‘Tha North Shore Hews iz seMishad by Korth
Shors Free Press Ltd., Patdisher Pata: Speck,
from 1138 Lonsésie Avonue
Rorth Yenccuver, 5.C., ¥7M 214

Joint wenture

PETER SPECK
Publisher
995-2131 (101)

sx

Doug Foot
Comptroller

985-2131 (133)

Bes Dhaliwal
Human Resources Manager
965-2131 (171)

tion rhubarb has been a real Norti

Vio: SCHOOL district amalgama-

Shore learning experience.

Too bad the lesson was not more care-
fuily thought out before it was begun.

Back in November 1995, when he was
B.C.’s education = mainister, Ari
Charbonneau announced a mass amal-
gamation of the province’s school dis-
tricts that would reduce B.C.’s 75 dis-
tricts and boards to 37.

The plan, Charbonneau said, would
save an estimated $30 million by 1997-98.
Muted cheers frem parents and others
concerned about the runaway costs of
education and the eroding value of edu-

th ain
COR BY,

cation dollars in B.C.

The plan included the merging of
North Vancouver District 44 and West
Vancouver District 45. immediate howls
of distress west of the Capilano River
from trustees, parents and students in the
fiscally sound District 45 who opposed
any link to fiscally challenged District 44,

The North Vancouver school district,
as most folk are aware, was suffering
from 4 serious case of chronic debt. So
serious, in fact, that its board of trustees
was sent packing by Victoria and
replaced with a single appointed trustee
charged with nursing. the economically
enfeebied district back to health. The

€ nese hess us

tenet Gece

appointed trustee’s examination con-’
firmed that the malady, was serious,
brought on by a combination of skewed
-funding formula deficit syndrome and:
runaway unionization and fiscal irre-
sponsibility. In its dire fiscal straits,
District 44 became an increasing liabitity
for any partnership. ;
West Vancouver’s superier views’
aside, the amalgamatidn of the two at this
time was just a bad idea. But the removat'
of service duplication remains a good |
idea. Amalgamation of the two districts,
should be revisited when each can bring
a more equal set of pros and cons. to: the
table. ae

THE VICIOUS spiral of spend, tax and borrow
can only be halted when the government

S'CUSE. ME... SORRY 16 INTERUPT your
READING , BUT... Woded You Mino

Timothy Flenshaw
_ Managing Editor Sates & Matreting Director
885-2131 (116) 960-0517 (319)

PATTING “THE. PAPER DOWN AND “TAKING
A QUICK LOOK AROUND FoR ANY
SOMALIA REPORTS 7

decides to cut spending.

But government spending is still out of control and
unless the federal government does something about it
—- and soon —- Canada’s already dangerous fiscal situa- -
tion will become a fiscal crisis.

Consider the facts. By the end of the 1996-97 fiscal
year, the federal deficit will likely be $24.3 billion, and
that’s using the govermment’s own optimistic figures.

By that time, the total federal debt — not including
the provinces’ debt — will have soared to $616 billion.

\... "That’s $616,000,000,000 -— well over half a trillion
te dollars!

The share of this debt for the average Canadian

‘family of four will be $82,133. We will have to pay the
interest on this staggering debt through high taxation
or more borrowing.

This is the terrible legacy that we are now leaving |
to our children and grandchildren.

. They, of course, never had the chance to vote on
whether or not they wanted to bear the crushing bur-
. den of this debt for the rest of their lives,

The government can get out of this mess. It must
simply muster the political will.

You, as the Canadian citizen, taxpayer and voter,
‘can ‘heln stiffen the Chretien g government's spine. Tell
your MP to stop talking and start cutting.

. — From Tales from the Tax Trough II, a National
_ Citizens’ Coalition publication.

3

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Display & Rec Estate Fax

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 harmerocm Fox

Cimsified, Accouating
& Mein Ofiice Fax

Worth Shore News, founded in 1969 a5 an -

independent suburban newspaper and qualified

under Schedule 111, Paragraph IE of the

Encise Tax Act, is published each Wednesday,

Friday and Sunday by North Shore Free Press

Lid. and distributed to every dour on the Month

Shore, Canada Post Canadian Publications Mail
‘Sales Product Agreement No. 0087238.
Maiting rates available on request,

eS ae

“Bie

- Entire contents
© 1996 North Shore
‘Free Press Ltd,
All rights reserved,

I. A call
: OKSANA DEXTER i is Trevor
Lautens

rg im

mr

a doughty lady, worth
every penny she’s
paid, I suspect.

She signs her letters — like
the one graciously upstaging
me in last Friday’s News —
“Cultural Services Coordinator,
Centennial Theatre Centre,
North Vancouver.”
In plainer language, as she
puts it in the body of her letter,
Ms, Dexter is manager of the theatre.
Her letter responds — doughtily, as I hinted

- up there in para one — to my recent skeptical

column on the “viability” (that’s just the word
practicality, gone to college) of the long-
sought theatre in West Vancouver.

I said such theatres need fat subsidies. And
I questioned whether there's much real
demand for such a theatre.

A euphoric drive to get one fizzled out fast
last month. It would have been wrapped in a
commercial-residential complex on the present
post office site at Bellevue and 17th across

’ from John Lawson Park.

Six proposals were submitted, running from
an over-enthusiastic | 1 to a totally neighbor-
hood-overshadowing 18 storeys

Obviously the would-be developers practi-
cally messed themselves, as my old mother
would have crudely put it, lunging at this pre-
cious site, while brushing aside the theatre
component — a small facility of 200-odd seats
— as a minor obligation (or irritant) in the
grand scheme of things. '

Half of the proposals didn’t even have
enough parking. ;

- cultura i

As an aside, I said West
Van should look at North
Van's Centennial Theatre,
which 1 suspected was heavily
subsidized.

Enter Ms. Dexter, a gun or
two blazing, but politely.

First, Ms. Dexter says that
T equate “ihe theatre facility
with a theatre production
organization.”

Fair enough. f glossed over
that. Also Ms. Dexter scores
one when she points out that
community arts/theatre complexes are just like
sports and recreation facilities. They cost no
more to build and operate. They aren't expect-
ed to pay their way any more than the swim-
ming hole does.

Let's get some figures out there.

In 1995 a remarkable 90,212 people
“moved through” Centennial Theatre. Ms.
Dexter declares.

That’s lots. My question is: How many
were bona fide paying theatre patrons?

And that's not so answerable. The theatre is
rented to whoever for whatever. That encom-
passes the North Shore Operatic Society, the
North Shore Credit Union for its annual gener-
al meeting, the Girls’ Soccer League for
awards night, tiny-tot dancing, business semi-
nars. Also Iranian, Indian and other so-called
ethnic communities for concerts. The turnstile
counts everyone.

There’s a market rate for full-blown perfor-
mances, like the Irish Rovers; that's $1,325,
There's a community rate; that’s about $625.
There's a scale discounting non-prime (i.e.,
weekday) rentals. In (995 the theatre was used
233 days.

c

Centenniil Theatre i is ‘owned by North ‘Van
City. In 1995 its overhead costs. were’
$516,800. Its revenue was $254, 800.

‘ That shortfall — $262,000 — was made up
through operating subsidies, two-thirds paid b
the District of North Vancouver, otie- third by
the City.

' Centennial was built 30 years ago. It badly
needs a comfortable lobby, Jt _has no wheel-.;
chair access (Ms. Dexter yearns for-that, a’. :
$400,000 item, and would love a further $1.4
million in updating). It has no air-condition
in

When Ms. Dexter took over in 1987,
Centennial was called a white elephant and the”
booking svstem was simply awful, aclerk's 7°
job. The mailing list was 27, Today, the list —
by request only, so it isn't papered — is 3,500..

The bureaucracy of moving through munic-
ipal government frustrates some customers.

North Vancouver's Autoclassic, an interna-
tional dealer in exotic and rare cars, used to
hold its high-profile and heavily-attended car .
auctions there — great site, fine highway :.
accessibility. The cos! and process were so...’ |
irritating that Autoclassic moved its auction
across the bridge (coincidentally, i's this
weekend at the Seaforth Armouries, Burrard
and Ist, in Vancouver).

Doubts about a West Van theatre remain in
my little mind. Ms. Dexter warmly backs the
idea, Centennial, with 718 seats, is three and a
half times as big as the recently proposed West
Van one. J say that 200 seats is clearly far, far
too small for commercial performances —
leaving what? An orphan of a theatre.

The sensible thing would be for West Van
to forget the North Shore's boundaries and
pitch in for a serious upgrading that would
bring Centennial Theatre into the 2Ast century.

TAS