is». prepared: to ‘quit: ‘Canada unless “B.C. gets a fair deal from con- federation under a revised Canadian con- stitution. An accurate reading of his survey, however, may be little different. What one-third of North Van-Burnaby voters are really saying, we suspect, is that they:.are not prepared to-have a constitution of which they disapprove forced upon them unilaterally by a federal government which they decisively rejected last February — and which didn’t elect a single member west of Winnipeg; that rather than submit to bullying. by the present Liberal ad- ministration based on central Canada, a _ sizable minority is at least ready to examine a | Western Canada option. This is not the same as rejecting con- federation. itself which, by and. large, has served B.C. and the rest of the country reasonably well for the past 113 years. It is >the present political manipulators. of con- federation. in Ottawa to whom the warning is . essed. And that fact raises a fun- mtal. -iuestion about the whole con- “Isn't. the. remaking of Canada far too important. to be left to politicians? Might it sbe:far better to entrust the task to a separate: constitutional assembly, composed Of respected citizens from many different walks. o [ life,elected on an equitable basis ‘fron all 10 provinces? As INDIVIDUALS, not ‘party’ representatives. . The. Americans did it that way 200 years ago. The U.S constitution they produced is a. pretty. impressive and durable document. orked tongue The artist “who spray-painted over the French-language half of the signboard outside West Van post office last weekend presents an interesting riddle. Originally the words read “Succursale postale Vancouver Ouest”. Just a week or so ago, at Mayor Humphrey's request, it was changed to “Succursale postale West Vancouver”. With a linguistic mix like that we may never know whether the vandal was an outraged anglophone or an outraged francophone. sunday news north shore news 1139 Lonsdale Ave . North Vancouver, B C V7M 2H4 (604) 985-2131 NEWS ADVERTISING CLASSIFIED CIRCULATION 985-2131 980-0511 986-6222 986-1337 Publisher Peter Speck Associate Publisher Editor-in-Chief Advertising Director Robert Graham Noel Wright Eric Cardwell Classified Manager Production & Office Administrator Tim Francis Berni Hillard Faye McCrae Managing Editor Andy Fraser News Editor Photography Chris Woyd Etisworth Dickson Accounting Supervisor Barbara Keen North Shore News, tounded in 1969 as an independent commun ° ty newspaper and qualified under Schedule Ill, Part IW, Paragraph I of the Excise Tax Act, is published each Wednesday and Sunday by North Shore Free Preas Ltd and distributed to every door on the North Shore. Second Cilass Mail Registration Number 3885 Subscriptions §20 per year Entire contents © 19880 North Shore Free Press Ltd. Alt rights reserved No responsibility accepted for unsolicited material inctuding manuscripts and pictures, which should be accompanied by 4 ‘stamped, addressed retum envelope VERIFIED CIRCULATION. 60,670 Wednesday. 49,913 Sunday THIS PAPER IS RECYCLABLE Environment Minister Stephen Rogers, chairman of the Environment and Land Use Committee, has releaséd an overview study on -Howe Sound which provides information on the physical features of the area and describes its past, present, and potential future. uses. “Many people have dif- ferent perceptions about Howe Sound,” said the minister. “Some see it as a place to live, to go fishing, or sailing; others point out its significance as a place to sort and store prior to milling: and still others are interested in’ its port and imdustrial development potential. This study examines all of these and other uses of Howe Sound.” An important finding of the study is that the area has served, and must continue to seve, a range of needs for both local residents and the province as a whole, said Rogers. However, he said, rustB. even though -different ac- tivities such as mining, port development and forest products industries have co- existed with recreation, tourism and_ residential development, there have Hot off the printing press in Victoria is the latest of those official publications designed to make British Columbians feel warm all over towards their wise, responsible government. It also provides one or two interesting little side- exercises for those w'ww like to look not only at the bottom line but also a! ihe figures used to arrive at it. In bottom-line terms “British Columbia _A Decade of Growth 1969-79” is an impressive document. The easy-to-read 18-page report issued by Industry Minister Don _ Phillips chronicles B.C.’s economic growth over the 10 years in question — and with just one exception it’s a resounding success story from start to finish. Page by page the report features the 10-year story of the province's leading economic indicators: gross domestic product, personal income, retail sales, manufacturing shipments, exports and imports, in- dividual industry per- formances and the like. Heading cach section is an attractive pictorial graph, beneath which the year-by: year figures are clearly tabulated, without comment of any kind. Comment, indeed, would be superfluous. If you're in a hurry, you don't even need to read the figures. On graph after graph the line sweeps up up ... up from the bottom left to the top right corner, often in dramatic spurts. The picture of B.C.'s booming seventies is crystal clear ata glance. FIGURES TELL For the more leisurely reader the tabulated figures confirm the visual picture: the gross domestic product up from $8.8 billion in 1969 to $31.4 billion in 1979. Personal income per capita up from $3,226 to $9,615. Retail sales up from $3.2 billion to $9.2 billion. Manufacturing shipments increased by 266 per cent. Exports by 456 per cent. Imports by 390 per cent. Oil and gas production over eight times greater than a -decade ago. Mineral production nearly six umes greater. Tounsm and farm cash receipts each more than trebled. It's the same kind of story with capital expenditures, company incorporations, electric energy and fishenes The only = disappointment came, unfortunately, from the province’s No 1 in- dustry, the forests. Lumber’ production over the 10 years rose by only a relatively modest 63 per cent. Plywood, pulp and paper lagged miserably at figures between 20 and 23 per cent. As every school child knows, the forest industry has traditionally provided, directly and_ in- directly, 50 cents out of every B.C. payroll dollar. Had it kept pace with growth in all other sectors of the economy, Alberta today would probably be B.C 's poor relation. ROADBLOCKS? During seven of the years covered by Mr Phillips’ report B.C. was ruled by Social Credit. The report, being a government document, makes no reference to this fact though Mr Phillips and his 10 been and will be conflicts. “Over the last decade there have been growing concerns about the preservation of the out- standing environmental quality of the area.” said the Noel Wright colleagues would doubtless be happy to emphasize it if pressed. By contrast, the NDP has been accused by its free enterprise opponents of being incapable of running a peanut stand. So what roadblocks did Dave Barrett's three-year NDP administration from 1972 to 1975 throw in the path of BC's triumphal forward march? According to Mr. Phillips’ figures it's difficult to conclude that the socialist hordes threw up any major roadblocks at all in some cases they might even claim to have speeded the forward march Under the NDP the gross domestic product started to rise ot a faster clip than under the preceding Socred government of W.A.C. Bennett and kept right on going. The same is true of Personal income, retail Sales, Capital expenditures, oil and gas production, tourism and agriculture. minister. “If this quality is to be maintained, all levels of government and the public must work together to en- sure that careful planning and management takes place. “We see this study as a starting point for deter- mining what needs to be done to ensure that Howe Sound continues to meet the many demands placed on the area,” Rogers concluded. Copies of the study will be available in public libraries of the municipalities and regional districts in the area, as well as the Islands Trust and the numerous provincial and federal agencies which contributed information contained in the report and its accompanying map folio. Interested individuals and groups wishing to review the study may also write to the Director of the Environment and Land Use Committee Secretariat, Legisi.:ive Buildings. Victoria. B.C. VBV 1X4. Ictoria Apart from temporary slumps in 1974 the Barrett” brigade also kept the curve rising healthily for manufacturing shipments, exports and imports. They even managed to keep it rising modestly in the case of mineral production. In three remaining areas the three-year NDP reign coincided with marked economic setbacks. Forest industry production drooped. Electric energy development lagged. And the value of. fisheries nosedived. But temporary setbacks also have occurred, of course, under the Socreds. WHAT IT TAKES In hght of the many ¢x-° ternal factors affecting the - economy of a resource- based province like B.C. it’s doubtful how far = any government can be wholly blamed for reverses — OF wholly praised for success stories. The one firm truth to emerge from the Phillips report is that the B.C. ecohomy continucs to grow cithcr with or despite the politicians who claim to control it for a season. The foreword to the report describes it as “a testimony to the vitality of the Province and the confidence of its people in the future”. Meaning, one supposes, that British Columbians have — what it takes — regardless of — the party in power in Vie~.. toria. It's a comforting thought. ; Fimess is a national issue. We call it Body Politics...