6 — Wednesday, May 7, 1997 — North Shore News
north shore news

VIEWPOINT

Cane enable

in favor say aye. Add too a

round of applause for the
provincial government and its new
campaign to do something about
grand theft auto.

But no standing ovation yet,
because while the realization has hit
Victoria that car theft is a major
problem in the Lower Mainland and
across B.C., the political will to really
do something to combat the crime
has yet to be fully illustrated.

_ As reported recently in the daily
press, 22,000 cars were stolen last
year in B.C. That number represents
a marked increase over the number of
car. thefts in the province in 1995:
16,000. It also. costs every taxpayer a
significant amount.

. ICBC, for example, reportedly

P= the brakes on car theft. All

claims last year.

The provincial attorney general has
vowed to get tough on car thieves and
is considering the establishment of a
special police unit to combat car
theft.

That’s the good news. The bad
news is that the attorney gencral’s
idea of getting tough on car thieves is
to confiscate their licences.

Scary stuff, right, Mr. Car Thief?

How about something a little more
radical? Perhaps public caning of car
thieves over the hood of their stolen
auto. Something with a little sting to
it. Something big on public humilia-
tion and physical consequence.

Something that would really make
car thieves think twice about smash-
ing your driver’s side window and
tearing off in the vehicle you have

STAND BY wiTtH THE
ADRENALINE Lv. J

OKAY... WERE READY,
Now You CAN ASK...

paid out $92 million in stolen car

- "THE North Shore News Free Speech ‘Defence
‘Fund has passed the $60,000 mark. :
- . To press time Tuesday, donations from News readers and
a. free speech supporters to the fund, which was initiated on
“March 26, stood at $61,709. ;
_ ~All funds received will help defray the mounting legal
= costs faced by the News in its legal battle with the Human
L, “Rights Tribunal over a complaint laid against. the
ee: Newspaper adits columnist Doug Callins by the
' Canadian J Zon; mat :

G A hearing 3 the matter has been set for May
Q a 12.Th ¢ first three days of the hearing — May 12
Soars ‘tO 14 —, will be held at the Century Plaza Hotel,
Co . 1015 ‘Burrard St., Vancouver, It is scheduled to
; isk. > begin at 9:30 a.m. on May 12.
a “After the first three days, the hearing will move to
“8 the Police Commission boardroom, Room 407,
i : 815 Hornby St., Vancouver.
we “Thus far the News’ legal costs to defend it and Mr.
: _¢ Collins in the Jead-up to the Human Rights
=~. Tribunal hearing have been substantial: almost
$70,000. The hearing will cost the newspaper
‘much more. ;
More excerpts from the hundreds of respondents
to the cause: :
“Enclosed please find my second donation. Why?
Because I believe in freedom of speech — something I
thought democracies endorsed. However, our socialist

government does not believe in such fundamental issues.”
. : — W.C. Jones of North Vancouver

" O00
"Good luck to Doug Collins and free speech everywhere,”

ek — Roberta and Andy Ross
Donations to the North Shore News Free Speech

Defence Fund can be sent to che News offices, 1139

_ Lonisdale: Ave., North Vancouver, V7M 2H4. Cheques

should be made out to the North Shore News Free Speech

Defence Fund.
; — trenshaw@direct.ca

j north shore

Korth Shore News, founded in 1969-28 an

worked so hard to purchase.

independent suburban newspaper and qualfied
under Schedule 111, Paragraph 111 of the
Excise Tax Act, is published each Wednesday,
Friday and Sunday by North Shore Free Press,
‘Lid. and distributed to every doo: on the North
‘Shore. Canada Post Canadian Publications Atal
Sales Product Agreement No. 0087238.
‘Mating rates avallable on request.

986-1337 (124)

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create Ses Heron
988-2131

61,582 (average circulation, Woanesday, Friday & Sunctay)

The only

“STRATEGIC voting” is the
oddball phrase cropping up more
and more often as this wacky,
photo-op clection gathers speed.
What does it mean?

What it means is sim-
ply this: the most viral
assuc of all in Election
°97 has nothing directly
to do with parties, per-
sonalities or policies. {t
has solely to do with
numbers — as in num-
bers on the government
and opposition benches,
especially the latter, in
the House of Commons.

The starting point in
this numbers game is that — barring a
miracle akin to the dividing of the Red
Sea — Jean Chretien’s Liberals will win
again. And as things stand roday, they
could win again big.

That’s because of the suicidal split
between English Canada’s three opposing
pardes which, time and again, allows a
Liberal candidate to sneak up the middle
and win the seat with well under 50% of
the vote. Nowhere was this pattern more
convincingly demonstrated in 1993 than
in Ontario, where the Grits took 98 of
the then 99 seats, many purely as a result
of the divided Tory and Reform vote.

If you’re anti-Liberal, that’s bad
enough, even though it’s perfectly fair
under the Election Act. But the 1993
election also brought something new and
infinitely worse. For the first time in the
126-year history of Confederation we
were left, officially, with no alternative
government — the role of Hee Majesty's

Bea Drala caSecot PETER SPECK
Human Resources Manager Sales & Marketing Director Publisher

jes

Petes
Manager Display

Photography
(127) 985-2131 (160) 990-0511 (103)

Loyal Opposition having been hijacked
by the separatist Bloc Quebecdis, a party
dedicated not to governing Canada but
to destroying it.

Now the term “official opposition” is
no mere empty title. It
brings to the party or
coalition in question
valuable additional
funds for research and
policy development, _
together with the lead
role in each day’s
Question Period. In
short, it provides all the
tools needed to hold
the government's feet
to the fire and prepare
the opposition to take

over the government’s functions, if or
when called upon.

Such a “goverament-in-waiting”
opposition is absolutely indispensable for
the healthy working of a parliamentary
democracy. That’s why the topmost pri-
ority in this election is not merely to vote
for party ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’ or ‘D’, but to
ensure the return of a party — any party
— from English Canada with more seats
than those held by the traitorous Bloc
Quebecois.

This does not necessarily imply aban-
doning personal party loyalties perma-
nently, though for some voters it may
mean abandoning them just for this cru-
cial election — because the very future of
Canada depends on restoring a healthy
government-opposition balance in
Ottawa without further delay,

By the time 2001 rolls around, Lucien
Bouchard will most likely have won a
new mandate in Quebec and have held a

STAND BY WITH NITRO.
STAND BY WITH i
THE PADDLES !...

GULP... How Mucd
ISTHIS AMBULANCE
TRIP GOING To cost?

way to vote for Canada

second independence referendum. Under:

those circumstances there is no way a. -
federal government with the Bloc 4
Quebecois as its official watchdog can be -:

trusted to guard Canada's vital interests")

— least of all the fumbling, stumbling
Chretien-ites with their frighteningly:
incompetent record in the 1995 Quebec «*
referendum. ; , :

How to vote “strategically” just this... ~:
once? If your usual loyalty is to Reform, --
NDP or Tories (seats in the last parlia:
ment 52, 9 and 2 respectively), park it .
somewhere until June 3, Meanwhile, fol-
low the daily election reports for the he:

25 days and figure out for yourself whic!
of the above three is headed for the most ;
seats. Forget its platform if you must, bu
vate for its candidate anyhow.

Ditto Liberals who put Canada first.
Hold your noses this time and vote for: -’
the opposition front-runner, halitosis and
ail. The Grits will stilt win and you'll h
helped return democracy to Ottawa:

Glad to have been of help, Warre!
and Phil! ; Pees

200 =
HAPPY 18TH birthday today, May 7,
to North Van's Kio Howard ... And _..:
enjoy Jane Saborio’s “Colores” — paint.
ings by the Vancouver artist at West Van.
Library gallery undl May 31.0: :

oO0. '
WRIGHT OR WRONG: If you don’t:
take care of your body, where else are
you going to live? me.
ate North Shore News believes :
stronglyin freedom of speech and the right
of all sedes in a debate to be heard. The

columnists published in the News present 0°:
differing points of view, but those views are:

not necessarily those of the newspaper itself.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

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