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Horth Store News, founded in 1969 as an
independent suburban newspsper and qualified

sander Schedule 111, Paragraph 111 of the
Excise Tax Act, is published cach Wednesday,
Friday and Sunday by North Shore Free Press

_ Ltd, and distributed te every door on the North
Shore, Canada Post Cariadian Publications Mail
Sales’ Product Agreement No, 0087238.

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61,582 (average citculation, Wednesday, Friday & Sunday)

Entire contents
© 1995 North Shore
Free Press Ltd. .
All rights reserved.

WHICH SECTION
CAN | FINDA
COPY OF QUEBECS
DECLARATION OF
INDEPENDENCE ?

ig 4 RA Times (Gutta

news viewpoint

erchickens

have told the
information Highway Advisory Council

thai: the cyber-chickens have already
flown the coop. ._
The advisory council recently released its
final report on “the challenge of the informa-
tion highway” to the federal industry minis-

in

OMEBODY SHOULD

ter.

can be controlled somehow.

The regressive assumptions we work ‘with
today, in terms of projecting and promoting
and protecting Canadian culture (linguistic
duality. inclusive) as if it were some fragile
and_ inherently disabled national waif, are
transferred to the emerging communications

arena.

The dans

THE EXPERTS are quar-
relling openly over the situ-
ation in Quebec, a signal to
the public that no one

_knows what in hell is going
on.

By William D. Gairdner
Contributing Writer

Everyone, though, has a grow-
ing fear that hell is where we'll
end up. For ordinary Canadians it
seems the high principle of
“democracy” which they defend so
passionately is being used to dis-
member their beloved country —
which they also defend passionate-

Now for driving back intrusive
governments, direct democracy is
a good thing.

But using it to break up a con-

" stitutional federation is another

matter. And so it is curious that
democracy has become such a
panacea notion in modern Canada
cand the U.S.A., because founders
of both nations designed govern-
ments specifically to check its

_ . Aside from the fact that the report rests

much of its case upon simplistic motherhood
* statements, the document is essentially blink-
ered by the false assumption that the Internet

ill ig MY

UH... TRY HUMOUR,

Ma

es

FANTASY, Of,

ee eaten rant ears lta ONE ND NNO HO OOH Rtn REL fin, tie )-tareanede FORE marr renee aKeA Me

The trouble is there is no head cffice for the
Internet. There is no one place where it’s all
controlled. The fact does not sit well with -

those who would regulate and control and

rule.

influence. |

- Most of them, as Harvard histo-
tian Bernard Bailyn puts it, con-
~sidered democracy “a word that
‘denoted the lowest order of society
-. generally associated with the
threat of civil disorder and the
early assumption of power by a
dictator.”

Goethe warned Europeans that

“there is nothing more odious than

"the majority; for it consists of a

few powerful leaders, a certain
number of accommodating
scoundrels and subservient weak-
lings, and a mass of men who
trudge after them without in the
least knowing their own minds.”
And James Madison, an archi-
tect of the U.S. Constitution,
warned that direct democracies
“have ever been spectacles of tur-
bulence and contention ... incom-
patible with personal security or
the rights of property ... as short in
their lives as violent in their
deaths.” ;
When we keep in mind that
surveys of the voting public reveal
.a Grade 7 intellectual level, the
fear of democracy is more readily

- understood. For only a minority of

limit. Nevertheless it:is the reality. Mass
media is in the process of becoming distrib-
uted public media, a beast owned by no one,
and accepting input from everybody.. 2 |

In that kind of 2 marketplace freedom of
enterprise and

freedom of expression are the

Jers of d

Canada already has a place on the digital
frontier because of our telecommunications
technological know-how. Canadian content
will survive not because it is regulated into
existence but because it is entertaining, infor-
mative and interesting. :
Meanwhile let’s put our energy where it is
critically needed: educating and equipping
ourselves te meet the new challenges. '

ME PBR ED Lt RTA

Discuss,
don't —
denigrate

Dear Editor: ,

Tony Campolo isa well-
known writer/teacher .within
the evangelical Christian
camp. Mr, Campolo repeatedly .
Stresses the all-encompassing, :
inclusive grace of the Christian
gospel as opposed to the nar:
row, exclusive mindset. of
many who-call, themselves , J?
evangelical, :

In a February issue of The
Christian Century, he writes:
“Ht is important that evangeli-
cals. learn to. distinguish” |
between responsible discus-. 3s."
sion. of issues and. trashing f°
people.” Confrontation is nec-" 1
essary and has a chance’ of
working if done’ within the |
context of responsible discus-
sion.’ ; .

kt is obvious that’ Doug ©
Collins .considers himself a
conservative, Although readers:
are left. guessing. whether he
.considers himself a.Christian,:’
Collins leaves us no doubt that’
he has no use for the’church —
other than.to criticize it. bdo
wish he would have a long talk
with Tony about how. conserv-
ative-minded people can con-:
front problems and . discuss
issues without trashing people.
Resorting to derogatory name- *
calling when differences exist’
leaves little hope for meaning-

ful dialogue. °° - 6 0
_ If you-want me,to take you
seriously, Mr. Collins,” please
address . issues with careful
thought and rational debate
Continued attempts at chara
ter_assassination with. verbal-
bashing will only reinforce my
judgment, that there are much
more worthwhile. authors: to,
read. fe
The Rev, D. Randail Faro‘:
Pastor, ... Mount. .-. Olivet:
Lutheran Church). *

North Vancouver *.

fee

society are ever successful enough * . racy, implying the whole proce

to accumulate significant property,
generate wealth or lead wisely.

Thus, instead of seeking its
own wealth through the more diffi-
cult productive means, a system of
majority rule (50% plus one) soon
becomes a licence for the majority
to plunder the successful minority
through political means: they vote
massively for taxation and redistri-
bution. ;

This has happened in Canada
with a vengeance over the past 30
years and our blind binge of pub-
lic spending proves it. :

The main side-effect has been
the frantic creation of policies to
homogenize Canada. Ye shal! be
one! : ; .
Yet it is difficult to refer to all

this as the progress of dernocracy
-—— a movement towards a better
stage and a faith that if we just
invoke “democracy” often enough,
justice and peace will follow in its
wake.
That is the way the word is
‘being used by the Parti Quebecois.
But this is a shaky faith indeed.
It's surely more accurate to
refer to the unwinding cf democ-

has a life of its own and:is taking
us to places’ we don’t nece: ;
wish to go.) oo: :

Which is to say that. we may.
hear too Jate the warnings of our.
forefathers as to how the. simplistic;
concept of “50% plus one": ca
ruin a nation.” ~., nr ae

As arecent Globe & Mail edi-
torial put it,.“‘it will take fewer’
than two millica votes io :effective-
ly sunder the Dominion of Canada
—- about 10% of the ‘voting popu-"
lation... SEES
It was precisely to avoid this. *
that Canada’s original Constitution
—the BNA Aéi—made no provi-
sion for legal dismemberment. The
Charter of 1982 savsidismember- —
ment requires the consent of all
the people. Se

~—— From Speaking Out (Box

3340, Sin.B, Calgary T2M 4L8), a

regular newsletter published by .
author and public affairs commen-
tator William Gairdner. _