A6 - Wednesday, November 9, 1983 - North Shore News History lesson The belief that the end justifies the means - that if your goal is righteous, you needn’t be squeamish about how you attain it -— is the most dangerous of political philosophies, as history proves. The authors of the Russian revolution were sincerely convinced that mankind’s salvation lay in the dictatorship of the proletariat and that nothing, therefore, must stand in its way. For Hitler, gas chambers were a negligible price to pay for the benefits a Master Race would bring to the world. The burning religious faith that inspired the Inquisition us- ed the stake and the torture chamber as the church’s natural weapons against infidels. Extreme examples, maybe. But once ANY cause - however virtuous it appears to its adherents — becomes more important than the manner of achieving it, people get hurt. B.C. today is getting badly hurt for precisely that reason. Until recently the belief that ends justify means dominated the thinking of both sides in the current government-labor confrontation: the Bennett cabinet in its determination to im- pose restraint at any price; the unions and Solidarity in their campaign to destroy the government chosen by a majority of British Columbians - to replace the ballot box by mob rule. The government, however, has now shown a readiness to compromise, to subordinate the end to the means, as democracy and civiliza- tion require. By contrast, labor leaders have responded with ruthless contempt for the hun- dreds of thousands of fellow-citizens they are prepared to trample underfoot on their unin- terrupted march to their objective. History teaches what lies at the end of THAT road. Sad goodbye There’s nothing new these days, alas, about businesses winding up, but North Van’s Star- dust Skating Centre is rather a special case. Over 19 years it has brought fun and healthy exercise to over a million people, including handicapped athletes who have learned new skills there. When it closes forever this Satur- day midnight, a little of the North Shore will die, too. S7Gl VENTE OF BSDUTTNE AND WER) YARDOUCER sunday Display Advertising 980-0511 rt awe Classified Advertising 886-6222 north shore. > ES? 985-2131 news Circutation 986 1337 1139 Lonsdale Ave. North Vancouver BC V7M 2H4 Publisher Peter Speck Associate Publisher Rober Graham Edltor-in-Chiet Noe! Wright Advertising Director Tern botany as Personnel Director Bernt HMithard Classified Director Isaboetle Jennings Circulation Director Hilt Mc Crown Production Director Caetn Gonnascn Office Manager (ocorerved (etary Photography Managor Verrey Peters, North Shore Newe, founded 6 NU an a ep meer enema city Hewapapa: and Qualifled unde GC heckite Hi bat ih Panag agit lot thee tarose Tas Act i pubhshed aah Wednemnday ao Sunday ty Noeif Shore beee Presse Lid and otiitnitled to every dor oe the Nortty Siaee bec ond Class Matt Registration Nuribe, tit Entire contents 1903 North Shore Free Press ltd All rights recerved Sst cipteonn Noth ard Went Varin oe ) eee you Marten, ate available of cecnieant Ne Peng nerd ality he 6 eypotered fee at ecea tes dared ates re Peay, FUME ee EPP RCD prec Lee awe Pte hE Dre me reaper bry ae dane apperdd ORO tad ee werk a rc Member of the BC Press Council iccad | $4 700 tavern aye Woulrnesuny A Sxmoay) at te Oe => sm THIS PAPER IS RECYCLABLE MAINSTREAM CANADA How quitters become winners If anyone doubts there are problems with Unemploy- ment Insurance, they need only glance at the staggering cost of running the system: it has more than doubled to about $12-billion during the last few years. While most Canadians would agree that the jobless should, indeed must, be assisted, there are real con- li. (rg By W. ROGER WORTH cerns that the scheme has become overly generous, pro- viding a disincentive for able individuals to find work, and costing taxpayers money they can’t afford to pay. Consider, for example, a few of the points made by the Canadian Federation of In- wit viv, THE WHITE-KNUCKLE DRAMA of tens of thousands of public sector employees pounding the bricks with their picket signs makes life doubly hard for this year’s council and school board can- didates in the November 19 elections. Getting the public’s serious attenuion during thei bref three-week campaign = isn’t too easy at the best of times. This month, the public's at- tention span seems likely to be stretched to breaking point by the blockbuster of a show moving to its climax on the provincial stage lt would be a thousand pities, however, not to spare a htthe time and_= carnest thought for the 32 hopefuls now compeung for 19 alder mans and school trustee seats in the three North Shore municipalities The strike could be over by December or carher But we'll be stuck with most of the local government candidates we choose for two whole years The single exception is the contest for three aldermanic vacancies on North Van. couver District council All are for one year terms only This ts) because District counerl will change in 1984 to the biennial system, meaning clections for the mayor and entire Cound from then on ward will take place every two years, instead of hall the council seats coming vacant annually CHALLENGERS Seeking re clection are in cumbent Aldermen = brnie Crist and Joan Gadsby Challenging them and hot foot nm any case after the therd seat deft vacant bv the tctiremment of Abderman Joon Lakes -- are professional enginecr Stephen McMinn, realtor Craig Clark and lawyer-businessman Peter Faminow, an alderman back in the 1960s. Crist, an avowed _left- winger, wants to sock in- dustry with higher taxes in order to raise funds for local yob-creation programs Gadsby, an cconomist, is high on fiscal responsiblity and restraint Clark and McMinn belong roughly in the same camp, with McMinn, tn particular, keen to encourage more industry Fammow stresses personal qualifications and ecxpenience North Van City, already on the mennial system, is where the big action ts this year Mayor Jack Loucks a former school principal with an obvious knack of the right things, has been returned by acclamation fora doing fourth terrm But all sir council seats are up for grabs Four veteran moumbents Aldermen Steiia Jo Dean. Raiph Hall, Elko Kroon and Frank Marcino ~ are fighting to hang on to thei perches. Two seats are va cant. chose of reuring Alder man Gary Payne and former alderman Bi Sorenson who quit last spring in mid teem Running for the two vacancies: of the seats of any Incumbent, they can kook dependent Business in an Ot- tawa presentation. *Across the country, more than 200,000 Canadians an- nually quit their jobs, then collect Unemployment _In- surance. In Ottawa’s con- voluted bureaucratese, these individuals are called ‘‘volun- tary quits’’. The question, of course, is whether such _ individuals should be allowed the luxury of quitting. We can all sympathize with the laid off worker, or an in- dividual who had the bad luck to be employed by a company that failed. But quitting voluntarily is something else again. As the Federation says: **There can be no social ra- tionale for workers and employers who pay the cost of Unemployment Insurance to support a bill for aimost $1-billion for these 200,000 individuals who quit.’’ eOur Unemployment In- surance benefit structures are generous indeed, when com- pared to other countries. In Canada, for example, some individuals qualify for up to four weeks of benefits for every week worked. Yet in countries such as West Ger- many, individuals can claim only one week of benefits for every two weeks worked. The Federation suggests Canada move to such a system. eAt the same time, Cana- dians can draw benefits for a full SQ weeks. Yet in 43 states, our wealthy neighbour to the south only provides focus Noel Wright Pie arene off, are tenants crusader Richard Blackburn, com munity worker and former alderman Jobn Braithwaite. Jaycee Rod Clark and con struction association ad ministrator Dana Taylor It you go for short labels, color Blackburn and Braithwaite left of centre, Clark a smudgeon nght of centre and Taylor “new ideas’ HOPES SHATTERED The fifth challenger an engaging throwback to the barcfoot and beads days of the sixntics. is Richard (‘The Trolt’’) Schaller who con tested the last two federal elections om these parts as candidate for the Rhinoceros Party Describing himself ar that treme as a Nast p ie benefits for 26 weeks. The other nine provide them for 28 to 36 weeks. The Federa- tion believes the maximum duration of benefits in Canada should be reduced to 26 weeks. eCanadian eligibility re- quirements for Unemploy- ment Insurance are lenient by international standards, and this undoubtedly creates pro- blems. When the number of weeks worked in order to be eligible was last raised, for example, the vast majority of claimants suddenly found the were able to find a few extra weeks of employment, aliow- ing them to qualify. The Federation believes in- dividuals should have to work a flat 20 weeks before they qualify for benefits. *Finally, Unemployment In- surance creates distortions in the system. An _ individual claiming benefits following work on a high-paying make- work project, for instance, will be reluctant to work at a lower paying job, even if one is available. What’s more, unemployment benefits are now as much as $500 per month more than the Minimum wages in some provinces. There’s litthe wonder, then, that the Federation is calling for a public inquiry into Unemployment Insurance. After all, the organization's members and their employees are paying a big slice of what has become a staggering Unemployment insurance bill. orget November 19.. maker, Richard can be depended on to inject fun and sanity into any election battle. The three incumbent West Van aldermen running for further terms — Dave Finlay, Diana Hutchinson and Gor- don Rowntree — had their acclamation hopes” rudely shattered about five minutes before the nomination day deadline by an unexpected lone challenger in the person of Tom Reid. A recently retired) en vironmental officer with Trans Mountain Pipe Line Co , Reid served four terms as mayor of North Van City up to 1977, during which penod he attracted numerous headlines as a colorful and controversial figure with an autocratic bent Resident in West Van since 1972, he has made (wo previous but unsuccessful bids in recent years to win an aldermanic scat there West Van council ts tradi tionally free of party-political colorings, feft of rmght Finlay, Hutchinson and Rowntree are running primanly on thei records, which are sohd tather than spectacular stn this they fi well into the current West Van scene In light of the teachers strike this year’s schoo! board clections could for once wind up generating more excitement than any of the Lounctl contests We'll devote this Comung Sunday Brunch menu to thre North Shore. embatiicd school trustees and those who for ine amprebensi tle teasons wonddd the tar he