JULY 'N GOADONS
Fat DeaHIR

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PORTS

“altar of political popularity.
“¥n her-first: provincial budget,: Finance
- Minister: Elizabeth Cull spoke much on
“Tuesday of Betting B.C.’s fi nancial house in
/-order. |.
‘And the NDP government has made some
jal: steps toward achieving that geal:
eas taxes have. beea frozen for three

“With B.C. enjoying something of a modest |

economic, boom a government s serious about

eres (Os, iM”
if
NOP PARTY
GROCE M<CaATHS

FOBULOUS Half
PoRTY

REFORM PORTY
NaTUAAL Low
PaRTY

GLEN CLOBK
FeOPLES LIBERATION
PORTS

+ Seal HUGGEAS »
4 ORY

; : cutting _ everywhere.
fiscal. bine, ste y sacrificed on the ”

‘The NDP government has taken afew ten-

tative swings at the provincial deficit, reduc-.

ing it to $898 million, and has ‘promised to
eliminate the deficit by 1996-97.» _

But hope for that laudable goal dwindles
fast when considering that the NDP’s budget
will actually increase government spending

- at_a time when governments across Canada

are biting the. budgetary: bullet and cutting
expenditures. ;
And that hope is all but extinguished

“when considering that the NDP government
-will push: B.C.’s accuraulated debt up by

over $2 billion to a staggering $27.4 billion.

Until governments are made legally
accountable to balance their books and to
eradicate debt, they will carry on business as
usual in an unreal taxpayer-supported free-
spending world. :

“LETTER OF THE DAY
land of ‘blundering inefficiencies’

Dear Editor: ; i ’

I refer to your March 4 issue and
its article “Cut budget, (ratepayer)
groups demand” and the Mailbox
letter “Tired of tax increases” (in
. West Vancowver).'

We, the executive members of

‘the Ambleside ‘and Dundarave
~ Ratepayers’ Association, together
* with responsible people from other
“groups, have attended budget dis-
~ cussion meetings over the years.
: However, these have been exercises
- in futility, as almost without excep-
tion all.the reasonable cost and cap-
ital reduction suggestions we have

Peter Speck
imothy Renshaw
“Noel Wright
Linda Stewart
Doug Foot

Associate Editor...
* Sales & Marketing Director
Comptrotter

made have been ignored. Year after
year we see the relentless increase
in municipal costs, particularly in
the past few years, far outstripping
any inflation index, with the con-
committant large yearly increase in
local taxes. West Vancouver has
the unenviable reputation of hav-
ing, by a wide margin, the highest,
municipal tax rate in the whole of

Greater Vancouver. Many of us.-
who take an interest in West:.
Vancouver municipal affairs, .
presently are, or previously were, °

running our own businesses.
The blundering inefficiencies,

Display Advertising

Classified Advertising 986-6222 Fax

Newsroom

980-0511 Distribution
Real Estate Advertising 985-6982 Subscriptions

985-2131 Administration

foose contro! and other horrors we
see in the municipality would never
be tolerated in any private enter-
prise, The business person who has
to earn his competitive income has
a totally different viewpoint on
costs from the bureaucrats who
have the power to assess and com-
pel the taxpayer to pay, and there-
after waste these taxes.
Unfortunately, there are very few
business-minded or business people
involved in the overall. West
Vancouver bureaucracy.

Lionel! Lewis

West Vancouver

986-1337
986-1337
985-3227
985-2131

North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an
independent suburban newspaper and qualified
under Schedule 111, Paragraph 141 of tne Excise
Tax Act, is published gach vednesday, Friday and
Sunday by North Shora Free Press Ltd. and
distributed to every door on the North Shore.
Canada Post Canadian Publications Mail Sales
Product Agrasmant No. 0087938. Mailing rates

- available on request. Submissions are welcome but
we Cannot accept responsibility for unsolicited
material including manuscripts and pictures which
shauld be accompanied by @ slampod, addressed
envelope.

V7M 2H4

Nerth Shore Managed

MEMBER

1 139 Lonsdale Avenue
North Vancouver 8.C.

SDA DIVISION
61,582 (avoraga circulation, Wednesday, Friday & Sunday)

Entire contents © 1994 North Shore Free Press Ltd. All rights reserved.

retailers

WE USUALLY talk politics
here. Yawn. What’s that
compared with the big, big
news — for the shop-till-you-
drop crowd? |

Here ‘tis: WAL-MART IS .:
COMING TO THE NORTH
SHORE!

It will pop up in a mall near you.
Capitano Mail, in North
Vancouver, if you must know. It:
will replace the mall's Woolco,
Wal-Mart having bought ;
Woolworth's-owned Woolco stores

— 122 across Canada, of which 12 -

are in British Columbia — last
Thursday.

Talk about excitement. —.

The entry into Canada by U.S.-
based Wal-Mart is‘ being teverishly
hailed by some — mostly con-
sumers — as only a little less terrif-
ic than the Second Coming. By oth-
ers — mostly established retailers
— it’s about as welcome as the
invasion of Rome by the Vandals.

Wal-Mart is big almost beyond
belief. Its worldwide sales in its fis-
cal year ending Jan. 31 were $67.3
billion. That's half again as big as./
Canada’s deficit. Net income shot

_up 17% to $2.333 billion.

It has a colossal 520,000
empioyees —— oops, they’re called
“associates” — in the U.S. That's
almost the population of
Newfoundland.

The purchase of Canada's s

66 Wal-Mart is:
big almost
beyond belief. 99

Wooico stores, approved last week
by Investment Canada, adds anoth-
er 16,000 “associates” who, Wal-
Mart takes pains to point oul, ~
“receive competitive wages and
goud benefits.”

Wal-Mart Canada announced ..-
Monday that it was beginning right
away to renovate some of the ©
Woolco stores.

What's causing the fear?

Wal-Mart is threatening because
of its sheer size. It's opened stores
in some smaller U.S. towns and
cities and driven established retail-
ers out of business. Some, foined
by worried local councils, have
united to fight the Wal-Mart jug-
gernaut,

There have also been complaints
about Wal-Mart's secrecy.

The Globe and Mail recently
reported that Wal-Mart is quietly
acquiring land in small Ontario
towns, apparently through a devel-
oping company called First
Professional and known by several
names, including [TON — afleged-
ly standing for “If They Only
Knew.”

The mayor of Orillia said he got
acall from someone at First
Professional about building a centre
for discount and wholesale retailers
and found him “very evasive.”

J can tefl you that when |

‘bly to be followed by other US.

phoned Gerry Campbell, manag
of the Capilano Mali Woolco, and
asked a pretty ‘simple question -
about the store's floor area; he’sug-
gested I call a Toronto office. ;,-.
Which referred me to a New York.
City office. Which passed me on to’
Wal-Mart corporate headquarters in :
the place where the Wal-Mart suc
cess story began 30 yéars ago-
the unlikely state of’Arkansas.
“(But that’s where what’ s~hi
name, the U.S, president, comes

:, from, right?)

It’s no secret, though: that Wa

* Mart, with its 2,020 American ©.

stores, has customers who-adore it.
And not just for its prices, which;
one Canadian visitor to the, US.

cases, and in others about. the same
as the competition’s

. friendliness and Service — two
_ areas in which, 1 don’t have'to tell

you, Canadian ‘retailers, are often

- criticized. °

. There is alw ys a Wal-Mart
“associate” who. greets customers

the door and offers a’shopping cart

The staff are chatty and helpful.

_ Wal-Mart is also a big charitable

Some industry analysts and
reta:" spokesmen’ downplay Ww.
Mart’s entry into Canada -— pro

chains. &

Almost certainly Wal-Mart wi

force the competition to step lively.

That’s good for shoppers. ». -
At the Capilano Mall Woolco,

“some changes are said to be under

way already. A Wal-Mart press»...
release Monday said: “Although all :

_(Waolco) stores will remain open :

during renovation, each store offi-

cially will adopt the Wal-Mart,’

name upon the completion of phys- a

’ ical improvements and after being

stocked with a broader assortment
of quality merchandise.”

You can be sure that Wal- Mart .
is being carefully watched by the

"big players in North Shore retail

ing: Eaton’s, Zellers and The Bay. -
at Park Royal Shopping Centre, and, - -_
by Sears, currently the “name” ten-'."":
ant at Capilano Mall. ~
Marketing magazine recently
reported that Sears stores may feel
the heat more than other retailers, °
and that Zellers already holds the
position of having the lowest prices |
among the big retailers. ;
The magazine predicts that Wal- +
Mart will spend only 1% of its sales
on advertising, compared with 3%.
for its competitors.
It’s going to be a different retail
world. :