Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 6, 1976, 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 Gen. Mgr. Peter Mclintock Maurice Western editor Ottawa editor r. S. Malone free of Trade Liberty of religion Equality of civil tuesday january 6, 1976 pages paying the Piper for the past two years British Columbia Drivers have been paying Lui realistically Low car insurance premiums under the former nip government s automobile insurance program. Now with the nip out and social credit in motorists have been told that they will have to pay the Piper and an expensive proposition it will be. In its two years of operation the insurance Corpora Tina of British Columbia ran up a ?181 million deficit even with the Premium increases planned for 1976 by the nip tills year s operations would have gone million in the red. The nip proposed to subsidize the program by the injection of gasoline tax Revenue but Al subsidies have been rejected by the new government which is determined that i Csc pay its own Way. In consequence automobile insurance rates will Rise by an average of to per cent. The proposed increase naturally has caused an outcry throughout the province on the ground that the new rates will work hardship on Many people some b whom will find it impossible to raise the Cash required for the payment of premiums in february and May thus of their cars. So far All protests have fallen on deaf ears. Pat Mcgee minister respond justifying the new. Rates told to watchers bluntly that la people can t afford the higher rates they can t afford to operate a. Car. And should Sel it. New policy May in justified economically but it is unduly harsh and politically May be most unwise there were other options open to the government. I could have spaced out the increase Over three or four years thus lessening the blow this year. It could have abolished i cog and permitted private firms Back into the business. It was interesting to hear a social credit minister on television arguing the merits and advantages of a government insurance monopoly after his party had campaigned on precisely the opposite Point of View or it could have done As the nip proposed and used some gasoline tax Revenue to Cushion some of the blow. The Onn fell swoop policy has other disadvantages. For example Vancouver Island and Many Frontier areas of the province depend on trucks for almost everything they use of All goods will Rise if truckers have to pay much higher insurance rates. More people will be forced to Public transit but this too is heavily subsidized and people Are wondering if Public transit fares will be the next to Rise in Light of the government s anti subsidy stance. For those who abandon their cars in favor of. Taxis cab fares inevitably will Rise following the Large increase in cab insurance rates. In Short the move is inflationary and will most seriously affect those people who Are now most severely Hurt by rising costs. In the circumstances a More gradual approach to financial stability in i Csc would have been preferable and it that. The new government will yet be swayed Beith eff lord of protest and take a Les s rigid Are service by David t Ondon the top eche la Ion of the British civil service is attracting the same kind of unfavourable attention from taxpayers that Ottawa mandarins have been receiving. The Issue is similar and the most recent eruption has been caused by the annual new year honors list. Taxpayers who resent being required to bite the economic Bullet by a. Privileged elite that is highly paid enjoys the ultimate Job Security and can look Forward to a cosy old age with inflation proofed pensions Are e n r e d at the generous handout of glittering honors to the senior civil servants who helped to bring them 25-per cent inflation. As conservative my Nigel Lawson put it civil servants have become a privileged among the 744 honors there is a life peerage Lor sir Thomas b r i m e 1 o w former head of the diplomatic service and a Knight grand Cross of the order of the Bath for sir Arthur Carey permanent undersecretary at the defence department who already had a Knighthood. Five senior civil servants w h o already were companions of the Bath nov become knights comi Nwandei of the Bath. Nineteen new Compau on of the Bath have been created in the list. Eighteen of them Are senior civil servants. Selections for honors were made by committees expert in music theatre sport and other Fields and then funnelled up to a main committee whose Secretary is a civil servant. The handout of honors in the diplomatic service includes a notch up in prestige for two knights who became knights grand Cross of St. Michael and St. George. T ambassadors and one. Ambassador designate who Are companions of thai order now get Knighthood. Thirteen new companions of the same order Are created. Twelve Are diplomats. Normally All Public attention is on such awards As that of companion of Honor second highest possible to John Diefenbaker but this year there is intense interest in the virtually automatic Shower of favors Lor the tight Little group of men who earn bad odor Macdonald to seven times the average Industrial wage who advise their ministers that higher unemployment is an unpleasant necessity am whose departmental Empire building runs Public sector spending out of control am taxes Ever higher. Tub fes Anibas pfc to saw Moscow to Alma Ata in one hour and fifty five minutes Comrade can you imagine what this m eans to world general antagonism t civil servants has been noticeable for months much u it based on steeply Risin real estate taxes caused b. Proliferating Burnau Gracie in a reorganized local government Structure. This Structure touted a efficiency through bigness was dreamed up by the Dii rident soberly dressed me now lining up to get their co lored sashes gleaming decorations and taps on the shoulder from the Queen sword. I labor my Gwilyn Robert says he cannot understand Why. Civil servants and Diplo Mats should receive Honor from the prime minister to doing the jobs they Are we paid to he wants the Honor stopped and underlines on problem of the current sys Tern when he reports that am getting representation from managing director and industrialists complain i n g about top manager going la the civil service non productive a Middle ranking civil Sei vant in the diplomatic Sei vice says the tradition o honors Lor the ruling grou of the civil service Bega when salaries were poor an official limousines and Otic Perks were not available. In the Wake of a report alleging that the Diplomat service is one third Over staffed inflation harried payers ave putting on the pressure for some change i a system that heaps award on those already Well Insu lated from the effects c their sometimes disastrous policies. The three main flashpoints that could disturb the world s Tranquillity in this new year As always the Middle East Southeastern Europe wit ii both Italy and Yugoslavia presenting diplomatic and military planners with numerous imponderables and the iberian Peninsula with Shock Waves in Africa and mid Atlantic. During a nato meeting Brussels is an Deal Centre in which to meet diplomats and military experts and this year i added Paris because France Las been Active in promoting her own Mediterranean policy and i wondered whether the French have found answers to the questions Itiat Puzzle the rest of the Alliance. They have not. Two events have combined o make 1976 a particularly dangerous year it is the residential election year in he United states a Lime when foreign policy decisions re circumscribed by domes in considerations. It also is he year of the soviet party Congress which May drastically alter he course of soviet foreign policy. Will the soviet Union exploit the vacuum created y Washington s preoccupy Ion with Domestic affairs and launch a new Advent lire or will Moscow re Pond to United states prudence with prudence of its in the year will thus be Ull of Pitfalls and the Poten Ial crisis Points Are so numerous that it is impossible o foresee where a fire could tart. It was pleasant to be a Ca Adian in Brussels in de Ember vicariously basking n the glow of Goodwill directed at Canada by her nato allies. As Germany s defence minister Georg Eber pointed out Canada s decision to re equip her o r c e s was As important from a psychological Point f View As it was from a rely military endanger the Security of Canada. Thus far the portuguese Puzzle has not been solved but should the communists make a come Back in Lisbon it is anticipated that the americans would simply announce they were not leaving the azores base come what Jay. I expressed the Hope that in such an event the Canadian government would gracefully acquiesce in such an obvious precaution Don t count on said an Ottawa Man who should know. In Paris and in Brussels officials and politicians decried the inability of governments to rally the people and make them realize How endangered is our world. At Helsinki the soviet Union got allot Europe and the West got a nato officer quipped. Yet there is unease among Many in the West a disquiet manifests itself not Only in the growing disillusionment with detente but also in actual fear. In Paris my cab got into a traffic Jam caused by All the outsize 1 i in o u s i n e s leaving the North South t r a in e conference. Do you think there will be a the woman cab Driver suddenly asked me. I pointed out that the North South meeting had nothing to do with matters of peace and War and she replied she this it had just come to her mind. People Here Are she said. They have every reason to in the on the 1976 h by f. S. Canada was an exception and at the moment the supreme Allied commander Europe has no forces to match the soviet might Central front. The latest nato offer to be made to the soviet Union at the Mutual balanced Force reduction talks mfrs in Vienna is a measure o. Nato s desperation in its Effort to get some of the soviet tanks and Warsaw Pac divisions out of the heart of Europe. The offer is an obvious non starter since the Soviel Union would be going counter 10 her present policy were she to accept the Trade whereby nato withdrew from Europe about tactical nuclear missiles in re turn for a withdrawal of an equivalent number of soviet divisions. Everybody including the Kremlin is aware that tactical or advice could Only be to. Shut up. Our nuclear deterrent no longer deters. Our conventional forces Are vastly inferior to those of the soviet Union and the soviet forces Are still growing. Following the Precept of the defunct British Empire the soviet Union is now placing naval bases at strategic Points from which she can Rule the world s Waves. For instance about 500 ships sail every Day past snores of Angola one ship every 50 Miles. A base in Angola is a knife pointed at the West s economic jugular. On the other Side of Africa the soviet Union already Occi pics a base in Somalia. From there she rules the vital narrow passage Between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean the Cradle of Western civilization or in Churchill s famous words the West s soft Underbelly. If the soviet Union occupies Angola and with it the Oil Fields of Nigeria arid c a b i n d a another Energy crisis engineered by the soviet Arab bloc would be in tie words of an Allied naval officer a very different Canadian military men look closer to Home. A senior defence Man was less worried shout Angola than about the azores. Soviet bases in Angola would endanger Europe s Trade. Soviet bases on the azores 4 foggy Fri in fairness to. The staff of environment Canada that s the fancy new name for the old weather perhaps it is Only because they Are so often1, wrong that they seem determined to foist Tipon the unsuspecting Canadian Public a system of weather reporting which no one but a trained meteorologist can first it was celsius temperatures. They have been with us for so Many months yet become understandable Only when a kind hearted private radio station announcer does an automatic translation into the old fahrenheit scale. This practice of is banned on the Csc an organization that never forgets to Send its confused listeners and viewers and even those canadians who Don t listen or Don t View but Only pay their taxes its Bill for million a year. Then came the rain and Snow measurements in centimetres bringing everyone Back to their old mental arithmetic Days doing a Quick division by two and a half in order to translate the numbers into understandable inches wind velocities Are next in Kilometres per hour figures which literally defy ready translation into what can be understood. The latest will be the abandoning of the old equivalent windchill temperature in favor of a completely arbitrary scale running from 500 to it was really quite easy to understand risks of going outside without proper clothing when told that tie windchill Factor was the equivalent of so below. Someday hopefully everyone will understand that it will be equally cold when the windchill Factor is or whatever figure is required. The suspicion does persist that the changes Are being introduced to Coyer up the Weatherman s mistakes. In the. Past there could be no doubt about the difference Between a Balmy 30-above Spring Day and one on which the temperature dropped to below Zero. Now without Quick thinking the listener will never be quite sure what the forecaster was predicting. Most people facing three feet of Snow on their driveway after the Weatherman had promised two inches knew someone had erred under the new system switching Back and Forth Millimetres centimetres and metres most people will tend to blame their own misunderstanding for the w e a. T h e r office blunders. The Only thing left unchanged is whether the Day will be sunny or Cloudy. But environment Canada will surely come up with a solution to this. Perhaps it will be another sliding scale to indicate Sunshine like the new windchill Chart. If this happens tie weather forecasts will be so confusing that the Weatherman will never again be blamed for making a be used in a first skirmish. But tanks would and tanks represent a far More eloquent continuation of so. Viet foreign policy by other Means than do the which anyhow Are obsolete. Thus tie purpose of nato to assure stability find Security is being lost. At present we have neither stability nor Security and Vato military planners Are living in a Nightmare As they envisage a contingency against which there is no defence other than nuclear defence. Scenario vividly described by a senior officer would be for the soviet Union backed by her. Over the lining conventional might to announce a definite move. It could be in Yugoslavia or in Italy it could be in the Middle East or even in Germany or nor Vay. Nato would then proclaim loudly that the soviet Union would not be allowed o proceed with the move. To which the soviet Union parading her might would retort so what Are you going to do about in the present circumstances scripture so i returned and considered All the oppressions Tomt arc done under the Sun and behold the tears of such As were oppressed and they had no comforter and on the Side of their oppressors there was Power but they had no comforter. Ecclesiastes 4 1. Hie first Days of a new year As reckoned by the Calendar but not by More reliable authorities tie oldest Gardener of the mild Pacific coast by his own dubious reckoning went about his business As usual. So did his Garden Man and Earth both practising As they had always done the suddenly fashionable doctrine of restraint conservation and strict Economy preached by statesmen who Practised the opposite. Man and Earth having practical work to do in preparation for another year perhaps their last together were both indifferent to the annual flood congratulations predictions economic analyses solemn warnings and political promises that filled the newspapers and a air Waves. Even tile a fizz of traffic on the superhighway behind the Hill did not disturb the Gardener because he knew that the furious passengers were going nowhere ignorant of heir common destination. But As he removed one by one the tall bean poles that yet stood like naked sen inels of last year s crop the stubborn rear guard of the grand Retreat he paused to reflect on a certain irony. North America he had read was recovering its Prosperity by building More automobiles employing More people to build them and Asing its economic future on More consumption of Oil already running Short in the depleted arteries of a tiny Osmic speck. Restraint that was the magic word of the year 1976, but when and where would restraint begin certainly not in government in the crowded department stores of the recent Christmas in he mass Winter sleep for in that secret world unknown to any newspaper the world that alone counted. The Only Way to endure the Public world the Gar Dener had Long realized was to preserve the other one i that were still possible in the modern society of the televised ant Hill. Perhaps i was just possible if you had the right sort of neighbor on a farm across the country Lane. Happily his neighbor was of that sort As proved by tile unfailing Christmas gift a Trucl Doad purest Nutriment from the barn Yard More valuable and less obtainable nowadays than Gold frankincense or Myna an exciting local news Story which the Gardener always suppressed to avoid cavy and Midnight theft when the poles had been stored for the next bean crop the withered cabbages and Corn stalks Thrif tily added to the compost pile the old Man would spread the precious gift on the Earth enriching it As he had done for half a Century but or what purpose he was t sure about that since his tenure must be Brief most of his crop wasted As always. But it seemed the right thing to do. It was after All his own pathetic ittle exercise of restraint and conservation. Anyhow in ventured to think that if ils government did As much n great affairs instead of warning preaching and pre listing the new year might turn out belter than he anticipated or deserved. So the january Sun Des ended to Darken his minute speck of a somewhat larger speck. With Luck and Moth-5 nature still on the Job he would see it Rise a fraction arlier tomorrow. Same old year by Bruce Canada to Southern lands Asil the next ice age were about to descend As Well it might be. So far As he could see from his infinitesimal speck on the speck Only the Earth and its humbler inhabitants were practising restraint. Under its Frozen crust it Laboured mightily in the bacterium s work Day of 24 hours the Blind growth o tree roots the first Brave Green thrust of daffodils already pointed unerringly toward the weak january Sun. There he thought with a Gardener s prejudice was the Only visible restraint on the map of Canada today even though the universe entire was nothing but a system of balanced restraints and the present human condition nothing but a vain attempt to defy them with interest no results. Mother nature he added discreetly to himself understood these matters so Well that she need not go on National television to explain her policy apologize for her mistakes or ask the people to be More sane and Thrifty than their governors. She did not insult the Public intelligence by shouting the obvious and pretending that it was a Brilliant revelation of eternal truth. Wise and is ent Mother foolish noisy children. Thus turned the year with the turning Earth. Or at East the Gardener assumed that the Earth had turned not on the artificial Calendar Date but on the reliable a turn at the december solstice. Of this turning no evidence yet in the Short january Day and the Tiggard Sun just above the Southern horizon. But if the Earth had not turned on schedule if Mother nature had been absent minded or asleep for even half Art hour that would have been the greatest news Story of All Lime and the final Story in Canada. For the True North while doubtless Strong and free was vulnerable positioned on the planet s cold upper flank the front line future climatic Shock. Considering such pros peels the Gardener wondered what had been the really important news stories of the last year. Surely not what the news de i t o r s supposed not the events of the headlines and broadcasts not the political convulsions and economic Luna cies. No for human beings of flush and blood As distinguished from Mere voters statistics and Public opinion surveys the important news stories were of simple Joys and Griefs All unrecorded in print of birth marriage and death of Hope and solitary Heartbreak. And it would be the same again in the new year contradicting for the Ordinary Man and woman ail the Public news of the Day mocking All the prophets making nonsense of All statutes regulations and a governmental policies. In Short the journalists ind historians had recorded he thin surface of things in the old year and would repeat their sincere and comic exercise in the new like a movie. Both years All years when impartially examined were very the Canadian Union of postal workers which gave canadians the longest postal strike in the nation s history s now acting the role of an exasperated Parent in at Empting to Deal with its i embers who crossed. Picket nes during the strike. The Union May have some difficulty carrying out its isei plenary measures. The n i o n wants those worked during the strike to give up the wages they earned most were paid an hour in order to regain Union membership. In addition the Union is considering fining those who worked but it has not decided whether the Fine will be ?100 or 5200. The icing on this particular piece of cake is the desire of the Union officials to re involve those who crossed picket lines with the Union and its work. The Union should not be surprised if some of those who decided to ignore Union orders and Union officials during the strike now decide to continue to ignore both. The Union should not be surprised if it finds a Lack of volunteers willing to borrow the Money they earned and spent during the strike so that they can turn it Over to the Union. The Union should not be surprised if it has a hard time collecting any Ines it levies. It is All part of the Price the Union will have to pay for taking its membership out on strike depriving them of pay and depriving the Canadian Public of service Only to Settle for the same Money and working conditions offered before the strike a somewhat disappointing final accounting from Saunders aircraft discloses that things were a bit worse than everyone had been led to expect. As the company was being wound Down in the past few months most indications put the inventory on hand at two unsold air planes. It now turns out that there Are five and the difference at the going rate amounts to million. To the two unsold machines everyone knew about had to be added the two designated to be used by the Prairie regional airline sky West which was grounded in it verbal Battle Between Manitoba Industry minister Len Evans and not two transport minister Otto Lang. Once or. Evans had decided that if the Manitoba government was not going to receive a licence to operate the airline then no one should the two machines at each reverted to Saunders inventory. Actually they had not been paid for anyway but the Cheque for million was expected and had been expected on an almost daily basis from Ottawa since Early last Spring. Then Saunders had to reclaim an aircraft it had announced earlier As being sold to a company in Alberta. It turns out that the Sale More closely resembled a lease and that company had been making payments during the Short time it had been using the machine when its work dried up the machine was turned Back to Manitoba. These three aircraft together with the two of the 12 manufactured which were never sold or leased now constitute a sizeable Fleet for a non existent company. Two questions arise will the extra million in inventory be an addition to the More than to million Manitoba taxpayers poured into Saunders or has it already been counted in the total and will it really be necessary to maintain As the government has said it will a Lull service department to look after the seven aircraft which were ;