Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - May 9, 1978, Winnipeg, Manitoba Barbara Cansino trivia Gate remember the column last week about the Csc trivia show Winnipeg finals the show was taped before a packed studio audience Between april 23 and 28 and scheduled to be televised As a National series in the fall. The winners won As a team and stood to win in the five team National finals to take place later this month in Vancouver. The names of the winners Jim Millican Ken Smutylo and Phillip Han sen of the Short snappers team which beat out the juggernauts not printed to avoid spoiling the suspense of the show in the fall. As it turns out Csc had More than one reason for wanting the names of the winners kept quiet. The team has been disqualified from competing further and had been on monday and tuesday last week when a frantic Csc prevailed upon me not to publish the names. The team has been disqualified because there is a Rule which apparently suddenly surfaced out of Van Couver that competitors cannot have relatives who Are employed at Csc. Jim Millican s wife Susan Millican is employed As a producer with 24 hours. And Phillip Hansen s brother is employed in the sales department. However the jobs of Millican s wife and Hansen s brother were known to the producers and everyone else involved with the show. No secret. They were known to the Csc when Millican and Hanson auditioned for the show. They were known when the Short snappers were chosen As a competing team. They were known As the snappers won first then and to add up to the winnings potential National to Star status. Before they auditioned and competed the Short snappers were Given no forms to sign nor told of any rules which might disqualify them from the show. The finals were held Friday april 28. On monday May 1 the winners received a letter from Bill Terry Csc to program director informing them they were disqualified from going to Vancouver to compete in the nationals. The Are still acknowledged As the Winnipeg winners but the second place Jugger nauts will compete in Vancouver. The Short snappers also get to keep the they won in the Winnipeg Competition. The obvious question that emerges from this unfortunate sequence seems to Centre on bungling. If this Rule existed Why was t the show s Winnipeg producer Colin Bennett informed of it Why did t Bill Terry know about it Why did t anyone else seem to know about it or if they did Why did they allow them to compete the winners when phoned would say Only that they had that they arc very disappointed and that they wish the juggernauts the Best of Luck in Vancouver. Hansen said we were in violation of rules established in Vancouver. We were deemed ineligible and were correspondingly asked to withdraw. We participated in Good Faith. The qualifications Wen such that in Vancouver no relative of anybody that worked at Csc could compete in the finals. We have withdrawn and have conceded to the juggernauts. Yes we get tile Money. We Are considered the legitimate victors. I have nothing else to Tell you i m Millican that s a fact. We have been disqualified because in the finals the rules disallow anyone with family connections to Smutylo yes we be been disqualified. The rules came out of Well Hanson Millican and Smutylo said what they had agreed to say. And Well they might. Smutylo is a Csc contract employee a Host for hymn sing. And Millican is a Csc contract employee Host of 90 minutes with a Bullet. But it s not that simple. Csc has always been known As the leak est place in the country there s More to say and it s being said All Over the country. First of Ali the winners were disqualified from going to Van Couver by Bill Terry. A waiver allowing them to continue was out of the question. However they were told to say they had voluntarily withdrawn after finding out about the rules. They were also told not to talk to the press about what really happened. Csc wanted to get the Short snappers off its hands without Adverse publicity and a washout for the trivia show. So they offered the Short snappers a contract they could t refuse. On top of the they had won the three received a sum which More than makes it worthwhile not to compete in Vancouver. They have signed a Legal document which ensures a financial settlement and which prohibits them from disclosing the Csc s Deal. Hush Money just one or two queries when did those who Are running the show really find out about the Vancouver rules did they already know when the show was being taped but let the team play along thinking it would t win at the finals because the team members have a High Public profile and were Good performers also when the last show was taped there was a Little confusion. At first the Short snappers won beating the juggernauts 275 to 265. The judges left Only to reap Pear some time later to say there had been a mistake. Very Complex but the Short snappers had i validly won 10 of their Points which made the game a tie. The score became 265 to 265. Exciting. Lots of sus Pense. The tie breaking question who swore in Cal Vin Coolidge As answered very very quickly Damn it All by of All people Phillip Hansen of the Short snappers. Too bad. With its obsession with secrecy and suspense the Csc now has it on everyone. When the Winnipeg trivia finals Are taped As part of the National series in the fall can you imagine the suspense As we wait to see what happened to the Short snappers at the tie breaking end Beer and skits i was going to review Beer and skits in this column today. However it was t really that exciting. The Only thing i discovered was that they re All very near sighted. Say goodnight Stew. Winnipeg free press tuesday May 9, 1978 City news tourism Blitz slated mayor Robert Steen of Winnipeg and tourism min ister Bob Banman of Manitoba will be the Star attractions in a week of activities in de signed to attract tourists to Winnipeg. The program called Minneapolis awareness Blitz was organized by the Winnipeg convention and tourist Bureau and will be held May 10 to 16. Officials say the trip will emphasize the devalued Canadian Dollar and other attractions in an Effort to lure additional visitors to the City this year. The mayor and minister will join mayor Albert Hof stede of Minneapolis in a ribbon cutting ceremony thurs Day to initiate the Campaign. 2nd class mail registration number 0286 services will be streamlined but no layoffs St. B Hospital to boost open heart surgery by Manfred Jager St. Boniface Hospital announced monday it will increase open heart surgery operations to 300 a year from 260 without requiring additional Money from the government. Hospital president l. A. Quaglia also announced at a press conference attended by health minister l. R. Bud Sher Man of Manitoba that the 700-bed Hospital is streamlining and reorganizing services to keep expenditures within the 2.9 per cent budget increase allocated to Manitoba hospitals this year. Quaglia said the savings will be effected without re sorting to layoffs but staff reductions through attrition will be necessary. We Are told there is a financial crisis and we accept the government s word that the situation Calls for restraint this Quaglia said organizational changes affecting staff As Well As scheduling to increase weekly activity in the second of two operating theatres the Hospital uses for open heart surgery will take several months to Complete. No target Date for the changes had been set but adjustments would be carried out by september. Or. Morley Cohen head of the Hospital s heart surgery team said his five surgeons and their support staff will be Able to reduce waiting periods for open heart surgery to Between four and six weeks from the four months the team had complained about earlier this year. Physicians at the time claimed in a letter to the Manitoba health services commission that patients had actually died while waiting for surgery because the heart team could not attend to them quicker after establishing their Nead to have an operation. Cohen said monday the link Between deaths and waiting periods for open heart surgery never has been established scientifically. It s possible that people might have died because we could not operate on them but there is no actual proof for he said. Explaining the work which has been carried out by Hospital administrators and Board members to make their financial decisions Quaglia said l. A. Quaglia no layoffs l. R. Bud Sherman pleased this will be achieved through the co operation of the Hospital s medical staff department Heads and Hospi Tal employees in a Way which will have the least negative Impact on our ability to provide services to the citizens of the he said about will be reallocated from the Hospi Tal s 1978 budget to Supply the heart team with additional operating room time staff and Post surgical Beds to facilitate the recovery of patients from their open heart operations. Sherman said he was pleased the Hospital had found ways of readjusting its budget to accommodate the open heart surgery expansion. The question of How to achieve it had Given Rise to doubt earlier because the government first declared its agreement with the need for More open heart cases at St. Boniface Only to declare a few weeks later that the approved program expansion would have to be paid for from Money allocated under the Lyon administration s 2.9 per cent Rule. We certainly appreciate the initiatives and positive efforts which have been made in this instance by the administrator the Board and the medical staff of the hos Sherman said. We believe that the essential Quality of patient care in our health care faculty system in Manitoba can be maintained within the kinds of budget limitations that Manitoban have to live under at the present time As responsible citizens. We Are heartened and encouraged by the approach St. Boniface Hospital has taken to the budget Challenge. I congratulate the Hospital on its Effort i thank them for it on behalf of the government. The government is very appreciative of this kind of response to our Chal Lenge and looks Forward to working hand in Glove with the St. Boniface Hospital team in the questioned in More detail Cohen said patients undergo ing open heart surgery at the Hospital Range in age from one and two years into their eighties. The Over All mortality rate during and after surgery stands at seven to eight per cent being about four per cent for those in the prime of life and closer to eight per cent in old people who Are operated on if they have no serious chronic conditions other than what necessitates the surgery and therefore look Forward to another eight or 10 years of life expectancy if surgery succeeds. Quaglia denied that earlier demands from the Hospital for additional funds to finance expanded open heart sur letter alleging patients May have died while waiting for surgery had been leaked to reporters last month been a false alarm now that ways have been found to accommodate More activity in the Hospi Tal s budget. It was definitely not a false alarm. As a matter of fact this May turn out to be Only an interim solution. Now there s a committee being set up to determine what happens in the Quaglia described the services commission committee As a tertiary care committee and said it would also look into other sophisticated and expensive health care delivery subjects. W s photo by Gerry Cairns while Manitoba workers entered the second week of a strike against Portage Avenue and Good Street across from the bus terminal construction demolition continued at the old Perth building at construction Crews Are digging the basement for a new building. Carpenter talks in conciliation insulators join construction strike by Scott Edmonds talks Between carpenters and con tractors went into conciliation Mon Day and another Union joined the ranks of striking workers As Mani Toba s construction strike started its second week. George Akins a negotiator for unionized contractors said the 80 member insulators Union joined four other unions about electricians Sheet Metal workers refrigeration workers plumbers and Steamfitters in declaring itself officially on strike. Akins said the insulator talks Are to resume wednesday at the Call of a government conciliation officer. There has been no move towards resuming negotiations with the other striking unions which Are also into conciliation. Akins said before talks broke off the insulators had issued an Ultima Tum o which the contractors could t agree. The membership told its negotiators to demand a one year contract and a 70-cent-an-hour increase. Akins complained that in effect the membership removed their representatives Power to negotiate. We re ready willing and Able to negotiate As soon As the membership sends us someone with the Power to Akins said. Peter Bazan business agent for the International association of heat and Frost insulators and Asbestos workers local 99, said it would Likely be couple of Days before pick ets were organized. Bazan said like other striking unions the insulators were unable to live with some contract language the contractors were trying to impose. Meanwhile talks with the working member carpenters local Union 343 broke off monday after about an hour and a government conciliation officer has been asked to step in. Akins said talks Over clause Lan Guage had bogged Down so much it was impossible to Force proceeding on to More important issues. We have a Long Way to go with the he said. Among other things the Carpen ters adamantly oppose any reduction in the use of the Union hiring Hail. The negotiating break Downs appear Likely to prolong the strike. After promising settlements late last week it appeared some contractors predictions of a Short strike had a Good Chance of being True. They said the non striking unions settling would pave the Way to a settlement with some striking unions. Tentative settlements were reached last week with six other unions and one the bricklayers and masons Union has already ratified the Multi trades agreement. Four other unions must now hold ratification meetings. The International Union of operating engineers local 901, is to vote on the tentative agreement at membership meeting wednesday. One other agreement with the roofers was reached before the Par tial strike started and it has already been ratified although terms have not yet been released. Talks arc still continuing with other non striking trades including the carpet layers millwrights and ironworkers. Non striking Union workers have been refusing to Cross Union picket lines causing major construction projects in Winnipeg to shut Down More than a week. Negotiators for unions which have settled have admitted that a record Industry unemployment rate of nearly 50 per cent in Manitoba has been a significant Factor in talks. It in t known what wage Settle ments have already been agreed to but when the strike started workers were generally asking for six per cent a year while contractors were offering about three per cent. Conditions have reached a Point in the construction Industry where a Good Case can be made for Manitoba tradesmen to accept a smaller pay increase in the interests of their Industry and their own Job Akins said in a statement monday. Basing his statement on a study of the construction Industry and the Canadian Economy Akins said construction workers s real purchasing Power has increased in the last few years More than keep ing Pace with increases in the Cost of living. Further increases in Industry costs must be held in Check to Stop any decrease in the competitiveness Manitoba builders he said. Two win land split by John Sullivan the Ink is hardly dry on a controversial slow growth development plan for South St. Vital but two area Home owners have already won a suspension of the rules. Winnipeg s civic Environ ment committee monday Al Lowed the two owners Noel d. Brown of 65 Olafson ave nue and Charles Bishop of 50 Brentwood Avenue to Divide their land into two one acre parcels each. The St. Boniface St. Vital Community committee had rejected the Brown application on a tie vote but had approved the Bishop request unanimously. The properties Are located in an area bounded by Olaf son the perimeter Highway the red River and St. Anne s Hoad which is now zoned for no less than five acre residential lots. The new District plan passed by City Council april 19, attempted to strike a Compromise Between Large pro development land owners and smaller slow growth proponents by Rede fining the area for two acre lots. Despite environment com Mittee s apparent turn around chairman Jim Ernst Independent citizens elec Tion Mill warned that the two variation appeals were Spe Cial cases and should not be considered precedents for wholesale revision of the District plan. The two homeowners were originally granted the right to subdivide in 1976, but opponents had the decision thrown out of court on a technicality last year. In the interim Brown had already sold a one acre site and the purchaser has built a House on the property. The owners reapplied for the zoning variance and environment committee backed their plea that the zoning bylaw injured them unnecessarily. Committee decided the variance was the minimum necessary to re Lieve the grievance and ruled it would not defeat the intent of the town plan or harm nearby residents. A third property owner also set adrift by the court ruling was to plead his Case before the Community com Mittee monday night ;