t
j
Si

NORTH VANCOUVER Tory MP Chuck Cook toid city
councii Monday night that he felt compelled to presem
council members with the No side ef the constitutional
debate following the appearance of Capiiano-Howe Sound
a tory MP and Yes supporter Mary Collins before <ouncii

on'Sept. 28.

Referring to the Charlottetown
Accord. Cook said. ‘I'm not
prepared 10 see this province
become a permanent cojony of
central Canada, and that’s what
this document does.”’

Cook broke [Tory ranks on
Sept. 10 casting the lone No vote
among the three major parties as

Bihe House of Commons voted 233
to 12 in favor of the constitutional
referendum question.

Giving North Vancouver City
§ Council the reasons for his op-
position to the proposal, Cook

Homeless

By Layne Christensen
Contributing Writer

cited a “totally useless, ineffective
Senate,’’ unequal representation
between provinces where **2S% of
the seats in the House of Com-
mons go to Quebec in perpetui-
ty.” and ‘ta veto provision that
says you must have unanimity to
do anything.”*

Cook also came down hard on
the section of the constitutional

students

given reprieve to
find accommodation

Camper vans in Cap parking lot
to be moved by end of October

3 HOMELESS Capiiano College students who have been liv.
ing on a campus parking lot in their camper vans -have
been given until the end of October to find other accom-
modations or their vehicles will be towed away by the col-

lege’s administration.

m And the Capilano College Stu-

i dent Society (CCSS) has called on
the college’s administration to
provide affordable student hous-
ing for college students.

Melanie O'Neill, CCSS chair-
man,. said there are currently six
students living in their camper
vans on the coilege’s south park-
ing lot.

She said some of the students
have lived on the lot for the past
(wo years.

In a memo to the six students
last week, college vice-president
Dr. Robert Turner said that while

¥ the college has ‘turned a blind
eye’ to students living out of their

i camper vans on the college’s park-
ing fot, the college has been
receiving ‘‘an increasing number
of complaints from. other
members of the college communi-
ty (and) has left us no choice but
to prohibit this activity.”

Turner added that anyone who

s cannot immediately comply «ith
the order can make temporary ar-
rangements with the  college’s

f director of buildines and grounds
and can apply for financial aid

f and the services of the student

B cmployment offices.

QO'Neili said the campers ‘ cre
initially given two days’ notice to
vacate the parking lot.

“They begged for an exien-
sion.... “x lot of students’ von-
cerns have not been dealt with (by

By Surj Rattan
News Reporter

Student
said

college administration).
housing is a problem,"’
O'Neill.

‘“We're hoping to make the cal-
lege deal with it. They know it’s a
problem, and there’s a growing
number of students doing it.

“It is cold-hearted for the col-
lege administration to simply evict
these students without addressing
the financial difficulties that
Capilano students face.”

Student Ed Pierce, who has liv-
ed on the parking lot for one
year, said the college administra-
tion’s actions to remove the
campers were not justified.

“I was lucky enough to work
this summer to pay for my tuition
and books. Now, { have no
money for rent. I don't want to
get into a fight with the college, {
just want to learn,”’ said Pierce.

But Grea Lee, the college’s
vice-president of career and voca-
tional programs, said the college
does not have the money ‘or the
space to create student housing.

“We're sympathetic, and cer-
tainly we'd love to find affordable
student housing. out we're not
equipped to have the parking lot
turned into a camping area. We're
not a trailer park."

— —_

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Wednesday. October 21, 1992 — North Shore News - 3

oh

vi,

THE CONSTITUTIONAL QUESTION .

oO arguments to NVC

Tory MP says aboriginai seif-gov't couid create !ocai ‘cross-border’ shopping

NORTH VANCOUVER
CITY COUNCIL

accord that deais with aboriginai
seif-government . cailing oo the
“cruelest hoax that has ever been
played on the aboriginals of this

-country,""

“It could cause you a great deal
of problems Wf it were ever put in-
to effect." Cook told council.
“Could vou imagine having
cross-border shopping within the
District. or City of North Van-
couver?

“The last thing the City and the
District of North Vancouver need
is a major supermarket that pays
taxes ta neither of these
(municipal governments) and
which doesn't charge either pro-

sineral or federal canes. *

(ook aurtoned agamMst sun-
corting the proposa: for
eboraunai seif-government, saving
st Would become *"a third order o1
vovernment, equal to the province
if not Superior.”

Coun. stella Jo Dean con-
gratulated Cook for “putting B.C.
before the Conservative party."*

But Cook said he was putting
the voters in the federal riding of
North Vancouver ahead of any-
body.

Cook then restated his position
that should his riding vote No to
the constitutional agreement, he
would cross the floor of the
House of Commons and sit as an
independent ‘‘regardless of what
the country does or what the pro-
vince does.”"

“Yn the other and." f Gok
contmued., ff this nding snould
sole Yes ... and as muen as it may
pain me personally, iis tnen mv
duly to vote Yes to anv constutlu-
uona! proposals.’”

Asked by Coun. Bill Bell to
discuss the alternatives the No side
might pursue if the reterendum
guestion is defeated. Cook pro-
posed a moratoriuin.

“think there should be no
discussions until such a time as we
have an upheaval in politics,’’ he
said, adding that a new govern-
ment in Quebec and a new federal
government would be likely.

“Um prepared to admit we've
made a total mess of it. I think
it’s up to the next generation of
politicians to try and deal with the
issue again.’”

NEWS photo Mike Wakatield

LIBERAL OPPOSITION leader Gordon Wilson precents the No side at Friday’s Centennial Theatre
debate on tne constitutional referendum.

“Tory rhetoric lost on audience

From page 1
the Senate.

“The premiers themselves don’t
have a national vision. They
aren’t constitutional experts.’”

McWhinney also said he was
just as surprised as Quebec must
have been when he heard aboui
the guarantee of 25% of House of
Commons seats.

“Iv’s never been part of the
Quebec’s demands. It was a 5ur-
prise, but being offered a gift,
they took it.””

He also voiced his disapproval
with the federal ‘‘scare tactics’’
used to seil the agreement to Ca-
nadians, reassuring people: ‘‘The
country will not break up in any
case.””

Senator Perrault said the new
Senate proposed under the accord
would be ineffective and be
reduced to being little more than a
“nice public relations fixture on
Partiament Hiill.”’

Under the accord,
would be cut from
senators.

Each province would have six
senators; each territory would be
assigned one.

The Senate would have a 30-
day time limit to veto proposed
legislation involving fundamental
tax policy changes directly related
to natural resources, but the

the Senate
104 to 62

House of Commons could repass
such legislation by a majority
vote,

Perrault also criticized
redistribution of Senate seats.

He said that while both Quebec
and Ontario will lose 10 Senate
seats, they each gain 18 more
powerful seats in the House.

“They'll have a higher percent-
age of seats than before the Char-
lottetown agreement. Everyone
else has less. This isn’t decen-
tralization.

“It’s like trading hockey cards
— four peewee hockey players for
Eric Lindros, Pavel Bure, Mark
Messier and Wayne Gretzky. We

the

“don’t need $36 million worth of

new House members.”

During the ques-
tion-and-answer period following
the speakers, one male audience
member expressed concern that
native bands would gain total
control of their people without
federal or provincial intervention
power.

But native councillor Rivers said
such fears of aboriginal  self-
government were groundless.

He said federal and provincial
laws would continue to apply until
First Nations developed their own
laws.

The native laws, to be negoti-
ated within the next five years,

would be subject to Supreme
Court approval, he said.

Another North Vancouver man
asked: ‘If Quebec gets this and
provinces get that, what does
Canada get? What is Canada giv-
ing up in order to achieve tem- -
porary harmony? Devolution has
always led to dissolution ... a
slow, painful death.”

Several audience members in-
terviewed by the North Shore
News after the meeting said the
forum had uone little to change
their minds.

North Vancouver resident Lucy
Mason said she will vote No
because ‘‘it seems to me that the
Yes people are not a definite Yes.
They all have reservations.”

She said Mary Collins used typ-
ical Tory rhetoric, swaying peopte
to vote Yes because ‘‘it's the right
thing to do. This is terrorism in
nature. If you don’t vote Yes,
we'll fall apart. The only People
that speak with any confidence are
the No people.’’

George Forrestal, another North
Vancouver resident and avid con-
stitutional buff, said he had his
mind made up a long time ago.

“There is only one answer you
see — No. I do feel sorry for the
native people, but Quebec just
completely outrages me.”