Anti-NDP rall

From page 7

contemplating his bet at the
gaming tale of whether he
Was given his apinion by the
solicitor general.

With this second body
blow to the commission -—
and T believe it will prove to
be a knock-out blow — the
matter has been referred to

the Federal Court to deter
mine whether the commission
can proceed.

In may Giew there can be
only one conclusion and thaz
isto disband! the current
sOMMUssion.

ftis then lett ap te the
federal xovernment to
appoint a judicial inquiry into
the morass.

Get on with job
of fixing W. Van

Dear Editor:

Well now, didn’t consul-
rant (George) Cuff give West
Vancouver a culf upside the
head!

It also scems we are tak-
ing our time to come to our
collective senses following
the blow, Y

ou would think the selee-
tively deleted segments of his
report were from the Nixon
tapes or even Monica's. Ir
strikes me that our council
had the courage co order the
study and wwe should be
thankful for that.

Now hat it has the
results it is up to council to
act upon the report.

Ir must decide on whar
action is) warranted — in

response to the criticism of

council, individually and col-
lectively. Tt must decide on
what action is warranted in

response to the criticism of

salt, individually and collec-
tively.
The voters will then have

“new & past ct

the opportunity to judge
council's response to) the
report,

It is only right that the
voters have the information
on elected representatives as
the voters have the responsi-
bility tor hiring and firing
them.

[ suggest, however, that
information pertaining to
staff is nor for the public
domain.

Yes, thev also work for the
residents of West Vancouver
but boards of directors,
which council is, rarely air
personnel matters in public.

The Cuff report: should
be viewed as a cool for
impravement and not 4 con-

demnation or indicement of

individuals. Council now has
the opportunity to demon-
strate real leadership. T look
forward to seeing them take
it. .
Jess Ketchum

West Vancouver
jketchum@direct.ca

_ off until November 30/98
1348 Marine Dr. West Vaacowver 926-2661

Set your children
up for life.

arents, give your children the gift of
believing in dremselves.
Internationally, thousands of children
attend our widely acclaimed programme,
designed to develop ongoing confidence,
self-esteem and communication skills.
Children find our classes highly
_ motivating and parents everywhere are
delighted with the results!
Classes now enrolling in:

West Vancouver
Lynn Valley

Capilano
Seymour

Phone Principal Jo-Ann Pawliw at

949. 9009

Helen 0'
eMLDRENs DRAMA
ACADEMY

“Deuclapment thrscgh

daamal”

y set for November &£

Mut domt bet oni. ithe
commission gets shut down,
the Chretien government vill
sda its best to avadd any wpe
ofinguiry whose mandate will
be broad enough and sutti
dicnuly independent cneugh
to actually get to the truth,
semething it scems the Morin
commission had never intend-
ed. Chretien aceds the

shoes.

ted white, m.p.

ROMP to be the scapegoats.
Its the only powubs eWay to
advent the mud on his own
“Babblegaie” seems to
have derailed the best laid
plans ofthe government,
oe

Fed ap with the NDP?
Prince George realtor Bill
Lynch is organizing a Lower
Mainland rail similar te the

recent protest in his commu:
mitw which drew some 3.000
pee ape,

The rally will rake place on
Nov. 26 at the Cloverdale
Fairgrounds at 7:30 pam. For
more information call 373-
P5324. Things are starting to
heat up and the eleetion’s sull
over (wa years AWAY,

_ Uninhrd direct. a

advertonal, October 28'1998

ELECTIONS CANADA ROUNDTABLE

In 1994, once it had become clear
that new telephone and computer
based technologies could revolutionize
the election process, Elections Canada
made a commitment to Parliament to
carefully study those new technologies
and their implications for electronic
democracy in Canada. As part of that
ongoing process, Elections Canada
recently commissioned a series of
“roundtable discussions” with groups
representing the elderly, the disabled. the
telecommunications industry. voters at
large. and specialists in the field.

If you voted in the 1994 North
Vancouver referendum.on the Young
Offenders Act. you will be pleased to learn
that our work as “pioneers” in the field of
“touch tone voting” is almost always
discussed at such forums on electronic
voting. We made history at the time, and in
my subsequent role as Dir2ct Democracy
atitic for Reform | was invited to talk about

f our experience at many conferences,
discussion groups and debates across
Canada. | was therefore honoured to be
chosen to co-chair the Elections Canada
roundtable on electronic voting technology
for Senators and Members of Parliament
on May 7th of this year.

FEAR OF THE UNKNOWN?

There was seme opposition expressed,
back in 1994, to the electronic referendum
“experiment” in North Vancouver, and
similar opposition to eiectranic voting
came from a few of the MPs and Senators
at the roundtable.; Their objections ranged
ail the way from expressions of uncertainty
about computers and technology to
outright hostility over any suggestion that
Elections Canada might make it easier for
governments to get input from the voters
between elections. More than a few of
the non-Reform participants argued

that the introduction. of electronic...

voting technologies would. be the
“slippery slope” which .. would
‘inevitably lead to a greater degree
of democracy, that this was “not
the Canadian way” and that there
is nothing wrong with our
representative style of government.
Several made it clear that they were
strongly opposed to referendums of any
type. citing the “failure” of the
Charlottetown Accord referendum as proof
that the people do not understand the
issues.

Liberal MP Peter Milliken said he has
never been approacned by any voters
wanting the introduction of electronic
voting technology, and that overbearing
husbands might force their wives to vote a
certain way if people had to vote by touch
tone telephone in an election. Peter
ignored a subsequent comment that he
was acting exactly like an “overbearing

' husband” himself every time he forced the
will of the Prime Minister on his
constituents through his votes in the
House. (For the record, during the recent
Toronto Megacity refereridum more than
140,000 people voted by touch tone
telephone with no evidence of ‘any, let
alone significant numbers of “forced

votes”. However, for those with concerns
or doubts. traditional paper ballot voting
was made available at a number of
convenient focations. Even so, fewer than
2° chose to vote using paper ballots.)

Senator Murray expressed the concern
that the “slippery slope” of direct
democracy would lead to an erosion in the
importance of parties, and that we should
not ignore this possibility. The obvious
question arising from his comment is
whether the “importance” of political
parties should take precedence over the
importance of demccratic governance, but
it is unlikely that the Senator has much to
fear. Whilst the tools of direct democracy
certainly have the potential to force a
governing party to abandon, or adopt, a
particular policy position from time to time,
there is no evidence to suggest that the
occasional use of reterendum technology
would have any impact on the survival of
parties in our political system. The
present party system of course, is
all about power for a few at the
expense of the rest of us, so perhaps
the Senator was indirectly identifying loss
of power as his major concern.

PRAGMATIC AND SUPPORTIVE
Those MPs who were already familiar
with touch tone voting technology, or are
completely comfortable with computers,
email, the Internet and _— similar
technologies, generally expressed support
for, or a pragmatic approach towards, the
use of electronic voting methods during
elections. Liberal Reg Alcock said that
some of the criticisms related to security of
the vote and comfort with the technology
were valid and needed to be dealt with,
but that the technotagy is going to be there
whether the naysayers want it or not, and
that that day is not. far off. Others talked
about the benefits of being abledqaydie~
from the office; from home, from aoywhers
there is a touch tone phone, or possibly @ |
bank machine.: The’ ‘advantage’ “of!

electronic voting to the housebound |

elderly, to those in hospital, or for those
unable to make their way to a polling
station, was also discussed, and
significant cost savings for taxpayers were
identified based on the Toronio Megacity
Referendum, which cost about one sixth of
the amount per voter of a traditional paper
ballot.

The fina! report of the Public Policy
Forum has now been released, along
with the recommendation that
Parliament authorize Elections Canada
to carry out some small scale pitot
projects based on electronic voting.
However, | suspect it will be a major
challenge to get the necessary
changes to the Elections Act through a
Parliament dominated by old-line
political panies. in addition to their
“slippery slope” concerns, those
parties know that the traditional way of
running elections provides lots of jobs
wit) which to reward the party faithful.
Cutting off access to the “trough” for
party workers at election time is

probably a major strike against any

change to the status quo.

www. helene gcnly.com.au

Ted White, M.P. , #302-1200 Lynn Valley Read, North. Vancouver, B.C... V7] ZA2
-Telt 665-0585 : Fax: 666-0509, Intern ts hetp://ivw'w-reform.ca/white-/

Calling all music lovers

The Ruchelorot Muste
Transtes Preetam presents
two consents a November.
The fins. a choral

UIT Vaeuincd features
pertermance by the Col
Woraen’s Choir, the
Capllino Cries
Community Choir and the
Capilano Calle: Singers.
The extrasugzansa wall by
held Sundin. Nevembar f
sat 3 pan. Then on
Tharadlay, November 5, 1995,
at Tp. the uvemble A
Touch of Bans will present a
nuxed prouram of chosies,
gospel and pe polar
arrangements. Bath
performances will be bel in
the Capilano Collese
Pertomuny Arts Theatre.
Admission is by donation,
For information, call
954-4951.

Critically acclaimed

Clayoquot Sound
documentary showing

Fury tor the Sound: The
Women at Clavaquot will be
shown Tuesdit, November 3,
1998 at 7 pum. in the
Capilano College Performing
Ant Theatre. This feature
lenath documentary tilm
centres on the tole of women
in the 1993 protests against
the loging of olf erowih
forest in Clayognor Sound
and present a compelling
look at environmental.
gender, political, native and
civil rights sues. Filmmaker
Shelley Wine will ke on
hand to answer questions
after the show. Tickets are $5
and are available at the
Theatte box office. Call 986-

_ 1, _bocal 2528 for ichets

nd information,

2 Information meeting

An information meting for
the Accounting Support,
Barines Fundamental and

“ dichit 29, 1998 30 630
2-pam. in Fir building, rin
2 502. For more infomation,

call 984-4959.

3 it's not too fate to take

a computer course

Stan with Windows 95
offered over two Saturdays,
Nov 21 and 28 frum 92.m. to
2 pm. for $145. MS Word
97: Level 2 is offered aver two
Saturdays and two Sundays,
November 7 to [5 from 9
am. to noon for $165. And
Internet: Level 2 és offered on
Saturday, November 7 from 9
am. to-4 pum. for $125. Call
934-4901 for mon:
information of to register.

CAPILANO
COLLEGE

2055 Purcell Way
North Vancouver
986-1911

TO kee He hay ehh ele Pet eetigto nd nD