Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 22, 1968, Winnipeg, Manitoba 10 Winnipeg free january 1968 Pearson presses Unity Issue in keynote address by Barry came minister Lester Pearson l opened the Western Liberal Confer ence sunday with a warning that Steps to Cement Canadian political Unity rank As the nations most urgent All other difficulties Pale in compari he because without reshaping the French English partnership there will no longer be a wearing the Large Bow tie that once was a Pearson also took pains to discount recent rumours of a weakening Canadian Dollar As he delivered the keynote address of the he said the Dollar remains Strong Al though there Are unhappy signs of a coming deterioration in International economic the 800 delegates and observers at the Marlborough hotel gave Pearson three lengthy standing ovations when he appeared against a backdrop of an enormous Canadian included in the crowd Many of them forced to hear him Over closed circuit television in an adjoining room were most of the seven contenders for the prune Pearson made Only Brief reference to the leadership reaffirming that his retirement was the right taken at the right he reiterated earlier statements that the Best Way to choose his successor was by Means of a even though the interregnum Between his announced retirement and the convention led inevitably to a period of the prime in his accepted the major Burden of the blame for what he termed the liberals failure to gain support in Western but he in sure my successor will medicare loggers blasted by Crik Hodgson a agriculture minister a dark horse candidate in the Liberal leadership says there is but one alternative for ministers who dont accept the june 1 deadline for National immediate resignation from their he said medicare was being used As the main Issue in the leadership sweep stakes and it was a the Only problem with our policy is that we Are All Over the Damn Road but there is Only one Road open and any Cabinet minister who Doest take it must Green said the Issue of Cabinet Solidarity was being blown Way out of proportion and said this was largely the fault of the news Western Power that Halifax he i was there and when i read the papers i wondered whether i had been smoking youd think there was blood All Over the Greene is a supporter of Western he says the West and Quebec will make the next prime minister and right now it was the West he was Over the years Quebec delegates have remained solid at conventions to ensure the Quebec viewpoint you be prime minister without he said the West now has that Power and Western delegates would be very foolish to dissipate their he warned that if the Liberal party didst take the West by april they never do he said if a movement was afoot to nominate a Western favorite son As a candidate it would be a foolish the West should Back somebody with a Chance of the West plus Quebec can take he this is the one Chance the Western delegates will Ever have to use their said Western strength should stand behind one Candi Date providing that candidate does what the West he says the main Issue facing the leadership candidates is National National Unity and National productivity go hand in he if we keep our Economy the separatist has nothing to offer the Quebec Man on the pickets Early sunday morning the Winnipeg committee for peace in Vietnam picketed the convention hours Greene had said of the War canadians As Good neighbors should keep their Mouths he said that generally he was not opposed to the policy in we Are Lucky to be neighbors of the United when your neighbor is in trouble you dont rub Salt in his he said he had Only a nucleus of support in Manitoba for his leadership aspirations but held a meeting Early sunday morning to map out his Cam he said his speeches were written by himself and All he asked was for Dele Gates at the convention to consider his this should not be a popularity con he dont judge Joe Greene As a person because As a person he might be Worth Damn just judge his views and his Joe Greene smiling Pearson warms to applause tvs Eye Blind to Bright cast by Gordon Sinclair the Csc decided to go along with the de Sullivan show and Bonanza rather than filming live the speeches of eight candidates in the Liberal leadership race sunday its a pity because the second annual meeting of Western liberals provided More entertainment than both of those top ranked shows put top banana on the from to 11 had to be the Lloyd the Man who got one vote in 1958 when he ran for the Liberal Henderson got the biggest laugh of the evening when he noted that pre Mier Ross Thatcher of Saskatchewan a former Cofer and senator Hazen argue another former plus Bud Olsen a convert from social credit were now members of the Liberal said there should be room for me in the Liberal party Henderson suggested he was a Leader of those attempting to be i was in there that was Only 15 minutes after Pearson announced his intentions of that when the press and radio people to referring to the 1958 leadership con Henderson noted that i didst get All the votes at that he when i speak in i want you to know that they hear the presbyterian minister and former mayor of Portage la Prairie left them laughing with a quote from Gal an advisor to the late president John that no one is ready for higher office until he been a successful finance minister Mitchell Sharp also got his share of laughter when he confided that he was much struck in recent Days with the Way the conserva Tive party deals with these problems and the Way we Deal with we Haven permitted any Public re lations Man to get rid of our Leader we Are not going to permit any Public relations Man to make the next Leader of the Liberal party Dalton Camp built a wonderful image for Bob Stanfield and Bob Stanfield Hast allowed his performance to interfere with that Sharp also took a dig at two of his notto close colleagues within the Liberal party when he forecast that Saskatchewan Premier Ross a rights Centre was just waiting to launch a draft Walter Gordon Cam agriculture minister outside of consumer affairs minister John was the last noted that the Luck of the draw had the swingers bringing up the emphasizing Cabinet Greene said he would be Happy to serve under anyone of the other Cabinet min ister candidates if they will have me and in the More Likely i will be pleased to have them in my the final brought the production to a successful end with the observation that now you know Why 1 enjoy having Joe Greene As a desk Lloyd Henderson s i Lloyd tells Iem who to ethos Lloyd Henderson a lot i Vav of the delegates to the Western i Liberal conference were j but the reverend always seemed i to be around to j i the former mayor of Portage la j Prairie ran for the Liberal leadership i at the 1958 convention and Drew one j i Hes running and this i he says can i a poll of delegates revealed that i hendersons support in the West j i is not overwhelming of 35 dele1 i Only two knew hendersons i and one thought he was i i chaplain of the Manitoba Liberal i party the other was voting Henderson was unable to j i attend the morning sessions of the i conference because he was already committee to a boy scout hike in j Portage la i i who feels not being i a Cabinet minister or even a i Ber of parliament is far from a deterrent to his said sunday j i he had no alternative candidate in i mind to whom he might throw his i in going to he who i needs an be much More he stressed that his government is striving for a balanced budget and Freer International Trade and claimed second to National Unity the major problem facing Canada was the need to Advance economic Progress and balance it through the he dwelt heavily on Unity problems said would be tackled firmly when the Federal provincial constitutional conference opens in Ottawa the Basic problem facing Canada is the Unity of the country above the understanding and close partnership Between the English speaking and French speaking groups which 100 years ago about this contending Quebec is the Centre of a distinctive language and he pleaded for widest possible opportunities to allow the culture to Unity also had to be on the contribution of vitality and strength of other races in Canadas he the rights of the French speaking out Side Quebec must be taken account As describing his statements As a Credo for Pearson said the prob Lem now was to transform this Credo into a policy of action for next months constitutional conference will launch the in the prime ministers when certain specific programs will be outlined enshrinement in the Constitution of fundamental consideration of the b and b com missions creation of government machinery to Deal continuously with Steps to bring the Constitution in line with contemporary tied in with Unity Are the interrelated difficulties involved in Spur ring nationwide economic the difficulties have been increasing lately because of tendencies to weaken International economic a fact particularly serious for Canada because of the country Vaulrie ability to world in spite of these worldwide the Canadian Dollar remains Strong and the Liberal government will continue to press for less restrictions on International Pearson reaffirmed the govern ments pledge to aim at balance budget and the removal of obstacles to capital inflow he said the1 threat of Infra higher costs and prices would still be problems in the our relationships with the United states is at the heart of much of our possibilities and our do things in their own interest that Bave an immediate effect on As Early this month and alter it by criticizing or carping at the farm policy earns new hearing problems of Western agriculture were overlooked by Liberal policy Saskatoon mayor Buck Wold charged at a plenary session of the party policy conference Here he said he was surprised by the Lack of solid resolutions before the session and urged the agricultural committee meet again to reassess some fundamental questions have not been answered the Price Cost squeeze Fop the Public of the West is entitled to know where the party this cannot be left hanging in the we want to present a his motion for another session was passed by the plenary Hazen argue spoke in favor of having another look at agriculture policy and asked that All Farmers and those sympathetic toward Farmers attend the who fought and a Resolution in committee workshop for a two Price system for said one of Buckwold contentions went Down to narrow defeat to the detriment of the the two Price Resolution was Defeated by a 2216 vote in eight resolutions passed by the work shop were adopted without debate at the plenary they include establishment by the Federal govern ment of a Prairie provinces agricultural development Council to formulate policies of common interest to the the Liberal party must reaffirm its policy on free a crash program for research and development of High yielding grains for both milling and feed increased Cash advances on farm stored Grain to a Bushel on a six Bushel initial the current Advance is 50 cents a a reappraisal of the current quota system which would consider variations in average yields in different parts of the retention of the Prairie farm re habilitation act the administration of the Federal agriculture the Canadian wheat Board not be come involved in Domestic movement of the Federal government must Clear the Columbia River Channel to allow development of an estimated acres of land in Southern which is subject to about 100 delegates attended the Agri culture the most heated debate during the session was argues bid to make party policy the two Price sys tem for a two Price system is pretty moderate and upset the argue he said the two Price system was an Issue during the 1963 election the acreage payment initiated under the progressive conservative government of John Diefenbaker still sits pretty tight with Western the senator the mood of the Rural voter is not looking toward the Liberal party for better but looking for he said their was probably no simpler Way to Send Liberal members to Parlia ment than to develop an attractive Agri culture Harper Prowse of Edmonton challenged argues he questioned whether argue meant one Price for Export and another for Domestic sales of in 1963 and 65 we didst impress a single Farmer with this its an insincere attempt to buy Prowse Neil lout it Mitchell Sharp guidance from above autumn policy meet set for new chief the Liberal party has tentatively planned a National conference next fall to draft policy for the new prime the move was agreed on sunday by the party policy committee and will be submitted to the National executive for approval at its 29 a Date and site will be decided the last time a similar conference was staged by the National Liberal federation was in meeting during the Western liberals the policy committee also agreed to establish a formula for leadership candidates to state policies to voting delegates to the april 46 leadership convention in the developments were announced Sun Day by the co chairmen of the committee Richard Stanbury of Toronto and gab Riel Lapointe of no specific guidelines have been agreed on for either the policy conference or the leadership convention but Lapointe said the policy meet will take precedence Over the arrangements at the leadership the new Leader will have to live bye1 what the party adopts in the he new method the move is a departure from past procedures at Liberal leadership Conven the policy committee produced recommendations which were placed before plenary sessions and voted Stanbury said the changes had been recommended in order to ensure voting delegates know where candidates stand on issues and Western Heads talk Blunt line four provincial leaders presented some forthright even Blunt ideas of liberalism before the Western Liberal conference the today session is aimed at draft ing policy proposals that will help restore Federal Liberal Power in what has been a political wasteland for the last three elec the liberals hold Only eight Western seats in the seven in addressing the opening session before it broke up into policymaking workshops were Premier Ross Thatcher of Saskatchewan and leaders Gil Mol Gat of Mani Mike Maccagno of Alberta and Ray Perrault of in general they supported a Strong Central free free in flow of foreign a Paya you go policy on social welfare and maintenance of Middleon therond in my opinion Canada does not need one socialist said Premier thatch it certainly does not need a overstrained i doubt whether the candidate who proposed to do nothing to Correct our financial crisis will deserve or receive much Western support there i an almost unanimous feeling throughout the West that the Federal government has at least temporarily overstrained the nations maximum Opportunity must be Given to outside consistent with can Adian Saskatchewan residents were aware that outside much of it was responsible for the dramatic economic transformation of our westerners also would like to hear stands of leadership candidates farm cos Price a realistic floor Price for wheat and the Carter commis Sion on to whose recommendations most Saskatchewan liberals Are pressing for a Strong Cen trial wanted regional needs recognized without special Canada should Lead in International free Trade with no narrow economic nation ;