. 4 - Sunday, July 3, 1988 — North Shore News

Bos HuNTER_

D

THINGS THAT you should
know about Toronto before
you think about moving
here:

It is a massive Protestant Work
Ethic Zone where unions are
weaker than they are in British
Columbia. By far.

The implications of this are
enormous, of course.

People are generally busier and
less inclined to let the lines between
their private and professional lives
get blurred, so you have a much
more stand-offish environment.

Living in the Metropolitan area
itself is something it generally
takes two working mates to ac-
complish. |
- Even managers need to have a
working wife or husband if they
hope to play the Toronto real
estate game,

As for owning your place, the
price of an average house has
reached a quarter of a million
bucks.

Does this sound familiar some-
how? /

Indeed.

We tell people here about the

for more, the price started falling
within 24 hours.

When we bought into mutual
fi unds, they collapsed within a
month, taking what seemed like
the entire Western economy down
with them — at the very least
destroying the Yuppie Era.

As our gift to Toronto — after
all, we have relatives here — we

have decided not to buy real estate.

Bob Rae, the NDP leader in On-
tario, complained a little while ago
that Metro Toronto had become a
playground for the rich, nobody
else being able to afford to buy in

Ee any LOnger.

F, tf the dream of young couples, today
buying their own home seems to be
waning in the Vancouver area, (in
Toronto), itis a Golden Age that has

long since passed.

More competitive too — if for
no other reason than the fact that
there are more companies in every
industry.

Therefore, it is harder to keep
staff, easier to fire people, and
there is generally more turnover.

Finding good people to hire is a
major problem. By the same
token, finding good people to
work for is harder too.

Ihave a feeling that the Fraser
Institute would love this place.

And there are vastly more jobs,
it is true.

The unemployment rate is in-
deed the lowest in the country.

What this doesn’t tell you is that
the pay is generally lower.

People put in longer hours.

Only makes sense, doesn’t it? |
Less pay, more time put in getting
it. And a willingness todo it;
because you need it. /

Also — very important, this —
the cost of living is higher. .;

“Not so much in the foodstuffs or
consumer goodies or even the cost
of entertainment, fuel, or educa-
tion.

Accommodation i is the big ticket
item.

great housing market boom in
B.C. half a decade ago, and the °
subsequent near-instantaneous col-
lapse.

This is by way of explaining
why, hip once-burned-thank-you
types from the Coast that we are,
we wouldn’t dream of investing in
the Toronto housing market until
the inevitable ‘“‘adjustment”’ oc-
curs. . :

There is, after all, the possibility
of real estate investment via equity
financing.

Ha! Forget it. :

We own our home back by Bur-
rard Inlet, and could play the bor-
rowing-from-the-f riendly-bank-
to-make-money game, sure.

But f am a proponent of the
conservative fiscal theory that if
you have only one marbie, don’t
play marbles.

Besides, my wife and | are a fi-
nancial jinx. We know it. We’ve
learned to live with it. ‘

When we bought into a gold
mine in Newfoundland, it was just
a week before the price of gold
collapsed.

When we turned down 200

grand on our property, holding out A

If the dream of young couples
today buying their own home
scems to be waning in the Van-
couver area, here it is a Golden
Age that has long since passed.

Even in the upper middle class,
they both have to get into harness
to pull the plow.

Another Catch-22 which Toron-
tonians find themselves having to
deal with concerns day care.

If it takes two working parents
to support a home in the city, what
happens to the kids?

They go to day care, if they are
small enough, but it costs a mini-

. mum of $400 a month, and there ~
are line-ups at most day cares.

It doesn’t matter whether one’s
partner is working full or part-
time, there is no such thing as
part-time day care.

You pay the full price.

It makes no sense, therefore, for
anyone to bother working part-
time ‘f they are paying full-time
day care. |

Thus you have ane more
pressure mitigating against any
kind of traditional family lifestyle. °

You also have more pressure/on
"women to go out and compete for
tow-paying jobs, thus keeping |
wages down.

All is not paradise in the Little
Big Apple, let: me warn you.

Underneath the surface tran-
quility, there is a lot of grinding
anxiety, pressure to overachieve,

“and a helluva lot of elbowing-aside -

going on in the crunch to hold on
to a share of the pie — or for that
matter to break in.

If you are thinking of going
East, young person, think twice.
Think three times. Maybe four @

West Van school trustees

question Victoria's figures

From page 2 ‘ /

}
Howard said Smith, as budget
committee chairman, could pro-
pose the recommendations and
advised him to compare figures
and prepare a report for the next

West Vancouver School Board
meeting.
However, the board has no

scheduled meeting before
September, though it will | likely
call a meeting in early July. /

Trustee Margot Furk said ex-
amining the figures would/ proba-

bly be valuable, as she claimed the. ~

provincial government has. con-
sistently misled the public regar-
ding school board spending.

“Most governments use as much
money as they can/to buy
themselves into office,’ Furk said.
“] don’t think’ they fan point
fingers.’

She said that since the current
provincial education funding ar-
rangement had been set up in 1981,
the province had consistently
eroded its share of the burden,
forcing local residential taxpayers
to take up the slack.

The ‘public needs to know the
truth, Furk said.

Trustee George Suart said he did
not think the school district could
legally become a private district.

“1 don’t think we can set up in-
dependent schools,’’ he said.

“CANADIAN |
CLOSET |
SHOPS |

ome @ Privat
Accelerated Weekend Ground School
~ commencing July 9, 1988

é

Ls

pee?

West Van

is ‘Lunch Monday: Friday -
11 :00- 0-5pm :

SS ~All'thru the’

La Belle, Sole,

RESTAURAN TO

935. 15th Street,

Dinner Monday- Saturday. |

Professional Pilot Program
_ Commencing, Sept. 6
)’ °.* for further details cal
! ~ Open 7. Days a Week -

, 1988 |

;, month! of July
‘Monday to... =
_ Thursday only.

926- 6861

9:30-11pm_