Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - February 6, 1968, Winnipeg, Manitoba Printed and published daily except sunday by Tho Winnipeg free press company limited 300 Carlton Street Winnipeg Manitoba. John president r. S. Malone publisher and editor in chief Peter Mclintock executive editor Maurice Western Ottawa editor Winnipeg Winnipeg tuesday february 6, 1968 Freedom of Trade Liberty of religion Equality of civil rights a time for clarity prime minister Pearson in his opening remarks to the constitutional conference called for a great new act of accommodation Between English and French Canada be cause without. It Canada May not the prime minister s plea should receive a sympathetic hearing from English speaking Canada what he is asking for is essentially the implementation of the recommendations of the Royal commission on bilingualism and whereby the special position of the language of French canadians their and traditions Are officially recognized and secured not just in Quebec but in All Canada. There Are plenty of men and women of Goodwill and Good sense in both English speaking and French speaking Canada who will be Happy to see such an accommodation arrived at. But that is not the accommodation that is. Causing Many canadians anxiety. The cause for worry Here is the accommodation that must be made Between the National government of Canada on the one hand and the provincial government of Quebec on the other. In a pre conference statement the Federal government expressed its views on this Point san a statement of its own the Quebec government did likewise. The key question now is How these two attitudes with some Points in apparent conflict can be reconciled. At first glance some of Quebec s demands Are such As to make English speaking canadians despair of agreement Between Quebec and Ottawa. But closer examination shows that in some instances , there is ground for manoeuvre arid a meeting of minds even in areas in which Ottawa appears to take a very firm stand. Quebec wishes for example to. Regain control of All social Security programs in the province Ottawa says that it must continue to be responsible for old age pensions unemployment insurance and family allowances so that it can achieve Equality among All canadians. If Quebec were to be Given its Way Here undoubtedly this would mean in Equality for Quebec could not be Given this right in All provinces if they wished could also assume the same but while this might be undesirable it would not be fatal and if there were inequalities it seems probable that Quebec would suffer most. Similarly if Quebec had greater control of television radio film making etc., in that province this might cause some difficulties but it is doubtful if it would mean the breakup of Canada. Again it would be Quebec that would feel the results rather than the rest of the country. A third demand of Quebec is Touchie that the province should the limits of Canadian foreign policy have a recognized capacity to negotiate and sign agreements with foreign governments on matters subject to internal Quebec would also like to participate in Canadian delegations at International conferences attend conferences where there Are no Federal representatives and have a greater say in Canada s external Aid program. The operative words Here Are within the limits of Canadian foreign within these limits some made. Quebec now has cultural with France. While these May at irritating to the the country they do not touch National Unity but the line s Here must be carefully and firmly is prepared to draw them reject for direct Quebec participation in. International affairs on the very sound ground that if Canada Speaks with More than one voice abroad that is separatism and separatism abroad would Soba Lead to separatism at Home. So while there May be room for Quebec contacts with overseas nations there can be no Concession that could possibly give the impression that in International affairs Canada has a voice other than that of the Central government which Speaks for All of Canada. Recognizing the present pressures within Quebec with her emancipation in education her broadening Economy and political awareness the remaining provinces of Canada Are More than ready to seek an accommodation with French Canada in Many important areas. In matters of language and cultural recognition As Well As provincial Powers in Many Fields of social welfare Quebec s demands Are negotiable on reasonable and practical grounds with the other parts of Canada. There is a genuine desire that French canadians should As or. Trudeau said no longer feel locked into this has been made abundantly Clear in the opening phases of the constitutional conference at the same time the voice of Canada has also been clearly heard in the statements of premiers Manning Smallwood Robarts and other provincial leaders. The rest of Canada while ready to accommodate que Bec in Many ways is not prepared to see our confederation split into two separate states. B abandon the Canadian monarchy for some form of Republic. C Grant special status privileges or Powers to one prov Ince that Are denied to others. D see such responsibilities As foreign affairs defence banking communications and Trade which Are essential to the Central government if our nation is to survive eroded or surrendered to provincial authorities. As prime minister Pearson has stated Ottawa must have control Over monetary and credit policy Tariff policy and balance of payments policy. It must be responsible for inter provincial these matters Are non negotiable because any weakening of Ottawa s control Over them would mean that the Federal government would be unable to carry out the responsibilities it must discharge if the country is to remain Strong prosperous and United. The Road to a new Constitution will be Long difficult and strewn with Pitfalls. There will inevitably be a temptation on Ottawa s part when it is under continuous pressure from Quebec to give a Little then perhaps give a Little More. This is a temptation that must be recognized and resisted. There Are accommodations that Are just and fair. There Are others that Are not. Failure to know when to draw the line can Lead to a slow and gradual erosion o Ottawa s Powers and so to the erosion and eventual dissolution of Canada As a nation. That is what the constitutional conference is aiming to avoid. This is a time for patience understanding and Toler Ance. It is also a time for firmness. 3t t a w a the surface cordiality of monday s Peeches could not conceal the Welcome fact that there is a Ery wide rift Between the lews of Quebec and those of 11 the other governments. Nothing was More impress Ive at the Federal provincial institutional conference in Oronto than the evident determination of the nine premiers to come to terms Vith Quebec. It was. Thought oth in Ottawa and in Provin Ial capitals that the Best Hope f Progress Lay in the recommendations of the b and b commission. From the state ments of or. Rob arts and or. Robichaud it is apparent that he two provinces on which he report placed the heaviest burdens of responsibility Are to take the Steps necessary to ensure Equality or fench speaking canadians. But there is Little in or. Ohnson s speech Cand less in his Brief to suggest that Here has been any Compa movement by the Quebec government to meet the other partners in confederation. Remembered words from youth gone and Beauty gone by Christina Rossetti youth gone and Beauty gone what doth remain the longing of a heart pent up forlorn a silent heart whose Silenc loves and Longs the silence a heart which Sang its songs while youth and Beauty mad a summer morn silence of love that canno sing again. The message from Hanoi political demands take precedence by Maurice Western acceptance of the b and b recommendations is not easy Tor the premiers of English speaking provinces. If they Are prepared to. Act it is because they with or. Trudeau that this is the Way to Deal with the most sub Stan Lal grievance of French canadians. But what do they now Lear from or. Johnson in fact it is not enough to extend he use of French in Federal institutions and acknowledge for French minorities in other provinces collective rights comparable to those already enjoyed by Quebec Anglo phones this is Only a partial solution. Above All French canadians must be Able to use their majority position in Quebec to provide themselves with the organizations the institutions and the Environ ment which will be perfectly suited to their. Culture and their in other words it is the political demands which take precedence in or. Johnson s mind note this extraordinary fact. Or. Johnson has almost nothing to say about the substantive recommendation of he Dunton Laurendeau report. What he does is to concentrate attention upon certain Pas sages in the general introduction. These in reality Are explanatory they Are apparently included to help English canadians to an understand Quebec Premier Daniel Johnson s conjuring trick whereby he would make a two partner Canada with special status for Quebec equal to ten partners in confederation is pretty hard for the other nine provinces to Swallow. Ding of viewpoints deeply entrenched in Quebec. Or. Johnson makes them the basis for his argument in favor of a two partner Canadian Constitution. We Are asked to accept a conjuring trick by which the two partner special status concept can be reconciled with the Equality of ten partners in confederation. Or. Johnson with a first wave hand would bestow upon All the provinces Powers which they think should properly be exercised by the Federal government. With a second wave nine provinces would Delegate the Powers Back leaving the tenth Quebec with her particular augmented Homeland and mainstay of French can Ada Quebec must assume responsibilities which Are Pec Uliar to her and it goes without saying that her pow ers must be proportionate to her responsibilities contrast this with or. Robarts position which does not differ from or. Trudeau s. We recognize that the pro Vince of Quebec will retain a special place As the heartland of French Canada. However we believe that the More the proposition is accepted that the province of Quebec is regarded As the Only spokes Man for French Canada the less Prospect there is for the wider acknowledgement of the two languages elsewhere in Canada and the realization of the two and or. Robarts firmly insists that the government of Ontario Speaks for All our people regardless of their the very notion of delegation is illuminating because it implies that the Federal government is subordinate to the Sovereign provinces. As or. Johnson puts it they would entrust to the Federal govern ment in part or in whole those duties they prefer not to assume they would have autonomy and the Resi dual Powers. The new Constitution evidently nothing less will do would also assert a principle of participation this would require that member states take pan in the Federal decision making and this implies in turn for or. Johnson that one f the Federal organs ordinarily the Senate be a direct emanation of the Federated tates. This being the mood of the Quebec government it is not surprising that or. Johnson is pressing for very Large Addi ions to provincial Powers. There was a quaint notion after the Toronto conference hat despite his disconcerting preliminary Brief he had bellowed in the course of exchanges with sympathetic premiers. But everything he Hen asked he is still asking and More. insists pm Quebec control Over Ocial Security even if it does involve problems As regards come redistribution a n d Reedom of movement of people anywhere in the coun by. But More serious is his demand for a Quebec internal ional role Here plainly he is on a collision course with Ottawa and All the other provinces. Or. Johnson uses rather guarded language cents. On the constitutional Bill of rights to which the Federal government attaches priority. Taking his speech and his Brief together How Ever it would appear that Quebec rejects it. He has no objection to placing linguistic guarantees in the Constitution As for other rights however lie argues that there can be no decision in Advance of agree ment on Basic reforms including particularly the creation of a True constitutional Tri but would it be acceptable even in that event the Brief outlines a Case against it. Double standards much has been heard about the alleged brutality of the United states bombing of North Vietnam. Yet Alastair Buchan director of the Institute for strategic studies in London has pointed out in a recent article that it was mainly because the United states has refused to bomb population centres and thus eliminate North Vietnam s manpower bases that the american bombing has been ineffective. On the other hand the North vietnamese had no such compunction during their re cent attacks on South Viet namese cities. Their aim was to create terror and they murdered civilians men women and times indiscriminately and sometimes As was the Case of the wives and children of South vietnamese officers with a cruel refinement that could find its Only equivalent in the nefarious activities of the. Gestapo. Despite the Large civilian losses not a Peep was heart from the professional protes tors always so concerned about the poor people o Vietnam. No pictures of Clil Dren murdered. By the com Muniss none of rocket Laun Chers and other weapons o. Mass terror supplied to Thi North vietnamese by tin soviet Union have been distributed by Tho various move Muncs that so stridently de Mand peace in Vietnam. It would seem that thes movements put different a ties upon different lives. The Days o a terror in the South vietnamese tha has failed to produce the i general pro communist up sing the Viet. Cong expect revealed the Sha lowness of their morality an the spurious Ness of the humanism. A Bill of rights is suggested summarizes the ethical philosophy endorsed by the whole population and this s Well enough in a unitary country with a homogeneous population. But acceptance titans a trend towards homogeneity of ethical concepts whose recognition Bee omes the responsibility of the in a Federal system it would be a serious Politica error to proceed in this Way there follows this Blun warning property and Civi rights in this country Are Thi exclusive responsibility of Thi provinces. We not pre pared to waive this response in it is then stated tha Quebec intends to insert he own charter of human rights in the provincial it should be added tha Strong criticism of the projected Bill of rights came from Alberta and British Columbia. S a s k a t c he a r doubts the need but is Prepa red to accept a Bill confine to fundamental Democrat or. Trudeau s project thu appears to be in deep Troubl at the very outset of the constitutional talks. Considering particularly the positions taken by the prov Ince of Quebec it cannot b said that the first Day of the conference provides much Rea son for optimism. As usual w Are being reassured that the talks Are proceeding in goo spirit and that there evidence of give and Tak mostly it appears Abou procedures for by none of. This Means very much is or. Johnson interested i a is he interest in. Seeking accommodation through conferences sponsored by the Federal Quebec negotiating in goo Faith these Are questions o first importance to which monday provided no answer and few very enc Muragin clues. By Joseph Kraft if the War w in Vietnam is Unwin Able and longer it goes n the More the americans Al Eady badly overexposed will e subjected to losses and humiliations even in the of maximum that is the message the ther Side is trying to get Cross by the wave of assaults n -. The Saigon embassy and ther places in South Vietnam. An d because the message so obviously serves the Adver Ary it is tempting to dismiss t As propaganda. But the message happens to in substantially True. Hard As t May be the important thing now is not to pick up the Challenge and charge in head Lown. On the contrary the Rue . National interest is o adjust the american Posi the Bleak realities. These realities Are at this Ime expressed in full detail in he developing siege of Khe Sanh. That Remote Post in the Northwest Corner of South Vietnam has been surrounded by an estimated enemy troops armed with heavy artillery. The american command has determined to hold the Post at virtually All costs. A brigade of airborne army troops has been sent to reinforce the marines Manning the Khe Sanh installations. To reduce vulnerability t t h e marines have abandoned a near Village. And of course an All out Supply Effort is under Way. In support of this Effort there has been worked up an elaborate scenario of enem intentions festooned with Cap tured documents galore. According to this scenario the other Side is at the end of it strength and is even thinking As the recent openings of talks suggest of making peace. Before giving Way however the enemy will try t win everything in one Victory a Dien Bien Phu which would be achieved a Khe Sanh. By standing firm and resist ing at Khe Sanh according t the scenario America Cai supposedly achieve a. Severs Dien Bien other Side with its Hope shattered would speedily give Way. The trouble with tha scenario f is that. There is n evidence for it a not even i the captured documents. On the contrary the documents suggest that the other Side i now stepping up operations not in despair but to Tak advantage of Rich opportune ties. Thus one document state that the new situation i South Vietnam is very favo Able for us but utterly unfavourable to the far from speaking of a Las minute knockout Victory a Khe Sanh the document suggest an Effort in what i obviously a Long Dranou Campaign to pull America troops away from the task o building Security in the pop la Ted areas. Thus one Doc intent asserts that tile polic r 1. Our troops is always to Progress another stipulates As the purpose of lie present offensive to annihilate a major . Lement in order to Force the Nemy to deploy As Many additional troops to the Wes Ern Highlands As As to the the. Documents suggest the other Ide is confident to the Point hat it feels talks would be not a sign of weakness but an Opportunity for making new gains. Thus one document Points out that even last year Lanoi did not suffer by releasing the of Etters Between. To Chi Minn and Lyndon Johnson. Another says talks would Divide the government in Washington from the Saigon authorities. A third says that talks or the Promise of talks could be used the the United the sym Pathy of the countries of the North vietnamese strategy particularly As it re lates to the assault on Khe Sanh May not be what . Authorities Are claiming it to be. The sad thing about All this is set out so clearly in the captured Docu ments is actually. Working. American forces have been drawn away to Khe Sanh and other fringe areas thus Leav ing the populated places More vulnerable than simply by talking of the other Side has been Able the isolation of the ., and win friends for its own. Efforts. The Posi Tion recently taken by the United states on1-, negotiations has been almost completely clip Sezov and Why because the United states to Franks a government Good above All things at refuses reality. Conditions in Vietnam Are not of a Brable that they Are unfavourable that the application of Mili tary Force tends to conflict America s political1 objectives. J i at this time under pressure from the it is harder than Ever to recognize the realities and make ments. But unless ments Are made unless America adapts its military and its Public diplomatic Posi Tion to its truly limited objectives then what-1 has lately been happening Iri Sai gon and elsewhere will a mild foretaste of humiliation today s scripture god is greater than Man. Why Dost against Job. 33 12-13. Canada has water for Export to Washington a in w diversity o f Manitoba professor of Hydraulic engineering has Given an american audience a detailed justification for the Pursuit by Cana Dian and american authorities of comprehensive studies of the possibility of exporting water from Canada to the United states. The paper by professor Edward Kuiper was originally delivered before a National meeting on water resources engineering of the american society of civil engineers in new York on october 20. It was passed on to a wider Public recently when entered in the congressional record by sen. Frank Moss demo the leading Polit ical advocate of the North american water and Power Alliance Yawapa Continental water resources project. Pro f. Kuiper notes that Export of water is feasible if the exporting country has and will continue to have water surplus to its needs which it is willing to sell under appropriate conditions of Quan Tity time and Price if the importing country can buy it and convey it to its destination at a total Cost less than the water s value at destination or of any other Way of supplying it and if the two countries can be expected to maintain nearly equal bar gaining positions in the foreseeable future for purposes of treaty readjustment. He concludes that Canada has a foreseeable water sur plus of 100 million acre feet per year an acre foot is by Richard Purser exporting water to the . Is no different from exporting Canadian Oil or ores says a Manitoba University professor. Cubic feet in British Colum Bia and the Yukon the same amount in the Prairie prov inces and the Northwest territories and twice As much in Northwest Ontario. While the Price of water for Export from the into the great lakes would be cheapest of All in the order of per its chief use in the Eastern . Would be the Low value one of waste disposal and prof. Kui per doubts that much of the available surplus will Ever be sold. The Price i of water Export from the Prairie provinces could be in the order of per acre foot with the . Paying an additional for transportation to various destinations. The total co St Appeal s too High to be at Tractive to the . . Prof. Kuiper adds it is conceivable that water on the Prairie Region will reach such a value in the foreseeable the Cost to the . Of water from British Columbia to Canada plus for transportation to the Southwest also does not appear attractive. Prof. Kuiper feels that the Cost seems too High per be and also that the . Might be Able to get water from the Columbia River system or by Desalvi nation of sea water for less. While this is not an encouraging picture of the economic feasibility of water Export in the near future prof. Kuiper nevertheless concludes that its Impact on the economics and general Well being of Canada and the United states would be. So Large that further and More comprehensive studies Are fully in View of this prof. Kuiper is concerned with countering the negative factors toward the political feasibility of water Export. One of these is the Cool reception of such proposals by the Canadian Public. Many canadians feel that an abundant1 fresh water Supply is our heritage and that Selling it to. The United states would be irresponsible toward future to it is difficult to explain this attitude since this philosophy is certainly Noc applied to the Export ores and other Canadian re if. Prof. Kuiper suggests that suspicions of some canadians have been aroused by american spokesmen who appear to treat the water resources of North America As the common property of All North americans. He would appreciate a Clear statement by the . Government on How it regards the ownership of Canadian water resources to dear up the matter. Another serious difficulty although entirely Domestic is the question of provincial ownership of Waters within Canada. There Are no Laws or statutes or precedents to be guided by in seeking a solution to this problem of sovereignty and the con current problem of Export Revenue sharing. The remaining political difficulty the problem of future developments once a water Export treaty is agreed on does not Overly disturb prof. Kuiper. It appears that Canada has abundant water supplies available Lor Many decades to he says. Therefore once. Canada would agree to Export it would seem most unlikely that Canada could claim in the foreseeable future that the Price would have to go up substantially apart of course from inflationary it appears that the United states after it would Start importing water from Canada has reasonable alternative Means to satisfy its own requirements in Case Ca Nadian water would. Become too costly. Therefore it appears that both countries could confidently enter into an agreement of Export import if this were economically at Tractive without having to. Fear that renegotiation of future treaty Extension could result in economic hardship or Mutual ;