6 — Wednesday, September 30, 1998 — North Shore News north shore news VIEWPOINT EATH by deficit. That appears to be B.C.’s sentence under the NDP government. Though anyone with an elementary school education had realized it long ago, Finance Minister Joy MacPhail has only just conceded that B.C. might be in a recession. There is no might about it. Just as there is no might or muscle or vision or honesty or accountability or any other virtue in the NDP’s eco- nomic plans for B.C. There is only pol- itics and payoffs to politica! supporters. Revisiting past broken promises and budget untruths foisted upon the B.C. public by the NDP would do litle more than reopen past wounds. _, ? Unfortunately, until the scandal-rid- For example, the latest news from the fiscal front has B.C. a further $72 million behind in its deficit target than previously predicted. And that is in only the first three months of the new fiscal year. The overall budget shortfall for the first quarter is running at just over $400 million. That puts the province well on the way to adding another bil- lion-plus dollars to its already stagger- ing accumulated debt of $30 billion. Despite the economic realities of how far down the NDP has dragged this once fiscally robust province, the socialists in Victoria stumble ahead as if B.C. were still a player. Premier Glen Clark appears set to unveil yet another new economic strat- SATISFYING THE CRIC'S DEMAND FOR CANADIAN IDENTITY THROUGH RETITLING-A PROPOSAL BEFORE AFTER ER- EX | LOVE LUCY- | LOVE LUCIEN JUST SHOOT ME- TuST STAB ME. MAD ABOUT YOU — APATHETIC ABOUT You VERONICA'S CLOSET ~ SVEND'S CLOSET S TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL ~ TOUCHED BY A TELEMARKETER: DIAGNOSIS MURDER DIAGNOSIS HEPATIT KING OF THE HILL— KING OF PARLIAMENT. X-FILES - REMP= FILES ” CUINTON- MONICA GRAND JURY ~ CHRETIEN-APEG GRAND JURY . if . indicati . os ¥. egy. If past strategies are any indication TESTIMONY VIDEOTAPE TESTIMONY VIDEOTAP! of what that bodes for B.C. businesses, the furure just got a little bleaker. dled NDP is swept from office the eco- nomic. future of the province will remain bleak. mailbox et entire Cuff report ‘At the Sept. 21 West-Vancouver council meeting. consul- 3corge Cuff presented his long-awaited report on the er things he said that he had recommended to s full. report be made: available to the public. ever known a council to expurgate before release to the taxpayers who r who had secu both versions noted that : ade it difficult. co -uderstand fully the text hing . The. excuse. given at:the: mecting fot the deletions was icy identified individual employees, and would thus violate f personal privacy. cral councillors, after the mecting, said that when re: advised of the need for deletions their attention Was'never drawn to section 22 (4) (¢) of the Freedom of “Information and Protection of Privacy Act which states ‘A disclosure of personal information is not an unrea- sonable invasion of a third party’s personal privacy if... ‘+ (e) the information is about the third party’s position, ction or remuneration as an officer, employee or member ublic body or as a member of a minister’s staff.” ! Of the expurgated report shows no clear indica- wi re deletions have been made, only large unex- gps... ; Certainly:.no indication is given of the reason for cach wpe the North Shore News to continue to press for release of the final Cuff report in a timely manner. Guy t Vancouver: -Ed.Guy@compuserve.com Worth Saore Mews, founded in 1969 as an independent suburban newspaper and qualtied under Schedule 111, Paragraph 111 of the Excise Tax Act, 25 published each Wednesday. Friday and Sunday by North Shore Free Press {L0d. and distributed to avery door on the North ‘Sules Product Agreement No. 0087238. Land claims queries unanswered SO at last we have a picture of what an Indian land claims treaty could mean for the North Shore and Greater Vancouver — according to a respected local abo- riginal leader. I have a soft spot for Chief Leonard George of the Tsleil Wauruth (Burrard) Band, chiefly because of feel-good speeches like the one he made iast week to North Van Chamber of Commerce. Instead of treaties and “templates” for settling land claims Chief George talks of sharing and, above all, crust. Asked if the Nisga’a treaty in B.C.’s far northwest — costing in land and cash nearly half a billion dollars — is a model his own Beople would seek in the Lower Mainland, his reply is “absolutely not.” Because his band’s tradition: the North Shore and in Greater Vancouver are already so intensively developed, any settlement would have to be totally different from that with the Nisga’a. He wants freedom tor the band to “hunt. in the city” as it once hunted in the forest. This can happen, he suggests, by the band becoming one more layer of jurisdiction (whatever that means) added to the multiple layers — federal, provin- cial, regional, municipal — which already rule the Lower Mainland. Under this expanded jurisdictional umbrella, he says, the band would pursue lands on a wide range of socially, economically and that threat. environmentally desirable initiatives, both alone and in partnership with non-native interests. . It has already participated, he notes, in partmerships involving real estate and a gulf driving range. Future plans include forestry and mining rojects, a seniors’ jome, expanded cco- tourism and an envi- ronmental clean-up of Indian River and Burrard Inlet. Is a referendum required on the Nisga’a and future treaties throughout the province? No way, he declares, because we're talking about the rights of a tiny minority of the total pop- ulation. “If we need to provide a handicapped access to wheelchairs to the side of a | building, that’s a minority person’s right —— we don’t have to vote on that.” Alas, however, Chicf George’s referen- . dum analogy is obviously flawed. Providing handicapped access to build- ings threatens nobody. The referendum demand arises pre- cisely because the non-native majority rightly does feel threatened by the specta- cle of a Nisga’a-style treaty applied across. the board to the many completely differ- ent areas of B.C. — especia y the crowd- ed, built-up Lower Mainland. Premier Glen Clark may by now wish he’d never heard of the word “template,” but this is what he told us the Nisga’a treaty would be and he has yet to retract and yon Sylvia Kelly ... LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters must include your name, full address & telephone number. MA e-mail: trenshaw @ direct.ca Aside from the re row, Oct. 1, to West Van bir Also tomorro congratulations to B.C.’s favor Jimmy Pattison, on his 70! ; more birthday greetings’ Friday,’ Ox West Van Kiwanian David i 000 WRIGHT OR WRONG: Only. th mediocre are always at their best.