As you may have noticed, our newsletter is now sponsored by a new group. We are no longer the newsletter of the Greater Vancouver Libertarian Association. That association was the local constituency association of the federal Libertarian Party of Canada and because that party did not run fifty candidates in the recent June election as required by the Canada Elections Act, the party was "deregistered" and all the money remaining in its bank account (and our account) was forfeited to the government. You may recall that the BC Libertarian Party was also recently "deregistered" by the BC Electoral Officer for failing to file our election financing papers on time and refusing to pay the subsequent onerous penalties.

Although this sounds like we haven't been particularly successful in politics, our local Vancouver group still enjoys getting together to try to bring libertarian ideas to our community's attention. Besides we shouldn't let pieces of government paper bother us too much anyway. Deregistered? Schemegistered! These are only words. We can still have our newsletter, our supper clubs and the enjoyment of good fellowship with those of us who possess that all too rare quality of political rationality.

But how do we do this and where do we go from here? Notice our ( temporary?) new name: The West Coast Libertarian Foundation. Being the name of our 17 (!!) year old newsletter, this caused the least initial disagreement. But please let us know what you think of it. At our annual summer barbeque (next week) we'll be entertaining all suggestions about what to call ourselves, whether to start something official (even a new party!) or just keep operating unofficially. What we want is to find the best way to more effectively bring libertarian ideas into BC's political discussion.

Thanks to some donations, our new "foundation" is able to pay for the next couple of issues of our newsletter until our subscription revenue starts coming in again. We hope to honor all previously paid subscriptions to the WEST COAST LIBERTARIAN and keep asking you to pay our $20 annual subscription fee. We'll keep publishing as long as those subscriptions keep coming in. Unfortunately, with loss of our political party status though, we can no longer offer tax credits of any kind.

So please take this opportunity to begin/renew your subscription to our new/old newsletter (your expiry date should be in the top right hand corner of your mailing label). Naturally, please phone or write if we have messed up your address, or name and please remember, we're all volunteers who do this for the fun and belief that if we don't give up we can make BC a nicer, freer place to live. Want to help?

Free lance submissions are most welcome and can be sent electronically by email to Editor D'Arcy Flannery or Web Master Marco den Ouden.

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