Hello Tn the liberal par'ly of BC. and this iS ily brother Gordon, my lovother Gordon, and my other brother Gordon Aree. Mat eT wetted aete, Thee Sioges mo Lihlacl tor Grave matters EST VANCOUVER District’s cemetery bylaw limiting the number of flowers that can be placed on Capilano View Cemetery graves jis one of those odd bureaucratic entities “hat inspire serious public head-shaking. The issue was recently raised by a griey- ing man who was told he could only put ‘flowers on the grave of his recently deceased mother in a container provided : by the municipality. ‘A $20 permit from West Vancouver is required for a second container. According to the man, who has not abided by the bylaw, staff at the Capilano View Cemetery have tossed out about $1,000 worth of flowers that had been placed on the grave by him and his father. West Vancouver officials have argued that large flower arrangements left on graves kill the cemetery’s grass. Bigdeal. Surely the wishes of relatives and part- ners to grieve their loss and honor the memory of the deceased take priority over the health of cemetery grass. In adjacent North Vancouver City, the municipality prefers mourners to place cut flowers, rather than planted flowers, on graves. But there is no limitation on the number. of flowers. And enforcement of bylaw restrictions is tempered by staff regard for the feelings of the mourners. West Vancouver’s cemetery bylaw is an unnecessary bdureaucratic intrusion into private lives and private deaths. LETTER OF THE DAY Easy to poke holes in Atyeo’s argument Dear Editor: The problem which I have with columnists such as Catherine Atyeo (Tax revolt —- Friday, April 16) is that her censure does nothing to placate. her readers or change their attitudes. On the contrary, it simply in- Publisher Managing Editor . . Peter Speck . Timothy Renshaw creases the feeling of alienation at | a time when our society is becom- ing more polarized, mostly as the result of government legislation. What is wrong with people pro- testing when they feel that they have been unfairly served by their elected representatives? Display Advertising 980-0511 Real Estate Advertising 985-6982 ‘in’ Ms. Distribution Subscriptions 986-1337 And why should they then become the butt of cynical col- umnists? It would be easy to ‘poke holes Atyeo’s argument, but what purpose would it serve? George C. Roberts West Vancouver Re a ue This newspaper 986-1337 Fou Associate Editor : Sales & Marketing Director Linda Stewart Comptroller . Doug Foot North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an independent Suburban newspaper and qualified under Schedule 111, Paragraph Il) of the Excise Tax Aci. is published cach Wednesday, Fnday and Sunday by North Shore Free Press Ltd. and distnbuted to every door on the North Shore. Canada Post Canadian Publications Mail Sales Product Agreement No. 0087238. Mating rales available on request: Subrmssions are welcome but we cannot accep! responsibility tor unsolicited matenal including manuscripts and pictures which should be accompa‘ued by a stamped. addressed envelone Noel Wright Newsroom V7M 2H4 Classified Advertising 986-6222 contains 985-2131 @ recycled fibre THE VONCE, OF prOwet ane TENT ANC OLIVER SUNDAY + WEDNESDAY © FRIDAY 1139 Lonsdale Avenue, North Vancouver, B.C. SDA OIVISION 61,582 (average circulation, Wednesday, Friday & Sunday) Entire contents © 1993 North Shore Free Press Ltd. Ail rights reserved. TRADE UNION literature and documents are preoccupied | with instilling in their members a black-and-white view of reality. The effort to depict workers as victimized and employers as Heartless and greedy is carried on relentlessly. A blatant instance of such a ‘‘elass-conflict” portrayal is con- tained in the constitution and other documents of the Canadian Unicon of Postal Workers (CUPW). In its ‘‘National Policies’’ this union declares itself in favor of the ‘‘class interest of its members’? and among other things: @ is committed ‘‘to the objective of transforming the present social and economic order to make it consistent with the interests and aspirations of workers;”’ @ “rejects all forms of trade unionism that fail to pose the basic division between the interest of the workers and the interest of the employer;”’ @ “condemns any and all at- tempts by labor bodies to establish a partnership between labor, gov- ernment and employers;’’ @ believes that the government is “the agent of the employer;’’ ® wants to support ‘‘all unions on strike, whether legally or il- legally;” © “promotes the development of a planned economy through a program of public ownership of key industries, the nationalization of financial institutions and the vast expansion of secondary in- dustries and service industries as the basis for an end to the prob- lems of unemployment;”’ ® and views as its primary goal “the accomplishment of workers’ control of the workplace.”’ The thrust of this document is clearly inspired by Marxist ideology. To be sure, this does not mean that all, or even most, CUPW members are committed Marxists, nor that the CUPW mentality is that only thing that ails Canada Post. But it does provide some proof that CUPW and its spiritual soul-mates on the Canadian labor scene are stuck in the dead end of a totally discredited and destruc- tive ideology. It is precisely this undcrlying, class-based antagonism that pres- ents a socialist party with great difficulties when it wins an elec- tion and is faced with the respon- sibility of government. As long as it is in opposition, such a party can play the ad- By Harry Antonides Contributing Writer vocacy role on behalf of special- interest groups, and do so by promoting outrageous policies, The morning after winning an election, as the NDP has now done in three provinces, it must present itsclf as a goverment of all the people. And it must live within the constraints of reality. As the Ontario government has discovered, it will find it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to . keep the support of its most ideologically committed members and at the same time persuade the- business community that it has abandoned its essentially anti- business mindset. ‘ The predictable result of all this will be a frightful muddle in — which the government on one hand desperately tries to placate’ its traditional supporters, while on the other hand it uses soothing language to put other sectors of society at case. What adds to our current ’ predicament i is that we find ourselves in the mids? of an out- pouring of strident demands for a total overhau! of Canadian soci ty. -This is occurring‘at a time ’ when there has been a wide- spread weakening, if not a total rejection, of an abiding standard of right and wrong: . The result is a loss of vision, lack of leadership,'and calls for instant solutions by all manner of aggrieved interest groups whose absolutist and often diametrically :, opposed demands are simply i ir- we reconcilable. : Harry Antonides wrote this ar- _ ticle for The Guide, the official publication of the Christian Labour Association of Canada, . which published it last year under, the title ‘‘Why Unions Are In Trouble. *’; Noel Wright on vacation NEWS photo Cindy Goodman BOS ENGLAND works on one of the louvres for a bam recently buitt by volunteers at Maplewood Farms in North Vancouver. The community barn-ralsing project, which took place May 1 and 2, was sponsored by the Sterling Communi- ty Service Foundation.