6 - Wednesday, March 31, 1999 — North Shore News north shore news VIEWPOINT — Lane pain North Vancouver City council on the issue. The local bridge game has drifted one lane over the line and the looming repair job is just not going to do the trick. Local commuters don’t need to be reminded that the coming Lions Gate Bridge upgrade will tic up the vital transportation link every night and selected weekends anywhere from nine months to a year. The resulting transportation chaos will be significant. . And already the estimated cost of the $78 million upgrade project is approaching $100 million. Judging by ary estimate that has originated in Victoria over the past nine years expect that the bridge clo- sures will be adjusted upwards just as Peres the meanderings of But this major engineering under- taking, which will require the removal of entire bridge sections, will add no vehicle capacity to the Lious Gate Bridge. Meanwhile across town, Premier Glen Clark recently announced another multi-million-dollar bridge project. This one, however, will improve vehicle-carrying capacity by adding another lane to the existing Port Mann span. Over at North Vancouver City, council recently debated the issue again and determined that a mere repair job for Lions Gate is all right. Well council is wrong; a repair job is not all right. All three local councils need to indulge in some real road rage and halt the half-baked Lions Gate project before it goes any fur- HEALTH EDUCATION LEGAL CONSULTATION AND CRIMINAL LAWYER Fees PROJECTED BREAKDOWN OF &.C. BUDGET the budget has been. ther. @ IRICEN? matibex New B.C. campsite charges opposed Dear Editor: Over the many years that provincial campgrounds have existed, user fees have climbed, often commensurate with improvements made. ; However, for those who seek the less formal woodsy atmosphere of a lakeside or streamside, away from traffic and the maddening crowd, free B.C. Forest Service campsites supported by the forest industry have performed yeoman service. They provided the basics, safely away from woods Operations and at no cost to the user, so as not to discour- age their use by many of those who prefer to “rough it.” Now, the province has decided that users must also pay for the servicing of these sites. This is no Jess than “nickel and diming” campers which include a lot of recreational fisherfolk. This, without provid- ing the amenities that provincial campgrounds typically offer, and which Forest Service campsite users do not request in any event. > This announcement will predictably pit some of the users _ Of these sites against the contractors and others charged with site supervision, and that is exccemely unfortunate. It is also sad to think that such a policy will create lawbreakers out of otherwise ordinary and peaceful citizens who seck nothing more than a bit of solace in the wilderness, and who choose to protest in the only other possible way, by refusing to pay — the message clearly stated is “we won't take it any more!” Brian Coldwells President Lions Gate Anglers Ciub Mailbox policy . LETTERS to the editor must be legible (preferably. rype- ‘ written) and include your name, full address and telephone : number. Due to space constraints the North Shore News . cannot publish all letters. Please listen, Preston and Joe! . : “DOA” (Dead On Arrival) now seems the inevitable prognosis for Preston Manning’s United Alternative bid to create a new, all-embracing right- wing party in Reform and Tory co-chairs, deputy Reform leader Deborah Grey and Ontario’s Tory transportation minister Tony Clement. Third, Preston has made it clear he tender to lead a new Reform’s image. The murderer is . clearly identifiable. Recycled Tory leader Joe Clark — who holds the key to the crucial right- wing vote in Ontario — not only refused, person- ally, to recognize the united right-wing party. Remembering these three facts -- and assuming Reform Party members vote next month in support of a new UA party — inter- ested Tories might well begin to wonder whether they are being would be a top con- Noel hither and yon February UA convention (attended by some 600 individual Tories), but continues to reject the idea of a Tory-Reform merger in any form whatsoever and won’r even return Preston’s phone calls. Manning himself, however, cannot entirely escape being the prime suspect as an accessory to the murder. Specifically, ~ too many of his own fingerprints remain on the body. First, at the convention it was he who gave the kevnote address. It would have been healthier to have had TWO com- pletely equal keynote speakers — one a prominent Reformer, the other a promi- nent Tory. Second, the same applies to the mid- March report on the convention, —_, designed to seit the UA plan to Reform members — though it will obviously be read avidly by participating Tories as well. Instead of appearing over Manning’s sole signature, it would have been much more appropriately signed by the convention’s lured into simply selling out to Reform under another name. Would they then pick up their marbles and leave? The other possibility is that grassroots Reformers — disgusted with Clark's cast- iron refusal to have anything to do with them — may vore to kill the UA proposal after all and stay as sweet as they are. Nevertheless, aside trom all this, geog- raphy finally remains the deciding factor for both parties. ; Reform is so firmly established in the west that the Tories have little hope of making effective gains there anytime soon, if ever, Conversely, Reform has consistently failed to make any dent in seat-rich Ontario — the vital key to power in Ottawa — where Tories have a respectable past track record. Quebec and the Maritimes favour ncither much, though again the Tories have a modest edge there. So geographically — despite the dis- mal immediate outlook for Manning's UA initiative — we come full circle: if the Liberals, who have run Canada for 70 of the past 100 years, are ever to be replaced, Reformers and Tories have ulti- mately no choice but to join forces in one form or another. Otherwise, Canada degenerates into a one-party dictatorship. - The truth of the matter may be that Manning is ahead of the times, while Clark trails well behind them, Hence the message to both last week from Alberta's Tory legend Peter Lougheed. He urges them to forget about any merger or com- bining into a new party at the present time. Instead, they should run single right-wing candidates endorsed by both parties in favourable Ontario ridings and, if chat gives them the expected majority over the Grits, they should then forma coalition government. : If the UA winds up, as expected, in the mortuary, [’'m sure Preston is bright and flexible enough to get Lougheed’s message. One can only hope Clark hasn’t Jost so many of his onions that he ignores - it, . ‘ aga HAPPY BIRTHDAY today, March 31, to North Van’s Art Weseen ... Wish that again tomorrow, April 1, to North Van's Carl Busby ... And many happy returns Saturday, April 3, to North Van birthday girl Fran Germyn at 80. 000 : . WRIGHT.OR WRONG: If your work speaks for itself, don’t interrupt: (Thanks, Henry J. Kaiser!) . ee north shore | orth Shore Mews, founded in 1969-25 an independent suburban newspaper and qualihed under Schedule 911, Paragraph 111 of the Excise Tax Act, Is pubisshed each Wednesday, Friday and Sunday ty North Shore Free Press. (Lid. and dsstnbuted to every door on the North ‘Shore. 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