a . Vasslns ioe Fe KIRK ‘ i t "IM CAMPBELL’S awkward turch across the public political galle-ws - A Bhrecalis an old. politically incorrect joke:| the reason there are so few female “pohticians is because it is toc much trouble to put.makeup on two faces. ; In\.the, case ef the quintessential oppor- tunist-come-lately,: one can’t. help but wonder if Campbell is-herself, during rare “moments: alone, realizing the savage scope - of party politics... mit 7 “o) ~The recent ill-conceived attack on Liberal leader Jean Chretien in Tory TV ads gives the public a rare view inside the. workings -of.am unpopular ruling party self-destruc- -ting. Campbell’s selection as Tory leader was a cynical attempt by a majority gov- ” ermment to persuade voters that the party “had :taken. ona new direction. After all, t : OPPTT | Shore News we ZL ARRAS SANE gS wT A WW ditt =| ay 24 LAST MONTH, after 38 years in this country, i at last saw a the other ‘‘shining sea’’ — the one dividing us from Por- fi tugal. These fractious election weeks were a good time for ! a first visit to the Maritimes. A gcod time to teach a hitherto 4 ignorant west coast scribbler. the 4 real truth about Canada and its § many solitudes. Certainly, there are no twe sol- itudes more distinct right now than those separating B.C. from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick or PELL uncrowned they crowed, Campbell is.a westerner and a woman — two key differences from what Tory pre-leadership market research found to be public perceptions of the Mulroney government: a cabal of good old boys from Quebec who trusted no one.~ | Overlooking the obvious choice for Mulroney’s successor, Jean Charest, simpiy reflects the Tories’ understanding of their chances in this election. If Campbell had ‘actually pulled off the unthinkable and ‘erased Canadians’ collective memories of Allow animals to remain as wildlife the past decade, the good old boys would have applauded her. But as pre-election polls across the country continue to con- firm the unlikelihood of that achievement, if appears the Tory braintrust unleashed the crass commercial io bury Campbell further. She who lives by the sword.... . ‘Dear Editor: -I/thoroughly enjoyed Mr. Giles’ “letter of: Sept. 12 and Ms. McAllister’s of Sept. 26 regarding our, *‘wild’’ raccoons. As’to Ms. Orr’s letter of Sept. 26, the raccoons aren’t the prob- lem, she is. Ij agree with Orr that this is their !and and humans have taken it away, but to feed them unnat- ural food is worse than Giles trapping and relocating them. - What is the raccoons’ evening ‘feast’? Cat food, dog food with a cookie and peanut dessert? I'm afraid 1 haven’t seen any trees or bushes that grow the above items. If you did care for your “family of wild animals,’? you would feed them their food — berries, apples, plums, snails and worms — or even better, don’t feed them at all. Buy a berry bush or an apple tree and let them feed themselves naturally. It’s people like you, Ms. Orr, who have created the problem, The raccoons eat in your yard and scrap in mine. They are a threat to my pets because you have given them a false trust. I’m quite sure you realize rac- coons are very smart. They're sur- viving even with us interfering. To trap and relocate them to a wild area gives them more of a chance than staying here — get- ting run over, poisoned or becoming ill from ‘‘human food.”’ Trapping the young when they are close to their mother’s size is not dangerous to their survival, as Momma will be chasing them off _ shortly anyway. I would very much like to bor- row Giles’ traps and allow these animals to become what they are: wildlife, J.E. Sorochan North Vancouver, 1 Publisher .. ‘ Managing Editor . Associate Editor Sales & Marketing Director Linda Stewart Comptroller Doug Foot North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an independent suburban newspaper and qualified under Schedule 111, Paragraph ill of the Excise Tax Act, is published each Wednesday, Friday and Sunday by North Shore Free Press Lid. and distributed to every door on the North Shore. Canada Past Canadian Publications Mail Sales Product Agreement No. 0087238. Mailing rates available on request. Submissions are welcome but we cannot accept responsibility for unsolicited Peter Speck Timothy Renshaw Noel Wright Newsroom ti Display Advertising Real Estate Advertising 985-6982 Classified Advertising AE VORCD UF HORT ARO EST COU EN, i oN, 4 ClO RY This newspaper contains tecytied fibre Nosh Shore managed Distribution 986-1337 & Subscriptions 986-1337 Fax 985-3227 Administration 985-2131 B MEMBER 980-0511 986-6222 985-2131 SUNDAT WeONTeDAT T PoAY 1139 Lonsdale Avenue, ~ North Vancouver, B.C. material including manusctiots and pictures which «= VM 2H4 61,582 (average cutculation, Wednesday, Friday & Sunday) 7 should be accompanied by a stampea, sett- . audréssed envelope. Entire contents © 1993 North Shore Free Press Lid. All rights reserved. SDA OIVISION The former, with its majestic mountain backdrop, booming its way out of recession. In the three latter, the towns and villages amid the gentle, rolling countryside in the grip of 14% to 18% unemployment — according to whom you ask — with scant hope of any early relief. My first evening in Halifax the president of Daihousie University announced on TV drastic cuts to courses, followed by Premier Sav- age urging economically stricken Nova Scotia communities to prac- tise self-help like Chemainus, B.C.'s “little town that could.’’ One small New Brunswick community boasts the title “unemployment capital of Canada’ because every family in the 1,200 popvlation has at least one government relief cheque coming in. Not that Maritimers overburden strangers with their tales of woe. “No point keeping on moan- ing,”’ one victim ekeing out with occasional odd jobs told me. ‘‘It only makes us more miserable | still!’’ For someone from a province where 40-year-old houses almost rate heritage status the other most powerful impression of the Mari- times is the history lovingly preserved there. In Halifax and the Acadian country along the Annapolis Valley, almost everything the eye rests on is likely to be the oldest (or first) of its kind in Canada. For this, of course, is where the nation of Canada was conceived in the early 18th century — de- cades before the Yankees’ treasonous Declaration of In- dependence — to be born well over a century later,in Charlotte- town’s legislature building on Prince Edward Island. For all their immediate prob- lems one senses a spécial pride still SOE, SE HITHER AND YON among today’s Maritimers in be- ing the custodians of that story. The story today of an awe- inspiring 6,000 km swath of real estate whose inhabitants — if ever they get their diverse economic and political acts together —- could be a model for all mankind to follow... rr Remarkably few B.C. pecpleI °° know have ever visited the gentle, charming Maritimes and their people, The reverse is certainly true of the many Maritimers I met. The same applies to other regions of the country remote from one another. And therein, / maybe, lies the clue to this na- ; tion’s eventual salvation. v If, like good neighbors within a community, many more individual ;/ citizens from every corner of the © ; land made a point of visiting each others’ distant provinces, our pol. iticians might find it far harder if not impossible — to mess up this magnificent idea called Canada. ee, eee ! WRAP-UP: Last chance tonight (Wednesday, Oct. 20) to hear and quiz Capilano-Howe Sound: .. . hopefuls at a 7:30 p.m. all-can-— didates meeting at Highlands - United Church, 3255 Edgemont Blvd., North Van . CANTY NEWS photo Cindy Goedman NORTH Vancouver City Mayor Jack Loucks (left) and David Foster of the North Shore Harvest Project join in the grand opening of the operation, which is a special food bank recently launched by Foster.