ATT AI sew A LD birreite \ ws, Gi BE ‘PURITANICAL decision made | recently, ‘by North Vancouver . City “council members ‘to! dismiss a well- ‘intentioned bid by North Shore charities to’: . ing 15% would have goue to the manager “to pay for rent, establish a professionally - operated’ bingo “-hall-ia the municipality smacks of | overly \ rigid thinking ‘end short-sightedness. ‘As matters siand, local charities seeking . fonding througi:’ gaming. must compete - “with. other organizations ° in communities ‘elsewhere. ate -< Under ‘the local. profcésional bingo | pro- . posal, ,. invested approximately: $250,000 to convert a building in the, 100-block of ‘East First Street. the. Northstar. Charity Bingo . '" Association would have: ‘operated by rules. . established by the B.C.° Gaming .Commis- - ‘sion: A: professional | manager would have ° decision Gaming Commission rules stipulate that operating charities ‘earn 25% of gross receipts. Not’ more than 60% of receipts may be paid out as winnings. The remain- maintenance, part-time staff salaries, a 2% licensing fee and fur- nishing cost recovery. A licence for alcohol was not part of the equation. North Shore bingo enthusiasts spend much of their mnroney elsewhere. Why not directly benefit local organiza- tions with money spent within the com- - munity? It’s a miliion-dollar question being asked by. members of many of our most worthy charities. . “LETTER OF THE DAY I HAVE been over into the future and it does n not work. An entire week spent on an Indian reservation has shown | me the direction in which current policy is tending with respect to all citizens of this once-great country. The aboriginals have been deprived of their property rights, and given welfare in *‘recompense,”’ and unless we are careful it will happen to us too. if the current policies result in a Social Charter but not property rights, sound the alarm! Just about everyone knows by now that the natives were treated rather treacherously by the Euro- pean settlers, and thinks that their . current problems derive from various European attempts to harm them. The role of European diseases is less understood, while almost no one understands the real source of the natives’ problems, which is government benevolence. The specific form this benevolence has taken over the years has changed,:and is chang-: ing again, but at root it involves the view that the natives cannot be permitted to make any important decisions for themselves. This has led to the repellent spectacle of the natives being ac- corded an “inherent right to self- government’’ thatistobe ; restricted by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms should their wonderful culture turn out not to meet current politically correct / standards of social propriety. . But because economic decisions, broadly conceived, make up the bulk of anyone’s decisions, it is here that the most damagge has . been and is being done.’ For the Indian Act, in another scary piece of Newspeak, says that although the land belongs to the aboriginals, effective control of it is retained by the federal govern- ment. Therefore the natives ‘cannot borrow against their “assets”? to establish businesses, and because Ottawa presumes to legislate labor and other conditioris on the reser- vations they cannot offer businesses competitive environ- ments to bring employment to the By John S.P. ‘Robson. . Contributing Writer oe bility, this paralyses native at- tempts at self-improvement. : Moreover, the natives get ~ welfare regardless of what.they ~ do, and any competent chief or . elder can tell you what this means © for their attempts to persuade the young people to work? © The elders talk about passing on™ their heritage to the young people, but while moccasins and sweet- grass ceremionies are all! fine and gocd, the real ‘‘heritage’’ is that once upon a time these were free people responsible for their own decisions and livelihoods. And the. _ real wrong is that they have been denrived of their responsibilities, and with them their rights. ° : Curiously, and despite mounting - evidence, our governmental and academic elite continues to at- tempt to reduce all citizens to this “unhappy estate, as they seek to deprive us of our property rights and to provide us all with a vast" range of social services unrelated to the manner in.which we © discharge our responsibilities and whether we keep our commitments honorably. As so often, the most benign intentions lead to the most hellish results. As we are compassionately . shepherded into the Just, Great, : Fair Society of the future, I have. only this to say: Please cancel my reservation. Dr. Robson jis a policy analyst. with the Fraser Institute, a’, ‘Vancouver-based economic ‘ think tank, : Noel Wright Right. to vote a wvilege not a duty reservation. Dear Editor: ; Regarding an item in a recent. ‘edition of your paper quoting our city councillor Rod Clark. He is ‘quoted as’ stating that to overcome the. small numbers of voters exercising: their right. to vote, he would suggest that people be fined $50 for ‘hot exercising this right. I would suggest that he is on the wrong track. The right to vote is a privilege, not a duty. 1 would suggest that he is 2 member of the. most secretive Publisher Peter Speck council we have ever experienced. So much of the city’s business is done behind closed doors in meetings they choose to call ‘retreats,’ not reported, in vio- lation of the governing legistation. — These same meetings, if they were admitted to be in-camera meetings (which they are), would be restricted to subjects not in the public interest to be held in public. You would not expect a person to bother voting when they have hot been informed as to what is taking Place, now would you? Display Advertising 980-0511 Distribution No, Mr. Clark, the remedy would seem to be that if a can- didate did not attain a reasonable percentage of listed voters, he should not be allowed to represent us on council. These antics are hard to under- stand for the ordinary citizen. What have these people been smoking? Are they now going to proclaim North Vancouver City a prin- cipality? It wouldn’t surprise me. John Ingram North Vancouver 986-1337 § & Since the only way to become responsible is to exercise responsi- ° on vacation — Subscriptions 986-1337 Fax 985-3227 ff tecycled fibre Administration 985-2131 peg North Shore managed NEWS photo Mike Wakefleld en ent . : PAMELA SCOTT’S A North Shore Summer shows at West Vancouver's Ferry Building unti! Oct. 10. The Hull Coliege of Art grad works with gouache paints to create brilliant garden scenes. This newspaper contains Real Estate Advertising 985-6982 Classified Advertising 986-6222 Newsroom 985-2131 Timothy Renshaw Managing Editor — Noel Wright Associate Editor Sales & Marketing Director Linda Stewart Cormptrolier, Doug Foot North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an independent suburban newspaper and qualified under Schedule 113, Paragraph {11 of the Excise Tax Act, is published each Wednesday, Friday and Sunday by North Shore Free Press Ltd. and distributed to every door on the North Shore. Canada Post Canadian Publications Mail Sales Product Agreement No. 0087238. Mailing rates available on request. Submissions are welcome but we cannot accept responsibility for unsolicited material including manuscripts and pictures which should be accompanied . by a stamped, sell- addressed envelope. 1135 Lonsdate Avenue, SDA DIVISION North Vancouver, B.C. V7M 2H4 Entire contents © 1993 North Shore Free Press Ltd. All rights reserved. 61,582 (average citculalion, Wednesday, Friday & Suncay)