6 ~ Friday, October 26, 1990 - North Shore News INSIGHTS NEWS VIEWPOINT Route of the matter F DEVELOPMENT in the Whistler I area is to continue and if the economy of the region is to be maintained an alternative traffic route to the treacherous Squamish Highway must be built. But’ any alternative must divert traffic around the already overburdened North Shore road system, and no alternative should come at the expense of local water quality. According to past studies conducted by the Greater Vancouver Regional District, the proposed routes through the Capilano and Seymour watersheds would pose ex- treme environmental hazards. Both road construction and subsequent road use would seriously degrade Lower Mainland drinkin; water and raise the catastrophic spectre of a toxic chemical spill into the Capilano reservoir from tanker trucks o other vehicles. And both alternative routes that run through the North Shore watershed area would also increase North Shore traffic congestion. The only viable Squamish Highway alternative then is the proposed route from Port Moody to Squamish. While extremely expensive to build, the road would bypass the pristine Capilano and Seymour watersheds and initiate a much-needed central B.C. highway. But it would also route Lower Mainland traffic around the North Shore, which al- ready bears the burden of being the gate- way to the Squamish Highway and the mainland terminus of the Nanaimo ferry run. LETTER OF THE DAY Lest we forget fatal accident Dear Editor: Drive east on Mount Seymour Parkway in North Vancouver, or return west from Deep Cove and you will see them: fresh flowers placed in the top of a hollow pole. The pole supports a hazard sign on the centre divide at the Berkley intersection. An incongruous place to see flowers. : Flowers are associated with so many different occasions and emotions. Their fragrance and beauty celebrate the joy of mar- riage or the birth of a_ child. Wreaths of comndoience express sorrow. Bunches of drooping weeds picked with great love by little hands are given to mothers. Poppies, red as blood, demand Publisher Associate Editor .. welcome bul we cannot envelope .... Peter Speck Managing Editor Timothy Renshaw Noe! Wright Advertising Director Linda Stewart North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an independent subu!ban newspaper and qualied under Schedule 111, Paragrapt U! of the Excise Tax Act, 1s putished each Wednesday, Friday and Sunday ty North Shore Free Press Lid. and distributed to every door on the North Shore. Second Class Mail Registration Number 3885 Subscriptions North and West Vancouver, $25 per year Mailing cites available on request Submissions are accept tesponsipiity tor unsolicited maternal including manuscupts and pictures 8 which shauid be accompanied by a stumped. addiessed that we remember those who have died in baitle. As ? pass the Berkley intersec- tion and see the flowers I think of the words ‘‘lest we forget’? and remember the tragic accident in the early hours of July 14. The blue Volkswagen Beetle attempted to turn left up Berkley but was broadsided by two westbound vehicles and burst into flames. Two sisters were killed and three of their young friends were injured. The outcry in the neighborhood was immediate and angry. A year before, a couple had been killed in an accident at the same intersec- tion, and now these young women. Something had to be done. THE VUREE OF NORTH AND WEST VANCOUVER SUNDAY + WEDNESDAY + FHIDay 1139 Lonsdale Avenue, North Vancouver, B.C. V7M 2H4 59,170 (average, Wednesday Friday & Sunday) SDA DIVISION Display Advertising Classilied Advertising Newsroom Distribution Subscriptions Something is being done. Those flowers in the pole, fresh flowers every few days, remind us that two young lives ended on that stretch of highway. This accident will not be forgot- ten, consigned to newspaper ar- chives until the next fatal collision brings the story out again. The flowers on the Parkway keep the memory alive and | for one am touched by them. 1 look for signs of improved road safety and 1 will necd to see action from North Vancouver District soon. Flowers on the Parkway, placed with love, ‘‘lest we forget.’’ Lynn Simpson North Vancouver 980-0511 986-6222 985-2131 986-1337 986-1337 985-3227 MEMBER North Shore owned and managed Entire contents © 1990 North Shore Free Press Lid. All rights reserved. Conned once too often is GST message! IT’S FIVE minutes to midnight in the battle to kill the GST. Next week comes the crucial debate in the Senate, now controled — unless the courts intervene —- by its eight new trained Tory seals. So until we can turf the rascals eut in 1992-93, bear with me for one more look at the tax itself, as distinct from Brian Mulroney's ruthless contempt for the convic- tions of 80 per cent of Canadians. There’s nothing wrong with the basic GST concept. For years we've paid the hidden Manufac- turers’ Sales Tax on a wide range of goods. Since foreigners have also had to pay the MST, it’s been bad for our exports. So raising the same tax revenue solely from Ca- nadians would boost exports — thereby creating more jobs and prosperity within Canada. Moreover, such a ‘‘consumption tax”’ at least gives us a choice. To avoid it, we simply don’t buy. Unlike income tax, the GST doesn’t touch our pay cheque. But there are solid reasons why four out of five Canadians see the GST in its present form as a disaster that should be sent back to the drawing board. First, the fraudulent attempt by Messrs. Mulroney and Wilson to con us with the ‘‘revenue-neutral”’ story, while at the same time hail- ing the GST as a way to cut the deficit. How so, with no increased revenue? Arc we THAT stupid? The 13.5 per cent MST, they admit, is full of loopholes allow- ing numerous goods to escape it. If the aim is merely to raise the same $18 billion, why not slap, say, 10 per cent on the much fuller GST list of goods only (in most cases we'd still benefit) — but levy NO tax on SERVICES? The answer is that the GST was never intended to be *‘revenue- neutral.’ The PM let that cat out of the bag Monday on open-line radio in Vancouver, when he sug- gested ‘“‘extra revenue’’ might in- deed be applied to the deficit. ‘Mulroney also would give no assurance that the seven per cent GST — which at the checkout will be almost as ‘‘hidden’’ as the MST — won’t soon be quietly raised. And smail wonder! In eight West European coun- tries which imposed a similar tax around 20 years ago the average rate is now 19 per cent — an average eight percentage points ‘above the starting rate. European tax experts say collection costs make such taxes ‘‘profitable’’ only from 12-15 per cent upward. Meanwhile, 32 other recent fed- eral tax hikes haven't budged the deficit an inch. Its $30 billion level now has the PM painting scare pictures of starving seniors, ey Noel HITHER AND YO deprived children and the sick abandoned if we don’t ante up Once more. Yet regardiess of such essential social services, billions are still squandered on buying special-interest votes and support- ing corporate welfare bums. Add to all the above, as reces- sion deepens, the two to three per cent jump in GST-fuelled infla- tion, and the REAL message of most Canadians 10 Ottawa is this: We want to help get Canada out of the glue, but we’ve been conned once too often, We don’t trust the Mulroneyites to do the job — HOWEVER much they tax us. WRAP-UP: President Norman Cole and past presidents of the North Van Red Cross Branch — who include Edna Copping, Mary Armitage, Eileen Loutet, Janie Johnson, Evelyn Bryan, Joan Cameron, Jean Kuetbach, Cliff Anderson, Bob Pooley, Robert Brown and Richard Clarke — were honored, together with its thousands of voiunteers over the years, at a 75th anniversary tea this week. Mayors Jack Loucks and Marilyn Baker presented a scroll commending their three- quarters of a century of service ... Fishing around for things to do this weekend? Try Capilano Hatchery which is holding a free open house Saturday and Sunday from 10 to 4... On the way, look in Saturday, 10-2, at St. An- thony’s Quality Thrift Sale, 595 Keith, West Van ... And a special greeting tomorrow, Oct. 27, to West Van’s Jim and Susan Burton on their 65th anniversary. eee Photo submitted JUST THE WAY WE WERE that day back in 1925!...West Van’s Jim and Susan Burton celebrate.