6 - Friday, June 8, 1990 - NO MORE ENDLESS HOURS dF BERING DEBATES... the North Shore. important to let slide.’’ North Shore News HE CALL for national unity from the newly formed West Van- couver Citizens for A United Canada (WVCUC) is encouraging evi- dence that Canadians in the far western reaches of the country still consider Canada an entity worth saving. The unity petition organized by the group, which will be available for signing this weekend at Park Royal Shopping Centre and then mailed to Verdun, Quebec, will also provide a good indica- tion of how widespread that feeling is on According to one of the organization’s founders, WVCUC was formed because the reality of Canada and the possibility of losing all that it stands for is ‘‘too Unfortunately the Canada that most of us have come to know or have come NO MORE BILINGUAL SIGNS AND LABELS... United we stand to think we know has already been lost forever in the venomous war of words being fought during the Meech Lake im- passe. exterior. But while the debate has uncovered selfishness at both ends of the country and, in scm cases, rampant flag-stomp- ing idiocy. it has also uncovered a pas- sion for Canada previously non-existent beneath the cool Canadian thought All those who care about Canada can only hope that the latter can save the country from drifting permanently into the former. tion. And all those North Shore residents who have any feelings for Canada should make an effort to sign the WVCUC peti- We have everything to gain and nothing to lose. Save ancient WV trees Dear Editor: West Vancouver District Council is planning to lease 350 acres of municipal land adjacent to Cypress Provincial Park for golf course development. This forest area, over one-third the size of Stanley Park, contains a stand of rare old-growth yellow cedar. Since these trees are in the centre of a proposed fairway and require boggy ground for their survival, preserving them within a golf course would be virtually im- Publisher Associate Editor North Shore suburban new: Friday and Sunday by weicome Peter Speck Managing Editor Timothy Renshaw Noel Wright Advertising Director Linda Stewart News, founded in 1969 as an independent ‘Spaper and quatified under Schedule 111, Paragraph [tl of the Excise Tax Act. is published each Wednesday, North Shore Free Press Ltd. and distributed to every door on the North Shore. Sacond Class Mail Registration Number 3885. Subscriptions North and West Vancouver, $25 pet year. Mailing rates available on fequest. Submissions are we cannot accept responsibility for possible, The ecolugical importance of old-growth forests is only now be- ing recognized: the coniferous forests of the northern Pacific coast are comparable to the rain forests of Brazil in their complexi- ty and their importance to the earth’s atmosphere and sustenance of life. If you recognize the value of such forests as Carmanah and Meares Island, find out what's happening in our own backyard. Tours to visit the trees will take ‘Tell VORCE OF MONTH AND WIST VANCOUVER SUNDAY » WEONESDAY - FRIDAY 1139 Lonsdale Avenue, North Vancouver, B.C. V7M 2H4 59,470 (average, Wednesday Friday & Sunday) unsolicited material including manuscripts and pictures a which shou!d be accompanied by a stamped, addressed envalope SDA DIVISION place at 12:30 p.m. Sunday, June 10. Meet across from the Deer Ridge condominiums at the start of the Cypress Bow! Road. West Vancouver District Coun- cil’s public hearing on rezoning for a golf course will continue on Monday, June 11. Please urge the fayor and council not to destroy our ancient trees for the sake of golf. Katharine Steig Michael Steig West Vancouver Display Advertising Classified Advertising Newsroom Distribution Subscriptions MEMBER a G North Shore owned and managed Entire contents © 1990 North Shore Free Press Ltd. All rights reserved. Canadian addiction becoming a disease DIAGNOSIS GF the chronic malady which afilicts Canada’s so-called leaders — and possibly many of us who choose them — is now becoming confirmed beyond doubt. The disease is terminal com- promisitis. As one watches Barbara Frum quizzing those 11 Meech Lake men who are deciding the future of all’ of us behind closed doors, firmly shutting out the 26 million Cana- dians they claim to speak for, one loses count of the times they proudly mouth that word ‘‘com- promise.”’ Don’t get me wrong. Com- promise on points of detail to achieve a positive and constructive goal more important than the details themselves — a goal sincerely sought by all participants — is obviously a sensible, civilized way of doing things. Ultimately everyone wins. But compromise — at which Canadians are the world champi- ons — also has two serious built-in flaws. Firstly, compromise has nothing to do with the setting of the goal itself in the first place — with who sets it, or how or why. In terms of a community or a nation the goal may be noble, but it can also be self-servingly partisan. Secondly, compromise all too easily becomes the enemy of prin- ciple. It’s one thing to yield on minor individual wants in order to accomplish a greater common good. It’s quite another thing to abandon a deeply held concept of right and wrong under peer pressure, threats or blackmail. Isn’t that what we’re always trying to teach our kids? Meech Lake deals with the most basic principles of our national life far into the future, yet all that 10 of the 11 men behind closed doors can talk about is the compromising of those principles..Except, of course, Premier Bourassa. Boasting about not having made a single concession, he at least sticks firmly to Quebec principles — and to hell with chose of 75 per cent of his fellow Canadians. But Meech is far from being the sole symptom of the malady from which our elected representatives suffer. They claim credit for ‘tcom- promising’’ on a totally unneces- sary abortion bill that outrages Pro Choice and Pro Life alike. They “*compromise”’ on Canada’s cul- PATRICK Reid ...gala dinner star. BOURASSA whose? but «principles, tural heritage by actively encourag- ing new immigrants of vastly dif- ferent cultural backgrounds to ig- nore and flout that heritage. They even ‘‘compromise’’ on the Charter of Rights itself by allowing any province to override it at will. The record of history shows that nations which survive do so by loyalty to certain gut principles — not by an addiction to compromise so strong that it eventually becomes a disease. As the old saying goes, if you stand for nothing, you'll fall for anything! eke TAILPIECES: It seems West Van-Garibaldi, the new provincial riding from 22nd Street west and north to Pemberton Meadows, still shines as a jewel in the Socred crown. With no nomination meeting date yet set, four would-be MLAs are already campaigning for the Socred candidacy — school trustee Margot Furk, retired lawyer Eric Cant and Dr. Rodney Glynn-Morris — all of West Van — plus North Van real estate ap- praiser Gordon Frampton ... Grab Joan Foster, 926-6614, fast if you haven’t yet got tickets for West Van Chamber of Commerce’s big 1990 gala party — the President’s Dinner and a.g.m. Tuesday, June 12, from 6 p.m. in the Hollyburn Country Club. In addition to the Who’s Who of North Shore business, this year’s affair stars guest speaker Patrick Reid, M.C., 0.C. — former Commissioner General of Expo 86... And from the Better Late Dept. congrats to longtime North Van resident Ar- thur Cragg who — still living in his own neat Westview Drive home and enjoying his daily walk — chalked up the big One-Double- Zero at a family birthday party yesterday, June 7. eet WRIGHT OR WRONG: People who tell you what kind of people they are usually aren’t.