A6 - Sunday, September 23, 1984 - North Shore News Ell editorial page | Splitting the tab ictoria’s suggestion for subsidizing B.C.’s badly underfunded Legal Aid system by taxing the fees paid to lawyers by clients who can afford them has brought predictable protests from potentially ‘affected parties. Nevertheless, it contains at lipast the partial germ of a good idea. In round figures, direct government and legal profession grants to Legal Aid presently cover only about 42% of the costs. The balance, estimated at around $23 million a year, is ‘‘donated’’ by individual lawyers through the difference between what it costs them to work on Legal Aid cases and what they actually receive for that work. Lawyers in general are not exactly an im- poverished profession. In a time of restraint, some personal contribution to assuring justice for accused people without means may reasonably be sought from them. But asking the profession to bear the ENTIRE burden, particularly in the case of younger lawyers still establishing themselves, is another matter. Losers under the suggested scheme would be the business community, whose need for regular legal services far outstrips that of average private individuals. Even so, it’s hard to believe that a modest tax to cover perhaps half of the $23 million shortfall would have any serious impact on profits— while reducing by the same 50% the bill now being paid by lawyers out of their own pockets. Unless or until adequate government fun- ding can be restored, splitting the Legal Aid tab seems the fairest compromise. No contest! peaking of lawyers, it’s reassuring to learn that the new counsel at the Mon- treal law firm of Heenan, Blaikie, Jolin, Potvin, Trepanier and Cobbett — a Mr. P.E. Trudeau — won’t be appearing in court. Learned judges have quite enough problems already in grappling with all the screwball cases encouraged by our loophole-riddled Charter of Rights. The last thing they need is its author explaining to them what he’d really meant to say if only Parliament and the~pro- vinces hadn’t been so tiresome. T0ER WORE OF MOITTH AlD WHEY VANCOUVER Display Advertising 980-0511 north shore Classified Advertising 986-6222 mn ev Ss Newsroom 985-2131 f 6Circulation 986-1337 wmmay WanNEeDAY rmOAY Subscriptions 980-2707 1139 Lonodate Ave., North Vancouver, B.C. V7M 24 Publisher Peter Speck Editor-in-Chief Noel Wright Associate Publisher Robert Graham Advertising Director Tim Francis Personnel Olrector Bern Hillard Classified Manager Val Stephenson Circulation Directors Bill McGown Photography Manager Terry Peters Production Director Chris Jonson North Shore Newe founded i TYG an at mde eroderot Buby tia: HeWwapPAPE! and Qualhed vocter Se Meahater Ut ban it tacebe Tan Aci on pubtsned each Wednonday bt riday ane “yediny fos North Shore tree Prene O0 Gnd Met ito tend beoevery en oe Me Nott VHOFe Second tans Mare Heguateaticn AN, Entire contonts + 1084 North Shore Free Prees (td All rights reserved Parageagt Ut tee Lr on Sut pts Nott ad West va on ee ft availabe on pre yea Mario, Pete real Tena] STL phe eee po treo wta fe ROT OM ocd Soe ad Member of the BC Press Council e 1 ati SN 58770. ar THIS PAPER (S RECYCLABLE EMEMBER those R heady summer days of 1979 when Premier Bill Bennett cele- brated his second election victory by making capitalists of us all---with every man, woman and child in B.C. receiving a free gift of five $6 shares in his new B.C. Resources Investment Cor- poration? BCRIC shares had nowhere to go but up, mak- ing two and a half million British Columbians steadily richer (remember?) Ah well, BCRIC shares were trading last week at just $3 even, down from $3.65 a year ago. Which prompts the question: could YOU, at this moment, even put your hauus quickly on your free BILL SORENSON.::gold in them there BCRICs share certificate (always assuming you haven't long ago thrown it tn the waste basket) with unwanted old papers)? Bill Sorenson and = his fellow directors on the board of North Van's Silver Har. bour Centre for semor cit eens fervently hope vere BNSWCE Is yes They've come up with an imaginative scheme for put ting your S0% off BE RI¢ shar ®s Ip a worthy use at Vast Next month they re launching a lundraising dove in aid of the fimancially Strapped centric by app to North donate Abia Vancouscrites to then five Bennett freebies forgotten (Quite simply othe facilities and companionship provided what hy Siteer bhatt maths tile worth lrvtnp fees North Noian Pestraimtl bias hhrndeeds oil Burt Slashed ts SCTMOnS oot sgretial ras sunday brunch by Noel Wright ernment grant by more than half, currently to a little over $60,000 a year. To keep out of the red they need at least twice that sum and even the most energetic self-help ef- forts by members can’t make up the shortfall. So Bill Sorenson and his colleagues are now shooting for suffi- cient money to create an en- dowment fund which would provide the centre with ongoing income, indepen- dent of government hand- outs. If only half of North Van's 90,000 population handed over their five free, devalued BCRIC shares, it would give the endowment fund a handsome start of nearly $700,000-—-and one suspects 99 donors out of 100 would never miss them in short, a unique chance for painless charily, so start searching through your desk drawers today Incidentally, since the campaign will be peaking around Hallowe'en, they have in mind a very ap- propriate slogan: **‘BCRIC or treat!”’ * * e WHAT TO DO (if anything) ‘with North Van's precious backyard the unspoiled alpine wilderness of the Up- per tynn and Lower Seymour Valleys? Should it be turned into a regional park? If so, how do you preserve the area’s natu. ral beauty, environment, wildlife and water supply? How much public access ts desirable? How far should it be opened up to vehicies? What about tourntsm = and winter sports use? And future residential develop mentin Indian Acm? Public input on all these questions is invited ato an open house this Wednesday (Sept 26) sponsored by District Mayor Martflyn Baker and Dr. Hal Weinberg of the OVRD, which has put forward the regional park proposal Whatever the answers, tts ano omportant msuc If you want a vone in the eventual decisions drop by Wednes Jdayoany time between J and KRoysty oast) Mirrase tpl baal VSS West Queen's Road or (as the parson used to savin the marrage bans) Corevecr bold your preace . photo submitted LOTS OF SELF-HELP but it still can’t pay all the bills...Silver Harbour members Bessie Stobart, Debbie Stojkovic and Marguerite Baker busy preparing crafts for the financially strapped Centre’s open house last week. SCRATCHPAD: Next to the Holy Father himself, the most impressive figure at Tuesday evening’s: Stadium spectacular. was 65-year-old John Lacey, the retired businessman from West Van presented to the Pope as the representative of the handi- capped. Before 62,000 spec- tators the dignity with which Mr. Lacey, a. polio cripple on metal crutches, hobbled across the vast expanse of the Stadium flogr and up the stairs to the stage---then safely back down again, with the pontiff watching anx- iously---was an unforgettable lesson in the triumph of spirit and mind over body ... Bill and Margaret Dyke of North Van staged a thrilling surprise for Bill’s sister, Jean Thompson from Not- tingham, England, when she visited this summer Unbeknown to Jean, they’d invited another faraway rela- tive. The result was squeals of amazed joy when Jean, entering the house from the airport, walked into the arms of her favorite aunt, Elsie Gilpin of Australia, whom she hadn’t seen for 19 ... Last weekend some years PIONEER FAMILIES UNITED 10 North Shore branches of of a pioneer Vancouver fam- ily shared the happiness of Jewa Warren Emerson, daughter of former North Shore resident Mary (Mrs. John) Emerson, who was married to*Laurence Drew Morrison in Vancouver’s Canadian Memorial Church. Now honeymooning in Nevada and California, the newlyweds will be living in Richmond ... Flying tomor- row to the People’s Republic ~ across the Pacific is North Van’s William Glazier, president of Cascade Lead Products. He’s one of 37 members of the Society of Management Accountants making a three-week tour of China to find out how a Communist economy keeps the books ...Guide spokesperson Kathy Krenwenchuk tells us that members of the 28th Girl Guides Company will be knocking on doors in the Blueridge School area Mon- MAYOR MARILYN BAKER...a wilderness to safeguard. day evening seeking cans of tuna, boxes of rice or similar small donations to the Food Bank, which feeds 200 North Van households every week And talking of giving, kindly make a note of the special West Van Legion blood donor clinic next Fri- day (Sept.28), 2 to 8 p.m. on the Gallery level of Park Royal South. n ® fd * WRIGHT OR WRONG: Bad weather always looks worse through a window. A very happy fall, just the same, to all indoor types. rau Gael io 3 A photo it Lmerson astoorelet dean with groom Laurence Drew Morrison ed Ye tad