The Moth Shore News Is published by North Shore Free Press Ltd, Publisher Petor Speck, from 1139 Leasdale Aveauo Rorth Vancouver, 8.0., V7M 2H4 PETER SPECK Publishes o85-2151 (iat) "Dlapoy fe fet Estate Pax tosereee Fat | ngsesating & Main O¢%00 Fax 1 Herth Shem Rews, founded in 1969 es an ” independent suburban newspeper and qualifies under Schedule 111, Sacgrgh Ub of the Excise Tex Act, is published each Wednenday, Friday and Sutiday ‘by North Shore Free Press Lid. and distributed ta every door on the Noth . Sdore. Canada Post Canadian Publicaticrs Mail Sales Product, Agreement No, 0087253, Mailing rates available on request. 1 6562 (average cxrculat Gratton, ‘Weatnesday, Fretay & i Entire contents © 1996 Noith Shore e ” Free Press Ltd. All cights reserved. at mailbox A moretnonanter amet ROA To ONY BC. ELECTION, THe Heavens OPEN "UP OND GOVERNITENT LARGESSE POURS FORTH. mews viewpoint Pol eats addiction | a disease Dear Editor: ; Did the North Shore News make a mistake in the { Aprii 12 issue? After reading ¢ the column on the “High cost of heroin” it seemed apparent it was written by Doug Collins. If not, congratulations Mr. Knight, you must. have just graduated from the Doug | Collins School of Journalism. The article was full of his j usual paranoia and ‘closed | mindedness. Iam a recovering addict:. }.. »: In my addiction I was not on { welfare. I was employed full--. time. Even though J do have a. 9" criminal record (fer impaired driving), most addicts I know. do not! 1 also know of no one.‘ ‘who has ever placed a knife | in anyone’s rib cage or. any:; other part of the body. Not to” say this. doesn’ t. happen; :.i “it: does. . But it is an extreme rarity. Of the “10,000 or. 50 addicts in the ” province,”.. se thousand of ts ‘are’ in recov ery. We are and always: wi be addicts. We ‘suffer. from the disease of addiction. follow. The easily influenced should shield their eyes or be: asked to leave the room. Polls, of course, are mere samplings of respondents’ opinions on a given day, in a given mood, in a given state of mind. Poll. digesters are largely aware of that Ba DANGEROUS poil results to ~ reality: But the Government That Knows ‘ Better knows — well — better. The NDP Election: Act; which places an arbitrary $5,000 ceiling on the amount of © money individuals or groups other thax regis-_ _ tered political parties. can spend supporting. or opposing candidstes or. expressing them- selves during provincial elections, also com- plicates the ability of news media to publish opinion poll results.. Opinions are dangerous things, especially ‘to the Government Thet Knows Better, and So take a deep breath and digest the latest. opinion poil results, if you dare: A recent MarkTrend poll moved the NDP ahead of the Liberals in decided voter sup- port: 38% for the NDP; 32% for the Liberals; - 21% for the Reform party. A recent poll con- | } ducted by the North Shore News, however, . put support among decided voters locally in a completely different light: 22.2% supported the Liberals; 9.4% supported, the Reform party; and only 6.1% supported the NDP.. Of course, about 61% of respondents to the. North Shore News poll were still undecided as to whom they would back in a provincial elec- | tion. Which one of the preceding polis is most dangerous? Depends who you’re backing in the current horse race. Best to silence them both, don’t you think? © j The world will be safer without conflicting | " anyone else. and always will be’ a disease 1 do not speak for all addicts Ican only speak for myself, am a member of cur commu nity. I have loving parents. I i have many friends... La Iam a human’ “being: who is no better or worse than : In closing, (1. “did “no choose to be an addict, but I am. Much like the- alcoholic . did not choose to be a drunk. Remember one thing though: -we can and do recover. And ~ Mr. . Knight, please ido. not oe g judge me. You dont even “ know me. , Mark Haggerty’, West Vancouver ‘ pis especially at election tine. ' DESPITE LAST week’s MarkTrend poll shocker that suddenly put the NDP six points ahead of the hitherte triumphant Liberals, it’s not yet quite time for devout anti-social- ists to jump off Lions Gate Bridge. Give Premier Gien Clark full ‘ marks for pulling off a sleazy political miracie in the past two months — helped by $1.3 billion of our tax money shovelled off the back of his election truck, But what the latest numbers show are still only party standings in terms of percen- ages of decided voters — ignoring the big 25% of undecided. As percentages of rotal voters (with MarkTrend's “decided” figures in brackets) the numbers look very different, i.¢.: NDP 29 (38), Liberals 24 (32), Reform 16 (21), Others 6 (8), UNDECIDED 25 (0), In short, the undecided block alone is greater than the Liberals and only: four percent- age points behind the NDP. Since the latter’s support undoubtedly is the most solid of all the three main parties, it's also a fair guess that most of the 25% of “undecideds” are wavering between Liberals, Reform and the fringe anti- opinion. Ali hail the NDP. NDP parties. * Naturally, you can play with these undecided fig- ures any way you like. For example, suppose haif of today’s undecided vote went to the Liberals, one. quarter to Reform, 20% to the NDP and the remajning 5% to Others. The new result: Liberals 37%, NDP 34%, Reform 22%, Others 7%. Just as easily, of course, you can boost the Reform vote, leaving the Liberals still edged by the NDF. Only one assumption is almost certainly safe, If the undecided vote shrinks in future Polls, it’s the anti-NDP parties of whatever stripe that will mainly benefit. But that's small comfort if the votes they split return Glen Clark and his com- missars for a further five-year sovialist dictator- ship. The new poll is a wake-up cail for the 65% or more of BC voters who shudder at that prospect, and for the two parties able to prevent it — even though it's now too late for any Liberal-Reform merger during the election campaign itself. Understandably, each insists on testing its own independent support at the ballot box. But there is one way they can szill stop the BC. NDP. Without further i delay Gordon Campbell and Jack Weisgerber should issue the following | p joint declaration to the electorate:."If the NDP is returned without an overall! majority of seats, the Liberal and Reform Parties pledge to form an immediate coalition and ask the: ; Lientenant-Governor to. name themthe majority government of British Columbia.” Neither party has anything to. lose — and. both have much to gain — by announcing in advance how they'll deal with the above situa- tion. But Gordon and Jack must act fast. If stub- born pride leads them to reject such a pact, ; Liberals and Reformers themselves may well .: be rejected for years to come by the B.C. yot- . ers they so wantonly failed. DROP BY at the festivities Sunday, April-28, 3-5 p.m. at the 7[-suite Capilano Towers, a 1475 Esquimalt, W. Van, when its seniors cele-_.. brate the 25th anniversary of their home ... From the Better Late Dept.. many happy returns of yesterday, April 23, to N. Van's Bette Booth ... Ditto to Edgemont neighbor David Bain ... In W. Van, happy birthday today, April 24, to life-begins-at-40 Jeff Adams ... And a 92-candle salute Friday, April 26 to N. Van birthday girl Jean Cowell. ; . WRIGHT OR WRONG: Temper gets you: into trouble. Pride keeps you there.