6 — Friday. September 20, 1991 ~ North Shore News as ie Sy yonine’ te natiilille ype pill, oy ox watttldldd INSIGHTS Wee fire: Gow ntl’ yusile lu“ tly inalisenintiitll tea yyy yy py tLe MLL Z NEWS VIEWPOINT Bad grade already flunked. The subject? Wilderness preserve- tion. The World Wildlife Fund Canada’s Exudangered Spaces campaign is seeking to ensure that each of the nation’s 350 natu- ral regions is represented by a park or pro- tected area by the year 2000. But it seems certain provinces are skipp- ing out on the commiiment. To date, the federal government has shown interest in completing the national park system (but taken no steps), aud fellow Yukoners, Saskatchewaners, Manitobans and Ontarians have risen to the challenge. But our supernatural pro- vince missed the grade with a lousy C- rat- ing. in Vancouver fast week Canadian presi- dent of the World Wildlife Fund, Monte Hummel, indicated that British Columbia Gy sient BACK in and B.C. has was dragging its feet on preserving wilderness. While the public has shown great support for the Endangered Spaces campaign, Victoria has remained Jukewarn to the plan and its looming year 2000 deadline. Despite recently setting aside a 23-hectare ecological reserve, B.C. still has onty 5.5% of fands and waters protected, says Hummel. The fund wants the B.C. government to: protect the Tatshenshini River wilderness; develop a forest strategy for the length of B.C.’s coast; protect areas of the south Chifcotin and Clayoquot Sound; and ex- pand the boundaries of Strathcona Park. The B.C. government should act now to save the intact areas that represent our province's and Canada’s unique landscape and wilderness heritage. The assignment is long overdue. LETTER OF THE DAY Some expert! Acid rain is acid rain Dear Editor: I am sick to death of ‘‘experts’’ and the use of them by industry to deliberately throw up smokescreens to confuse decision makers, politicians and concerned, fair-minded people. I'm referring to the letter of Friday, Sept. 6 from Peter Sagert — “P.Eng.”’ of Cirrus Consul- tants. Sources have informed me that Mr. Sagert is a paid consul- tant to Canfor of Howe Sound Pulp and Paper fame. He speaks Publisher Associate Editor Comptrolter Peter Speck Managing Editor... Timothy Renshaw Noel Wright Advertising Director _. Linda Stewart . Doug Foot North Shore News, founded nm 1969 as an independent suburban newspaper and qualitred of “atmospheric science perspec- tives’? and the fact that ‘‘pH is not a sole indicator of acid rain.” Phrases like these are meant to disguise the truth, not elucidate it. They are meant to manipulate, not inspire. They are meant to split public opinion to protect the interests of a few from any criti- cism that might awaken our paralysed governments. Pulp and paper mills pour thousands of tons of SO2 into our air, acidifying rain no matter how Display Advertising 980-0511 Real Estate Advertising 985-6982 Newsrcom 985-2131 ‘Teal wO0CS Gr senertn asap WEST WARCOUVER you look at it, and rain with a pH of 3.4 is very acid rain any way you pour it. Well, | wouldn’t want to drink water with a pH of 3.4 even if that’s not the ‘‘sole indicator.” The trees don’t want it, the fish don’t want it, the birds don’t want it and I doubt very much if Mr. Sagert wants it. Paul Sugar West Vancouver Distribution Subscriptions Classified Advertising 986-6222 Fax Administration 985-2131 986-1337 985-3227 MEMBER under Schedule 111, Paragraph 11 of the Excise Tax Act, is published each Wednesday, Friday and Sunday by North Shore Free Press Ltd. and distributed to evety door on the North Shore Second Class Mail Regstrateon Number 3885. Subscriptions North and West Vancouver, $25 per year. Matling rates available on request Submissions are wetcome but we cannol accept responsibility for unsolicited maternal inctuding Manusenpts and pictures which should ve accompamed by a slamped, addressed envedope CUNDAY « wa V7M 2H4 1139 Lonsdale Avenue, North Vancouver, B.C. ‘north shore OAV « FmnAY SDA DIVISION 61,582 (average cuculation, Wednesday. Fiday & Sunday) Entire contents « 1991 North Shore Free Press Lid All rights raserved '|Sorry about the lunch you were promised! IF CANADA were an industrial corporation, it would be teetering on the edge of receivership today. Financially, the country is a basket case, right down there with the Soviet Union and Argentina. That's the picture emerging from a current in-depth study by The Financial Post of the nation’s massive, so far uncontrollable debt. Today, the federal portion stands at $419 billion and is in- creasing by almost $3.5 million EVERY HOUR. Throw in provincial and municipal debt, and the total reaches some $600 billion. Then make a note in your diary to add a further one billion every 12 days. Forget also the comforting story about it not really mattering because we merely ‘‘owe the money to ourselves.’ After the U.S, (with 10 times our popula- tion) Canada is the world’s second largest international debtor — way ahead of the chaos-stricken Soviets and bankrupt Argentina. Nearly 25% of the federal debt, around $100 billion, is owed to foreigners. Offshore borrowings by provinces, municipalities and the private sector bring the total to $260 billion. The result is $25 billion a year — and counting! — in interest payments to foreign lenders, and that money has to come from export earnings. Which leads to the most scary figure of all. Last year interest paid to foreigners ate up 15% of Canada’s export income. The “‘crisis’* ratio is 20% — the point at which nervous foreign lenders start to demand debt rescheduling with wider interest spreads, or else stop lending altogether. It is tan- tamount to bankruptcy. Some top economic experts think we'll reach that point as ear- ly as 1995, unless drastic action is taken immediately. But how? With a lot of pain for everyone is the experts’ only forecast. Among the possibilities or certain- ties are even higher taxes; severe cuts in medicare, education and social programs; big premium hikes for UI and the Canada Pen- sion Plan; and bye-bye, too, to such future goodies as the $7 billion universal daycare proposal. Who will hammer all this into the heads of Daryl Bean and his 100,000 picket-line goons, who’ve already drained the country of many more millions and may resume the sabotage, if not ap- peased? Meanwhile, Finance Minister ¢ DON MAZANKOWSKI... nance Minister sends regrets. Fi- HITHER AND YO Doa Mazankowski asks me to tell you he’s sorry about the lunch he promised to buy you tomorrow. It's off. indefinitely. POSTSCRIPTS: Supporters of West Van-Garibaldi Socred can- didate Dr. Rodney Glynn-Morris are red-ringing Monday, Sept. 30 on their calendars, when his nomination must be reconfirmed by a constituency association meeting at 7 p.m. in West Van Senior Secondary. He won nomination comfortably last Sept. 12, but under party rules it lasts only 52 weeks. And now Margot Furk, whom he defeated a year ago, is pondering a ‘‘one-minute- to-midnight”’ challenge to his candidacy ... The whimsy and humor of Janis Blyth’s art — on exhibit through Oct. 16 at North Van’s Courthouse Gallery — make this a distinctive show well worth seeing ... and remember North Van’s child musical prodigy of a decade ago? Going from strength to strength, Corey Cerovsek, now 19, returns for the Oct. 7 gala opening of the Van- couver Symphony season at the Orpheum as solo violinist under conductor Sergiu Comissiona. WRIGHT OR WRONG: The laziest people always have the biggest plans for tomorrow. a og COREY CEROVSEK... Van child prodigy returns. North