Time for sober second thought on referendums SO MUCH for the referendum (small ‘‘r’’) as the miracle cure for all our political headaches. An awful lot more lab work is needed before the treatment can finally be ap- How THe. ConsTITUTIONAL FIGHT GoT_ STARTED. C'MON... YEAH, You wiTil THe Sitty HAT! Youre THE. BIGGEST, MEANEST, UGLIEST PROBLEM FACING THIS / COUNTRY ... PUT EM UP! NEWS VIEWPOINT , A Canadian’s question ANADIANS pondering which way to vote in the upcoming Oct. 26 referendum on the proposed changes to Canada’s Constitution should tume out the gevernment-funded Yes pro- peganda flowing ever stronger from Ot- tawa. They should also apply more cotton bat- ting to ears to filter out the shrill No shouts from the fringes of the various well-entrenched special-interest groups that this country now supperts in such profu. on. . Their ears should instead be tuned to the thoughts of their neighbors, their friends and their families — all those who have a real stake in ti ~ future of this country. The Tory ¥: ‘orces, financed with mil- Hons of taxp .;’ dollars, have pandered to patriotism and played on fears of Canada’s collapse if the referendum is defeated. But their vested political interests are too many to make them trustworthy. The No whiners, meanwhile, want. everything for-. everyone without for- mulating any ziternatives more palatable than hat naysayers always offer: that change is bad no matter what kind of change © is. ; The real discussion on the whole issue of Canada’s constitutional future should take place sround the dinner table, with all the pollsters, politicians and philosophical hucksters left outside to steam up the win- dows. The real question to be answered: is the Charlottetown Accord good for Canada? “LETTER OF THE DAY Aquariums must stop whale slave trade Dear Editor: We were saddened to hear about the recent death of two captive whales who were held at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. The two Canadian belugas, who died after oniy one month in cap- tivity, were captured in August in Churchill, Manitoba. The real tragedy is that these deaths were “ inevitable. Those whales would still be alive had they been left in the wild. It is time for aquariums to drop the illusion that they are able to care for whales in captivity. Whether the excuse for captivity is education, research, breeding or greed, the whales still lead miserable lives and die young. We feei that it is time for legis- lation, from the municipal to the federal level, which would pro- hibit .the harassment, capture, confinement, import, export or breeding of cetaceans (whales and dolphins). The city of Toronto and the state of South Carolina have passed such laws. It is also time for the Ministry of Fisheries and Oceans to refuse any more permits for beluga cap- tures. Supplying the American aquarium industry with Canadian whales is not free trade. It’s slave trade. Bob Chorush coalition for no whales in captivi- ty, period Publisher... . Peter Speck Managing Editor .. Timothy Renshaw Asscciate Editor... ... Noe! Wright Sales & Markating Director Linda Stewart Comptroiier. =... .Doug Foot North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an ingependent suburpan newspaper and quatitied under Schedule 171, Paragrapn III of the Exase Tax Act, is published each Wednesday, Friday and Sunday by North Shore Free Press Ltd. and distributed to every door on the North Shore. Second Class Mail Registration Number 2885. Subscriptions North and Wesi Vancouver, $25 per year. Mailing rates available on request. uubmissions are welcome dul we cannot accept Newsroom responsibility for unsolicited material including V7M 2H4 manuscripts and pictures which should be accornpanied by a stamped, addressed enveiope. Display Advertising Real Estate Advertising 385-6982 Classified Advertising 986-6222 Distribution 986-1337 Subscriptions 986-1337 Fax 985-3227 Administration 985-2131 MEMBER 980-0511 Printed on 10% recycied newsprint 985-2131 . Nogth Shore managed GUNDAY + WEDNESGSY - FRIDAY 1139 Lonsdale Avenue, North Vancouver, 8.C. SOA DIVISION $1,582 (average circulation, Wednesday, Friday & Sunday) Entire contents © 1992 North Shore Free Press Ltd. All rights reserved. proved as safe for public use. **Participatory democracy”’ via the ballot box on every hot issue imaginable seems, after all, such a simple and obvious painkiller for the body politic. You want to be sure you're doing what peopie want? Then just go and ask them what they want. What the referendum en- thusiasts have overlooked so far is how to administer the pill, its ef- fective strength and its side-ef- fects. The first point has to do with the whole purpose of a referen- dum. Unlike an election, its sole aim is to obtain OPINION of voters on a proposal — NOT their support for those making the proposal. That means government should confine itself to providing purely factual information under strict neutrality rules laid down in the Ejections Act — leaving the battle itself (and its multi-million dollar bill!) exclusively to private backers and their opponents. Hf government is unshakably committed to the proposal, why hold a referendum.at all? Why not go for a firm mandate in an election? As to the second point, Brian Mulroney declared at the start of the current turmoil — mercifully ending next Monday — that he’d be happy with a 51.5% Yes vote. This, of course, is nonsense. What can ever justify taking ection that half the electorate rejects unless you've already decided to act anyway, before you ask them? A political party winning an election by a wafer-thin margin is a different matter altogether. The slighter the lead, the sooner the losing party or parties can look torward to a second chance — and the more, meanwhile, the victors will be kept on their toes. But a referendum is almost automatically about doing some- thing that cannot readily be un- done — or may NEVER be able to be undone. That’s why the minimum vote in almost all cases should be a binding 67%. Any- thing less should mean back to the drawing board. Monday’s result — after seven raucous weeks of doing it wrong and endless millions of tax dollars squandered on threats mixed with patriotic red herrings — seems most likely to be a hung jury at best. And among the after-effects would be almost no leaders left whese judgment can be trusted — Mike Harcourt and all the MIKE HARCOURT... discrediz bandwagen passenger? premiers, the Cretiens, McLaughlizs, Bob Whites and Ken Georgettis, the bankers, business chiefs and virtually the entire establishment having deen discredited along with Mulroney on whose bandwagon they scrambled. - As the TV commercial says: — There has to be a better way! SCRATCHP AD: Unwelcome probiem faces Nerth Van” Reformers following Saturday's. nomination meeting tie when Red‘: Clark and Ted White each polled 'S& .exactly the same number of votes“? -—~ meaning a further meeting is‘? needed for a run-off vote. Wha with hall-booking, due notice’ constituents and other prepara: tions, that could run them sm3 ! into the Christmas rush — prayliig.: all the time that Mulroney. w A cail a snap election ... North. V: Arts Council is sponsoring the display works by top Canadian artists Gathie Falk, Bill Reid, Gordon Smith, Robert Bateman, Joe Fafard and Jack Sbadboit oo display to Nov. 18 at North Van. City Hall, with released prints be- ing sold to raise funds for art © ~ enrichment in North Van schools ... And send 75th birthday greet: ings today, Oct. 21, to former , West Van mayor Den Lanskail ose WRIGHT OR WRONG — Mu phy’s 35th Law: The race is n always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but that’s how ta det. BRIAN MULRONEY... justification? what