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NORTH AND WEST VANCOUVER

92 pages

‘Chuck Cook loses battle with

cancer on eve of re

NORTH VANCOUVER Tory MP Chuck Cook died Tuesday at Lions Gate Hospital.

By Michael Becker News Reporter

Cook, 66, was diagnosed with lung cancer after being admitted to the hospital about a week ago for tests.

‘Said Cook's longtime assistant Monica Nelson, ‘‘He wasn't fecl-

“ing well. He just went in for tests. He did not know. He went. in Tuesday (Feb. 16) and they did exploratory examination on Wed- nesday. It was serious, and it just spread very quickly."

Cook announced his decision to retire from the political fray on Nov. 30, 1992, ;

At the time he told the News that he intended to serve out his current term to 1993. He said that it was time for a younger man or woman to represent the riding in the next federal election.

Said Cook to riding association members, “After much thought and soul searching, Dale (his wife) and J have decided that 14 years should be enough for anybody and feel it is time to enter a new stage of our lives,’*

Be.

tirement

NV MP Chuck Cook. See page three.

Cook was first elected to federal office in 1979 as the MP for North Vancouver-Burnaby.

He had held the North Van- couver seat since the 1988 federal election, when the Tories took both North Shore ridings.

During that four-year period Cook served as party whip, parliamentary secretary to the sec- retary of state for external affairs and thé president of the treasury board. Cook also’ chaired two

See Cook page &

COOK A CANDID POLITICIAN:

NORTH VANCOUVER MP “Chuck. Cook spoke his mind often, openly and bluntly in the pages of the North Shore News.

Here arc a few of his quotable * quorss: @ On being the only MP from the three major federal political parties to vote against the consti- tutional referendum question:

‘“Y have to face myself in the mirror every morning. | have to live with myself -- that’s why | did it, I'm looking at it from a B.C. point of view and from a B.C. paint. of view, this deal stinks,””

@ On the proposals contained in the Charlottetown Accord:

“I’m prepared to adinit we've made a total mess of it. 1 think it’s up to the next generation of politicians to try and deal with the issue again.’”

@ On the Charlottetown Accord and aboriginal self-government:

“That doesn't mean you swing the pendulum so far ihe other way that you’ve got whorehouses zoing up on Indian lands.”

@.On rumors last year that he planned to run for the Reform party in his own riding or MP Mary Collins’ Capilano-Howe

Sound riding:

“T think it’s great fun. 1 suspect it's driving Mary up the wall.”’

@ On federal gun control legisla- tion:

“Anybody who uses a gun in

violence should almost have a life Sentence — put the real emphasis and the penalties extremely heavy on anyone who has got a gun for less than legitimate purposes. That’s still not going to stop the guy who has a gun at home and wants to shoot his wife, but there’s nothing that will stop that.” @ On the 1990 federal govern- ment sinking of the $500 million Polar Class 8 icebreaker contract that would have provided 1,000 jobs over four years for local shipyards:

“Any shipwrights I’ve talked to, I've said. ‘For God sakes, don't wait for it. Go retrain or find another job. Don't sit around waiting. This may never come to pass." Well it’s not coming to piss @ On Michael federal budget:

“at's the most boring budget Canada has had in a generation, But that's good news. The figures are delightful.”

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Test drive the "03 BMW 3251s Automotive: 27

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GANG/YOU

NEWS phato Terry Peters

Gang line

WEST VANCOUVER Police Const. Janis Maclean and North Vancouver RCMP Const. Dan Cocnian support the new Gang/Youth Contact Line. The service provides young people on the North Shore with an anonymous means of providing local police with tips on criminal activity. Callers can ciso simply ask for help. For rnore information, see story page 2.

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REACHING EVERY DOOR ON THE NORTH SHORE SINCE 1969