The Vancouver Sun from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada • 3

A A E) A A4 The Vancouver Sun, Wednesday, Jan. 13, 1993 BORDER SHOPPING No duty to reap duty on trifles, court declares ffli 'Stei--. IKSlllSlilfte: shouldn't have discretion to charge duties." Shapray said the association is disappointed with the court ruling and is considering an appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada. Federal customs inspectors won't collect duties if less than $1 is owed. They can also overlook amounts up to $4 if heavy traffic is causing delays at a border point or they are busy withother work.

About 99 per cent of Canadian cars returning to Canada are waived through border crossings, even though most drivers admit to buying some groceries, gasoline or liquor on short trips to the United States. Distribution Canada argued the federal revenue minister had a duty to collect all tariffs because the Customs and Tariffs Act says thejr "shall" be collected. Federal lawyers argued it'fr impossible to collect all duties and doing so would create unreasonable delays and cause stress for inspectors. Collecting duties on gasoline, for example, would require inspectors to measure the amount of gas in tanks as vehicles left Canada and when they returned. The Federal Court of Appeal said the revenue minister has some dis-, cretion in collecting duties.

CHEMICAL WEAPONS A cheap, easy way to make war, man says JASON PROCTOR Medicine Hat News MEDICINE HAT, Alta. For tinpot dictators of poor industrial ized countries and crafty commanders who don't mind bending the rules of an international treaty or two, chemical and biological weapons are a godsend. For their enemies, they are not Nerve agents, poison gases and bottled diseases have been called the poor man's weapons of mass destruction. "They're cheap, they're easy to make, and if you don't have the money, they're probably the next best thing to a nuclear bomb," says Bill Kournikakis, a biologist at the Canadian Armed Forces' Defence Research Establishment at Suffield, Alta. Kournikakis has spent the past three years collecting information and artifacts for Defence Science: Coping with a Legacy, a display of the history of biological and chemical warfare.

He culled material from the Canadian War Museum, Britain's Imperial War Museum, the U.S. Army Chemical Corps Museum and a private collector. The subject's profile is high, Kournikakis says, but most people know little about it. The weapons are more deadly in 1993 than they were in 184 BC, and the technology delivering them is more efficient, but the thought process hasn't changed. Iraq's Saddam Hussein stockpiled gases and nerve agents for the same reason Hannibal hurled clay pots full of poisonous snakes at his enemies.

Mass confusion and disease, says Kournikakis, are every bit as debilitating as mass destruction. Kournikakis says it's often more difficult for an army to cope with sickness or panic than it is death. Bodies can be left behind, but the wounded have to be tended. In Saddam's case, fear of chemical or biological attack had forces in the Gulf War donning cumbersome protective clothing. MEDICINE HAT NEWS Canadian Press OTTAWA The federal govern ment is under no obligation to col lect small amounts of duty on gasoline, groceries or liquor bought by cross-border shoppers, the Federal Court of Appeal has ruled.

In a decision released Tuesday. the court upheld a Revenue Canada policy under which customs inspec tors don impose tariffs if it not worth the bother or they are too busy. Distribution Canada which represents about 1,300 independent grocers across the country, challenged the policy, saying Revenue Canada was obliged to strictly enforce customs tariffs. The association argued the policy encouraged cross-border shopping that led to millions of dollars of losses for its members, especially those with stores near the border. "This kind of expedient approach has created a monster in terms of cross-border shopping," said Howard Shapray, a Vancouver law yer who represents Distribution Canada "Our position was that Eaton's doesn't have the discretion to charge the GST, so (Revenue Canada) ROBERT BOURASSA: waves IwMM-imiiiiiMiMwiiifitiiimriiiii A LITTLE UNNERVING: Kournikakis holds shell used to German soldiers unleashed 150 tonnes of chlorine gas on Allied forces.

About 5,000 soldiers died and 10,000 were injured. The man who developed and supervised the attack was Prof. Fritz Haber, the man whose work on the synthesis of ammonia was to win him the 1919 Nobel Prize in chemistry. By then, Haber had begun a deadly race for chemical superiority. Mustard, a liquid which causes painful blistering; phosgene, a colorless gas which induces coughing, choking and eventually death; and lethal chlorine gas were responsible for more than 91,000 deaths and 1.3 million injuries from 1915 to 1918.

As a result, Kournikakis says, the first chemical and biological Hannibal's enemies lost their ships to angry snakes. Kournikakis has found written evidence of chemical warfare dating back as far as 2000 BC. At that time the Spartans attacked Athens, burning sulphur and pitch to create clouds of gas above the city, Throughout military history, Kournikakis says, leaders have used contamination as a favorite form of weaponry. Armies have drugged wine, poisoned water, thrown plague victims over the walls of besieged cities and given their enemies diarrhea. Modern chemical warfare, Kournikakis says, began on April 22, 1915, in the trenches of Ypres, Belgium.

In the late afternoon of a sunny day, with the help of a breeze. deliver chemical agents treaty was created in 1925. But the Geneva Protocol only banned the use of the weapons stockpiling and research was allowed to continue. With continuing escalation came fervent research into pro tection. Kournikakis has collected a garish collection of gas masks, some of which were developed for horses, dogs, pigeons and infants.

Since 1945, many countries have developed and stockpiled chemical and biological weapons. But an improvement in defence, Kournikakis says, has allowed the developed countries to concen trate on reaction instead of retali ation to attacks. His exhibit is on display at the Medicine Hat Museum and Art Gallery. Canadian Press $250,000 "r-; 3 Cancelling military trade show would cost Bourassa declares himself trade show without consulting board members. Cassey said the board didn't know about the show until two weeks ago.

A coalition of peace groups and politicians told the board this week that the planned exhibition called Peacekeeping 93 is a clever cover for ARMX, the arms trade show last held at in Ottawa in 1989. Canadian Press OTTAWA The Ottawa Congress Centre may have to pay up to $250,000 if it breaks a contract to hold a military trade show in March, the chairman of its board of directors says. Joe Cassey said the centre's general manager signed a deal in October to hold the After that show, Ottawa council members banned future arms trade exhibitions on city property. Representatives from the Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade, Canadian Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, Ploughshares Ottawa and several church groups told the Congress Centre board the show has nothing to do with peacekeeping. ready and willing to work Ul REFORMS Quebecers turn thumbs way down ployment, support was strongest in Atlantic Canada at 53 per cent, followed by Alberta at 50 and Ontario and B.C.

at 49. Support in Quebec was only 34 per cent. Nationally, Canadians are almost evenly split 50 per cent opposed, 45 per cent in favor and five per cent undecided over the measures, which reduce benefits for all unemployed and eliminate them for those who quit without just cause or are fired for misconduct. The reforms, announced by Finance Minister Don Mazan-kowski in his economic statement last month, would also reduce benefits to 57 per cent of insurable earnings from 60 per cent Across the country, support for the measures is strongest among those earning more than $60,000 a year, university graduates, men and Tory supporters. TORIES CANADIAN PRESS as he leaves Dorval airport: provincial elections expected in -1994, he said the question is premature.

"I'm here to wish you a happy New-Year for 1993," he added with smile. Bourassa will attend a cabinet meeting and hold a news conference in Quebec City today. He said it will be mid-February, before he decides on the treatment he'll receive for his malignant-melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. He's considering an experimental gene therapy known as interleukin-2. Side effects, which last about a week, can include fever, weight gain and skin rash.

i Press secretary Sylvie Godin said cells from the tumor that was removed last week are now being used to prepare a vaccine that would" be ready for use next month. Bourassa is being treated by doctors at the National Institute of Health in Bethesda, Md. Because of the treatment, a trip to Europe which had been scheduled; for Jan. 28-Feb. 10, has been post-, poned.

Changing career, top soldier says Canadian Press TORONTO Lewis MacKenzie, praised around the world for leading United Nations peacekeeping forces in Bosnia-Herzegovina, says he'll announce his retirement from the Armed Forces today. MacKenzie said he'll be stepping down as the Toronto-based head of the Canadian army in Ontario to finish a book about his peacekeeping experiences and to deal with a flood of speaking engagements. "I'm not giving my full attention to my day job of commanding the forces in Ontario," said MacKenzie, who expects to receive a pension of about $62,000 for spending 33 of his 52 years in the Canadian Armed Forces. But although he's been courted by both the federal Tories and Liberals, MacKenzie denied reports he will run as a candidate for either party in the next federal election. ahead in an election year with legislation to implement the reforms.

Quebec labor leaders have already warned Quebec Tory MPs that voting for those measures will cost them their seats. Opposition was 63 per cent among Quebecers but under 50 per cent in all other regions, ranging from 41 per cent in Alberta to 49 per cent in Manitoba-Saskatchewan, according to the Angus Reid-Southam News poll. Despite chronically high unem- voun WHY AIl'DIIOUU TO KEEP IT! FKD OUT HOW WITH FINANCIAL COLUMNIST, AUTHOR AND TV CELEBRITY, ONE OF CANADA'S TOP TAX ADVISORS AND BUSINESS SPEAKERS. 4. THE RRSP CHOICES CAN BE BAFFLING.

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2. HOW TO ELIMINATE 90 OF YOUR TAX BILL 3. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF FOREIGN CONTENT RULES IN YOUR RRSP! FIND OUT HOW AND WHY irSAMUST. PETER MASER Southam News MONTREAL Robert Bourassa returned to Quebec on Tuesday, saying he felt fine and is eager to resume his duties as premier. I ready to work and I willing to work," he said during a brief exchange with reporters at Dorval airport.

Bourassa health and political future have been in question since the reappearance of a skin cancer that was first detected in 1990. He had a tumor removed from his chest at an American clinic last week, but the disease has spread to other parts of his body. He conceded he is facing a "tough challenge" and could not predict the future. But for the time being, he added, "I will fully assume my responsibilities. I was elected to work for Quebecers and that's what I will do with all the strength I have." When asked if he can continue until the next provincial election, he noted that it doesn't have to be held before 1994, "and 1994 is just a bit faraway." Asked if he lead his party into speculation grows about Mulroney's future.

"People have been saying are you going to run for the leadership. I have been saying that Brian Mulroney is the leader of the party and he's staying there. I also tell them that I have been leader of the party. I know how tough it is. It is not something I'm planning to do." He doesn't want a patronage appointment or a senior diplomatic post.

Sources say he turned down the job of ambassador to Washington that was accepted last week by Gen. John de Chastelain, chief of defence staff. Clark, 53, said there are other national policy issues that interest him and the best way to advance those issues is to be part of a government. Another factor that may keep him in politics a vocation that he has spent his entire adult life practising is the constant challenge. ANGUS REID-SOUTHAM POLL Half oppose changes to Ul lre you in favor of the proposed changes to the unemployment insurance system which would mean people who quit their jobs or are fired would be ineligible to collect? Unsure: 5 The Dec.

23-Jan. 4 telephone poll of 1,503 adult Canadians Is considered accurate within 2.5 percentage points 19 times in 20. Southern News Graphics sible decision to remain in politics as a signal that he would seek to regain the job he lost to Mulroney in 1983. "I have done that. Seeking the leadership of the Progressive Conservative party is not something that I am contemplating." Even so, Clark's language did not preclude a run for the leadership.

Almost every potential leadership candidate says he or she is not planning a leadership run but plans can be changed quickly. Some of his friends have said privately that Clark has ably played the role of senior cabinet minister for the past eight years and the only reason for him to stay in politics would be to lead the party. A Gallup poll taken in December suggested a Clark-led Conservative party would have the best chance of defeating the Liberals in the election later this year. He acknowledges that he has come under some pressure already as Yes jffiTN' Clark weighs private sector move Canadian Press OTTAWA Joe Clark says he is weighing some "attractive" job options. Running for the Progressive Conservative leadership should Brian Mulroney resign isn't one of them.

"What I'm looking at for the first time is an entirely different life," Clark said Tuesday in an interview. "I have a clearer sense of what some of the options are and some of them are very attractive." Those options are in the private sector and include some international travel, he said, but he refused to be more specific. He has told his riding association he will decide by the end of this month if he will seek re-election. Clark, the minister for constitutional affairs, said he expects the prime minister to lead the party into the next election. Should Mulroney step down, Clark said no one should interpret his pos THERE IS NO CHARGE FOR THIS SPECIAL PRESENTATION, HOWEVER SPACE IS LIMITED, SO CALL NOW TO RESERVE YOUR SEAT Date: Wednesday, January 1 3, 1 993 Time: 7:30 p.m.

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