Aah TWO THINGS you're ex- pected to learn early in pol- itics: the first is when to get on a bandwagon — and the second, of course, is when to hop nimbly off. By Brian Swarbrick Contributing Writer There's a guy up country who still hasn't got the hang of it. He’s Lyall Hanson, the Vernon used car salesman who has shaped his entire political career around his unshakeable ability to admire Bill Vander Zalm. I think it not shoddy of me, but merely plain-spoken, to suggest that whatever Henson may have had in the way of critical faculties went into permanent hibernation very early on. It seems to have happened when Vander Zalm, eye- ing Lyall for the very first time, grinned fabulously and said, ‘‘I like the cut of your jib, Hanson. Here’s the municipal affairs port- folio.”’ During the past few months, as Vander Zalm’s shenanigans grew more and more bizarre, it surpris- ed no one in Vernon that Hanson went tire-kickin’ along, finding progressively more incredible e.- planations to justify his boss’s behavior. (And who can argue? It got him into the cabinet in jig time, on the crest of a very tiny wave of credentials.) But here’s the way it works: even as your lips are babbling praise, your eyes are on the boss’s footwork, and when his Reeboks decide to scamper, so do yours, fella. As it happened, Bill Vander Zalm selected Good Friday as the perfect tippy-toe day. Perhaps for the firs: time in his life he decided he was going to handle things low key. For a man of his towering self- confidence, it must have been the most reluctant of decisions. But the kitchen was getting far too hot to try for anything fancy; it was high time to get the hell out, quick and quiet. He looked over his horribly diminished options, and even though he was viewing them through the distorted prism of his enormous ego, he knew that it Friday, Aprii 5, 1991 - North Shore News - 7 == THE PRESS IS | 2 CALLING THE WAR| was time to bail out. So he chose the second slowest newsday of the year, when only the copy boy is on duty (and if you think that’s an accident of timing you're far too gullible to be reading this, Martha). Well, my God, Mr. Hanson, that was your signal! Didn’t you figure it out? If Bill Vander Zalm reckons it’s time to head for the exits, who are you to dawdle? Go fishing, go into a religious retreat, go anywhere — but don’t go answering doors or phones to reporters! Don’t you know what they wanted? They Problems result from lack of vision Dear Editor: If the events leading to the closure of Versatile Pacific Ship- yard Inc. in North Vancouver were presented as a story, the reader would have to assume that the demise of Canada’s largest shipyard on the West coast and a North Vancouver landmark was nothing less than an act of sabo- tage. It was the result of an unholy alliance of conspirators each pur- suing his own self interest, yet ac- ting in unison, with deadly results. As in every tragedy there are heroes as well, but their numbers like the Spartans at Thermpolae were too small. How could a few Canadian unions compete with the big exporters of raw logs, lobby- ing for the liquidation of Canada’s ships after World War Il so they could avail themselves of cheaper Liberian or Panama- nian bottoms? Canadian shipyard workers, unlike their American cousins, could not arouse enough patri- otism in the ranks of their own government, Liberal or Conser- vative, to let Canadian flags con- tinue to fly on Canadian masts. It was the greed and shortsightedness of Canada’s lumber barons who won the day. What was used as a springboard into high technology in other countries was sacrificed fer their narrow interests. With the merchant marine liq- uidated and sold at fire sale prices, Canada’s shipbuilding in- dustry started its inevitable decline. The demise of North Van- couver’s one-time main employer should not come as a surprise. It is merely the logical outcome of that policy. But it also stands as a symbol of what is ailing Canada and made our standard of living sink from first place to 14th place inside of four decades, not to speak of something even more serious, loss of ownership in our own house. Even the events surrounding the scuttling of the Polar 8 show a degree of corporate and govern- ment deception. The Polar 8 was supposed to restore Canada’s prestige and Versatiie’s sinking fortunes. lt was also supposed to defend Canada’s territorial integrity in the Arctic. But the Mulroney government could not find 500 million dollars to do so. It had, however, no problem finding twice that amount to de- fend the territorial integrity of far away Kuwait. The truth is that the govern- ment has long been pursuing the closure of many of Canada’s shipyards. But it is also true that, rather than compete in the inter- national market as did Sweden, Finland, Germany and Japan to keep their yards busy, many of Canada’s shipbuilders held out their hands. What was once an economic powerhouse in North Vancouver became a football in the hands of corporations who acquired Ver- satile for tax writeoffs only to resell it, sometimes within months, to vet another corporaze friend. Versatile’s own game plan was revealed when a Polar 8 lobby group consisting of North Van- couver civic leaders, Versatile management, labor and_ repre- sentatives of the North Vancouver business community were waiting to be received by the minister in Ottawa. It was only then that they were informed by a Versatile repre- sentative that, even if we got the Polar 8 we would build only a small portion of it in North Van- couver. The government wants to phase out the number of ship- yards, we were told, prompting a member of the lobby group to ask, “Is it for only a fifth of a ship we have come all the way from North Vancouver?"’ And now it appears they have achieved their objective. But only after building a large drydock at Versatile at taxpayers’ expense. This was done to respond to potential oil spills from damaged vessels in the harbor, What would happen were such an accident to occur after Ver- satile is shut down, nobody said. Versatile’s closure is not just a case of corporate mismanagement, of underhandedness and in- competence by government at the expense of Canadian jobs, tax- payers, shipyard workers, and the North Vancouver business com- munity. It is, above all, the sad result of a lack of vision of what Canada could have been because of a lack of commitment by its leaders, both political and cor- porate. Ald. Ernie Crist District of Nerth Vancouver wanted you ‘o put your foot in it one last time! But nobody seems to have slip- ped a new floppy disk into old Loyal Lyall’s programming. So there he was on Easter Saturday, when it would have been the easi- est (and of course the most sensi- ble) thing in politicraft to be in- communicado, stil! burbling his nonsense to a local reporter. Asked for an opinion on the Fremier’s difficulties, a more seasoned political survivor would have had the wit to blame them on, oh, I don’t know, men from Mars, lunar disturbances, the red all menace, whatever. Bur not old Lyall. He tells the reporter it was all the media's fault. The media! Here is a guy suddenly stripped of all the protection he’s enjoyed for the past five years, telling a reporter that he blames the reporter’s profession for the murky goings-on of his own pro- fession. Ah, they grow ’em brave up-country! Heaven knows, no one in this nation rues the deciine of media standards more than I do. But stern observer of media’s errant ways that J am, even I don’t hold vith any such twaddle as the devil press being responsible for Bill Vander Zaim’s problems. Right from the start, the error has been in the other direction, in deciding to play him as a buffoon, a harmless prankster, a sort of court jester for whom such serious words as culpability are not nor- mally applied. And now, Bill Vander Zaitm is part of the political history that gave us the Bennett family and Dave Barrett. In short, he’s no- body. There is nothicg Bill Vander Zalm can do for anybody any more. Only a boob will be found defending him from this moment onward, unless the defence is part of some convoluted philosophical discussion. Nobody in the Socred caucus will be listening to him anymore. At least, I don’t think anyone will, unless it's Lyall Hanson. Brian Swarbrick has been in the newspaper business since 1945, and has worked as a reporter, drama_ critic, columnist, editor and publisher. Neptune decision unfair! Cloverly area. The way things stand at present certainly affects the Dear Editor: “Potash shed approved for waterfront.’’ I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw that headline. Whatever happened to the democratic way of life in Canada? I| thought that is why we were given the right to vote. Ever since the issue of Nep- tune Terminals’ expansion has been considered, 1 made a statement that it was all ‘‘cut and dried’’ right from the beginning, just one big sham. Who is the ‘*panel’?? How can three people make a deci- sion that affects hundreds of citizens, ruins their view, pollutes their air, creates noise that is unbearable? What are their qualifications? Are they environmentalists? What parties are paying for their services? Surely it’s not North Vancouver city council and most definitely it is not the Cloverly area residents. That only leaves Vancouver Port or Neptune Terminals. I'll make a 10 to one bet that none of these three panelists fives in the value of the Clover- ly area properties. Doubling the expansion will devalue the houses by at least a minimum of $25,000. If the panel is so concerned about the residents, why don’t they offer to pur- chase our property — at least give us a chance to get out without losing our shirts? At one time J could look out my kitchen window and see beautiful blue water. Now, I see an ugly green shed and mountains of black coal which, with the slightest breeze, covers everything in my back yard. I can’t even leave my kitchen window open, because if everything isn’t covered in black dust, the noise from the constant shunting of the trains will deafen you. But the big bucks always win out. Nobody cares about the average citizen. Jacqueline Rutledge North Vancouver North Shore News Mailbox Policy LETTERS TO the editor must in- clude your name, written legibly, your full address and telephone number. Due to space censtraints the News cannot publish all letters. Published letters may be edited for brevity, clarity, accuracy, le- gality and taste.