Wednesday, August 20 1980 - North Shore News . After sonie p: u contentious issue chad ran its full course in the Letters To The ‘Editor columns, the august Times of London occasionally found it necessary to announce “This correspondence must now end.” We feel the same abont the Lions Gate - Hospital abortion .controversy which has -dominated our Mailbox section and much of - our news for the past two months. As of last Thursday (the deadline for members of the Hospital Society eligible to vote at the September 17 annual meeting) the hattle lines are now drawn. The more than 3,000 new members who have joined the society this summer obviously have their minds made up on the abortion issue. They will vote accordingly and THE NEWS will be there to record the results. _. Both sides in-the confrontation — Pro Life and Pro Choice — have produced strong arguments which command respect. Even the 5,000 members which the Hospital Society now boasts represent less than one- tenth of the North Shore's households. But they are at least ten times greater than a year or two ago. To that extent they should reflect much more. accurately the wishes of the community on the matter. Meanwhile, abortion is only one of the many issues important to the sound ad- ministration of our excellent community hospital. _ Let us hope that the directors, including those elected on September 17, bear that ~ fact in mind and get back to work on their MAIN job: hospital services second to none for all the people of the North Shore. Mass converts? Has the entire B.C. labor movement suddenly taken the pledge? It’s hard to reach « conclusion following the an- Coffective bargaining is all very fine. But such a total shutdown on suds indicates that the brewery-dispate has now become far too serious to be left in the hands of new con- verts to coke. sunday : news news NEWS ADVERTISING CLASSIFIED CIRCULATION 985-2131 980-0511 986-6222 986-1337 Publisher Peter Speck 1139 Lonsdaie Ave . North Vancouver. B C V7M 2H4 (604) 985-2131 Associate Publisher Editor-in-Chief Advertising Director Robert Graham Noel Wright Enc Cardwefa Classified Manage: Production & Office Administrator Tam Francis Bemi Halasd Faye McCree Ma ing Editor News Editor Photography Fraser Chris Uoyd Giisworth Dickson Accounting Supervisor Barbara Keen North Shore News, founded in 1969 a3 an Independent commuy Registration $20 per yor Entre cos.tents © 1980 North Shore Free Press Lid Al nghts reserved responsiidity accepted for unsobkcited matenal swhahng VERIFIED CRRTULATION 50,870 Wednesday 49,913 Sunday Soy SX. Ch ~ ee THIS PAPER IS RECYCLABLE 7 ‘gs ass & Se OTTAWA (SF) - One of the great energy gold mines of Canada is the enormous coal its of Northern British Columbia. Thé B.C. government and businessmen involved in developing this huge resource can be forgiven for their past impatience with the federal government. There appeared, initially, to be little federal awareness of the potential for economic boosting of the B.C. economy: the im- provement for all of Canada in balance of payments, and the obvious levering ability presented to Canada for incfeasing her own exports of processed goods through signing coal agreements. In mid summer the federal government came (© terms with the B.C. government over who would pay what and how much for necessary capital expenditures on the Ridley Island terminal, rail, road and loading equipment. The B.C. government won high marks from Ottawa observers for hanging in there with tough bargaining to get the deal which Canadian Comment BY PETER WARD eventually emerged for federal-provincial financing of the coal development scheme. It now appears that the federal government will spend more than $43 million directly for the Ridley Island terminal, plus another $212 million by the Canadian National Railways for trackage, equipment and line upgrading. Credit for the maturing of the coal scheme belongs to Economic Development “I had an itch.” In just 19 days Canada has a date with destiny — that is, if you believe some of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau’s more poetical colleagues. They're talking about the week-long con- stitutional conference between Ottawa and the provinces which opens September 8. More than a few of their fellow c tizens across the country, however, apparently find the event about as inspiring as the re-run of a 1935 B movie. So this week let's sum- marize everything you always wanted to know about Canad3’s constitution but could never stay awake long enough to ask. As every clementary school child knows, Canada's constitution is the British North America Act which was passed by the British Parliament in 1867 and therefore, quite logically, has remained to this day in London, England. Back in 1867 there simply wasn't anyone cise to look after the thing. “Canada” at that time consisted of five colonies - Prince Edward Island. Newfoundland, Nova Scotia. New Brunswick and the old Province of Canada (Ontario and Quebec). ALL-CANADIAN A lot of hot air is talked about the BNA Act con. stitution having “orginatcd in a forcign land... never popularly approved by Canadians”. The facts don't bear this out. The BNA Act was firmly based on 72 resolutions adopted by delegates to the Quebec Conference of October 1864 - an aill- Canadian get-together. They were refined down to 69 resolutions by the 16 Fathers of Confederation who met in London. Englaod. to colonics had debatcd the principles fully m= cthetr local legislatures. In the fifth. New Brunswick, Confederation was a key issue in the 1865-66 elec- tions. In short, all the Canadians who were around at the time had a thoroughly good kick at the cat. The Brits merely had their Colonial Office officials put the document into tidy statute form for the Mother of Parliaments to endorse -- again in constant consultation with Canadians. Given the circumstances of the time, the BNA Act is actually as Canadian as maple syrup. It was nobody's fault that those Johnnies - come - latcly — Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and Bnush Columbia — hadn't yet arnved on the scenc. though they would almost certainly have approved. anyhow ROOT PROBLEM The fact that the BNA Act has worked as well as it has for 113 years tesufies to ats basic soundness. But the onc big snag. as things stand. 1s that tt can only be amendcd by the Bntsh Parhament Hence the 13 attempts over the past 53 years to bring the consttlutton “home”. in other words. to transfer total punsdiction over it from Westminster to Ottawn something which the em barrassed Bnts themselves would be dehghted to see happen They've no wish to continuc being the keeper of Canada’s soul Noel Wright Amendment is the problem on which previous attempts at repatnanon of the con- stituGion over the past half century have foundered. It could well happen for a 13th time during the week of September 6. The amendment problem, in turn, arises from the fact that the BNA Act tends to tilt the scales of power in favor of the provinces vis-a- vis the federal government -- in particular, by giving the provinces ownership of their own resources Its) hardly surprising. therefore. that the provinces (with one exception) have been relatively happy with the BNA Act Quebec ts now happy with the ac! nowadays because it fats to recogmze La Bellic Province as a separate within Con federation Ottawa ts not happy because the act restricts the powers of the root all “nation central Bovernment, especially in the vital resources field There are other lesser areas of Ginaggeement but the status Minister Bud Olson and t government Senate House from the jaws of Transpo Department failure. Wh says the West can't represented in Cabinet by - senators? : The Ridley Island ter-° minal for grain and for coal’ had been the subject of protracted and fruitless. negotiations on the part of the previous Trudeau government. During the brief Conservative regime, Don Mazankowski, as Tory Transport Minister, chopped through red tape to reach an agreement which was promptly called into question by Jean Luc Pepin when he moved in as Liberal Transport Minister. Olson and Perrault to the rescue. The deal that they finally signed with B.C. isn't as good from a federal point of ': view as the one Mazankowski had reached, but then, this way B.C. is winner, and by osmosis, maybe all of Canada wins, too. Constitutional countdown... of French Canada and the : control of resources remain the gut issues. THREAT In order to repatriate the constitution Prime Minister. Trudeau must convince the British government that the | amendment formula designed to resolve these issues is supported in principle by the 10 provinces. The aim of the September 8 conference is to secure that Consensus. If it doesn't, Mr. Trudeau has made noises about repatriating our homemade constitution unilaterally. Presumably this would mean persuading Mrs. Thatcher that the present Liberal | government alone knows - what's best for Canada as a © whole — and to hell with Premiers Lougheed, Ben- nett, Lyon and Peckford. The Brits themselves might well be ready to hand over the BNA Act even on that basis, just to get rid of it, although a group of ‘Labour MPs at Westminster has threatencd to fight unilateral repatriation carried out without the consent of the provinces. It's nothing to the fight © Mr Trudeau would presumably face in his own western backyard if he went the unilateral route In | theory, such a course would enable him to amend the repatriated constitution ‘in . any way he wished, i - cluding scizure of control... over provincial resources. |; Once the British Parliament - bowed out, there would be ,, nothing to stop him. In which case, high noon ~ in Edmonton (to say nothing of Victoria, Regina, Win- - nipeg and St. John’s Nfld.) could be closer than Wo- think. Who said B movie Fe- runs were always dull?