Limo nonsense f his boss, Brian Mulroney is sincere about free enterprise and less government . interference in business, Transport Minister Don -Mazankowski should knock heads together fast in his own department. ‘Recently, the North Shore’s Sunshine Cabs, with two Vancouver limousine companies, ap- ' plied to: provide airport limousine service. ’ They: were. rejected because the Transport Canada burcauerats who run the airport had | already decided to put limo service out to tender for a Single operator, thus creating a monopoly..'° For the successful bidder the monopoly could last 15 years: an initial five-year con- : " tract with built-in renewals. He’s also required to . provide . seven-passenger vehicles and 24-hour French language service---at an air- port. where the foreign tongues most. often heard are Oriental. ‘Sunshine. Cabs president Richard Hughes says a bid on these terms needs to-be bankroli- ed by.at least $1 million. The cab industry here fis pretty. certain the nod. .will go to a Montreal . or: To onto-based firm, ihereby not only , ‘depri ng the customer. of any: choice but also * shutting out local companies like Sunshine “ altogether from the lucrative airport limo trade. 00.0 ‘Complete. “deregulation ‘of existing ‘airport > cab:services is. already long overdue. Now, with the introduction.of. limo services, the ries 100k ‘like outdoing even. the Grits and NDP: when ‘it comes fo, ‘meddling in the marketplace. - ce 7 tt Maury Gwynne, for five years ain” aide to Point Grey Socred MLA Garde ,Gardom, toid a reporter was that lecal Sere MLAs couldn't. attend a‘ church- > For. ired pe Premier Ben- — “Bud ‘Smith. Really, © P ill! —— ‘if you’re THAT worried about the cred: ‘image: today you might, be Smart to re Bud. : * ; * Digplay Advertising Classified Advertising 986-6222 “Newsroom : 985-2131 ’Circutation 986-1337 . Subscriptions 985-2131 : 1138 ‘Lonsdale Ave.; North Vancouver, B. Cc. V7M 2H4 Publisher Peler Speck . : “we - Operations Manager. | Bernt Hilliard “Clreiutation Director McGown. “ Markating Director Robest Graham. Advertising Director -. aa ‘Dave Jenneson “ Bilt : Editor-in-Chief . Noel Wright . . ‘ Display Aavsiisig Manager _— Production Director Mike Goodsell Chris Johnson Classified Manager . ~ Photography Manager Val | Stephenson: Terry Peters . North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an independent suburban newspaper and qualified under Schedule IN, Part It. Paragraph ttl ot the Excise Tax Act. is published each’ Wednesday, Friday and Sunday by North Shore Free Press Lid. and distubuted to every door on the North .. Shore. Second Class Mail Registration Number 3885. Entire contents @ 1985 North Shore Free Press Ltd. Ail rights reserved. . Subscnptions, North and West Vancouver, $25. pet year Maiting rates, A available on request. : No responsibility “accepted fos unsolicited maternal wncluamng manuscripts and pictures which should be accompuriied by a stamped. addressed envalope.: . Member. of the B. C. Press Council ‘65, 70 (average, Wednesday "SDA East Friday & Sunday) » THIS eal iS RECYCLABLE 980-0511 a 5 viEW FROM THE MIDDLE have to scratch very deep below the surface to ne N MOST: POLITICAL DISPUTES, you don’t find an economic Problem: hyo Whether i it’ 's human rights, “Vadistrial relations’ or taxes, the issue usually comes down to a case. of: who: will pay, and how much? & The best” answer to’ most : political questions. is an economic solution that works -for all concerned. The worst” answer is.a political response that is divorced from - economic common sense... “The Socreds have recently ’ given usa textbook: ‘example of a political wrong answer. in their attempts to handle the _ contentious issue of raw ‘log ~.” exports. The Bennett: government’ s. latest . polis:. probably iden- tified the raw log issue as one that _ unless Victoria did something “quick and dramatic to head i it - off. imposing ‘a quick fix-. defuse the issue, at least for another year. Unfortunately, they have worked up ia political solution that ignores the economic realities. JOBS FOR FOREIGNERS Here are the facts. coast forest industry The has LETTER OF THE DAY Praise for group home residents would . keep building: The Socreds responded. ty * ByGRAHAM LEA Indp. MLA for Prince Rupert begun shipping more un- processed raw logs (‘‘round- wood’’ in the industry’s jargon) to off-shore markets. The logs are processed into lumber for: foreigners; while thousands:of IWA: workers are sliding through their UIC entitlement toward the welfare. rolls. “ The-industry is shipping raw logs because there is a market, for unprocessed timber. They are not shipping - processed Jumber,. because they cannot produce it cheap- - ly enough to beat the foreign competition. : When times were good, the industry did not invest enough of its earnings in new technology that would allow it to produce for the demands of a tight, competitive market. Now that times are hard, they are taking the easier route of exporting raw logs. If we want to lay blame, we Dear Editor: In regard to the recent arti- cle, ‘‘Residents battling group homes.” . I am the mother of one of the men at 2230 Mountain Highway. { wonder if the residents in that area are wor- ried about crowded streets or the lack of parking space, | Should say, or are they wor- ried about the fact they have to share space with a mental- ly handicapped person? Real- by foreign mills, .: _ which means that our trees . are creating ‘processing jobs can pillory the industry for feeding: dividends’ to its ‘shareholders instead of refit- ting for a rainy day. We would also knock the Socreds for letting them come into the 1980s ‘ill-prepareu-.to compete. And, to: be fair, we could criticize the !WA for happily taking the wage increases of the 1970s, while not pressur- ° “ing the industry to keep itself. technologically up to date. But ‘laying blame doesn’t ‘create any jobs. And. neither does the Socred’s political - the problem, .. which has been to allow in- response to dustry one’ more year of log exports before cutting them off completely. The one-year limit is’ sup- posed to give the coast forest industry time to refit its mills so it can produce lumber to market © specifications. But chances are the industry is telling the truth when it saysa year is not enough time. A BETTER ANSWER If so, one year from now the people cutting and shipp- ing raw logs will be out of work. And those lost jobs will not be made up by new jobs in lumber processing. . Whatever we might think of the principle of shipping an unprocessed resource, the fact is that raw log exports ly, it is so disgusting. We are told (these people) should get into the main stream. Then when they try, and they really try, no one wants them around as they devaluate the area. Personally, [ think these four men at the above home on Mountain Highway are an asset. | know the other 3 men, they are fantastic peo- ple regardless of what the residents may think. | mean jobs for a Tot of people right now. The Socreds have ‘defused a political issue, for the time being, but they have not dealt - with its economic cause. A _year from now, the underly- . ing’ economic problem : will ~ probably ‘be back in full - force. Fallers who z are now work: ing will lose their jobs. Mill workers ‘who ‘are-:now unemployed will, still ibe, out of work. There must be a better answer then what the Socreds have come up with.’ That answer is waiting to be found. And the place to find. ‘it would be in a meeting of all ‘..the interests involved. .. - If the government could call together the industry and ‘the union, and separate’ the politicking" from. the prac- ticalities,. a better. political solution :could be “worked out, It would be a real solution; because it would represent a fair economic answer to an economic issue. Unfortunately, the Bennett government could not. bring all sides together on the raw Jog exports issue. As their polls must surely tell them, neither the industry nor .the union can .trust- this government, wonder if they. know that none of these men drive so that takes care of the parking worry. I don't express myself too. well but i. know these men and | had to write this as it makes me feel a lot better than just dumbly going along with the reasoning of that group of people in their fear of people they don't really know or want to know. Yvonne Welsh North Vancouver