The Highways Ministry has suggested that the long-postponed’. replacement of the - centre deck on the aging Lions Gate Bridge may not be completed before 1989. Though no final decision has yet been made, the mere possibility of a further eight-year delay should be challenged. —~ Priority, says the ministry, may he given to widening the traffic-choked Cassiar Corridor to the Second. Narrows. Both jobs will require continuing bridge closures over lengthy periods..and cannot, therefore, be done simultaneously. The Cassiar problem is admittedly acute during peak hours. But a feasibility study on how best to ‘solve it .will not ‘be. ready. for nearly.a year, A further. year‘or more could well elapse. before final agreement was reached between the various levels of government. | Meanwhile, traffic congestion on both crossings will inevitably mount. But on the narrow. Lions Gate,. unlike Cassiar, physical : pavar s also increase by the month as 1erously ‘worn deck deteriorates. : Temporary ‘short-lived resurfacing — itself eon an closures — will be needed : i te standards Highways ; ahead to. ‘complete the Lions Gate pate first. — thereby adding an estimated 30-40 years to the life of the span. We can't afford to waste another eight years of that vital reprieve. Two and two make four, ‘right? Wrong. it’s alcohol. A recent U.S. study of 8,060 people showed non-drinkers had a death rate 40% higher than those who took one or two drinks daily. That's the good news. The bad news ts that those taking three to five drinks daily had a 50% higher death rate. All together now... two plus zero beats two plus two! | sunday 1139 Lonsdale Avo. narth shore North Vancouver,8.C. [ Ww V7M 2H4 ne S (604) 985-2131 ADVERTISING NEWS 960-0511 CLASSIFIED 985-2131 986-6222 CIRCULATION 986-1337 Publisher Peter Speck Associate Publisher Editor-in-Chief Advertising Director Robert Graham Noel Wright Eric Cardweli Managing Editor News Editor Sports Editor Andy Fraser Chris Uoyd Patrick Rich General Manager Creative Administration Director Bern Hillard Production Director Rick Stonehouse Tom Francis Photography Elisworth Dickson Accounting Supervisor Circulation Director Purchaser Barbara Keen Bnan A Ells Faye McCrae North Shore News, founded in 186 an an mdapendent community newspaper und quulied under Scheadute Wh Part tt Paragraph WW) ot the truce Tax Act 18 putiished each Wodnosday and Sunday by North Shore Free Presa Lid and Gistiibuted to every door on the North Shore Second Class Mat Registration Numter 1845 Subscriptions $20 por year Entire contents — 1961 North Shore Free Prese lid All rights reserved No renponmibitty RoCEpted for Gnmale ited ceatecat ee hueing Mana pts and pre tures which shoutd be accompa ed try ck cvtamerag vers addressed COvolope VERIFIED CIRC Ut ATION 63 470 Wednesday, 52.750 Sunday ak THIS PAPER IS RECYCLABLE Director Fraser Institute, By MICHAEL A. WALKER Vancouver One of the most frequently talked about items of news these days is the high “unacceptable” level of interest rates. Business people talk about the up- coming collapse of their businesses due to the unreasonable interest rates they must pay. Politicians out of power whine about the merciless treatment of borrowers at the hands of. moneylenders and, of course, we all yearn for the good old days when mor- tgages were about five or six percent. There is a curious other - side to the high interest rate story, however, and that is the remarkable number of people who continue to borrow. Don't they know about the usury? Aren’t they concerned about the unreasonableness of interest rates? My view is that people go on borrowing because of the large inflation premium built into them. In the good old days - the post Korean War 50's, say - when mortgage rates were 5%-6% , the inflation rate never got much above three percent and averaged only about one percent. So, the interest rates on those five per cent mortgages reflected the real cost of the money. The credit union or bank or trust company paid about three per cent in order to cover its own cost and profit, and came up with a mor- igage rate of about five per cent. Today, with — inflation eroding the value of the dollar at 10 to 11 per cent a year, depositors must be paid 13 or 14 per cent on their savings deposits just to get the same effective in- terest return they used to get when they were receiving only three per cent. Credit unions, trust companies, and banks add their margin for costs and profit and come up with a mortgage rate of 14 to {1S per cent. The only dif- ference between the 14 to 15 per cent mortgage rates of the 1980s and the five per cent of the days of yore, is the huge increase in the inflation rate. To some extent. this provides the answer to the puzzle of why some people borrow at these high interest rates. The same inflation that erodes the value of the savers’ deposits also erodes the loan of the borrower. Meanwhile, the value of the house purchased with the loan rises with inflation. And, as long as borrowers expect inflation to continue, they will continue to be willing to borrow at what seem to be prohibitively high interest rates. While all of this will come as cold comfort to anybody forced with renewing a mortgage at the higher, inflation-swollen interest rates, it does make clear that there are no siniple solutions to the problem of high interest rates. Politicians who clamour for legislation - to produce flower interest rates for people trying to break into the housing market are, whether they realize it or not, calling for low interest rates for savers. And, while it is easy on human interest grounds, to make a case for easier access to hous‘ng, it isn’t clear why there ought to be lower imterest rates for the savers in our society. The ultimate solution to high interest rates is to get rid of the inflation which causes th«m. And, paradoxically, that will have to mean higher interest rates in the short term. } Inflation will not be sitbdued as long as people go on wing because they think interest rates are not high relative to the inflation they expect. Tragically, politicians are quick t scapegoats for high rates, they are acknowledge their role in causing the i which makes the high in- terest rates unavoidable. Heat is on in Spadina battle By MARY FERGUSON United Press Canada Two political veterans “have launched major of- fensives in the Spadina by- election to stop Jim Coutts from leaving the Liberal backrooms for a front row seat in the House of Com- mons. The Conservative Party has thrown its support behind women's activist Laura Sabia while the New Democrats have offered accomplished city alderman Dan Heap in what has been tagged the “Boot Coutts campaign.” The cherub-faced Coutts has become a_ well-known and much feared name on Parhament Hill dunng his seven years of un compromising dedication to Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau as one of Trudeau's key political advisers Coutts) candidacy = was announced the same day that) Spadina Liberal MP Peter Stollery was appointed to [he Senate and Aug 1? was setfor the by-election Within 24 hours. the Liberal machine had leaflets and posters up across the downtown nding which has voted Laberalin all but one chew tion simee EONS But the opposing factions acted swiftly to cCountee the Libcraly lead in the five week campaign ammed = at woorng he areas large cthan population and young professionals Outspoken broads aster activist and author Ms Sabia says she needs the MP's job “like a hole in the head”, but is determined to fight Coutts, whose ideas she says “have become synonymous with Liberal policy.” “I know it’s a long shot but I wouldn't run if I thought I was just a sacrificial lamb,” said the 64-year-old women’s activist, former chairperson of the Ontario - Status of NOEL WRIGHT back on Sunday Women Council and St Catharines alderman “What made me gettin the race owas the cconomy which makes me awfully mad "she said recently. while resting ino her cam paign oolft~c before a loy chat witha sign reading “Thos chan Jim Coutts after Laura cuts beim down to size The mding s $0,000 voters “have to decide do they lhe a povernment that cuns the rest of the country hike the post office?” Ma Satna says belongs to of the campaign in which she and Heap a:c flogging the ailing economy and alleged Liberal indifference as prime reasons for keeping Coutts out of office. Heap’s nine years as a city alderman in an_=e area overlapping the federal riding has given him a strong background ‘1 local issues and the odds to come second to Coutts, if not first, by splintering the vote. The bearded = Anglican priest has used the traditional New Democratic strategy of melding a concentration on economic issucs with dedicated legwork to spread the message “Prices and the govern- ment are the key points,” said the 55-year-old father of seven. “The newspaper headhnes have been on our side amphicatly for a couple of wecks now The government isn't doing anything cffective to faght high interest rates, a declining dollar and escalating prices. “We also have the discnchantment Trudeau on our side ” Despite the optimism and vigor oof his opponents’ campatga the 43 year-old Coutts has satled through the with nding on unbridled = cn thasiasm and hard work to make himscil known as “the local boy” Coutts platform of “in creased job training for the young and immigration policics to promote family reunification” have been carefully packaged to attract the two major voting blocks and conveniently sidestep economic issues. Coutts has been accused by his opponents of evading any meeting bringing the three major candidates together, a move he says “just doesn’t fit into my schedule”. He has also been criticized for giving littl time to reporters (“sorry I don't have much time to talk, can- vassing is my first priority”), whom he as referred to as a necessary evil of democracy. ye oa ‘ 1981 International Year of Disabled Persons Unicel Canada (Y)