Wednesday, Apri! 22, 1298 — North Shore News - 9 north shore news , _MAIL BOX Take advantage of wharf, West Vancouver Dear Editor: Whoops, am [ missing > somching? , The North Skore News reported thar West Van Councillor Russ Fraser said he didn’t want to spend one dime running the federal wharf at Horseshoe Bay, the only place in Horseshoe Bay offering public marine access and apparently offered to West Van for $1. Shoulén’t the whole bay be looked ac in its entirety? Doesn’t West Van collect ciillions in taxes every year from B.C. Ferries with its monstrous installation there? When Bay Boats went bankrupt, West Van parks leased the facility co Sewells, who then put @ padlock on the dock to prevent citizens, visitors and tourists from perhaps putting handprints on any of the boats owned by Langievites and Surrevites who now “owned the Bay.” Ther the little boat stor- age facility was upgraded by Sewell and re-leased to B.C Ferries for additional office facilities. Doesn’r West Van terrific income from every year? get a this With this alienation of much of the bay (all the waterlease?! wouldn't: it be progressive to reclaim) part back to West Van by way of this iree whart Surely some of the vas: tax and lease money could be used to keep the wharf in . Las * agonized ivnx.. repair, Or why not let the thing just gradually deterio- rate, it can never look so bad as the terminal, it would probably take three genera- tions betore it fell down and by that time sam. council might ¢ccsider it a wortk- while civic amenity. People all over the world prize wharves, piers, and docks. Seattle, San Francisco, Monterey, Santa Barbara, Santa Monica, Venice Beach and Newport. The wharves in St. Tohr’s, Newfoundland, Hahfax and Teronto Islands are big attractions. Wharves ict citizens access our magnificent ocean. They give a feeling of participation with the water, an alrogether in so-calied “humane” . padded feg-hold trap. .._ Ninety-one percent of us in BC* oppose use of the Leg-Hold Trap. Yet the politicians we elect still refuse to ban it. The shameful cruelty goes on and on. We must stop it. We must make democracy work for the animals. Together, we can. . Join us! The | FE ur-Bearers A Registered Charity 2235 ‘Commercial Drive, Vancouver, BC” IV5N 4B6 Tel: (604) 255-0411 - *Angus Reid Poll different aspect than fooking at it fram shore. T hope West Vaa council considers this gift of a wharf. council to reject the oppor- tunity to buy for Si plus land the $31 milion Hillside high school and then allowing. its dime annually running our rorally unproductive (in an income sense) parks and flower. beds, what's wrong This wharf woud probably destruction cost $6 million ty $15 mil- lion to build and we can have it free. The Mayor sible gift recent decision by mouth. Pat Boname and | ted white, m.p. makes citizens question the judgment of further decisions to look pos- horses in We spend more than one with having a free whari? ‘Fhese are tough decisions bur nobody can drive to the future on cruise control. Neil S. Thompson West Vancouver the ativertorial, April 22/1998 NEWS FROM DOWN UNDER During the recent two week Easter parliamentary recess, Sue and | were in New Zealand and had the opportunity to discuss that country’s Mixed Member Propertiona!l system of government (MMP) with the Deputy Speaker of the New Zealand Parliament, tan Revell. We were joined at the meeting by another Canadian MP, Jim Gouk, who is Reform's Public Works Critic and who was in New Zealand to study first hand the operational changes which have been made to the New Zealand Post Office. Neither Jim nor | were on tax- payer funded travel junkets though — we paid all our own travel costs, and initiated the meetings with NZ Government representatives to improve our knowledge about important aspects - of that country’s political reforms. MMP - ’& PROBLEM??7 lan Revell made no secret of his dislike for MMP, and his preference for the “First Past The Post” system which existed prior “to the Jast election in New Zealand. He feels that MMP has failed to do what in the- ory it was meant to do -- that is to provide political stability, at ths same time as it pro- duced a proportionately representative “1 Parliament, tt is his opinion that too many of the “appointed” MPs — those who were selected from party lists to provide te pro- portional component of representation in Parliament — lacked the skills and qualifi- cations necessary for their roies as MPs. As a result, the business of the House has been disrupted by speeches given in Maori, unruly behaviour, unpredictable and unexpected political alliances during cru- cial votes, and at least one defection. Of course, lan's dislike for MMP was entirely predictable, because he is a mem- ber of the ‘uling National Party, and MMP has eroded National’s powerbase, forcing the Party to form a coalition government with the ACT Party and New Zealand First. in addition, as part of the coalition deal. the © Leader of New Zealand First, Winston Peters, ended up with the plum job of Finance Minister, while it is the MPs from New Zealand First who are the most con- troversial! and disruntive. Jan is not alone in his condemnation of MMP though, particularly as it relates to New Zealand First. Listening to the calls to radio talk shows, and talking with “ordi- nary” New Zealanders, made it clear that the majority is not happy with the new coalition government or the antics of some of the “list” MPs, who have been digging deep into the trough of taxpayer funded travel and perks. As an outsider analyzing the situation, it seems to me that many of the “problems” associated with this first MMP Government in New Zealand will probably disappear at the time of the next election.'‘Under MMP, voters cast two ballots (the first for their representative locally, the second for a party) and people who told me they had gambled the their Party vote on New Zealand First in the last election, said they would think more carefully about the impact of. their party vote in the next election. This leads to the conclusion that it is premature to judge MMP to be a failure, and that it will take at least one more election to see whether the new system can agliver a sia- ble government which is at the same tine. more representative of the wil! of the vot- ers. If the irritations remain after the next election, it is more than likely that New Zealanders wil! reverse the referendum decision they made a few ysers ago, and return {0 the Canadian style “First Past The: Post” system for electing MPs. THE POST OFFICE “Extremely efficient, and user friendly” are possibly the best words to describe the operations of the New Zealand Post Office since it was converted to a State Owned Enterprise (SOE). The Post Office remains the property of taxpayers; which satisfies those who are philosophically opposed to privatization, but-is run by a Board. of Directors and manaGenvsent, independent of Government; whose mandate is to oper- ate in a businesslike manner, and to make a profit for the Treasury. Unlike the situa- tion commonly found in Canada. there are no patronage appointments. to State Owned Enterprises, so the people running the SOEs get their jobs based on the skills they.can bring to the table, and are held. fully accountable. for the results they pro-: duce. : Amazing but true, ‘a year er two ago the NZ Post Office was voted by consumers to be the country’s most popular corporation.. Since. the. con- version to an SOE the. staff are }- friendlier and more helpful than:{' ever, the cost of a local stamp has- been lowered from 45 cents to. 40° cents, and mail was recently deliv- ered free for one day in apprecia- tion for the public support. _ Postal oullets, which are modern and nicely appointed, have replaced the. old_ style Post Offices, and sell a large range of packaging materials, mailers, stationery supplies, and mail related novelties. The calculation of postage has been simplified by basing the cost for a stamp on the size: of the envelope rather than the weight, and customers willingly help to “pre-sort” the. mail via separate mailboxes for local and international destinations. In addition, although the number of staff employed by’ the Post Office has been dramatically teduced, New Zealanders still get home: delivery Monday through Saturday. _ Ongoing and sensible union/man- agement cooperation has been a key component of the reforms to the NZPO, and has resulted in the creation of an’ efficient yet service oriented corpora- tion which has managed to earn a high level of public support. We can learn a lot from what has been’ done, but achieving- similar results in Canada could present quite a challenge.