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Mews viewer Censorshi OG SEs service TN ne ree nar yom Sar rten OM a mere 7H (AR oeeer nH oomerinte Rally round your local community Dear Editor: David Mitchell’s (Oct. 4) call for municipal input on the immigration debate is thoughtful. Local weekly council meet- ings already have enough on their agendas in dealing with clean water supply, garbage - control, sewers, public safety, and health and recreation. Mr. Mitchell is correct however, when he says that immigration is “a highly charged politicai issue.” I'd add that increased pop- ulation growth — whether. it: comes to us from Coquitlam or Timbuktu — is the central issue in upcoming municipal elections acrass the North’. Shore. Mercifully, we do have municipal control over “immi-. gration.” Tt is the rezoning process, Every time we -allow. further undeveloped land. to come under the bulldozer, or existing single-family zoning to go multi-family residential, | we tacitly approve of greater - population density —' immi- | § HE full government-backed cerisor- ship of free expression continues apace in this province. It masquerades behind the phoney good intentions of human rights. As has been recorded here many times, the ' NDP’s Human Rights Act and its subsequent Human Rights Amendment Act have mud- died the waters of free expression to the point where almost any statement found to be offensive by almost anyone can be grounds _ for launching a human rights complaint. The legislation has further empowered a Human Rights Commission to drum up its own complaints without the bother of drum- Still we find that the arsenal of human rights complainants is about to be further fortified. According to a recent article in the Jewish Western Bulletin, Attorney General Dosanjh indicated that complainants pressed for cash in their pursuit of oppressors might not have to worry toc much about such triv- ialities in the future, The government is considering appointing taxpayer-funded lawyers to pursue human rights complaint cases. Government-spon- sored victims are thereby left with no respon- sibility — fiscal or otherwise — when launch- ing complaints. The target of those complaints, mean- while, must absorb the full cost of defending gration in its purest’ sense —in §' our communities. ; Local government is. the one area in which taxpayers. J- can quickly galvanize their power to influence ‘elected § officials, Despite’.what Big Growth boosters say, it is never morally ‘selfish ‘for: neighbor- | hoods ta@-stand up and ‘tell, [ ° these officials’ that it’s time to check unwanted growth. of We are going to grow; the ‘solution is obvious.’ It’s time for our community Voice to be heard and: respected at the front-end -of administrative decision-making. ‘That in itself will. mark an‘ historic step for- ward in the evolution of local” | hee ee ae “ + . Tate eae ming up a compfainant. In keeping with such government initia- tive, Attorney General Ujjal Dosanjh recently loosed a five-man government hate-crime hit squad to scour the streets for hate. Power to people — e| IF Canadians had the right to propose national referendums, government spending and taxes would be lower than th.y are now, By Filip Palda Contributing Writer Opinicn polls and academic studies suggest that voters think governments tax and spend too much. But no one wants to give up their favorite government program for fear that others may get to hold on to their program. Government is like a restaurant in which everyone's feasting goes on the same tab. HI sit with nine peaple and order a drink, I pay only one-10th of its cost. [fT hold back, I get only a 10th of the savings from my restraint. This is why common tabs encourage gluttony and drunkenness beyond what most people want. If Canadians could hold each other to a mutual “non-feasting” agreement, most of tus would come closer to getting the government we wanted, A national referendum could help us to come to such an agreement. Referendums are truly “peoples” laws because they cut the middlemen out of Jawmak- ing. Referendums give politicians their marching orders and keep special interest groups from getting special treatment. The 1992, debate on,the Constitution. . , tion, itself in any prolonged government investiga- Human rights continues to be the govern- municipal governance. Trevor Carolan ~ North Vancouver ment’s number-one growth industry. showed how far apart the wishes of the people and of special interest groups can lie. The proposed Constitution was a wish list put together in part by social activists who want- ed to enshrine big government. In spite of a heavily funded government propaganda cam- paign, most Canadians voted NO to the wish list. The special interests had made their demands to the wrong people, With everyone deciding govern- ment spending directly, no group could fobby politi- cians for special exemption. Politicians would have no say in the matter, Everyone would be bound by the majority’s wish. A national referendum question asking “Do you wish government to reduce spending by 20% across the board?” leaves little room for lobbying, bargaining or special plead- ing. . Referendums need not be crude, one-line questions, asked once every few years, We have the rechnology to let people vote from their homes every week. For example, a “Referendum Channel” pre- “Referendums need not be crude, one-line questions, asked once every few years.” sents the question of the week. Different politi- cal groups advertise their views on the question, A voter then dials an electronic polling station, ' punches in a personal identification number and votes. People shop by watching commercial chan- nels, register tor university courses by. phone and pay credit card bills through their computer. There is no reason for voters to be stuck casting ,“ their ballots the same way they have for the past: 100 years! ; Dr, Palda is Senior Economist of the Fraser Institute, a Vancouver-based right-wing economic think tank, oa9 MANY HAPPY RETURNS of Friday, Sept. 25, to Mount Seymour Lion Glen Muri And more of the same Saturday, Sept. 26, to West Van Kiwanian Len Roth, oon : WORTH A THOUGHT: Doctors say cheerful peaple resist disease better than grumpy ones— in short, the surly bird catches the germ. — The North Shore News believes strongly in free- dom of speech and the right of all sides in a debate to he heard. The columnists published in the News pre-. sent differing points of view, but those views are not necessarily those of the newspaper itself. NOEL WRIGHT. ON VAGATION lectronically! §