6 ~ Sunday, January 11, 1998 — North Shore News north shore news VIEWPOINT Mega-City Il MALGAMATION is in the headlines again. North Van istrict Coun. Ernie Crist res- urrected his favorite topic earlier this month. According to the longtime council- lor, merging the services and bureau- cracies of North Van City and North Van District makes sound fiscal sense. Synergy. Why. not take it a few steps further? As we’ve said before in this space, including West Vancouver in the amalgamation scheme of things makes even more sense. A united North Shore. But how about a step further? Can you say Mega-City? Let’s follow Crist’s synergy-fuelled sentiment to its logical conclusion. By melding ali municipalities in the Lower Mainland — from West mailbox Nurse departures tell hospital tale Dear Editor: Vancouver to Port Coquitlam to Delta — major financial savings for the beleaguered taxpayer would be realized. (Such promise is the driving force behind Toronto’s current mas- sive municipal amalgamation.) Surely the harbinger of such a Mega-City approach is the recent dis- cussion about downloading the Lower Mainland transportation infrastructure to the Greater Vancouver Regional District. Many of the problems that plague our region — traffic congestion, growth, pollution — could best be solved by the focus one single council overseeing the entire region would provide. If Crist’s wish comes true — which in time it will — it will just be one small step for North Vancouver, and one giant leap towards a Mega-City. APPARENTLY, AS AN ACT OF SACRIFICE AND PURIFICATION, MUSLIM MILITANTS MARK THE HOLY MONTH OF RAMADAN BY REFRAINING FROM FOOD, DRINK, SMOKING, SEX AND KILLING ALGERIANS DURING PANLIGHT HOURS Direct democracy dream lives on ONCE more Lady Fortune is smiling on Premier Glen Clark as he sharpens his scalpel in readiness for major surgery on the Recall and Initiative Act he dreads. How can Ms. (Inge) Schamborzki deny there is a cri- sis in the Lions Gate Hospital with so many of the nurs- €s quitting? I just spent a month, less:a couple of days, - mostly’on ‘the second floor (cardiology) and I know of six nurses in the 1.C.U. who quit the week before I was ‘able to come home. The load on the remaining staff was enough to make ~"? many more quit, including those on emergency duty. I could write a book on-all the bad things now going on in our hospital which used to be the best in B.C., and this Regional Health Board is just another of this NDP government trying to run something they know nothing about. T just learned there is now a six-month wait to get into, Day Surgery to get cataract surgery which is ridicu- lous! I am pleased that others are now writing about the state .of the Lions Gate Hospital’s health, such as :Timothy Renshaw’s Dec. 14 News article, because we -have to get back 2 hospital board of local dectors and others who know what they are doing. -< I would like to thank the nurses and staff on the sec- ond floor for their care under difficult circumstances, ~and also Dr. Ken Cunningham for getting my heart back in sinus rhythm. West Vancouver MAILBOX POLICY LETTERS to the editor must be legible (preferably type- written) and include your name, full address ‘and tele- phone. number. Due to space constraints the North Shore News cannot publish all letters. The recall campaigns launched last month against Education Minister Paul Ramsey in Prince George North and MLA Helmut Giesbrecht in Skeena have cost Glen, with his razor-thin majority, quite a few toss-and- turn nights. But suddenly he sees the recall horizon brightening. The Prince George North campaign, after a spectacular pre-Christmas start, is faltering at just past the halfway mark. The situation in Skeena, where the recall committee doesn’t publish progress reports, is anyone’s guess. But what cheers the premier most is the fun now being made of what is fast emerging as the act’s biggest flaw: its failure to define the reasons needed in applying for a recall petition. So any rea- son whatever can be approved by Elections BC, provided it’s concisely stated. Thus, the recall petition launched last weck in Vancouver-Point Grey against Liberal leader Gordon Campbell for being “boring” and untruthful in che 1996 election by telling voters the Liberals would win. The NDP applicant, retired journalist David Bradley, admits it is primarily a tongue-in-cheek dig at the “stupid” legislation, with zero likeli- hood of actually unseating Campbell. Earlier, weatherman John How got Elections BC’s nod for a second recall campaign against MLA Giesbrecht in Skeena Noel wright by giving as his reason a facetious fink between Giesbrecht and the El Nino weather phenomenon. Meanw! hile, yeta fifth recall petition is reportedly in the works, with Liberal MIA fohn Wilson (Canbeo North) a rumorcd victim. Any law capable of being ridiculed like that clearly needs fixing — but nor MUCH. Just a few well-chosen words in the “reasons” section confirming that it’s open season on any MLA personally or criminally disgraced, or who lies, breaks election promises, fails to repre- sent your interests or actually opposes them (this latter covering any MLA you voted against at the last election!) At the samme time the revised section would emphasize that merely being bored by your MLA, dislike of his ‘heard Or a spat | between his wite and yours don’t quite cut it for the purpose of the act. The trouble is that Glen almost cer- tainly has a lor more than that in mind. If, by Feb.4, he survives Prince George North and Skeena, chances are he'll gut the act so thoroughly — if he doesn’t repeal it altogether — that nobody will ever again have a hope of making this hither and yon tool of direct democracy work, In any case, recall and i initiative, even: at best, are not the ideal tools of direct »- democracy. For true democratic control - of government we need to replace our antique British 18th century parliamen- tary system with the basic American “separation of powers:” an-clected legis- = larure completely separate from, and ; independent of, government plus a sepa- rately elected premier who appoint: his own non-elected cabinet. Both legisla- ture and head of government to serve | for fixed four-year terms. Only such a system couid give MLAs : the independence to put their con-.. / stituents’ interests, not the govern- ment’s, first every time. 5 Simultaneously it would ensure a sta- ble government, even if defeated on spe: cific measures in the house. It could g us a Jegislature of MLAs-who were loyal to us alone — plus Gordon Wilson (by every poll B.C.’s most popular politica leader) as our separately elected premier, presiding over an appointed cabinet of B.C.’s best and brightest from all walks of life. While Glen prepares to butcher the. : recall act, it’s a direct democracy dic ‘cam- : worth re-dreaming! : WELL WORTH a visit — “Canada’s Majestic Scasons,” an exhibition of paintings by the late Dr. Donald |: McIntosh Flather, colleague of Group of Seven founder Lawren Harris, on dis- play until Feb. 1 in West Van Library” Gallery. Most works for’sale. Qoogoag WRIGHT OR WRONG: Nothing in fine print is ever good news. 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