RIGHT NOW, the heat is on federa! Finance Minister

Michael Wilson to resign over the budget leak.

In its inimitable way, Parlia- ment has managed to focus on the most trivial aspect of the disaster the budget is visiting upon us.

The major moral and practical failure of the budget is that it ut- terly abandons Canada’s pro- claimed intentions to adopt the “sustainable development’’ doc- trine of the Brundtland Commis- sion, the exhaustive study commis- sioned by the United Nations to confront what has been until now the looming threat of ecological

outskirts of mainstream. politics have been fought.

We are down to iast siands of forest, iast wetlands, last schools of fish, last specimens of species after species, last reserves of vir- tually everything, icciuding dwindling food stocks.

It is either the end of the begina- ing or the beginning of the end.

There is simply no ducking the fact that an environmenial storm has begun. We heard the first forewarning winds when super- hurricanes lashed coastlines

A lthough the Mutroneyites, or at least their speechwriters, pay lip service to the need to ‘preserve the environment’ (read: fend off utter catastrophe), the reality is that they have turned their backs on any serious attempt to cope with our enormous environmental crisis.’’

Although the Mulroneyites, or at least their speechwriters, pay lip service te the need to “‘preserve the environmert’’ (read: fend off utter catastrophe), the reality is that they have turned their backs on any serious attempt to cope with our enormous environmental

crisis.

The federal budget is geared, if it is geared to anything, to acceler- ated economic growth (read: resource exploitation). It makes no attempt to sustain anything but growth itself.

Thus, the old attitute toward the eco-system is perpetrated. And that is the most dismaying feature of the budget, not that it was leak- ed

Our politicians just don’t seem to understand that we are at the end of the ‘“‘phoney war’’ stage of the environmental crisis: the cries of alarm and doom have all been sounded, the skirmishes on the

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around the world ‘4st year, drought ravaged : !. 2 Praizies, and forests burned ew. ywhere, many lit oy the hand of map.

The two most significant events since the dawn of the Atomic Age have had nothing to do with ter- ritorial rivalries, political beliefs or religious zealotry.

They have been (1) an increase of one degree in the temperature of Earth’s atmosphere, and (2) the beginning of the rising of Earth’s oceans.

The former piece of information has only been acknowledged by public officials, to my knowledge, in the last year.

Caution was understandable, and it wasn’t until a coupte of weeks ago that the first truly dramiatic evidence of an apocalypse already underway came to the surface.

Prof. Richard Peltier of the University of Toronto published a

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study showing that the oceans of the world, all of them (or the one ocean, which is what it reaily is) have already begun to rise. —

A detailed examination of the geological record revealed that since the last Ice Age 18,000 years ago, the level of the global seas has been falling, due to the sheer weigh: of the mass of water press- ing down.

But when he allowed for the fact that the sagging, groaning seabeds

” were being pressed inexorably

downward, the professor discovered that there was still a net

The planetary ocean is now ris- ing!

The measurable increase is mere- ly one-twelfth of an inch, or 2.4

But like a snowball rolling down a slope, a mega-phenomenon like an overall increase in the level of the seas would, of course, be ex- pecied to begin ever so slowly.

But once it gains momentum, it could quickly become an unstop- pable avalanche. In this case, more of a mighty swell coming langorously and irresistably in, sweeping everything before it.

“This is exactly what you would

from the Greenhouse Ef- fect,” Prof. Pelticr told me. A gicbal warming, even of only one degree, is bound to produce an ef- fect on the glaciers snagged on the spiky backs of the Antarctic and Greenland tand masses.

if the Antarctic ice pack alone were to melt completely, Prof. Peltier said, it would raise the level of the worldwide ocean by 65 to 70 metres!

What morc evidence de we need that it is time to start fundamental- ly changing the way we live? We cannot continue business as usual in the face of the destruction of the global eco-system.

Michael Wilson should resign, it is true, because his budget fails to deliver on Brian Mulroney's prom- ise of sustained development, but he shouldn’t be the only one to resign.

Eavironment Minister Lucien Bouchard should throw himself on his ballpoint too. As minister charged with protecting the en- vironment, he has, by letting cabi- net keep riding roughshod over Canada’s and the world’s ecological balance, failed utterly in his duty @

B.C. TRANSIT was one of five organizations recently awarded Premier’s Awards Excellence in Accessible Design for creating public facilities that are accessible to the physically and sensory hand- icapped.

The awards were presented June 5 at the Robson Street media cen- tre and coincided with National Access Week.

B.C. Transit was recognized for its work in providing good acces- sibility to its SkyTrain and SeaBus

B.C. Transit honored

-systems for handicapped people. The awards panel noted that, among other features, SkyTrain’s fare system has no barriers such as turnstiles to block wheelchair ac- cess and all but one the SkyTrain stations are wheelchair accessible. .

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PERTY TAXES DUE JULY 4, 1989

DISTRICT OF NORTH VANCOUVER

Notice of the current real property tax levies have now been mailed. Any property owner who has not received a tax statement should immediately contact the Tax Of- fice at the District Hall (telephone 987-7131).

New owners should be aware of their responsibility for payment of the 1989 taxes, and should ensure taxes are paid by themselves or the previous owner.

Penalties — a 5% penalty will be added to the current taxes unpaid after Tuesday, July 4, 1989. A further 5% penalty will be added to current taxes remaining unpaid after September 5, 1989.

Post-dated cheques received in our office prior to July 4, 1989 are acceptable and will be processed by the bank on the date that you have indicated. Taxpayers are en- couraged to deliver or mail payments as soon as possi- § ble to ensure payment is received on time. If a cheque § is returned by your bank the payment will not be con- sidered received and a $10 returned cheque charge will be levied.

Application for the Provincial Home Owner Grant may be made whether or not the current taxes are paid. It is to your advantage to submit the ‘‘application’’ before the tax penalty date of July 4, 1989 to avoid penalty additions on the grant amount.

Tax deferment — a home owner 60 years of age or over, a widow or a widower, or a handicapped person in receipt of income assistance under the Guaranteed Available In- come for Need Act, may be able to defer their taxes

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a through a program whereby the Provincial Government — :

makes payment on their behalf. Forms or further infor- mation may be obtained through the Tax Offfice at the District Hall.

355 West Queens Road 987-7131