‘Racist’ slur on Reform Party born of fright WELL... YOUR OPTIONS ARE : GO BACK-1TG YOUR COMMUNITY, WE'LL TREAT HUA THERE... GO TS YOUR HOME. , WE'LL TREAT HIM THERE, To... OR ,WE CAN PuT HIM IN THAT HOSPITAL WING THATS BEEN EMPTY FOR SIX MONTHS AND LET Hil DIE WITH DIENITY. FOR A while I thought Sheila Copps looked like one of the brighter lights on the Opposition benches. Certainly brighter than her boss — fumbling, increasingly irrelevant Jean Chretien. Alas, wrong again! Noel In linking Presto: Manning's Reform Party immigration policies with the racist dirt of Louisiana’s cross-burning white supremacist David Duke, she became just another political hack. When it comes to self-preservation, politi- cal hacks never worry much about truth, Conflict-of-interest hygiene pro- tects me from joining either the Reform Party or any other. But at least I read the tracts and listen to the speeches of them all — more so, it seerns, than Sheila does. Jf the RP’s official immigration platform is “racist,” my name is Adolf Hitler and a majority cf my fellow-Canadians are all related to -pwQsTy SISVLTSE Bi) 1500 9 T8V7 KEIVAH NO ee vA0" 38 co vis eo cc eS =] ‘NEWS VIEWPOINT Christmas countdown S THE Christmas countdown inex- orably creeps towards Dec. 25, most f us will get caught up in the traditional scramble to buy gifts, attend office parties and prepare for some serious merry-making. — We are the lucky ones. ’ The unlucky ones, meanwhile, are also busy, but busy wiih less enjoyable pur- suits. They are filling. out applications so that socix? workers may screen their eligi- bility fer : Christmas hamper or a food voucher; they are seraping together money from their paycheques, possibly even their welfare er unemployment benefits, to buy their chiid a new stuffed toy; or maybe they have even given up trying to make Christmas 2 special day. Last year, the North Vancouver Christmas Bureau aad the West Vancouver Santa Claus Fund served 905 requests for food vouchers and hampers. In North Vancouver «fone, 675 families received hampers or vouchers and 1,222 children received toys from the bureau’s Toy Shop. This year, there are many ways local residents can contribute to the efforts of these two charities. Businesses or. employees’ can create hampers for a family, donations of money or food can be made at North Shore News depots across the North Shore, or toys can be left at any North Shore firehall. Big or small, all donations are welcome and will help to spread Christmas cheer throughout the North Shore. The earlier you make those donations, the easier it will be for local agencies to help make mere people’s Christmas a happy one. NEWS QUOTES OF THE WEEK “‘He either came from Mars or he just got sprayed.*’ Rob Arthurs, the North Shore distributor of Dye Witness, a spray that marks assailants with a green color, on the effectiveness of the product. “It was during the °50s and ’60s in Alert Bay. It was a horrible thing the government did. A bad. @ream. It was just like being in jail. Five generations suffered from that system.”’ Capilann College First IWations advisor, Peggy Shannon, on the Publisher Mana ing Editor . sociate Editor Advertising Director ... Comptroller independent suburban newspape: Peter Speck . Timothy Renshaw Noel Wright Linda Stewart Boug Foot North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an 1 and quatitied residential school system from the native perspective. “The booze business is the hardest business to run. We're hoteliers, not booze people.”’ Coach House Inn co-manager Kabir Kabir, on plans for the $2-million upgrade of the hotel and the decision to phase out the Coach House’s strip shows. “i have to warn you that standing iz the corner of Miss Mve’s class is not pleasant, and i speak from personal experience.”* Display Advertising 980-0514 Real! Estate Advertising 985-6982 Newsroom 985-2131 Distribution Subscriptions Classified Advertising 986-6222 Fax Administration North Vancouver District Mayor Murray Dykeman, sup- porting the district’s decision to name a district street after popular North Shore teacher Mollie Nye. “By the time it got there it was all rotting and stitking. U think it was a pork chop. So we thought, what a great idea to send things like that through the mail.”” Judd Hampton, on the inspira- tion behind establishing a North Vancouver service tc mail offen- sive objects through the mail. 986-1337 986-1337 985-3227 985-2131 MEMBER North Shore managed under Schedule 411, Paragraph (II of the Excise Tax Act, is published ‘each Wednesday, Friday and Sunday by North Shore Free Press Lid. and distributed io every door on the North Shore. Second Class Mail Registration Number 3835. Subscriptions North and West Vancouver, $25 per year. Mailing rates available on request. Submissions are welcome bul we cannot accept sesponsibility for unsolicited material including manuscripts and pictures which should be accompanied by a stamped, addressed envelope. ‘north shore. BUMDAY « WEDNASDAY + FRIDAY 1139 Lonsdale Avenue, North Vancouver, B.C. V7M 2H4 SDA DIVISION 61,582 javerage circulation, Wednesday, Friday & Sunday) Entire contents © 1991 North Shore Free Press Ltd. All rights reserved. either Herman Goering or Heinrich Himmler. The platform has four main points. First, that imraigration should be essentially economic in nature. That means immigrants should be able to adjust quickly and independently to Canadian seciety, and be equipped to earn a livelihood here. Moreover, they should be allowed to sponsor only spouses, dependent kids and aged parents. Adaptability and self-reliance were exactly the basis on which 99% of immigrants settled in their new homeland before 1970. What in heaven's name is wrong with such well-tested immigrant qualities? Second, say the Reformers, Parliament alone must contrel en- try into Canada. Genuine refugees should be welcomed. But bogus ones should be promptly deported — and anyone encouraging them punished. Third, it’s a fallacy that Canada needs more immigrants to pay the PRESTON MANNING... migration referendums. " SHEILA COPPS... fear tops the real agenda. HITHER AND YON pension costs of an aging popula- . - tion. Immigrants grow cld as fast as everyone else. Forced poputa- tion growth couid well compound a social services problem that must be solved by other means. Finally, the RP wants immigra-- tion policy to be more sensitive to public opinion, with major changes decided by referendum —.. . not by self-serving politicians - seeking docile new votes (Hi there, Sheila, Jean, Brian and Audrey!) and axe-grinding immigration ad- vocates. Given these changes, ‘‘The Reform Party (quote) remains un- convinced that immigration has been, and can be again, a positive source of economic growth, cul- . tural diversity and social renewal.”’. . Doesn’t sound to me one bit like Ku Kiux Klan Wizard David Duke. . But Sheila & Co.’s real agenda, of course, is based on fear. Fear that all three old-line parties could wind up as minor rump groups in a 1993 Parliament dominated by the Binc Quebecois and Reformers. Throwing ‘‘racist’’ mud at the latter is the best defence they can think of for the moment. A Copps-aut, you might call it. SCRATCHPAD: Heading into the Christmas season, how about tak- ing the kids this Sunday after- noon, Nov. 24, to the 2:30 p.m. Family Concert at Lynn Valley United Church — featuring Capilano Children’s Choir and special piano music, with 25% of donations to the North Shore Food Bank? ... Meeting tomor- row, Monday, Nov. 25, at 7:30 p.m. in Highlands United Church, 3255 Edgemont Bivd., is the local branch of Amnesty International ... From the North Shore Health Volunteer Program, which pro- vides meals for lonely seniors, a plea for drivers to deliver meals from West Van to Horseshoe Bay between 4:30 and 5 p.m. Mondays or Wednesdays — piease call 986-7111 if you can help ... And happy 5Ist birthday Tuesday, Nov. 26, to Seymour Lion Bryan Martin. WRIGHT OR WRONG: Temper gets you into trouble. Pride en- sures you stay there.