° woe rae Sa ce tye . . cs Pata ot Voogedbiea oe hd Se veh Vania 6 Friday, May 1871994" -Norttt Shbfe News 114687 0e es ee ee ees nase rea soaranresszsatareres SOME DAY SON... NOT ALL THIS WILL BE YOURS. | ee LSE Wea eta gcc RA ag at PRN FE. NEA BESS Cee Vi AARNE PASS RNS EWPOINT Special needs LL CHILDREN have the right to obtain a quality education in a neigh- 4... HAborhood public school. so “In the case of the special-needs child, this right is legistated by ministerial order 150/89, an addition made to-the School Act in 1989. _ «According to the order, special-needs edu- “cational programming should be offered “in classrooms where that student. is integrated “e with other students who do not have handi- caps.” | 7 _ But the wheels have fallen off the special- needs. wagon in North Vancouver as the dis- ' .trict’s school board attempts to negotiate the sharp curves presented by this year’s provin- cial budgetary constraints. H A look at the recent service cuts to’ school psycholegists‘and other teaching and volun- teer tutor coordination support within the ‘school district tells the story. In the 1991-92 school year, 10.6 positions were dedicated to provide services to stu- dents with severe learning disabilities. The proposed 1994-95 support level is one posi- -tiou for the entire district. . : The government has clearly shown its lack of commitment to the principle of special- “needs integration by choking off the money available for special education. Teachers don’t want to be left holding the bag. in the’ classroom. The powerful British Columbia Teachers Federation has therefore stated, “mainstreaming may not be the most appro- priate course for all children.” >. Children with disabilities seem destined to again be stranded on the outside looking in. ‘But the drive to integrate children of various abilities should not be written off as another failed social experiment. We have much to learn from each other, THE DAY — A novel solution to Opposition mish-mash Dear Editor: I believe I have a better solution to the problem of the mish-mash of ‘opposition parties we have fiopping around our provine:al parliament these days. — Aside from the Liberals, we (at the time of writing) have one inde- pendent Very Mitchell Party, a cou- ple of Progressive I.ove-Ins, and three each of Socia!-lites and Provincial Reformers, none of which can form a credible party of at least. four which is then eligible for government recognition and the taxpayers’ money to hire researchers and other really valu- Publisher-......... _ Managing Editor Associate Editor Sales & Marketing Olrector. Comptroiter......... «reee-P@ter Speck able people to support their flop- pings. So why don’t they form The Independent Party? The party’s policy would be that there is no party policy unless the caucus agrees unanimously to a party policy which can be aban- doned as party policy at any time. Caucus would be used as a cour- tesy to warn each other how they intend to take a strip off each other’s personal policy on that day. But who’s going to be in charge of an independent party of indepen- dent politicians? Well, they can draw straws or go in alphabetical order and be chief Display Advertising Ctassitied Advertising Newsroom 986-6222 Fax 985-2131 980-0511 ° Distribution Real Estate Advertising 985-6982 Subscriptions Administration for a month. As a perk, the chief would have access to the chief researcher for that month either to use or rent out to a tree hugging group or anyone else who could really use one. You know, | suspect they really would have no difficulty raising enough nominees to run a full slate in the next election. Why !’'d even bet the way the parliament is going, they may attract enough indepen- dent Liberals and NDPers before the end of the year and become the Official Opposition. Beb Hartman ‘North Vancouver 986-1337 986-1337 985-3227 985-2131 North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an independent suburban newspaper and qualified under Schedule 111, Paragraph $11 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 North Shore. Canada Post Canadian Publications Mail Sales Product Agreement No. 0087238. Mailing rates available on request. Submissions are welcome but we Cannot accept responsibility for unsolicited material including manuscripts and pictures which should be accompanied by a stamped, addressed envelope. V7M 2H4 1139 Lonsdale Avenue North Vancouver 8.C. North Shore Managed —MEMBER @CNA SIs LVAN « SDA DIVISION / 61,582 (average circulation, Wednesday, Friday & Sunday) Entire contents © 1994 North Shore Free Press Ltd. All rights reserved. fas YOU CAN take the boy out of politics. But can you take the politics out of the boy? I put this vital question to myself when f sat down to ruminate on the role of Rafe Mair if — some would say, when — British Columbia leaves Mother Confederation. Rafe was a cabinet minister in the Bill Bennett governnient. He has abandoned politics for good. Hasn't he? Roll this around your mouth: “President Rafe Mair of the Republic of British Columbia in his: inauguration address today declared that private property would be con- stitutionally protected, though he might make an exception for the Aluminum Company of Canada ... But Rafe is no republican. He’s a staunch monarchist. So try this: “King Rafe assured - his subjects at his glittering corona- tion today in the Plaza of Nations “that the Kingdom of British Columbia would immediately apply to become a self-governing monar- ” &8 If you don’t know that Rafe has lately become more and more a British : ‘Columbia nationalist . ... See your doctor or your remedial reading counsellor © immediately. 99 - chy within the Commonwealth while recognizing the sovereignty "— of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth I. “King Rafe added that the value of the raven, B.C.’s new currency, - would be tied to British sterling or the noon price per pound of Scottish salmon at Edinburgh, whichever is higher ...” Then again, North Vancouver's Rafe is a man of the people. So he might insist on a more modest role. Throwing the tea in the harbor. Preparing the tar and feathers for Ottawa federalists. Sharpening the guillotine. Naw, scratch that. He’d never countenance the guillotine. He prefers sharpening words. If you don’t know that Rafe has lately become more and more a British Columbia nationalist — if you haven’t heard him on CKNW or read his columns in The Financial Post, Georgia Straight, etc, — see your doctor or your” remedial reading counsellor imme- diately. You are either deaf or dead or illiterate. Because Rafe is everywhere these days, doubtless the most widely known commentator (he might sue if | said “journalist” in B.C. And he has crossed the border from being a pit-bull attacker of the Charlottetown Accord —his jaws have never relaxed on the issue and its proponents — to being the flar- ing-nostrils maverick of post- Charlottetown B.C, nationalism. Trevor Lautens ‘ (I know. f’ve mixed a dog _ metaphor and a horse metaphor. . Can J help it? I like animals.) Rafe has recently been up the svall, if not over it, about Bill C-18, which would give Quebec a guar- anteed 25%% of House of Commons seats, even if Quebec’s population dropped in relative terms to a figure undeserving of that share. He is livid — he does livid very impressively — about Central - Canadian domination of the coun-.”.- try and ils. determination to main- -. tain it, by trickery and guile'if hon-' orable means fail: -° - . Such as by bringing some provi-- + sions of the rejected accord in by the back duor, while an unsuspect+ ing nation is preoccupied with Stanley Cup playoffs. During commercial breaks ; Canadians have noticed that Lucien Bouchard is talking about Quebec | separating. Few have heard that ; British Columbians are saying: if it: does, or even before it dogs — a pre-emptive strike of sorts — B.C. should split too. ne It’s hardly a choir, and there aren’t as many booming bass voic- es in front of the-lyrics as there are nervous sopranos behind them. But if they ever sing off the same song . | sheet, Rafe Mair looks like the putative choirmaster. ° Last month, Rafe wrote in The: - Financial Post about the new mood of self-confidence in B.C., the go- it-alone attitude. The surprise was that so many people responded: Sure, let’sdo it, | “A dangerous movement,” Rafe warned. “Growing with astonishing speed,” he added. But he sounds mesmerized by the prospect. ; Make every honorable effort to - keep Quebec in Canada, he told his CKNW audience recently. But if it Jeaves, so should B.C. “Does this make me a bad Canadian? If so, | suspect that we have a lot of bad Canadians out there.” . Another day he declared: “If Central Canada” — perfidious Quebec, self-serving Ontario — “could say 25 years ago, with accu- racy, that B.C. Aad to stay in Confederation, that is now demon- strably untrue. Clearly, we could now stand on our own as 4 prosper- ous, peaceful nation.” Does that sound like politic- speak? Be warned. If Rafe Mair becomes the leader of a separate B.C., 1 predict that he will show his true colors. He will tyrannically impose mandatory fly-fishing class- es on the entire population.