6 - Sunday, September 15, 1991 - Nortt: Shore News SETA, 2 AE : :

BiG GOVERNMENT ... BIG UNIONS AND THE. “LITTLE. PEOPLE”

WELL ... HERE WE ARE AGAIN...

NEWS VIEWPOINT

Sour note

O OUR iocal musician-makes-good isn’t good enough for the feds.

Bryan Adams, who attended North Vancouver’s Argyle Secondary School and who now has a home in West Vancouver, is Canada’s number-one rock musician with international album sales in the mil- tions.

But he’s been declared un-Canadian by the CRTC, the federal broadcast regulator.

All 15 songs on Adams’ new album, Waking Up the Neighbours, cannot be played mere than 19 times per week on any Canadian FM station, because, ac- cording to the CRTC, they do not qualify as Canadian content, having been co-writ- ten by Adams and his British producer.

The ruling is a ridiculous slap in the face to the man who put Vancouver on the in- ternational rock music map; it is also typi- cal of Canadian attitudes to things Cana- dian.

if Alberta-born hockey star Wayne Gretzky can play for Team Canada even though he’s employed by an American team and resides in the United States with his American wife and children, Bryan Adams should be allowed his Canadian birthright.

His songs’ exclusion from the list of Canadian works is a clear indication that the rating system used by the CRTC is in- adequate and should be re-examined.

With this latest decision, the CRTC has struck a sour note indeed.

NEWS QUCTES OF THE

“In the kitchen, I am best known for my Cherooby! chicken.”

Local bachelor Len Macht, be- ing offered Sept. 25 as a great date to raise funds for the Children’s Wish Foundation of Canada, on his reputation as a cook.

“I love Brazilian and Afro-Peru- vian rhythms, and I listen to classical music on top of that. Sometimes it turns me on and 1 combine different flavors in my work. I think that sometimes ! decompose rather than compose.”’

Publisher Managing Editor Associate Editor Advertising Director Comptrolier

Peter Speck Timothy Renshaw Noel Wright Linda Stewart Doug Foot

- Hugo Guzman of the musical group Ancient Cultures, on his musical creativity.

“We've spent millions of dollars so that these homes can be used as clubhouses.”’

West Vancouver Ald. Andy Danyliu, protesting West Van- couver council’s decision to lease the local arts council one of the waterfront houses purchased by the municipality for park pur- poses.

“He was so calm — more so than any of the adults that were

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around. He had his head screwed on right.”

Fire victim Camille Davidson, 21, after 18-year-old Jason Sadler saved her and three other people from an apartment blaze.

“We lost our opening weekend and the credibility of the movie was destroyed. They (the MPAA) have destroyed our life.”’

Maurice Smith of West Van- couver's Maurice Smith Produc- tions Ltd., angry over the restricted rating given his Flesh Gordon 2 film by the Motion Pic- tures Association of America.

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North American lawsuit mania

costs us

dearly

DANFORTH QUAYLE, the semi-visible U.S. Vice-Presi- dent, isn’t famous so far for words which the world hangs on. But last month brought a hint that he may have more between the ears than we’ve assumed.

Braving the Jion’s den in a speech to the American Bar Association, he asked: **Does America really need 70% of the world’s Jawyers? Is it healthy for our economy to have 18 million new lawsuits coursing through the system annually?”’

As a first step towards reform he proposed !imiting punitive damages in civil cases to the amount of the plaintiff's actual harm.

Dan is not alone in his fears about legal excesses. Lee Iacocca, the top U.S. industrialist who heads Chrysler, has pointed out chat Japan, where ‘‘they rarely sue each other,’’ has only one lawyer for every 9,600 people, compared to one for every 360 in the U.S.

Canadian lawyers play the prof- itable ‘‘let’s-sue-the- bastards” game as happily as their &.S. counterparts, causing a desper- ately overloaded court system with delays running into years and high costs for everyone involved — in- cluding sometimes even the win- ners.

Meanwhile, there’s a much less expensive and more efficient way nowadays to resolve many civil disputes — arbitration by a Chartered Arbitrator of the Ar- bitration Institute of Canada. If both parties agree to go that route, it carries the same binding force of law as a judge’s ruling but the basic procedure is quite different.

Unlike the courts, the concept is not one of ‘‘plaintiff’’ (the good guy) and ‘‘defendant”’ (the bad guy) but simply of two opposing claims. The adversarial courtroom element beloved by legal hawks is largely absent. The arbitrator’s job is to weigh the merits of each claim and arrive at the fairest, most reasonable settlement — often imposing compromises on both sides.

Compared to a court action these days, delays in obtaining an arbitration hearing are minimal. Proceedings are private (no dirty laundry washed in public). And the bill is relatively modest.

As Dan the veep indicated, the costs of conventional lawsuits on the North American scale are not confined to participants. Like the tax avoidance industry, litigation diverts huge amounts of energy and talent from productive activi- ties that could benefit society in-

Noel Wright

HITHER AND YON

ding the economy it robs it.

Which may explain why the Japanese also have one engineer or scientist for every 25 people — while we have only one for every 100!

TAILPIECES: Returning from a wartime coastal patrol! on Oct. 2, 1942, RCAF Pilot Officer Arnold Ridgeway of Montreal was killed when his Kittyhawk P40 crashed and burned near today’s Lynn Headwaters Park. This summer he was remembered by North Vaan and Lyon Valley Legion Braaches 118 and 114, which installed a plaque honoring him at the crash site in ‘‘gratitude and sorrow from the people of B.C. to the people of Quebec, its veterans and their families’’ ... North Van Arts Council invites you to meet museum director Robert Inglis, cultural development officer Brenda Berck and Presentation House admin director Brigitte O’Rooney — three new faces on the cultural scene — 7 p.m. Tues- day, Sept. 17, at Presentation House ... And also on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. in St. David’s U.C., West Van, Reform Party director Gordon Shaw speaks on ‘‘Moving Towards A New Canada’ — with coffee and home baking thrown in.

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WRIGHT OR WRONG: When others take ages to do a job, they’re slow. When we take ages, we're thorough.

North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an independent suburban newspaper and qualities under Schedule 111. Paragraph ilt of Ihe Excise Tax Act. 1s published each Wednesday. Friday and Sunday by North Shore Free Piess Lta ang disinbuted to every door on the North Snore Second Class Mal Registration Number 3885 Subscnptions North and WesI Vancouver. $25 per yeat. Mailing tates available on request Submissions are welcome dul we cannot accept responsibilty for urccéctted matenal including manuscnpts and pictures which should be accompanied by ¢ Stamped. addressed envelope

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“Dave Fike photo WAR HERO HONORED... Legion plaque for Pilot Officer Ridgeway held by project chairman George Frederick (Br. 118) and Cliff Lowe (Br. 114). Flanking them (left to right) Bill Calder (president Br. 114), Peter Wailace (president Br. 118) and Grant Campbell (Br. 114).