6 - Friday, March 1, 1985 - North Shore News

Editorial Page

$24, 000 buy-oft

he creation of eight parliamentary
secretaries in the B.C. Legistature is the
; sign of a worried Premier.

It’ hhas all the marks of a deliberate bid to
eliminate / any visk of revolt among Socred
_backbenchers---by virtually eliminating the
backbenchers ‘themselves in exchange for a
$3,000-a-year pay boost.

The Legislature as constituted needs these
‘extra pseudo-cabinet ministers like a hole in
the’ head. The expanded 21-member cabinet
_is already, unwieldy in relation to’ the 57-
member House. Add. the deputy Speakers, a
‘ government whip and the eight new ministe-
rial Joe-boys, and Mr.Bennett will now have
a guaranteed majority of 32 government ap-
pointees (excluding the Speaker himself), for
whom any rebellion on a point of conscience
,or principle is unthinkable.

‘ As part of the executive, these. 32 out of a
total of -34 Socred MLAs effectively . sur-

; render their Personal independence as elected
“members. «

ilt’s ‘significant . ‘that North Van-Seymour
MEA Jack Davis, who opposed the new ap-
pointments, is apparently to be the sole
” Socred-backbencher: left out in the cold.

_Mr.Davis has pointed out that a much fairer

. and: more ‘demecratic way to reward able,
hardworking | ‘backbenchers of ALL parties
would: be: extra . “pay. for the chairmen of
committees, arguing “that: a strengthened
‘vcommittee.. system. could, help redress. the
~ unhealthy imbalance between legislators and
executive.

Instead, Mr. Bennett’ s $24,000: buy-off of

“1 his.own followers-now. weakens the true role
of as legislator ‘almost: to: the + point of im-

est, Van's finest,
shave been: ordered back on

walk: their’ pets: ‘in’ public without: carrying. a.
bueket' and seoop... We: have -a. better: ‘idea,’ “

especially, if.“council .wants ‘an. Expo: project
that’s: distinctively . “‘Tiddlycove’’.. Why not
copy: Paris and beautify. the Ambleside area
with some tasteful, strategically located dog-
“Bie comfort stations-—designed by Norris? |

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co Newsroom 985-2134

-Circutation | 986-1337

fol Subscriptions
os 4499 Lonadale Ave., ‘North Vancouver, B.C. V7M 2H6 .

Publisher Peter. Speck

Marketing Mirector Operations Manager
+. + Robert Graham Serni Hilliard
Advertising Director Clreulation Director
- Dave Jenneson Bill McGown
Editor-in-Chief
Noel Wright
Display Advertsing Manager Production Director
Mike Goodsell Chris Johnson
Classified Manager Photography Manager
| Vai Stephenson Terry Peters

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985-2131 -

Fear:

OCIAL - ‘CHANGE: RESULTS: “from

| Sexe of.an idea through : a society, from
person to:person,! ‘until a substantial. number
of people have been infected by it,

‘An idea is! like an
odorless,

does its work. in.the privacy

. of a human mind; and leaves

invisible gas. It

no obvious trace. -The only -

sure way:to track its: spread
from mind to mind is:to use

a task force of sociologists,
-armed. with - detailing polis.
- and surveys.

Most of us can’t afford

! the high priced sociologists.
We just have to keep looking
for: the symptoms ° of social '

change, and trying to ‘iden-
tify the idea behind it all.
Let’s lodk ‘at some of the

“symptoms we’ re ‘seeing to-

day.
At a prestigious :
‘couver shopping ‘mall,.

"Van-
one

store sells nothing but cock:
ies and other treats for dogs.

and cats. Meanwhile, across
the province, thousands of,
men and women stand for
hours in the cold to get a bag
of basic food stuffs for their
families.

On a radio open line
show, a working man says
he has been out.of a job for
almost two years. His UIC
has run out,.he can’t find”
work, and welfare doesn’t
adequately support him and
his family.

DEAD BOLT LOCKS

Soon, he says, he is afraid
he will have to steal to put
food on the table and clothes
on his children’s backs.

A supervisor at one of the
B.C.’s largest lock manufac-
turers reveals that sales of
the
doorknobs. have declined
sharply during the recession.
But heavy-security deadbolt
locks are’ selling like ice
cream in a heat wave.

Leaders of industry and
government are taking
seriously ‘certain theories of
economics that were consid-
ered to belong to the lunatic

standard’ button-lock :

_ByGRAHAMLEA | -
UP MLA, Prince Rupert

fri ringe only a decade ago.
And ; the majority of
British ;’ ‘Columbians © still
working fear that they may
lose their jobs in 1985.
These . are. symptoms of

~ .social’ change. But the idea.

behind. the change is not
new...It was the unspoken
idea‘in Cain’s mind when he
asked, “am I my -brother’s
_Kegper?”” :
Today it calls itself. “the
new pragmatism"' Those
who disagree with it call] it
“the new immorality’. 7
But, stripped. of all its
trappings, the idea behind
today’s social change comes
down to the simple ‘words:
‘me first’. And ‘it’s |a
seductive philosophy,

FEEL NO GUILT

Me-firstism tells: the’ pro-
sperous that’ they deserve
their wealth. It tells the poor
that they are morally defi-
cient, and had better pull
themselves up by their own
. bootstraps.

Me-firstism lets the
wealthy drive past the food
bank on the way to the dog-
gie treats store, and feel ‘no
guilt. They are not respons-
ble for the moral failings of
the poor, |

Me-firstism instructs the
poor that poverty is not; a
crushing burden; but an in-
centive to become pro-
sperous, to work harder and
smarter, lifting” themselves
out of shame.

Me-firstism allows for edsy
and simple moral judgements
on complex economic and
social issues. But that’s not the

‘ only reason the idea is cat-

ching on in British Columbia.
“The seeds of me-firstism
must fall. upon fertile soil:
The most fertile human

a thes

a LOUNGING AROUND.
OUR FEET

AND FOWOW

TE LETS FORGE AHEAD 10
“NON ENE

winds are. those that have
been’ touched . by fear.’ And
the symptoms of rising fear
are all around us. ;

Fear sells . the - security
locks, “makes those . still
working dread the loss of
their jobs, and makes the
honest unemployed turn to
thoughts of crime.

~ . GLUE-OR ACID? *
‘When the Fraser institute

- ‘gurus of me-first economics

say that unemployment in-,
surance creates unemploy-!
ment — or. that-a ; Support
program for single’ parents
creates single parents —- they
are hinting at the use of fear
as an instrument of social
policy. Fear will make us toe
the line. :

«certain
theories of
economics
that were
considered
to belong to.
the lunatic
Jringe only
a decade

33

ago.

|
When unemployment
equals hunger, fear will
force the unemployed to
take any wage and = any
working conditions:

Fear will keep each
employee working harder in

the hope of surviving the’

next round of lay-offs.

Fear will’ make managers
squeeze the Jast ounce of ef-
ficiency from their workers,
lest weak management per-
forinance open a path for
some ambitious subordinate.

said,

- asking what"

Fear ea. 1. poweiful .
glue for’ holding , a society’ .
together,: but:only when it is’
directed - against some out-
side /force,” But when; each
_ member of society must. be '
on ‘guard::against ©: is. :
“neighbor; his fellow. “worker | -

if

The more.th fear spreads, :

the more. we see, each, ‘other f

as dangerous.: cumpetitors.
‘Other social: forces — chari-
ty, cooperation, the recogni-
_tion of common goals ~are
steadily undercut. fn

A “NEW” DEAL:

Finally, fear* ‘becomes the
only motivation,to which we.
will respond: We -become:’a’
society of. security locks,
each of us hoarding what we
nave, afraid that: someone

_ might take it away from‘us

— a society distorted by
fear.

That was the danger
Franktin Deland Roosevelt
warned against when he
‘““we have nothing to
fear but fear itself.””

In- the 1930s, thanks to
leaders like FDR, our
parents: and grandparents
avoided the «trap of fear.
They created the new social
contracts that we remember
as the New Deal.

Now, after fifty years, the
New, Deal has run ils course.
And some of our leaders in
business and government
want to replace it. with the
old fear. :

But we-don’t have to give
in to fear and me-firstism.
We are just as capable as our
parents .and yrandparents, .
We can create our‘own new
social . contracts,. without
fear, to build a society that
works for all of us.

We can do it if.we want
10. Instead. of giving in to
fear of each other, let’s start
we can do
tegether to'create a different
new deal.