—— MAIL Box-————— Dear Editor: Call me the crab apple of the barrel or is it just me who is concerned about the Halloween costumes and ormaments displayed in the super- markets and stores. My four-year-old had such a scare from the blood-covered hideous masks and costumes that she doesn’t want to go out trick-or-treating this year. Last year’s. Darth _ Maul masks sent her recoiling, back to my arms ‘as she approached one house who hung it from » their front: porch. T can’t take her past some aisks in the grocery store. because the talking . Frankenstein heads and skulls frighten the living - daylights out of her. So have we sensitized our kids to this type of imagery as well as the par- ~ ents? Halloween used to be cowboys, clowns < and a few white sheets and black hats. Nothing was really that frightening. One way in which 1 judge. the whole situa- tion is to imagine placing my child alone in a “room with these characters and i images. | don’t think it takes a psychology degree to figure our that even if'an adult faced any of these characters in adark street we'd be walking the other way ween accusioms violence pretty fast. We forget that young children see these things as real. So should I just tell my chil- dren toe “ouck up and get used it. That’s lite?” Or perhaps dress thena in a SWAT team costume and tell them to shoot the other monsters. - There is so much violence amongst us pow, why are we fostering negative imagery? You might as well call it military training. It’s the same kind of principle, sit them down in front of a violent show, have them play some violent video games (practise their shooting skills for when they're ripe for gangs), and dress them up in the most grucsome thing you can find. That way it won't interfere with their emotions when they face the real thing. We are all part of the problem of desensitizing our children to vio- lence. You can’t shake your head at the nightly news if you haven't thought long and hard about the daily decisions you make regarding the children. It’s the small decisions that count along the way. Kelly Insicy North Vancouver . Firefighters, friends thanked Dear Editor: ; Recently our home near Tein Islands was destroyed by rey : Weare. grateful. for and would like: to, express our heartfelt , thanks to the 9-1-1" emergency ‘dispatchers, the’ crew of the North Shore fire- boat, the . Burnaby fireboat rew, the fire chicfand crew of the Sasamat Volunteer Fire “Fighters, the Lifeboat Society | Rescue boat crew based out of : Deep. Cove; forestry.’ service: : personnel, and the helicopter pilot. and : forest fire. fighting rew from Pemberton. — — ~ for. their extraordinary efforts and the personal care they extend- ed to us. Many people offered us their homes, friendship, and - Support to assist us with our immediate concerns, We want “our generous neighbours and friends in. Deep ’ Cove, Belcarra, Farrer Cove, anc on Indian Arm to know. how much .we appreciate them. Special thanks to: Aljeh, Tony, Neil, Michelle, Blair, png jim, Ron, Cheryl, Cec, Brian, Nancy, Diana, Bill, Sue, . Steve, Janet,': Mary, Diane, George, Laura; the Indian Arm Ratepayers Association, John, Claudia, Tschi, Pat, Rick, Bonnie, Gary, - Bill, Paddy, Savita, Joan, Terry, Jan, “Christine, Ron, Mary, Keith, Linda, Erin, Colin, Denise, Bob, Teresa, Lynn, Christina, Barb, Paula, Kelly, the Ron Andrews Aqua-cizing - group, Lynn Valley Insurance, Stella, Shu-li, Barb, Sari, Doug, Sieg, Ashiva, "Tonas. Sheliey, Sean, Jeff, and the Deep .Cove Brewers Soccer-. Team. . Thanks for everything! Val, Pat and Keith Hunter North Vancouver : “Franco Sarto boot, $150. “Available i in black stretch fabric, red crinkle patent stretch, oa white stretch fabric & black stretch. “4401 West tOth Avenue 221.7785 fl Richmond Centre 279.0201 78 East 2nd Avenue 879. 6 162 | 2360 West 4th Avenue 732-3521 io Park Royal South 925-0058 ( Oakridge Centre 266-3613, oe, Wednesday, Ocotber 18, 2000 ~- North Shore News — 9 Tei wins, mB, advenorial, October 18. 2000 OUT OF TOUCH AND UNRESPONSIVE Out of touch, and unresponsive. That was the verdict from about two thirds of the respondents to a recent survey about government and Members of Parliament. . The survey, commissioned this past Spring by the Institute for Research on Public Policy (IRPP), asked 1,278 Canadians a series of questions designed to assess their overall satisfaction with key aspects of our Canadian democracy. The results of this sur- vey were then compared with the results of a 1990 poll carried out for the Royal Commission on Electoral Reform and Party Financing (the Lortie Commission). In its fina! report issued back in 1992, that Commission produced several recommendations concerning the conduct of elections and democratic representation, the majority of which remain unadopted eight years later. No wonder the jatest poll has high- lighted the very same problems, and registered even higher levels of discontent with some components of the system. ARE YOU SATISFIED? In this latest IRPP survey, respondents were asked if they were satisfied with the WAY in which both Government and politics work in Canada. Not surprisingly perhaps, barely 58% say that they are either very or fairly satisfied with the way Government works, while just 53% express satisfaction with politics as a whole. Relatively few are VERY SATISFIED with politics in Canada - only about 5%, while 12% are VERY DISSATISFIED. More than 40% of respondents were either not very satisfied, or very dissatisfied with our government and politics. An important section of the survey explored issues related to components of good governance, such as responsiveness, fairness and efficiency. The responses. revealed that 69% of respondents felt that "those elected to Pariiament soon lose touch with the people" whiie 63% felt that they "do not have’ any say over what the Government does." These figures are roughiy the same . as those obtained in 1990, and suggest deeply held feelings of dissatisfaction with - Government responsiveness among Canadians, feelings that have persisted despite changes in the governing party, and significant fluctuations i in “popularity” as measured by political polling and election outcomes. The strongly held fesling that the Government is insufficiently responsive to citizens is probably related to another of the survey's findings - that most Canadians feel . that the average person is quite capable of arriving at sound judgements. about political issues. In fact, 74% of respondents felt that most of our big nation- al problems could be solved if we brought them back to the grassroots level”. This is a slight increase in “grassroots” sentiment since 1990, and is consistent with a long term - trend which Reform, and now the Canadian Alliance, has identified as an area desper-. | ately needing attention. One of the policy components of the Party's platform, for exarn- ple, includes establishing citizens rights to initiate referenda in Canada as a way of encouraging and facilitating greater public input into the governing process. In fact, one of my jobs within the C.A, Caucus in past years was to develop workable referendum. | legislation in the form of a Private Member's Bill, C-229. The new Leader, Stockwell Day, - has publicly stated his support for that Bill. . Fairness and efficiency are important components of good governance, ‘so iti is interesting to note that just over haif (53%) of those asked in the IRPP survey agreed: that the Federal Government generally treats all Canadians fairly, while the same num- ber felt that the Government does a good job of getting things done: ‘This is an inter-.. esting result because it suggests that, despite the lack of responsiveness, or willingness | to accept meaningful public input, the Federal Government does appear to respond to. input from opposition paities and special interest groups, thereby managing te keep’ about half of the population happy with the general. state-of. Canadian demosracy. Perhaps the system really does work, albeit in a very slow and frustrating manner. . . ELECTIONS AND REPRESENTATION ~ When compared with the results from the 1990° survey, itis. apparent that there has been an increase in dissatisfaction with the electoral process itself over, the past..10 years. Only a very smali percentage 11% are enthusiastic about the present system of elections and representation, while the largest group (41 %) indicated thi were only “somewhat satisfied". The survey measured 54% support for fixed electio 7 49% opposition to the “First Past The Post” electoral system which. enabled the Pregent ‘Liberal Government to win 155 of the 301 seats in the House of Cémnions imately 38% of the vate. (Canadian Altiance policy dictates the holding of 2 referendu to determine whether voters would like to change to some other method of electing : MPs, such as the Single Transferrable Ballot, Mixed Member Proportional, or Straight. Proportional. if the answer in such a referendurn was YES, a second referendum would : be held ‘about a year later to choose the new system. )s includes me, of course, because there is very little i ia life ‘quite as frustrating as knowing the outcome of every vote before the. debates even begin. Clearly, most Canadians