6 - Wednesday, January 31, 1990 - North Shore News INSIGHTS GST like buying a used car from Brian or Mike SHED AN occasional tear of pity for Mary Collins and Chuck Cook, forced to tediously repeat the Mulroney- Wilson catechism on the Gouge & Screw Tax. Despite all the apparently rea- sonable and logical arguments ad- vanced by the government in sup- port of the tax, the two North Shore MPs are getting nowhere with their efforts to defend it. The same is true of most of their em- battled Tory colleagues across Canada. Even with the GST rate lowered {o seven per cent from nine per cent polls still show almost three Canadians out of four vigorously opposed to the new levy. What the frustrated Tory MPs seem unable to grasp is the TRUE reason for this massive public rejection of the measure. It has much more to do with personal credibility than percent- ages. Although nobody ever wel- comes new taxation, most Cana- dians are by now genuinely con- vinced that effective action must be taken against the huge $30 billion-plus deficit and the mushrooming $320 billion gov- ernment deb: which feeds it. But they are NOT convinced that the government — even with the GST — will take the required action. In short, alas, they no A death. ing lead. yers in subsequent cases. legislated standards. Law erosion NORTH Vancouver family’s outrage over the sentence handed last week to the driver of 2 vehicle that struck and killed their 21-year-old son should be shared by all right-thinking people. A Vancouver provincial court judge sentenced the driver to a one-month jail term, a $2,000 fine and suspended the man’s driver’s licence for three years after finding him guilty of dangerous driving causing The driver could be eligible for parole after serving a mere 10 days of his sentence. As Canadians we often find ourselves se!f-righteous- ly denouncing the U.S. phenomenon of a pistol-pack- ing populace doing its deathly business by way of fly- But are we as a society any less primitive? The message we are sending drivers appears to be that we sanction vehicular homicide. A tougher reading of the laws already in place is not a simple matter of vengeance. The practical consideration is one of precedent. Le- nient sentences tend to be trotted out by defence law- The process is ultimately one of piecemeal erosion of longer TRUST Brian Mulroney's and Michaet Wilson’s sales pitch. They do not understand how a supposedly ‘*revenue-neutral"’ tax which needs 4,000 extra civil ser- vants on the government payroll to collect it is going to reduce expen- ditures. They can’t figure out how boosting the inflation rate from five per cent to seven per cent or more (Wilson’s own forecast) will help either the deficit or the economy. To date they see no evidence of the government tightening its own belt in earnest. In his February budget Mr. Wilson will have to do far better than merely chopping a cosmetic $1 billion here, a symbol- ic $500,000 there. To become } = —" 3 Photo submitted BALLET FOLCLORICO NACIONAL DE M WEDNESDAY + FRIDAY North Shore News, tounge in 1969 as an independent ax suburban newspaper and qualited under Schedule 111 Paragtaph Ht of the Excise Tax Act. 15 published each Wednesday. Friday and Sunday by North Snore Free Press Lid and distributed to every door on the North Shore Second Class Mat Registrateon Number 3885 Subscnptions North and West Vancouver, $25 per year Maing rates available on request Submissions are welcome bul we cannot accept responsibility tor unsolrcted matetial mictuding Manuscripts and prctures a 1139 Lonsdale Avenue, North Vancouver, 8.C. V7M 2H4 59,170 ‘average, Wednesday Friday & Sunday) which should be accompanied by a stamped, addressed enveiope SOA DASION Subscriptions MARK Lee... first-year winner. wake WRAP-UP: Congrats to North Van's Mark Lee, first-year arts student from Camrose Lutheran College, Alta., on winning the Athletic Award for Hockey and a Special Grant, totalling $600 ... Any wartime employees of the Commonwealth Air Training School, No.19 EFTS, Virden, Man. out there? If so, you and spouse are cordially invited to the station’s 50th reunion, June 22 — please RSVP right away to Alvin Sararas, Box 93, Virden, Man. ROM 2C0 ... And if you aspire to a black belt, drop by Tuesdays and Thursdays until Feb. 27, 6:30-7:30 p.m., at the West Van ‘Y’, 1735 Inglewood, where they’re teaching Shotokan Karate to all ages from seven to adult. eae WRIGHT OR WRONG — Richard Needham said it all: Poli- ticilans never made a poor country rich but are highly skilled at mak- ing a rich country poor. 985-3227 North Shore owned and managed Entire contents «) 1990 North Shore Free Press Ltd. Ail nghts reserved.