The ‘Tories’ enemy within t THIS COLUMN scarcely ever deals with politics for good reason. Columnists who talk nothing but politics are thick as cranberries in 2 bog. How could the public want one more? However, there are times when memories stir and we who were once politicians paw the ground, snort and feel the familiar rush of paranoia, which is the occupa- tional disease. Such a day was last T hursday when the Progressive Conservative Party drove another hundred thousand or so of their supporters into the Reform camp. . To those who have not been privy to political processes, the party advertisements making fun of Jean Chretien’s twisted face must seem an error almost beyond comprehension. Certainly they did to some of the Conservative party candidates, who publicly demanded that heads roll at party headquarters. ° This is not the first time that a political party displayed the death wish during a campaign and it won't be the last. Such are part of the process. There may be more than one reason, but there is one constant — the injury is always self- inflicted. . Some of us were introduced to _ this mystery by Joe Greene, a Liberal cabinet minister in the Pearson and Trudeau govern- . ments.) ~ “Joe looked like Jimmie Stewart ‘and affected the same drawling speech. In real life he was a tyrant to his staff and coiled so tight he . worked himself i into an early grave... Still that old weet Ottawa Valley maple syrup voice was . compelling. He said:. ~ “Political parties do not get defeated in elections. First a po- ditical party defeats itself. Then the yoters confirnn it.’” -: - Another term for what Joe described is the Exhaustion Fac- tor. Only people who have been there can fully appreciate the constant physical, mental and . emotional drain of being a Member of Parliament or a cabi- ‘net minister. . Sooner or later it saps the judgment and, beyond that, in- Paul Si. Pierre PAULITICS & PERSPECTIVES vites self-destruction. The mouth may keep working but the spirit rebels against another term of servitude that re-election means, A classic example was U.S. President Gerald Ford shoving away anti-communist votes by saying, during a television debate of all times, that Poland was not at that time an unfree nation: Mr. Ford didn’t believe that. You may be'sure he didn’t want to say it and could hardly believe it when he heard himself doing so. A hidden Gerald Ford who had enough of politics was speaking. Entire political parties can become exhausted and ask the voters, in strange ways, to cut their lives short. This may explain an old and honorable political party like the Conservative acting like a gut- tersnipe on national TV. There is another explanation and it must have wide currency in Ottawa this week. The one enduring and endemic ailment of the capital is paranoia. Politicians suspect plots every- where and particularly among those closest to them. The public mocking of Jean Chretien’s handicap fits all too neatly with a theory that the Pro- gressive Conservative Easterners all remembered where they had buried the hatchet when Kim Campbell was chosen leader, Once it became apparent that the party was in difficulties, and even before it was apparent whether the difficulties would pre- vent re-election, a cabal may have decided on assassination. There could have been no better time to strike her. She was at the start of a three-day Quebec cam- paign, trying to stem a hemor- rhage of votes toward the Bloc Quebecois. For her, what more embarrass- ing moment could there be than to arrive heralded by TV ads that taunted a Quebecer for a physical defect? The Quebec elite does not love Jean Chretien. Being by custom and nature language snobs, they despise his blue collar Shawinigan 4 accent, and they are mortified when he calls himself a pea- souper. But when English language TV mocks him for having a twisted face, the Quebecer may relent and vote for him after all, Certainly, they will not soon forget this _ matter. If such idiotic error of judgment was to be made by Conservative campaign headquarters, why did it have to occur on that particular day, leaving that woman from out West twisting in the cruel winds and listening to outraged protests , from her own candidates in other parts of Canada? And why did campaign chair- man John Tory keep her twisting by jszmping into television before she j:ad time to act and asking what all the fuss was about? Why not taunt Mr. Chretien for his af- fliction? One expected him to go on to explain that very few people suf- fered Beli’s Palsy as children so it couldn’t possibly offend more than a handful of voters. People do not rise to Mr. Tery’s position of leadership without having more common sense than he pretends to. Small wonder if some suspect that Kim Campbell’s chief oppo- nents are within her own party “incoming fram In », order min..$30 Choose from a wide variety of Mini, tMicro and Vertical blinds from our WINDOWWEAR collection. FULL HOUSE BEAL ASk about the additional savings on custom blind orders for 8 windows or more, NORTH VANCOUVER 1226 Parine Orive 984-4007 west VANCOUVER : cOnfouR 925-3655, ‘Hopes for cruise terminal dashed _ THE NORTH Shore is not a suitable site for a major - Lower Mainland cruise. ship facility, the president of Van- couver Port Corporation told North ‘Vancouver City coun- cil on Monday. Capt. Norman Stark potential cruise facility sites such _as the Versatile lands at the foot ‘of Lonsdale Avenue. have insuffi- cient .transportation links to the rest of Vancouver. _Lower Lonsdale would also . have to be raore developed to at- tract the cruise lines, he said. ‘You need an area that is con- ducive to attracting people off a vessel,”’ said Stark. : He said the port: is moving ahead with plans to build a cruise ship terminal on the south side of Burrard Inlet. Stark estimated that additional facilities would not be needed for at least 10 years. . He’ presented council with a THE NORTH SHORE'S BEST THE FIRM Nightly 6:45pm, Sat. & Sun. 6:00pm Mature, some violence, coarse lang., sugg. scenes SEARCHING FOR BOBBY FISHER Nightly 9:15pm, Sat. & Sun. 4pm & 8:45pm Mature said By Stephen Wisenthal Contributing Writer report that outlined four possible sites for the cruise facility — the Versatile Lands east of Lonsdale Quay, the Fullerton fill area be- tween McKay and Fell Avenues in North Vancouver, and sites in downtown anc East Vancouver. Both North Vancouver sites are rated poorly by the cruise lines on criteria such as access to the air- port, servicing of ships, proximity to hotels and marketing invest- ment requirements. A site on the downtown water- tront, close to the existing Canada CINEMA 2 FREE WILLY Nightly 6:45pm, Sat. & Sun, 3:00pm General MAN WITHOUT A FACE Nightly 8:35pm, Sat. & Sun. 4:55pm Mature, occ. sugg. lang., Sugg. scenes Place cruise ship facility, was strongly favored by the cruise lines as a site for a new dock. © Stark ‘explained that Vancouver is a ‘‘turnaround’’ port where ships begin and end cruises. He said this requires more infra- structure than at ports that are stops along the way. But he suggested that the North Shore could be a docking place for smaller cruise ships with fewer than 200 passengers. Several councillors said they would have liked to see the cruise ship facility form part of an effort to boost Lower Lonsdale. Mayor. Jack Loucks summed up the feel-. 3j ings of council in his closing comments to Stark. ‘“We are disappointed that you . didn’t give serious consideration to a cruise ship facility over _ here,”’ said Loucks. re “TERTENUENT VALUE CINEMA 3 MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING Nightly 7pm & 9pm, Sat. & Sun. 5om Mature ROOKIE OF THE YEAR Sat. & Sun. 3:05pm Generat f Constituency Office. Opinion Polls now indicate that the leader of the opposition in the next Parliament will be either separatist Bloc Québécois leader Lucien Bouchard or” Reform’s Preston Manning. Who do you prefer? : Capliano-Howe Sound 763 Marine Dr. West Vancouver — VTE AG REFORR, Telephone 926-5659 PARTY OF CAHADA Authorized hy Doug Hendeisoa, Official for Herb Grubed