6 - Friday, February 16, 1990 - North Shore News

INSIGHTS

Referendum foes ignore where gov't gets money

IN THE uproar over Victoria’s new school financing pro- gram it’s interesting to note that the only group not pro- testing or ‘‘revolting’’ so far is the silent majority of tax-

payers.

School boards and their bureau- crats, parents and teachers are livid over the plan whereby funding re- quired over and above the basic provincial grant would have to be sought from local property- taxpayers and subject to approval in a toca! school tax referendum.

Property-taxpayers, of course, will already be contributing to the annual basic grant (averaging ini- tially $5,259 per student) through their provincial income tax. Pre- sumably that’s why THEY, as a group, see nothing wrong in being asked whether they want to divvy up still more school tax dollars.

Meanwhile, your scribe has been slapped across the wrist by West Van School Superintendent Doug Player for suggesting (Wednesday World, Feb. 7) that referendums might work better if confined to parents with children in school. This ‘‘user-pay’’ principle would at least prevent teaching standards — in which parents have a vested in- terest — from being jeopardized by a ‘‘no’’ vote from tightwad seniors and singles.

How, asks Mr. Player (who’s obviously checked Wright’s bir- thdate!), would I like the same ‘user-pay”’ principle to be applied to medicare?

The parallel is, of course, faulty on two grounds. Firstly, the medicare is a universal tax-plus- insurance plan, not a direct tax on property. Secondly, most parents with school-age kids can look for- ward over the years to a rise in in- come — while most seniors (ad- mittedly often major users of

medicare) face declining con- stant-dollar incomes.

The anti-referendum lobby stresses that education is “everyone's business,’’ so everyone should happily pay whatever it takes. The problem, however, is today’s lengthy list of OTHER expensive needs, each also claimed by its lobby to be ‘*everyone’s business’? — welfare, health care, UI, pensions, housing, daycare, the environment, you name it. Not to mention the little matter of reducing the crippling federal deficit.

No matter how noble or pressing the cause, in the end it all boils down to the same taxpayer, who

DERRICK Humphreys ...dispute solver.

Cat quotas

AT OWNERS have had their come-uppance

in West Vancouver.

Council formally passed a bylaw in the municipality Monday night that limits the number of cats per West Vancouver household to six.

Devout cat lovers will surely raise the roof over the

already toils until almost mid-July each year solely for the three levels of government.

When revolting trustees, teach- ers and parents demand that ‘‘the province’’ foot the entire school bill, no matter how high, they’re really saying they don’t give a damn where the money comes from.

It’s an attitude unlikely to endear them to the beleaguered taxpayer, forced to bankroll a dozen other ‘‘everyone’s businesses’’ with over 50¢ out of every dollar he earns. And he, too, is ripe to revolt!

TAILPIECES: Binding arbitration — when acceptable to both parties in a civil dispute — is now being increasingly used as an alternative to the clogged court system because of faster action and usual- ly lower costs. Now joining the professional practitioners is former. West Vancouver mayor Derrick Humphreys who recently received the designation of Chartered Ar- bitrator (C.Arb.) from the Ar- bitration Institute of Canada after satisfying its exacting standards. He'll be specializing in the arbitra- tion of disputes involving municipalities, land use and the mining industry ... Is Christianity a viable option in the '90s? An- swering that question next Friday evening and Saturday, Feb. 23-24, at St. Simon’s Church, Deep Cove, will be Trevor and Andrea Fisher —- both former longtime Deep Cove residenis -~ at a crossroads conference eati:ied ‘Fork in the Road.”' Trevor, presently an An- giican rector in Powell River, and

NOEL WRIGHT

® friday focus ©

ing for volunteers — training pro- vided —- for its evacuation centres. Call 986-8888 for details.

his wife will be accompanied by a team from his parish. Everyone welcome, no registration fee, just contact Sharon Dibley, 929-5046, or Ed Hird, 929-5350, who'll glad- ly tell you all about the program ... And if you want to do something really helpful about that promised earthquake, the North and West Van Emergency Program is look-

kat

WRIGHT OR WRONG: Don't wait for your ship to come in. Swim out to it.

*, : a L : rath} “bh ‘ NEWS photo Mike Waketieid FUN FOR YOUNG PATIENTS...Fire Lt. Steve Sentes (left) and Cst. Bob Fontaine (eight) with one of two new TVs donated to LGH Children’s Ward by West Van Fire and Police Depts. with money from their Christmas Hockey Fundraiser. With them, R.N. Margarite Paul (centre) and patient Jason Flood, 11, (foreground).

restriction, but the rest of the general public should be thankful for the implementation of what is a reason- able limit to cat ownership.

For most residents one cat is ample; six is a menag- erie; and more than six is verging on a public nuisance and a health hazard.

While there are many psychological and social benefits to living with cats and other animals in the urban environment, there are just as many logistic and environmental drawbacks.

Cats and dogs properly cared for by responsible owners create few problems, but those same animals abandoned by negligent owners to fend for themselves foul urban environments and threaten the surviva! of other animals.

A large domestic cat population, for instance, poses a serious threat to the populations of birds and other small wild animals that live in urban areas.

While no one would argue against having cats and other domestic pets in the urban environment, most right thinking members of the public would argue against irresponsible ownership of those pets.

The West Vancouver bylaw is an attempt to legislate some pet owner responsibility.

Publisher Peter Speck Managing Editor Timothy Renshaw Associate Editor Noel Wright Advertising Director Linda Stewart

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