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August 24, 1994 - North Shore News te) ESOC ESAS A UES OCIS PRIMO [SPY EE a

«HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS CRAMMED INTO REFUGEE CAMPS INTHE HEART OF AFRICA... NO GIATER...NO FOOD... CHOLERA RAMPANT... HUNDREDS DYING...

AID

WORKERS FRANTIC...

ATROCITIES... MISERY...

Baby boom

HERE ARE 90 million more people on Earth this year than there were last . year — an increase the size of the pop- . -ulation of Germany. Next year, there will be another 90 million, and if governments the _ world over don’t adopt a concerted approach to population control, by the year 2050 the - Earth’s population will have swolien from its current 5.6 billion to 12.5 billion. / All of. these people will be vying for the natural resources which are already in short

supply — pure water, fresh air and nutri-

tious food. For years, United Nations agen- cies have been begging governments to

devote:2 portion of their budgets to meeting |

the basic needs of the worid’s citizens.

In September in Cairo, these governments ‘will meet at the International Conference on . Pepulation- and Development (ICPD) to work _on a program of action concerning world

population growth and the issue of govern- ment spending priorities.

It’s clear to every. thinking person living beyond the spell cast by the Vatican that pop- ulation growth must be controlled.

Access to family planning would have an ixnmediate effect: the UN says 120 million women want to control childbirths but lack the means. Although growth rates are high- est in the developing mations, consumption is greatest in industrialized countries such as our own. We blithely consume far more than our share of energy and raw materials, while wagging our fingers at citizens of poorer nations for not simply curbing their scxual urges.

It’s time for all nations to work together to save the world. The ICPD’s recomraenda- tions «vill doubtless require money and com- mitment. But what other cheice do we have?

Jail no. answer for young offenders

Dear Editor:

I just read the horrifying story of that 31-year-old man who was murdered outside a Mac’s store in Coquitlam. How many more peo- ple have to be killed before we do something about these teenagers? As far as I am concerned putting them in jai] won’t help.

They'll just be around more violence and will come out worse than ever. Also, it will be an added burden on the taxpayers (as usual).

My suggestion is to do one of three things:

E§ Ship them over to a Third

Publisher...

Managing E

Associate Editor

Sales & Marketing Director COMPTONAL oo rece soneccssonsesseeee

World country as junior peace- keepers and let them save lives instead of taking them;

Do what our native Indians are doing and send them out into the wilderness and let them learn to be men/women; or .

M@ Put them in a marine corps environment where they wouldn't dare try any of their antics and will hopefully come out better people. .

I used to be glad my kids had all graduated and were not in school anymore, to be bullied,

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seriously injured or murdered. Now I worry if they stop at sonie all-night store and are surrounded by a bunch of sissies whe wouldn’t dare attack anyone unless they have their sissy bud- dies backing them up.

T Jove B.C. but I’m getting very discouraged with the justice sys- tem.

I believe the Young Offenders Act should be lowered to any age where a kid knows the difference between right and wrong. *

B. Morgan North Vancouver

986-1337 986-1337 985-3227 985-2131

North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an independent suburban newspaper and qualified under Schedule 111, Paragraph 111 of the Excise Tax Act, is published each Wednesday, Friday and Sunday by North Shore Free Press Lid. and distributed to evary door on the North Shors. Canada Post Canadian Publications Mail Sates Product Agreament No. 0087238. Mailing rates available on request. Submissions ar welcome but we cannot accapt responsibility for unsolicited material including manuscripts and pictures which should be accompanied by a stamped, addressed envelope,

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Salvation of .eform lies in being itself

“IF YOU stand for nothing, you'll fall for anything,” goes a wise old saying. The truth. it expresses is now beginning to worry more than a few Reform Party MPs and members.

Life suddenly turned rather stale for Reform after its remarkable achievement last fall — winning 60% of ali Commons seats west of Ontario and finishing second in over half of Ontario's own ridings.

Credit for that goes largely to Preston Manning for his skilful weaning of the six-year-old politi- cal infant. In particular, his election program of deficit reduction, ratio- nalized immigration and direct democracy clearly struck a chord with millions of Canadians.

But during Reform’s first Commons session that program vir- tually disappeared from sight, as Preston embarked on a noble exper- iment of reasonable, constructive parliamentary behavior, with every caucus member equal and none with any specific responsibility. As a result, the media have almost totally ignored serious Reform con- tributions to debates, white gleeful- ly pouncing on headline-grabbing non-issues depicting Reformers as redneck hicks from the sticks.

This may partly improve in the upcoming session with the naming of a Reform shadow cabinet to tar- get specific government ministers. But it won't dispel a growing con- cern by numerous caucus members that the party is beginning to behave too “pragmatically” in its approaches to issues, at the expense of basic Reform principles.

One sign of this trend cited by the critics is Manning's haste to publicly disavow colleagues whose utterances are presented by the media — not always accurately — as being racist, anti-feminist or homophobic. This, regardless of support for them by the MP’s own constituents and the fact that “direct democracy,” working from the grassroots upward, is a major plank in the party’s platform.

Thus, West Van Capilano MP Herb Grubel was recently hung out to dry by his leader for using a col- orful but perfectly rational “South Sea island” analogy to attack Ottawa’s paternalism towards Indians.

Meanwhile, the emergence of a strong provincial Reform move- ment in B.C. to replace the deceased Socred Party has added to Manning's worries. Hitherto —- and maybe wisely — he has adamantly rejected any provincial involvement on the grounds that it would only weaken and detract from the federal Reform effort.

This policy will be reviewed at

” Reform’s October convention.

With B.C. facing an early election, and other provincial wings starting to emerge, it may well be scrapped. But federal Reform endorsement of provincial Reforthers could prove a mixed blessing on both sides. Wackos and weirdos at the provincial level can be a constant threat to the image of a federal party which has no control over them. Conversely, a federal party's actions on federal-provincial issues can bring its provincial offspring grief at the ballot box. Tories, Liberals and NDP have long suf-

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" fered these sanie problems.

Nevertheless, Reform’s best chance of weathering them — and of exerting greater impact federally after its difficult initial “learning” period — is undoubtedly to keep faith with its founding philosophy, leaving the media chips to fall where they may for now.

Running for cover at every rain- drop and striving to please every voter simply reduces ihe party to the dismal level of its opponents.

WRAP-UP: Lions Gate Hospital Foundation ($3,000), along with B.C. Children’s Hozpita! Found- ation, North Shore Harvest project and CrimeStoppers (each $1,000) were among 10 recipients of $8,850 donated by West Van Kiwanis this summer — just a small portion of the club’s annual pifts to deserving causes ... Cap College free infor- mation night on film and TV stud- ies takes place tomorrow, Aug. 25, ° at 7 p.m. in Room CE 148 on the Purcell Way campus — call 984- 4901 for details ... Last chance this week to see the interesting two-per- son show at West Van’s Ferry | Building by Brad Lamoureaux (“Traces”). and Arnt Arntzen (Table of Contents”) — on until Aug. 28 ... Warm 97th birthday wishes today, Aug. 24, to North Van’s Charles Kiff ... And many happy returns of tomorrow, Aug. 25, to West Van Kiwanian Arthur Holmes.

WRIGHT OR WRONG: The problem with earning a living today is finding enough time left over to live.

PRESTON MANNING ... safer to keep the faith.