Page 6, October 25, 1978 - North Shore News At becomes increasingly difficult t to know who is | running what these days. - Just at the moment the country is: apparently being run not by Prime Minister Trudeau and ‘Canada’s Parliament, but by Jean-Claude Parrot — and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers. Closer to home a tiny. group of worthy West Vancouver citizens is again preparing to “elect” the winning mayoralty, aldermanic and school board candidates more than two weeks ahead of | the official November 18 polling date. The group in question consists of the constituted body known as the West Vancouver Electors’ . Association. Tomorrow. (Thursday, October 26) it holds the first of its two annual rituals -- the all-candidates meeting at. .7:30 p.m. in St. David's United Church Hall, Taylor Waya zd Upper Levels. . -All-candidates meetings are okay. Numerous other public-spirited organizations hold them. They give every. candidate an opportunity to. address those - citizens in- terested enough to turn up, and to explain where he or she stands on the issues that affect all residents of | the municipality. The WVEA’s annual ritual one week later, however, is a cat of a dif- ferent color: It will be held Thursday, November 2 -- the same time and place. PAGEANT FINALISTS This is a ritual sometimes irreverently referred to as. “the laying on of hands”. Officially, it is known as the candidate endorsation meeting. Once again, all the candidates who think they still have a chance of win- ning the WVEA’s favor stand up and say their three- minute pieces -- rather like the finalists in the Miss America Pageant doing the personality test. After that the assembled WVEA members proceed to vote for the candidates whom the association will endorse, noting the recommendations of their directors. One candidate only for each council and school board vacancy. If, for example, there are 14 candidates for a total of seven vacancies, the end of the evening will see seven of * are NuMeTOUs: individual tastes ALL WORK GUARANTEED [IM FOWLER 980° 2876 150-200 -. members of that curiously . second | DuP Pont CORIAN” for the look of luxury in the Kitchen, Bathroom & throughout your home. With our fine cratteman wid the versatility of AN, the custom ‘a hy ty of GOR design ‘ NORTH VANCOUVER, B.C, V7L W5 them cast into the ‘outer: darkness and told to get lost as far -as the WVEA is concerned. The other seven, who ‘receive the nod, will enjoy the full power of WVEA advertising and publicity. between then and polling day. The chosen are featured in the WVEA’s official brochure, distributed to. every West Van household. Their names appear on official WVEA lawn signs (we’ve had no clean-up ‘pledge from the association as yet!). And they benefit from all the numerous other forms of WYVEA support, material | and moral. 1.6PERCENT _ The clout wielded by the WVEA’s 13-member board | of directors may be judged by the fact that. the . association’s membership only rarely votes against any of the board’s recom- mendations. And _ over recent years it is also comparatively seldom that any WVEA-endorsed - candiate has failed. to win -- which means that most of the other candidates have automatically lost. Just who are the members of the WVEA, anyhow? © Association officers put their average numbers at between 75 and 150 (“in | that of a founding member. Which explains in brief -- if this year’s elections follow the established form -- how 1.6 per cent of the West Van electorate will decide 90 per cent or more of the results two weeks before polling day. As I said, you never know who runs what nowadays. ELECTION MACHINE None of this, mark you, is intended as a criticism of the - WVEA’s aims couragement. of well qualified citizens to:run for . public Office. . association’s “It’s. “the present methods: that are open to . question. : By endorsing its own tight . Zz ‘slate the WVEA functions, . for ali practical purposes, as a political party. But unlike Vancouver -- with its healthy © : battles. between. the NPA, TEAM. and COPE -- West Van. has so far no terbalancing groups. ‘As the only. organized - o in the Classified | election machine Mon.-Fri. 9 a.m. -9 p.m. Saturday 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. some crucial years as high as . a .200”") -- that’s somewhere around 1.6 per cent of West Van's eligible voters. The -membership fee is $7.50 for [im singles, $10 for families and [im $1 for seniors. Moreover, you can join at the door, either § at tomorrow's meeting or at next week's endorsation rites. For $7.50 a head or less your vote is just as. good as CDC CREATIVE DESIGN WITH CORIAN Side tables, Antique dresser and dry unk tops, Kitchin counter and Vanity tons, all’ designed with a wide vanity Of decoraive adgo ttatments to compumnoent your FAEE ESTIMATES 214 EAST KEITH ROAD. ‘community, . WVEA is able to exercise an -influence out of all -centrated advertising and “publicity firepower. 7 150, there’s only one way to do it. --. the” en-- coun- - therefore, actually represents. Individual candidates left to. campaign on their own against the .WVEA bloc. all the. candidates running, but they almost inevitably find themselves outgunned by the association’s con-~ Regardless of their merits. If the West Van electorate prefers to judge the merits of candidates for itself, rather than delegating that task to the WVEA’s tiny $7.50-a- head membership of around . Concentrate on the names | .that don’t appear on the _ WVEA list. Some of them _ may prove to be as good a — bet on. polling day ‘as. the” names that do. “Some of them may. even. prove to be a. whole lot _ better, - ‘TAYLOR 40 years experience. *¢ COLLISION REPAIRS the proportion to the 1.6 per cent or so of the electorate it. normally form a majority | of - MOTIVE IS — B B.C ‘A A. APPROVED | 2 HO EOF THE AUTOMOTIVE SPECIALIST | Qualified technicians in each field. Many with 20 - - ¢ AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSIONS. os e COMPLETE GENERAL MECHANICAL e- WHEEL, FRAME ALIGNMENT & BALANCING . © BAKE OVEN PAINTING FREE CONSULTATION © ALL WORK GUARANTEED . _TAYLORMOTIVE 174 PEMBERTON. N ve 980.3464 986-6222 fk OUR UR 20TH YEAR OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION | ' The following candidates i in. the November 18 elec- -tions have: pledged to show their respect for the en- vironment by abstaining from using any. lawn or pole — Sigms during their election campaigns: ‘NORTH VANCOUVER BALL, James (incumbent District alderman, running 7 for re-election). . CRIST, Ernest (running for District alderman). MACLEOD, Kieran (running for District alderman). - POWELL, Peter (incumbent District _ alderman, running for re-election). WEST VANCOUVER | Oo . _ HUMPHREYS, Derrick (former alderman, running for mayor). Mayor’ Don Bell’ North - Vancouver District council - ‘Monday that the ‘rezoning bylaw- for a- _ proposed medical centre in © ‘Dollarton had been with-' _ drawn at the request of the 7 developers. - orm FoR TRUSTWORTHY AUTO: ECHNIC! WREREE “told Their request followed the defeat of the bylaw by a tie vote the previous week on its "first reading. At: that: time Mayor Bell had given notice that he would reintroduce the bylaw at a later date. One more good reason to switch to. “the only place offering saving and cheung. 2 | 2 hour service six day: _ Winan 88 Delta Royale at Canada Trust Details on page 23° ‘ straight _ retina 18