6 - Friday, November 85, 1985 - North Shore News Editorial Page Silent peril he excitement of a mayoralty race is T absent from tomorrow’s North Van City and West Van elections. But the importance of a strong voter turnout in both municipalities was never greater. In each election all the incumbent aldermen whose seats are up for grabs are seeking a further term. And in each they are being challenged one-for-one by outside candidates. _ The latter can be expected to ensure that their own supporters — whatever their numbers — turn out in force. But pasi experience shows that voters who are happy with their present aldermen are the ones most likely to shun 2 five- minute visit to the pciling station and ‘leave it to George’’. Their absence can badly distort the cominunity’s will. A candidate winning, for example, 60% of a 15% turnout is actually backed by only 9% of the eligible voters. This arithmetic is even more vital in the case of West Van’s Sunday Shopping referendum. Merchants from Park Royal to Dundarave are now bleeding to the tune of $25 million a year in sales lost to the 42% of West Van residents who shop on Sunday in North Van and other ‘open’? municipalities. Like it or not, these are the harsh facts of life in 1985. Should the bleeding continue and increase, the inevitable result will be the closedown of more and more West Van stores. Since the municipality has no industrial tax base, that eventually spells heavier taxes for homeowners. If a genuine West Van majority opposes Sunday shopping, that’s fine. But how sad if 2 silent majority, prepared to accept it, helped , kill local businesses and imperil their own- pocketbooks simply by skipping tomorrow’s vote. Name wars tar wars has’ gone from Hollywood fiction to everyday reality and George Lucas wants it back. The producer of . Star Wars the film has filed a suit charging the Reagan administration with trademark infringement of the film’s name. Let us pray that his suit is sent packing. af it isn’t, the defence department will have to come up with an alternative: Rambo’s Revenge might not have the same innocuous ring. Display Advertising 980-0514 Classified Advertising 986-6222 Newsroom 985-2134 Circulation 986-1337 Subscriptions 986-1337 1139 Lonsdale Ave., North Vancouver, B.C. V7M 2H4 ' Publisher Peter Speck Ganeral Manager Roger McAfee Operations Manager Berni Hilliard Advertising Director Linda Stewart Circulation Director Bill McGown Photography Manager Terry Peters ‘north shore" +) SUNDAY + WEDEEDAY « pmDAy Advertising Administrater Mike Goodsell Editor-in-Chiet Noel Wright Production Ofractos Chris Johnson Classified Manager Val Stephenson North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an independent suburban newspaper and qualitied under Schedute Ul, Pact IU, Paragcaph Ill of the Excise Tax Act. Is published each Wednesday. Friday and Sunday by North Shore Free Press Ltd. and distributed to every door on the North Shore. Second Class Mail Registration Number 3885. Entira contents © 1988 North Shore Free Press Ltd. All rights reserved. Subscriptions, North and West Vancouver, $25. per year. Mailing rates available on request. No responsibility accepied for unsoliciled materia! inctuding manuscripts aid pictures which should be accompanied by a stamped. addressed envelope. Member of the B.C. Press Council sw 56,245 (average, WetiInesday 50a DUON Friday & Sunday) THIS PAPER IS RECYCLABLE Shopping an economic issue Dear Editor: West Vancouver isthe one urban municipality in the Lower Mainland that has not permitted Sunday shop- ping. A year ago a referen- dum was narrowly lost and as a result council voted against Sunday shopping. Since that time, Sunday shopping has become widespread, resulting in a Dear Editor: I read in the North Shore News that a new municipal political group of ‘‘prog- ressives’? has arrived in North Vancouver with hopes of taking over the city coun- cil in November. The new boys and girls of the Com- munity Electors Association are very critical of the pres- ent council members for lacking vision and for being out of touch with the com- munity. In the April issue of the Financial Post, North Van- couver City was lauded as being one of the six Cana- dian municipalities where taxpayers get the most for their dollars. The residents of North Vancouver City owe a debt of gratitude to their incum- bent mayor and council for their excellent management of the affairs of the city for so many years. The clectors should beware of snake oil salesmen who appear from time to time with their magical cures. Ernest W. Sarsfield North Vancouver measurable economic impact on the market-place. West Vancouver merchants,: both large and small, have seen their dollar volume of business - decline, in some cases drastically. Now a large majority of our com- mercial taxpayers throughout West Vancouver firmly believe that they re- quire Sunday shopping in order to compete and to preserve the viability of their businesses. ; . The commercial business areas of West Vancouver are important to us all and their legitimate needs deserve a fair consideration by all our voters. In my mind, the issue is no longer one of personal choice but embraces the more fundamental issue of the health of our commercial areas throughout West Vancouver which in turn af- fects our whole community. I urge all West Vancouver voters to vote on this impor- tant issue-at our Municipal Elections on November 16. David Finlay Alderman, West Vancouver Admit defeat and vote for shopping Dear Editor: In reply to Jean Lawrence’s letter of Sunday, November 3, I do indeed sympathise with her feelings with regard to Sunday shop- Ping. However, although I voted against Sunday shopp- ing in West Vancouver last year, | intend to vote ‘YES’ this year, and would urge other West Vancouverites to do the same. North Van- couver now being a Sunday shopping area, it is simply not fair to refuse West Van- couver merchants. equal op- portunities. True, studies have shown that the volume of business does not increase in one area with Sunday shopping, but | feel certain the volume in West Vancouver would decrease without it, as those so inclined take their custom to North Vancouver, which is geographically the same area. Sunday shopping is now a “fait, accompli’? in most districts of the Lower Mainland. Let us gracefully admit defeat and not penai- ize West Vancouver mer- chants on a matter of prin- ciple. Besides, we need commercial tax base. Louise Dyer West Vancouver the Make foreign students pay for their education Dear Editor: Smart people the Chinese. Peking is now charging foreign students full costs for university tuition. In- creases of 300 per cent or more were recently imposed by government fiat. Compare this realism with the generous treatment foreign students get at UBC, Simon Fraser and U. Vic. Here, outsiders pay a mere $I in fees for every $4 they cost us as taxpayers. Entry, also, is on a first come, first served basis. No wonder foreign (visa) students flock to our province. They are on easy street here. Institutions of higher learning in Western Europe and the United States woke up long ago. They charge the sons and daughters of wealthy Arab, Oriental and Latin magnates average cost. Some even aim at a profit. Meanwhile we in British Columbia continue our tax subsidy to the tune of tens of millions of dollars a year. Give worthy foreign stu- dents scholarships 1 say. But don’t welcome all and sun- dry as if they were worth $10,000 a year each from you and |. China’s teader, Deng Xiaoping, has the right idea. Make foreign students, with and without scholar- ships, pay their own way! Hon. Jack Davis, M.L.A. North Van-Seymour