NORTH VANCOUVER City Council’s long-standing in- ternal row over alleged conflict of interest crupted again on Monday night as council members voted to bring the city’s two police counsellors into the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) bargaining unit. The fracas continued as Coun. Rod Clark took a stand against Mayor Jack Loucks’ reappoinc- ment to represent the city on the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD) board. Clark also opposed Coun. Bill Bell’s reappointment to the Pres- entation House board, and ques- tioned Coun. Barbara Sharp’s position as an alternate for the * GVRD labor relations committee. Sharp countered by suggesting that Clark should not be ap- pointed acting mayor for February and March, because *‘Coun. Clark is running for the federal nomina- tion for the Reform party.”” By Stephen Wisenthal Contributing Writer She said this could jeopardize the neutral position of the mayor if the councillor chaired a meeting in the run-up to a federal elec- don. But. Clark said: ‘‘It’s amazing how the pot's calling the kettle black. I would certainly never use this position to further my federal aims.”" Earlier, when Clark challenged Sharp’s appointment to the GVRD labor commitiee, Sharp said: *‘A lot of this is coming up because the (Shaw Cable TV) Cook exit creates ‘open playing field’ in N. Van riding Aftermath of Tory MP’s decision against seeking re-election in 1993 THE RECENT announcement by North Vancouver Con- servative MP Chuck Cook that he will not seek re-election in 1993 opens up the federal riding for all party candidates lining up to take a run at the seat. Said Cook, ‘lt will be a much more exciting race in North Van- couver, because if it's an open riding; and you haven't got an in- cumbent, then it’s what you might wall an open playing field.”” Cook told his riding association faithful last week that he intends to serve out his current term. Said Cook, “It made an awful fot of sense to let them (the riding association) know now, and also that enables anybody who _ is wishing (9 run for office a chance to think about it and make up their mind if they want to run.’’ 44 1 think he saw the handwriting on the wall. 99 — NV NDP riding association pres. Terry Simpson North Vancouver Progressive “Conservative Association president Don Greenwood said Cook had jndicated to him that had a feder- al election been called for this year, he would have run again. The riding association presideat added that thus far no nomination candidates have stepped forward to run for the Conservative can- didacy in North Vancouver. “} would suspect that in the mext few weeks they may emerge,”’ he said. The association will hold a nomination meeting as early as February. North Vancouver resident and lawyer Mobina Jaffer is seeking the federal Liberal nomination as a candidate for the riding. North Vancouver lawyer Jay Straith, until recently the Liberal riding association president, is considering running for nomina- ion " By Michael Becker News Reporter James Hatton, a lawyer who challenged Cook as a Liberal can- didate and placed second in the riding’s voter support in the 1988 federa] election, said he is not seeking nomination as a can- didate. . Said Hatton, ‘‘Four years have passed, and I'm chairman of the board of the food bank right now, and that’s taking up a lot of time, and I don’t want to leave it now.'’ North Vancouver New Demo- crat riding association president Terry Simpson said his party has one declared candidate for nomination, Graeme Bowbrick. The association wil] set a nomination meeting date at an upcoming executive meeting. Said Simpson of Cook’s an- nounced departure, ‘‘Cook thought he wasn't going to get elected the last time around because there was a fair bit of flak over the free trade thing. “The guy has been chairman of the Rip Van Winkle caucus ever since he got in there. He is cer- tainly of: retirement age, and I think he saw the handwriting on the wail,’’ Simpson added. Meanwhile, Cook sees the con- struction of the Deep Cove Cul- tural Centre and the designation of the Manlewood Flats area as a bird sanctuary as two of the more major accomplishments he helped bring about during his time as a Member of Parliament. Cook, who took on the role of a dissident during his time as an MP, said much of his political ca- reer has been spent frustrated. “Ie’s really about the length of time it takes the federal! govern- ment to get anything done. And also practically alt legislation is the result of a great deal of com- promise on all sides,’’ he said. “I’m sort of a black and white person. When you know what is right you’d like to see it done and see it done quickly, but that just doesn’t happen in government at any level,’’ Cook added. i NORTH VANCOUVER CITY COUNCIL cameras are here.”’ The fireworks began early in the meeting whea Clark claimed that Sharp and Bell should not be aliowed to vote o7 bringing the two police counseliors, currently working under individual con- tracts, inte the CUPE fold, He said Sharp and Bell had received campaign contributions of $2,000 each from CUPE during the 1990 civic elections and were therefore in a conflict of interest. But Mayor Loucks ruled that there was no conflict of interest, citing previous legal opinion ab- tained by council on the issue. When Clark chalienged Loucks to give further reasons for the decision, the mayor ruled the councillor cut of order. Friday, December 11, 1992 ~ Nortn Shore News - 3 City conilict of interest charges resurface Clark challenges unionizing police counsellors, Loucks’ GVRD re-appointment Clark challenged the chair, bur council overruled the mayor, allowing Clark to continue. Bell said Clark was using **Mc- Carthyite tactics.’” He said that he was tired of “allowing Clark tu go after us again and again,’’ and objected to “an attempt to besmirch my name.”’ Sharp said: ‘‘i’m beginning to find the comments are becoming inflammatory. Coun. Bell and } have already been involved with legal opinien. I may just seek legal opinion again — I'm tired of it.” Meanwhile, Coun. Barbara Per- rault said: ‘‘When there is a trag- edy in the community, these are the people (the police .counsellors) who provide the necessary counselling service. There are a lot of benefits to having these people under the same structure (under a CUPE contract).”" The motion to bring the police counsellors into CUPE, which will increase the annual cost of the counsellors to $85,000 from $60,000, was approved in a 5-2 vote, with councillors Clark and Dean voting against. In opposing Mayor Loucks’ teappointment to the GVRD, Clark called the GVRD ‘‘a pork barrel for mayors.”’ He accused the mayors of not consulting council for opinions, and said: ‘‘There is no account- ability (from the GVRD); J cannot support this structure.”’ But other councillors leapt to the mayor’s defence, saying coun- cil receives enough information ‘from the GVRD. Bell said chat there was enough work being done at the GVRD that the mayor's alleged pork bar- relling must be a ‘‘low-fat diet.” NEWS photo Paul MeGrath NORTH VANCOUVER Distict firefighters and CanadianOxy emergency response team members fift an injured plant employee onto a stretcher during a hazardous spill exercise at the North Vancouver chemical plant Thursday morning. Chiorine tanker accident staged THE NORTH Vancouver District Fire. Department’s hazardous material team was called to the CanadianOxy industrial Chemicals Ltd. on the North Vancouver waterfront on Thursday morning after a tanker car began leaking chlorine. One man was sent to Lions Gate Hospital with a broken arm; about 125 other employees of the CanadianOxy plant had to be evacuated. While the accident had the potential to create a major disaster on the North Vancouver waterfront, it was only a drill staged by CanalianOxy and the district fire department. The simulated chlorine leak occurred at § a.m. After an ini- tial assessment of the situation by CanadianOxy’s emergency response team, it was determined that the fire department's haz- ardous material team, based out of its Norgate fire hall, was needed. As CanadianOxy officials waited for the arrival of the fire department, its emergen- cy-response team started suiting & Editorial Page @ Home & Garden By Surj Rattan News Reporter up to enter the plant,’while other plant officials gathered at a command post and began track- ing the chlorine leak on its SAFER computer. Gary Hudson, CanadianOxy labor relations officer, said the SAFER computer allows of- ficials to see exactly where the chlorine leak is originating from, what the wind direction is and what the magnitude of the leak is. As soon as the fire department arrived, a team of firefighters and members of the Cana- dianOxy emergency response team, carrying a stretcher, walk- ed to the south side of a service building to rescue the injured Printed on 10% recycled newsprint man. He was then transported to Lions Gate Hospital. Meanwhile, the fire depart- ment’s hazardous material team and a CanadianOxy team climb- ed on top of the leaking tanker car to try to cap the chlorine leak. North Vancouver District Fire Department Chief Rick Grant, who observed the drill, said everything worked out well. “ft was a good learning expe- rience for tke industry and the fire department. I was looking at the drill to see how the Cana- dianOxy people performed. “We're quite confident that the communcation between the industry and the fire department is yood,’’ said Grant. Ross Peterson, coordinator of the North and West Vancouver Emergency Response Program, said the drill was ‘‘quite well coordinated from the industry’s point of view.” Hudson said CanadianOxy teams do routine training, Weather Saturday and Sunday mostly cloudy with a 40% chance of showers. Highs 7°C, lows 2°C Canedian Pubtications Mail Sales Product Agreement Number oca7238