6 - Sunday, March 8, 1992 - North Shore News INSIGHTS COWICHAN LAKE , VANCOUVER ISLAND... .., UPON WAKING , SOMEWHERE ae Appr enti Cc e shi p OX “ Ale 9099 ))) { 0°0, o GEEZ ... THATS THe. LAST Time. I STAY AT THE ) EMPRESS HoTEL! NEWS VIEWPOINT Contract costs is one reason local school boards are facing their current budget crisis, the rich contracts won by local teachers’ unions in 1991 have also contributed to that budget squeeze. Teachers, of coursc, will point elsewhere: the Feb. 14 edition of the North Vancouver Teachers Association Notebook publication states that North Vancouver District 44 is allotted funding for 46.02 school administrators, but the actual District 44 fiscal framework lists 86. Ad- ministration of the district, however, ac- counts for only about 3% of the total District 44 budget. The Socreds, were they still in power, would also be a convenient target if they had approved the marginal block funding increases approved recentiy by the NDP government. But, while the NDP might have more labor favors to zepay for their election win, they, as a government, have HILE chronic provincial gov- ernment educetion underfunding no more money than their Socred predecessors. And their removal of the protective fiscal shield provided school districts by the Compensaiion Fairness Act has forced the NDP to deal with the high cost of teacher contracts around the pro- vince. Teacher salaries account for 67% of District 44’s total budget and 65% of District 45's total budget. The average District 44 teacher salary, including benefits, is approximately $55,000; the average District 45 teacher salary is around $49,000. Both are based on 195-day work years. In 1991, teachers bargained hard and won salary increases of 14% over two years; the average wage increase across Canada in the third quarter of last year was 2%, , Using any kind of arithmetic, those fig- ures represent a major reason why iocal school district fingers are now in the fi- nancial wringer. NEWS QUOTES OF THE WEEK “We've become the third major Gordon Powell, the trees in my neighborhood.” Asian gypsy West Vancouver resident Fran- film production centre in North America after Los Angeles and New York, so eat your heart out Toronto.”" B.C. Premier Mike Harcourt, on the B.C. film industry. “*This pest can dp serious harm te landscape plantings, ornamental trees, and, should the population become large enough, it will be a repulsive, unwelcome guest at ... outdoor events.”” Pubiisher Peter Speck moth project manager for the B.C. Plant Protection Advisory Council, on the anti-social aspects of gypsy moths. “The yardstick for public health should be absolute safety. If we were threatened by something like the Black Plague and the only alternative was to spray us from the sir, I might fall in with it. 1 don’t believe the bogeyman of the fYpsy moth eating all the leaves of Display Advertising 980-0511 Distribution cis Barthropp, opposing the plan to spray the North Shore with an insecticide in an attempt to head off a local gypsy moth infestation. “vs so boring. I brushed my feeth 18 times this morning. They have a type of linoleum on the floor with little pieces. Pve counted every piece. I’m up to 2/2 million...”” Radio personality Monty McFarlane, on being in hospital. North Shore managed 986-1337 986-1337 lessons for a rookie Speaker NO QUESTION, we'll have to keep a friendly eye on Joan when she statis learning her job from St. Patrick’s Day onward. I’m sure the lady has the best of intentions — but these alone, of course, have paved more than a few roads . to hell. We're talking about NDP MLA Joan Sawicki, Speaker-designate of the B.C. Legislature which reopens for business under new management on March 17. Parliamentary tradition sets the office of Speaker above and im- muae from partisan politics. But Ms. Sawicki has already been po- litically smeared twice before ever ascending her throne. Last month she landed in polit- ical hot water for canning one of her emplc sees whose husband ‘vas actively involved with the Socreds. That looked bad enough for Premier Mike Harcourt to have a quiet talk with Joan — after which the employee was promptly reinstated. The second incident last week had less substance — but ever thin mud sticks. Rookie Liberal Opposition Leader Gordon Wilson flew into a snit when the Speaker's management committee lopped his requested office budget by 22%. He accused Sawicki of trying to ‘‘muzzle”’ the cpoosition and threatened to withhold unan- imous support for her. Sawicki — who herself broke with tradition by defending her action directly to the media — claimed she was merely encourag- ing a little belt-tightening in these hard times. If Wiison really got stuck for money, he could always go back to her later. Meanwhile, the six-man Socred caucus had suffered a 50% cut in its own office budget but said it still backed Sawicki. So the Lib- eral leader was feft looking like a greedy kid having a tantrum, Nonetheless, Sawicki's judgment doesn’t escape entirely unscathed. Wilson’s budget cut — a mere $94,000 — is a virtually invisibie drop in the bucket of overall gov- ernment operating costs. The same is true in the case of the tiny cor- poral’s guard of Socreds. Sawicki takes the Speaker’s chair as a raw apprentice with no parliamentary experience of any kind. Until her personal credibility builds, she would have been smarter — this time around — to allow the opposition parties their few extra thousands rather than risk any taint of political gamesmanship. Cost-cutting is a cabinet job. One hopes she can quickly de- velop the all-important instinct for distinguishing between the NDP cabinet’s role and her own. HITHER AND YON There were few Socreds more uncompromisingly partisan than former West Van MLA John Reynolds — until he became Speaker and went or to be ac- claimed one of the best the’ Legislature has ever had. . Joan might profit from a chat with John next time he’s in town. WRAP-UP: ‘Thoughts on West . . Van's Future”’ top the agenda _ Tuesday, March 10, at West Van . Chamber.of Commerce’s 7:30 = a.m, breakfast in the Ambleside Inn with guest speaker Ray Spaxman, consultantin urban problem solving — call 926-6614. . to book your plate ... Any old Gledhillians hiding on the North: | Shore? If so, your old school at 2.» Gledhitl Ave., Toronto, Ontario MAC S5K6 wants you at its 75th... anniversary party in May and asks you to write or phone 416-393-';:--. 9092 soonest ... To Helen Falton, « the grand old lady of Kiwanis Lynn Manor, a blaze of candles. today, March 8, to salute her on .: her 103rd birthday ... And many *, — happy returns to today’s birthday *- runner-up — Mt. Seymour Lion: - Colin Pew who celebrates his 59th. WRIGHT OR WRONG: Funny - how many people find fighting for - their principles alot easier than: - 3am living up to them. Subscriptions o Fax 985-3227 Administration 985-2131 MEMBER MINDAY © WEDNESDAY > FRIDAY s year, aling rates avaiable (On iaausst, Norin Vancouver, B.C. — -|F : ear . . BC. = ‘ : a if : . responsibility for wsnsolicited material including V7M 2H4 61,582 (average circulation, Wednesday, Friday & Sunday) : : 5 B s an manuscripts and pictures which should be [accompanied by a stamped. adaressed envelope. Entire contents © 1992 North Shore Free Press Ltd. All rights reserved. JOAN SAWICKI, John Reynolds... time for her to have a chat with Real Estate Advertising 985-6982 Classified Advertising 966-6222 Newsroom 985.2131 Managing Editor _. Timothy Renshaw Associate Editor .Noel Wright Advertising Director ... Linda Stewart Comptrojier............. Doug Foot North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an independent suburban newspaper and qualilied unde: Schedule 111, Paragraph Il of the Excise Tax Act, is published each Wednesday, Friday and Sunday by North Shore Free Press Ltd. and aistnbuted to every door on the North Shore. Second Class Mail Registration Number 3885. Subscriptions North and West Vancouver, $25 per TRE VORCE OF MONTH QD WRET UNCOUVER | eee ‘forth shore