6 - Friday, July 31, 1992 - North Shore News BEATS (IE SON...THEY’ ARE GHPROSEDLY INTELLIGENT, HIGHLY DEVELOPED MAMNINALS, BUT FoR StANE (NEXPLAINED REASON, EVERY VEAR, SOME. OF THEM BEAGH THEMSELVES... FEA uuu yypyypnylllda att itil dle tirtipy EOL: yy Federal fables TTAWA'S recent decision to sink $4.4 billion into the purchase of 50 new helicopters for the Canadian military wiil be difficult for local ship- builders to accept. On the surface the deal sounds like a prudent purchase. The helicopters will replace the navy’s aging helicopter fleet for use in such vital operations as search and rescue. But the majority of the anti-sub- marine helicopters will be deployed for military purposes that, with the collapse of the Soviet empire, are less critical now than they once were. On Monday, Capilano-Howe Sound MP Mary Collins announced that B.C. would get approximately $300 million in econom- ic spinoffs from the helicopter purchase; eastern Canada, meanwhile, will get over $2.1 billion in contracts from the deal. It is a story of federal contract inequity well known to West Coasters. The story’s main theme is that the federal government does not think twice about such extravagance when jobs are created in the vote-rich East. But when it comes to the West, se- cond thoughts are the order of the day. Such thoughts were lavished on a project that would have cost a fraction of the money invested in helicopters: the $500 million Polar Class 8 icebreaker. The whole Polar 8 project, drawn out over five long years, was promised and promised, and, of course, finally cancelled because it was considered too expensive. The Psixy 8 took with it North Van- couver’s Versatile Pacific Shipyards and thousands of shipyard jobs. It was an unhappy ending to an old fed- eral government story. LETTER OF THE DAY | Youth will seek challenge somewhere Dear Editor: To fence in Lynn Canyon or restrict access is a waste. It will not deprive the youth of a dan- gerous place. The canyon is a rite of passage. I vividly remember the day, over 30 years ago, when the river grabbed my leg and tried to pull me in. It was a real thing, a real force, part of Mother Nature. Later I learned to swim with Mother Nature up to the falls above 30-foot. This was like dipp- -ing in and out of fear because you had to stay aware that you were swimming with this force, this Publisher Associate Editor Comptrotier Tax Ac *_s published each distnouted to every Second Class Mail Ri Subscriptions North and year. : Peter Speck Managing Editor... Timothy Renshaw Noel Wright Advertising Director .. Linda Stewart Doug Foot North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an independent suburban newspaper and qualified under SNeduie 111, Paragraph {ll of the Excise lednesday, Friday and Sunc uy by Norn Shore Free Press Lid. and door on the North Shore. istration Number 3885. fest Vancouver, $25 per ailing rates available on +equest. Submissions are welcome bul we cannot accept fesponsibility for unsolicited material including spirit, all around you, and if you lost awareness of this it would pull you away. This was the challenge. The youth will seek this challenge somewhere as part of growing up. Putting a fence around the canyon is advocated by wimps who never “‘passed’’ or ‘‘challenged” the tites of passage necessary to grow up. In Surrey and the other farming suburbs, the canyon must have a big reputation among the youth. it’s more exciting than Playland; it’s a place where people die (like the highway). It’s real, man. Display Advertising 980-0511 Real Estate Advertising 985-6982 Newsroom 985-2131 Shek vince OF wOmTH AND WEST WANCOUVER ‘north shore SUNDAY = WEDNESDAY = FRIDAY 1139 Lonsdale Avenue, ~ North Vancouver, B.C. V7M 2H4 manuscripts and pictures which should be accompanied by a stamped, addressed envelope. Distribution Subscriptions 986-1337 Classified Advertising 986-6222 Fax Administration 985-2431