6 ~ Wednesday, January 2, 1991 - North Shore News it Vienna Pre Gn- LMI A lela, W % ¢ Rano aa ca itaaes \ SO OHH NS Son rf a LI ee iy INSIGHTS m@ How four-year = dictators get to NEWS VIEWPOINT Judging a good Bill offices. loss will be the provincial courts’ gain this year with the recent ap- pointment of Ald. Bill Rodgers to the bench. A four-year incumbent, Rodgers’ presence on council has provided a balance to a sometimes polarized couscil, and his approach to the issues cozfronting council has frequently tempered some of council’s more verbose and impulsive members. In the Nov. 17 municipal elections, Rodgers polled second out of 14 can- didates in the hotly contested district aldermanic race. Always reticent as a politician, Rodgers stayed true to form when asked about his appointment, deferring comment, politely but according to protocol, to the proper Nes VANCOUVER District’s As a judge, Rodgers will bring to the bench a measure of humanity thet should serve the community well. His well-round- ed experience on council included stints on the environmental task force, the North Vancouver Recreation Commission, the emergency planning committee and the police liaison committee. The North Vancouver lawyer's profes- sional affiliations include being a member of the West Coast Environmental Law Association and the Canadian Bar Association. And while Rodgers presence on council will be sadly missed by many, he will no doubt continue to serve the community in the same capable fashion as a judge. LETTER OF THZ DAY Schools need condom machines Open letter to parents on the North Shore: The need for condoms in the washrooms of Middle and Senior Secondary schools is an_ issue which has been ignored for too long by parents, students, educators and health promoters. Ic is time to address it. The devastating Acquired Im- munodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is presently tested by checking the blood for an antibody. This an- tibody if formed as a result of the presence of the Human Im- munodeficiency Virus (HIV) and when present the test is HIV Posi- tive. Studies suggest that after seven years of being infected with the virus (i.e. HIV Pos.) 30 to 35 per cent will progress to symptoms of AIDS. The present mortality rate is approximately 64 per cent for Publishe: Associate Editor ... welcome envelope beeen Peter Speck Managing Editor Timothy Renshaw .Noel Wright Advertising Director. Linda Stewart North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an independent suburban newspaper and quahiied under Schedute 111. Paragraph Ill of the Excise Tax Act, 15 published each ednesday. Friday and Sunday by North Shore Free Press Ltd. and distributed to every door on the North Shore. Second Class Matt Regisization Number 3885. Subsenptions North and West Vancouver, $25 per year Maihng rates available on request Submissions are but we cannol accep! responsibility for unsolicited material inctuding manuscripts and piciures s which should be accompanied by a stamped, addressed individuals with AIDS. In July 1987, 24 people under 20 years old in B.C. tested HIV Positive. In August 1990 that number had grown to 113. Only two other B.C. Health Districts have more AIDS than the North Shore which has 35 of the 806 in- dividuals reported before August 1990. Condoms have been proven ef- fective in protecting individuals from sexually transmitted diseases (STD) including AIDS. The study of sexually trans- mitted diseases is included in the Family Life program mandated by the B.C. Government which begins in Grade 7. However, nei- ther one of the schoo! districts on the North Shore presently have contemplated measures beyond this. Condoms are available in the washrooms of senior secondary THE VOICE OF NOTH AND WEST VANCOUVER SUNDAY + WEONESOAY = FRIGAY 1439 Lonsdale Avenue, North Vancouver, B.C. V7M 2H4 59,170 (average, Wednesday Friday & Sunday) Fax SDA DIVISION Display Advertising Classified Advertising Newstoom Distribution Subscriptions schools in seven of the 75 school districts in B.C. The health dilemma facing our young people must be acknowl- edged, their sexuality accepted and provision for preventive behavior implemented. Condoms must be made readily available to students in middle and senior secondary schools. In order for this to occur a clear message must be given to empower our boards of education to meke this change. Please send letters to North Vancouver School District #44 Chairman Rev. Roy Dungey; or West Vancouver School District #45 Chairman Mrs. Jean Ferguson; and a copy to Medical Health Director of the North Shore, Dr. Brian O’Connor. Janie Robinson West Vancouver 980-0511 986-6222 985-2131 986-1337 986-1337 985-3227 MEMBER rule in Canada “NOT TOO many people cross the Godfather and live to tell about it,’’ writes Michel Gratton. That one allegorical sentence sums up much of what has gone wrong with Canada since 1984. Gratton’s new book, Still The Boss — A Candid Look at Brian Mulroney, analyses the awesome power wielded by the man at the top in the presidential-style prime ministership created by Mulroney. The instrument of that power be- ing the PMO (Prime Minister's Office}. The PMO is the prime minister’s private palace guard — a personal bureaucracy loyal to “the boss’* alone and dedicated, often ruthlessly, to ensuring the cabinet, the government caucus and the departmental civil service all dance to his tune. Gratton — now Ottawa colum- nist of the 600,000-circulation Toronto Sun — knows whereof he speaks. Formerly Press Secretary in the PMO, he split with ‘Mulroney in 1987 and returned to journalism with Le Droit and the Montreal Daily News before join- ing The Sun. He has also been president of the Ottawa Press Gallery. His first book, So, What Are The Boys Saying? — published not too long after leaving the PMO — was a case history in itself. The frantic efforts of former PMO colleagues, under Mulroney’s orders, to stop him from writing it form one of the most revealing chapters of his iat- est work, which concludes with the defeat of Meech Lake !ast June. For a 20-second summary of Still The Boss one can’t really im- prove on the bookcover blurb: “Insights into the paradox that is Brian Mulroney — petty, mean- spirited, vengeful, warm, gener- ous, loyal, compassionate. “This is the man who has set up two political records in a period of six years. In 1984 he led his party to the largest parliamen- tary majority in Canadian history yet, by the summer of 1990, he photo submitted OVER 1,000 school children’s entries for B.C. Hydro’s Power Smart TV commercial competi- tion are checked by two North Vancouver residents involved in the contest: TV producer Geoff Theobald (left) and Power Smart project manager Blair Trousdell. Noel Wright cay HITHER AND YON was heading a government that had sunk to the lowest level of approval ever recorded in a na- tional poll. “How did he do it? WHY did he do it?” From his intimate knowledge of the PMO Gratton sheds fascinating light on the complex man who rules Canada today — a statement made literally true by an unhealthy Canadian political tradition. No other parliamentary democracy tolerates such rigid cabinet and caucus loyalty to the PM. Once elected, MPs must ig- nore any constituents’ wishes op- posed to the ‘‘Godfather’s’’ agen- da. Qdd mavericks like Edmonton MP David Kilgour are swiftly fired from caucus. A solid Com- mons majority automatically means a four-year dictatorship until a new set of rascals can be elected. True, SOME party discipline is vital for efficient government — the problem of HOW much being easier to state than to solve. Michel Gratton does an excellent job of exposing the alarming growth of the problem itself under Mulroney. Still The Boss (Prentice-Hall Canada, 1990) is available in hardback at W.H. Smith and other leading bookstores. eee TAILPIECES: In the upcoming provincial election Woodcroft people won't be sending any thank-you notes to the strata council of their Pemberton Build- ing, whose community room has hitherto been their polling station. Citing fears of damage to a new dance floor, the council this time said ‘‘no’’? — so the complex’s some 3,000 residents wil! have to walk or drive half a mile or more to cast their votes ... Need space to paint? It's available 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Mondays at Klee Wyck, 200 Keith, West Van, for $2-$3 courtesy West Van Sketch Club — with an experienced artist in attendance ... And if you want to nominate an outstanding citizen this year for the Order of B.C., write soon to: Honours and Awards Secretariat, Victoria, B.C. V8V 1X4 for info. WRIGHT OR WRONG: People don't stop laughing because they grow old. They grow old because they stop laughing.