Hh fou [irc Gor . HE WINDS of separatism that blew through the North Shore last Friday night with the visit of Bloc Quebecois MP Michel Guimond cleared the air ahout one thing: the Bloc is a crock, and nothing to be feared. The more Guimond proselytized for a sov- ereign Quebec the raore he exposed the true despotic face behind the Bicc’s feeble mask of reasonableness. - Guimond said Canada has no choice but _ to “respect” the democratic will of Quebec and accede to a “divorce.” ~~ But Guimond and the Bloc are peddling a " skewed version of democracy. The Bloc, for example, asserts: that fran- cophone Quebecers have the right, in a refer- _endum, to separate from Canada, but non- “French Quebecers do not have the same right’ to vote to leave a sovereign Quebec. ‘Natives will be allowed to vote in the refer- endum, but a “no” vote would mean nothing. The English have no worries because they are “treated well,” according to Guimond. Democracy for the French and obedience for everyone else — such is the Bloc’s idea of a just society. Yet, what if Parliament refused to grant a divorce? What if Parliament held democracy to a higher standard than the Bloc’s own self- interest? Guimond admitted that Quebec has no constitutional leg to stand on. It can only win if Canada cooperates in its own destruction. . Plain and simple: The Bloc is impotent. All Canada has to do is dare to defend itself. It is one thing for a democracy to tolerate those who would destroy it; but tolerance is not a synonym for surrender. ‘LETTER OF THE DAY Modern ‘ ‘safe- -Ssex” message 1s a fraud ; Dear Editor: . In your May 1 edition, Kate Zimmerman reported that the Persons with AIDS society describes Reform party statements about AIDS as “discriminating and archaic” and that Reformers need their “expert advice” because they are not properly informed. I would like to suggest that self- styled AIDS experts like Kathryn Eggart and Richard Marchand have bamboozled the public with their “safe sex” myth. AIDS groups constantly wiiine Puhiloher....... Managing Editor Associata Editor... Sales & Markating Diractor. that they do not. receive sufficient funding and howl that their “‘mes- ‘sage will not.get out” so AIDS cases will increase. / These so-called experts routine- ly condemn everyone who dares to suggest that abstinence and monogamy (in traditional marriage) is the only sure way to prevent AIDS, in a most pejorative manner. These so-called AIDS conferences are.a waste of time and money, unless they: emphasize monogamy ~ and chastily, ! know there are those who will Display Advartising Classifiod Advertising Newstoom 986-6222 Fax 980-0511 Distribution Real Estate Advertising 985-6982 Subscriptions 985-2131 Administration want to crucify me for my convic- tions, and will accuse me of big- otry, homophobia or whatever. Too bad! I know of many people who have died of AIDS. Some were friends and I do miss them. But every one of them wilfully engaged in high-risk activities and would scoff at my archaic, old- fashioned “morality” (I call it com- mon-sense). It is time to expose the “safe sex” message for the fraud it Teally is. Tom Dreyer North Vancouver 986-1337 $86-1337 985-3227 985-2131 - North shone News, founded in 1965 as an independant suburban newspaper and qualified under Schedule 111, Paragraph 111 of the Excise Tax Act, is published eath Wednesday, Friday and Sunday by North Shore Free Press Ltd. and distributed to every door on the North Shore. Canada Post Canadian Publications Mail Sales Product Agreement No. 0087238. Mailing rates lable on request, Submissions are welcome but we cannot accept resocnsibility for unsolicitad . * material including manuscapts and pictures which should be accompanied by a stamped, addressed envelope. V7M 2H4 . North Snore Managed 4 499 Tonsdale 3 Avena North Vancouver B.C. SOA DIVISION 61,582 (average circulation, Wednesday, Friday & Sunday) Entire contents © 1994 North Shore Free Press Ltd, All rights reserved. ocail politician ay? wort SO, HOW much is a politi- cisn worth? (Seize that cynic who shat back: “Dead or alive?”) No, seriously, | meet quite a number of politicians in my humble role as Seeker of Truth, Guardian of Public tntegrity, Watchdog of Public Affairs, Protector Against the Forees of Evil — very humble role, as | was saying, And t genuinely find then to be much brighter, more dedicated and ~ certainly more intellectually lively than Mr, Average Citizen, who, these days, scorns his elected repre- sentatives as stupid, self-secking and,of course, ethically inferior, T try to keep my own observa- tions about politicians wry, rather than ruthless. They have a terrible job. They have to represent us, And we, notwithstanding our. | splendid image of ourselves, are * not the sort of people you'd want your daughter to marry. The fact is that most political decisions, and certainly the hardest, boil down to money and therefore the carnivorous self-interest that sticks to it. {fa (public) project enriches or supports me, it's good. If it has no + effect on me, it’s dispensable and $6 They (politicians) have a terrible Job. They have to represent us, 99 : ' i t wasteful — get rid of it. If it active- ly impoverishes or erodes tne, it’s the devil’s work —- and any devil of a politician who backs it can go to hell, and [ will use my ballot as his train ticket for the trip in the next election. { By the way, that’s why I brood skeptically over the drive toward | direct democracy, referendums etc. I'd predict that the people’s choice on many an issue would be a lot less sensitive — a bludgeon, not a laser beam — than the politi- cians’, who have to struggle with nuances and fine gradations of sec- toral interests. . (Butter — to subsidize or not to subsidize? Urban consumers have a rather different opinion than rural producers, and there are more of them.) This is a worldly introduction to a parish-pump subject. Back to the beginning. How much is a politi- cian worth? Municipally, not much. Not by the measure of their salaries. Which seems to me — a chop-costs propo- nent, generally — pretty paltry con- sidering the responsibilities. As Martin Millerchip reported in the North Shore News the other day, the job of the mayor of North Vancouver District —- that’s Murray Dykeman — paid an “indemnity” (salary) of $59,430 in 1993. Councillors were paid £19,810, and no raise this year. Those pay packets (including a one-third tax-free allowance) are still around $5,000 higher than tor GARDEN OF BIASES they'd be under a formula proposed . in.1988. Councillors would be well below the poverty line —= better tt--~~ as welfare moms — if that were their sole income. And. West Vancouver's Mark Sager put his 1993 mayoral salary » -— about $51,000 — in perspective at ane of a recent pair of mectings with the budget-cutters I’ve dubbed the Fiscal Five. ; That, said Mayor Sager off- handedly, is less than the salary of a third-year West Vancouver fire- man. Oops, firefighier. As for councillors, their big . reward for sitting through a lot of fascinating meetings, getting phone catls from troubled citizens, etc, is a silky $17,000: And apparently there's a fine. _ old West Vancouver tradition: - mayor and councillors arein’t expected to hit up the municipality for their not-so-incidental expenses like using their cars for municipal business. I believe it’s called noblesse oblige in Canada’s other official language. : That’s rather mangy compensa- tion for those who, in West Van.’s " case, directa $98 million budget, including school costs. "°°" ' Yes, I promised a fuller report . on the meetings between West Van staff, mayor and several councillors __- and the Fiscal Five. Unhappily, the second meeting was rescheduled © for May 12, and, as J suddenly recalled after it was set, that was my littlest daughter’s birthday (which, on request, she counts on her fingers: “One, two, fwee, foat”). So I played Good Father and stayed home for the birthday revels, The Fiscal Five did have the sat- isfaction, like other Greater Tiddlycove residents, of seeing the average residential tax bill fall’even further than earlier reported, by 1.35%. I’m amused that Coun. Pat Boname doesn’t attribute this restraint to “the ‘famous five’ of Trevor Lautens’ column.” [ don’t dispute that. I merely keep plug- ging away.in my modest role as . Seeker of Truth, Guardian of Public Integrity ... And a final word: Reform party members of Parliament Ted White (North Vancouver) and Herbert Grubel (Capiiano-Howe Sound) are absolutely right in objecting to Ottawa’s $1 million subsidy to bring foreign AIDS patients to the 1996 conference here. Support _ them. If you need any urging.