A4 - Sunday, June 17, 1984 - North Shore News HOWLING FOR HEADS ON A PLATTER Mioneylenders are in trouble OMEHOW, | HAVE TROUBLE feeling sorry for the Bank of B.C., whose shares took a tumble after it suspended its quarterly dividends due to a lack of income. It wasn’t just a lack of in- come, you see. The bank also had to ‘‘treserve’’ something hke $33 million to cover bad loans. Although the stories that appeared in the downtown press didn’t men- tion it, the fact is that British Columbia’s premier financial institution 18 exposed to the tune of $92 million in Brazil and Mexico. B.C. has been sopping up the deposits of individual British Columbians and Albertans in order to invest in highly risky ventures abroad. How secure are these investments? Not very bloody secure at all. As New Zealand Prime Minister Robert Muldoon reminded us during his recent visit to Vancouver, roughly 40 per cent of the world’s economy 1s in countries that e l are in profound economic trouble, Mexico and Brazil Strict y among them. Banks — including, for persona sure, Canadian banks — are going to have to write down a good slice of their debts to Third World countries, Mul- doon said. Which isn’t going to help the dividend situation at the Bank of B.C. at all, to put the matter in its most parochial but closest-to-the- bone context. The S SOARES NAERERENY : ° 4 ~< economic recovery that seems so fragile in Canada — and thin to the point of anaemia in B.C. — is a relative orgy of come- back compared to the situa- tion in Latin American coun- tries. And it is there, squarely on the sweating backs of the peasants, that the bulk of the bad debts of such institutions Bob Hunter eas the Bank of B.C. are to be found. That means, tn plain Anybody here at home language, that the Bank of | who has been turned down letter Mary... BRIAN MULRONEY MARY COLLINS Mary Collins will be on the ED NOTE: for a bank loan because they were a bad risk — when, in fact, they were a far better risk than Mexico or Brazil — has a perfect right to go down to the Bank of B.C. head of- fice at the foot of Burrard Street and howl for somebody’s head on a platter. If you feel like you’ve been shortchanged as a customer, Council N.VAN DIST. COUNCIL, Monday 7:30 pm: Public hearings re (1) Heights of garages and carports; (2)Development permit for Capilano Branch Library / Delegation, Stanley Associates Engineering Ltd. re incorporation of proper- ties into Seymour Phase A Extension of Badger Road Proposed use for old fire helmets / Hazardous Chemicals Emergency pamphlet / Rezoning for Parkway Village Neighborhood development in Seymour Replotting Scheme #98. N.VAN CITY COUNCIL, Monday 7:30 pm: Delega- uon re conditions at North Van SPCA / Delegation re neighborhood pub, 1104 East 3rd St. / Old chliorina- tion house site, 4291 Lynn Valley Rd. / North Shore Amateur Sports Stadium KEATE SHOW on Shaw Cable Channel 10 this Tuesday, June 19th at 6:30 p.m. Don't miss it! VOTE! JOIN the PC Party by June 20 June 27th (at Carson Graham School)... and VOTE FOR MARY COLLINS! eo oe ATTEND the Nomination Meeting on Mary COLLINS — The RIGHT Choice! HEAD OFFICE; 1448 Marine Drive, West Vancouver/925°1367 cP + agendas you’re right. And tf you hap- pen to be a shareholder, | hope you don’t feel offended by mismanagement of your investment. Otherwise you're lable to get a bit testy. Bankers, of course, live in a different world than thee and me. Ottawa guarantees their essential profitability through income tax exemp- tions. And while their ex- feasibility study / Street names, Lonsdale Quay Cost-sharing formula, North Shore Urion Board of Health / Hours of opera- tion of licensed premises / Temporary on-grade parking, Lot 12 Lonsdale Quay / Balcony enclosures, 148 West 17th St. / Fence west of Lot 29, Cedar Village / Rezoning, south side of 100 block East Ist St. WEST VAN COUNCIL, Monday 8 pm; Public hear- ing re designation of C4 Zone areas as development permit areas / Floor area ratio bylaw / Rezoning 1613-16 Marine Dr. / Dele- gation re display of sexual material / Golf profes- sional contract at Gleneagles Golf Course / Cost-sharing agreement, North Shore Union Board of Health / Development permit, 5801 Marine Dr. a y\ os ae ve wp pS ovt ys ecutives are quick to preach free enterprise, they have worked out a cosy quasi- cartel niche for themselves. If you are a reporter trying tO get an interview with a top banking official, forget it. They hide in the high, high grass, especially if they know you have been guilty of the sin of having expressed non- positive thoughts about usury and incompetence. If | was them, I'd hide too. As interest rates and mor- tgage rates rise again, the feeling that one is being had once more by a cabal of tight money-lenders is rather im- possible to avoid. This nasty business with the Bank of B.C. suspending dividends for the first time in its brief history brings to light AMBLESIDE HOBBIES & CRAFTS 1425 Marine Dr. West Van 922-3512 open 6 days a week 9:30 -6 9.m. the degree to which all of our chartered banks are in trouble. It’s not just the Bank of British Columbia. Scotiabank’s earnings have dropped 28 per cent. And buried deep in the Bank of Montreal’s preliminary profit report is the news that the bank has lost $15 million on loans outstanding in Argentina. Liberal leadership aspirant Jean Chretien has characterized Canadian banks as being fat, sanc- timonious and prone to mak- ing mistakes. Chretien himself is slim, sanc- timonious and prone to mak- ing mistakes — but, for once, he’s quite right. A\ Fridays ‘til 9 p.m. ae cee ‘ {\ \ yO wre 4 ¥ vos oe ive ae ar > ( yi : yk ‘aoe i Jf \ \¥ \! A , ‘ anh ro ‘ yoy \ vat ‘ a y ‘