Sosa og Hts Te gun issue. made Te BZ e. have seized a new pe of ween that shoots out, HE RECENT energy expended by; ‘the Sea to Sky. Corridor ‘Transportation “als Committee to get Victoria moving on ‘upgrading. Squamish : Highway 99 safety is well-meaning, but wiil remain meaningless as ‘long-as the government of the day. continues - 2 to play’ the. game of “et’s identify the priori. oO, tego "Those who wish to see comprehensive solu- .. ‘tions'to the Highway 99 puzzle will be left _, Spinning their wheels and sputtering along on the meagre Highways Ministry: fuel of cau- 7 tious: optimism and cloaked. references ‘to ‘. tight budgets. ° 9. “+ They should be angry. _ People continue to die on the highway at an . ‘alarming rate: in one short grim stretch this year alone — from Sept. 1 to Sept..18 — four people: died and about 20. were injured in_ “. ‘motor vehicle mishaps along what some have _Poter Speck Publisher Doug Foot Comptroller Chris Johnson Operations Manager / dubbed The Killer Highway. Some. of the carnage can doubtless be attributed to driver stupidity. But the design of sections of the highway aiso contributes to the continuing tragic toil. . Three years ago a highways engineering report propesed a number ‘of solutions. to reduce Highway 99 dangers. The Sea to Sky Highway Project Report presented the twe most viable solutions in terms of read align- ments, risks and associated costs. It identified the development of a four-lane freeway along Indian Arm to Squamish and the upgrading of the existing Highway 99 to a four-lane expressway as choice options. -What’s happened since then? Drive the road for your answer. We have been left with an empty process, a patchwork of road repairs and a highway that continues to claim far too many lives. Timothy Renshaw Managing Editar Linda Stewart Sales & Marketing Director EMRE UD MAE JUST WHEN you’re con- fused enough already about how to vote next year — Liberal, Reform or Socred — in order to throw out Harcourt & Co., along comes Peter Macdonald, leader of the B.C.: Conservative Party. Macdonald has been working on the rebirth of the party, which hasn’t won a Legislature seat since the 1970s, for quite a time. His rather unusual method has consisted of low-key networking backed by a potential blockbuster, of an idea, Networking has taken the form of monthly tunch-hour forums in a downtown hotel, cach devoted to discussing some specific political issue. / Over time these mectings have been attended by a wide range of personalities from all parts of the centre-right-wing spectrum. The Dec. 12 meeting was a little different. Macdonald paints it as a “homecoming” of B.C. Tories, some returning after having drifted away for a period, to a now battle- ready party. Party faithful present in strength included former federal Justice Minister Davie Fulton. Signing on as new members were eight federal Tories and some 20 former Socred executives, And Macdonald claims con- stituency associations are now springing up all over B.C. — promising a big slate of Tory can- didates at the upcoming election. Just how battle-ready this makes the party remains to be seen. After ‘so many years in the wilderness, _ getting back on to the free enter- prise highway now clogged by Liberals, Reform and Socreds looks like a daunting challenge. But Peter Macdonald at least has’. one ace-in-the-hole that his com- - petitors could find hard to beat.” He’s the inventor of TAXCAP, a policy enabling voters to control ‘the government’s use of their money. Here’s how it would work. Every year statisticians calculate the Gross Provincial Product (GPP} -— the value of all goods and ser-' vices produced in the province. TAXCAP would set the maximum allowable taxation PLUS borrow- ing (the latter being deferred taxa- ‘Peter Kvamstrom ~ _ Display Manager Mes caine e SES ALN A Valerie Stephenson Classified Manager. FAP CRIA TEND HITHER AND YON tion) as a percentage of the GPP. The actual percentage would be either set by referendum or as stat- ed by the winning political party during an election campaign. There would be no cheating. The procedure would be written _ into the Constitution, which would . tequire any government that: ° exceeded its TAXCAP percentage to resign immediately and call an election. Itlustrating the huge ‘increase in |“ - provincial taxation over the past 25. years, the tax-to-GPP ratio in 1969 was 11.5%. By 1986 it was 15. 8%. Today, it is 21.1%. Under TAXCAP Macdonald suggests an initial target figure not : exceeding 15%. Organizationally, B.C. Liberals and Reform have the edge on the Tories at this point. a But neither they nor any other centre-right groups address, in such ‘ specific terms, two of the vaters’”’ most pressing concerns: govern- ment over-spending and taxpayer fe burnout. TAXCAP appears to offer a per- manent, cast-iron solution to both. If Peter can get all his ducks lined: up in.time, it might just be the free- enterprise election platform whose moment has arrived, n aoe. WISH MANY happy retums_ of! today, Dec. 21, to West Van birthday : : boys Jan~ “Koeman’ and Harry Martin. And meanwhile’... 1°, WRIGHT OR WRONG: The roa to ruin is a highway with toll booth: at every off-ramp. . moe “Tra Agrios: Promotions Manager : 985-2131 (101) (1139 Lonsdale Avenue * North Vancouver B.C. “i V7M 2H4 “North ‘Shore Managed 985-2131 (133) 985-2134 (141) North Share News, founded in 1969 as an + independent suburban newspaper and qualified under Schedule 111, Paragraph 111 of the Excise Tax Act, is puttished each Wednesday, Friday and Sunday by North Shore Free Press Ltd. and distributed to every door on the North Shore. Canada Post Canadian Publications Mait Sales Product Agreement No. 0087238. Mailing ‘rates available on request.’ Submissions are welcome but we cannot accapt responsibility for unsolicited material including manuscripts and pictures, which should ba accompanied by a stamped, self-addressed envelope. 985-2131 (115) 980-0514 (319) . 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