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Poge 6 - March 9, 1977 - + North | Shore News -

The latest Ga lap poll on the question of who is

the popular choice for

prime minister at the

moment ielis us more about ourseives than about the candidates. And some of the things it tells us about ourselves are not very comforting.

Last October Pierre Trudeau’s popularity had sunk to the point where even a number of his followers were quietly wondering about the possibility of finding a new leader, before the Liberal Party had to face

the restless natives at the |

next general election.

‘The Gallup Poll at, that |

time showed Conservative leader Joe Clark romping

ahead as the public favorite for prime minister, with 36 per cent of the vote to a mere 28 per cent for Mr. Trudeau.

Last week it was suddenly |:

Mr. Trudeau who was doing

the romping. The latest poll

gave him a dramatic 43 per

cent, while Mr. Clark stag-

gered back to 30 per cent. It

was as if the Canucks had. become, overnight, a shoe-in

to win the Stanley Cup.

KICK IN THE TEETH

In view of the battering. that Mr. Trudeau and_ his government have continued to take over the past 18

months for their dismal

record on unemployment, -

inflation, economic stagna- .tion and public scandals, Mr. Clark has every reason to wonder why the gods abrupt- ly turned on him and kicked _ him in the teeth. |

Actually, the gods are not to blame. The reason for Mr. Clark’s unexpected kick in the teeth can be summed up in two words: Rene Levesque. ;

The landslide victory of

Quebec’s separatist party | four months ago confronted —

us, all at once, with the possibility that Canada might indeed come apart at the. seams, unless someone acted fast and firmly to stop the rot.

Acting fast and firmly against separatist rumblings happens to be one of the limited number of. political acts at which Mr. Trudeau is. extremely good. We have no idea how good Mr. Clark might be at the game, too, because we haven't tried him. But in a crisis like separatism it may be a case

of better the devil you’ know than the devil you don’t. —

That seems to have been the thinking of the respon- dents in the latest poll -- a.

handful of citizens chosen by’ ‘a computer as being repre-

sentative of the country as a whole. However tattered his _ record may be in other vital.

areas, they apparently decid- pushed aside by the colorful

ed in a hurry that Mr. Trudeau was the only federa- list with sufficient clout to finish off Monsieur Levesque and his Pequistes.

_ SNAP ELECTION?

As a ‘result of sensational change in his fortunes. there are now increasing rumors that Mr. Trudeau may. call a snap election before midsummer

_in order, at the same time, to ‘slaughter Mr. Clark 2nd the

Conservatives «before they can get off the ground.

Four months ago the thought of going to the polls this spring “made as much sense to an Ottawa Liberal as the idea of impaling himself on a samurai sword. The best hope for Mr. Trudeau and his battered administration last fall was to hang on through a fourth. year and pray for a miracle.

Monsieur Levesque oblig- ingly provided the miracle 18 months ahead of time.

Supposing Mr. Trudeau -- purely on the strength of his reputation as a Levesque- basher -- does call a late spring elelction and wins,

there is not going to be any

highway extending Ambleside.”’

into

He described the Indian study as ‘‘a starting point for several discussion and negotiation.’’

‘Such negotiations,’’ he stressed, ‘‘must start now and be vigorously pursued, because decisions are need- ed quickly for the orderly

planning of West Vancouver

and the North Shore."’

Among specific areas to be discussed and _ negotiated

obvious areas of

with the Squamish Band Mayor Jones listed:

-Overall land use, inelud- ing density and traffic.

-Provision for mutually acceptable modifications to an dverall plan.

-Areas in perpetuity for Indian cultural activities.

-Provision in perpetuity of park, open public and rec- reation space.

-Detailed and binding agreements on taxes and services.

More council news page 8.

this .

there will be quite a lot of food for thought as we settle. -

down to yet another 50

months of Liberal rule. NATIONAL UNITY

For a start, we’ll never discover how good a Leves- que-basher Mr. Clark him-

‘self might prove to ‘be, or -how the Conservatives would

handle separatism and the whole question of national unity. You €an’t know whether something works until you try it out...

What we do know from experience is that. Mr. Trudeau’s own long-term contributions to the national unity in such fields as bilingualism, biculturism and federal-provincial con-

ferences have, thus far. been something less than

etter’ =) Wwe SR ee. 2 aa

ling success. Is it ‘possible

that Mr. Clark is capable of

doing even worse? Statistically .speaking, a

' fourth Trudeau election vic- .

tory at the present time would be based on national

disunity = rather than the.

opposite.. His big gains in last week’s Gallup Poll came from Quebec and Ontario.

-Though he ‘also made some

progress in the Prairies, Joe Clark still holds the west and actually increased his popu- larity in B.C.

Then there remain those

dark realities of 900,000 © ‘jobless, inflation at over 6

per cent and stagnation --_

_ economic temporarily

separatist issue. Would Mr. Trudeau and his colleagues

‘suddenly discover how to

wrestle them to the ground,

-along with Monsieur Leves-

que? Reading the dismal monthly messages from Sta- tistics Canada, one wonders.

ONE-PARTY STATE

The ‘most thought-provok- ing aspect of a further Liberal victory this spring, however, -would be its confirmation that Canada has become -- to all intents and purposes -- a one-party state. lt would. mean that the

Liberals had run the country

for almost 40 out of the previous 50 years; for 18 years in a row (1963-81) this latest time round. Becoming, in the process, no longer just a.party but a permanent habit of mind.

That’s a record unheard of in other western democra-

cies. It’s one that even many -

one-party might envy.

Maybe Joe Clark hasn’t the answers, either. But at

dictatorships

least it might be fun to find .

out -- before we doze off for another four years and eventually awake to find we

. haven’t any option left.

*

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