6 - Sunday, June 10, 1990 - North Shore News Abortion bill that outrages everybody ““COMPROMISITIS,”’ the Canadian disease that could eventually prove terminal, is nowhere better illustrated than in the new abortion legislation, Bill C-43. Passed with a slim majority by the Commons, the bill is now be- fore the Senate, which must also pass it before it becomes law. The Senators, bless them, seem in no great hurry to oblige. C-43 allows abortion if a single doctor believes the physical or mental health of the woman is threatened. Should the doctor or his patient cheat (it’s unclear how this would be proven), one or both of them could wind up with two years in the slammer. The bill understandably outrages both Pro Choice and Pro Life. To the former it denies a woman’s right to decide what she does with her own body. To the latter it guarantees, in practice, little real protection for the fetus. Yet the trained Tory seals who narrowly passed it in the Commons are ac- tually having the gall to claim credit for achieving such a “workable compromise.”’ All they can truthfully claim is to have cooked up a dog’s dinner that will cost everyone concerned — including the taxpayers who foot the government's legal bills — anguish, time and money. Even if the Senate eventually passes the monstrosity, it will doubtless end up in short order be- fore the Surpreme Court, which threw out the earlier abortion law as unconstitutional in January 1988. Bill C-43 appears to deny women’s rights to liberty and secu- rity of the person under the Charter just 2s effectively as its predecessor. In practice, the new law is even more restrictive because of the lia- bility it imposes on doctors. Under the old law they were personally protected, since abortions were approved in theory by a hospital committee. But now, doc is on his own, with nowhere to hide from any Pro Life zealot who lays a charge against him — as will in- evitably happen. - Dragged into court on a criminal tap, he may successfully defend himself, but what busy doctor NEEDS to risk that. hassle for an occasional $300 fee? Small wonder numerous of them have already announced that they’ll quit per- forming abortions — not on any b. HILARY Clarke ...like mom like son. + ~“ > . * KIM Campbell ...unhappy acolyte. moral grounds but purely for self-preservation. Any law to satisfy Pro Life voters would, of course, have to have been much more restrictive than Bill C-43, thus driving the somewhat bigger Pro Choice vote into the opposition camp. Now, large numbers of BOTH groups are likely to head that way at the next election. The 30 months since the 1988 Supreme Court ruling have brought no significant increase in abortions. Any politician with his head screwed on would thus have concluded that the best solution to a sticky dilemma was simply no law at all. But not Brian Mulroney and his unhappy acolyte, Justice Minister Kim Campbell. Once the ‘‘compromise’’ virus infects the body politic, it can destroy logic, principles and com- monsense alike! a WRAP-UP: Salute West Van's Hilary Clarke and son Andrew on a unique family ‘‘double header’’ in this spring’s UBC grad lists. Hilary, a Cap College instructor, received her Master of Education degree, while Andrew — presently playing with a Mexican symphony orchestra — graduated as Bachelor of Music ... Congrats, too, to Marianne Thomson whose WRIT- INGS gift and stationery store in Park Royal has won a silver award in the continent-wide 1990 com- petition of the New York based Gift and Decorative Accessories Association ... Artist Peggy Smith — featured in Travel Canada and the New Yorker — launches a two-week display of her oils next Thursday, June 14, at a 7:30-8:30 p.m. reception in West Yan Library ... And 52nd anniversary greetings tomorrow, June 11, to West Van’s Bob and Hazel Bremer. ake WRIGHT OR WRONG: With the world changing so fast these days, you can’t stay wrong all the time even if you try! 0 THE SCOURGE OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY... = aa “nd sto] 30D, Show your cclors recycling will become a reality all across HE TIME has come for self- This summer, blue box curbside proclaimed environmentalists to show their colors, but it remains to be seen if those colors will indeed be shades of green. : Opinion polls reveal that concern for the environment is running high among Canadians, and most people questioned agree that the government should be do- ing somethizg to alleviate the many threats to plasx‘ary well-being. Well, governments are ‘‘doing some- thing,’’ and i¢ is now up te those citizens who profess a concern for the environ- ment to show their true colors. Environment Canada, local municipalities and community agencies launched a Going Green on the North Shore campaign ia the June 3 News aim- ed at convincing individuals to change such wasteful habits as using disposable the North Shore. In July, a community composting demonstration project will be set up near Lawson Park in West Vancouver. Retailers are providing shoppers with environment-friendly products. Stores sell reusable bags. Community groups host environmental information even- ings. These programs not only offer people the opportunity to contzibute to a healthier planet but leave local residents no excuse for not recycling at least their basic wastes. And while such programs can’t hope to provide the whole solution to the environmental crisis, they repre- sent a vital first step. Anyone who cares about the planet’s future would do well to take them cups. “This is too important to let slide. This is critical. This is fundamen- tal. We hope this will more than offset all the garbage. What con- cerus us is that we have Canada stay together.’’ West Vancouver Citizens For A United Canada (WVCUC) founder Harry Macdonald, on national unity and why the group was formed to promote that unity. “If in doubt, give us a shout.”’ North Vancouver City Fire Department Insp. Dave Burgess, after a quick cail from residents of a burning house helped reduce fire damage to the home. “These people (council) were so uninterested in our situation they Publisher ........... Peter Speck seriously. ‘NEWS QUOTES OF THE WEEK”? - moved it (rezoning application) through the third reading faster than you can say ‘election time’ aud then they left town for a con- ference.’’ Citizens for Responsible Devel- opment CFRD spokesman Donna Rossi, criticizing North Vancouver City Council for giving a conten- tious rezoning application third reading and then going to a Feder- ation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) convention in Quebec City. “They're going to build those super ferries in Europe...to me it stinks to high heaven.’’ Metal Trades Council president Ron Ferguson, on his suspicions that the provincial government plans to award the contract for Managing Editor Timothy Renshaw Associate Editor ..... Noel Wright Advertising Director .Linda Stewart North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an independent SUNDAY © WEONESOAY - 6mIDAY nan SSC arr Display Advertising 980-0511 north shore Classified Advertising 986-6222 . P j Newsroom 985-2131 i Distribution 986-1337 Fax Suourban newspaper and qualified under Schedule 111, 1139 Lonsdale Avenue, Paragraph 11 of the Excise Tax Act, is published each North Vancouver, B.C. Wednesday, Friday and Sunday by North Shore Free Press Ltd. and distributed to every door on the North V7M 2H4 Shore. Second Class Mai! Registration Number 3885. Subscriptions North and West Vancouver, $25 per year. 59,170 (average, Wednesday Mailing rates available on request. Submissions are = Friday & Sunday) welcome but w @ cannot accept responsibility tor unsolicited material inctuding manuscripts and pictures ry which should be accompanied by a stamped. addressed envelope. SOA DIMISION Entire contents © 1990 North Shore Free Press Ltd. All rights reserved. Subscriptions 986-1337 two new super ferries to a Euro- pean shipyard. “Whatever we do, we clean it up. As a routine, the army always cleans up after itself, no garbage, uothing.’”’ North Vancouver-based 6 Field Engineer Squadron operations of- ficer Capt. Geoffrey G. Dyer, on the army and its good housekeep- ing policies. “The Pentecostal church would be considered narrow-minded, but we don’t consider thet a slander. Christ was pretty narrow-minded about certain things.”’ Pastor Jim Lucas of Canyon Heights Chapel, on the Pentecostal church. 985-3227 MEMBER SN ereen Remepanewe rd Ares rari North Shore owned and managed