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Entire contents

© 1996 North Shore

‘Free Press Ltd.

. ti
Saree

rights reserved.

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news viewpoint

PEER RE EN RELL MELE) OLA IT LOIEL IS IME TS TERI LNT STEN TR TONER MEG ESE ATMA TERE SENT SES

BEFORE WE ACCEPT You
UNDER BANISH COLUMBIAS
IMMIGRANT INVESTOR FUND,
FM GOING TO ASK YOU SOME
TOUGH AND IMPORTANT
QUESTIONS...

VLE

CASH OF
CHEQUE ?

(eat NEN EPR PI RAO nt apa a maNteeELAD Sottero BAY DntnaAilA nthe rp ainemel acne

Strange dealings

% EALINGS ON the school board front
in North Vancouver are flabbergasting
Jr to say the least.

Close observers of the building friction
between the provincial government and the
North Vancouver school board saw the writ-
ing on the wall as far as the abbreviated term

_ of office served by the trustees. Given the

mounting deficit, $4.9 million by the end of

‘this fiscal year, and the board’s inability to

deal with it, the firing was inevitable. The
province chose. not .to take up the board’s
longstanding request to look at its books.
Both sides became entrenched and triggered
the crisis, fo

Some big questions to ponder in the wake
of this minor catastrophe: Why did the gov-
ernment. choose to play tough and plunk
down the scorched earth card? Was considei-

ation given to having Bob Smith, the govern-

ment-appointed official trustee of the school
district, come in to deal with the fiscal side of '

the job while keeping the trustees in place to

address the balance of their responsibilities? |

Will Smith as an appointed civil servant sim-
ply play a rubber-stamping role as a puppet
of the NDP Ministry of Educatica? What are
we to make of the bizarre request by Smith
that the trustees continue to serve on commit-
tees related to the duties of the position that
has been taken from them?

And finally, what of the fundamental ques-
tion of democracy in this situation?. The
trustees were elected by North Vancouver res-
idents. Another level of elected representa-
tives has abused this process, Should the elec-
torate have been sufficiently. disenchanted

with the performance of the school trustees, °

they could have bounced them from office this
year. That right has been taken from them.

ill 2 a
Heel eee

Not all on
the dole
are bums

Dear Editor:

In his Jan. 14 column
("Socialist Supreme”) Doug
Collins writes, “The welfare
system has boomed and B.C.
became the most attractive
place in the country for bums.
With top rates.”

am on social assistance. 1-
have four years of college, two, F
in geology and two in electro-: | .
mechanical engineering, sever- ]° ..
al years of work experience, '
military service with an honor-..
able discharge, and a stron
desire to work. a

T look for work every. day.
and try to survive on the “top
rates” that I receive . each:
month: $520. After paying rent
and a bus pass, I have $116 to.,
pay for food, clothes, entertain-:
ment and the costs.related to.
getting a job. There are, thou
sands like me on welfare. We
seek work but unfortunately.
there are more people: than
jobs. a

True, there. may be “bums'
in the system, but to say every
one collecting welfare is a bum’.
is ludicrous.*

If Doug Collins. actual}
believes that the, unemployed
and poor are “bums,” I begin to’
wonder what his qualifications :
are. Is he a sociologist, does he
have a degree in: joumalism’
Or perhaps-he used to work fo:
one of those weekly news:
tabloids? 0. Se

If 231 people on welfare are
“bums,” is it true. that all jour-:'-
nalists and reporters are: clu
less and have no credibility to.

_ their profession? Of ca d
In every: group. of: people
there are those-who tend to hurt
. their peers by example.:.
were'a journalist, I'd be con
cerned about people like Dou
Collin, 0 fe
David Wilson
North Vancouver

violence, smut hard to tame

TODAY’S GALLOPING
technology is capable of pro-
ducing answers to most prob-
lems — if only human beings
would stop getting in its way.
Take Hollywood's unashamed
cult of violence and promiscuity
which floods our TV screens.
Every night an average of seven out
of the roughly 350 characters who
appear on them in prime time are

Wright

it’s now on hold until April follow-
ing protests and threats of trade
retaliation from below the border.

Meanwhile, however, one of
technology’s latest gadgets could
make such a step unnecessary.
Currently being tested in various
Canadian cities, the V-chip “cen-
sor" can be installed in cable TV
boxes and works in conjunction
with a program classification sys-
tem.

Soetin DP cata teal Fe Peetan Tat al E aint at a

murdered, not ic mention those
injured, beaten up or threateacd. .
Also in prime time a Planned
Parenthood survey counted some
65,000 sexual references per year
— nearly 200 per night. And a

~ study by the U.S. Centre for Media

and Public Affairs found that some
88% of all sexual encounters in TV
dramas involved extra-marital rela-
tions.

More than 60 major university
studies show that prolonged expo-
sure to such vicious junk encour-
ages more hostile. violent and
aggressive behavior in real life. In
particular, the effect on impression-
ble youngsters has Canada’s top
broadcast regulator, the Canadian
Radio-television and Telecom-

eels wee ta Aad bg Ba ete

hither
‘1 and yon

munications Commission (CRTC),
deeply worried.

It sees children and teens — in
particular, “home alone” kids
whose parents are out working —
becoming desensitized to the smut
and mayhem they absorb for hours
daily from the tube. Soaring
teenage violence statistics in recent
years lend weight to those. con-
cems.

As a result the CRTC has a plan
to black out violent U.S. shows on

Canadian cable systems — though

ER ate le a a ome

That means every program
would carry a rating code denoting
its violence, sexual content or
coarse language — if applicable.
Then the V-chip would enable mom
or dad to screen out programs
whose codes indicated materia!
they didn’t want their offspring to
watch.

It seems a perfect answer. Today
82% of Canadian homes have cabte
TV. No public censorship is
invoived. The technology is backed
by the U.S. government, which
may soon require V-chips in all
new TV sets.

But there’s still one big hurdle
to clear: the classiftcation code sys-
tem itself — without which the V-
chip is useless.

Canadian broadcasters and cabl
firms are already at work putting
together a code. But U.S. broad-
casters — ignoring President’. .
Clinton's pleas because of apperent
fear of some kind of state censor-!':
ship — are dragging their heels and.
may not go alon? sith Canada’s
system. if .

That could‘torcs the CRTC to
revert to its original, politically’
messy option of blacking out U.S.
programs on Canadian cable —- 3}. °:
almost certainly leading to negative: ~
Canada-U.S. trade repercussions. ©.

With both governments eager, -—_
yet so far seemingly heipless — to"
protect young citizens from" |
Hollywood's torrent of blood, lust |
and filth, one has to wonder whc’s.
really in charge on this continent.

Washington? Ottawa? Or NBC’. .
and Universal Studios? “les

eave
WISH many happy returns of |"
Saturday, Feb. 3, to West.Van 3°.
Kiwanis birthday boy Joe Lindsey.
WRIGHT OR WRONG: The |
trouble. with some folks is that they,
don’t have a single redeeming’ :
defect. uo