6 -— Wednesday, January 22, 1992 - North Shore News = & WUT trggyesseserees Mllerrapanraraayp titi cterpertererrery, . U7 LE la! MOE. CLE SOOM ry ItItIII hhh a NAGS lb [<< TE SIO LLL IyRT ra Teese eee Shee NEWS VIEWPOINT Sinking solution LTHOUGH MOST of what the Ar- [Mm tificiai Reef Society of B.C. ac- omplishes is below the surface of our workaday world, the group is to be congratulated for the vision of its enter- prise. Its North Vancouver-based president foresees the eventual development of numerous sport-diving destinations along coastal British Columbia. The process is already under way with artificial reefs and sunken ships located off the coast of Van- couver Island and in Howe Sound. The ships attract divers from all over North America. The artificial reefs provide new habitat for sea creatures. And the people who come to see and experience our marine world will double as the aquatic ears and eyes of ecologists in- terested in the state of local coastal ecosystems. Artificial reefs have already proved themselves as economy boosters. And highly unusual in these cynical days, the most ambitious artificial reef project to date in B.C. — a project to sink a decommissioned Canadian Armed Forces destroyer — has drawn support from all levels and political sides of government. A sinking ship is not such a bad thing. LETTER OF THE DAY Need an alternative route north It_ makes much more sense to .Dear Editor: Your article regarding the debate over the transportation link to Squamish and Whistler is lack- ing in a number of irpurtant points. . In addition to using highly questionable facts and figures supplied to you by the consul- tants, you fail to point out a number of major advantages to constructing a second route Publisher Peter Speck through Indian Arm: i. It would provide an alternative route to Squamish and Whistler in the event that one of the roads is closed. 2. It would re-route traffic away from heavily travelled highways in both Squamish and on the North Shore. 3. It would retain the beauty of Highway 99 as a scenic route for tourists. Display Advertising 980-0511 Distribution build an alternative two-lane highway as soon as possible. It would cost less, spread out the traffic, eliminate construction disruption and ensure that the traffic always gets through. Let’s hope the new government will listen to the people’s concerns and not the consultants’. Phil Millerd Lions Bay 986-1337 Gau North Shore Managing Editor .. Timothy Renshaw Associate Editor Noel Wright Advertising Director .. Linda Stewart Comptroller Doug Foot North Share News, founded in 1969 2s an independent suburban newspaper and qualified under Schedule 11, Paragraph llt of the Excise Tax Act, is published each Wednesday, Friday and Sunday by North Shore Free Press Utd. and disitituted to every door on the North Shore. Second Class Mail Registration Number 3885. Subscriptions North and West Vancouver, $25 per year. Mailing rates available on reques%. Submissions are welcome but we cannot accept responsibility for unsolicited material including manuscripts and pictures which should be accompanied by a stamped. addressed envelope. Newsroom V7M 2H4 Real Estate Advertising 985-6982 Classified Advertising 986-6222 986-1337 985-3227 § 985-2131 Subscriptions Fax 985-2131 Administration | SUNDAY - WEDNESDAY + FRIDAY 1139 Lonsdale Avenue, North Vancouver, B.C. = SDA DIVISION 61,582 (average circulation, Wednesday, Friday & Sunday) Entire contents © 1992 North Shore Free Press Lid. All rights reserved. the hard way CAN BORIS Yeltsin realistically hope to drag his 150 mil- lion hungry, poverty-stricken fellow-Russians by the scruff of the neck into a market economy within a year? Hold all bets for the moment. Two things have to happen, say the economists: price controls must be removed, and the produc- tion of goods and services must be privatized. Then, goes the theory, competition will eventually bring production, wages and prices to a healthy level for everyone. But after 74 years of state bu- reaucracy providing everything from bread to housing, and with productivity only one quarter that of the U.S., privatization will take a lot longer than freezing prices ~ the first essential for encouraging entrepreneurs to move in strongly. So when price controls were lifted on Jan. 2, food prices shot up overnight by 300%%-500%. Since the market value of the ru- ble is now 100 to the dollar, they still seem absurdly low when (translated into Canadian currency. But what matters, of course, is available income. The average Moscow worker makes about 590 rubles ($5) a month. A construction worker may make 1,000 rubles ($10) and teachers 1,200 rubles ($12). Old age pensioners get about 340 ru- bles ($3.40). The New Year hikes trebled the price of a litre of milk to three rubles (3¢). For the 500-ruble Muscovite that’s 12 times higher than for an average Canadian worker earning $2,333 per month. In ene case a package of two loaves, 12 eggs and a kilo of ap- ples is reported to have risen from 20 to 140 rubles (20¢ to $1.40) — a staggering 28% of the average Moscow worker’s monthly pays. packet. Only the tiny rents charged by the state for its run-down housing enable Russians to survive such consumer prices at all. A typical studio-style Moscow apartment — including heat, power and local phone calls — costs 25-30 rubles (25¢-30¢) a month. So what hap- pens when real estate, sooner or later, is also privatized? Touring the vast Russian Republic last week, Yeltsin was heckled by angry, frightened crowds everywhere. A mass demonstration outside the Kremlin. waved hammer-and-sickle flags and demanded a return to the Soviet communist regime. And a protest meeting of 5,000 army of- ficers to urge a unified command for the new commonwealth led by Russia was a potent reminder of more grim possibilities. In a crunch the four million- BORIS YELTSIN... too much too fast? gambling Noel Wright HITHER AND YON strong former Soviet army offers the only answer to violent, widespread civil unrest. But who would next emerge to shape a Russia’s future -— and control its nuclear arsenal? : : Only 20 days into his impetuous gamble, Yeltsin is fast learning the hard way that market economies are not born overnight. And from the sidelines Mikhail Gorbachev may be forgiven for indulging now and then in a sad “‘I-told- you-so”’ smile. He could yet be needed. WRAP-UP: Moving on — and up». § — West Van’s Gordon Shaw, longtime Reform Party director, 4 has been named executive director -: by Preston Manning to guide the . total party effort through the next crucial election. He and Mary-. Jane leave for Calgary next’ month, but promise to resume their love affair with West Van- “‘once the job is done” ... Com- ~ ing up fast is the 20th reunion of : Delbrook’s Class of °72 — if you qualify to join the revels, Burns .- McLellan asks you to phone... - (987-4939) or fax (983-2436) your - address to him soonest ... And" *- many happy returns of today, Jan. 22, to West Van Kiwanian : Lionel Lewis. To. WRIGHT OR WRONG: If you want the rainbow, you must put up with the rain (thanks, Dolly - Parton! Did you know she’s a:-. - philosopher too?). ae ’ MIKHAIL GORBACHEV... “*told-you-so”’ smile.