a VICTORIA -— Operation Solidarity has fired its latest-salvo in the war against the provincial government's restraint program, releasing its own version of the pro- vincial budget. The. document, prepared by union op- ponents of the Social Credit restraint package with the help of top civil - servants, charges that the government is over- spending or over- estimating its spending by atleast $60 niillion. ' ‘The -budget prepared , , a . VANCOUVER - Guardian Angels bomen their plans to keep Van- “couver streets safe Mon- _ day, -with 100 hopefuls “put through a grucling workout by members of the Portland, Ore., chapter of the group. Potential members ‘ ranging in age from 17 to _half doing calesthenics - and being subjected to a ‘stream. of abuse from their trainers to give them a faste of what they can OTTAWA - Statistics Canada had more good news for Canadians Tues- day - the annual rate of inflation dropped to 5.5 per cent last month. That's half the inflation rate Canadians suffered under a year ago. In B.C., however, the Story was different as the provincial government's restraint-oriented one per cent increase in the sales tax weat into effect. Coupled with minor in- MOSCOW -- The Soviet government is threaten- ing to turn elsewhere for its badly-necded grain urchases’ unicss the nited States govern- ment is willing to increase its purchases of Sovict- made goods. The announcement was made this week by Senator Edward Zorin- sky, after a meeting with Boris Godyev. the Sovict deputy minister of forcign (rade. Argentina, Zorinsky said, was mentioned most often as the country to edesday, August 24, 1983 - North Shore News 2 Unions offer ‘new B.C. budget 45 spent an hour and a. USSR wants sales trade for wheat looks only at spending and not revenue but ques- tions the inclusion of $50 million for forest fire- fighting when govern- ment officials say average annual spending over the past several years has been $20 million. Suggestions for cost savings in the document include cutting $5 million from the amount of the Ministry of Intergovern- mental Affairs and its $500,000 budget and chopping $6 million from the government’s public — . relations budget. Angels hopefuls “start work-outs expect on the streets - in the first training session for the group. If past experience is any indication, only about one-quarter of those who have so far shown an interest will make it through the three-month program. The first month will be limited to physical condi- tioning while self- defense, first-aid and psychology seminars will be held over the remain- ing two months. ‘Inflation down but not for all creases in some aspects of the economy monitored for the purpose of deter- mining the inflation rate, that pushed the West Coast figure up by 1.1 per cent. The Canadian city with the lowest inflation rate is Calgary where the cost of living rate of increase is running at 3.4 per cent. The lower inflation rate is expected to continuc, although a trend to higher interest rates may slow down any further decline which the Soviets would turn for their grain needs if agreement cannot be reached. The Soviets are ap parently particularly in terested in increasing their exports of manufac- tured goods and = auto- mobiles. The mecting followed President Ronald Reagan's decision to lift the embargo on cquip- ment for the Siberia-West European gaa pipeline and follows the signing of an agreement for in- creased grain sales. ' LYNN VALLEY “resident George Sikes Says ‘this -year is thie worst of the three he's spent in that area as far as raccoons are concernéd. Bob Forbes; the fish and wildlife branch biologist who covers the-North Shore, says this year is not much dif- ferent than any other as far as the nocturnal raiders are concerned. But both agree on one thing - the raccoons that are Dozen Roses Chrysanthemums African Violets Sorry - no delivery on these ltems . WESIAN FLORIST 1821 Marine Drive, West Vancouver making Sikes’ life unpleasant aren't something: to be taken + lightly. “Every night I have eight ‘ or nine of them on my lawn fighting,” says Sikes of the two families that have in- fested his Ross Road ‘neighborhood. The worst part of it, Sikes adds, is that some of his neighbors are feeding the ° raccoons, a practice that’: keeping them around the area. 222, 142, “I'm scared that some lit- tle child is going to‘think a raccoon is a nice little pet and that there's going to be a mauling,” Sikes says. That's the part that Forbes agrees with, although he says raccoons do not represent a major threat to human ‘safe- “If raccoons feel threaten- ed, they'll let the individual know,” Forbes says. “We have had cases where people have ‘been bitten but, to be quite frank, they had it com- Are vou satisfied with vour answering service? tfhnot, consider how much more vou aetwith Wes-Tel’s professional answering service: expertly trained operators accept your calls for business or residence around the clock _and relay messages fo VOU at Vour Convenience. We're the preferred answering service in the West. Were proud to help vou communicate better. Depend onus... References gladly provided. 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