8, 1991 - North Shore News rapes Bees Cann NEWS VIEWPOINT In with the new T IS a new cabinet that will face ofd problems. The oldest of which will be perform- ing as government rather than opposi- tion. Premier Mike UHarcourt’s 18-member cabinet is a carefully chosen politically- correct mix of men and women that on the surface should please more people than it will displease. The profile of women in the provincial cabinet, for example, has been raised substantially by Harcourt: seven of his 18 cabinet ministers are women and three of those women hold key ministries: health, social services and education. Compare this with only one woman in the Rita Johnston cabinet: Carol Gran, government services minister and minister responsible for women’s programs. The appointment of veteran NDP tor- ch-bearer Celin Gabelmann as attorney general over the more controversial Moe Sihota was another shrewd Harcourt deci- sion. But the exclusion of Emery Barnes from cabinet has already raised an uproar in some NDP quarters, and the North Shore’s extremely bright and able David Schreck was also overlooked, freezing the North Shore out of cabinet. With three reokic MLAs in cabinet and no veteran cabinet members, the new NDF government’s short victory honeymoon will soon be over. Instead of lobbing critical grenades at the Socreds from opposition ranks as they have for the past 16 years, the NDP will be on the receiving end from a Liberal Opposition equally new to their role. Only time will tell if the new boss is indeed the same as the old boss. LETTER OF THE DAY. AIDS ignorance is govt’s fault Dear Editor: Most of us can empathize with the intent of the Oct. 9 News Viewpoint on the matter of AIDS because most of us are ignorant of the ramifications of this plague. This condition, as your Viewpoint so clearly points out, is the fault of our governments and the media. But then, these bodies support our fragile economic world — could you imagine for instance, the world tourist industry collaps- ing because we are finally told just how bad AIDS is in any of the Present travel hotspots? That would be simply too much for any government (let alone the media) to contemplate! However, imagine the inevitable and perhaps violent reaction to governments when the people learn the truth about AIDS? When it is too late to do what must be done now? No wonder our governments want to ban guns — historically no inadequate, dictatorial gov- ernment wants to see an armed and angry public out there fuming over our very nation being destroyed, not only by debilitating taxes but also by an uncontrolled disease, particularly when neither would exist in a freely governed and moral society. Geoff Fenton North Vancouver 986-1337 986-1337 North Shore Publisher Peter Speck managed Managing Editor... .Timothy Renshaw Associate Editor Noel Wright Advertising Director .. . Linda Stewart Comptrofler Doug Foot North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an Independent suburban newspaper and qualified under Schedule 111, Paraqraph HI of the Excise Tax Act, is published each Wecinesday, Friday and Sunday by North Shore Free Press Ltd. and distributed to every door on the North Shore. Second Class Mail Regisiration Number 3885. Subscriptions North and West Vancouver, $25 per year. Mailing rates available on request. Submissions ar2 welcome but we cannot accept tesponsibility for unsolicited material including manuscripts and pictures which should be accompanied by a stamped, addressed envelope. Display Advertising 960-0511 Reai Estate Advertising 985-6982 Classified Advertising 986-6222 Newsroom 985-2131 Distribution Subscriptions Fax 985-3227 Administration 985-2131 “ . MEMBER north shore SUNDAY + WEDHESDAY + FRIDAY 1139 Lonsdale Avenue, North Vancouver, B.C. = V7M 2H4 61,582 (average circulation, Wednesday, Friday & Sunday) Entire contents © 1991 North Shore Free Press Ltd. Al! rights reserved. SDA DIVISION _ shown top nattering - just explain things clearly GNCE MORE last.week Canadians displayed vastly more sense than their politicians. They said endless nattering about the Constitution is a waste of time. They’re fed up with it and want action on the much more pressing preb- lems ef 10% unemployment and a stagnant economy. That’s the finding of the latest CBC-Globe & Mail poll. It was confirmed just days later to the grave embarrassment of the tour- ing constitutional committee — which arrived for a public ‘‘con- sensus’’ forum in Manitoba at which act a solitary soul showed up. After all, anyone with an ounce of brains knows it would be easier to win a national consensus on how Canadians want to spend tomorrow evening than on how to soft-talk Quebec extremists into staying in Canada. So meet West Van’s Neil Thompson, who has a radically different proposal for ending, the bafflegab and getting on with more urgent matters. Have On- tario and six other provinces ap- prove terms of separation by a simple resolution, he urges; then present the terms to Messrs. Parizeau and Lucien Bouchard toud, clear and RIGHT AWAY. His suggested basic conditions are: 1. Quebec would take only the land it brought into Confedera- tion. The northern two-thirds of the present province, given to it later to administer, would revert to Canada. 2. The St. Lawrence would become an international water- way. A permanent five-mile wide land corridor governed by a joint Canada-Quebec commission would link Ontario with New Brunswick. And Canada would have unrestricted air passage over Quebec. 3. Quebec would pay, up front, 26% of the national debt. There would be no common currency, no more Canadian social! in- surance numbers, government pensions, UI, medicare or trading privileges. 4. Quebec’s aboriginals (a fed- eral responsibility) would enjoy ail present rights, plus future rights granted to them in Canada. Mr. Thompson was a 1988 Reform Party candidate, but he denies any connection between the RP and the six-page ‘‘Thompson Manifesto’’ he’s had printed under his own name. And if last week’s polls are right, the screams of ‘Redneck!’ that will greet him from Politically Correct Thinkers are likely to fall, oftener than not, SS onare QUEBEC AFTER separation in solid black. Black lines stretching north show Quebec today. Noel un. rs Sa HITHER AND YON on dexf ears. Even if 50%-pius of Quebecers want out, he sees the feds as being in duty bound to defend the ter- citozial integrity of the other 87% of Canadians. Since Quebec radi- cals don’t believe any downside to separation exists, Ottawa is being unfair and hypocritical to all of us by not clearly explaining, AHEAD of any deadline, the price tag. That, he argues, is also the surest way to prevent separation. All the evidence suggests he'll have a fot of listeners wiio are in no sense “‘rednecks."’ They're people who've simply decided to save their energy for more vital bread-and-butter concerns than futilely trying to appease Quebec ‘traitors’? — at most some 13% of Canada's population — who are still doing very nicely out of Confederation. Fora copy of Neil Thompson's full “‘Manifesto,’’ drop him a note with a two-dollar bill (three copies for $5 or eight for $10) to: P.O, Box 91, 903, West Van- couver, B.C. V7V 484. TAILPIECES: Ail set to sail again to Cates Park Monday, Nov. 11, are Commodore Brian Haley and his Burrard Yacht Club mariners. The boats will hold their traditional Remembrance Day service on the waters off the park at 11 a.m. ... Capilano Communi- ty Services Society’s exec. director Tricia Andrew wants to say a big public thank-you to North Van District and Rec Commission for all their help with the new enlarg- ed facility for the Capilano Youth Centre at William Griffin Rec Centre ... Next chance for gift bargain-hunters comes Sunday, Nov. 10 from {0 a.m. onward at the sixth annual Christmas Craft Fair in Delbrook Rec Centre, 600 West Queens Rd. ... And warm anniversary greetings to West Van’s Richard and Inger Langmann, who tomorrow, Saturday, Nov. 9, celebrate their 63rd. WRIGHT OR WRONG: Life is like footbali — always make sure first that you know where the goalposts are.