north shore news __MAIL Box Offended by immicration letter Dear Editor: Re: Lana Khoury’s April 16 letter to the News editor. It is interesting to read L. Khoury’s letter and how she arrogantly puts down her tel- low “local Canadians” — assuming of course that she is a Canadian citizen and that she has the right to eriticize in the first place — on their immigration policy bias. Khoury also seems to be basing her wide-ranging com- ments on a small meeting she attended in North Van, and expanding it to include the people of Vancouver, presum- ably B.C., and finally Canada as a whole. Also I wonder what or who gives her the right to speak on my behalf, me being an immigrant of five years and who has taken Canadian citi- zenship and is extremely proud of it. Before she makes rash judgments and statements that are tainted with anti- white Canadian sentiment, she should expand her research on immigrants. Most immigrants I know are happy to be living in Canada, knew abour the weather before coming here, find it expensive — ves, but have the choice to move away to a smaller community or “back home.” 1. Khoury does not have a clue what she is talking about when it comes to Third World education systems compared to Canadian. Immigrants come to this country generally to escape some system in their original countries that has become untenable to tient and they are glad vo pay their way, whatever it costs, to get here — I was. Canada docs not owe or promise inumigrants anything! Immigrants cannot demand anything of Canada or Canadians. Canada gra- ciously opens her doors to those who wish to come and help enrich society by being law abiding citizens, and not enrich themselves by manipu- lating the systems or making, “white” Canadians feel guilty about being here in the first place. I strongly object to those immigrants who arrive think- ing that they are God's gift to Canadians and when thev find out that this is not so, deni- grate society and then become the “unhappy immigrants” that Khoury reters to. The choice to immigrants is very clear in my mind: either fit in or leave (back to the system that they originally judged as worse than here). Do not attempt to bring the system here that vou feft there, we do nor want it, nor do we deserve it. Ivan Scott North Vancouver iscort@sprint.ca Dear Editor: Re: April 16 Lana Khoury letter to the News editor. I have tried to calm down after reading this article. It is AOL Casy. Lana Khoury’s article, full of questionable and untrue statements about Canada, has deeply offended me. | am an immigrant myself to this won- derful country and I have always found that Canada and Canadians are generous beyond reasonableness. Landed immigrants have equal rights (or should I say more rights!) in just about all respects than the born Canadian. Lana, who forced you to come to Canada? or to Vancouver? Although living expenses ar laugh, airfare is cheap today. Please do your- self and Canada the favour and buy a one-way ticket to the foreign destination of your choice e.g. to all those wonderful cities (U.S. or oth- ers) you have been to! Long live Canada! Herbert R. 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The Finest Quality NOW $64.99 Dunn's and Hathaway dress shirts NOW 50% OFF Wednesday, April 21, 1999 ~ North Shore News — : ted white, mp. | advertorial, Apri 21/1999 FROM HERE AND THERE This week's report deals with a few unrelated subjects, each of which requires only a paragraph or two to explain. Each has arisen in recent calls or letters to my office either asking for information, or outlining issues which | should be dealt with in Parliament. The | subject matter ranges from the Young Offenders Act to the Notwithstanding Clause. THE NOTWITHSTANDING CLAUSE Several people have contacted me recently asking for information about the f Notwithstanding Clause in Section 33 of i the Constitution Act of 1982. This clause was a key compromise between those fike Prime Minister Trudeau, who insisted on a Charter giving the courts the power to declare statutes to be a violation of rights, and those like Premier Blakeney, who insisted on the supremacy of the people in a parliamentary democracy. Section 33 gives Parliament, ora provincial legislature, the right to declare that, NOTWITHSTANDING a ruling of the courts under Sections 2, or 7 through 15, of the Charter of Rights, a law which has been struck down will remain in i} effect. The use of the clause has to be revisited every five years, but can be renewed. It recognizes that the rights guaranteed by the Charter are not absolute, and where there is a conflict of rights, Parliament or the legislatures ultimately have the power to determine § where the line will be drawn. The clause was used by the Levesque Government to exempt | Quebec faws from the Charter provisions, the Bourassa Government with respect to teachers’ pensions, agriculture law, education reform, and languege on signs ir, Quebec, and the Devine Government used it to protect back to work legislation from challenge. The Reform Party has a policy that the Notwithstanding Clause would be used to dea! with what is commonly known as “judicial activism’, or judges rewriting the laws. Any use of the clause by a Reform Government would be followed by a teferendum to ensure public support for the measure, thereby avoiding any risk of unreasonable, or unsupported use of the clause. THE ALL-NEW YOA Unfortunately, the recently announced teplacement for the Young Offenders Actis turning out to be a big disappointment. In the absence of serious amendments, | will be extremely surprised if, a year or two from | now, after passage of the Bill, you i have noticed any improvement whatsoever in the administration of youth justice. The Bill is riddled with “escape clauses” which will allow lawyers to apply for exemptions for their clients from the sc-called “get tough” provisions, a situation which will inevitably lead to even more ‘egal wrangling and delays than already occur with YOA cases. ! know from speaking with young offenders, and with the public at large, that f name publication is a big issue. Almost everyone feels that those who spray A graffiti, break into homes and businesses, or steal cars, should have their names published, not only for the embarrassment factor, but so that the cornmunity can identify problem youth in the neighbourhood. In defiance of this public wish though, the new YOA permits name publication only for very serious offences, and then only if the judge agrees. In addition, although the Bill provides for automatic upgrading to adult court for serious offences above age 14, the defence can apply for youth sentences to apply. Don't be surprised if every defence lawyer, in every case, asks the judge to have this provision apply to his or her client, holding up the process while each and every request for exemptions is considezed. Bottom line? The new Bill is more complicated, and will probably be even less effective than the existing Young Offenders Act. It appears to be little move than a public relations exercise designed to make you think that something has been done. TIME ALLOCATION The Liberal Government has now used “Time Allocation” 50 times since 1993 to limit the debate on Bills before Parliament. This is two full years faster than the eight years it took the Mulroney Government to | set the all time record of 50 motions fcr Time Allocation. The situation is so bad that for some Bills Reform has been unable to put up more than two or three speakers before the Bill is forced through. For example: *C-55 (Sheila Copps’ Magazine Protection Bill) — just 1 hr 40 minutes * C-2 (Changes to the Canada Pension Plan) — just 1 hr 44 minutes * C-65 (Equalization payments to the provinces) —just 3 hrs Every time there is a potential for embarrassment the Liberal Government simply shuts down debate. Rather than [ accept opposition amendments, or admit that there are problems with a Bill, they ram it through as quickly as possible, sometimes then allowing the Bill to die in the Senate, or to be sent back from the Senate with the amendments — the very same amendments which should have | been made in the Houce. Bill C-49, the Native Land Management Act, is tikely to fall into this category. QUESTION PERIOD It is quite common for people to write to me requesting that | rise during Question Period in the House to ask a question of one Minister or another, usually in connection with a personal situation or problem. Those of you who find the time to watch Question Period on a regular dasis will already know that QP is not the .orum in which to obtain meaningful answers to serious questions. We MPs even call it | “Showtime”, because it is really a 45 { minute period during which attempts are made to score political points and to provide the “one-liners” for the media. (On the North Shore, Question Period Is broadcast on Cable 58 at 11:15 am Monday through Thursday, and at 8:15 am on Friday.) Frankly, if you want to obtain a serious answer to a specific question, you should write directly to the Minister concerned. That way you heve the bast possible chance of obtaining infor- mation which may be heipful to you. You can write to any Minister or MP, and no postage stamp is required, at The House of Commons, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A OAS. If you prefer to use email, you [ can tind a fist of email addresses for MPs at www.parl.ge.ca Ted White, M.P. , #302-1200 Lynn Valley Road, North Vancouver, B.C. vay 2 Az Tel: 666-0585 Fax: 666-0509, Internet: hetpi/Avww. reform.ca/white-t/.- :