46 - Wednesday, March 23, 1983 - North Shore News EBeditorial pang Explain, please Charges of council “arrogance” have been flying recently in all three North Shore municipalities. Nerth Van City is under fire for its closed- session interludes during weekly meetings. North Van District council has been em- broiled in the mini-pumper controversy. West Van council has been attacked for rejecting an apparently popular neigh- borhood pub application. Also simmering in West Van is the issue of public input on major changes for Ambleside Park. To a point the criticisms betray ignorance on the part of the critics about council's function. A council is elected to make decisions deemed to be in the best interests of the community as a whole. If voters disapprove of the overall result, they can fire council members at the next election. Between elections, however, council cannot routinely allow special interest or pressure groups to dictate its decisions on each specific issue. Government by weekly “plebiscite” could only spell chaos. Aside from other considerations, the process would be so time-consuming that the con- duct of pulic business would be seriously jeopardized. Nevertheless, councils do have a duty to listen carefully when major issues arouse strong public feeling. More importantly, they have a duty to explain in detail the reasoning behind decisions that run contrary to popular viewpoints — just as a judge sums up his reasoning in detail in a court of law. Councils which make decisions in closed sessions and treat subsequent public reaction as & mere nuisance deserve what they later get in the polling booth. Dollar justice Deficit or no deficit, Victoria’s drastic cutback in Legal Ald Society funding must be reversed. Otherwise, thousands of British Columbians unable to afford a lawyer's astronomic fees will now be denied legal help in Family Court, summary conviction and civil cases. The cutback reduces justice to a consumer commodity like a new car or stereo. If you haven't the dollars, you do without it. TOR COVLE OF MOWTN AND WEST VANCOUVER sunday. en at A Ee gre tw = Diapiay Advertising 980-0511 north shore Classified Advertising 986-6222 rt ews Newsroom 965-2131 Circulation 986-1337 1139 Lonsdale Ave North Vancouver BC V7M 2H4 Publlaher Peter ‘ype bk Associate Publisher Robert Grathiann Editor in-chiot Noel Wright Advortising Director Tren beeaneis Personnet Director Mrs Berri bilan cd Circulation Director tartans AE dhs Production Director C Pye dob yevsscoes Ottice Manago: (omer Car arid, Photography Manager Terty Paters North Shore Mewes founded a HO a dergrer ent se merunity ret deag pare epee d cpesembebeesd) catvetert Soe trerctiste We Raet HP aggeagoh Ue at the bene Tae Alt US prutihabed Bact Wedbesday and onamday try Neoett Freee Ltd meee) detent osteres 1 “stun Spare cota 6 every Gaye on the Nort Nucntes 1a Entice Contents 1902 North Shure tree Presa tid Ali rights reserved trans Mad Ho gentratee Teeab ome cagetecs Neth ater Wermt var oe ORT pe yom Mattie, less be entbent pbes soe ooprest pete Hoe Lotte oe Oe a MMe VERE HAC A TON D4 54) Wednesday 44 093 Sunday sx. & THIS PAPER IS RECYCLABLE MAINSTREAM CANADA How to borrow big trouble By W.ROGER WORTH PEOPLE operating § the smaller firms that are the real job creators in this recession-plagued economy are quick to emphasize that ee - interest rates play a crucial role in whether they will hire, fire, close down plants or expand. So it’s perhaps understandable that the Canadian Federation of Independent’ Business (which represents 64,000 such entrepreneurs) has THE DEFICIT \S LIKE AN ACCORDION... WHO KNOWS HOW FAR YOU CAN STRETCH IT! ra \* unemploymert problem. been pressing governments at all levels to hold the line on spending. The reason: high government deficits directly affect the imterest rates charged to both = small businesses and consumers. And few people can argue that the deficits haven’t been high. Ottawa, for example, spent $26-billion more than it received during the last 12 months. And the provinces have borrowed at least $22- billion during the same period, leading some inter- national lenders to question our ability to control spending. An international credit rating agency, for instance, has already lowered credit ratings on Quebec and Nova Scotia, forcing the two provinces to pay higher interest rates on the money they borrow. In addition, the agency continues to review the other provinces. Meanwhile, Finance Minister Marc Lalonde is being pushed to ancrease spending in an upcoming budget, adding about $5 bilhon of new money for government mak swork projects im an a at to reducé high unemp/ syment. Sone groups #/e also prgssing the pre-vinces to fatow that lead, creating . ven more shortterm jobs as ‘a “quick ff" for the y All this new money, of course, would have to be borrowed, and future generations of Canadians would be forced to pay back the interest, as well as the principal. But the dreamers promoting such make-work projects fail to understand that such borrowing’ would drive up interest rates, or at least keep them well above those in the United States. The result: the nation’s smaller firms will not expand and create jobs. Instead, the entrepreneurs will be forced to sit tight, or even con- solidate their operations, perhaps resulting in further layoffs. With near-record business failures, this is has been a remarkably tough period for the country’s smaller firms. They've been threatened with devastating tax policy changes, and are paying massively for increases in unemployment insurance costs. At the same tume, the entrepreneurs have watched profits become losses, even while they were forced to lay off staff,: - The “dct is, neither Ottawa nor U provinces can afford the ybillions of borrowed dofars suggested for make- wyrk projects. It’s high ame ey learned to live with that eality. (CFIB- Feature Service / Service) Shirley comes to Bill’s aid THE BEST NEWS for Premier Bill Bennett — PE ST nervously holding the tp of the, election wnt between his thumb and forefinger — came last week from an unlikely source: none other than federal Liberal Party president Ilofia Campagnolo. Ms. Campagnolo, here on a speaking engagement before the North Van Chamber of Commerce. revealed that the born-again BC Liberals under Shirley McLoughlin plan to contest every mding 1m the upcoming provincial clection (at latest count they're reported to have 220. confirmed can didates and another eight just about lo yump in) By contrast, the provincial Tones still struggling for Ife after the disasters of the past ycars will be lucky to field even a couple of candidates in the SO ridings In 1979) you may recall ut was the other way round Gallant Tory chieftain Vic Stephens somchow managed (oO muster no less than 40 Tory hopetuls Ihey all crashed to defeat but the four ot Course votes they did taken wih were from the Soc reads raey Tothill s pathetic tinflac ted barely oa scratch unm ihe overall NDP results Meanwtnile Libcral leader Jey live candidates “SWING” SEAPS When theres a chote tn Ho its between NDP and Liberals at ome end of the and Thos the Son teads wall spe trum Socreds Tones at the other taomc poocnanad | have the right-wing voters all to themselves — with the McLoughlin brigade gnawing chunks oat of the moderate leftish vote which would otherwise have to settle for Dave Barrett's new pinstripe tmage A few minutes with the 1979 elecOon results and a pocket calculator suggest Mr Bennett) has every reason to be grateful for che promised contnbution of the provincial Grits Ao preliminary — anatysis shows 13) “swing” ridings (two oof them double member ndings. therefore IS “swing” seats out of the Legislature’s total of 5/) A swing scat ts conventionally defined aside trom special Cipeumstanecs as one where the incumbent MEA won last Gime by a margin of less than 1 OOO lead Of less than 10 per cent in the popular vote votes and of a Nane of these swing seats Columbia River lLDpewdney Kamloops KRootenay Prince Crooege Neurth, Saamech and Phe Islands Surrey and Van couver Little Mountain (two members} arc) presently held by Socreds of whom at least two and possibly chice are sor Custesuitny foos ic chee thon Phe ost NDP Baurpaty macginal Athin ridings are re Noel Wright Willingdon, Comorz, Shu swap Revelstoke, Skecna and the second Surrey scat Reduced to tts umplest terms, this mcture mcans that the Socreds would start with potcattially morc seats to lose than the New [Demon rats 10% DIFFERENCE? Once the clection cam paign rolls, of course, many strange and = uncapcecied things can (and frequently do) happen, But in a straight Soured NDP fight: a) would not be unrcahstc. at this stage oof the game. to cn visage Mer Benanctt lonang five oof bes doubthul one and Mr seats Barrett losing two of his. Which would make Mr. Barrett premicr of B.C. with a highly uncomfortable 29- 28 majority of one — thereby raising the = cn- tertainment valuc of the Legislature to new highs for the next year or two. Happily for Mr. Bennctt, it isn't going to be a straight Socred-NDP fight. In the 1979 clection Tory candidates were frequently grabbing anything from seven to per cent of the vote in seven out of 10 BC mdings In 1983 that Tory vote, in the absence of Tory candidates, should revert, by and large, to the Socreds Meanwhile, it's Mr Bennett's fervent hope that the rejuvenated provincial Liberals may grab anything up to 10 per cent per riding from the New Democrats He wouldn't even grudge them clecting an odd MLA of their own tn the process The end result should almost certainly help Mr Bennett hang on to his present modest four to five scat majority om the Legislature Possibly = with even one of two catra scats but don't lets get camed away Nothing ts more ua predictable than the BC voter, an Mr Bennett's dad discovered in 1972 after providing the province with 200 years of unpatalletcd prosperity [ts aot (hat we re ungratcfual Ball We pust bhe lo capernment Any bet oo Shirley Mclaughlin as C's next premicr” gust for fun