6 - Sunday, July 28, 1991 - North Shore News INSIGHTS NEWS VIEWPOINT Hazardous wait HILE POLITICIANS argue amongst themselves over the del- egation of household hazardous waste disposal responsibilities, the public fumes and the environment suffers. Last yecr, the province funded almost 75% of the cost of the household hazard- ous waste drop-off weekends that were held around the Greater Vancouver Regional District, including one on the North Shore. With a total price tag of over $800,000 they were expensive. But they obviously filled a public need, if the long sineups of cars, laden with accumulations of hazard- ous materials, were anything to judge by. This year, plans for public hazardous waste disposal appear to be at a virtual standstill. The province has not committed itself to funding any portion of similar drop-off weekends this year, and the GVRD Solid Waste Committee has voted against scheduling any because of the cost. While the onus is on each of us to reduce consumption of household hazard- ous materials by using non-toxic alter- natives, there is a desperate need for the responsible disposal of existing hazardous wastes. Currently, the only hazardous waste disposal facility is in Surrey, and it is only open to the public two days per month (660-1177), Because most North Shore res- idesis are unwilling or unable to make this trip. their hazardous wastes are likely to remain in basements indefinitely — or, worse yet, be poured down the drain in frustration. NEWS QUOTES OF THE WEEK *‘No, I didn’t because I was too busy cleaning my oven.” North Vancouver resident Joanne Divine, when asked by the Inquiring Reporter if she had followed the Social Credit lead- ership race. Pacific were probably even wath frying pans, It’s a false argument as far as I'm concerned.”’ Shooters member Mike MacNeal, on the belief that a proliferation of guns leads to an increased use of the cial fimb so it's hard not to worry. Il be difficult collecting enough pop bottles to pay it back.”’ Stein festival founder John McCandless on shouldering poten- tial financial losses from the festi- val. Association weapons in domestic disputes, “If you are a computer person, “Lam not seeking a fight with the there are two ways to capitalize on your skills: sell them an hour at a time and drop dead after some number of years from burnout, with, you hope, something in the bank, or develop a product."’ George Pajari, president of Faximum Software Inc., on life in the high-tech lane, “In Calaary a year ago, handguns Publisher Managing Editor Associate Editor Advertising Director Comptroiter Peter Speck Timothy Renshaw Noel Wright Linda Stewart Doug Foot “It takes two seconds to check the water depth. If you don’t, it’s not worth a lifetime of having to be disabled.”' Spinal Cord Injury Prevention Program speaker Joan Beck, on the need for caution and common sense when diving in such danger- Ous areas as Lynn Canyon Park. “Ruby and f are out on a finan- Display Advertising 980-0511 Rea! Estate Advertising 985-6982 Newsroom 985-2131 C8 NCH (88 MONTH Att WHEAT VINE OU NER North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an - Oistribution Subscnptiens Classified Advertising 986-6222 Fax Admuristration mayor, but if there is an obstacle to getting the job done then it is my job to remove it and if I can- not do that, make if public. Because at election time the peo- ple will ask me, not who was your friend on council, but what did you accomplish?"* North Vancouver District Ald. Ernie Crist, on his feud with district Mayor Murray Dykeman. North Shore managed 986-1337 986-1337 985-3227 985-2131 MEMBER independent suburban newspaper and qualitied F nre. —— under Schedule 113, Paragraph II of the £ «cise Tax Act, ts published each Wednesday. Fruday und Sunday by North Shore Free Press Lid and disinbuted to every door on ihe North Snore Second Class Mall Registration Number 3845 Supscnpliens North and West Vancouver, $5 pet year Mailing tates available on request SUNDAY + WEDNESDAY » FRIDAY 1139 Lonsdale Avenue, North Vancouver. BC Ma SN’ SDA OIMSION Submissions are weicome but we cannot accept responsibihly for urcchicited maternal mcludng manuscepts and pietures which snould or accompanied by 2 Stamped addressed envelope V7M 2H4 Entire contents « 61,582 iiverage circulation Wednesday Frday & Sunday) 1991 North Shore Free Press Ltd. All rights reserved One magic word and Canada is yours for years IMMIGRATION IS in chaos — that’s the theme of an ongoing crusade by West Van author and speaker Charles Campbell. Former vice-chairman of the Immigration Ap- peal Board, he knows what he’s talking about. Talking about it the other week tothe Vancouver Kiwanis Club, he pointed up one of the key problems. Immigration and ref- ugees have become so complex a subject that few ordinary Cana- dians begin to grasp the dimen- sions of the chaos and where it is leading us. The basic facts and figures are fairly simple, however. The ret started in 1978 with two new measures by the Trudeau government. First, landed im- migrants were allowed to sponsor “extended families’’ to join them, Second, a cumbersome, two-tier “refugee determination system*’ was introduced, This allowed virtually anyone into the country simply by telling the inmmigration officer he was a ref- ugee. Once in, the slow process to determine whether the refugee claim was genuine began and could take a year or longer. If that hurdle was cleared, there followed an equally lengthy pro- cess to establish whether the ref- ugee qualified as a landed im- migrant in terms of health, crimi- nal record, etc. The system is still in place and the rest, as the saying goes, is his- tory. The word quickly got around Asia and the Third World that all you needed to enter a BARBARA MCDOUGALL... 220,000 more warm bedies by Christmas. Canada and stay indefinitely was to be able to pronounce the word “refugee’’ at the port of entry. So during the 1980s ‘‘refugees’’ ar- rived in droves — as many as 50,000 a year — resulting ina processing backlog of 122,000 by 1989, Today it’s well over 150,000. The 1989-90 story tells why — and why there’s no relief in sight. During those two years, in round- ed figures, 58,000 refugee claims were received but only 21,000 were processed, thus adding 37,000 to the existing backlog. Some 15,000 of the 21,000 pro- cessed were granted refugee status but only one in six of them had cleared the second stage — landed immigrant qualification — by the end of 1990, and only one in eight of the 6,000 bogus refugee claim- ants had actually been deported. Noe} Wright HITHER AND YON Meanwhile, the program set up by former immigration minister Barbara McDougall, and still op- erative, projects a further 220,000 immigrants in 1991. Since in- dependent iminigrants from tradi- tional U.K. and European sources, admissible solely on merit, have been drastically cut back since the 1981-82 recession, many of this year’s influx will ob- viously get their foothold in Canada — in practice often for years — travelling on the refugee ticket. There's nothing ‘“‘racist’’ about Campbell’s presentation of these statistics. On the contrary, he stresses that he does not blame the nu -weomers. He describes them as VICTIMS of the government’s policy, which both opposition parties endorse. But how did such a crazy seif- defeating policy ever come to be? Where is it taking Canada? And what can be done about it? More on those questions next week. SCRATCHPAD: In Toronto last week, from the back of a 1991 Volkswagen Passat crammed with thousands of entry forms, they pulled the grand prizewinning ballot in a nationwide Volkswagen-Delta Hotels contest — and the name was Michel Maurer of North Van. A Mon- treal native living for the past 12 years in B.C., Michel will collect the Passat itself at a celebration event next month in Toronto ... if you didn’t manage a 1991 Love Boat cruise to those islands in the sun, hop down right away to Waterfront Park, where the Trinidad & Tobago Cultural Society's “Caribbean Day"’ is in full swing until 7 o'clock this evening ... And a very happy first anniversary today, July 28, to West Van’s Mayor Mark and Kathryn Sager. WRIGHT OR WRONG: The weaker the argument, the stronger the words.