David un for your lives by Marcel Martin ow many of you are ready to go through the pretense of federal election promises? You students living in the Tri-Cities are in for one hell of a ring ride. As you already know, Eastern Canada doesn’t ive a damn about the West. One third of the Members of arliament are from Ontario. A further quarter are from uebec, a province with a declining population and birth ate. BC has approximately one tenth of the seats found in arliament although we have 15% of Canada’s population. Are you generally happy with your federal representa- ion? If you answered “no” to this question then you robably have a fairly good understanding of the Tri-Cities’ litics. If you can remember one federal program initiated either Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam or Port Moody in the t four years you must be suffering the aftermath of some ind altering substance. As our federal representation is m the Reform Party, the Tri-Cities’ constituencies won't a dime because the federal Liberals are strong advocates f “pork barrel politics”. The city of Shawinigan, Quebec, is iven money to build public ice rinks, but a place in BC or berta is lucky if the Prime Minister even acknowledges ur existence. Several weeks ago, a Gallup Poll found in The Vancouver un indicated that 45% of Canadians would be willing to Lam t's election time again endorse the Liberals for another term in office. I would like to know how many of these people originate from Vancou- ver’s suburbs. The Progressive Conservatives are gaining strength once again. After the 1993 election, this party was reduced to two seats. Some people suggested we had seen the last of the once powerful Tories. The Reform candidates in the Tri- Cities region had better watch their backs, because with the rise of the Conservatives comes a splitting of the right wing vote. Currently, the Conservatives have 19% of the popular vote and the Reformers have 11%. This brings us to the federal NDP party. It is a recent phenomenon, in the Tri-Cities, to have a right wing Member of Parliament and a left wing Member of the Legislative Assembly. This quirk should not amaze anyone. British Columbians, by nature, do not trust the status quo. Two examples are: federally with Brian “one million dollars richer” Mulroney and provincially with Bill “Fantasy Gardens” Vander Zalm. Is it possible for a federal NDP candidate to become elected in the area surrounding Coquitlam? It happened in 1988 when Joy Langan was ~ elected in Port Coquitlam. How many people actually know that Alexa McDonnough is the leader of the federal NDP Party? I am guessing that very few people have even heard of her. This lack of recognition is the NDP’s main problem, and if it persists, the NDP will fade into oblivion. Currently, BRING IT ON. 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Offer can- WES ote A IP ID ps s Wl a se 7 vs. Utah Jazz OA bun, Mar. 2 e 12:00 noon Vancouver Grizzties vs. New Jersey Nets Thu., Mar. 6 @e 7:00 pm @m, Vancouver Grizzlies vs. Denver Nuggets Fri., Mar. 21.¢ 7:00 pm Tickets start from just $12.75 ten percent approve of their beliefs. I would mention the Bloc Quebecois but there is no valid reason to do so. ABQ MP would never run outside of Quebec, so why bother legitimizing the party? Thursday, February 18, the federal budget was released by Paul Martin, the Finance Minister of Canada. The contents of this budget were expected. It is an election budget. This means there is no significant change in the way the Liberals will be operating. They will not be opening the Canadian wallet because Paul Martin is semi-committed to deficit reduction. Translation: the youth of the nation will not be given created jobs. The Liberals have stated that there will be no new taxes. This is mighty generous of the duplicitous, lying bastards. One week ago, it was announced that Canada Pension Plan contributions would be increased by an average of ten percent. Is this not a tax? Private citizens being forced to pay more money into a dying pension plan: sounds like a tax to me. My advice to all the political animals out there: don’t give up hope. Eventually, a decent leader with the characteristics of a philosopher-king will come along and society will be saved. If you believe that statement, you are probably happy with Jean Chretien and there is no hope for you. Let the tyranical litany ensue. Hemp lives ..continued from cover thrust of her presentation was to outline the Byzantine processes needed for government to legalize the growing of hemp as an industrial commodity in Canada. These include intra- and inter-governmental © consulting, public consulta- tion, committee work and law drafting. Emphasizing thatre- search farming only would be permitted until legisla- tion was formalized, Peart © faced the immense frustra- tion of farmers and hemp- lovers during question period. “Will you bust me if I grow it?” a man yelled from. the audience. He had been frustrated by the red tape encountered while trying to get a hemp license from Health Canada. While the government has said that regulations could be in place as early as 1998, at no time did Peart mention how long the process would actually take. Unfortunately, no one else from the federal government was on hand to discuss the government's role and views on hemp “and/or marijuana. Many questions raised during the symposium and on the trade ~ show: floor remain unan- _ swered. Peartadmitted the government moves slowly: “One good thing [about this: kind of process] is that once regulations are changed, ‘they are very hard to change back.” The Symposium was an exciting time for anyone in love with Cannabis sativa. The hemp industry may have its activist roots, but as the events of the conference have shown, it has certainly not outgrown them. For the near future, hemp will need is adherents as much as ever Future shows and symposiums planned on an international level are coming up in Germany (Bioresource Hemp 97, February 27—March 2), Hawaii (Hawaiian Hemp and Health Global Exposition June 13-15), and Seattle (Hempfest/trade show, July sometime, maybe contact your local hempery for the days). And if you want to find out what Health Canada is doing about legalizing Hemp, and you want to get involved in the public consultation, surf in at www.hwcca/hpb/drugs. or write: Manager, Hemp Research Project, Bureau of Drug Surveillance, Health Canada. Ottawa, Ontario KIA 1B9 or Fax: (613) 954-6524 or Phone(613) 952-7738 The Other Press February 241997 5