@-~ North Shore News - Sunday, December 26, 1999

VIEW POINT:

jarbour hi

HE North Shore’s shipbuilding
industry is long overdue for
some good news.
It has had little to cheer about dur-
ing the 1990s.
. Following the loss of the much-bal-
lyhooed Polar 8 icebreaker contract

“early im 1990 and the subsequent clo-

sure of North Vancouver’s Versatile

‘Pacific Shipyards, the lot of local ship-

builders has largeiy been in steep

: ; decline.

The NDP’s launch of the ill-fated,

mismanaged and entirely bungled fast

“ferry” ‘program ‘brought brief opti-
mism to that industry starting in the

“taid-’9Os,. But..that optimism . faded
fast.as the entire fast ferry. program.

wiravelled. in a sca of cost overruns,

backroom book-juggiing and political _
So thé Dec, 17 aniriouncement from.

Herb Dhaliwal is more than welcome
news.

The federal Fisherics and Oceans
minister told assorted shipyard lead-
ers gathered at Vancouver Dry Dock
in North Vancouver that a new agree-
ment between the Canadian and U.S.
governments could open a door of
opportunity for waterfront industries.

The a ent wili increase the
number of U.S. fishing vessels that
will be allowed to be repaired in
Canadian ports.

It could bring an estimated ‘200
jobs to B.C.’s waterfront and inject
$35 million into the province’s belea-
guered shipyard industry.

Those figures remain estimates, but
they and. Dhaliwai’s announcement
represent a single shaft of light in the
gloom that has enveloped the local
shipyard industry this past decade.

-— CONTRARY TO

PUBLIC OPINION, COMPETITION
1S ALIVE AND WELL IN AIR TRAVEL
WHEN | COMPLAINED ABOUT THEIR

Ticker PRICES — THEY Totp

ME To TAKE p--.

A FLXING |

Where does

JUST how wisely and well do

ia any of my § past lives was there ever a year :
They show what the moncy was spent “ vi

c te ” Crystal
sar O00 ‘or: 2061?

gin;

* Crash” Collision, in
‘©: the question -“Do you believe the miflennium .
‘(From a Dec. 19. News " Sunday

ough you get. the pally? is

billions they collec-
tively receive cach
year from tax-pay-
, Ing ncon-natives?

“the sky is
And who's keeping

the: sky is

‘a Treary
moves ‘toward finaliza- °
tion — a presumed *
model for dozens of -

er treaties down the
road — these questions
are being asked with
mounting frequency.

The answers to date : are : far from reas-
- suring. This fiscal year the RCMP has
~ been called i in by Indian a alegat to investi-

gate tio less than 48 fraud al
; st native band councils

nost. double the 26 investigations in ‘the: .
lous year and 16 times more than the”

stock exchan ame lavish ae

‘Indian band councils spend the’

- on, but with'scant details, if any, on

HOW or WHY. And unlike most govern-
ment expenditures such .”

. information is not avail:
able to the public or te
media under the Access
to Information Act. --“<.
So moving closer.to
home, Squamish Bend...

_ Chief Joe Mathias : seems.

ays ago
to voluntarily : undergo™
& forensic audit: ‘This

Vion annual ree ‘The petitior

- under revie

~ blam fn its cone relations image:
: >” Presently appears raore than 4 little tar:

Pt get a hold «
Tm riot authorized to give