business trips. Sager made the comment this week after it was learned that West Vancouver covered the cost of sending two spouses to a Fed- eration of Canadian Municipalities conference in Montreal. ’ According to West Vancouver director of finance George Hor- wood, the municipality paid about $8,100 to fly West Vancouver aldermen Andy Danyliu, Patricia “Boname and Diana Hutchinson, along with two of their spouses, to Montreal to attend the five-day FCM conference. Horwood said the $8,100 also included registration and accom- modation fees and per diem al- lowances. Horwood said each council member and spouse would be advanced a per diem allowance of $60. He added that the municipality either pays the delegation’s hotel costs beforehand or reimburses council! members when they return. Hotels can also bill municipality directly. Sager said the municipality’s policy is to pay for council spouses to travel on municipal business. But he added that his the By Surj Rattan News Reporter council does not make a regular practice of taking spouses on trips. “The hardest part of public life is the time one spends away from their family. I think political life, if there is a heavy price to pay, it will be in family life,"’ said Sager. He added that as a rule council members are allowed to attend one conference a year outside of the province. The policy, he said, abused by council members. “I think in all the time I’ve been on council that I’ve attended one conference outside of the province,” he said. Sager also noted that all council travel expenses are approved in public. While West Vancouver tax- payers paid $8,100 to send three aldermen and two spouses to the FCM, Port Coquitlam taxpayers spent $23,000 to send their mayor, six aldermen, the city ad- ministrator and eight spouses to is not the Montreal conference. North Vancouver District municipal manager Mel Palmer said the district paid about $7,800 to send four aldermen and Mayor Murray Dykeman to the FCM conference, but he said the district does not pay for the travel ex- penses of spouses. “Our policy is that if a spouse goes then the member pays for it, even if there is a program for spouses at the conference. The member would still pay for it,’’ said Palmer. Ald. Ernie Crist, who attended the FCM conference, said it was worthwhile. “It’s money well spent. If you want to be effective in local gov- ernment, it’s absolutely essential that you go to this conference,’’ said Crist. But he said he disagrees with municipalities paying for the trav- el expenses of council spouses. North Vancouver City acting administrator Ken Tollstam said six city aldermen and city ad- ministrator Gerry Brewer attended the FCM conference. The city, he said, does not pay for the travel expenses of spouses. Tollstarn said city council and staff always fly economy class on business and will purchase the cheapest airfare when a seat sale is being offered. Sparks fly over smoke shop Burrard Band member vows to continue sales A BURRARD Indian Band member vows to continue sell- ing discount cigarettes despite opposition from the band’s council and the loss of a provincial permit giving him ac- cess to wholesale cigarettes directly from manufacturers. Alex George opened the Dollar- ton Smoke Shop on the North Vancouver reserve in December. He sells discount cigarettes to natives and non-natives. George said his provincial per- mit was pulled after Burrard Chief Leonard George requested the ac- tion {rom the finance misistry. Said Alex George, ‘‘They (counci!) were selling cigarettes to the band members out of the band office at one time. The band members weren’t really happy with it because they weren’t get- ting what they wanted. “*They had a very limited supp- ly. They coulda’t buy cartons, and they were paying over $4 a package.”’ The band-operated service ceased when the Dollarton Smoke Shop opened for business. ‘*They pretty much went out of business when I opened. I sold cheaper to band members £32.50 a package and $32 a carton) because By Michzel Becker News Reporter I wasn’t after as big a profit margin as they were,’ he said. But said Burrard Chief Leonard George, ‘‘It’s about a larger even more political issue than some- thing between the chief and coun- cil and Alex: the process to handle future business affairs, which is all part of self-government. “The band set up a process where we designated areas we are living in as residential. We put aside 85 acres for economic de- velopment, and then we put in place principles of development.” A band member interested in operating a reserve-based business snust adhere to the economic de- velopment process established by the council. : Claimed Leonard George, “Everybody else is in support of what we’re doing, and Alex is the only one who is not. He wanted to control and operate and have all of the profits from that business for himself. He didn’t want it to go through the band, so he set up that smoke shop ar- bitrarily.’’ But Alex George said he has a 1,500-signature petition from non-native smoke shop customers and a 200-signature petition from native customers who support his business. Said Alex George, ‘‘I’m staying open. He’s threatened to have the - RCMP come down and close us down. I've got a business licence. I don’t have a permit to buy ciga- rettes at a reduced amount ($24 a carton from wholesalers) thanks to Leonard George.” . Meanwhile, the Burrard Band. plans to build a band-owned and operated gas and convenience store near the smoke shop. Said Leonard George, ‘‘We’ll put the profits back into a capital fund for our future. If we’re go- ing to be self-governing, we have to have our own capital. The whole issue is larger than just Alex and myself.”’ Sussex Group to buy Mitten Realty NORTH SHORE-based Sussex Group (SRC) Realty Corp. will buy out the operations of another North Skure real estate company, Mitten Realty Ltd., by Monday, the North Shore News has learned. News sources report that a deal is currently in the works that will result in Sussex Realty purchasing all of Mitten Realty’s operations, including Mitten’s office at 940 West 16th St. in North Vancouver and its two offices in Sechelt and Langley. Official announcement of the deal is expected on Monday. Once the agreement has been finalized, Sussex will have a total _ of 320 employees in seven offices. Several executive changes are By Surj Rattan News Reporter also expected to be announced. Sussex will move its head- quarters to its new 940 West 16th St. office, which will be managed by Chris O’Brien. Brian Thompson will become Sussex Realty’s new chief execu- tive officer, replacing Allan Taylor who will become the com- pany’s vice-president of opera- tions. Mitten Realty founders Chuck Mitten and George Whyte will remain at Mitten’s former head office location on West 16th Street but will be employed by Sussex. Sadru Mitha will remain as president of Sussex Realty. Another source said Sussex had been wanting to get into the Sechelt and Langley areas for some time. Sussex currently has one office in North Vancouver and another in West Vancouver. The price of the real estate company purchase was not avail- able to press time Thursday. Friday, June 12, 1992 - North Shore News - 3 Sager defends WV council travel policy Municipality spends $8,100 to send aldermen and spouses to FCM conference WEST VANCOUVER District Mayor Mark Sager says he has no problem with municipal taxpayers footing the bill to send the spouses of council members on municipal “Our policy states that we get the lowest possible fare and if there is a savings the member does not pocket that,”’ said Tollstam. The city, he said, paid about $3,885 for seven airline tickets and that each member of the city del- egation was given a $55 per diem allowance. Hotel accommodation costs for the city representatives were not available to press time. Save Howe Sound Society LAST YEAR, the Save Howe Sound Society worked with local school art students to raise awareness of environmental’ issues in the Howe Sound area. The results, including the above, were displayed in an art show. Province honors WV environmental! group A WEST VANCOUVER-based group formed to lobby for environmental conservation in the Howe Sound area recently won an award from the provin- cial Ministry of Environment for its efforts. Save Howe Sound Society . (SHSS) was one of 10 reci- pients of environmental awards announced by B.C. Environ- ment Minister John Cashore. The environmental award competition received 150 sub- missions. The group was formed in the early 1970s by a number of local residents concerned about development proposals impac- ting the Squamish estuary. SHSS DIRECTOR Tracy Wachmann SHSS grew in numbers when it opposed the opening of a lead-zinc open pit mine on Howe Sound's Gambier Island. Throughout the years the group has worked closely with schools and community groups in raising public awareness about Howe Sound en- vironmental issues. Howe Sound fishery closures in 1989 resulted in SHSS join- ing forces with the West. Coast By Michael Becker News Reporter Environmental Law puip pollu- tion campaign to reduce indus- trial pollutants in the sound. Most recently SHSS opposed the all-night ferry scheduling set to begin later this month between Nanaimo. and Hozse- hoe Bay. Said SHSS director Tracy Wachmann, ‘“‘It was done without the consideration and consultation of the immediate cominunity.*” SHSS includes a network of approximately 6,000 people. © Wachmann, Rozlynne Mit- chell, Dana Taylor and John Rich make up the group’s board of directors. According to Wachmann, the SHSS mission is to ‘‘en- courage the integration of en- vironmental, economic and social sustainability initiatives which will ensure the preserva- tion of Howe Sound as a healthy and diverse environ- ment.”’ A Howe Sound regional mechanism to regularly bring together industrial, native, governmental, recreational and environmental groups was recently created. SHSS was in- strumental in creating the Howe Sound round table. Said Wachmann of the award, ‘‘We think it’s a terrific recognition of the volunteer ethic. It’s wonderful to receive the award, but we don’t want it instead of a true commitment to saving and restoring the en- vironment.” .