Wednesday, July 24, 1991 ~ North Shore News - 9

Gace INTERIORS

We’ve been making homes
beautiful for 30 years

Lower overhead, Lower prices

‘“Grudging Grace’
finally grounded!

Much more important than that,
though, was the Expo thing.

If anyone pulled off the worst
deal of the century and turned the
sale of Expo into a virtual

* carpets * custom drapes |
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WELL, Fam one peasant who is as pleased as Punch that
Grace McCarthy didn’t snatch the Socred leadership from
Rita Johnston. And here are the reasons.

First, the Morning and Evening
Wimps were falling over
themselves to get her in. And if
they are for something, | am
usually against it. Not logical, you
say? Of course not. But logic nas
little to do with it. it's a matter of
fact.

A glance at a few headlines tells
the story of this untypical en-
thusiasm for a Socred: ‘*Poll
paints Socreds a Saving Grace"’;
“MeCarthy takes a second look”
(this accompanied by a four-
column patsy picture of the smil-
ing, expensively coiffed can-
didate); ‘‘McCarthy Socreds only
hope, poll finds” (which, if you
looked at the poll, didn’t quite say
that). And so on. From the ben-
ches, the McCarthy camp-colum-
nists drooled over her.

Then there was her silly, up to
the last minute ‘‘will she or won't
she’* act, while everyone knew she
would. But that was only designed
for the sucker media.

Thirdly, and most important, it
would probably have been
disastrous if she had made it. And
that’s not just my opinion.

It’s the opinion of Socred in-
siders who were not at all surpris-
ed that Mel Couvelier backed
Johnston, even though that lady
had nervously fired him for a
minor indiscretion.

Couvelier was a good finsace
minister and a tight man witn the
public buck. He opposed the doc-
tors’ pension plan, you will
remember, McCarthy, on the
other hand, was seen as a spend-
thrift.

She reportedly spent a million
dollars of our money refurbishing
and fancying up her office in
downtown Vancouver. And when
she was minisier for social affairs
it seemed to me that the social
workers were running the joint.

As minister for economic de-
velopment, she threw money
around as if it had just been in-
vented. And she was very friendly
to her friends.

Bob Williams the NDPer once
said that if all the friends to
whom she had given government
jobs were fired, the unemploy-
ment rate in B.C. wouid have
gone up by 1%.

Couvelier wasn't about to help

e PURE SILKS
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e WOOLENS
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e VELVETS
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FABRICS

Doug
Collins

ON THE OTHER HAND

an extravagant politician into the
premier’s office.

There are many other things.
McCarthy never forgave Bill
Vander Zalm for beating her in
1986 at the Whistler leadership
convention.

To say that she bore a grudge is
putting it mildly. The North
Shore's late Jack Davis always us-
ed to say she conducted a vendetta
against the Zalm.

Rightly or wrongly, she was the
biggest thorn in Vander Zalm's
side. Not that he didn’t put a lot
of thorns into his own side, of
course. But she worked against
him from day one.

That can be written off as the
kind of backstabbing that is
common in politics. When power
is the prize, few are generous.

giveaway tu [1 Ka-shing it was
Amazing Grace. She was the one
who kept flying to Hong Kong to
nail the deal down, But it was
Vander Zalm who got the blame.

Come to think of it, she might
better be dubbed Grudging Grace,
if only for the way she treated
Davis. Which is why she’s not ex-
actly loved in North Van-
Seymour.

Before he became a minister in
the Vander Zalm government,
Jack was chairman of ALRT, the
rapid transil system that was then
a-building.

tt became a full-time job for
him and his contribution was con-
siderable, especially when you
consider he wasn’t even being
paid. (As an MLA 1 don’t think
he could be, but that takes
nothing away from what he did.)

So what was his reward?
Grudging Grace, the minister in
charge of the project, didn't even
invite him to the opening ceremo-
nies. How small can you get?

How will Mrs. Johnston do as
premier? Not having a crystal
ball, | don’t know. | have a feel-
ing that the Socreds have turned
mushy, that they are trying to be
ail things to all men ~~ and
women, if Carol Gran’s perfor-
mance is anything to judge by.

What I do know, though, is
that I feel more comfortable with
her at the helm than | would with
Amazing Grudging Grace. Who
wants to see this province go the
way of Ottawa, either financially
ar socially?

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