mailbox Wednesday, April 7, 1999 — North Shore News ~ Mausoleum rezoning could cost NVD taxpayers Dear Editor: With the recent rezoning of 1388 Monashee Dr. from a goning that allows 2° mat- suleum use to’a one-acre lot residential zoning, the district has just about totally wiped out the value in the land, which, from a common sense point of view, is the equivalent of expropriation. The court appointed receiver manager in charge of Seasons Memorial Park Inc., which owns the Monashee Drive property, has a duty to protect the assets of the com- pany and maximize its realiza- tion. . It is, therefore, quite prob- able that he will suc for com- pensation from the district. A rough = estimate, including legal fees for both sides, tells me that the district is facing a potential liability to Seasons of $4.5 milfien to $6 million asa result of their wiping out the value in the Seasons owned land. If according to your March 26 article written by Martin Millerchip, 2.5, per- centage points of the 5.4% property tax hike this vear in North Van is a result of $1.5 million cutback. in’ provincial funding, that means if the dis- trict, has to compensate Seasons for $6 million, they will have to raise property taxes by a further 10 percent- age points, resulting in a whopping 15.4% tax hike! Some people are con- cerned about the impact of the mausoleum on rush-hour traffic. There is a cemetery next to the mausoleum site now, and a memorial garden for the burial of cremated remains next to the cemetery. Their contribution to. rush- hour traffic is zero, and so will the proposed Monashee Dr. mausoleum’s be. On the other hand, the “South Road,” which is criti: cal to alleviating the ridicu- lously jammed rush-bour traf fic on Lillooet Dr. and which was to be baile by the mau- soleum developer, will ne longer get built if the pro- posed mausoleum does not go ahead, or it will have to. be built by the district using tax- payer's money. That road was going to cost $1.2 million to build, and this would mean another 2 percentage points in tax hike on top of the 15.4% if the dis- trict had to do it on its own, Let me ask, then, is this System fails its community From page 7 This goes against the grain of the B.C. and Canadian gov- ernments but look what they have created with their ide- ologics. “¥ can only say to you, and the good citizens of this country, that Pve been there to observe it. Pve had 28 years of watching the system make excuses for itself and excusing criminal activities of people whose choice it is to _ use drugs and commit crimes. Very few occasions eID URIS BL PRINZ BIZ * KIDZ * 1 if KIDZ-BIZ KIDZ BUL © KIDZ BIE aE Se KADIZ"BIZ F KIDZ BIZ «KIDZ K have I seen it stand up for sound community traditions and good old-fashioned com- mon sense. “Sometimes, in the past, a trip to the woodshed was necessary to square away 3 runaway attitude. f think that’s what may have pre- vented quite a few of these ne’er-do-wells from the path they chose, It did with me. “Maybe it’s something both governments need now to shock reality back into their airy-fairy valucs.” The letter‘is signed by Al (@ ‘Bring this coupon 5 dak Bio on - Thursday, April 8, (1999 & receive. 25% 6 off sug. retail or. Ya BIZ Children’s Clothing Co. Lynn Valley Centre 988-7466 Easy access, take the Lynn Vailey Rd. (North) Exit off Upper Levels Hwy. No KIDZ BIZ: #/KIDZ BIZ*#!KIDZ-BIZ?® -KEDZ BIZTs* Robson, a Vancouver Police Department sergeant. I suggest you read it again. — lkniqght@direet.ca LYNN VALLEY DAY May 29, 1999 For info please call Terry Nichols 980-0654 TM 8 ZIG ZI pring DAY SALE _ ENTIRE STOCK Qe nee id- ZEN v6 _ “eo ZI0 ZO ETI ZOD ATOPY ZIG ZY. 249 ZAIN ZOM e219 ZG IM KIDZBIZ" ©: KIDZ-BIZ"* KIDZ.BIZ,®. rezoning i the public's inter- est at ail? fam sure North Van taxpavers will remember what) time this fall. a great disservice courteil has done to them come election Peter Kwok, Committce Chairman For the Seasons Committee advertonat, April 7/1999 NUNAVUT - A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE On April ist, as you may have gathered from the numerous media reports on the subject, the new Territory of Nunavut came into existence. Billed as Canada’s largest | land claims settlement, Nunavut occupies about one fifth of the country's land mass, but is home to fewer than 26,000 people, 21,250 of whom are Inuit. The Territory was created by an Act of Parliament in 1993, although subsequent Hs authorizing funding for the project were vigorously opposed by Reform foliowing the 1993 election. We were very concerned at the time about the huge amount of land being transferred to a very small! segment of Canada's population, as well as the unpredictable nature of the costs associated with the project. During debates on funding, the Liberal Government claimed that no more than $400 million would be needed to establish the new territory, while Reform predicted that at feast a billion dollars would be spent before the Nunavut Government was up and cunning. It now fooks as if both Reform and the Liberals were wrong - the total could easily reach $1.5 billion shortly after the tum of the ceritury. That would be $60,000 in start-up costs for every man, woman, and child in Nunavut. ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES The people of Nunavut had the opportunity to participate in the new territory's first ever election on February 15, 1999. Nineteen representatives were selected for the Legislature, one of whom, Jack Anawak, had previously been an MP in the Parliament of Canada. After all of the ballots had been counted, Jack was elected to the Government of ) Nussaeut with the impressive total | of 146 votes, the lowest of any of the successful candidates. The / greatest number of votes achieved by any of those running for office was just 474, and the average was less than 280 votes. No doubt the reward for these newly elected representatives will be salaries and benefits at least as generous as those for Members of Parliament in the rest of Canada, each of whom must represent at jeast 250 times as many residents. The Riding of North Vancouver alone, for example, is home to more than 125,000 people, five times as many as the entire population of Nunavut. The Government of Canada has done such an effective selling job on the | creation of Nunavut that the media have been falling over themselves to tell us what a wonderful thing has been done. In reality though, just as Reform predicted, the Nunavut project is beginning to look more and more like a sinkhole for your tax { collars - a bottomless pit which promises to suck billions out of the rest of Canada over the next few decades. This politically correct initiative, put in | place for the benefit of barely one thousandth of the population, will more than likely become the most “have-not” of all the “have-not” areas in Canada, requiring major transfer payments just to support its disproportionately large | government, let alone all of the new programs which will probably be launched by that government. At this stage though, there is little that can be done to change the situation, despite suggestions by Liberal MP Ted McWhinney that the creation of Nunavut was probably unconstitutional. NUNAVUT FAST FACTS The following information about Nunavut was taken from a Government of Canada information sheet. Additional information is available or. the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs website at www.inac.gce.ca. * The capital city is Iqatuit (population 4,500) * There is 1 person per 100 sq km (compared to 29 per sq km in Canada as a whole) *® Around 56% of the population is under 25 * The birth rate is 29 per 1,000 (compared to 12 per 1,000 in Canada as a whole) * The most northern community is Grise Fiord (population 130) *% The total srea is about 2 million sq km (including 7 of Canada's 12 largest islands and twe thirds of the country’s coastline) * The land is mostly rocky tundra, snow covered most of the year * The winter lasts nine months * The average January temperature is -30 degrees C * The average July temperature Is 15 degreesC * The main economic activities are mining, tourlam, shrimp and scallep fishing, hunting and trapoing, arts and crafts % There is just one 21 kilometre . government maintained road. The main transportation is by air, with see-lifts by ship during the summer * One hospital and 26 health centres serve ail of Nunavut * Policing is carried out by the RCMP * There are 5.5 hours of Inuit television programming per week * There are 19 elected representatives, and 10 Government departments in 11 communities Over the next few years it looks certain that a number of large Native land claims settiements will be pushed through the Parliament of Canada. Unfortunately, as reported by the Auditor General receritly, the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs has neglected to carry out any meaningful caiculations as to the likely cost of completing those settlements, so | we really have no idea of the eventual impact on the economy as a whole. A recent consultant's report on the Nisga’a Deal, for example, identified costs far in excess of those publicly claimed by the provincial government. In addition, several existing treaties, which were supposed to bring certainty and finality to land claims, are already the subject of legal | disputes, with a potential cost to taxpayers totalling several billion dollars. ; Rather than the certainty we have been striving for, we may weil end up with endless litigation over the real meaning of new treaties, in concert } with -a complicated tangle of governments based on race, each with their own sets of laws and voters lists, and each expecting you to support them with your tax doilars. Ted White, MLB. , #302-1200 Lynn Valley Rodd. North Vancouver, B.C.. V7J 2A2 200 2) Tels 666-0585 Fax: 666-0509, Internet: hus diwaw. reform.ca/white-tf :