Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - September 27, 1978, Winnipeg, Manitoba Alice Krueger cuts hit Crown agencies much has been said in the past year about civil service layoffs As a result of the Lyon administration s restraint program. Most of the publicity has Cen tired on staff cuts in the line departments of government with very Little being said about what has happened in the various Crown corporations. Yet staff reductions have taken place at most of the Crown Agen cies the most significant being at Manitoba Hydro. A total of 422 Manitoba Hydro employees have lost their jobs in the past year with about 300 More to go this fall. The reduction was achieved not through attrition but by straight layoffs a Hydro spokesman said this week. Some of those who lost their jobs had been with Hydro for eight or 10 years. A year ago the Public Utility had a total staff of As of the end of August there were most of the layoffs 277 of them occurred in the generation projects department while the remaining 1-15 were scattered throughout other departments of the Utility. Further layoffs Are coming this fall As the Limestone construction project in Northern Manitoba shuts Down. Among those expected to get axed Are about 184 contracted employees plus about 100 Manitoba Hydro employees the spokesman said. The staff cutbacks Are significant for an organization that has seen steady growth since its inception. However that growth has been levelling off in recent years to a Point where the Load growth last year was up Only 1.4 per cent. Historically the annual growth in demand for electricity in Manitoba has been about seven to eight per cent. Manitoba health services com Mission reports it has 50 fewer employees now than a year ago. Mainly through Normal attrition. Most of the reductions were in the insurance division where claims Are processed and in the planning and construction division. Manitoba Telephone system on the other hand has Laid off Only five Telephone operators in the past year. And then they were offered other jobs with its although All refused. Staff reductions at Manitoba Public insurance corporation Over the past year also have been Incon sequential. Whenever people think of the ultimate in cuisine More often than not it is France that comes to mind first. Or some other european coun try. Perhaps they la recall a memo Rable meal in new York or san Fransisco. The last place in the world they la think of is right Here at Home in Canada. But the fact is Canadian chefs Are gaining More and More respect among their Peers outside the country and Are bringing Home numerous awards from International culinary events. A candian distillery has decided it s time the chefs of this country were Given due recognition and the Public be made aware that Canada has its own wealth of culinary Tal ent. The result is a Talent search among Canadian chefs this fall sponsored by s distillery. The Competition will culminate with the judging of 20 regional finalists and the selection of a National Champion in Montreal nov. 15. The Competition is open to All professional chefs sous chefs apprentice chefs and students in training at recognized Canadian colleges. Participating chefs will be required to submit an original recipe of their own creation. It can be either hours d oeuvres meat fish seafood poultry game or dessert. Now comes the catch. The recipe must contain one or More of six specified liquors. They Are Wiser s deluxe Canadian whiskey Irish Mist liqueur courvoisier Cognac. Lamb s rum Charles Heid Sieck Champagne and Tia Maria liqueur. Deadline for submissions is oct. 17. One Winner will be named in each food category in each Region. These competitors will then be invited to the finals in Montreal where they will prepare their Reci Pes before a panel of 11 judges including some of the top chefs in Canada and the . And just so the eating Public knows where to go to Sample food prepared by one of these top chefs a trophy will be displayed during the year at restaurants or hotels which employ the five National category winners. No doubt the people at Wiser s have another motive in sponsoring the deluxe culinary classic Al though they Don t say so and that is to get More people to use More of their product by including it in food preparation. Recipes concocted by the participating chefs will eventually be published in one form or another and will be made available to the Public. As you can see from the list of qualifying liquors whipping up some of these gastronomic delights in your own Kitchen will mean dig Ging into the liquor Cabinet for something More than just a shot of cheap Canadian sauternes. With courvoisier sop running at a bottle this is going to take some talking to persuade my husband he should dispense even a drop of the precious stuff into my Saucepan. At that Price it does l leave much room for error. The Irish Mist people already have a Small recipe Booklet out and there s hardly a dish that does t require at least a half cup or cup of the liqueur. Regardless the Competition should provide Canadian chefs with an Opportunity to show their stuff and prove to the Public that they can keep up with the Best of them. An official of Irish Mist liqueur co. Ltd. Of Bullamore Ireland was in Winnipeg last week to promote the Competition and he says Cana Dian chefs have gained recognition elsewhere. It s just Here at Home where the appreciation is lacking. In terms of Quality preparation and presentation they Are As Gooc As William g. Jaffray the company s general manager said. Report on corridors angers councillors a report by the City administration that says pedestrian Corri Dors Don t require changes was sent Back by angry councillors tuesday Tor More information. The streets and transportation division report recommended that no changes be made in the corridor s appearance. The results of a recently conducted Experiment showed that mounting yellow plates on to the support arms of the corridors and continuous Flash ing Amber lights adjacent to each overhead corridor sign had Little effect on Winnipeg s motoring Public the report said. It said failure of motorists to observe the no passing Law has in creased since the corridors were first introduced in 1967. Craig Somerville works and operations general manager told Council lors the Experiment showed Public education and not a redesign of the corridors was required. Councillors however remained in credulous. Coun. Phil Rizzuto scone said the response councillors have had from residents would Indi Cate that flashing lights might add to pedestrian safety. Lights have proved to be successful in other cities Rizzuto said. Installing lights at All of the City s 105 corridors would Cost about 000 yellow marking plates an additional Somerville said. Coun. Eldon Ross Lodge retorted we have just spent for this report. If we had spent twice As much the whole works would have been coun. Alf Skowron Wood agreed he was absolutely Dis appointed with the meanwhile coun. Gary Filmon ice Crescent Heights said if lights were flashing All the time Drivers would become just As complacent As they seem to be now. One answer would be to install flashing lights that pedestrians would have to activate by pressing a but ton Fil non said. Winnipeg free press wednesday september 27, 1978 City news 2nd class mail registration number 0286 Mirnoff it leaves you Snow removal scheme gets committee approval a new scheme of Snow removal that should improve the Overall efficiency of Snow blowing operations in the City got the approval of City works and operations committee tuesday. The proposal by the City s administration recommends the City contract its Snow Clearing work to private companies. In past years equipment Only has been hired from the private sector to be used by the City s own work Force. A report on the proposed scheme states that the contracting approach unlike present methods would in sure there was sufficient equipment available to take care of the first snowfall each Winter. Craig Somerville general manager of works and operations said there would be no reductions in City staff. Ultimately the City May not have to Purchase As much new Snow Clear ing equipment says the report. In the Long run with savings realized in staff and equipment costs City Snow removal costs would be reduced. Somerville said however that costs in the first year under the new this pumpkin would stagger peanuts gang by Hope Kamin if Charles Schulz s peanuts gang wants to end its search for the great pumpkin Charlie Brown and Linus should hang out in Edgar Van Wyck s Patch in Roland this halloween. His greatest pumpkin this year did t break last year s personal Best of 423 pounds but it s still a heavyweight at 390 pounds. Van Wyck s unusual Hobby will take him to the Atlantic Winter fair in Windsor n.s., oct. 5 where he will pit his overgrown fruit against that of world record Holder Robert Ford of Coatsville pa., whose entry weighed 451 pounds. Van Wyck a retired Grain and livestock Farmer has come a Long Way in the 10 years he s been trying to Squash pumpkin records. In i saw in the paper that a Chap from Ohio had grown one 301 pounds. I asked him to Send me some seeds. That first year i Row one 210 pounds and i was pretty proud of by 1971. Van Wyck held the world record of 353 pounds. Stalking through the crop last week the smallest of the 50 pumpkins Van Wyck and his wife Jean could find weighed 10-1 pounds. People come from coast to coast to see his crop Aiso the Pride of four generations of the Van Wyck family which includes grandchildren and two great grandchildren. As for his obsession with the Pulpy produce Van Wyck said i just get a kick out of watching things and grow and grow and grow photo by Jim hang arts retired Farmer Edgar Van Wyck is no lightweight when it comes to growing pumpkins. New City budget bid Given committee of contracting scheme will Likely he higher As contractors would be unfamiliar with the areas. We have been in the past for slow Snow removal. This should improve the manager added. Somerville assured committee councillors that the Quality of Snow removal will be retained by incorporating a system of fines in the contract. Contractors will be paid according to the amount of snowfall rather than at an hourly rate added Somer Ville. In the past three years the heavy construction association which represents most major con tractors demanded greater hourly rates than the City was prepared to offer. For this coming season Only regional streets in districts -2 to i will be cleared by private contractors. Sanding salting sidewalk plow ing loading and hauling will still be the responsibility of the City staff. District the inner City area will still to handled by City staff supplemented by private equipment. The City is expected to Call for tenders immediately. By in cyborg Boyens the City s works and operations committee gave the City administration the go ahead tuesday to prepare a 1979 operations budget that could result in equitable services across the City. The proposal of the City works and operations department to draw up its budget along City rather than District lines should allow an equal level of services for All residents said both councillors and administrators at tuesday s committee meeting. Rod Mckae of the works and operations department told the committee it would create an imbalance in the level of services provided if it stuck to the division oriented budgeting used in previous years. But by look ing at How Money is spent on a total City the committee could see to it that All residents got equal services. Mckae said if Money were to be Cut in accordance with Council s recent decision to spend no More than it did in 1978, the cuts could come from ser vice areas such As Street clean ing rather than from District allocations. The administration would see to it that each of the City s six divisions would take the same Cut in servicing. Coun. Gary Filmon ice cres cent chairman of the com Mittee said this is the closest thing to fair we have seen in this cuts would be made along administrative rather than political lines said Filmon. However coun. Alf Skowron nip Elmwood said while he agreed the responsibility of establishing the Overall budget should lie with Council the Community committees should have the right to allo Cate funds under their individually approved budgets. Coun. Filmon said this could result in four Day garbage removal in one District and five Day in others. Filmon admitted however that services could be More easily Cut Hack in some areas than others. For instance residents of Charles Wood would Likely be More willing to see Asphalt Street cleaning funds reduced rather than a reduction in gravel Street oiling because the area s streets Are predominately gravel surfaced. Coun. John Angus ice varsity said he thought coun. Skowron was visualizing an effective two tier political system. He advocated the committee implement the proposed budgetary sys tem for at least this year before going on to other measures. The proposal by the works and operations department came in response to a Council order that All departments carefully their budgets. Among other topics discussed at the two Day Marathon meeting 9 because the administration had not yet been Able to prepare a report the committee called a special meet ing for Friday at . To discuss a possible re tendering of the Deacon Booster pumping station project. Committee members critic cd City police for poor enforcement of traffic regulations particularly in outlying areas of the City. For Marjorie her failure to quit smoking cigarettes is a bitter Pill to Swallow Marjorie can t kick habit. By Steve Pona Marjorie Coston s attempt to quit smoking wound up a tasty but at the same time bitter experience. And like most smokers trying to kick the habit she s Learned there s no easy Way. The old substitute something for the cigarette trick is one Way willpower another. Coston 29, has been trying to quit smoking for the last four months. In june she mailed off Sio to a Montreal mail order House for what was advertised in the newspapers As a remarkable new anti tobacco proven in France to cure even the longest term tobacco smokers unconditionally Guaran teed. It did t cure her. But tuesday after three letters and a Telephone Call from the free press a spokesman for the company a subsidiary of Canadian con Sumers company promised her a full refund by wednesday at the la test. They tasted kind of like Licorie and a Bunch of spices not particularly Coston said in an inter View. They helped a Little i Cut Down that s All i can where she used to smoke 10 to 12 cigarettes a Day which she s done for the last 15 years i went Down to about seven that s the lowest i she said. The tablets 240 of them in the first package 120 in the second contain various Flavouring agents such As Licorie Clove and men a spokesman for the better business Bureau said. The spokesman for the mail order House said the tablets called Nico Ortyl also contain coriander and Are coated with Are Selling Well although not in Winni Peg he said. Coston said she decided to quit smoking albeit reluctantly when her in month old daughter contracted a Throat infection which she suspected her smoking May have caused. I Haven t really tried anything else. I m going to just give it up myself one of these Days probably the next time she gets Caslon said. Margaret Thomson chairman of the Manitoba inter Agency Council on smoking and health said the tablets utilize a Well known scientific principle which has helped people quit smoking when you crave a cigarette you have something else instead. Most people by the time they be finished sucking on the Pill lose their craving you would t want one after finishing the Thom son said. I be been advising people to think carefully before spending that much Money on tablets. The same principle could he used with other things Candy most smokers try different things before finally succeeding in quit ing. I think pills would be As effective As any of the other but they re far More expensive she said ;