6 ~ Wednesday, September 11, 1985 - North Shore News Editorial Page espite the initial acclaim it won last a Selling Sam... week, the Macdonald Royal Commis- D sion report on the economy is, in one important respect, highly misleading. The main thrust of the report is the need for free trade — especially with the U.S. — as the key to our economic salvation. Canada itself, of course, is still divided on the issue. The West (especially B.C., with its threatened forest industry) is all in favor. Free trade would help vital resource exports and reduce the cost to western consumers of numerous manufac- tured goods from the States. Meanwhile, Ontario and Quebec remain less than enthusiastic about wholesale free trade — fearing the competition and resultant loss of jobs that lower priced American imports would mean for their own manufacturing industries. The Macdonald report implies that we should decide to go for free trade. But it ap- pears to ignore the fact that the final choice isn’t Canada’s to make. At the moment the U.S. is moving strongly in the opposite direction. What with cheap foreign cars, lumber and lesser imports, the total U.S. trade deficit now stands at $160 billion — $16 billion of it with Canada alone. American voters link this directly with the ‘alarming U.S. budget deficit of over $200 billion. Hence, the growing demands by . Congressmen and Senators for protectionist meausres, including even a suggested 25% im- port surcharge against countries running as large trade surpius with the U.S. Even a Canadian consensus to back free trade may be tough enough to reach. But sell- _ ing the idea to Uncle Sam in his present mood could Prove: tougher still. Weep for Jack! -y firing the rebellious Vancouver and Cowichan school boards, Education y Minister Jack Heinrich seems to have painted himself into a corner. If he prohibits new. elections this fall, he’s arbitrarily disen- franchising voters and flouting democracy. If he allows them to vote, he may have the same naughty old trustees back on his hands. Poor Jack ... damned if tie does, damned if he . doesn’t! . Display Advertising 980-0511 Classified Advertising 986-6222 Newsroom 985-2131 Circulation 986-1337 Subscriptions 986-1337 . 1139 Lonsdale Ave., North Vancouver, B.C. V7M 2H4 Publisher Peter Speck _ General Manager Roger McAfce Operations Manager Berni Hilliard Advertising Director - Sates Linda Stewart Advertising Director - Admin. Mike Goodsell Editor-In-Chief Noel Wright Classified Manager Val Stephenson “north shore’ news summay + + WEBHEEDAY + FIDAY Marketing Director Bob Graham Circulation Director Bill McGown Production Director Chris Johnson Photography Manager Terry Peters North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an independent suburban newspaper and qualified under Schedule Il!, Part lit, Paragraph It of the Excise Tax Act, is published each Wednesday. Friday and Sunday by North Shore Free Press Lid. and distribuled to every door on the North Shore. Second Class Mail Registration Number 3885. Entire contents © 1985 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 material including manusctipts and pictures which should be accompanied by a stamped. addressed envelope. Member of the B.C. Press Council 56,245 (average, Wednesday SDA DIVISION Friday & Sunday) THIS PAPER IS RECYCLABLE thworms. The reason, I suspect, is that most Canadians, especially in the West, have long ago given up on their Senate, never having had one that worked properly. Yet the theory behind the two-chamber system is great. Each chamber keeps the other in order, which stops either from becoming §ar- rogant and pushing around the people it’s supposed to serve. For that purpose the Senate in its present form is as useful as an old-age rest home, which it often resem- bles. This, despite the fine words of the constitution, defining the Senate as ‘‘A chamber of sober second thought ... in which repre- sentation would be by regions rather than by popu- lation, thereby providing the necessary checks and balances on the House of Commons.”” The ‘“‘representation by regions’’ claim has today become a hollow joke for the West. B.C, and the three Prairie provinces have six members each out of the total of 104 — the same as New- foundiand and four less than the 10 members allocated to both Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. P.E.I. has four, Yukon one, NWT one. And dear old Ontario and Quebec, of course, have 24 apiece. ; The ‘‘sober second thought’? bit is even more laughable, since Senators are appointed, in essence for life, by the government of the day. Hence, the automatic domination of the Senate by supporters of the party most frequently elected to the Commons. In any case you don’t bite the hand that feeds and keeps you in handsome style to age 75. Theoretically, the Senate can veto Commons ODills. Smal! wonder it never does. Far from being a watchdog, it’s merely a toy of the Commons and, since the lat- ter is elected basically by Central “anada, the obe- dient Senute itself adds to disillusionment with the one-Canada concept in other LETTER OF THE DAY 120 baned political Dear Editor: In February of this year the Canadian Government, through Canada Customs sad Excise, had prohibited from importation into Canada more than fifty publications which were of a political or historical nature. The Federal Court of Appeal deemed customs seizures of these publications, (plus obscene pornography, hate literature, and others which are commonly known as the “How To"? books of crimi- nal activities), as unconstitu- tional on March 14, A new law. was subse- quently passed on April 3 which not only re-classified the titles of non-permissible publications, but also in- creased the powers of custe officials. * a result, the list of , mubited history and polit- focus by Noel Wright PR provinces. Hf the latter feel they’re. being ripped off by Ontario and Quebec,the last place to look for any support is the present upper chamber. Dedicated to making it work as it should for ALL Canadians is the movement for a “Triple E Senate’’, sponsored by the Toronto- based National Citizens Coalition (which shows, in- cidentally, that Ontario can’t ical publications has grown, and now includes over one- hundred and twenty titles (August 1). Perhaps to deter concerned Canadians, these banned publication titles are interspersed with the most obscene of pornographic ti- tles. L urge anyonz who is con- cerned about the future direction our federal gov- ernment is steering our society towards, (especially IRONEYS Senate for us peasants! MENTION THE WORD “SENATE” and the RRR be all bad!). eyes of the average Canadian glaze over. As 2 conversational gambit the subject has about as much popular appeal as the eating habits of ear- “Triple E’’ stands for an ELECTED, EFFECTIVE Senate with EQUAL representation. The plan calls for. each province, regardless of size, to have six Senate seats. Senators would be elected on a province-wide basis by the single -transferable vote system for fixed. four-year terms .— with half the Senators elected every two. years. They would have full veto powers over Commons legislation and also powers to review government regu- lations and patronage. - In short, the Senate would at last become a strong, in- dependent partner in the parliamentary process, wielding a political clout by the provinces equal to that of the U.S. Senate. 1 doubt whether Brian Mulroney would welcome the thought, Canadian prime ministers under. the. present system being virtually “‘democratic’’ dictators’ be- tween elections. For any PM, it would give the Western and Maritime pea- sants too big a say in runn- ing the country. If that appeals to you, however, call the NCC’s man-in-Vancouver Norm Scott (276-2423), and learn how to campaign for your own real, live Senator! books parents, teachers and ministers) to write to your Member of Parliament and ask that member to send you a copy of the list of pro- hibited publications. (tariff #992N1-1). No stamp is necessary, 1 think that all will find this list most interesting. Claude Bouchard Agassiz, B.C.