6 — Wednesday. October 28. 1998 — North Shore News ESPITE the best efforts of government = spinmeisters, most drivers remain far from HOV positive. The negativity began with the deci- sion to build the ludicrously expen- sive High Occupancy Vehicle addi- tions to the Trans-Canada Highway between Burnaby and Coquitlam. It continues to build as the com- pletion of the lanes nears. Reason one: HOV lanes don’t work. Any government plan that dictates the number of people that will ride in a private automobile is doomed to failure from the outset. As Transport 2000 B.C. president Tan Fisher has been quoted as saying, HOV lanes are “highway widening narth shore news VIEWPOINT in the overall transit scheme of things it just does not sell. Thus you have the recent billings- gate over the number of people per vehicle that will be required to quali- fy for HOV lane use on the new Burnaby to Coquitlam sections of the highway. It was originally set at three or more, but outcry from all quarters has reduced that requirement to a mere two occupants. Thus the provincial government has invested $62 million in two lanes of blacktop 16 kilometres long that will only marginally reduce traffic congestion — if it reduces it at all. The only way to get drivers out of their automobiles and into rapid transit is to make it pay or to make transit more convenient than private dressed in green clothing.” Carpooling is a noble pursuit, but PERSE Our train heritage iS being derailed °: Dear Editor: We are glad to see Mr. (Al) Broadtoor “busy rebuilding Canadian history” as stated in the Oct. 14. News article “Steam train revived.” He further states that “he wants the public and the governments to appreciate Canada’s heritage more.” This all seems strange in light of the actions Mr. Broadfoot takes. These acts either suggest that Mr.. Broadfoot makes suit- able statements to press and does otherwise, or he feels that his company, BC Rail, does not fall into the category of pub- lic or government when it deals with heritage. The facts expose Mr. Broadfoot; specitically, he arranged the transfer.of eight passenger coaches from Canada to the United States free of charge without first offering them to preservation societies in Canada. These societies would dearly love to return them to their once grand condition and let the public encoy.the age of steam travel again. . _ Further to this disregard for historical preservation in Canada, he attempted: to transfer another car from a Vancouver Island railroad society to an American individual again, free of charge and without making it available to other sacicties in Canada, even here in B.C. Ail of these acts revent the continued retention of Canadian heritage in ‘ BC. and deprive the public of their enjoyment, if not their recollection, of what once was. _ It is a sad loss to our children and many of us who enjoyed railroad travel only as children, ourselves, during its golden era. Mr. Broadfoot needs to understand that heritage equipment in railroading is more specifically defined than the labels he scems to pick in order to make good impres- sions on his American friends. Rip Peterman, President National! Railroad Historical Society, B.C. Chapter ‘nerth shore ' ' , 7 North Shore News founded an 1969-as an To Tee sadependent suburban newspaper and quashed rider Scheduie 111. Paragraph 111 of me Exesse Tax Act 13 publshed each Wednesday Frasay and Sunday by Nonh Shore Free Press Utd and distibuted 19 every door on tne Nort: Shore. Canada Post Canadian Punmcauons Ma! Sales Penduct Agreement fo. 0087228 Mailing rates avalable on request automobile use. HOV lanes do neither. WE Canadians today increasingly live under a new and disturbing form of government. Our cher- ished demecracy is steadily being replaced by a non- accountable “juroc- racy.” This is the name coined by EL. Morton, a political science professor at the University of Calgary, in a study enti- ted The Charter of Rights: Myths and Reality, his contribution to After Liberalism, a miscellany of such stud- ies edited by William Gairdner and pub- lished earlier this year by Stoddart. Forget all about our elected parlia- ment and provincial legislatures as the ultimate arbiters of our affairs. “The reality,” Morton writes, “has . become judicial supremacy and the rule of lawyers. This new jurocracy has given wealth to lawyers, power to judges, and influence to a new breed of rights-advo- cacy groups.” He calls this true governing clite in today’s Canada “the Court Party.” The problem with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms is that noble princi- ples (which make up much of the docu- ment) must be expressed as briefly and simply as possible. But brevity and sim- licity do not make for precise, watertight aw, especially when vou're dealing with fairly abstract ideas. Hence, the importance of the Charter’s famous disclaimer: “subject only” pik aliwat Homan Resourtes Watapet 985-2131 (177) PETER SPECK Publisher 985-2131 (101) Emo éonathan Bell Distribution Manager 906-1337 (124) Creative Services Manager 985-2131 (127} GT 5A taverage circu‘al.on Wemnestay Praay 4 Suncay] Classitied Manager Photography Manager 586-5222 (202) 985-2131 (160) 985-2131 (133} Entire contents © 1997 Noith Shore Free Press Ud. All rights reserved. So ———}/ BABY, BABY 00H, OOH, COME To PATA... [Moe Sinotal MINISTER OF THE UNIVERSE | OMI to such reasonalle limits preseribed by law as can be demonstrably justified ta free and democratic saciery”. Wt means — unlike properly drafted legislation, whose precise wording can be interpreted only one way — that virtual- Iv every case with 3 potential Charter tie-in is wide open to dirfer- ing legal interpreta- tions. Whiclris why the Charter has become a veritable goldmine for the legal profession. As Morton notes, it also gives judges the final say abour what a Jaw means in any given individual case. Lawmakers in parliament and the legisla- tures may think they know what the bill they have passed is intended to do. But by the time the courts and lawyers — with the Charter in their other hand — have finished with it, the result can be completely different. Add to this, Ottawa's Court Challenges Program which hands out millions of our tax dollars to groups it favours (c.g., feminists, gay rights, refugees, aboriginals) so they can chal-, lenge lower court decisions before the Supreme Court of Canada, the starting bill tor which is at least $100,000. - Once again the aight of the citizenry at large to have such matters dealt with by their elected representatives can now be snuffed out — and is, with increasing frequency — by the “Court Party.” For B.C., the outstanding current example of this insidious transfer of par- liamentary powers to the judiciary is last and yon LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters must include your name, {ull address & telephone number. Managing Editor 905-2121 (116) Comptraiier Gait Snatgrove General Ottice Manager 985-2131 (105) internet. nitp:/fwew.nsnews.com Acting Display Manager 880-0511 (307) Promotions Managet 985-2131 (218) VIA e-mail: trenshaw @ direct.ca OM THATS Just Moe STIMULATING THE ECONOMY antl Judges, lawyers vs the people December's Delgamuukw ruling by the Supreme Court. ff overturned an earlier B.C. Supreme Court ruling thar aborigi- nal title in B.C. had been extinguished with the takeover of the territory by non- native settlers in the 19th century. Not so, said the nine ermine-robed supremos in faraway Ottawa, B.C."s abo- riginals, they declared; do indeed retain title to their traditional territories. So you'd betrer negotiate land elaim settlements with them, or we —— the supreme judges, uncleeted and non- accountable — will step in and impose court settlements as we sev fit over the heads of the nun-aboriginal 95% of British Columbians. This, of course, is what happens once you start, like Napoleon and Trudeau, to codify laws so that they become capable of endless different interpretations by skilled word-twisters — the diametric opposite being the long tried and tested system of English Common Law which, in essence, simply says you are free to do anything vou wish, provided you don’t. harm anyone else. As we steadily abandon that Common Law heritage, look for the eventual victo- ry of jurocracy over democracy — of judges and lawyers over voters — and a far less happy Canada than we once knew. g309 WISH HAPPY BIRTHDAY today, Oct. 28, to West Vancouver's George Pajari. Q209 WRIGHT OR WRONG: What's right is always more important than who's right. . HOW TO REACH: US. Administration $85-213t Display Advertising 990-0511 Real Estate Advertising 985-6982 Classified Advertising 986-6222 Hewsroom 985-2131 Distribution $85-1337 Display & Real Estate Fax S3S-1435 Newsroom Fax . 985-2104 Classified, Accounting & Malu office Fax 9°52227 Michael Backer - News Editor - 985-2134 (114) Andrew McCredie - Sports/Community Editor 985-2531 (143)