(Sedition, n. conduct or speech inciting to page 6, January 26, 1977 - North Shore News © rebellion. -ious, a. —OXFORD DICTIONARY) i’m sorry to report that several otherwise worthy North Shore citizens have phoned me with a decidedly seditious suggestion during the past week or SO. . In view of the recent happenings at Vancouver newspaper offices, where federal gumshoes waving search warrants ransacked reporters’ desks in search of evidence against a third party, I’ve taken the precaution of shredding my notes of GAwAh LAW PAW Sitpy S55 anes wwe the conversations in the osterizer and: swallowing them. You obviously can’t be too careful in Canada these days, even at the risk of a little indigestion. Each of my callers referred to one-or both of a couple of recent columns on this page - (Feeling crushed? Small wonder!’’ on December 15 and ‘“‘It’s YOUR money they play around with’’ on Jan- uary 12). In one I pointed out that our secure, well-nourished civil servants at the three levels of government now make up around one in seven } - of the total work force. In the other I examined the recent case of a_ senior local functionary whose council voted him a 27 per cent pay |§ hike over a_ three-month period—rolled back two weeks later, incidentally, - because of the public outcry. NAUGHTY QUESTION Discussing these matters, each Caiier eventually work- ‘ed around to the same naughty, naughty question: if governments persist in squandering our hard-earned bucks in ways -we don’t approve of, why can’t we bring them to their: senses with a taxpayers’ strike? Nor was their question ‘entirely theoretical. One West Vancouver gentleman —who sounded as though he would be the last to be found manning the barticades— waxed enthusiastic about a_ successful taxpayers’ strike in Chicago in the thirties. Apparently so many citizens there banded together and refused to ante up that City Hall was unable to pay its school teachers for nine whole months. In more recent years there have also been reports of several tax strikes in France, though it has never been quite clear exactly how they ended. Why, demanded my cal- lers, was it OK for unions to create public havoc by striking in defence of their members’ incomes—but not OK for long-suffeving tax- payers to protest in similar vein against misuse of the 40 cents or so that governments now seize out of every pay-packet dollar? Facec with these insur- rectionary thoughts, I did my best for law and_ order (honestly I did, officer). I gave my _ callers several reasons why talking about a tax strike wasn’t a very good idea. TRIP TO OAKALLA? In the first place, if you get up on a soapbox and start actively persuading the pub- lic to join you in such a venture, I’m pretty sure there’s some passage in the criminal code that = can quickly dispatch you to Oakalla on the grounds that you're threatening the sec- urity of the state. With no legal way to organize your fellow-victims, a strike remains. just an empty theory. Ask any union boss. . . If you simply refuse to pay your own taxes (on the grounds of gross government. . mismanagement of your af- fairs), the boys you elected — _up top have plenty of other - ways of: making life miser- able for you. They range from penalties and fines, cutting off your water and selling your house, to eventually throwing you into jail for contempt and ruining you for life when you get out. . _No, there must be a safer way of telling Ottawa, Victoria and City Hall to stop fiinging away your precious dollars on a huge, ever- growing army of highly-paid bureaucrats and camp-fol- lowers—described by the auditor-general as already being virtually out of control —and on a costly list of politicians’ pet projects you never authorized when you put your cross on the ballot paper. EMPLOYEES, SERVANTS The answer, I ‘sugeest, should be as clear as daylight to any business man. These . people after all, are your employees and _ servants. Therefore you—not they— should set the budget. Here's how the Alexander scheme would work. The winners of all elec- tions—federal, provincial or municipal—would be auto- matically bound by = two standing Instructions from the voters: first, not one cent increase in taxes or other charges to. the public in excess of the current infla- tion rate; second, the books must be kept in the black. Ii the government or council’ couldn't cope on those eminently reasonable terms, it would automatically have to hold a referendum to ask for more money and explain. why. Should the voters turn down the re- quest, it would (equally automatically) be out on its neck and a new election would be called. There would be one or two little preliminary matters to be attended to, of course, including some fresh clauses | in the constitution. As the British North America Act is still -under the _ technical a . a a Lf : ates be Son jurisdiction of the British | parliament—which would gladly please amyone to get- rid of the thing—I see no real problems there. SMARTEN UP For the first few years elections might follow one another at a rather brisk pace, until we finally found a gang competent enough +to be entrusted with our shek- els. No harm in_ that--i¢ would add to the interest of life. In the process I’ve no doubt both politicians and bureaucrats would smarten up considerably. . =, Both North Vancouver and West Vancouver District councils voted Monday to support a Greater Vancouver Regional District recommen- dation for the establishment of a regional transit author- ity. The function of the new body would be to co-ordinate the organization of transpor- tation throughout the GVRD area, starting with a study of the feasibility of light rapid transport for Mainland. +L Wic Lower | The study would take up to 18 months to complete. Cost of the authority, which would have power to act not only on transit but also on roads and highways, purse-strings would be back where it belongs—with us. If the know-it-alls dismiss the Alexander scheme as Above all, control of the would be shared by ‘the province and the GVRD on a 50-50 basis. | In addition, the motion carried unanimously by West Vancouver council endorsed | the’ concept that. the new organization should adopt, each year, an official five year transportation program. GROUSE DECISION AGAIN POSTPONED Nerth Vancouver District council drew back once again from making up its mind. about the controversial Grouse Mountain housing project—which, after’ public hearings and months of debate, failed in its original form to win the approval of last year’s council. workable in view of the complexities of modern gov- ernment, etc., etc., all I can do is invite you to contem- plate the alternative. -District’s new planning ludicrously naive and un- The manager of real estate for Grouse Mountain Resorts Ltd., Jorgen Bysse, told council that his firm is in general agreement with the ort for the proposed devel- opment near the Cleveland Dam. The District report calls for a maximum density of 460 housing units, Last vaar'o Jwu. ss proposal by Grouse Moun. _ tain Resorts had been based on.a density of 556 units. nee me matter until next week. _ continued on page 12 The alternative being the way governments mistreat our money right now. 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