself of the

Opportunity to learn a lettle

tably on their living room
TV.

Are they seeking some-
thing from the actual physi-
cal presence of this most
widely loved world figure of
modern times that the TV
cameras might miss? If so, it
won't be quick fixes for any
of today’s secular woes.
John Paul If--the most
human and charismatic of
all popes--is also one of the
most traditional in his em.
phasis on ancient truths. His
views on such subjects as
faith, abortion, divorce and
the role of women are cer
tainly not echoed at the
moment by many of those
flocking to see him.

But what he also preaches
tearlessly is HOPE.

The hope which he insists
those ancient truths still hold
for a world that obviously
hasn't yet found any better
answers And hope, even if
wt comes in an unsugared
pill, 1s one of today’s most
precious commodities

Precious enough, it seems,
for a quarter of a milhon
souls--most of whom haven't
been in a church for years
to battle their way through
next Tuesday’s darkness to
Abbotsford.

That’s the only way this
onlooker can figure it out,

about the first two of these at
least by attending the NSW ¢
All Candidates mecting dur
ming the Provincial clection
Nast year

Bat afl is not lost) if Mn
Davis can't attend meetings
we will be glad to provide
him with up to-date informa
tion on all the election issucs
that particularly
women

affect

Joanne Norrish, ( hairperson
North Shore Women's
( entre