6 - Wednesday, June 25, 1997 - North Shore News north shore news VIEWPOINT 'T is this neediness on the part of many politicians to “beautify” their immediate surroundings by tossing about our hard-earned tax dollars with such apparent abandon? The most flagrant and recent example is provided courtesy of our civic servants in North Vancouver City. What makes this scenario so dis- concerting is that it’s out of character. The city under the able stewardship of Mayor Jack Loucks has rightfully taken pride in its general course of fiscal prudence. . When stacked up against its spend- thrift counterpart — land sale addict- ed North Vancouver District — the city has always seemed to be down- City council agreed to spend $568,000 to “beautify” an area known as the 24th Street corridor. It’s the pedestrian plaza feeding off Lonsdale through to the library, city hall and parking at 14th Street. It’s a nice cnough place as far as concrete allows. There’s a fountain and pool area, some benches to sit on, a clock and some steps. It works. It is not a particularly shabby place to be. On sunny days — when Mother Nature’s beautification system paints the place with light — people linger a while. But no, there is a. pressing need tor new benches, trees, lighting, new stairs, fewer park- ing stalls. If the city is so set upon beautifica- tion here’s a hint. Keep the town right miserly in its approach to capi- tal expenditure. Last week proved otherwise. THE North Shore News Free Speech Defence Fund is closing in on $100,000. To press time Tuesday, donations from over 1,300 News readers and free speech supporters to the fund, which was ini- tiated‘on March 26, stood at $99,616, Legal fees expended thus far by the News have already hit approximately $178,000. The final bill will be much higher. All funds received will help defray the legal costs faced by the News in its battle with the Human Rights Tiibunal over a complaint laid against the newspaper and its columnist Doug Collins by the Canadian Jewish Congress. The hearing into the matter, which began on May 12 at the Century Plaza Hotel, 1015 Burrard St., resumed June 23 with final arguments at the Century Plaza Hotel location. The hearing had been suspend- ed for two weeks to allow Nitya lyer, the tribunal of one, to deal with a medical matter. More excerpts - from the hundreds of respondents to the cause: “I appreciate the stand that the North Shore News has taken on this issue. Don’t weaken.” -~ Calvin Patterson of North Vancouver gag *J don’t live on the North Shore bur now and again a friend gives me his copy of the North Shore News. I enjoy the paper very much. I feel very badly about the way you have teen treated by the media. Free speech ts the essence of democracy, We must protect that right at all costs.” Mrs. T. Christensen of Vancouver QQ “I wish theve were more writers like Doug Collins araund. There is always food for thought in all his columns whether we agree with his opinions or not.” Irene Dudra of North Vancouver Donations to the North Shore News Free Speech Defence Fund can be sent to the News office, ] 139 Lonsdale Ave., North Vancouver, V7M 2F14. Cheques should be made out to the North Shore News Free Speech Defence Fund. — trenshaw@direct.ca orth Share News, founded in 1969 as an independent suburtan newspaper and qualified undes Schedule 111, Paragraph 111 of the: Excise Tax Act, is published each Wednesday. Friday and Sunday by North Shera Free Press Ltd. and distntvfed to every door on the North ‘Shore. Canada Post Canadian Pubticabons Mad Sales Product Agreement No. 0067234. OAading rates avadihle on request. clean and go easier on our taxes. Now that would be beautiful. THE storm in a media teacup over Preston Manning’s final decision to live in Stornoway instead of a Travelodge unit says a whole lot more about the media than about Manning. The historic $2-mil- lion mansion on Ottawa's exclusive embassy-and- millionaire row has long been the official home of the Leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition — though its furniture has been draped in dust sheets since 1993, when former Bloc Quebecois osposition leader Lucien Bouchard declined to move in. The household, which comes with a housekeeper and three other staff, costs some $70,000 a year to run and more than one-third of that amount merely to mothball. So initially Preston — in fine with his austerity policy which saw all Reform MPs but one give up their bioated parliamen- tary pensions — declared Stornoway far too Ency for Sandra and him, and even joked about turning it into a profit-making bingo palace to help reduce the deficit. Then, more thoughtful voices, many with- in the Reform Party itself, began to be heard. They pointed out that the official opposition leader ranks, protocol-wise, sec- ond only to the prime minister. Moreover, his official entertainment obligations demand quite a bir more than a PETER SPECK Publisher 985-2131 (101) RE J and yon OUR GLEN, WHO ART IN POWER, HALLOWED BE THY NAME, Tay LEGISLATION COME To PAS}... ONG OF THE MANY CHANG £5 To THE LABOR. CODE PLANNED BY THE NDP: DAILY PRAYER Reform-bashing a bit premature? Travelodge coffee shop can provide. It was even suggested that, in spurning Stornoway, Manning was showing disre- spect to the very office he’d now won. So after two days listening to his caucus — and to assorted straw polls among the public — Preston changed his mind and will move into Stornoway after all. The Eastern-dominated media establishment, including, Vancouver’s two Southam dailies — which has raised knee- jerk Reform-bashing to an art form — had a field day. Manning’s “shilly-shallying,” they charged, proved he lacks leadership quali- ties. He'd beconie just another “old- style” politician like all the others. The Vancouver Sun's Barbara Yaffe ranted about the reaction of Canada’s 1.5 million jobless and one child in five living in poverty to Preston and Sandra living it up in Stornoway (how did they feel about Jean and Aline Chretien’s tenancy there prior to 1993, Barbara?). The truth of the matter, one suspects, is that the Reform-bashing media pack sel- dom if ever meets a genuinely populist political leader — one who listens carefully to caucus members’ and constituents’ views first, squares them with his own judgment and, even if it takes some litle time, finally reaches 2 carefully balanced decision that factors in all the angles. That’s not how political leadership has evolved so far in Canada. We'd likely be in much better shape today, if it it had. Proof that it can work is the Reform Party’s own short 10-year life story, from electing a single MP to its present 60-MP government-in-waiting. Manning’s unique populism has never weakened his cough disciplining of wayward party members. Yet his leadership today remains unchal- lenged. Faral Ontario vote-splitting between Reform and Tories, encouraged by a media image of Reform as a bunch of western rednecks, has ill served Ontario voters —— many as disillusioned as western- ers with our present government machin- ery, which Manning promises to funda- mentally reform. So maybe it’s high time for our estab- lishment Reform-bashers in the media to take a reality check and refiect on the mer- its of an idea whose moment may have arrived. After all, i you keep on doin what you've always done, you'll merely keep on getting what you've always got! 000 MANY HAPPY RETURNS this week to three West Van Kiwanis birthday boys — Ron Sidaway (today, June 25}, Ken McIntosh (tomorrow, June 26) and Ed fockler (Saturday, June 28) a Also on aturday wish a very ha irthday to Wooderoft's Barbara Milie,, now conva. lescing at home after her recent sojourn in Lions Gate Hospital. O00 WRIGHT OR WRONG — according to Erma Bombeck: Never go to a doctor whose office plants have died. — The North Shore News believes strong- ly in freedom of speech and the right of all sides tn a debate to be heard. The columnists published in the News present differing points of view, but those views are not neces- sarily those of the newspaper itself. 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