6 ~ Sunday, April 29, 1990 - North Shure News its Victoria yard. “Only 42 people turned up at Maplewood Elementary. Half of them were part of the education system, and only eight or nine were actual taxpayers.”” North Vancouver District 44 school trustee Don Bell, commen- ting on the public apathy the board faces if it attempted to raise extra budget funds through a referen- lum. “J was not aware, and I don’t think council was aware, of the ex- tent of the tree removal in a pro- gram that was to include pruning, trimming and shaping of existing healthy trees.”’ North Vancouver District Mayor Marilyn Baker, commenting on district council’s decision to defer of the once vibrant North Vancouver facility of Versatile Pacific Shipyards Inc. to fade quietly into obscurity. The yard, once the centre of B.C.’s shipbuilding industry, has now been of- ficially designated a repair facility. Versatile boss Peter Quinn announced earlier this week that all new shipbuilding contracts won by the company will go to I T APPEARS it will be the sad fate Ships to other shores government when it scuttled the $680 million Polar 8 icebreaker contract that it had promised for so long. To reverse its downward spiral as a shipbuilding facility, Versatile North Vancouver badly needed a technological overbaul. That scenario has been long suspected Lonsdale area and long predicted with the continued depressed world shipbuilding market. But the final blow for the North Van- couver yard was delivered by the federal “NEWS. QUOTES OF THE WEEK”? program following outrage over the April 17 removal of 23 linden trees along Mountain Highway. “That would be like buying a car and having the dealership reserve the right to charge whatever they wanted for the engine.” West Vancouver Mayor Don Lanskail, commenting on the Squamish Indian Band’s insistence that the Lions Gate sewage plant site lease and the rights of way for the plant’s incoming pipes be ne- gciated separately. “My point is this (the photo) is Canada — to the kids that are growing up in the country, to for- eigners, to me. To play around with that image is just like knock- ing the bloody parliament build- To ensure its survival : as such, it badly needed some shipbuilding contracts. It will, now, apparently see neither. And, perhaps sadder still, the Lower never again be brought to a temporary standstill weekdays at 4 p.m. by the grand outgoing tide of day-shift workers from the North Vancouver shipyard. of North Vancouver will North Shore photographer Bill Gibbons, explaining his opposition to allowing Sikh RCMP officers to wear turbans with their unifc rms. “It probably had to climb over Bowen Island to get to Gibsons.”’ Great Capilano River Duck Race organizer Ken Bassam, after one of the plastic race ducks was found in Gibsons. “Oh God I'd hate to be described as yuppie. That would really of- fend our customers. Certainly lots of young affluent people use us, but yuppie is the wrong kind of word. I like to think of natural, homey, comfortable, athletic...’’ Bread Garden owner Cameron Watt, reacting to a description of the district’s tree maintenance ings down.” {LETTER OF THE DAY his restaurant’s clientele. Separate church from state SIKHS NOT PREPARED TO ACCEPT ‘CANADIAN TRADITION’ Dear Editor: Your criticism of my motion opposing Sikh members of the RCMP wearing turbans, calling it po- litical hot air, is based on ignorance, if not contempt, of Canada’s history and standards. Heaping abuse, based on shallow knowledge of an important subject, is obviously easier than doing some research. The separation of the state from the church has made possible the current policies of tolerance of racial and ethnic minorities in Canada. It constitutes an important achievement in the evolution of Cana- dian democracy. The attitude of Canadians may not be perfect but racial or religious minorities not only enjoy freedom of religion