Hurry up, Grits! iberal ieader John Turner, criticized by Lee colleagues for an allegedly weak performance in Parliament so far, has vowed to step up attacks on Prime Minister Mulroney and his Tory administration when the Commons reassemble next week. Keeping the government 6n its toes is, of course, the opposition’s prime duty. But if -attacking purely for ‘its own sake is all Mr.Turner, now has in mind, he’ Ss. been get- ‘ting bad advice, * True, , the Mutroney- government hash’ t ac- tually, achieved much to:-date. There are “signs, however, that it is doing: its homework carefully---and ‘the voters who’ gave -it the biggest majority. in. Canadian history last Sept.4" pretty. obviously didn't expect miracle: vovernight. . ‘The Tories clearly’ con- _, tinue: to: enjoy: ‘decisive. backing from ‘a pa- . tient public willing to give them.a fair trial. To combat this Tory advantage’ Mr. Turner needs more than a -negative punchball ap- -proach. He needs" pesitive new policies that * promise to. solve the'country’s problems bet- er. than’ hose. ‘of. the’ government. Yet the e now. postponed policy-making in depth: ‘until a policy convention scheduled for : They'll have to work a lot faster than that - to. survive even as an effective opposition. Eighteen: more months of mere name-calling © ip and: heckling, . devoid ‘of political: substance, « 4. .wowt “save: their : bacon..;Mr. ‘Capilano friends would do him’ a’ favor. by | ‘stressing. this ‘need when . he ‘speaks - here a tomorrow (Saturday) at Lp.m, in St. David’ s nited Church, West ‘Van. 7 . Turner’s : MR PREMER.. CMLD YOU COMMENT ON THE SIARIIENT HAT YOURE NOTIASAULNS A ‘CINNECING STARLASE BEINISE AON WANT TD NOD THE PRESS... FEW WEEKS AGO, there was'a _ -embarrassment for the Bennett govern- A. ment, when their favourite pollster spoke to a university marketing class, and let some.” mangey cats out of the bag. z aes ana “politician-can-. just: lie back =: 0 Patrick Kinsella told. the Students, one of whom taped s » his talk, ‘that he had been the - teal power behind Bennett’s throne for the past couple of ~ European. think taink ‘survey . shows’ years. ‘the -U.S.; has ousted Japan 9s ‘the! world’s | most, economically ! he He said the restraint pro- ‘ gram had been cooked up +f simply” to give ‘Bennett. a . “tough guy’? image going in- " to the 1983 election. “He said that he and his “fellow political pollsters are able to tell politicians exactly what the public will swallow, ‘so that. they can say: all the - right things that will get them . lected. “Thes - premier stuck to the :California’tennis courts and skipped ‘the Okanagan North Displ vertising y-election, because Kinsella By GRAHAM LE. .» MLA Prince ce Rupe . point of view on a a particular dssue,. or will a ‘forthright statement of his’ position cost. him the next’electi¢n? Throughout: the history of |. leaders. have . risen or fallen by their. ability: - democracy, - to assess the public mood and to govern according to the will of the people. Good politicians learn the art of taking the public’s pulse. They listen, they talk, they press the flesh. And by a kind of fittering process, they absorb the public mood. “QUICK FIX” - If you see a politician at a Chamber of Commerce lun- ’¢heon or.a tinion picnic, you... -and. read .: until pollsters came along. -The pollsters offer politi-. cians a quick fix for finding | - ‘out what's in the ‘public ; mind. It’s a seductive offer. The goverment: ‘policy And, ; that’s “he the: pollster’ Si. a ., analysis..to learn’ what’ he! should’ do and say about al: political i issue.- ‘ Polling is: also. addictive. “no Foor ‘It’s always so ‘much easier.to take a poll than to sit down... and think. It’s éasier.to'givé ° the people what they say. they, a ‘want today.” Like any other addiction, ‘the poll-taking - habit. ‘starts .: ~ small, usually. with “an elec- tion campaign. In those few crucial weeks, everything is on the line. To win: the fast ‘election, Bennett had to know exactly what the voting public ‘was thinking. Kinsella’s polls showed that B.C. wanted a “tough guy”? leader. So Ben- : Classitied Advertising. 986- 222 jewsroom Circulation a Subscriptions’ 4199 Le medal ‘Ave., ‘North Nancouver, B.C. v7M au : Publisher Peter. Speck Marketing Director Operations Manager Robert Graham ee Berni Hilliard Advertising Director ° ~"") Gireulation Director Dave Jenneson es Bill McGown Editorin. Chief ~ 7 Noel Wright “Display Advertising Manager : Mike Goodseli lassified Manager: oy Val Stephenson. fA Production Director Chris Johnson Photography Manager Terry Peters North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an independent subuiban . "» newspaper and qualified under Schedute lil, Part lil, Paragraph IIt of the . €xcise Tax Act, is published each Wednesday. Friday and Sunday by North Skcre Free Press Ltd. and disizibuled to every doot on the North Shoré. Second Class Mail Registration Number 3885. Entire contents — ©1984 North Shore Free Press Ltd. All rights reserved. | “* Subscriptions, North and West Vancouver; $25. per year. Mailing rates available on request. . No responsibility accepted for unsolicited matetiat including Fo manuscripts and pictures which should be accompanied by a stamped, Te addressed envelope, “Member of the B.C. Press Council 55,770 (average. Wednesday , SDA DIVISION Friday & Sunday) “told him‘to stay away. Kinsella left the clear im- pression that both the Ben- nett and Mulroney govern- ments tailor every word and ‘gesture to, suit-the results of last night’s telephone survey. Election promises and government policies are bas- ed on high-priced public opi- nion sampling. And the politicians take their orders . from the hired help. GETTING HOOKED - Kinsella’s indiscreet mur- murings to the marketing students made headlines fora few days, although he merely confirmed what most peopic in the media had long suspected. But the media did not follow up the real implica- tions of what Kinsella was blurting out. What happens to politicans when they get hooked by the polling habit? And what happens to the rest of us when the people who govern us are themselves governed by pollsters? To a politician, one of life’s key questions is always the public’s state of mind. Wiil the people support his : ing one’of the perks of office. nett came’on like a\ tough guy, and won. : OPINION CHANGES But then he found the poll- taking habit hard to kick. If polls were good enough for creating election strategy, might think he is just enjoy- - But the politician is working — meeting people is a politi-' cian’s job. - Or at least it used to be, LETTER OF THE DAY |Gun-owner censured Dear Editor: , What sort of a mad world are we living in? ‘Hand guns go missing’’ we are informed on page 2 of your paper on January 4.. West Vancouver Police ap- pealing to the public for help in locating 5 handguns stolen from a West Vancouver residence. Ammunition for the pistols was also stolen. All the guns are operable. There is death at the end of.each one of those guns. I resent the appeal. Any person who keeps 5 operable handguns together with the ammunition in a place so in- secure deserves to be severely censured and/or charged with disturbing and endangering the peace of our community, Just over the page we come to an item on the Ontario man sentenced to a year in jail for holding a loaded gun to the head of a taxi driver in West Vancouver. Thanks to our neighbor on Sentinell Hill, wondering who is next. Juliet Janes West Vancouver { am parade: starts, off in: ca. “nel direction, it’s ‘hard to’ swing’ > the: "policy-making { process -onto the new, heading. -The- Bennett ‘government is ~’. now ‘trying: to deal ‘with the side-effects of government by 6 pollsters. “They” slapped : together the ‘restraint..pro- -”, gram as an election gimmick, - because ‘the-‘pollste: would work. LEAD, NOT! , : But public. opinion ‘has changed. British Columbians have had enough of the high. unemployment and depressed economy (that Bennett's restraint .. measures helped create. A good -election gimmick . has turned into bad leader- ship. The result has been the thumping that Socred can- didates took in the recent by- elections. . Bennett has by now pro- bably commissioned more polls to tell him what to do next. And, in the spring budget, we will probably see a flood of government in- itiatives designed to give the Socreds a new image. | ’ We can only hope that the next set of pollster-dictated gimmicks- will do some lasting good, ‘But don’ t count - on it. Once a government gets hooked on polis,. real political judgement withers away. And the poll-addict forgets that the duty of a politician is not to follow - public opinion, but-to lead. saidvit'