Bul Now TRAY” The cBc
(S ABSOLUTELY BeoKE
TT REALLY DoS DEFINE
“The CANADIAN EXPERIENCE

A JUMP-START means

OOH eee Se ES

IRCUMSTANCES SURROUNDING

the development of North Vancouver's

Carlton-at-the-Club have been dogged
by controversy since Day One. The latest
twist in the saga verges on the farcical.

When the residential tower, adjacent to the
North Shore Winter Club (NSWC), was orig-
inally pitched to council, it was sold as a
development for seniors. Residents already
living in the area objected to the density
posed by the’ tower. Its location, at the Keith
Road access to the Trans-Canada Highway
and the Second Narrows Bridge, is a traffic
choke point.

Although completely out of sync with area
density, the tower received council’s blessing
on the grounds that only seniors could buy
into the project. Carlton residents were also
seen as potential members of the then flag-
ging NSWC. Some seniors bought but mar-

Meanwhile the Bloc Quebecois

Tag ENP Hagen BEART paiva SYIMME Ei a oda?

r ti

keting pressures prevailed and the develop-
ment was soon opened up to attract younger
owners.

Council's approval last week of a proposal
to temporarily house Mulgrave school in an
unused portion of the winter club came
despite the opposition of many residents liv-
ing in the adjacent apartment building.

A petition containing 95 signatures of
Carlton-at-the-Club residents and a request
to reject the zoning amendment meant noth-
ing. A representative of the group said apart-
ment owners at the Carlton had chosen the
complex for less traffic, a seniors-oriented
atmosphere and recreational opportunities.

The seniors-oriented atmosphere, under
siege from the start, is toast. Council’s cynical
decisions seem to be driven by a desire to
keep the NSWC afloat, but the poorly execut-
ed solutions have caused more problems.

Put Lower Mainland

your battery is dead. So the

a Tory convention theme last

. weekend in Hull —
-. “Jumpstart 795” — was
hardly | the happiest.

~ Even though the engine may be
- tuming over again, there’s a long, -

long drive ahead before the party’s
battery is fully. re-charged, -

Not that the convention itself,
“attended by some 1,600 delegates,’
' was a flop. On the contrary. Jean
Charest, whose leadership they -
enthusiastically confirmed, fired

‘thern up with passion lightened by ~

". flashes of humor -— stressing the
~ “role of Conservatives as the only
: alternative NATIONAL party, and

he his personal status as ‘a Quebecer.

“> Present: with many former Tory ,
‘cabinet ministers was a trio of bat-

tered former. party leaders: Robert-::

, Stanfiéld, Joe Clark and Kim

“Campbell. And Brian Mulroney —

tactfully absent in Japan — was

given a plug described by one dele.

-gate as shooting the party in the
‘” foot, when Charest unabashedly °...
i: ‘praised “the Mulroney government
: record.” ope :
“None of this family euphoria,
~. however, can change the fact that
the party. still has only two MPs, a

‘tross of sour memories about the

Mulroney years around its neck.’

Nor is that the only bad news,
"Various surveys show many

"Canadians want Sir John A.

. Macdonald's party to survive, if

' day.

‘only for sentimental reasons.

But actual voter support in a

* March Gallup poll slipped to 9%

nationally — well below.the 16%

the Tories received in the [993

election. Only in the Maritimes,
home of Charest’s lone MP partner

Elsie Wayne of New Brunswick,

has the party solid doubie-figure
support at 22%, :

A party is only as good as the
votes it can command on election .

The Tories’ dismal showing
spotlights their biggest problem at
the present juncture: all their key
policies have — temporarily, at any

: “. Tate — been hijacked by other par-
$4 million debt and —- for the'‘pub- .” :
- lic if not for Charest — an alba-:--:-'

ties.
The Liberals have shamelessly

appropriated free trade, tax reform .

and deficit-cutting restraints the
Tories were already embracing:
Reform has stolen much of their
right-wing thunder, along with their
western federal power base.

separatists have all but shut them
out of Quebec.

One of these three has to land in
deep trouble before Charest’s
Tories — now left with only their
Fathers-of-Confederation history to
offer the voters — can hope to

_ return to centre stage in Ottawa.

Reform may be their best bet. In
his new book Waiting For The
Wave, Tom Flanagan insists that
Preston Manning will quit if a new
“wave” of support for Reform -——
sweeping it to power with himself
as prime minister before the end of
the century — fails to materialize.

Such a failure could spark a
mass homecoming of Tory prodigal
sons returning to the party of Sir
John A. — which they had deserted
for a season to follow Preston, only
in turn to be deserted by him.

- That’s still a long shot. But if
_ your name today is Jean Charest,
you gotta pin your hopes on
SOMETHING!

HOWE STREET will be unveiled
‘ when VSE. Chairman Ross ~
Sherwood talks to the 7:30 a.m.

a

West Van Chamber of Commerce |

breakfast Tuesday, May 9, in the
Granite Cafe, 15th and Bellevue —

book (926-6614) by Friday ... And —

happy birthday tomorrow, May 4,
to North Van's Sean Wardell.

WRIGHT OR WRONG: Minds.
are like parachutes. They work best —

when open.

transit underground

Dear Editor: :
Just few comments to the arti-
_ cle (April 23) about more options
for Vancouver mass transit based
on bus lanes, rail and Sky Train.

If you were to travel all over
the world to study the transit
problems in major. cities, you
would agree that for a city like
Vancouver, the transit system has
to go’ underground. Mayor
Gordon Campbell voiced the
same option in 1991.

The metro system of under-
ground tunneling using the new
system of boring. should be the

«final decision even if the initial
cost would be above 20% to 30%
higher,

The most important reasons

for the system are:
#8 faster transport;
Hino noise;
Bi no pollution;

@ no traffic’ disturbance during -

construction;

BH no real. estate problemis and .

devaluations;

& avoidance. of long-term prob-

lems of maintaining safety.
Vancouver needs two major

connections: :

® Coquitlam/UBC;

& Richmond/North Shore.
Proposals like fast lanes for -

buses, car pools, cycling, ferries,

- and trains cannot solve the down-

town connection, and with the
population growing every year, it
would. be more expensive and
more difficult to. build any
‘improvement...

Our policy is to postpone and
make “studies and reports.” How
much have all these “reports” cost
the taxpayer?

V.J. Syrovatka ....

. West Vancouver

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