Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 19, 1965, Winnipeg, Manitoba Freedom of Trade Liberty of religion Equality of civil rights Winnipeg free press printed and Pabl Lilma daily except tit Winnipeg press company limited 300 Carico Stititt Winnipeg Manitoba. John Sifton president r s Mainz publisher and vice or widest Shane Mae Kay executive editor associate Western. Peter Mclintock Winnipeg tuesday january 19, 1965 new policy needed the new policy being worked out by the department of immigration is a Welcome indication that the Delitsch report is already making an Impact on the various minis tries. If immigration is to play a key the solution of our Long term problems As it should do according to the report it is time that we abandoned year to year in favor of Long term immigration policies. It is even More essential that the government having recognized the importance of Long term goals should adhere to them whether or not we encounter temporary interruptions in the Forward surge of the Canadian Economy. From the record of the past eight years it is reason ably evident that the department honoured the tap theory even at times when ministers have been talking in very different terms. The theory presumes that the Stream of immigration can and ought to be turned off and on in accordance with labor demand in Canada. It has an obvious Appeal to those who believe that every immigrant is a threat to someone s Job or to his Hope of employment. The ironic fact is that mrs. Fairclough who presided Over the department while immigration was being reduced to a trickle argued convincingly that immigration creates jobs. This indeed is borne out by experience because periods of High immigration have coincided in our history with years of economic Prosperity. It is also obvious from experience that while it is a simple matter for a government to turn off the Stream it is extremely difficult to make it flow again. Mrs. Fair Clough making the Best of her showing in 1958 when fewer than entered the country argued that it was close to a 10-year average of obtained by striking out two 12-month periods when immigration was swollen by unusual circumstances overseas. The trouble is that this presumably desirable Norm has never since been attained. In 1959 immigration dropped to under in 1960 to a Little Over in 1961 it slumped to then began a slow recovery to in 1962, to in 1963. Or. Favreau s target for 1964 Well in excess of seems to have been reached the latest rough estimate is about but we Are still Short of mrs. Fairclough s average and not remotely in sight of the 1957 intake of Over even with a More Liberal policy it would probably have been difficult in recent years to recruit the most desirable immigrants because Many european countries have been Short of skilled labor. But a policy dependent on year to year assessments repels immigrants. No worker with skills and initiative will wait until time changes Canadian directives. Either he will seize an Opportunity in his Home country or he will go elsewhere. He will probably also advise a dozen other people that he has been rebuffed word will soon get about that Canadian doors and the impression will linger on to deter other would be applicants even when the doors have in fact been opened by new instructions from Ottawa. Not Only do we need a consistent Long term policy we need a less choosy one than we have had in the past. The department must do everything it can to attract special skills. But this should certainly not mean a Metic Ulous search for Square pegs to fit Square holes a policy of Matching specific qualifications against revealed opportunities. In a dynamic Economy needs Are constantly Chang ing. The Man who has demonstrated an ability to master one skill can usually master another or at least support himself As thousands of others have done until change brings a demand for his Peculiar talents. A no risk immigration department is not Likely to contribute much to a risk taking Economy. It would be foolish to insist on a policy of first the Job then the immigrant while pro claiming at the same time that immigrants create jobs. There has been a surplus of caution in the immigration department which has probably contributed significantly to our other deficits. It is encouraging to hear that or. Tremblay and his officials Are now planning for the Long term. It is to be hoped that in so doing they will not set their sights too Low. Invalid criticism As expected Ontario Prem Ier Robarts announcement that his government Hopes to reintroduce medical health insurance legislation at the coming session of the Ontario legislature has run into criticism from people who want to hurry ahead with a govern ment operated and supported medicare program. The criticism arises from the nature of the proposed Ontario pro Gram the government would make rather than publicly operated medical insurance universally available As is now being done in Alberta. It would do this by subsidizing those people who cannot afford to pay the necessary premiums to insurance companies or doctor sponsored health groups. One critic of the Ontario plan is or. W. D. Howe a new democratic party my. Or. Howe says that the Only innovation in the proposal is the government subsidy to be paid to those who need it after they have been subjected to the degradation of a Means test or. Howe is quite right in the. First half of his statement at least. The Onta Rio plan would permit those people who can afford private insurance to continue this kind of coverage. The Only change would be that people who cannot afford this insurance would receive it by a government subsidy. Thus government involvement in health insurance would be confined to a relatively Small segment of the population. On the other hand a government operated and supported plan would bring everyone under its provisions. The. Question that win be asked by those who defend the Ontario program is Why should the government become involved unnecessarily in the health insurance plans of people who Are quite capable of making their own surely the Basic objective is to extend coverage to those who cannot afford it now and this the Ontario plan intends As for the degradation involved in a Means test this is an argument based on emotion rather than on reas on. To try to get around it the Roblin government in Manite a refers to a test rather than a Means test but it is the same Rose. In fact a Means test or needs test is required in Many cases before a. Person receives general social assistance and no one suggests that it be done away with Here. Such a test need not be degrading. Alberta uses a simple test the amount of income tax a person pays. With adjust ments to make provision for the size of a Man s family this kind of test would be private a embarrassing and fair. To do away with Means tests to distribute government largesse to everyone whether one needs it or not is to add immensely to the Cost of any welfare program. Remembered words from the charge of the Light brigade by lord Tennyson the Light was there a Man dismayed not though the Soldier knew some one had blundered. Theirs not to make reply. Theirs not to reason Why theirs but to do and die. Into the Vausy of death Rode the six Hundred. When the great Day comes unfurling the Manitoba Flag Manitoba according to the provincial Secretary or. Steinkopf now appears act need a Flag in the worst a Competition will shortly be announced calling for. Designs. The idea and purpose of the Flag for Manitoba the Buffalo notwithstanding and apart from its promotional benefits is Given As that Manitoban will be Able to express their own feel Ings of Pride in their pro now it is evident that we cannot Willy Nilly abandon the Buffalo much As we would like to. It was repeatedly emphasized at Ottawa during the recent debates that a Flag should not Cut itself off from its country s history. And to abandon the Buffalo from the Manitoba insignia would be like abandoning the Union Jack from the Flag of Canada. It would break the link with the historic past and of that Manitoba As a province has already too Little to spare. And let us say this for the Buffalo even those of us who fought in the Kiel rebellion whether on one Side or the from congestion to chaos London the Story of Hercules and his Battle with Hydra the nine headed Serpent who could grow two Heads every time one was Cut off is finding a modern parallel in the labor govern ment s struggles to master this country s Many headed economic problems. No sooner is one problem licked it seems than two grow in its place. The see saw Battle to improve Britain s Export Posi Tion is a Case in Point slowly the government had been making gains. Stirred by a mixture of Praise and exhortation new year s honors and the Promise of Export rebates businessmen were beginning to be convinced that exporting was not Only patriotic but even perhaps profitable. In the midst of the govern ment s herculean labors How Ever a new head has been sprouting in the form of a massive foul up in the nation s two principal ports London and Liverpool. The congestion of goods on the dockside which had Long been a crisis in waiting has recently become a crisis in fact on the heels of a series of labor disputes. The seeds of the uproar were sown last july when a renegade Union representing some dockworkers persuaded the total London labor Force of men to impose a ban on overtime and weekend work. The move which was not approved by the major dockside Union had the effect of conferring office hours on All port activities. By Banning overtime work and thus slowing the already lethargic Tempo of the port dockworkers hoped to Force the welter of dockside employ ers 320 at last count to accept new procedures for handling cargo which while being More costly would supposedly make for More orderly loading and unloading. With the ban still in effect and with boats and cargoes piling up shippers and port authorities find themselves Over a barrel. They can t hire enough additional personnel to take up the Slack because the unions with an Eye out for slow periods insist on limiting the number of dockworkers. The unions also insist on working Only one shift a Day. The result has been to turn congestion into chaos. Long line ups keep boats lying at Anchor for up to two weeks before they even reach the piers. Lines of trucks sit for Days on end waiting to unload at the dockside. Valuable Export goods and equally valuable raw materials sit Idle in the warehouses. Disruption in the London docks has also had the effect of focussing attention on the situation at Liverpool another chronic trouble spot there congestion is equally severe although for different reasons. The dockworkers on the Mersey Are quite willing to work overtime but there Are simply not enough men to meet the demand. Unfortunately the ruinous costs of the sorry condition of Britain s ports Don t Stop at the dockside but radiate out Ward into the nation s econ omy like Ripples from a Stone tossed into a Pond. Vessels lying at Anchor together with Britain s port pile up by Martin dirty their cargoes can represent investments of up to relations. Two major unions spend half their time fighting 000. This tie up of capital can one another and when their Cost shipowners up to j backs Are turned an unofficial a week. And these losses of Leader can usually be counted course eventually show up in the prices of the goods that they carry. Exporters the Shock troops of the country s economic offensive catch it three ways. Not Only Are their production costs pushed up. They must also Vait longer than Neces sary for their original raw materials and they must watch in frustration As lengthy shipping procedures tear holes in their delivery schedules for finished goods. It is not hard to appreciate the effects of this situation on a sea bound trading nation. What is hard however is to determine who is responsible and to prescribe remedies. Two government appointed in Quiry committees have already been charged with the task but they will find the going no easier than their numerous predecessors did. They have been assigned to find a path through a trackless Jungle and their maps Are inadequate and outdated. One of the things they must grapple with is the sheer anarchy of dockside labor upon to instigate a Wildcat strike. Since 1947, such Small strikes have Cost British ports an average of Man Days a year. Moreover there is no Empi o yer employee connection. Workers Are assigned their tasks by a dockside labor Board representing the work ers a vast proliferation of Small employers and the port authorities. For this reason dockworkers enjoy few of the amenities that come from working for a single employer and employers must accept pot Luck in the distribution of labor. Restrictive practices also take a deadly toll. The port continuity Rule Means that London dockworkers will not move from one Job to another even on the same ship without going ashore and signing up anew. In Liverpool the practice of Welting allows workers to take turns resting in cafes or pubs leaving Only part of a Crew on the Job at any one time. In both ports workers refuse to use certain mechanical equip ment or if they do use it will not allow it to do More work than a Man could do in the same time. Then there is Plain muddle. Shipping procedures can re quire an exporter to perform As Many As 14 separate operations from arranging his insurance to providing marking instructions. The Lack of dockside space and inadequate terminal facilities mean double handling of goods and waste More valuable time. And so on. For their part exporters have been driven to desperate lengths to stay in business. Many of Britain s steel pro ducts Are now shipped by air or sent in coastal vessels to Antwerp or Rotterdam. In these two ports where cargo is handled in roughly half the time it takes in Britain the steel is loaded into deep sea vessels for shipment to the Western hemisphere. Amazingly this roundabout proce Dure still saves exporters about a ton which can mean the difference Between profit and loss. All of this has of course put the labor government in a difficult spot. Costly and time consuming dockside de lays pose a threat to the Campaign to keep consumer prices and production costs Down. Even More Embarrass ing is the fact that labor electioneering implied the pro Mise that a change of govern ment would somehow soften the wasteful conflict Between labor and management and bring about a Golden age of Industrial co operation. In brutal fashion the Dock Side mess is now putting that implied Promise to its first real test March of Progress Twenty years ago the prospects of a Man crippled in an Accident or by disease were indeed Bleak. The chances that he would be Able to continue to support himself and his family were Remote. He was consigned to invalid ism. For 20 years ago rehabilitation and retraining services for the handicapped were All but non existent. Today the prospects for handicapped people Are immeasurably brighter. Medical care physiotherapy prosthetic equipment Job training Job counselling transportation recreational facilities and Many other services have opened doors that the Handi capped of a generation ago would have found unbelievable. In Manitoba the Agency which directs this modern Miracle is the society for crippled children and adults. During the past year it extended its services to nearly Manitoban of All Ages. Perhaps even More dramatic it closed that is released to the Community As inde pendent self supporting or at least self reliant people again nearly 600 cases. It placed some 20 adults per month in jobs in the Community. Some 160 More were employed in the society s workshop which engages i activities ranging from piano repairs to silk screen printing and still others worked at various jobs in then own Homes. The full Impact and import Ance of the work the society is now Able to perform in the Community. Is summarized in a single sentence in a news release recently issued from its Winnipeg office through the services of the society for crippled children and adults in close co operation with related professions and Agen cies in the Field of health welfare labor and education there is Hope for no handicapped person it adds today need be left to vegetate and that the society s work has made this Progress possible should be sharply in the foreground of All Manitoban this month. For the March of dimes Campaign which in turn makes the society s work possible is held this month. It is a Campaign that deserves the most enthusiastic and grateful support of everyone in the Community. Government books the Queen s Printer s Book shop located in the new bus terminal building is a Wel come addition to greater Winnipeg s bookstores. The people of this area no longer need to Send away to Ottawa for a publication of the Queen s Printer but can pick it up in the store the store will also serve the population of the Prairie provinces. The opening of a new retail outlet for government publications May revive criticism of the practice of the government being in the publishing Busi Ness at All however it seems unlikely that the operations of the bookshop will have any effect on sales in other bookstores in Winnipeg. The number of government publications carried by these stores has been minimal largely because the Trade discount has been Low has been no allowance on unsold books and most of the titles issued annually by the government have a very limited customer demand the Glassco report noted these shortcomings and advocated that the distribution of government books and pamphlets through regular Book stores be by giving higher Trade discounts extending credit terms and return provisions. The report said however that in spite of any encouragement that could be Given to commercial Sellers there would remain a need for government operated Book stores in Large cities where the demand for government publications can be profitably cultivated. This has been demonstrated the Patron age Given such stores in Ottawa Toronto and. Mon Treal. In Light of the number of requests mailed to the Queen s Printer in Ottawa from Winnipeg and the Prairie Region the local bookshop should be self supporting and should operate on a sound financial basis. Birthdays w. C. Ross Winnipeg born Clifford ont Jan. 19, 1880 by Paul other or perhaps on both have never Felt that the Buffalo had any cultural or political affiliations such As we associate with the Maple Leaf or the. Fleur de Lis. The Buffalo was never one thing or another it was neither loyalist nor French Orange or Catholic bilingual Bicu Tural separa zionist birth control Liberal conservative social credit or anything like that. The Buffalo was simply downhearted and depressed perhaps a bit stupid but otherwise that was that since the design for the new Flag is to be open to Competition and since i shall probably be called upon to act Savone of the judges i shall not Here suggest the design itself which will be finally chosen. Or. Roblin s chief problem will evidently lie not so much in the selection of a Flag As in the manner in which it will be presented to the Public. Careful planning is necessary Here. The occasion should be one of dignity rather than pomp and the various Patrio tic organizations As Well As the different ethnic groups should be invited to attend. The Day chosen for the occasion should be in the Early summer or late Spring when the lilacs smell their Best the peace gardens South of Boissevain immediately suggest themselves As being the Ideal location for the ceremony not Only because they Are difficult to get at but also because they Are on the american Border and Are thus Able to be attacked from Only three sides. On the other hand there is the great obstacle to their Choice in that the ethnic statuary which at present is scattered Over the grounds of the legislature and which would have to be moved for the occasion May not be Able to be transported Over some of those stretches of Road which have been inherited from the Campbell administration. Actually the same safety factors can be obtained from a site just South of the present legislative building which is not Only protected on one Side by the Assiniboine River but would have the additional advantage of a practically impregnable building in the rear to which the government could Retreat it circumstances should warrant at least they would not As in the Case of the peace gardens have to make a Long run for it. Those statues of the ethnic groups which Are at present scattered around the Legisla Tive building should be collected and placed in a kind of Druid Circle near the South Entrance. The statue of Queen Victoria should however be left where it is facing Broad Way where her general expression of disapproval form Erly directed against the University of Manitoba could continue to rest upon or. Roblin s ingenious collection of Hose outlets and Lawn sprinklers which Marks the Park across the Street. It is Best to leave Victoria where she is All the More so because the contemplated statue of Louis Riel May be finished by that time and perhaps borrowed from St. Boniface for the occasion and placed where it cannot be seen from the Victoria statue. There is certainly no use looking for trouble. The Little group of statues consisting of Riel Burns Sigurdsson and Shevchenko together with any others be contributed by that time and especially with one which it is mooted win be contributed by one of the Large Winnipeg department stores will be arranged in a Semi Circle on the South Lawn and will then be. Flanked on either Side by the sphinxes which at present Are stored on the front roof of the Legisla Tive building where they had been left for Safe keeping when it was originally built. The Well known inscrutable smile of the sphinxes would most appropriately Frame the group. Moreover the group itself would constitute a Monument which if perpetuity would become a kind of Manitoba stonehenge to which archaeologists and students of our provincial culture would continue to be drawn in wonderment. And interest for Many years. Naturally a., few Small changes in some of these statues would have to be made before the ceremony is held in the interest of Unity but these could be done the night before so As. To avoid any delaying discussions and particularly to introduce an element of sur prise. The. Bust of Burns for example should be changed to a full figure and he should be dressed in the Manitoba tar Tan. The present upright figure of Sigurdsson should be Given an even greater dignity by being placed in a sarcophagus of Tyndall Lime Stone and the name of Taras Shevchenko should be changed to Taras Mcgregor so that those in North Winnipeg who would like to have their principal Street named after their principal poet would feel suitably honoured. Finally the Complete works of Robert Burns should be translated into icelandic and carved As far As space would permit on the sarcophagus. There is no doubt that if All these plans of the government Are properly carried out the population will As they say rally around the the actual ceremonies of unveiling or unfurling or whatever it is one does to a new Flag should be simple. After the invocation or perhaps after several invocations from the platform where the invited dignitaries of Church and state Are gathered and after the sing ing of god help us by the massed choirs or. Maitland Steinkopf in keeping with the dignity and solemnity of the occasion could read a Short and if possible innocuous text from the revised edition. In View of the recent increases in liquor taxes As wee As in consideration of the partial school tax refund it has been suggested that the revised edition should be revised to read for this occasion or. Roblin liveth or. Roblin Tabeth away blessed be the name of or. but since there Are always those like Gildas Mol Gat who hold that revision can be carried too far it is More Likely that the text adopted will be from Job can the Flag grow without particularly Perti nent in View of the govern ment s Long Range plans for irrigation in the Pembina Triangle. At this Point just when everybody is expecting or. Steinkopf to make a speech the new Flag should be unveiled. It should come As another Complete Surprise. In Stead of making the expected speech or. Steinkopf could press a Button or pull a string. And As the new Flag slowly and beautifully unfurled in the Manitoba Breeze it could be done with the various bands representing their respective ethnic groups together with the massed choirs would break into the National anthems of these different groups each trying to outdo the others in volume and pitch. The resulting blend of melodies would constitute the Manitoba Anthem and could be recorded on specially de Vised loudspeakers. In the meantime the government of Manitoba led by or. Stein Kopf could quietly slip away through the South door of the building which had been conveniently and prudently left open since the official proceed Ings would now be Over the rest of the Day could be left to whatever activities had been planned by local and cultural groups. The Winnipeg police All this time disguised As bavarian Folk dancers in leather pants and embroidered blouses would Parade in front of the South Entrance and perhaps or. Juba in his capacity of mayor of Winni Peg could be persuaded to give his inimitable Reading of the riot act. Loudspeakers would announce that free Coffee and sandwiches would be distributed at Kildonan Park and that in the after noon there would be Square dancing throughout the length of. The perimeter Highway which would otherwise be closed to All traffic. There would be fireworks in the evening. All told it looks like Good Day to look Forward to. Two. Articles today s scripture show me thy ways 0 lord teach me thy paths. Lead me in thy truth and thou Are the god of my salvation on thee do i wait All the Day. Psalm ;