images of Newfoundland. Since it appears chat British Columbia — indeed the entire West — may be headiag in the direction of “Newfoundlandiza- tion,’ so far as its misses of out-of-work people are concern- ed, these recollections may be useful, The first thing that surprised me about Newfoundland was the fact that the pubs were open vir- tually all the time. Even a very smail town like St. Anthony, on the northeastern peninsula, managed to sustain four large beer pariors. How was this economic iniracle achieved? Sinmiple, b’yes. Almost every adult male in town was unemployed, In the winter, there wasn’t much else to do ex- cept go drinking. And since everybody was on UI, there was plenty of money to buy the beer with. It was cheap beer, by the way, This is not to say that an inter- vot @ ocitture didn't exist. Ta por .d contrast to the crackling silence of the frozen world out side, the pubs roared with noise all day, nearly all night. Closing time seemed to come when the last patron had either crawled away or passed out on the floor, or was that just me? Things started swinging again, folk lore had it, when the first customer woke up and demanded his first beer of the day. These pubs had their moments ‘of calm, of course, during the morning and sometimes in the early afternoon, but otherwise they rocked and rolled. In addition to live entertain- ment, there were juke boxes, video sets with giant screens hooked up to satellite dishes, pool tables, dance floor light displays, hand hockey games, bonspiel boards, pin-ball machines, dart boards. video games — everything possible to distract the customer from the unbelievably bleak landscape outside. It dawned on me that here was a kind of futuristic Third World. Most of these men were licens- ed fishermen, fishing of course being one of the very most an- cient skills. In the spring, they headed out on the sealing boats, not just because they wanted a break, but because if they didn’t sign up to “go swilin’,”’ they wouldn’t get any UI cheques. This was just one of the bizarre { ways in which a humanistic pro- gram to ease the suffering of the Page 9: Page 13: Item #5 Gavel. customers. watllams amackie Lt SY OV 4 - Wednesday,-November ©. 1986 ~ Bob Hunter @ sicily personal ® FOR ME, the debate about Unemployment Insurance, a major feature of the new welfare state, brings to mind WILLSON/WILLIAMS & MACKIE CHRISTMAS GIFT GUIDE 1986 Due to circumstances beyond our control, two items will be unavailable to our customers. The items in question are: Item #1 Portable Heater/Fan Williams & Mackie apologizes for any inconvenience caused to our Otte Supphen Pring, Oltae bymnitute SO WEST dnd AVENE, VANCOUTIA, OC North Shore News very poor had gone hitywire. It had become a reason for Perpetrating barbarism itself, Thete is, perhaps, a new kind of barbarism afoot. Recent stories out of New- foundland report that disturbing evidence has emerged pointing to a marked decline in’ individual initiative, thanks to Ul. Now that even sealing is finis, the fraud of a yearly insurance scheine based on a few weeks’ work has become impossible to maintain. The fact is, the Uf welfare system, while casing short-term pain for individuals, has a debilitating long-term effect. 1 do believe the animal in- stincts to fight for survival are anesthetized. It is ALWAYS so much easicr to go the easy route. If the buzzsaw isn't right on your | tail, you tend to slack off, This is the centre of the debate abuut Ul. In Newfoundland, where the modern Canadian welfare state exists for the good political reason ({ guess) of keep- ing The Rock in the Confedera- tion, we see an extreme example. Yet it looms here. 1 sometimes get the horrible feeling we are raising a genera- tion of souls not so much lost or beat as empty of ambition. Maybe that’s what the world needs now: people in industraliz- ed countries whose resistance to further rape of the environment comes in the form of an unwill- ingness to do anything more than relax on the bed that welfare makes for them, a comfortable proletariat kept fram the bar- ricades by UI and cheap beer. The cocoon that has been created — while totally praiseworthy in its intent — has had a cumulative side-effect. It is too casy to say that people who learn to live on the dole just turn lazy. Worse than that, they suffer a smothering of their fire. Instead of angry young men, we have calm young cynics. Why fight? What is there to fight? The old adage, ‘“‘Go in the direction of the greatest pain,’ is incomprehensible to them. With everyone's martyr- dom sprinkled in the fairy dust of UI payments, a kind of addiction sets in. It is addiction to the fine of least resistance. | think, more than anything, this is what has devastated Newfoundland, and will eventually devastate the will power of a whole generation out here in the West. Oh well, maybe they’!! Jearn to levitate. programs announced TWO JOB entry projects have recently been approved for the North Shore. Funded through the Canadian Jobs Strategy program, the North Shore Continuing Education pro- jects will provide women and young people with office and life skills and on-the-job training. The first of the two projects, which will receive $312,535 from the Jobs Strategy program, will provide 20 women, currently on income assistance, with classroom and job training in modern office techniques. The second project is designed to help young people who are join- ing the work force for the first time. Participants will be given 13 weeks of basic training in clerical, bookkeeping and accounting skills, The project will receive $123,896 from the Jobs Strategy program. Capilano MP Mary Collins said the projects were ‘‘real models" for future projects. She said particular thanks is due to those North Shore businesses providing on-the-job training and to the North Vancouver Chamber of Commerce and the North Shore Continuing Education Centre for their work in designing and sup- porting the projects. 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