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IF THERE -were & just God.
in heaven and/or any public
anger left over from the
wrath directed at federal
and provincial governments,

a huge political thunderbolt |

would strike the Greater
Vancouver Regional District
and fry it like a saucepan of
English bangers.
The numbly bureaucratic, polit-
ically bullet-proof GVRD's sub- .
sidiary, the Greater Vancouver :
~_Regional:Hospital District‘. .
-(GVRHD), was'so' bumble- assed.

' clumsy and mule-dumb about its
handling of ‘its proposed 150-bed_
multi-level care facility — transla-

: tion, old‘folks’. home — at 419

-Keith Rd,’ that it bitterly and :
‘unnecessarily’ split-West we
‘Nancouverites | into angry camps,
“The GVRD -— a political ’:
monolith virtually. beyond the dis:
ciplines of democracy — is led, :
nominally ‘anyway, by:municipal ,,

- politicians who hand around jobs,

*<'to each other. The'réal power :

‘resides in the bureaucracy. And the
bureaucrats of the GVRHD who
‘abruptly dropped the 419 Keith’:

“ Rd. proposal on West Van are clas-
; sics of the, breed. : :

"They were — ‘let us be charita-

ble — genuinely puzzled that. West
Van citizens didn’t clap hands and ©

simultaneously lick their feet
. (which admittedly requires some
dexterity) for their "generosity.

Peter Speck
- Publisher

boty, Comptroller
285-2131 (101)

1139 Lonsdale Avenue
North Vancouver 8.C.
2 N7M 2H4.:
North Shore Managed

‘Doug Foot |

Trevor
Lautens

garden |

of biases

At the public meetings, which

‘ended Monday with the crash of

the project, they seemed mystified
when subjected to rigorous cross-

“examination, especially by one or
two councillors who could give /

classes on the art.
Over the months the debate .

“moved toward a coarsened and
*. totally artificial polarity of the
: Nice vs. the Nasty — the Nice.
being the tender-hearted with . .;
‘Social consciences who fought for
ix the seniors, the Nasty being | brutes
- who'd snarl “Let ‘em eat dog 2°

food” and shrug if the care-need-
ing old died in cold basement,

. suites.

- That wasn’t the issue at all
‘There'd be few West Vancotiver
and other North Shore citizens
who wouldn’t agree, based on cur-
rent realities and future projec-
tions, that such a place, a kind of

: Chris Johnson

Pe EERIE AT AM I Bete CERES BMA tnd nde

EK PRESENT foday a belated

Valentine's Day love letter to the

federal government and MPs every-

where courtesy of the Vancouver Board of
Trade.

More tough Jove than anything else, per-

_ haps, but a dose of tough Jove is what this .

country needs if it hopes to wrestle its moti
strous debt to the mat.

Are all you Liberal sweethearts listening?
If not, pet ready to pack your bags,

The Vancouver Board of  ‘Trade’s
Valentine's Day dispatch sounded the omi-

nous toll fron its debt clock.

The time piece, set ticking in 1990, keeps

track of Canada’s national debt, which, as of .

EM aT CLEARER KE FADE

\ i
SUM Ata ir Meet dnt We tore kl fed CED Eg BLE, PRR BL OTRATL RLY RETR ALC

What's even more astounding —- and
depressing — is that-the country's: debt, §
according to the board, Increases at a rate of
$123 million per day, or $5 million per hour, |
or $1,400 per second, An accumulated debt of
about $80,000 per family of four in Canada or
$20 000 per Canadian.

The figures represent the mortgaged future
of out children and our children’s childrens.
they are testament to the inability of govern-
ment to control its spending and to live with-
in the country’s means. They represent irre.
sponsibility of the highest order.

They also represent 541 billion reasons: to
turf the present federal government if they.
fail to act quickly and decisively to eliminate

1995's annual day for sweethearts, stood at

$541,039,000,000,

That’s a lot of Valentine's chocolate kisses

and an astounding figure.

home and quasi-hospital for the
ailing elderly who can't fend for
themselves, should be built.

The issue was two-fold.
Actually one-fold. It was, as the
realtors say, location, location,
location, The semi-second issue
was the way the GVRHD handled
the matter, which impinged on the
location issue. ©

The location is terrible. {tis a.
wooded, rolling 4.75-acre lot (with
a charming deserted house that .
some artist should paint before it’s
levelled). It is in Cedardale, still
gently bucolic although sadly
under sjege already by monsterish
houses. Public transport is blocks
away along a twisting “country”
road.

Apart from that, the GVRHD’ 8

offered price for land was almost
-- certainly way too high, maybe by

a million bucks or more. That's

Timothy Renshaw

-’ why the vendors were obviously
: willing to renew the option as the

¢

issue dragged on.

But the real stopper was that
the property is on the banks of
delicate Brothers Creek. The -
GVRHD wonks plunged ahead on
the project and hurriedly thrust it
before West Van council with little
if any:‘thought of the environmen-
tal effects.

These soon became known. The

' federal Department of Fisheries

and Oceans said, over and over
again, and notwithstanding some
modifications to the plan: “No, no,
no.” The facility would damage

; deal.

Linda Stowart

this year's

s $40-billion deficit and face down:

the country’s debt.

Some tough new Valentine’s ‘Day love for

all you sweethearts on Parliament Hil,

fish habitat.

It's inconceivable that the
GVRHD didn’t discover the
DFO’s stance long before it
dropped this half-baked time-
waster of a project on West
Vancouver council.

The Nice, as their recent fer-
vent advertisements in this paper
showed, grimly clamped on to 419
Keith Rd. as if it was the one light
in the descending darkness on civ-
ilization — even though the
Nasties reasonably pointed to
other possibie locations.:

Ore is the Kiwanis site north of
the West Van Community Centre.
A natural.

Another happens to be on DFO
land east of Burkehill and Marine
Drive, as leafy a’setting as 419

‘Keith Rd. but with public transport

at hand and far less neighborhood
disruption. r

As the issue spun out, only.
Councillors Diana Hutchinson and
Pat Boname loyally stuck to 419
Keith Rd., and on Monday only
the latter opposed Coun, Andy -
Danyliu’s raotion that killed the

It's a shame that these well-
meaaing councillors were left
hanging out to dry because of the.
ham-handedness of the GVRHD.
oee

Hilarious line by CKNW' s Doc’
Harris: “In West Vancouver the
police ticket you if you’re found
driving with ‘an inadequate interior

- trim package.”

Peter Kvamstrom

“these...
_against animals ‘who: are ‘not™

mailbox

| pamphlet

Dear Editor:

On Feb. I, [received a pam-" on
phlet in'my mail slot from the”

‘Responsible Firearms Owners:

Coalition ‘requesting ©. my.
money to help them in. their,
fight to continue hunting ‘and .

- killing animals with guns... °

The original intention of the -
infamous “right.to bear arms”..’
in the United States’ constitu~’

-tion was’'to ‘protect citizens

from .the ‘government... Usin;
powerful |... weapons:

attacking. you, have * no” idea:
you are -hiding in’ the, bus!

" waiting for them, and who
"corpses. serve “no: function

both cowardly and unethical
What disturbed’ me ‘most:

‘about this" pamphlet" was’ the”
“flash” section . that. declared

the RCMP needed help findin
Melanie Carpenter. Being: thai
her body was discovered :fiv
days earlier, :I was: disgustes
that the RFOC didn’t’ reprin
their pamphlets. . :

I hope ‘that none. of. thes
pamphlets went to: Melani

_ Carpenter's loved ones’ house:
as yet another reminder of the:

tragic'loss." - :
J. Craig H. Bresett
North Vancouver"

985-2131 + 199)

Operations Manager
985-2731 (744)

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