6 - Sunday, January 14; 1990 ~- North Shore News

INSIGHTS

How are you betting on
Vander Zalm Wednesday?

ONLY THREE more days left to play Bill Vander Zalm’s
‘‘will-he-won’t-he?’’ game. The Premier is due to finally
reveal his future to us this Wednesday evening, Jan. 17, on

province-wide TV.

I suspect he’s had a fot of quiet
fun over the past month watching
the media and public thrash about
in vain efforts to second-guess
him. Never accuse Bill of lacking a
sense of humor.

Nor of lacking political smarts!
The Vander Zalm story since Black
Wednesday, Dec. 13, in Oak Bay
bears every mark of a carefully or-
chestrated campaign.

Firstly, of course — by postpon-
ing for five weeks the announce-
ment about his future plans — he
bought precious time and has used
it skilfully for personal image-
refurbishing. The mellow spirit of
the holiday season also helped (it’s
tough to be too rotten to people
during Christmas and New
Year’s).

So we had a beaming business-
as-usual Bill delivering poinsettias

Smell

T DOESN’T take much to outwit the media these
days. Even a rat can.

After a local artist pledged to crush a rat be-

to cabinet staff. A masterly
Christmas TV special overflowing
with sweet reason and warm
goodwill to everyone. At the daily
media scrums always a smiling,
unruffled oresence with an occa-
sional “more-in-sorrow-than-anger”
tinge. And now he’s stressing

the environment and education as
his government's top priorities for
an early session of the Legislature.

If he does plan to become the
first sitting premier in living mem-
ory to voluntarily quit, it’s certain-
ly the very last thing he LOOKS
like.

These tactics have kept any
potential cabinet and caucus rebels
neatly on ice until Jan. 17. Mean-
while, grassroots backers have us-
ed the breathing space to regroup
under ‘‘The Many Friends of Bill
Vander Zalm”’ banner — with
rallies and petitions by Socred
riding groups, some claiming over
100 supportive phone calls daily.
Fans or foes in North Van can call
986-6010, in West Van 926-6616.

And last week B.C. papers ran
that huge ad — estimated cost
$25,000 — headed ‘“‘Truth or Con-
sequences’ and signed by ‘“‘A
Concerned British Columbian.”’ In
600 words or more it said stick
with Bill, even if not perfect,
because he’s our best hope for
keeping a strong economy.

B.C.’s prosperity since 1986 is
undoubtedly the Premier's
strongest card and is likely to bea
key factor in his decision whether
to resign or fight on. While the
latest Angus Reid poll shows a
**quit’’ vote of 54 per cent as
against 40 per cent who want him
to hang in, it also shows the
Socreds ahead of the NDP by a

a rat?

whopping 73 per cent to 44 per
cent in managing the economy.
Can their leader claim no credit?

Patrick Kinsella, former premier

Bill Bennett's political guru,
believes Vander Zalm, still with 18
months to mend fences, has al-
ready opted to stay.

And where does BRUNCH ’s
two-bit bet for next Wednesday
go? If backed into a corner, I'd
put it with Mr. Kinsella’s!

che

TAILPIECES: What to do when
“the big one’ hits? North Shore
Emergency Program Coordinator
Ross Peterson will share lessons
from his visits to quuke-torn San
Francisco with North Van
Chamber of Commerce members
and guests Thursday, Jan. 18, at
North Store Winter Club — lunch
$12, call 987-4488 ... Any former
Tisdale, Sask., types out there
should write Lovise Fisher, c/o
Box 1090, Tisdale, Sask. SOE 1TO
about the town's big 85th
homecoming bash slated for
August 3-6 ... Feed the gift of life
to this week’s blood donor clinics
— Monday and Tuesday, Jan.
15-16, from 2 to 8 p.m. at LGH,
and Wednesday, Jan. 17 from 10
a.m. to 4 p.m. at BC Rail head-
quarters on West Esplanade,
North Van ... And thanks to West
Van’s Eve Davidson for clipping
and sending us a new idea for
beating rush-hour bridge traffic.
Now in the Guinness Book of Re-
cords, Germany’s Fritz Weber (see
photo) walked 575 km in his super
float-boots down the Main River
from Bayreuth to Mainz!

kat

WRIGHT OR WRONG: There are
two tragedies in life, said George
Bernard Shaw. One is not to get

if

AOD) A 2 Se

your heart's desire. The other is to

ANT FSHTIEN ROCGIVG THRAR NEW FSH QUOTE...

tween two canvases in the name of art, the media gob-
bled up the story and within minutes magnified the
rodent into a beast that would be a match for King
Kong.

Local papers splashed the extravaganza on_ their
front pages and T.V. stations featured it prominently
on the evening news. Even the normally restrained
Globe and Mail ran a front page story and reporters
from as far away as England covered the planned ex-
ecution.

It turned out that artist Rick Gibson’s ‘‘rat piece’’
was nothing more than a tremendously successful work
of media manipulation.

‘“He’s actually using the media as a medium for
himself,” is how a former Vancouver art gallery cu-
rator put it.

While this editorial may also be adding fuel to the
fire, it is an attempt to point out the weaknesses of the
press, whose duty is to inform — rather than expand
on trivia, turning it into banner news.

Not that there isn't a place for the lighthearted; but
the same media that spent days blowing up the Snifty
affair still hasn't managed to adequately convey what
Meech Lake and Free Trade means to Canadians.

Publisher ...Peter Speck

Managing Editor .. Barrett Fisher
Associate Editor ... Noel Wright

Advertising Director . Linda Stewart

North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an independent
suburban newspaper and qualified under Schedute 111.
Paragraph ill o! the Excise Tax Act, ts published each
‘Wednesday, Friday and Sunday by North Shore Free
Press Ltd and distributed to every door on the North
Shore. Second Class Mant Registration Number 3885
Subscnptions North and West Vancouver, $25 per year
Mading tates avadable on request Submissions are
welcome but we cannot accep! responsibihty tor
unsoticited material including manuscripts and pictures.
which should be accompamed by a stamped, addressed
envelope

Entire contents © 1990 North Shore Free Press Ltd. All rights reserved.

get it.

Photo courtesy Stem Magazine

LIONS GATE BRIDGE SOLUTION!...Fritz Weber of Wuerzburg, West
Germany, escapes traffic snarls as he strolls down the Main River in his
super float-boots (see column item).

Sennen arenes Display Advertising 980-0511
Classified Advertising 986-6222
Newsroom 985-2131
Distribution 986-1337
Seon eee Subscriptions 986-1337

1139 Lonsdale Avenue,
North Vancouver, B.C.
V7M 2H4
59,170 (average, Wednesday
Friday & Sunday)

LJ
SDA DIVISION

North Shore owned and managed