By lan Noble News Reporter BEFORE the federal campaign has even begun, Libe © North Vancouver candidate Warren Kinsella and incumbent Reform MP Ted White have already lobbed ver- bal and written volleys followed up by accusations of libel. In fact, it was due to that tit-for-tat process that Kinsella said he finalized his decision to take on the first-term Reform incumbent. Their dispute started at a Ted White-orga- nized meeting, that featured a Bloc Quebecois MP in October. Kinsella said he rose to ask a question that “included references to White’s former associa- tion with the Western Canada Concept western separatist party before White cut off the sound to Kinsella’s microphone. White asked the audience whether Kinsella should be allowed to continue and the audience turned thumbs down to Kinsella’s speech. Kinsella couldn't continue. “(White) advertises himself as a great believer in direct democracy. I said to him (after the meeting) you know Mr. White, for a guy who says he supports democracy you seem to only support the democracy that supports you. “After that I started thinking not only did I want Ted White beaten, but I started thinking: about beating him myself,” said Kinsella. . White says he had no objection to letting Kinsella speak: It was the audience that demanded Kinsella step down. “If anything, it would have been un:’emocratic for me to force the audience to listen to him when they had already made it clear they had heard all they wanted to hear from him,” said White. But the episode did not end there. Instead, it_moved to print. In his taxpayer-subsidized column in the North Shore News, White, after saying Kinsella attempted a character attack on him, noted Kinsella had worked for former Liberal leaders Jean Chretien and John Turner, as well as Liberal minister David Dingwall. “His intervention last weekend was proba- bly an indication that opponents of Reform intend to once again put innuendo and per- sonal attacks ahead of serious policy discussions during the next election campaign.” Kinsella said he contacted White and demanded an apology. White responded in another column. “It was unfair tor me to suggest in my Ocrober 23 column what (Kinsella’s) motives had been in trying to speak. In the heat of political debate occasionally things get said that should not be said,” wrote White. In explaining his association with the WCC, White said: “It was the era of the famous Trudeau finger salute, and like a lot of other frustrated westerners, I thought it might be a good idea at the time to try to have B.C. go it alone. Once the Reform Party appeared ... it became apparent that there was a vehicle available for addressing Western concerns in a serious way in Ottawa.” Kinsella has also attacked the Reform party from a broader perspective. Kinsella wrote a book in 1994 dded Web of Hate — Inside Canada’s Far Right Network. In it, he tries to draw a link between the Reform party and the country’s right-wing hate AUTHOR and Liberal candidate Warren Kinsella locked hor Warren Kinsella and Ted White face off in North Vancouver federal riding groups that dot the country. “Also joining the ranks of haters are a few members of osten- sibly mainstream political organizations such as the Retorm Party, some of whose activists are increasingly associated with extreme expressions of bigotry and intolerance. To his credit, Reform Party leader Preston Manning expels those individuals whenever the media bring their existence to his attention. But the question Manning has yer to answer, of course, is this: if his party is nor racist, why are so many racists attracted to it?” Some think that’s going way too far, including University of Calgary political scientist Tom Flanagan. He was a member of a Reform party committee charged with finding and ferreting out racists in the Reform party. In the end, he could only find three or four people. He called Web of Hate an “interesting journalistic survey of Centennial Theatre: Art by Douglas Race and Jeremy Walters can be viewed noon to 4 p.m., Mon. - Fri. Dundarave Cafe: Realism and Whimsy. Paintings by Margaret Key. To April 11. Ferry Building Gallery: Colour Concept: Still Life and Landscapes, the paintings of Leonard Brett and Jim fickling. March 25 ~ April 6. Opening reception at 6 p.m. Artist's dialogue March 25 at 1] a.m. and April} at 7 p.m. Hours: ll am. to 5 p.m., closed Mondays. Info: 925-7290. Leo Marshall Curriculum Centre, Artists for Kids Gallery: Buas, Birds and Beasts, Jack Shadbolt’s first young, people's exhibition. Weekends, noon to 4 pa To April 26. North Vancouver City Halk Kenneth Patrick Batler present ed by the North Vancouver Community Arts Council. Business hours. North Vancouver District Hall: A Prayer for the Speeies. Valen Metz’s colorful monoprints. Sponsored by the North Vancouver Community Arts Council to March 27. Business hours. North Vancouver Museum and Archives: Hares. Historic photographs look at the role flumes played in the transportation of shingle bolts to the mills of Burrard Intet. To April 30. Info: 987-5618. Seymour Art Gallery: Discovery "97: The Darker Side. Annual juried exhibition featuring the works of 40 artists from the greater Vancouver area.To April 6. Gallery hours: Tues. to Sum, 12-4 p.m. Info: 924-1378. West Vancourer Collects! Coast Salish baskets, West Vancouver Girl Guides’ mementos, and a section on “modern” office technology (turn of the century to World War 1). Museums info: 925-7295, —— Compiled by Martin Millerehip West Vancouver Museum and Archives: Exhibition includes NEWS Photo Cindy Goodman ns with Ted White. CURRENT budget deliberations that may see cuts to municipal funding for the arts in West Van have prompted cultural organizations like the Ferry Building Gallery to take proactive measures. A newly-installed Peter Kiss sculpture solicits donations from gallery-goers. Volunteer Maria Malcolm takes the bate and deposits a foonie. Sunday, March 23, 1997 — North Shore Nows — 17 white racism” and accurate, except in its exagger- ated importance of the topic and atvibution of tight linkages between right-wing hate groups and other organizations like the Reform party. With the short but volatile history berween White and Kinsella, Jay Straith, a North Vancouver lawyer who lost the Liberal nomination a few weeks ago to Kinsella, said the race between the two could be interesting. “If Warren and Ted decide to make those the issues in this constituency it could make it verv lively. I frankly think everyone would be better served bv an election focusing on issues,” said Suaith. Both White and Kinsella told the News they would also rather discuss issues. Kinsella men- tioned jobs, health care, crime, and deficit and debr-tighting. Borrowing a phrase trom B.C. Liveral leader Gordon Campbell, who Kinsella worked for in last vear’s election, Kinsella said: “Governments should keep their books the way they require you and I to keep our books.” Asks Whiie: “Since the Liberals were elected. are your streets any safer, has the Young Offenders Act been fixed, is the country more unified, are you any more satisfied with the way the immigra- tion system works, is the medical system func- toning any better, is Canada’s debt load Jower, and has the CPP underfunding problem been solved?” Kinsella, a journalism school graduate and lawyer, worked for Jean Chretien as a speech writer and in a Liberal media communications unit during the last federal election. After Chretien’s victory, Kinsella joined the office of David Dingwali, the Minister of Public Works. Dingwall’s ministry was in charge of Crown cor- porations like Canada Post and the Canada Mortgage and Housing Co. For the well-connected Kinsella, who came to North Vancouver in 1995, charges of being para- chured into a riding are predictable. “I’ve never scen a guy miss snow and ice so quickly,” joked Suraith, who acknowledged he’s viewed as a bit of a rebel in the Liberal party. But Kinsella said he’s not been flown in by the party brass to take a shot at White. Instead, the 13-hour days he worked in Ortawa had to end when his child was born. So he accepted an offer from Palmer Jarvis, a commu- nications and advertising firm, in Vancouver. He said he chose North Vancouver for its close proximity to Vancouver and cheaper real estate prices. Kinsella moved here in 1995, but said he wasn't thinking of running federally at the time. “You don’t move all the way across the country just to move all the way back,” he said. When asked if the fact Kinsella has not lived here long will hurt him, Straith said: “It’s something he’s got to deat with. He has to demonstrate an ability to listen to people in the community — where they are at and what they see is bring required in Otrawa. “He’s a quick study but it’s not an easy thing to pick up,” said Straith. With the pressure for an election call building, the heat shown benween the nvo in October has simmered. Kinsella said he’s not going to take White anything bur seri- ously. “One thing Pve learned is it’s fooihardy not to treat an opponent with respect.” Said White: “I do not fight election campaigns by making per- sonal attacks on my opponents.” Stay tuned. il NEWS photo Cindy Goodman