Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - July 18, 1973, Winnipeg, Manitoba Printed and published daily except sunday by Winnipeg fim pm Pony Liin led. 300 Collton Winnipeg. Manitoba. R. S. Maioni published and Cedilot in chief piter Mclintock Maurice Western executive edit or editor r. H. Shelford Gofer do manager Winnipeg free press Western Canada i National newspaper Winnipeg wednesday july 18, 1973 Freedom of Trade Liberty of religion Equality of civil rights the West and Ottawa Western Canadian alienation has been with us for a Long time and will Likely be around to some degree at least for a Long time to come in spite of efforts such As the Liberal conference on Western objectives held Over the weekend in Vancouver or the Western economic opportunities conference to be held next week in Calgary. Not that conferences of this nature Are not valuable and May indeed help to reduce considerably the feeling of discontent that is evident in Western Canada at least among Western politicians. But the West s unhappiness and the feeling of being left out of things Stem from More than simple neglect on the part of the Central government in Ottawa although that undoubtedly is an important Factor. The matter basically is one of geography and population and so of economics. As Long As Central Canada Quebec and Ontario has a population More than twice As Large As that of the four Western prov inces combined 13.9 million to 5.8 million at last count that is where the economic Power and so the political Power will be concentrated. If this were to be the Only criterion of Power then the West might As Well secede from confederation As has sometimes been suggested in the past. But the Pur pose of the Liberal gathering was and will be of the economic meeting in the words of Urban affairs min ister Ron Basford to make this country or As defence minister James Richardson put it to participate in the economic restructuring of which in effect Means that the natural flow of Power is to be deliberately influenced and controlled so that Wester Canada gets what it considers to be its fair share of National Prosperity and its proper share of influence in National affairs. As history has demonstrated is not a problem with an easy solution. One reason is that while even westerners talk of the West As if it were a homogeneous Block of six million people All with identical aspirations this is far from the Case. British Columbia s inter ests Are in Many Fields quite at variance with those of the other three provinces. Within the Prairie provinces themselves there is wide divergence of opinion about what the West wants. Even within a single province there is sharply divided opinion in Manitoba for example what Winnipeg wants in Many cases is quite Dif Ferent from the desires and needs of Rural areas. The most that can be hoped for is a consensus on Broad general issues. Some of these were raised at the Liberal meeting and at its close prime minister tru Deau promised to give specific answers to specific prob lems when he meets the four Western premiers in Cal Gary. Perhaps the most important was the prime min ister s Promise that there will be Means to assure additional processing of raw material in the West rather than having primary products sent out of the area for processing elsewhere. An overhaul of the transportation system is also promised but Here on the All important matter of freight rates what . May want will be quite different from what the Prairies want. Measures to assure new Western financial institutions and greater efforts to find new markets for Western products plus More vigorous efforts toward free Trade this will be believed when it is seen Are also in the books. These it will be noted ail Deal with economic mat ters. Political affairs arc something else again. One so Lution intended to give the West More political clout adopted by the liberals was an elected Senate with equal representation coming from each of the ten prov inces big or Small. This it is hoped would prove an effective counter balance to the House of commons which elected on the basis of representation by population is and will continue to be. Heavily weighted in Favoro Central Canada. But while in theory this idea May sound attractive to the West and presumably to the maritime clearly from the standpoint of practicality in is a totally forlorn Hope. The country As a whole simply would not countenance it and an elected Senate might Well raise More problems than it would solve. While the Libers conference May not have been an overwhelming Success partly because no Liberal government is in office in Western Canada it nonetheless was of value in bringing again to the attention of Ottawa some of the feelings of Western canadians. The feel Ings of others will be raised with equal if not greater vigor next week in Calgary and out of these and future meetings some Good May emerge. Canadian questions unanswered Green Light for taps Washington it was a Day of partial Victory and mixed emotions for Henry scoop Jackson the 61 year old Veteran senator rom Washington state. His Long fight for Senate approval of the trans Alaska pipeline against the objections of senators from Oil starved mid Western states ecologists and the Canadian govern overwhelming approval tuesday by a vote of 77 to 20. Yet the National environmental policy act n e p a which senator Lackson drafted and steered through the Senate in 1970, Vas dealt a severe setback. Slumped in one of the comfortable leather chairs n the Senate press gallery discussing tuesday s events at the end of a gruelling seen Day debate on the pipe Ine question senator Jack by Paul Whitelaw son Bill can be expected Toi in addition the recent in mount a Challenge through j formation supplied to the ports in California. Less than 10 per cent of the alas Kan Oil output according to the newspaper is to be processed at Cherry i Ai i y the courts on the Environ state department by not bypass it entirely mental advisability of noted that Canadian interest it so far. The courts have ruled in a second pipeline would e ovine Impi want Lea a nov a i i sons not is senator Only on a limited technical legality of the increase when commercially president Nixon s illness in difficulties by Joseph Kraft Washington pres ident Nixon s illness is a portent no one can miss. It comes at a time of mounting difficulty in dealing with the watergate scandal. Ii is set against a Back ground of poor choices in t h e major Domestic and foreign business before the country. Thus the personal misfortune offers what is perhaps the Besl exit from an otherwise impossible set of circumstances. By themselves the water Gate developments of the past week were bad enough. In testimony before the sen ate investigating committee form attorney general John Mitchell showed him self to be the wildest Man associated with or. Nixon. Or. Mitchell constantly minimized the charges of illegal actions which had been hurled at him by witnesses galore. But there was no gainsay ing one Point developed in examination of or. Mitchell by the Senate committee. He had met with the president on March a Day after or. Nixon had had from his then counsel John Dean a fairly thorough airing of the watergate crime and cover up. Or. Mitchell had not mentioned the cover up at that meeting nor had the president asked him about i t the hearings demonstrated beyond any doubt that or. Nixon closed his 1920 Mineral leasing act1 Are discovered in the which has been bypassed Delia. Mosquitoes this is the loveliest time of year in Winnipeg yet this year As in some previous Winni Eggers cannot enjoy the outdoors the Garden Parks or Golf greens be cause of the plague of mos of whether fogging Wii achieve its intended purpose. Entomologists Don t seem to think so. The civics works commissioner says that i there is rain or High Wint fogging will have Little or no q u i t o e s there Are few effect. Winni Eggers who would the whole Effort hardly not be Happy to see the Little i seems Worth while. Biters disappear. J but whether City Council is j taking the proper course to i unpopular try and it will be no More than a try to Abate Tho Scourge is something else again. Council on wednes Day will entertain a motion that the entire City to declared a Park area so that spraying May be carried on in residential areas As it now is in Parks. The reason for Council s devious approach to the problem is that fogging or spraying cannot to carried out in residential areas with out permission from the provincial clean environment commission. O n receiving the City s request the com Mission ordered a three week delay in order to give who oppose fogging an Opportunity to state their objections to Tho granting of a spraying licence. Some councillors Are advocating that the commis Sion simply be ignored and that fogging be gone ahead with. Which raises the ques Tion of what is the purpose marketing boards do not seem to be As popular these Days even with the people they Are designed to help As their supporters include i n g government bureaucrats would make out. Take British Columbia for example. No Long ago the egg Board there tried to Stop Manitoba eggs from being sold in . The reason Sim ply was thai the Manitoba eggs could be sold More cheaply than eggs marketed through the . Egg Board. Now . Cherry growers have taken up arms against the . Fruit Board. The Board closed a packing House last week and seized two truckloads of cherries hut the dissident growers got a court injunction and hauled their cherries any Way soiling them in West coast centres. The cherries sold for 40 cents a Pound As against 49 cents a Pound for cherries sold through . Tree fruits the Only Logal told reporters the Senate decisions indicated the Ense of urgency among the american people. People arc frustrated they re fed up. Action is what they he stated. Action is what they got even if it was More than senator Jackson was bar gaining for originally. By adopting the Jackson Bill the Senate cleared away the last remaining technical objection to building the pipeline from Alaska s North slope Oil Fields across the state to the port of Valdez. However Only an hour be fore passing the Bill the Senate also approved a controversial amendment pro posed by Alaska senator Mike gravel. The Amend ment passed by a close vote of 50 to 49. Would free the pipeline from further delays because of reviews under terms of the 1970 National environmental policy act. I m certain there will be other requests in the future to evade the National environmental policy sen Ator Jackson told reporters. The whole purpose of the act is to subject All projects where there is a Federal involvement to environmental review. If we make an exception for the pipeline we will be asked to make an exception for nuclear Power reactors and other pro he added. The urgency and frus Lra lion to which the Washington slate senator referred stems rom the critical gasoline shortage in the United Stales. Ii requires All inc skills of an Apache scout or Daniel Boone to locate a ser vice station that is open Sun Days to sell gasoline and out of Gas signs Are a re Quant sight any Day of he week. The gasoline shortage is doubly frustrating to Ameri and private citizens it is known that Alaska s vast re serves of Oil have been inaccessible because of the pro ranted pipeline debate. Oil in commercially exploitable quantities was Dis covered in and the Oil companies say Thoy were prepared to Starl cons Ruc Ion of taps As Early As 970. Yet none of the alas Kan Oil has been shipped to Lark cts in the 48 although Tho Senate gave Green Light tuesday to Tho Maska pipeline construction tonality questioned in the in Columbia coast courts. A constitutional review is entirely noted Sena Tor Jackson. Although the Senate can usually exempt its Bills from j existing Federal the National environmental act specifically excludes this i Valt the problem. It s certainly an intriguing he told a reporter who proffered the Sugges Tion. If such a proposal is made. I la do everything i Anada had objected to can to facilitate the on the grounds that a similar offer was made recently by Canada to possibility. Refineries group of congressmen visit Mere could also be fur Only As ther delays in taps construction when the House of representatives considers the pipeline Issue although congressional insiders confidently predict eventual approval. The outcome of the seven Day Senate pipeline debate actually became largely assured last Friday when an amendment calling for the state of negotiations with Canada on the feasibility of a Mackenzie Valley pipeline was Defeated. To this amendment received the Strong backing of other midwestern senators who would prefer a route that would deliver Oil to their own Region rather than the West coast. Oil shortages have been More severe in the Midwest than other parts of the United states. However. The defeat of the Mon Dale amendment by a vote of 61 to 29, showed that few senators outside the Midwest were willing to take up the ruin the lower . Means of preventing coastline. Striction of taps. Now that any settlement of this con t h c controversial alaskan Dentious Issue is still far in pipeline has received Senate the future. There Are certainly no approval would the Canad much or. Dean actually told the president on March 21. And equally on whether the president had suspected the cover up before that Date. But under questioning. Or. Moore wilted. He could not distinguish Between the pres ident s chief aides. H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlich Man. He did not remember episodes which took place Only hours before the hear ing. He told of having been asked by. Or. Haldeman and Public interest in the financing of the president s House Al san Clemelle has mounted to the Point where it seems to eclipse the Walcer Gale Issue itself. An investigation by a House Commil the under rep. Jack Brooks a highly respected demo Cractic congressman from Texas is shaping up. Apart from the watergate troubles moreover two and d i t i o n a 1 problems of immense scope confront the president. Galloping inflation has built a Case of economic killers. There is now wide spread demand that the president prove he can Man age the Economy effectively. There Are things that could be done to advertise toughness an Extension of the Price freeze a move to Ward new taxes and maybe even some tightening of discipline Over wages. But it the president tried to apply such policies he would Al most surely drive the econ omy deeper into trouble perhaps to the Point of set Ting off a new recession. Nor can the trouble be off set by Progress in foreign policy. The Central fact is that the other leaders of the world Are themselves beset by internal difficulties. There is nothing or. Nixon can bring off by his favorite device of Summit meetings. The upcoming sessions with leaders from Iran. Pakistan and Japan seem to be particularly sterile. The More so As or. Nix on s claim of peace with Honor is being discounted by the continuation of fighting and political instability in Indochina. Events there if they Are tending anywhere ate moving toward the resurrection of the president s old cambodian enemy. Prince Sihanouk. Finally or. Nixon s per Sonal staff is in disarray. Ii i s closest friends have been forced out. He seems to have doubts about such advisers As Mel Laird and the White House is confused to the Point where official spokesmen been put Ting Down the president s daughter. Julie Eisenhower. What All this says is prac t i c a 1 i y self evident. Or. Nixon is hemmed in with difficulties. He is certainly iks going on about this alter with the state a Canadian embassy Ocial stated tuesday. However several possible lotions might eventually worked out. One alternative suggested it orally by the pres Lous new York times july simply have tankers y p a s s Cherry Point its offer increasing Canadian o i 1 exports to make up for crude shipments that would otherwise arrive from Alaska at Cherry Point might be a major Canadian Concession. But perhaps it would not be too High a Price to pay to avoid disastrous Oil spills on Canada s West turn conman to have or. Mitchell raise Money for lawyers fees. But he did not know How much nor for what lawyers nor for what services. Thus the Best witness the White House had turned out to be no witness at All. On top of that poor showing at the Senate hearings there were other troubles associated with opposite of a quitter an the country clearly does in want impeachment. But the illness opens the possibility o an honorable retirement. Scripture i will both Lay me Down in peace and sleep for thou lord Only makes me dwell in safety. Psalm 4 8. Of having Laws if those who fruit marketing body in route is still unlikely Are supposed to be response a province. Now thai the Senate has approved the controversial trans Alaska route several important questions remain unanswered for canadians. The first of these is whether the . Would be willing to co operate Wilh Canada on building a second route Down the Mackenzie Valley at some future time. Such a line would carry both alaskan crude and Canadian Arctic Oil. Canada informed the stale department earlier this month that if taps were built a second line would be highly unlikely. It would be More economical the argument went for american Oil interests to Loop a Sec Ond line alongside taps if future alaskan discoveries require additional pipeline capacity. However senator Jackson labelled this argument simply a bargaining ploy during the debate. He conceded that a Mac Kenzie Valley pipeline would be More costly than Loop ing an existing trans Alaska route. However the senator noted it. Would not b e More expensive than r s Only when the nip Joes something that it s the land lease option program by Frances Russell also which inspired conservative literature showing the legislative b u i 1 d i n g As a monster with tentacles reaching into every Man Toba farm and a word of Mouth Campaign claiming the nip planned to nation Alize every farm in the prov Ince. Our plan was to expand Freedom not restrict or. Yuskiw says. We want to in crease the number of people in farming and Stop the trend to corporation farms. I m sure if the conserva Tives were in office they d be doing the same looping taps plus adding ble for the Laws openly Roc Consumers will nol fail commence for a year or now tankers to the agriculture minister Sam Yuskiw makes this comment when he reflects on the fact his land lease option pro Gram for Farmers Iden tical to a plan in Liberal Prince Edward Island and similar to a plan in conservative Ontario was turned into a communist scare by opposition parties in Rural Manitoba in the election. The nip believes the opposition s tactics were effect l i v e in terrifying Rural voters. Even my own sup porters in Lac Dubonnet asked me what was going or. Yuskiw says. It was this scare Campaign that prompted an infuriated pre Mier de Schreyer to make his now famous remark about malicious for All the fear and Dis May it created the land lease option has a very common place origin. It is an off shoot of the Federal provincial Small farm development plan signed by Manitoba and Canada and announced in the legis lature Jue 18. It has a dual purpose to encourage More people to stay in farm ing and to create More economically viable farms. What it does is allow Farmers wishing to Retiro or heavily in debt or wishing to have their land leased Back to a family member to May be elderly Prince Edward Island has been into the same program for several years. Here Are some excerpts from the 1972 annual report of the Provin Cial department of agriculture and forestry. Land development corporation Sec Tion the Broad objective of the land development corporation is to assist in Tho improvement of incomes in the agricultural sector of Tho Economy of Prince Edward Island by achieving a number of specific goals. N o m 1 c units to provide credit to Farmers for acquisition of corporation land to remove lands from agriculture whose Best use is not agricultural production and to generally improve land use in the province in rela Tion to the capability of the land another aspect of the Manitoba government s pro Gram for encouraging the growth of economic units is a new system for leasing out Crown lands for pasture. Previously Crown lands were leased to the highest bidder a system which favored bigger ranchers. The government is currently drawing up a Point system of eligibility for leasing the Prince Edward Island Crown lands. The details a Lac had acquired 209 farm j Ven t been worked out yet units and had sold leased or i but the general intent is to transferred to other uses 152j assist Small and medium units that year. At the Timoi sized ranchers first the report was issued the if we had allowed the bid corporation had acres available to Farmers. Manitoba s land lease option is an Extension of a Federal program whereby Tho farm credit corporation offers Grants of up to 53.500 to Farmers who arc either retiring or leaving the land to take up a More profitable business. The acc is responsible for finding a buyer for the land and will offer Gen Erous credit arrangements. Manitoba took two years to sign the agreement according to or. Yuskiw be cause the original purpose of Tho Federal scheme was just to move individual Farmers off the land and to a scour ago the growth of big corporation farms. Manitoba finally got agreement from Ottawa to bar big buyers by they Are to acquire farm a of land held by people who 1" Assels for Al Kirbie _ i system to Rule eventually All the Crown land Pas Luros would have fallen into the hands of Tho Large Compa or. Yuskiw says. We want Loiry to maintain More viable units in livestock Tho government s now restrictions mean that it will no longer be possible for a Farmer Selling his land automatically to got his Crown land lease signed Over to the new owner. This along with the fear of Ian d nationalization through the land lease option led to the scare Campaign in Rural Manitoba in Tho last election. To or. Yuskiw and the nip Tho programs will in crease Freedom because icy will enable More people to stay on the land and will provide an alternative to tin sell their land to the Mani Toba agricultural credit corporation. Farms Are then put out for a life time lease or non resident owners to acquire Arm units that arc too Small for efficient Agri cultural production or that with an option to buy after Are too Small for the clop five years at an annual Ion of now technological coast plus building a pipe Ommel flouting them i note what marketing boards environmentalists. W hoi Lino from the . There is also the to food prices. I strongly opposed the Jack coast to Pic Cash rental of five per cent i process of production and of the value plus taxes. Ii was this program that chasers. The acc Wil will Thon soil the land either to the Macc or to a larger landholder. Distasteful. Hut since Hie Federal Liberal government inspired Liberal ads showing1 into economic units Ilio Liberal government of Macc will therefore Havo Prim of Edward Island and marketing to assist in Thoj to avenues to acquire land t h o conservative govern consolidation of farm lands j for its land lease moot of Ontario Are All to through the acc annuity a Farmer punching a time assist in the establishment i s y s i c m or of Leighl Pur clock. Ii was this of Young Farmers on Coo chases from Farmers itself. Similar programs they can hardly be called communistic ;