WELLL... OK... AS YoU PROMISED YOU'D BE GOOD... 1 HE: CONTINUING outery ‘over: ‘the - ‘Karla ‘Teale ‘case/ again underlines a the. wrongheadedness of attempting “to conduct the. proceedings of. a: public - court system in private through publication ‘bans: and. other court-imposed gag orders.. ': Hf also underlines the near impossibility of enforcing ‘such bans.in the age of satellite communications and international fibre op- tic links... “The order ‘panning the publication of. evidence. from "Teale’s | manslaughter trial. was’ “imposed ostensibly) to avoid prejudic- ng potential : jurors in the trial of Paul eale; Karla’s estranged! husband. It:. has prevented - ‘media across: Canada, from’ ‘reporting. any. of the completed trial’s etails. : But it “has “no ‘jurisdiction © over media in ‘the: ‘United States, who are daily _—— 1 ni f filing reports about the case: and barbed editorials questioning the prudence of a court system that blocks public access to the proceedings of public trials. The result is an absurd situation in which Canadian librarians clipping U.S. newspa- pers and cable. television “companies scrambling incoming: video feeds from the U.S. are acting as defacto censors to shield the public from. possible information con- tamination. As has been illustrated in other cs ed IF YOU want eyes to glaze over while you talk, and lunch compaaions suddenly to remember thcy must leave early for an‘ urgent meeting, try introducing the subject of equalization payments. It's a pity, because they're at the root of many of Canada’s present troubles, from joblessness to looming national bankruptcy. The original Confederation theory was noble enough: assure every citizen in’ a vast country stretching nearly 4,000 miles from coast to coast of the same basic government services by redistributing the money Ottawa receives from taxpayers in the 10 provinces. In practice, it means the tax- payers of three provinces — On- tario, Alberta and British Colum- bia — bankroll those of the other seve. This is done under three dif- ferent headings: transfer payments directly te provincial governments for social assistance, welfare, 5 RAE RURERER oF 7 The combined debt of the 1 0 “provinces is now ‘some $200 billion. 99 recent court-imposed publicaton bans, such - . gag orders work to the reverse of what they were imposed to do by whetting public ap- petites. for details of cases they. might otherwise have little interest in. : A public and: oper ‘justice system re- quires ‘courts: to ‘be: public and — open, period. aS LETTER OF THE DAY — Environmental issues must take priority ‘Dear Editor; - | Of all the issues facing us to- «day, -which ‘one is’ ‘more’ impor- “tant? Is .the. education : of - our children important?. Yes. Is unemployment a worthwhile issue? Of course. What about the environment? Well yes. ' Say, what’s this all about any- way? How about families that live on the street, without enough to eat or a roof over their heads? Crime rates? Abortion?’ Prostitu- tion? Breast cancer? Most of us feel strongly about these things, and for good reason; Publisher . . Managing Editor’ Associate Editor. . Sales & Marketing Director Comptroller ......Peter Speck Timothy Renshaw -Noel Wright Linda Stewart Doug Foot “they do, or will affect our lives i in some way. However, one issue that we at- tempt to turn into a non-issue - saying that jobs come first, this should come first and that - and that affects all of us to some degree, no matter how much we try to deny it - is that of ‘the Clayoquot protest and the pro- testers, H we look at the situation with the intelligence that our species is supposedly famous for, then we'll see the protesters were right - the only ones with the ability to see Display Advertising 980-0571 Real Estate Advertising 985-6982 Classified Advertising 986-6222 Newsroom 985-2131 ‘Distribution f Subscriptions 986-1337 Fax Administration 985-21 4 the long-term importance of what they were doing - the rest of us have our priorities screwed up. The environment should take . priority over anything else. Why? Well, we can have starving peo- ple, people without jobs, peaple that can’t read or write, diseases to fight, and on and on and on, but if we don’t have a planet to live on then nothing else matters does it? Garry R. Summers North Vancouver “ 986-1337 Gn SG This newspaper contains recycled fibre North Shore managed 985-3227 | North Shore ‘News, founded in 1969 as an independent suburban newspaper and qualified under Schedule 1114, Paragraph Ill of the Excise Tax Act, is published each Wednesday, Friday and Sunday by North Shore Frea Press Lid, and distributed te every door on the North Shore. Canada Post Canadian Publications Mait Sales Product Agreement No. 0087238. Malling rates available on request. Submissions are welcome but Y wa cannot accept responsibility’ for unsolicited material including manuscripts and pictures which Should “be accompanied by a Stamped, seil- - addréssed envelope. . V7M 2H4 1139 Lonsdale Avenue, North Vancouver, =. MMB ce SDA OMISION B.C. ” 61,582 (average circulation, Wednesday, Friday & Sunday) Entire contents © 1993 North Shore Free Press Lid All rights reserved. heaith and post-secondary educa- tion; payments to individuals (old age pensions and unemplicyment benefits); and grants and subsidies to companies and industries for specific projects. « . The result in 1991 (the latest figures available) was that B.C. taxpayers paid out $348 more per person than they received back - under the above three headings. Albertans contributed $362 more and Ontarians a whopping _ $739 more. : Gains in the seven “have-not” ; provinces ranged from Quebecers, who received $405 more per per- son than they paid in federal taxes, to the citizens of P.E.I. and Newfoundland who respectively ended up each $2,745 and $2,638 ’ better off. Why has this taudable fair- shares idea gone wrong, dragging us all ever deeper into the debt quagmire? ._ First, because empire-building bureaucrats inevitably WASTE a solid proportion of any funds they handle. With seven different bureaucracies administering the handouts, the wastage is seven- fold. Second, because transfer pay- ments to. the ‘‘have-not’’ pro- vinces have, for decades, been open-ended, with no accountabil- ity required. This is now being tightened up — but their unrestricted use of other folks’ money has added significantly to Canada’s debt crisis. Finally, the payments have made it easier for provinces, whether rich or poor, to borrow - further money — often overseas — because their debts are regarded as guaranteed by Ottawa. Logicaily,; therefore, provinces HITHER AND YON: : ” Bo should not borrow overseas | without Ottawa's permission. The combined debt of the 10 . provinces is now some $200. ” billion. Add the federal debt of $500" , - billion by January and the total, $700 billion is perilously close to: . the current Gross Domestic Pro-. duct —'the annual value of all - goods and services produced by- , Canada. It’s like you or I being in. hock for our entire year’s wages - or salary, and that ratio makes :* foreign lendezs edgy. Clearly, this squandering of tax dollars cannot continue. In the end, simply subsidizing the chronically jobless in depressed regions without any effort to de-: _velop new opportunities for them to regain independence helps no-- body. Saas Nor is there any sensé in allow- ao ing ‘‘welfare bum’? provinces to | /» go unregulated and unpunished _ for extravagances and inefficien- cies paid for by taxpayers of the” three ‘‘have’’ provinces. -That’s why Finance Minister ‘Paul Martin’s first step toward | reforming Canada’s social safety “net has to be a radical overhaul of - federal-provincial financial ar-. ~ rangements. With $85,600 more debt being added every 60 se- conds, there’s not a minute to lose! SCRATCHPAD: Odd snippet ina Brisbane, Australia, newspaper claims that Brisbane-based Everaid Compton International raised $13 million over a two-year _, period for Canada’s Reform party — any comment, Herb or Ted? ... “Living On The Edge,’’ the mixed - media exhibit by Velvet Bailes at West Van Library until Jan. 2, features the artist’s acrylic, pastel and gouache interpretations of nature — all works for sale... And have fun while you wrap up some more Christmas shopping. chores at the Sugar Plum ‘Tea ‘1-3 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 11, at St. John’s Anglican Church, Chester- field and 13th, offering a wide selection of gift items, crafts, home bake and candy. WRIGHT OR WRONG — Famous Canadian Lies No. !4: “Give me your number and the doctor. will call you right back.’’