’

100

MY LATE friend Judge Les
pews Used to write a col-
umn for the Varicouver Sun,
and once got into a mess of
trouble for saying the wrong
thing, which is not unusual
for those who teli the truth.

— tell the
Collins

SON THE OTHER HAND

1 forget his exact words but the
gist was that the more aid we send |
to basket-case countries, the more
their people will breed and the

” worse their situations will become.

He set off an early version of
the Clayoquot Sound protestology

_ explosion. Do-gooders and dopes

held indignation meetings. His ed-
itors trembled. Apologies were

i. made..He hadn’t meant that, they
- Claimed. It was a typo, etc. |

I thought of Les recently ai a:

seminar tn Toronto put on by

Citizens for Foreign Aid Reform
(C-FAR). For one of the speakers
(L.was the other but let’s not go °
into that) was Professor Garrett
Hardin of the University of
California, Santa Barbara.

The bottom line was just what
Les had stated. Except that the
prof was more academic about it.

If you doi’t know about Dr.

‘Hardin let me introduce him. |

He is a gentle but gutsy Amer-
ican who is known as an
ecological philosopher.’

He is also the author of the

" lifeboat theory, which states that

the boat will sink if you take too
many people on board.

In his latest book, Living With
Limits (which | recommend), the

KEN BAXTER

“INSIG

fel

The people of the Third World
must change their lifestyles and
help themselves. 99

professor returns briefly to that
theory. This is the way he surn-
marizes it and the madness of
which our misguided humanitari-
ans are guilty:

A ship has foundered and the

* passengers have taken to a life-
boat. A rescue helicopter fiovers
over the scene and sends back this
message:

“Things look pretty good.
We're close enough now to see the
lettering on the gunwale. It reads:
Capacity 64. I would estimate that
about 85 people are in the boat
already, and more are climbing
aboard ail the time.

“With the continuation of such

a healthy growth in the passenger

population we have nothing to
worry about!”’-. ,”

That is a neat summary of the
idiocies of both foreign aid and
immigration. Not that our new
Liberal government will take any
notice, as we are seeing already.
They invented idiocy.

In Dr. Hardin’s view, foreign
aid should be called foreign in-
tervention, which is what it is.

Don’t lunatic rock artists and
deluded governments descend on —
countries like Ethiopia and
Somalia, teiiisg the locals what to
do and often getting into «vars

- with them as a result?

Much of this costly ‘‘aid’’ ends
up in warehouses or in the hands
of the rich. Only a fraction goes
to the poor. It is also a fact that
we are taxing our poor in order to
help their rich. But our blubberers
don’t want to know about that.

The prof is not hard-hearted,
any more than Les was. He has
studied aid on the ground, how-
ever. And, yes, there are famines
in the far places, but:

“If we intervene and save those
lives, what we are ensuring is that
the population will increase
again.””

The answer is that the people of

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the Third World must change their
lifestyles and help themselves. It is
in the realm of ideas and educa-
tion that aid must be given,

He quotes the example of india,
where birth control has the gup-
port of government. But what do
you do when the people reject it?
Or when Hindu fathers want sons
to light their funeral pyres and girl
babies are unwanted?

Indian women, he poiiied out,
‘‘live in a very repressive at-
mosphere until they are married.
Then they have to obey their hus-
bands and their mothers-in-law.
Things get better when they have a
male child. And better still when
they have three or four children.”’

Nothing can be done until the
social system changes.

Bangladesh is about the same
size as lowa. But it has 2 popula-
tion of 120,000,006. lowa has
3,000,000. If we send more food
to the Bangladeshis they will be
able to have even more people.

China has a billion-plus popu-
iation, Also strict family limita-
tion. But even an increase of 1%
per year means that the popula-
tion will double in 70 years.

Foreign aid has become a vir-
tual industry because a lot of peo-
ple profit from it.

The “humanitarians’’ get to feel

ERNIE CRIST

Wednesday, November 17, 1993 - North Shore News -

NE AW Ot *

R.WAC. DISTRICT

ad

oat theory (eEtittr

good, The owners of tractor fac-
tories make money. Bureaucrats
want a job.

Say that again, prof, Our Ca-
nadian International Development
Agency (CIDA) costs us $2.5
billion a year and employs about
1,100 people, all living high off
the hog. It pavs them to do good,
all right.

The professor has a neat
description for journalists, politi-
cians, lawyers and academics who
support things like foreign aid and
immigration. He calls them ‘the
symbolic ciass,’” meaning that
they know about words but are
out of touch with the real world.

‘At the big round table in the
sky, my friend Les must be smil-
ing. Wasn't the symbolic class
always after his ass?

SAREE SNA ET HEE eS

NOSE Rat fs

For Councillor in
West Vancouver
Vote for an effective
experienced Councillor with #
integrity and energy for
the job, and commitment
to the community.

“GIVE ME TIME TO~
READ MY PAPER

A SOLUTION TO THE
CURRENT TRAFFIC CHAOS

A Rapid Transit extension to North Van is absolutely essential
if we are to maintain our North Shore livability, if we are
serious about protecting our environment and our healih, not
to speak of our pocket-book. For those reasons we must push
for it now, not 10 or 20 years down the road.

80% of the pollutants we pour into the Vancouver air annually
stem from the automobile. The effects are showing up in the
food chain, even in mothers’ milk. It contributes to the

depletion of ozone,causing serious ailments, including cancer.

Ic is turning the region into a concrete jungle, destroying the livability of our city and neighbourhoods.
fis direct costs, not counting costs to health, injuries and property damage, amount to $10,000 for
every man, woman and child per year while other priorities such as health and education are short of

funds.

We are moving cars, not people, while we are crawling along congested roads, inhaling toxic fumes.
Many people take their car to work only because buses are too slow and inconvenient. We need Rapid

Transit.

I attempted to get our Council to push the Provincial Government and the GVRD for a commitment
to that effect or put it in the planning stage. But all my motions were deferred. Let's wait, they said, and
see what the Province comes up with on its own.

The Province is already talking about another crossing for cars with tolls. Who is going to pay for the
road expansion? If there is no Rapid Transit Link in place, it will only punish those who have to work

across the inlet.

What we need is a three tier system: Rapid Transit, Fast Buses, and Mini Buses taking people into their

neighbourhoods. To influence the Provincial decision, we must speak in unison wit
8 Pp

the other North

Shore municipalities and we must do it now. Needless to say, if re-elected, | will continue my campaign.

I need your support.

Ernie Crist, Councillor, District of North Vancouver

FUTURE GENERATIONS WILL JUDGE US BY THE DEGREE OF PRUDENCE AND FORESIGHT WE HAVE
DISPLAYED AND NOT BY WHAT IS CONVENIENT FOR THE DAY ‘

ON

ee

NOVEMBER 20, YOUR

VOTE REALLY

NE zy

DOES COUNT

Donations to help pay for this ad may be sent co Ernie Crist Election Fund, 2589 Fromme Rd., N.Van., V7J 3K5