6 - Sunday, September 9, 1990 - North Shore News INSIGHTS vve"| Head-counters SEEPERS..OKA SURE pup HAS THAT GUY aati.“ RILED UP... = Par NEWS VIEWPOINT Landing an election ONTINUED North Vancouver City Council dithering over whether to install a temporary helicopter land- ing pad on Grand Boulevard could end up being much more than inconvenient to trauma patients- it could be fatal. On Monday night council will again grapple with the helicopter landing pad question, a question they have been grap- pling with for the past three years. What seems simple to most folk is ap- parently complex to council members: Helicopters meed a proper lighted landing pad near Lions Gate Hospital so that trauma victims from the far-flung reaches of the North Shore-eHowe Sound area can be given ike quickest access possibie to the health care facility. The $40,000 pad would be in use until a permanent one can be built at LGH. Because the current boulevard site is in- "NEWS QUOTES acequate, the B.C. Ambulance Service will not use it. The result is that trauma victims from North Shore mountains and the more dis- tant Whistler-area mountains are flown to a Vancouver city landing pad. If they are lucky they are delivered to a Vancouver hospital; if they are unlucky and there is no room in Vancouver, they must be returned overland to LGH. Such delays could mean the difference between life and death. But after three years, North Vancouver City is stil not convinced of the landing pad’s need. The noise of helicopter landings has raised the wrath of local residents; but more than that, the noise of an ap- proaching municipal election has deafened the ears of city council to the clear sounds of common sense. OF THE WEEK **We cannot trust Tom Siddon...a bigot with power is a dangerous bigot and a threat to our sur- vival.” Squamish Band Chief Joe Mathias, calling for the dismissal of federal Indian and Northern Development Minister Tom Sid- don. **One of these days I'm going to shout up to them (construction workers) to take it all off.”” North Shore Economic Devel- opment Commission’s economic development officer Bonnie Pyplacz, considering a potential remark to construction workers near her office. **When you’re dealing with people you can tell that they cither don’t Publisher Associate Editor envelope Managing Editor Timothy Renshaw _..Noel Wright Advertising Director Linda Stewart North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an independent suburban newspaper and gualiies under Schedute #11, 1139 Lonsdale Avenue, aragraph tlt of the Excise Tas Act, is publeshed each Wednesday, Friday and Sunday by North Shore Free North Vancouver, B.C. Press Lid and distrimuted to every door on the Noh ~=V7M 2H4 Shore Second Class Mail Registration Number 3885 Subscriptions North and West Vancouver, $25 per yeat Mating tates availabic on request. Submissions aie Friday & Sunday) like you, don't care about you, or they support you. And we've come to the point where there is no acknowledgement from the kids whatsoever."’ West Vancouver Police Const. Harry McNeil, commenting on the reasons for his assignment to high schools in West Vancouver. “During the time I’ve served in municipal office I’ve never belonged to a party. I have been seen by the left to be right and by the right to be ieft, and I've always felt that has served me in good stead to maintain that mid- dle road.‘* North Vancouver District Mayor Marilyn Baker, announcing her intention to seek the Social Credit nomination in North Van- couver-Lonsdale. 59,176 (average, Wednesday welcome out we cannot accept responsibility tor unsolicited material including manuscripts and pictures ® fa Rich snout companied by 4 slamped, addressed - Ce which should be accomp: y pe SDA DIVISION Ra : oe North Shore owned and managed Entire contents © 1990 North Shore Free Press Ltd. All rights reserved. *‘My sympathy goes out to anyone who has to froat for Bill Vander Zalm.”* North Vancouver-Lonsdale NDP candidate David Schreck, on Mayor Marilyn Baker’s decision to seek the Social Credit nomina- tion in the North Vancouver- Lonsdale riding. “There’s a saying that ‘it’s not over until the fat lady sings." In our business, it's not over until the ink is dry and the money is in the bank.” Brookfield Development Corp. spokesman Peter Arbuckle, con- firming that the cempany is selling the Park and Tilford Shopping Centre in North Vancouver and could have a potential buyer. ....... Peter Speck uersgtmenmremmren Dispiay Advertising 980-0511 } Classilied Advertising 986-6222 Newsroom 985-2131 Distribution 986-1337 Serene = Subscriptions 986-1337 MEMBER polls apart in Ontario ballot **POLLS,’’ SAID John Diefenbaker, ‘‘are for dogs!" More than a few Ontario Liberals may be recalling his words in the wake of their election disaster Thursday. Premier David Peterson's deci- sion to go to the voters just three years into his term can only have been founded on a wild misreading of the public mood. Before Thursday, his Legislature majo almost treble that of the combined opposition — 18 NDP and 17 Tories. The economy was stil? in pretty fair -4ape. Voters appeared passive, with no big crucial issue bubbling. And hitherto he’d had a healthy lead in the polls. There seemed no reason at all for an early election unless the head-counters’ clear message was: **Grab five more years NOW, while things are peaceful.” So how come Bob Rae’s NDP (with which the polls only later caught up) is now the government of Ontario, with its own huge ab- solute majority, while Peterson is reading the Help Wanted ads? Professional pollsters — without whom political life today cannot survive — can point to quite a list of successes at forecasting election results. But that claim alone doesn’t dispel some nagging questions. Their successes naturally tend to be based on the LATE polls, often taken only days before the election when the maximum number of voters have made up their minds. What does that say about the value of their earlier polls (which may have been quite different) as a guide to candidates and the electorate? Do polls actually help shape election results by their ‘‘band- wagon" effect on voters too lazy to think for themseives? Common sense suggests the answer to be “tyes,” but to what extent re- mains, of course, unmeasurable. So the riddle in any poll is how many opinions were genuine and how many respondents were mere- ly echoing earlier polls. Elections, of course, are virtual- ly the only poll forecasts that can be PROVED right or wrong. But have there been enough even in the 49 years since Dr. Gallup set up shop in Canada to support the “*19-times-out-of-20"" claim? How about 4,750 times out of 5,000? The law of probabilities says a coin tossed 5,000 times should come down heads 2,500 times. As any gambler knows, it may do no such thing. Or the first head may come only after 2,499 tosses. The sensational debacle in On- tario sparks one other intriguing thought. Are voters getting wise to the manipulative potential of polls and starting to play games of their own when the pollster’s phone call comes? Noel HITHER AND YON Is a hidden protest growing against being treated as mere statistics in the political process instead of intelligent individual citizens? After all, it doesn’t take TOO many ‘‘decoy”’ responses to play hob with a sample of 700- 800. Sorry, Angus Reid, but the scale of David Peterson’s rout poses questions about polls that scream for answers! kite TAILPIECES: Calling all loyal (and paid up!) Socreds between West Van Rec Centre and Darcy is West Van-Garibaldi Socred president Susan Watt, 926-8892 — her group's nominating meeting for the new riding on Wednesday, Sept. 12, is at West Van Senior Secondary with registration start- ing at 6:30 p.m. Wooing the faithful in bids to be named MLA John Reynolds’ successor will be lawyer Richard Begin, appraiser Gorden Frampton, school trustee Margot Furk, Dr. Rodney Glynn-Morris, former B.C. Health Assn. chairman Jane Sorko and businessman John Wells ... Thursday, Sept. 13, North Van District Mayor Marilyn Baker should have a much easier ride home to the Socred nomination in the new Lonsdale riding with the blessing of retiring MLA Angus Ree ... Meanwhile, tomorrow, Sept. 10, 52nd anniversary greet- ings to two North Van couples — Frank and Ida Oliver ... And Ken and Phyllis Barclay. ene WRIGHT OR WRONG: Funny how people always eager to stand up for their rights so often fall down on their duties. photo Gladys Lee NON-STOP stage shows to 6 p.m. by popular local performers are among highlights of today's fun-filled Coho festival in Ambleside Park.