6 — Friday, February 8, 1991 - North Shore News Gorby slams the brakes on runaway reform JUST HOW free can you allow a free market to be when you’re starting one from scratch? That’s the question rais- ed by this week’s most significant news item from the Soviet Union. For months Mikhail Gor- bachev’s perestroika — the bid to restructure the rigidly centralized Soviet economy along free market lines — has meant only empty store shelves, a roaring black market and ever longer line-ups for scarce basic food at wildly in- flated prices. The result: rampant public cynicism and despair — and now Red Army troops accompanying police on their beat to discourage rioting and soaring crime. Soldiers patrolling the streets of Moscow, together with the tough military crackdown in the in- dependence-hungry Baltic republics, have raised fears that Gorbachev has fallen hos‘ age to anti-reform Communist hardliners, the army and the KGB. Is a return to Stalinist rule — even a new Cold War — loom- ing? A more reassuring explanation with an intriguing new twist came Monday from a key Communist ally of Gorbachev. Yuri Prokofiev, Moscow Com- munist Party leader, denied any backtracking oa ‘‘the basic lines’’ of reform. ‘‘The move to a mar- ket economy will be pursued,” he declared. ‘‘A multi-party system will continue to develop, and the (Communist) party will not try to seize back the power it once held.”’ But Prokofiev also confirmed that the Kremlin HAS abandoned the plans of radical reformers to move to a top speed to a total free market system, because it would first bring ‘‘years of chaos.”’ Since the Soviets can't afford such a delay, Gorbachev is ap- parently now looking at role models among a number of coun- tries which followed a different path in developing prosperous market economics within com- paratively short ceriods. The common denominator being that they all did it under the firm hand of authoritarian governments. Case histories studied include South Korea, Spain under General Franco and especially Chile. When Chileans, after 16 years of mili- tary dictatorship under Pinochet, ousted him and returned to democracy in 1989, they happily retained his successful economic policies. Distasteful as that thought may be to democratic purists, there’s sound logic behind it. After all, our western free market system — still with numerous warts — has taken over 200 years to evolve. How can the huge Soviet popu- Noel Wright lation, held for 70 years in a state-controlled economic strait- jacket, be realistically expected to achieve the same within two or three years without tough step- by-step control of market forces until they become naturally self- regulating? Only when they do — bringing an end to today’s economic misery, even if that takes a few more years of authoritarian rule — will Russia be safe for full western-style political democracy. Since the alternative is some- thing far worse, Gorbachev still looks like Russia’s — and our. — best bet. ece TAILPIECES: Snow killed West Van Chamber of Commerce’s January meeting but not its speaker. Harri E. Jannson, senior Bank of Montreal veepee, surviv- ed to address the 7:30 a.m. breakfast meeting Tuesday, Feb. 12, in the Ambleside Inn on eco- nomic challenges and oppor- tunities in 1991 — reservations 926-6614 ... This year’s big B.C. Festival of the Arts will be highlighted in North Van May 22-26 and volunteers are needed to assist with the numerous events — call Debra, 987-6980, if you'd like to be part of the fun ... And hap- py 66th birthday today, Feb. 8, to two netable West Van Aquarians — the Ambleside Inn’s genial host Willy Brueckel and, until his retirement last year, longtime Park Royal Shopping Centre boss Hugh Addisoa. eo0e WRIGHT OR WRONG: A troublemaker is the guy who rocks the boat, then persuades everyone else there’s a storm at sea, DATE MATES ... today’s same-age West Van birthday boys Hugh Addison (left) and Willy Brueckel, B.T.B. (Betore The Beard). INSIGHTS \F YOU TAKE MULRONEY, WILSON, VANDER ZALM, "THE LEAFS AND CANUCKS, A YOU GOT A DEAL PAL! WE WANT CONTROL (NER EDUCATION, HEALTH CULTURE, HOUSING, AGRICULTURE, LANGUAGE, ENERGY, DOG LICENCES AND THE EMNIRONMIENT! NEWS VIEWPOINT ‘Terminal intelligence recent decision to delay the multi- million dollar expansion and upgrade of the Horseshoe Bay ferry ter- minal could be a blessing in disguise for West Vancouver residents and the long- suffering users of the Horseshoe Bay ter- minal. ‘ke PROVINCIAL = governnrent’s The government announced last Friday that the expansion would be delayed for at least one year to allow for an overall re- consideration of the project. Mushrooming project costs were cited as a main reason for the project’s delay. But what is likely the real reason is a re- consideration of Horseshoe Bay’s future as a ferry terminal. While few would deny that Horseshoe Bay is seriously congested, both for ferry and vehicle traffic, many would argue that the key to relieving that congestion is by decreasing the ferry traffic being funnelled through the North Shere transporiation system to Horseshoe Bay not by increasing the holding capacity of the small Horseshoe Bay area. With the new Mid-Island Express ferry route gaining popularity with commercial traffic and the future of the Nanaimo ferry terminal uncertain, it makes little sense at this time to install a $50-million ferry traf- fic marshalling and parking facility at Horseshoe Bay. The investment would dic- tate that Horseshoe Bay remain a major ferry terminal regardless of its practicality as such. The focus of the Horseshoe Bay termi- nal should more and more be on improv- ing car and passenger service to and from the Sunshine Coast and less and fess on servicing ferry traffic to and from Van- couver Island. LETTER OF THE DAY Answers, please, not beefs Dear Editor: In your Sunday, Jan. 6 edition of the News I noted with interest that columnist Gary Bannerman is once again making critical com- ments about the recycling program that is so effectively reducing the volume of waste on the North Shore. It seems that Mr. Bannerman has an aversion to environmental concerns and would like to see the blue boxes disappear. In addition, he harps about the wait that some concerned residents experienced during the October hazardous Publisher. ......... Peter Speck waste drop-off event. We are always interested in constructive criticism, and in par- ticular we welcome any positive suggestions on ways in which we can improve our programs. Dy the year 2000 our goal is to achieve a 50 per cent reduction in the amount of waste generated. Most people are very cooperative and your newspaper, especially through the columns of Peggy Trendell-Whittaker, has been in- strumental in helping us in our ef- forts to achieve this goal. So far, we are exceeding our predictions THe VOICE OF HORT AO WERT VANCOUVER Display Advertising Classified Advertising and are taking more than 700 tonnes per month of materials out of the waste stream. What we do not need are col- umnists like Mr. Bannerman knocking our programs without giving us any ideas on how they can be improved. If Mr. Banner- man is interested in becoming the North Shore’s ‘‘Eco-Warrior,”’ perhaps he can give us some assistance. Allen Lynch Recycling Coordinator North Shore Recycling Program Managing Editor Timothy Renshaw Associate Editor . Noet Wright Advertising Director Linda Stewart North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an independent Wednesday. Friday and Sunday by North Snore Free Press Ltd. and distributed to every door on tne North V7M 2H4 Subscmptons Norn ang West Vancouver, $25 oer year weicome bul we cannot accect responsibility tor unsolicited material including manuscnots and pictures e which should be accompanied by a stamped, addressed SOA DIVISION SUNDAY © WEDNESDAY rn FeDay suburban newspaper and qualified under Schedule 341. 1139 Lonsdale Avenue, Paragraph tt of tne Eacise Tax Act. 1s putished each North Vancouver, 8.C. 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