O weeks ago I flew p to Fort St. John on anadian Airlines CAI), the successor to P Air. ] have made this Hight undreds of times over the ast 35 years. The Peace River- Yukon flight was a preat Canadian cultural expe- ience with every one amimed in together regard- of social status or impor- mance. Itinerant judges sat rammed next to RCMP epfficers handculted to prison- . going down to Oakalla megor the winter, and glad of it. ®. There were Yukon miners, Fowboys, oil-field workers, ative big-game guides, sled- Hogs, Chinese restaurant owners and huge Ukrainian andmothers jammed into he seat next to you vere lucky, who vi hir-line food with w M-justi- ied contempt and would feed you delicious perogies ind sausage out of volumti- nous bags. Everyone chatted with h other and told political- ou correct jokes at cach fother’s expense and joshed the policeman and asked Mabout the kids and revelled a the common experience of Za the North, The Land Bicyond Hope. g = People were tulerant of : Btdeach other’s foibles and opin- Mions and eccentricities = fees Occause we relied on cach other in a country where jurifortunates could, and did, M freeze to death right in rown © and, as happened to me, you could walk out of the court- m house to find a sex-starved moose kicking hell out of your Jeep in the parking tot. This was an exhilarating social environment for a Limey S.O.B., as ] was attec- tionately described, even though [ kept protesting that WW Limeys were Englishmen a which [I wasn't. It really was the True @ North Strong and Fr where what mattcred was what vou were and what vou could do, not whe you + or where you came from. I once went to 2 party fy and had a fascinating conver- B sation about Canadian mili- tary history wich a guy who turned out to be rhe presi- dent of Pacific 66, who owned the refinery where our host worked as a janitor. He was in town from Calgary and had come along to the party to quaffa few g and B.S. with the troops.It wouldn't have happened in Limey-land. Four-flushers and phonies S didn’: last Jang and everyone B — the oil millionaires, ml ranchers, the professionals, mm the store-keepers, che cow- boys and Indians, the tra pers and hunters, the minis- ters and priests and the yod- less heathen — all travelled in the same class on CP Air because there was only one class and everyone revelled in it. Tonce went up to Whitehorse i MeConachie the tounder of fan Pacific Air in the nevi seat. He invited me on to the fight deck, took over the controls, and gave us a running commentary on the passing, scene and various characters he had known in his days as a bush pilot. [ spent my first Christmas in Canada in Port Hardy. The plane coulda’t land in Vancouver because of the dense fog created by all those cigarette chain-smok- ers. Ir hung like a deadly pall over the Lower Mainland. Everybody smoked on the plane too, and we spent three happy hours in a dense nicotine tog with the handful of non-smokers apologizing for being such spoil- sports and bores and excusir themselves by saving, they had made death-bed promis- es to their mothers. There was, appropriately north shore news VIEWPOINT ligh altitudes and second class attitudes enough, ae room at the Ena, and [spent Christmas night sharing a bed with a onc eved Australian (riale, no hwith four pris: ig i the other Each of them was hand cuffed to a bed-post and two gallant RCMP officers slept on mattresses on the floor. Vell, like every thing clse that the real Canada stood for, all chis has gone with the wind. When I got on the plane last week [ discovered that CAL, for reasons best known to itself, has introduced a privileged class with huge s and pre-boarding and free booze and other good: ies. When we reached cruising altitude a curtain was drawn iss the aisle so that the at the back of the plane, including me and a senior lawyer from the ICBC, could not be corrupt. ed by the sight of the privi- leged classes at play, nor dri- ven to paroxysms of revolu- tionary ferocity by the spec- zacle of the sybaritic pleasures DRAPERIES & BLINDS BY S.LAURSEN & SON Serving the North Shore for 25 years Another one of our designs. For Free Estimate call 987-2966 HAsh about our Seniors Discount) Labour $10.50 per panel unlined, Pee ey , Best Ideas Kit. Our dest Investment Ideas for this RRSP Season. ° Top mutual fund recommendations for right now! * High yield investment alternatives. * Midland Walwyn’s top stock picks. « And more! For your FREE copy CALL 925°5565 MIDLAND Bid Ce Tee | ™Blue Chip Thinking is a trademark of Midland Walwyn Capital Inc. __Member-Canadian Canadian investor Protection Fund Sponsored in part by: awailable to our sectal superi- or T have to report that cach of these seats of the mighty was occupied by one or our native brethren flyi ng, public expense, THE LION'S SAR ARK Christmas Gift Suggestions ESTATE JEWELLERY 1637 Lomdale Ave. 1730 Mare Dr. North Vancouver West Vancouver Solid Gold 14 ki Sale*385 Reg $490. Price includes GST -. BOS: DESIGNS 922-3014 #2-2435 Marine Drive, West Vancouver @ Oundarave Wednesday, November 26, 1997 - North, Sncre News — 7 rators, the bureaucrats arewell the Peacetul Kingdom and the True North Strong and Free! 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