Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - February 27, 1975, Winnipeg, Manitoba Printed and published Dally except sunday by the Winnipeg free press company limited 300 Carlton Street Winnipeg. Manitoba. Richard c. Malone r. H. Shelford publisher pres. And gon. Mgr. Peter Mclintock Maurice Western editor Ottawa editor r. S. Malone chairman Winnipeg free press Winnipeg thursday february 27, 1975 pages 17-32 Freedom of Trade Liberty of religion Equality of civil rights Union moderation while Canadian and British unions demand new pay increases in the Range of 30 per cent and Over the huge German Metal and engineering workers Union i. G. Metall has settled for a wage increase of 6.8 per cent. This is about 0.2 per cent below the current inflation rate the Union sharing the government s expectation that German inflation will drop below the seven per cent figure. Indeed it has been forecast that real in come in Germany Wil. Go up by two per cent this year whereas real income in North America will drop by one per cent. The Metal workers settlement comes after a Simi Lar agreement made Between the Federal government and the civil service Union which recently agreed to a wage boost of no More than six per cent. These Are the two key German labor settlements. The chemical workers considered somewhat militant in German terms Are still to negotiate their new pay rates. How Ever it is unlikely that they will succeed in obtaining any better terms particularly since the German Chemi Cal Industry has been badly hit by the world slump and moreover is paying heavy taxes As part of the National fight against pollution. Chancellor Schmidt has thus earned a new Feather in his stabilization Cap. He has no social contract that is the empty boast of the British labor government nor was he forced to Institute any Price and wage controls. Prices have been going Down in Germany of their own Accord largely because of the Strong position of the German Mark. Productivity remains High both because of the industriousness of the German worker and be cause German Industry has invested so heavily Over the years that each worker s output can reduce the effect of higher wages. Most companies have been willing to accept lower profits a trend that reflects the current ten Dency towards greater Equality in the country. However what counts More than any other single Factor is the reasonable attitude of the German Union leadership that is scared of pay packets stuffed with worthless Money. The unions know that this is not the time for strikes and they recognize the narrow limits in the private sector of the Economy for wage increases and the danger to their own jobs should these limits be exceeded. The Metal Union opened the negotiations in the fall with a demand for an 11 per cent wage raise. After four months of negotiations it has been satisfied with three fifths of its original demand. The German television service had every reason to remark where in the entire world do labor unions behave so reason where indeed undoubtedly the German worker is better off than Many of his counterparts elsewhere. When times were Good his wages went up and so did his fringe benefits. Nor does Germany know the crushing taxation that Sti Fles All initiative taxation that exists both in Britain and in Canada. The raises go into the worker s pockets not into the spendthrift treasuries that then waste the Money on their various harebrained schemes. In All too Many Western countries it is the tax collector who Bene fits most from inflationary wage settlements. Those who receive a whacking increase of pay to keep up with spiralling inflation soon find that a Good part of the in crease is lost in taxation the workers Are no better off the Cost of production rises because of the higher Cost of wages prices Rise while governments surf edited with easy Money spend it under the Maxim of easy come easy go. This is not the Case in Germany the Only Western country where a reasonable co operation Between labor management and government has kept inflation at Bay As much As this is possible with the present Oil prices and the disease raging everywhere else. One wonders whether it will really require a latin american Type of inflation to make the decisive segments of our society amenable to reason. Bitterness toward both parties . Labor cuts its ties by Joseph Kraft at the egg level Selling out confederation Ryphe Federal egg Market 1 ing plan has not pre vented the Balkans nation of egg marketing in Canada. Bef6re the plan was in exis tence provinces imposed in p o r t controls on out of province eggs. The plan was supposed to Lead to the re Moval of Trade barriers to the movement of eggs within Canada. Nonetheless Trade barriers have continued. If the commons egg mar k e t i n g committee recommendations Are implemented these barriers will be by David Mataj aut Opac dissatisfaction owners of motorcycles in Manitoba like most owners of automobiles face substantial increases in the Cost of insuring their vehicles. Although aut Opac officials deny any attempt to hide these increases Many motorcycle riders Are under the impression that earlier government statements gave no indication of the size of the in creases. Although he was overruled by aut Opac officials pre Mier Schreyer promised to have another look at the Cost of insuring Small imported cars because he said he had received what he considered legitimate complaints from owners who could not have any Bias against government insurance. Perhaps one of the problems with government insurance is that anyone who complains is nearly always considered to have a Bias against the government. The Premier can be certain that the number of people who complain with or without Bias will increase every time aut Opac attempts to conceal facts which officials must know will eventually become Public. Ironically it was Public dissatisfaction with private insurance companies which led the government into a topic. And the government Agency had certain advantages from the beginning which should have enabled it to maintain if not Low rates at least Good relations with its customers. Aut Opac has no requirement As have private companies to maintain Large unearned Premium reserves since the government is presumed Good for its debts. Aut Opac has Access to Revenue sources such As Drivers licence fees not available to the private companies. This year the government plans to tap yet another source of Revenue by marking part of the provincial tax on gasoline for insurance purposes. Why is there such a dissatisfaction with the government scheme there Are both practical and political reasons. The government has refused to put its premiums where its costs Are. Mature Safe Drivers Are required to subsidize that part of the driving Public the 16-to-25-year old group which is responsible for most of the accidents but which aut Opac for political reasons refuses to surcharge adequately. Officials have admitted that initial aut Opac premiums were too Low but have refused to charge what is Neces sary to run the scheme. The result is a steadily mount ing deficit which has to be paid if not in insurance premiums then through general taxation. But whether they Are right or wrong Manitoba reinforced. Before the Federal farm products marketing Agen cies act was enacted Canada was the victim of a Chic Ken and egg War. The free flow of Commerce in poultry and eggs throughout Canada was effectively interrupted. Provincial marketing schemes were designed to control the marketing not Only of eggs produced within the province but also of eggs imported from other provinces. Manitoba unable to per Suade the supreme court to examine what it considered the discriminatory Quebec scheme enacted one similar to Quebec a challenged it and the supreme court ruled it unconstitutional a n amendment to the own boundaries. Instead o setting these prices at level based on the Ontario Cost of production of eggs provincial boards other tha the Ontario Board set Price based on the Cost of production of eggs within their own boundaries. The result was substantial Price variation in egg across Canada. These variations provincial could not Pricha i been sustained unless cheaper extra provincial eggs were prevented entry although there were no for Mal import controls imposed by provinces of the sort de c 1 a r e d unconstitutional in the. Case of Manitoba ther were nonetheless effective barriers to inter provincial Trade in eggs. The Secretary manager of the British co Lumbia egg. Marketing Board testifying before the commons egg marketing committee admitted tha the . Board used coercion against . Grading station operators to prevent the in p o r t of extra provincial eggs. The operators were threatened that their Supply of . Eggs would be Cut off of they brought in eggs from outside the province. If production quota limits Drivers of cars trucks and automobiles have their own ideas about How much of the whole truth was contained in aut Opac s earlier statements about this year s premiums. Farm products marketing agencies Bill proposed by the opposition and accepted with modifications by the government required a marketing plan under the act to allocate an initial area quota on the basis of production in the area Over the five years preceding the plan. The amendment was to offset the danger of prov inces wanting to continue to impose import controls. With the amendment it was thought historical Pat terns of production would be preserved. If provinces were Given quotas similar to their past production there would be no need for other Protection. When the egg Market ing plan was established in 1973 provinces were Given fixed number quotas of eggs for 1973. Any eggs produced within a province up to the quota number and not sold would be bought by the fed eral marketing Agency the Canadian egg marketing Agency. What the amendment overlooked was that if there were to be no temptation on the part of the provinces to control imports there would have to be not Only Quantity Protection through quotas but Price Protection As Well. The Federal Agency bought surplus eggs at prices approximating the Price of eggs in Ontario Canada s most efficient egg producing province. The Federal gov e r n m e n t imposed import control on eggs from the states so Long As the Ontario Price remained below the government s indicative Price. This Indica Tive Price was based on on Tario s Cost of production of eggs. The Cema based its variation surpluses arising intervention prices the because of quotas based on a n expected demand for eggs at the Low Ontario with prices varying tween the provinces and the free movement of eggs halted surpluses became inevitable. Even was within and even if the quotas had been set accurately to Clear die Canadian Market at the Ontario Price once prices in other provinces besides on Tario Rose above the Ontario Price demand dropped off and eggs remained unsold. Provincial producers i n those provinces with High Price eggs were better off having some of their quota eggs sold within the prov Ince at the High Price and the rest bought As surplus by Cema at the intervention Price than having All their quota eggs sold on the mar Ket at the intervention Price. The answer of the egg marketing committee in its report of december 1974, to the Trade barriers that arose As Well As to the sur pluses caused by Price Vari a t i o n was to have the Cema intervention Price vary from province to prov Ince based on individual provincial costs of production. If Cema is prepared to set varying provincial floor prices varying with Provin Cial costs of production then out of province eggs will not drive provincial prices Down. Local producers will not be spurred to try to keep extra provincial eggs out. If Cema estimates National Market demand and sets provincial quotas on the Terven Tion Price based on the Cost of production of the province with the lowest Price. Free movement of eggs would be allowed from an exporting province to an importing province provided the Price in the importing province of eggs from the exporting province is not lower than the Price of eggs in the exporting province plus transportation costs. With the ministers propos Al there would be a uniform Price for eggs in Canada with the committee s propos Al there would not. The com Mittee proposal is All the More surprising in Light of the observation it made in its report that it had received evidence suggesting that existing disparities in Price May have constituted de Facto evidence of Trade barriers. The committee solution May remove surpluses and the barriers based on Intima d a t i o n however it sets other barriers in their place. The Canadian Constitution requires that All articles of produce of any one of the provinces be admitted free into each of the other prov inces. Or. Justice Rand when on the supreme court of Canada interpreted this requirement to mean that there must be no impediments to Trade related to the traversing of a provincial Boundary. There must be a free flow of Commerce across the country As if pro did not Vinci Al boundaries exist. That does not mean that Canada cannot have Market ing plans with quota allocations. What it does mean is that Canada cannot establish separate and isolated markets for an article of pro Duce in each of the prov inces. A plan that gives Rise to substantial Price variation across the country As has happened with the egg marketing plan and which will continue to happen if the egg marketing committee recommendation is implemented is not a plan that allows for the free flow of Commerce across the country. The Federal government if it wishes to keep in production local egg producers with High costs of production could give them income supplements. It could give Price subsidies varying from prov Ince to province. It should not subsidize egg producers at the Cost of destroying free Trade in eggs in Canada. Robert Harrison then acting manager of Cema said last october that Cema was Selling confederation at the egg level meaning that the Agency was promoting con federation b y supporting provincial egg industries. It would perhaps be More accurate to say in View of that has happened to egg prices in Canada that egg marketing boards have been Selling out confederation at he egg level. This will continue if the egg marketing committee recommendation s accepted. Bal Harbour Florida the historic office o the labor unions in the has been to give millions o americans who might other Wise have turned sour feeling they had Power an a voice a place in the sys Tern. So the Union Leader Are probably the All time no 1 stand up and Salute Loyd lists in the country. But the current recession has brought terrible Troubl to the unions and their peo pie trouble which Trad tonal institutions seem unable to fix. Accordingly a the executive Council of the a f l c i o meets Here o Miami Beach the Labo leaders those last Loya lists in America Are Cut Ting old ties and casting about for new connections. Labor s present trouble come in two different forms workers and jobs dependent on consumer goods production the Auto workers textile workers and Carpen ters for instance fac mass unemployment. Wil learn Sidell of the carpenters says that in some parts o new England three quarters of his men Are jobless. In other industries Trade and services Ungern Pluymen is not the key problem. The number of jobless Stee workers Iron workers an pipe fitters is probably below the National average of 8.2 per cent. The communications workers who Are chiefly employed in the Bell system count Only Aboul two per cent unemployment but they Are stretched tight by High prices heavy Mort gages and rising taxes. The Union leaders have a wide variety of programs to meet these troubles. They want tax reductions cheaper credit More and better so Cial programs Ana various incentives to stimulate Busi Ness expansion. But they do not find political Leader Able or capable of sorting through and enacting their programs. The contempt Felt Here for president Ford is stagger ing. George Meany the chief Union Leader has been daily plastering the president his advisers his policies and e v in his statistics. John Lyons the highly educated Leader of the Iron workers claims that or. Ford just ignored the vast information Given to him at the eco nomic Summit meetings. A Leader from the maritime trades which once counted or. Ford As a Friend is so bitter Over a veto of a Bill presidential that would have required Oil to be Tran sported in american ships told me Ford shot us in the head. Not in front of the head either. The Back of the the attitude toward the Congress is less hostile. We ought to give them a Martin Ward of the plumbers says. But the Union leaders clearly Don t know what to make of the reorganization process which has so far dominated the Congress. They openly disparage the leadership of Mike Mansfield in the Senate and Carl Al Bert in the House of representatives. Ford has no one Leader told me and the Congress has 535 the bitterness traditionally Felt for the Republican party has been extended to the democrats in the Wake of the Mcgovern nomination in 1972, and the cuffing the unions took at the mini convention in Kansas City two months ago. Hence or. Meany s statement that he still agreed with the position he took in 1972 when we told both parties to go to even individuals once specially favored by labor now draw scorn. Or. Meany says openly and in convincing detail that sen. Henry Jack son the Washington demo crat once known As or. Labor deceived him on the Trade Bill. The new York labor leaders who helped Hugh Carey become Gover nor Are sticking together in a group plainly designed to prevent Nelson Rockefeller r o m taking that state s Abor in Tow As he did in the past. Cutting old ties however does not assure new Moor nos. Some ideas Are Perco rating in the labor move ment. There is talk of mass demonstrations in Wash Iii on on the Model of the civil rights and anti War protests Glenn Watts of the communications workers asserts lately that unless something Ike that is done workers vill go into the streets on heir own Bat. But innovations Are not exactly or. Meany s bag. On he contrary precisely be cause it is the most stable and disciplined institution in 4merican life labor is now having an especially hard Ime adjusting to a new Ivorid. For All the confident cutting of ties it looks More and More to me As though Abor does t know where it s going. Today s scriptures pure religion and undefiled before god and the father is this to visit the father less and widows in their affliction keep him self unspotted from the world. James birthdays mrs. Sanina Kowalchik Winnipeg born Ukraine feb. 27, 1886. Mrs. Marion Pringle Winnipeg born Scotland feb. 26, 1885. After 15 months of meditation what we already know basis of provincial Price Ottawa on the evidence of full Page news paper advertisements the government after about 15 months of All out meditation has now launched its pro Gram to mobilize support for Energy conservation. The advertisements Are headed Why canadians hould Start saving Energy n 1975. Presumably they hould Start in 1975 because he government s re searchers and or teams acre unable to think of any Hing helpful to say in 1974. It is not Clear As yet that be situation is any better of. At a time when the government claims to be exercising restraint what is the Point of spending Many thousands of taxpayer Dol Lars to Tell taxpayers what they already know roughly half the text is Given Over to three Mes prices at which it bought provincial surplus eggs on this indicative Price. Even with the Federal plan provincial egg Market ing boards were free to and did set prices for eggs pro Price would not occur. The committee recommendation is different from that proposed by the provincial j ministers of the diced and add within their ministers recommend an in sages with extracts in blackface for citizens pressed for the prime minister observes wisely that we should be Good Donald Macdonald tells us that people Are looking for guid Ance and John Turner adds that Energy conservation is a matter of conscience. These Are All lofty thoughts but scarcely novel. Every one within reach of television radio or newspapers has heard them Over and Over again since 1973. There Are two graphs. One shows that we use More Energy per capita than the by Maurice Western swedes and somewhat less than the americans. The other suggests that a Cut Back of 20 per cent by 1985 is a realistic goal. These May have an electrifying effect on people who live by government graphs. On others they should have All the Impact of a Feather settling on powdery Snow. Or. Macdonald May been tirely Correct in his View that people want guidance. The question is apart from Noble generalities what helpful expert advice Are we getting for the Advertis ing dollars spent on our be half Sample turn off the Tele vision set when your show is Over. Brilliant. What citizen uninstructed by his govern ment would Ever have experienced so dazzling a revela Tion it is possible although we Are not so advised that we could realize similar Sav Ings by shutting off the steam Iron when the Job is completed. The toaster of course looks after itself. Sample walk to the Sample take Public transport to work. We have been hearing that for years from our local transport authority. Sample keep your fur Nace clean. It is amazing what experts can come up with in a Mere 15 months of concentration. Sample insulate your Home. The eskimos have been doing that Ever since the Igloo was invented. Would it not be More helpful to provide homeowners with answers to practical questions for example How much of what kind of insula Tion at what Cost for the various available materials Sample weatherstrip doors and windows. It May have escaped the depart ment s attention but people Lave been weather stripping aver since the invention of Corner store. For that one Itne mail order presumably we arc indebted j National defence we Are to the High priced help Pps a told has saved million by i o u a dollars on Franscott not told about the other departments even about Energy mines and perhaps they arc still Brac ing themselves for the Effort. Oddly although the program is addressed to us there is no suggestion that we should follow the forces Down the Road of sacrifice. According to the penultimate paragraph the government Iii be releasing a series of helpful informative messages. If the first is representative it would be Wise to exercise restraint. There Are also to be information pamphlets spelling things out in easy detail. Helpful tips presumably on walking to the Corner store. Perhaps the Best is yet to come. The government would scarcely wish to scoop itself on the first full Page spread. If helpful guidance is what or. Macdonald has in mind the department can move in Only one up. The possibility cannot be excluded that the Campaign is intended ultimately to pro vide information. At this Point however supporting evidence is lacking. The alternative possibility is that the government is spending Sibly to an official in the to Range. Walkers should not be discouraged by thoughts of the bus Fleet required for Tran sporting ministers and maps from one Point to another on parliament Hill. Turning Down the Thermo a Tifental advertising not to stats to 68 degrees during add materially to our store the Day and 65 degrees at night. It is a Good thing that someone is saving Energy and perhaps getting some work done in More reason Able temperatures. We Are of practical knowledge but because it promised Many months ago to launch a Campaign and will be exposed to criticism if a Campaign fails to materialize ;