north shore news

______MAILBOx

Pensioner takes federal
finance minister to task

Dear Editor:
Open letter to the
Honourable Paul Martin:

Last year I wrote to you
concerning the “claw” back of
my Old Age Security pension,
a pension that I believed I was
rightfully entitled to after hav-
ing judiciously worked for
over 40 years,

Your reply, for which
thank you, stated: “1 have
carefully noted your com-
ments and understand your
concerns. You have worked
hard to earn your moncy, and
your efforts to provide for
yourself in your retivement
years are commendable.”

I appreciate that you
understood my concern, and
that you applauded my efforts
to provide for myself in retire-
ment. These sentiments, how-
ever, are not reflected, and
have not found their way into
any tangible tax relict’ follow-
ing your most recent budget.

In the fifth paragraph of

your same fetter you said that

“1998 was the beginning of

general tas relief, starting with
those that need it most —
low- and middle-income
Canadians.”

Do you sir, in all honesty,
think that the humiliating
S115 that you have granted
vesterday is going to assist me,
in any way, shape, or form
with my disposable income?

If you do, you could not
be more wrong! In fact, this
transposes into approximately
$1.10 per day for all
Canadians, In heaven's name
Mr. Minister, when | take
GST and PST off this amount
what can I possibly buy with
the remainder?

What a monumental indig-
nity you have handed the
Canadian tax-paying public
again.

The huge surplus of $37
billion that has been gouged

from us since the early part of

this decade should be paid
back without any equivoca-
tion whatever!

Attempt, if you can, to
restore the confidence of a
people that pay the heaviest
tax burden of any nation on
this planet. Make yourself a
real hero, find some compas-
sion for those not financially
well-endowed, give back what

was taken from us because of

your obsession to balance a
budget thar was created as a
result of the unparalleled
spending by your government
and previous governments.
Please give serious consid-
eration to an interim budget.

This time, please think of

the poor, the low income and
the senior citizens of this
country and give them some
optimism that not all is‘lost in
this great land!

G.B. Miller

North Vancouver

Student addresses Seycove squeeze

Dear Editor:

The following is taken
trom a speech 1 made at the
June 3 meeting about Seycove
secondary school expansion:

My name is - Kendal
Anderson. I’m just finishing
my Grade 10 year at Seycove.
Although we're all aware of
the problems overcrowding
: brings, I'd like to give you a

student’s perspective.

When I came to Seycove I
was excited about a.number of
things, lockers being one of
them. Grade 8s and 9s had to
share lockers, as there weren't
enough to go around. I'm still
sharing a locker. I expect to be
sharing a locker next year.

In one locker there is bare-
ly enough room for all our

- books and a jacket, so we end
up carrying our books in big

backpacks. These not’ only -

have been proven to cause.
spinal injuries later on in life
but create wonderful obsta-
cles clogging thé already aver-
crowded aisles in classrooms
and hallways, and are damag-
ing to the school’s books.

Our.cafeteria seats a maxi-
mum of 60 students out of an

average of 350 students each
lunch period. Well over half of
the students end up.sitting on
the hallway floors ... until it’s
nearly impossible to get.
through,
incredible unsanitary cating
conditions. .

Aside from cafeteria space
available, classroom space is
limited or non-existent.
Classes are regularly held in
the library. —

The information and
resources in those parts of the
library are inaccessible to stu-
dents who need them in those
blocks. This is frustrating for
the teachers because we're out
in the halls making noise, and
frustrating for the students
bgcause they have nowhere to
go! The word study hall has
taken on a whole new mean-
ing at Seycove, as students are
forced to take to the halls to
study.

Since every available class

space has been utilized we've.

. gone to an extended day. This

never ‘mind the,

created gaps in our day to
allow some program flexibili-
ty, and there we are in the
halls again, because there’s
nowhere else to study!

I know that by the time I
graduate nothing will have

changed, but I hope that next
year, when my litele brother
comes to Seycove and by the
time he graduates he won't
still be shazing a locker.
Kendal Anderson

North Vancouver

Voiumteers
Needed

The Lonsdale Community Policing Centre is
in need of volunteers. If you are 19 years or
older, speak fluent English and enjoy spending
time helping and serving people, please call the
centre at 990-7465 or attend 112 East 3rd
Street, North Vancouver for an application.

The Centre is open
Monday to Saturday
10:00 to 18:00 hrs.

Protect Your Assets

FROM HARMFUL RAYS

Wednesday, June 9, 1999 — North Shore News - 9

ted white, mop.

advertorial. June 9/1999

C-78, THE U.A., AND MY BUDGET

On Monday May 24th, after tie
Liberal Government had, for the 53rd
time since 1994, limited to just a few
hours the amount of debate it would
permit on a Bill before Partiament, Bifl
C-78 was rammed through on Third
Reading with an 18 vote gap between
the YEAS and the NAYS. Assuming that
the Bill also passes in the Senate, the
Government will soon be able to
remove more than $30 billion in surplus
funds from the pension plans of the
Public Service, the RCMP, and the
Canadian Forces. [In addition, C-78 will
entrench same-sex partner entitle-
ments in numerous cther Bilis based
on @ new, and yet to be defined, "rela-
tionship of a conjugal nature".

Huge numbers of people are affected
by C-78, and rumours of a backbench
revolt in the Liberal Caucus over the Bill
caused the Prime Minister to declare the
vote on C-78 a confidence vote which, if
lost, would result in an election. Even so,
an unprecedented six Liberal MPs
voted against C-78, despite their
knowledge .that to do so would
almost certainly result in a refusal
by the Prime Minister to sign their
nomination papers for the next
election. The price they will likely pay for
their principled stand is the end to their

f political careers.

Because of the controversial nature of
the Bill, the Liberals rushed it through the
House before opponents to the new law

{| had time to become mobilized against it.

Now, of course, members of the affected
pension funds are outraged about what
they see as a clear case of the
Government stealing their pension
funds. The Goverment argues that it has
given a guarantee that it will meet its oblig-

| ations on future payments to its pension

recipients, and that the $30 billion it is
removing from the pension funds are only
book entices and not real cash in the
bank. It has been my experience
though, that .- Grove: ~ment is
just as good at sxenJling book
entries as it is at spending real
cash. I do not doubt for a minute
that the $30 billion in "book
entries", once’ returned to
Government coffers, will quickly
end up in the budgets of Liberal
Ministers. They are addicted to spend-
ing your money and wili do anything to get
their next "fix".

Church groups, and those involved in
the premotion of family values, initiated a

f last minute lobbying effort in an attempt to

have the Bill amended. They were unsuc-
cessful, but past experience has shown
conclusively that ramming a Bill through
Parliament when it contains new, and

4 undefined, terminology is a guarantee that

the Supreme Court, with its politically
appointed judges, will establish the defini-
tions for us. We always seem to end up
with social engineering by judicial
activism, when we should be using wide-
spread public discussion, followed by par-
liamentary debate, to endorse and imple-
ment appropriate social change.

THE UNITED ALTERNATIVE
May 31st was the last day for members
of the Reform Party to send in the referen-
dum ballots which will determine whether

| the "United Alternative" process continues,

or is abandoned.
Ted White, M.P. ,

The U.A. proposal! was first put forward
by the Leader, Preston Manning, at a
Party convention in June of 1998. It has
been the subject of a spirited debate with-
in the Party, and as many as 18 Reform
MPs have publicly expressed their opposi-
tion to the idea. | deliberately refrained
trom taking a public position because | had
an interest in applying to be one of the five
scrutineers who will watch the ballots
being counted on June 10th.

About three weeks ago, the Executive
Council of the Party announced that | will
indeed be one of the scrutineers ~- the only
Caucus member who will watch the vote
counting process. The four other scruti-
neers were selected from the membership
at large, two in favour of the U.A., and two
against. So tomorrow | will be in Calgary
as a neutral observer of the vote count,
and wiil be one of the first people to learn
whether the members of the Pany have
endorsed, or rejected, Mr Manning's pro- |
posal for a United Alternative.

NV OFFICE BUDGET

The final year end figures for the
1998/99 spending of the Federal
Government have recently become avail-
able so, as is my custom each year, | am
making public in this report a summary of}
the office expenses for my North
Vancouver and Ottawa offices.

For the period beginning on April 1,
1998 and ending on March 37, 1999 | was
allocated $203,533 to pay staff salaries:
and rent, and to purchase the various ser-
vices and supplies needed to run the two
offices. This figure included a carry-over
of $7,613 from the previous year, which
represented a 5% bonus for having come
in under budget in 1997/98. For this latest
budget year, | once again ended up with a
surplus of more than $4,000, as I have
done every year since | was first elected
as your MP. In addition, my air traval
expenses were about 14% lower than the |
provincial average.

Office rent amounted to $22,001, hotel
and ground transporiation expenses in.
Ottawa and the Riding, totalled $6,747,
staff salaries came to $84,000, while gen-
eral office expensés for telephones, copy-.
ing, computer equipment, stationery sup- |
plies, printing, special research projects; ~
the weekly North Shore News report, etc,
etc topped out at $67,553... - ... |

As always, | would like to make spe-
cial mention of the work which my wife,
Sue, does for both me and you. . For
almost 6 years now she has worked futt
time in my North Vancouver office with-
out receiving a single cent in pay. Her:
dedication and contribution [s certainty
worth a significant salary, but the rules!
of the House of Commons, of course,
prohibit her from collecting any. pay.
While she certainly does not complain,
and for the meantime has every inten-
tion of continuing to work for you at
zero dollars per hour, I get cross when
! think of the blatant politica! patronage
which gets dispensed by the’ Prime
Minister on a daily basis, and the likeli-
hood that the money Sue has saved.
taxpayers has already been blown away
an frivolous and unaccountable minis-
terial waste, like the projects for which
the unaccountable Shella Copps has .
become fameus.

#302-1200 Lynn’ Valley Road, Nore

Tels 666-0585 Fax? 666-0509, Internet: hittps//w