OMETHING unusual happened to us Wet Coast obsessive individualists on bY Tuesday. Sweating, spitting, stick-wicld- ing men chased a rubber disc on ice and stole our hearts... - ‘Traffic and commerce slowed to a trickle ©. throughout the Lower Mainland-as the ‘Canucks took’ down the Leafs to move ahead for acrare chance ata Stanley Cup win. . ... That’s old news by now. What continues to . ae amaze, however, is the: way this hockey series * has galvanized, a ‘people. If you believe the ‘conceit ‘that sp ports team rivalry ‘functions ‘as “+ an outlet for. the warring tribai instinct beat- ing within the otherwise civilized hearts of us. ail, then: the east-west’ showdown witnessed. ‘was bloody blitzkrieg. Cana fal “: Other basic drives ‘are at work. here. too. We have had the:pleasure:of seeing the Perennial underdog transformed to top doe. t wn PEOPLE WHO WANT TO BREAK UP CANADA ARE GOING TO HAVE To REAUZE THERE ARE CONSEQUENCES. . ‘We have spunky heroes to identify with. Greg Adams, Kirk McLean, Trevor Linden, Pavel Bure, the names are already steeped in _ Sports bar legend, regardless the outcome of the final confrontation, _. _.. We. were amazed as the fundamental nat-" * ural order of the world was turned on its head: a winter institution laid claim to the better part of spring. » - In a real and basic sense it has become “more than: Just a game. What we have is a group exorcism of that old ‘nagging sense of western insecurity. Those wild young men of the rink showed us the way beyond Hogtown and the centre of the universe. ” ¥t’s Canada versus the U.S. now. When it’s all over, their dollar. will still be worth more, but Vancouver will have grasped a bolstered spirit and unity as well as that ultimate hock- ey spoil of war, the glorious cup. ‘LETTER OF THE DAY ete the return of a lost daughter Dear Editor: -: Our family’ has experienced : : probably one of the.worst things: - that could happen: our daughter has ” been missing since May 12. from North Vancouver. . Through the pain of not know- ing. what has happened:to her, we ‘have come together as a family and - - done everything possible to locate her got: successful... - ..; - Thursday marked the ‘14th day ‘; Publishor Managing Editor ., Assoctate Editor... Sales & Marketing Director... Compirotter....... Unfortunately, we have not been . Peter Speck Timothy Renshaw oe! Wright .Linda Stewart - «Doug Foot ; "that she has not ‘been heard from. The longest two weeks our family has had to live through. ‘It is our hope and prayer that she is still alive and weil. “Merritt, if you are still alive, . please contact ‘your family. Remember we love you and our home is your home. | . “Your disappearance has been wearing us oui with worry and we... fear for your safety.” If anybody knows what has hap- pened to our dear Merritt, please tet . Display Advertising Classified Advertising 986-6222 Fax 980-0511 Distribution Real Esiate Advertising 985-6982 Subscriptions 985-2131 Administration us know where she is. Not knowing -is the worst. Merritt is 5’4” (163 cm) tall, has blond, shoulder-length hair, is 30 years old and was last seen wearing brown tights, a purple T-shirt and | shurt red suede boots. ' .~ If anyone has information about hor whereabouts please contact the North Vancouver RCMP at 985- 1311. Clarence Roth (Father of Merritt Susan Roth) “Richmond 986-1337 986-1337 985-3227 985-2131 - North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an independent suburban newspaper and qualified under Schedute 111, Paragraph 111 of tha Excise ~* Tax Act, is published each Wednesday, Friday and Sunday by North Shore Frae Press Ltd. and distributed to every door an the North Shore. . Canada Post Canucian Publications Mail Sales Product Agreement No. 0087238. Mailing rates . available on request. Submissions are weicorne but we cannot accept responsibility for unsolicited materiel including manuscripts and V7M 2H4 Nanth Shore Managed MEMBER—- +cna @IN"4 VAN] . ie 1439 Lonsdale Avenua : : North Vancouver B.C. SDA DIVISION 81,582 (average circulation, Wednesday, Friday & Sunday} " “Entire contents © 1994 North Shore Free Press Ltd, Ail rights reserved, IT 1S AMUSING to see his- tory being made, You know — hot off the greasy griddle. 1 suppose thal Premier Mike Harcourt will receive al least a line in the books for his contribution lo the nation’s longest-running show, French Leave. { don’t need to explain to the North Shore's well-informed citi- zens that “French leave” was a wartime dig at soldiers who went AWOL — away without (official) - leave. That is, those who split from: their unit without permission, Which is the Lucien Bouchard- Jacques Parizeau dream for Quebee, a'est-ce pas? Anyway, | was present in the | boardroom of The Vaacouver Sun when the premier spoke his historic” wards. He was sitting around giving us pieces of his amiable mind about various subjects when someone inevitably asked him about Quebec. Unhesitatingly, and without. changing pitch, donning a toga, or even pausing dramatically for effect, Harcourt uttered a reply. Said he: At present Quebec and British Columbia are “the best of friends.” But if Quebec separates. from Canada they will be “the . 66 The fact is, I thought he’d © (Premier Harcourt) lost it. That he’d slipped an oral cog: for a moment.,.99 worst of enemies.” I confess that I did not leap to my feet at that avesome moment and cry: “Premier! That’s beautiful! It’s almost poetry! Also it.is a hel-’ luva news story! Stop the presses, I'll rewrite page one myselft” The fact is, [ thought he’d lost it. That Kie’d just slipped an oral cog for a moment, as even experienced . ’ politicians, | skilled in the craft of coficealing thought, occasionally » do. I presumed he’d try to pull it back, qualify it, smother this (pre- . sumed) slip of the tongue with ’ elaborations. : He didn’t. The preem didn’t recant or retreat. And the next day it became plain that this was careful calculation, no off-hand remark: ‘Harcourt gave the same spiel, virtu- - ally word for word, to a Globe and Mail Teporter.’ Think of jt, reader. That phrase. «, “The worst of enemies.” | . + Between 1939 and 1945, Canada took part in a war against Germany and Japan that cost our country 85,000 casualties including 39,000 dead. The Battie of Britain, . Dieppe, Hong Kong, the North: . Atlantic, the Italian campaign, Normandy, Holland — Canadians wrote their names in blood in those aclions against what could accu- tately be described, though I doubt ‘that the phrase was ever used, as * “the worst of enemies.” : And let us not forget that Mrs. Lautens’ little boy Trevor sold her GARDEN OF BIASES fudge up and down his street to buy” stamps for.the war effort, Pm here : to testify, folks —~' war is indeed hell From 1914 to 1918 Canada con- tributed her sons and daughters and treasuré to a perhaps even more gruesome war against “the worst of enemies.” |: : In 1812 the’ ‘scattered villagers. and settlers of Canada joined British soldiers to resist mightily an invasion by “the worst of enemies,” the Americans, though again it’s doubtful if anyone used those. . words. - - In the mid-1780s, | tens of thou- sands of Loyalists, ‘including: Indians, took up whatever belong- ‘ings they could carry off from”. ye Britain’s 13 rebellious colonies ° along the Atlantic seaboard and. . with great difficulty and hardship. 7 moved to the colonics that had cho- .: sen not to rebel — rather than live: with the victorious patriots who « treated them cruelly and seized their property.at will. < Their descendants in Canada _ still keep memories of the biows -:. their ancestors réceived from “the worst of enemies,” * Such, in brief, are some of the bloody and anguished encounters " a that have taken place with “the worst of enemies.” Did Premier Harcourt — too young, like almost everyone active | in Canadian public life today, to ©” have fought in or even to remember | : Canada’s engagement in all-out: war — think of the significance of ° his words? © *. Does he accept the possibility of - ‘military action of the kind we've reserved for “the worst of ene- tnies”? Sending the boys —- and, of course, girls — of Kamloops and ’ Port Hardy and Invermere and, dear me, even West Vancouver (they'd be the officers, no doubt) to fight’ rebel Quebecers in a great Rest-of- - Canada effort to enforce the terms: of Confederation? Or was this just rhetoric? Empty ;. bluster?. T saw the preem on the street later. He was getting into a taxi. “We must have our regular lunch — every two years,” he cried heartily. “] put a standing invitation to lunch on yaur secretary’s desk long ” ago,” | T shouted. “It’s got cobwebs on it.” Blow those cobwebs off i it, Mr.: Harcourt, Let’s do lunch and dis- cuss this. Or am I, as a sweet critic of your New Democratic Party gov- ernment, considered to be among. “the worst of enemies”?