- Rage 6, October 11, 1978 -North Shore News -

j and sent the ratepayers |§ PAININTHENECK

# packing, with: one council ce
- — member dismissing them as
]. “self. serving’ ‘for their

ewes we

i Mayor . Don. ‘Bell and his. North . Vancouver :
District colleagues got all lathered up last week —

s Mayors, . aldermen and
about the naughty newspapers and broadcasting _

school trustees often prefer --matters ‘which are very

‘stations. At the same time West Vancouver.

council was getting all lathered up about med-
dlesome ratepayer groups. And if next month's.
municipal elections attract: only the usual meagre

‘turnout of 20-25 per cent.of eligible voters, there.

will doubtless be further moaning and groaning
about “the apathy of the ordinary citizen”. |

 There’sa connection between these things.

: Mayor Bell was very upset _

about what has come to be
known as the Chlorine Leak.

Luckily, it wasn’t, for the

‘moment, a leak in thé literal

sense. A Vancouver news- .

‘paper had managed to get a
copy. of a secret report to
‘District council about the
dangers to the populace of

the huge quantities of.
chlorine. manufactured in -
North Vancouver by Hooker |

Chemicals. A day later the
_cat was out of the bag and on
to the front pages.

- The report -- on which
council had been sitting for
over a month -- made
disturbing reading for North
Shore residents. Using actu-
arial calculations, it estimat-
- ed the. chances of major
chlorine leaks over. a future
span of years and the scale of
the disasters they might be
expected to cause in terms of.

death and physical impair-

ment.

_ SENSATIONALISM?
Aside from the Hooker

plant itself, B.C. Rail carries
the lethal gas daily in huge

tank cars along the North |

Van waterfront and through
the entire Iength of West
Vancouver, where the tracks
run almost literally through
the backyards of several
thousand residents. Consid-

ering the havoc caused.

recently in Vancouver when

just one small. canister of

chlorine split open -- sending
-78 people to hospital -- the

Credit Union Members

fy with Mapleleaf

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"possibility of a derailed tank -
car. splitting open anywhere —
‘between Norgate Park and

Horseshoe Bay is not.a pretty -

a

unduly pessimistic and a
disaster may never happen. _

The real point ‘is that

Mayor Belli and his collea-

pues decided, aif on their |

itle own, that the report --
accurate or otherwise -- was
far too ‘‘sensitive”’ to be
shared with the thousands of

electors it might. directly -

affect. So, when ‘the news |
media did their obvious duty,
they were accused: by His
Worship. of irresponsible
sensationalism ——_ designed

merely.to ‘‘sell newspapers” -

and ‘‘entertain TV viewers”’. .

In. other words, the mayor mos
and his six colleagues alone — x
know what is. best for |
_ everybody and they have a.
God-given right to keep. it —

strictly:to themselves when- .

eawae

ever desirable and possible.

- elections. ~~

_ That, however, is not the -
point. The. report may. be -

once and for all the combined.
the.

ratepayer groups of
municipality submitted a

request to council for a

referendum at

next .month’s

° SENTPACKING

a The proposed referendum
- was_admirably simple and

objective.. It. would have

‘asked voters whether they
_wanted 50 per cent more

growth... 25 per cent growth
..-10 per cent growth or less.
One would have thought any

council would have been

grateful for such. data. .

Not so, however, West

Van’s present council --"
. whose record might. charit-
ably be described as growth- ©
oriented. With one exception |

(Alderman Doreen’ Black-

-burn) they threw the referen-
dum idea out of the window

In West Vancouver last : Le

week a basically similar issue
was at least a little more out

.For many. moons a major
issue among West Van

residents has been the (ame

question of how much future
growth should be permitted.

In order to setile the matter za

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ay . Oe OC i ie A Pea hy eh ek ee kh i A i
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_ Canada Trust.Park Royal is open 8 a.m. to 8
-- account and sample the quality service that’s
service charge on personal chequing accounts, and

A andacity in even making such

a suggestion.

--Once again, council alone
knews. what is. best for
‘everybody and. don’t you
dare question its God-given
wisdom. Me

These are only the ‘two

‘latest examples of what
many citizens see as @

growing arrogance on the

_ part of their elected repre-

-sentatives.. Perhaps it is

small wonder, therefore, that —

._ three-quarters or more of
eligible municipal. voters
haven’t even bothered to cast

their ballots in recent years.

‘‘What does it. matter?”’ —
seems to be the widespread paceman
‘““My vote won't |
.make any difference...... § |
they'll do what they want | -
-anyhow.”” ~ 0

feeling.

When enough people rea-
son in that way. at the

grassroots level -- demo-
cracy’s last real bastion these: |
days -- it’s time to do some
hard thinking about the |

- to use the term ‘‘responsible

government’? -- by which
they. mean that, once safely
elected, they should be left to
get on with the job as they
see fit. Preferably with
minimal interference from an

ignorant electorate. Voters
are. valuable for 12 hours -
each polling. day, but in
between whiles they are.
largely a pain in the neck.

oo

No sensible person would

dispute the need for confi-—
dentiality ina ‘few limited

areas of council business --

notably certain financial mat-
ters where premature disclo-

sure might. enable some

fortunately the habit of

‘ning a trade as

meaning of representative | CO pen:
government. |

: : " ' ‘ ma Can . : A i ‘ *
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definitely the © elector’s
business. -

-. The. winds of change are
_ blowing, however, as shown
_ by the increasing demand for
referendums on major issues
and more ‘‘open’’ govern-
ment generally. The smart
candidates in the ‘November
18 elections will be those who
understand this. change in
the temper of the public.

The really smart candidat-
es will’ be those who
‘recognize that today’s edu-
cated and knowledgable
voters are equally smart --
and who are. prepared to

, treat them with correspond-
individuals to take unfair
advantage of others.But un-.

ing respect, not just on
polling day but right through

ng young person: to develop along

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