AG6-Wedmesday, April 9, 1960 - North Shore News : | ln | Unnecessary MP’s You can’t keep a good Liberal down. A-group. of. Quebec and other eastern surely rank as the most preposterous suggestion ever aired in ai mature democracy. In order to overcome the fact that not a single Liberal was elected west of Winnipeg at the February 18 election, they are proposing that each eastern riding won by a Liberal should be “twinned” with a western riding, The idea is that the eastern Liberal MP would also act as a surrogate MP for the wayward western riding to which he was allocated. — visiting it several times a year to discuss matters of importance to western voters and generally keeping in touch with his unofficial western constituents through the use of his mailing and _ travelling privileges. Half of these surrogate MPs would be French Canadians, since Quebec supplies 74 of the Liberals’ 147 MPs. “We realize we're not a national party and we feel quite vulnerable,” says Quebec MP Pierre Deniger, one of the authors of the scheme. Unfortunately, in their enthusiasm to make the Liberals into a national party in defiance of the election results, M. Deniger and his colleagues have overlooked two rather basic facts. Firstly, that the West has already chosen perfectly competent Conservative and NDP MPs of its own to speak for it. Secondly, that Liberal MPs have come up with what must | By W. ROGER WORTH ee es Tita nic AN Me tt GROLIER A LE REE EEE “Either we mobilize the people’s savings in our regions and for ourselves or those regions will forever remain underdeveloped and economically weak.” Those words written by Jacques Gagnon in the early 1970s were the underlying basis of what many con- sidered one man's impossible dream, a simple method to involve people directly in the health and vitality of their local economy. Bankers, financial in- stitutions and the big business leaders laughed when Gagnon set up an organization called the Caisses d'Entraide Economique in the small Quebec town of Alma in - 1960. . The aim of the organization: to foster job creation by funneling community savings into local and regional small and medium-sized businesses, rather than having the funds invested through the major financial institutions in projects and developments far from home. Gagnon died recently, but he left an organization that boasts more than $1.3 billion in assets, most of it invested in 68 local Quebec com- munities. The bankers and finan- ciers no longer laugh at Gagnon’s ‘impossible dream.” The dream has come true. The 328,000 Quebecers investing their hard earned- money in Gagnon’s brainchild know the people borrowing the funds. It’s the local hardware merchant who wants to expand, the . owner of a machine shop borrowing money to buy new equipment, and the person with a new business idea that requires financing, A key element in Gagnon’s success: the borrowers are generally neighbors and employers. The Canadian Federation of Independent Business, for example, estimates a majority of its’7,200 Quebec members have _ received support from the Caisses d'Entraide. The remarkable’ ex- perience of the Caisses d’Entraide is not well known in Canada, which is too bad. Jacques Gagnon has almost single handedly and irrevocably dispelled the age-old argument that Canadians are too con- servative, prepared to invest only in bonds and blue chip stocks. Gagnon has proved that, given the right in- vestment vehicle and conditions, it is still possible to involve people in what Ld amounts to a project. , Following Gagnon's death, a foundation was established to research and - find ways to help the small and medium-sized business sector, which is good news indeed. Gagnon will not be forgotten. (Roger Worth is Director, Public Affairs, Canadian Federation of Independent ‘self-help Business.) “Never try to bite a Boy Scout!’ Davis warns about Ryan The tmminence of the Quebec referendum has focussed attention on Quebec Liberal leader Claude Ryan’s counter-proposals to Rene Levesque’s separatism. North Van-Seymour MLA Jack Davis, a former federal cabinet minister, doesn’t like the Ryan plan. Because of the vital importance of the issue, FOCUS this week brings you his detailed reasons why he feels the plan is bad for Canada. Here’s what Mr. Davis has to say: the West didn’t elect any Liberals because it didn’t like them. Government from entering into trading agreements with other countries of dealing effectively with unem- ployment and inflation here athome. “Elected governments must be free to act. True their powers may be limited. But, within those limits, they - No major change The fifth month of the American hostage taking incident in Iran and President Jimmy Carter has finally become angry enough to cut off diplomatic relations with Iran. This will please many Americans who have been pushing for stronger action and should also please those diplomats who say that Iran will respect a country that stands up to them. But with the lives of 50 hostages still at stake it is questionable whether Carter can afford too “ much anger or too many sweeping gestures. The impasse remains. sunday | news north shore news - NEWS 985-2131 1139 Lonsdale Ave . North Vancouver, BC V7M 2H4 (604) 985-2131 ADVERTISING CLASSIFIED CIRCULATION ‘080-0511 986-6222 986-1337 Publisher Peter Speck Associate Publisher Editor-in-Chief Advertising Director Robert Graham Noel Wright Eric Cardwelt Classified Manager & Office Administrator Beri Hillard Production Tim Francis Faye McCrae Managing Editor Andy Fraser Nows Editor Photography Chris Uoyd Ellsworth Dickson Accounting Supervisor Barbara Keen North Ghore News, founded in 1969 as an independent commun ty newspaper and qualified under Schedule til, Part Ul, Paragraph ill of the ExcisesTax Act, is published each Wednesday and Sunday. by North Shore Free Press Lid and distributed to every door on the North Shore. Second Class Mail Registration Number 3886 Subscriptions $20 per year Entire contents © 1960 North Shore Free Press Ltd. All rights reserved No responsibility accepted tor unsolicited material, including manuscripts and pictures. which should be accompanied by oa stamped, addressed return envelope scare woes Gua SIN CL Wednesday eas? THIS PAPER IS RECYCLABLE “Claude Ryan may well be the next Premier of Quebec. If he has his way on con- stitutional matters he will also be a dominant force in Ottawa. “In Mr. Ryan's blueprint for Canada the Premier of Quebec would also be the leader of a Quebec bloc in a new “Federal Council”. Replacing the Senate, it would have the power to veto laws passed by the House of Commons. “Quebec would have 25% of the votes in Mr. Ryan's new Federal Council on some issues and 50% on others. And, because a two- thirds majority would be needed to approve in- ternational treaties and laws affecting the provinces, La Belle Province's influence at the national level would be impressive indeed. “Mr. Ryan wouldn't take Quebec out of Con- federation. But if he has his way we would have a very different country from the Canada we have known in recent years. We would have a Pederal Council in Ottawa, dominated by the provinces, which would always be looking over the Federal Government's shoulder and frequently blocking its initiatives in areas where the Fedcral Government has had a free hand in the past. Personally 1 am all for ‘provincial rights’. Ottawa's powers should be scaled down and the provinces freed up to do their own things in their own way. This would still leave the Federal Government with some national chores to do. Like external affairs and finance they would be country-wide in their scope and they would be directed by , Members of Parliament who were elected to deal with these national issues. “Part of Claude Ryan's blueprint for Canada — that which gives more power to the provinces — therefore is acceptable. It gives the provinces complete control of education, health, social assistance and urem- ployment insurance. It says that resources, industrial development, land use planning and environmental protection are provincial. Those responsibilities should keep our provincial ad- ministrators busy. But they aren't enough for Claude Ryan's Quebec! “Mr. Ryan insists on “an equitable sharing of the wealth among different regions of the country”. And, to do this, Ottawa must tax Canadians from coast to coast and pay cqualization grants to the have-not provinces much as it ts doing today. “Personally | am opposed to one level of government doing the taxing and another level of government doing the spending. I am also opposed to unconditional Noel Wright grants which can be spent by the receiving provinces in any way they want. “Mr. Ryan's 141 page booklet “a New Canadian Federation” is not Separatist and it’s not for One Canada. It would result in 11 different autonomies with Quebec being more autonomous than all the others. Quebecers might like it because their language and culture would be fully protected and they would enjoy all of the financial fruits of being part of the Canadian nation. But those of us who live in Western Canada would have our misgivings. Ottawa would be unable to function efficiently and a sense of frustration would prevade our relations with the rest of the country. “Forget Quebec's 50% vote on such issues as language, culture and communications. Forget the fact that a one-third vote in Mr. Ryan's Federal Council could stop. the Federal must act as quickly and decisively as possible. They don’t need another level of government getting in their way, especially when that level of government doesn't have a mandate to veto measures which are outside its own area of jurisdiction. “Frankly I don’t think Claude Ryan's’ Federal Council in Ottawa will work. The provinces, with their different viewpoints, rarely agree among. themselves. How can they be expected to run Ottawa's affairs if they can't reach a consensus on such matters as the price of oil or a reasonable way to amend the British North America Act?- “Mr. Ryan's blueprint leaves our M.P.’s and most of our M.L.A.’s out in the cold. It puts our Provincial Premiers, and especially the Premier of Quebec, on a pedestal. It gives them a say in our national affairs when they are elected to deal with provincial matters. It will discredit ‘Parliament and make us even more sceptical of our national leaders than we are now. “Decentralize by all means. But let our clected representatives in Ottawa run our national affairs. Regionalism is for the regions. If Canada has to be a loose federation § of provinces with Ottawa sticking to a few issues which are of common concern to us all, so be it. But let us not kill our nation Canada in the process.”