Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - February 12, 1979, Winnipeg, Manitoba 6 Winnipeg free press monday february 12, 1979 Winnipeg free press Freedom of Trade Equality of civil rights Liberty of religion a poor purchasing Start Toi Kotre food costs Cage Neil a teams one of the conclusions of the Pepin Robarts task which Drew widely favourable comment had to do with government purchasing policies. The commissioners urged that these should be based on Market costs but added cautiously unless specified social and economic objectives would otherwise be most rules Are subject to exceptions. To cite an obvious example a department would be quite justified in looking beyond the Price quotation if it had reason to be Lieve that a product was hazardous or of inferior Quality. But it seems Clear from the text that the commissioners were trying to limit exceptions. We think preferential provincial purchasing poli cies should be permitted Only in those cases where the province requires them to alleviate acute economic hard ship. We further suggest that the justification for such practices and the time they Are expected to last should be specified and should be agreed to by other prov the problem in the past has been that various prov inces have granted preferences As a matter of course. Such policies undermine the Canadian common Market and1 mean in practice that taxpayers get less than their Money s Worth. What is now important is that exceptions should not so flourish that the Rule disappears in the undergrowth. It is obviously impossible to consider the Broad ques Tion of government purchasing policy while ignoring the Federal government which is the largest purchaser. Not surprisingly the Pepin Robarts recommendation has drawn immediate notice in parliament. It is rather de pressing however that the first question from Eymard Cordin of new Brunswick and the answer from Pierre de Bane minister of Supply and services both concentrated heavily on permissible exceptions. To quote or. De Bane it goes without that our duty is to use this purchasing Power to react venous goals which include strengthening Canadian industries and As the Hon. Member has stated helping our favored regions. In this regard i might say that i live instructed my department officials to buy this year from our less favored regions four times As much As they did Over the past four there Are of course different ways of assisting re Gions. It does not appear however that the minister s directive is particularly specific except in a mathematical sense nor does it Accord very obviously with the com Mission s other requirements. How does or. De Bane know in Advance and in de Tail what supplies the far Flung departments Are going to need How does he know what Price differentials will have to be borne by taxpayers How Given the experience of the past few years can be justify an arbitrary 400 per cent increase which it should be noted is not an objective but a ministerial requirement what distortions will be necessary to achieve this result and if the Federal government con siders this policy an appropriate expression of the Pepin Robarts theme How will it restrain the provincial governments if they impose similar quotas at the expense of Trade across their Borders if this is the interpretation to be placed on the commission s recommendation its value must be consid ered questionable. The argument for Basing purchasing policies on Market costs is Strong but we seem to be off to a very poor Start. Reassuring Southeast Asia Western Security interests in the Pacific Are Well served by the new agreement on bases signed by the governments of the United states and the Philippines. The agreement also will reassure those countries in Southeast Asia that Are outside the communist sphere of influence. It makes Clear that an american military presence remains in the Region with its corresponding effect on the calculations of those who might be tempted to disturb the distribution of Power. There was an element of theatre to the agreement signed on the seventh Day of the month because seven is the Lucky number of president Ferdinand Marcos. There has also been a Bow to National sensibilities in the Philip Pines in that the american Flag will no longer Fly Over the bases and the base commanders in each Case will be philippine citizens. The United slates will indirectly pay for the bases by paying billion in Aid of various kinds Over the next five years but this is not to be regarded As rent. Negotiations Over the bases were difficult presi Dent Marcos turned Down a similar offer made by Henry Kissinger while he was still Secretary of state. What matters however is that the important Subic Bay naval Anchorage and Clark air Force base plus some smaller bases will remain in american hands allowing president Carter the option of a Swift deploy ment of formidable military Power in an emergency. The principle of unhampered military operations despite the presence of philippine commanders has been accepted by the government of the Philippines. Those filipinos who would wish to see All american bases abolished and they include the daughter of president Marcos will be disappointed. But president Marcos and his advisers have made the sensible judgment that the balance of advantage lies with re Taining close links with the country s biggest employer its economic Helper its military ally and ils old Friend. Old memories at first glance the recent revelation of a number of memos sent by government services minister Sidney spi Vak to Premier Sterling Lyon seemed to indicate some dissatisfaction and revived memories of the bitter Battle Between the two for the conservative leadership. Presumably written about five months ago when nor. Spivak was co chairman of the task Force on govern ment organization and Economy one memo lamented the Lack of action on various task Force recommendations. Excuses and explanations were rampant As the minister hastened to Point out the age of the messages. Some reorganization had occurred he stressed pointing out the dissolution of the management committee forma Tion of the More politically oriented Treasury Board and the shifting of various departmental responsibilities As examples of the Progress. While or. Spivak offered numerous explanations of the reasons behind those memos the Premier remained relatively silent. Not until later did he provide some support for the minister s position. By the end of the week they seemed to be standing together defending government action and promising More changes in the future. Apparently there was not a renewal of the leadership Battle not yet. Welcome Welcome to the new editorial Page of the Winnipeg free press. We Hope you like its new name its new location and its new look. We have called it forum because it will be a Page for your views As Well As ours. We have created regular space for your letters by moving some of the material that formerly appeared on the editorial Page to a new Page opposite. We have called the opposite Page focus because we intend to use it to provide you with insightful background stories and commentary that put the news into better perspective. It will feature regularly two of Winnipeg s most perceptive political commentators Alice Krueger and Fred Cleverley. As for forum we will use it As we used he old editorial Page to express our opinions free of fear or favors. We Hope you do too. . Malone publisher a new triangular game by Joseph Kraft Washington the presence of Richard Nixon at the Teng Hsiao Ping show measures How much things Ain t what they used to be among the United states China and Russia. For when or. Nixon was in Flower Washington could use the peking connection to extract concessions from Moscow. Now co operation with China threatens to spoil effective dealings with the soviet Union. But neither of the policies intermittently followed by president Carter neither the policy favored by Zbigniew Brzezinski nor the policy favored by Cyrus Vance seems adequate to that Cen trial change in the triangular game. Sack in 1971 when Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger initiated the game China was an unknown Quan Tity. Us revolution enjoyed the Aura of Success. Its leaders looked to be men larger than life. So China was a Force to be reckoned with in the underdeveloped countries of the third world. She provided a rallying Point to other communist countries unhappy with soviet Hegemony. The russians themselves were driven into a kind of panic by the Border fracas with China in 1969. By mixing into China s inflated reputation a Little hokum of their own messes. Nixon and Kissinger made the opening to peking an asset for dealing with Moscow. They wrung from the russians better terms than expected for a peace settlement in Vietnam and for a strategic limitation treaty. Pushy strategy since 1972, however the russians have developed a strategy for push ing ahead despite and maybe even because of Harmony Between the United states and China. The rus sians took advantage of coups in Afghanistan and South Yemen last year. They fuelled wars in the Middle East in Vietnam in Angola in Ethiopia 1977 and in Cambodia As a result their position is now stronger than before in Southern Afri Ca and the Horn and in the persian Gulf and Asia. Rich pickings Are opening up for them in Iran and the Middle East. The chinese of course have not stood still. They have committed themselves to a policy of rapid modernization through imports from Europe Japan and the United states. They have established a rough Politi Cal balance among vice Premier Teng party chairman Hua Kuo Feng and the ghost of Mao tse Tung. Or. Teng has spun a web of diplomatic connections with Europe Japan and the United states the better As he put it in an interview the other Day to be Able to place curbs on the Polar delicate balance but the modernization program reveals the failure of the chinese revolution and the backwardness of the country. The political balance is delicate and subject to change. And the web of diplomatic connections though outwardly formidable turns out to have poor Powers to constrain the soviet Union. The japanese and europeans while keen on China Trade have shown no stomach for standing up to the russians. When the United states gave the appearance of trying to play off peking against Moscow last month the russians simply pushed off conclusion of a new strategic limitation treaty until after or. Teng s visit. Which is where the division in american councils comes into play. Or. Brzezinski the president s National Security adviser has seen plainly what the russians have been up to. He seeks to Block their and Vance. But he has exaggerated enor Mously the capacity of the chinese to deter the russians. And he has Deve loped out of whole cloth the theory that if the russians do not co operate with the West they will exclude themselves from global and end up among the has beens of his tory. Soviet assertiveness Secretary of state Vance has seen plainly that failure to reach another control agreement would drive the russians into a Cor Ner and expose the world to an accelerated race and the danger of nuclear holocaust. He has been rightly concerned lest the chinese connection queer the pitch for detente with the soviet Union. But in his keenness to get a Deal with Russia on control he has virtually ignored so Viet assertiveness everywhere else in the world. The upshot if that the Teng visit has been overloaded with objectives. It is supposed to bring More Trade. It is supposed to put the fear of god into the russians. It is supposed to pro Mote general detente. And of course it is supposed to establish Jimmy Carter As a dynamic states Man at the lop of the world class. All of these things Are desirable and some of them Are possible. But or. Teng can t begin to make them happen. They can be made to happen Only by an american policy that goes beyond the narrow confines of the Vance Brzezinski debate o a global strategy for dealing with the Chal Lenge posed by soviet assertiveness in the context of a crumbling world order. Joseph Kraft is a . Foreign correspondent and columnist. Dangerous dogs on january 21, at a.m., my Cousin was going to Church. She was attacked by a Large dark Tan German Shepherd dog. She screamed and struggled with him. He knocked her Down and bit her leg. She has 16 stitches and a sore Back. She notified the police and the City Pound. So far the dog is still running Loose this happened in the Vicinity of Fleet and Cockburn Street in fort Rouge. What if the dog attacks a Small child what if the dog has rabies i would suggest when issuing licenses for dogs they should Issue one for the owners As Well. Mrs. A. Palonski Winnipeg fair to Whites the articles on the editorial Page Swap singing the blues january 27, and tribalism reappears in rho Desia january 29, have presented the White governments of South Afri Ca and Rhodesia in a much better Light than has been the Case in the american press. I would like to add two Points to the namibian situation. When representatives gathered to work out a basis for self government in that territory 16 different groups met to work at reconciling their differences Many of them with generation after veneration of enmity and racist bit Trade Surre piously carried on by the new Black nations. Without it their internal condition would be even worse. This gives South Africa a fair clout in dealing with them. So far As Rhodesia is concerned it must be realized that much of the Prosperity of that country is due to the initiative hard work and experience of the White settlers. The free press has shown itself to be a Leader in International thought once More and i Hope that the readers of these articles and the news items will be More sympathetic to those Whites who face problems in their countries the like of which we cannot new space lauded i am excited to know that you have started a new daily Page. Forum in the free press. I have been Reading your paper for some time now and have been less than excited with the Way you had treated letters to the editor. You have been around your readers Opin ions in All sections of your esteemed and widely read newspaper some times in the main Section people s Section Leisure Section and even in the classified and Section and sports Section in a very haphazard Way. New and fixed space for your readers letters will add another Feather in your Cap. People s opinions Are As important As your own. I am glad you come to realize that. It is never too Date. Pcs of Lurk in your new venture. Ijaz a. Qamar Winnipeg Good Luck forum if we can almost look directly into the Sun at a Normal time Why can t we do the same during an eclipse when the Sun s surface is covered by the Moon in a silent movie when the actors seem to be talking Are they actually saying lines or just any old thing at All much Success with your launch utter garbage i read with interest the article in your february 1 Issue entitled five dailies won t carry week end. Hurray for them. Cannot the free press make it six Seldom is there any worthwhile Reading in it and the february 3 article on 50 years of stripping takes the cake utter garbage mrs. A. Appel ear Falls ont. Degrading we. As members of the peace and social concerns committee Are thoroughly disgusted with the fact tha. Mowed the february 3 Issue o of Eek end Magazine to be distracted to your readers. It is degrading for human beings to be displayed in such a despicable manner. Is the human body a piece of merchandise to be exploited yes we observed your minuscule notice to readers in the Corner of the front Page but How Many people took note of it this space could have been used More effectively had the articles on strip tease not been car ried. Is. . Loewen and is. . Olfert of the pc committee Winnipeg letters unfair Transfer the Federal government sents itself As a defender of the right of Canadian citizens to choose the language of education for their Chil Dren. Such is not the Case. My husband is an employee of the department of National defence. He and several of his colleagues Are being forced to Transfer to Quebec in the Spring of 1979. When we move our children will be compelled to attend French schools. Even though we Are not going to be exempted from Bill 101. My husband s employer has stated that he will lose his Job offensive 1 am cancelling my subscription to the free press in protest against the material carried in the week end Magazine of feb. 3, 1979. This study of the history of strip tease and the accompanying photographs is in my opinion an offence to the Christian Community. I suggest you inform week end Magazine to clean up the Content of their tabloid or else withdraw it from circulation in the free press. Pastor Lorne w. Moorhead Sprague Baptist Church Sprague Man. Or. Henteleff the to scene for february 3 did not identify me correctly in connection with the nature of things Spe Cial. Coming and going. For the Pas three years i have been. Or Paul d Henteleff program director ;