A6 - North Shore News - Wednesday, November 23, 2011
VIEWPOINT Published by North Shore News a division of Postmedia Network Inc., 100-126 East 15th Street, North Vancouver, B.C. V7L 2P9. Doug Foot, publisher. Canadian publications mail sales product agreement No. 40010186.
It’s your loss I
T’S all over but the recount — if there is one for the North Vancouver school trustees — and voters plumped for the status quo. That’s comforting news for almost all of the incumbent councillors and trustees across the North Shore. The numbers would seem to imply that voters think their councils are on the right track in terms of balancing density and affordability, taxes and services. At least, the numbers would say that if more voters had actually exercised their democratic right and also endorsed the incumbents. Almost 80 per cent of municipal voters in all three municipalities did nothing — which in political terms translates to unqualified support of what the other 20 per cent said. Way to let someone else think for you. Didn’t your parents ever ask you:
“If your friends jumped off a bridge, would you do it too?” If your councilby-default puts highrises you don’t like in Ambleside, Lynn Valley or near the auto mall, whose fault will it be? Like the district, the city vote came up a handful of percentage points from the abysmal low of three years ago. But the modest increase was more than offset by a drop in West Vancouver voting percentage to less than 24 per cent. The lack of a mayoralty race in West Vancouver or contenders in North Vancouver with council experience do not excuse this pathetic turnout. District of North Vancouver council has expressed some interest in looking at the possibility of Internet voting as a way of increasing participation. In the wake of this election, the Union of B.C. Municipalities and Victoria should make this a priority.
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Crime bill a costly failure
Dear Editor: We are concerned at the direction that Prime Minister Stephen Harper seems intent on taking Canada with his war on crime. The Omnibus Crime Bill approach is a proven failure. Conservative Texans are warning us not to follow a failed fill-theprisons approach to justice, and the Canadian Bar Association, representing 37,000 Canadian legal professionals, has said the bill “would move Canada along a road that has failed in other countries, at great expense.” With regard to mandatory sentences: they backfire. They take precious resources from crime prevention programs and rehabilitation, and turn minor offenders into hardened criminals. The bill will make inequality worse. It’s not tough on crime, it’s tough on Canadians suffering from mental illness, addictions and poverty. It targets youth for harsher punishments, and it will put more aboriginal people in prison. Moreover, the crime bill threatens valuable programs.
Mandatory sentences will clog the justice system and fill prisons, forcing the provinces, who pay for most of our justice system, to raise taxes, increase debt, or cut spending on essential programs like health and education. Across the country, Canadians are speaking out. Prime Minister Harper claims that Canadians support tough-on-crime laws, but tens of thousands of Canadians are publicly demanding their provinces refuse to pay for the crime bill. Quebec and Ontario have already refused to pay for a strategy that has been tried, and failed. We need to make Canada safer, not meaner. To reduce crime we should focus on what’s already working — prevention and rehabilitation — and address the major causes of crime by reducing inequality and supporting people who need help. The Conservatives’ cruel crime bill will do none of this, and ultimately will make us meaner, and less safe. Peter and Hideko Miller West Vancouver
Nov. 11 crowd’s community spirit empowering Dear Editor: I am a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and for the past 17 years have been stationed in North Vancouver. Over the years it has been an honour for my colleagues and I to participate in the Remembrance Day ceremonies. This annual, well attended event truly represents the generous community spirit of North Vancouver. I wish to acknowledge the community’s support and appreciation for our veterans and Canadian military personnel on this memorial day.
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I was humbled by the noticeable show of appreciation the RCMP received as we marched up Lonsdale Avenue. It provided my colleagues and me with the inspiration and encouragement that our efforts to keep this community safe are appreciated. To the veterans and Canadian military personnel, thank you for our freedom and many privileges we enjoy in Canada. Paul Duffy (S/Sgt.) Community Policing Section, North Vancouver Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Keep Low Level plan on track Dear Editor: As a resident of Lower Lonsdale and keen follower of Port Metro Vancouver’s and the city’s movement on the proposed rail expansion project, I think it is time that we all get something straight: the name of this project. In March, when the design phase is completed, a project proposal will be brought forward and presented to the city, its council and the community at large. These design documents will be the blueprint for the expansion of the Port Metro Vancouver rail yard and services. It is not the Low Level Road Project as PMV keeps referring to it. It is the Port Metro Vancouver Rail Expansion Project, and these drawings will prove it. The fact that our Low Level Road impedes PMV’s ability to expand without consultation does not give PMV the right to mislead the public on the design outcome of this project. This is unfair to our community. PMV started this wayward project by initially launching the project as the Low Level Road Improvement Project, but we note the word “improvement” has since been removed from their documentation. A mistake that may have cost them dearly for it certainly set off alarm bells within a five-mile radius of the subject road. Let’s keep it clear and concise for our city and for our future generations, at the end of March when the design drawings and costs of the design are brought forward to city council, it will be for the expansion of Port Metro Vancouver’s rail yard and services, PMVREP. Any fool knows that a section of road the size of our Low Level Road would not cost upwards of $100 million dollars to improve and, no pun intended, the force of a community to keep it on track. Marianne Ketchen, North Vancouver
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