6 — Sunday, February 18, 1996 — North Shore News 1139 Lonsitate Avenue 7 North Vancouver, 8.C. V7M 2H4 PETER SPECK Publisher 985-2131 (101) + Herth Share Wows, founded in 1969 as an _. independent suburban newspaper and qualified {wader Schedule 111, Paragraph U1 of the __Exe'ee Tax Act, is published each Wednesday, Friday and Sunday by North Shore Froe Press Led, und distributed to every door on the North . Shore, Canada Post Censdien Publications Mai] Sales Product Agreement No. 0087238. i Mailing rates available on request. eis (neroge Cheulation, Wednesday, Friday & ~ Entire contents © 1996 North Shore *) Free Press Ltd, oe All rights reserved. _ Hand column, ) ie Gee, “4 ‘Seal FEUILLE SOS A ELL ATV RL NCTA SIN BLY OMI STA ETL DE KENNER S OTA MISE LEN I I WHAT ARE You pOING? HAVE You GONE quotes of the week . “You can take | away every- thing there is but you'll have a revolt on your hands. We do ‘expect quality public education.” Parent Barb Scobie, to North . Vancouver School District 44’s *., appointed trustee Bob Smith, - warning him that, even though he has to find a way to retire the dis- trict’s debt, local parents won't ‘stand for a mediocre school sys- _ tem. (From a Feb. 16 News story.) “The Globe and Mail is writ- ‘ten by civil servants for civil ser- vants.” Nerth Shore News columnist Doug Collins to Clark Davey on the occasion of the Globe and Mailer being parachuted in to take over the reins of the Vancouver Sun in distant times past. (From the Feb. 18 News On The Other eve ! tax tales THE UNION movement. is deeply into the Canadian tax trough. The: Department of ‘ Labor uses rnillions of our tax ' dollars each year to fund what is called “labor education.” Here are some of the handouts - made under the Labor Education Program of the Ministry of Human Resources Develoyment (a taxpayer year is the amount of total personal income tax an average taxpayer pays “It’s a shame to waste tax- payers’ money, but if we have to _ do it, we have to do it. We have every confidence our position is - correct.” West Vancouver Mayor Mark : Sager, on West Vancouver District’s decision to seek an injunction against the Capilano Sportsmens Club to remove its members from the West Vancouver ' facility to make way for a youth club, (From a Feb. 1} News story.) “We all like to help small busi- nesses, We appreciate the tough times that smal! business faces. But the fundamental! question is whether sidewalks are for signs or for people to walk on.” North Vancouver District Coun. Emie Crist, during council discus- sion on the issue of allowing dis- . trict businesses to display sandwich: board advertising signs on side- walks. (From a Feb. 16 News story.) in one year —- about $4,800): @ $137,912 for the Canadian Conference of Teamsters (28 tax- payer years). &@ $297,368 for the Canadian Federation of Labor (61 taxpayer years). @ $3,374,756 for the Canadian Labor Congress (697 taxpayer years). — From Tales from. the Tax Trough Hl, a National Citizens’ Coalition publication. news viewpoint . Nisga’a deal not yet signal for cheering Noel Wricghtt EXCUSE ME if I don’t immediately break out into loud hurrahs over the much. hyped Nisga’a treaty deal reached “in principle” last week. I’ve nothing but admiration for the Nisga’a negotiators. Their people waited a century for this moment, which finally came only after two years of tough over-the- table bargaining. Throughout, the Indian representatives — while fighting hard for their claims — seem to have behaved irreproach- ably. Once the treaty is ratified, up to two years down the road, I hope they enjoy what they won after making major concessions from their original bargaining position. ° According to information available at this column’s deadline they wili get government-style_. jurisdiction over some 2,000 . ~ square kilometres north of Terrace (8% of the 25,000 sq. km they ini- tially sought), hunting and fishing rights over a further 7,000 sq. km, - an estimated $190 million in cash and — in a side deal still to be | completed — probably 27% of - the towable catch on the Nass” River. - Already the congratulatory talk is all about the tentative .Nisga’a - treaty being a “benchmark” for - the other 47 native land claim deals now pending in B.C. In the, case of some interior rural claims, maybe. But if you're talking about the Lower Mainland, home to nearly two-thirds of the B.C. population, dream on! The 3,000 reserve Nisga’ a form 77% of the population in their new 2,000 sq. km “home- land” with its four native villages. The whole aréa has only about 250 non-native residents (whose individual property rights, by, the way, are reportedly protected under the draft treaty). To put the situation in perspec: : tive, the Nisga’a territory is less than three-quarters of the Metro Vancouver area with its non- native population of over 1.75 million. Yet virtually that entire Metro area is theoretically included in the initial land claims of its four: Main Indian bands—the ~~ . Squamish, Burrard, Musqueam and Tsawwassen. ~ . Their combined total some 4,000; or a almost all Metro: land except lic parks is ‘already y: priv owned.'So short of expropriation proteut reserves be “maided) " of the Nisga’a deal anyho include the-roadblock today’s threatening situati . Apex Alpine ski resort Penticton—-many of whom ‘want to deal with Ottawa ‘only on a! “nation-to-nation” basis withou B.C, Full marks, then, to the Nisga’a negotiators for pro a model of good manners,:..: patience and hard work. But a model ready-made ' answer to B.C.’s infinitely ing land claim problems No hope! 7 ST. SIMON’S, Deep Cove; spo sors the ninth-annual North Shore Renewal Mission Frida Saturday, Feb. 23-24, at North Lonsdale United Church with fea tured speaker Marjorie Hopper) of Another Chance Ministries call 929-0542 or 929-5350 te WRIGHT OR ‘wrote : - the ship sinks everyo! how she might have been’ ‘sav ' (Italian proverb). ebt dunderheads EBT AND the NDP go together like mom and apple pie. Readers not yet convinced of that reality need look no further than how the light- of-mind pols in Victoria have handled the debt crisis in North Vancouver School. District 44, Education Minister Art Charbonneau’s firing of the school beard was understand- able — the board had run up a $5-miilion debt with no plan to pay the money back. But Charbonneau’s hurried board adicu left the district’s funding probiem intact and, far from answering any press- ing questions, has only compounded the confusion. Mysteriously, since Bob Smith was appointed sole District 44 trustee, the anticipated $2.3-million deficit and. repayment of $500,000 in this fiscal year are no longer top priorities —- even though they led to the school board’s dis- missal, The task, says Smith, is too mon- umental to tackle in the next two months. So if Smith can’t provide the answers, who can? Not lame-duck Minister Charbonneau, who'll be gone — at the latest —- as soon as new Premier Glen Clark calls an election. Where the money is going to come from to prevent a $4-million deficit in the 1995-97 fiscal year — when wages and benefits, which gobble up 92% of the : board’s budget, can’t be touched and increased funding is not anticipsited — —Is ‘anyone’s guess. : Charbonneau has further coinplicated Smith’s task by demanding his report by . April 15 — before the decision on North . | and West Vancouver school district amal- gamation has been made.“ With such crisp planning, it’s not sur: prising that the NDP hasn’t rev ealed who will represent beleaguered North’ Vancouver residents after Smith leaves. © and before the next trustee election. oO Two suggestions: elect a new bourd . now, and fire the NDP. :