Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - June 5, 1979, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free june f focus new wave takes Power by Maurice Western up news service Power passed yesterday to a new generation of of the ministers holding seats in the House of not one served in the governments formed by John the great majority entered parliament in Robert Stan Fields Day or even the fact is striking because a number of the Best known conservatives of the 195763 Era were reelected on May among them Are Alvin still an influential figure in Sas Katche George Marcel Lambert and Walter few of according to my in expected to be named to the Clark the prime minister presumably Felt that the country expected a reexamination of our heavy problems by a fresh cabinets Are usually with the pres ence of a few experienced it is arguable that Trudeau would have avoided certain costly mistakes if he had been rather less ready to dispose of senior ministers from the Pearson enjoys stronger position Clark in a stronger position than John Diefenbaker was when he formed his first after 22 years of Liberal the former prime minister could Call on no one who had served in government beyond the municipal aside from the senatorial Clark was Able to Call on two men who had served in provincial John the new minister of held the same office and several others in Allan Lawrence was senior minister in the Davis government of Ontario and lost narrowly to the present Premier at a leadership convention in As provisionally the government contains Only four Quebec none of them hold important economic posts and Only Jacques is in a senior position As minis Ter of senator Flynn will also Lead the government in the upper a role for which he is Well fitted by disposition and experience As oppo Satin House Leader Over a Long a major Surprise was the appoint ment of Robert Rene de Defeated in Ottawa As minister of economic development and de Cotret will thus become the third senator in the Clark pro Viding representation for the Franco a Well known he has been one of the new prime minis ters More influential the appointment obviously invites it was generally recognized that in present had no option but to enlist senators As Quebec to defend an Ontario senatorial when the conservatives hold 57 seats in that prov will be much More for while precedents could certainly be the problems of answer ability Are serious and the House of commons jealous of its this presumably is one reason Why we now have a minister of state for International Trade in the person of Michael Wilson a newcomer to Parlia ment with impressive it May also have been helpful to Ron who becomes minister of state for Small business and a businessman Huntington served ably As chairman of the stand ing committee on Public the having assured Clarks also handed him some of his More difficult Cabinet there can Bay abide a a satirical Newfie Ottawa some 30 years ago three boys dressed in the uniform of a private school stood on a table of their dining tears streaming Down their As they Sang defiantly the Newfoundland National it was the posh Andrews private school outside where sons of the Canadian establishment were sent to mix with other heirs and it was the Day in 1948 when Joey Smallwood announced that the funny Rock of screech and cod officially had joined the three boys were Frank who has just finished his reign As newfoundlands Premier Frank another rollicking son of Newfoundland wealth and John who As of yesterday became the finance minister of of All these striking things of Joe Clarks first Cabinet the most striking is that the poorest province of All has provided the new Money Man who once in his Youthful passion didst want to have any part of bom to wealth but with Allan Fotheringham la the shambling exterior of a Down Home Butcher is probably the most interesting of the 29 new faces that Clark has plucked to run the he wanted to be Liberal Premier of Newfoundland but clashed with the stubborn Joey and switched to the conservative benches before venturing on to a slow moving 48yearold who has been known to take a drink or he is guaranteed to Shock the presbyterian conscience of a country of savings Deposit holders who Are accustomed to the Prim neatness of a Doug an Edgar a Walter even the carefully suited and Safe John Turner and Don while the vast majority of his new conscious of their response donned sombre blues and Greys for the first televised Swearingin of our nations top Crosbie was one of the three Secretary of state David Macdonald and Public works minister Erik Neilsen the others who dared to Wear non tory Crosbie in his delicious new Fie Irish lilt i didst Campaign for the i didst want no one is going to push me he projects As All humorists do a continual morose As if Despon Dent at what he sees of if they dont like what they see in my first he then they can get themselves another finance for a Man who has been in the suicidal Post for Little More than an its refreshing can Bay Street abide a Newfie who can cry and can drink and can dispense Broad satire does Joe Clark know what Hes done to us who believe that human beings can be politicians and vice versa the Crosbie difficulty in suppressing a droll thought was greatly appreciated on the Day when the master actor of them Pierre Trudeau displayed the gift that got him selected and eventually Defeated him How could a Defeated and discredited prime minister possibly upstage the youngest prime minister in Canadas who was to be sworn in this sunny june afternoon just a Day before his 40th birthday Trudeau after his aides had slipped the word to certain reporters came speeding up the magnificent treeline sweep leading to Rideau Hall in his rakish Mercedes 300 top Down that had so infatuated the press when he took office in roaring up to the front door and breaking bearly missing this reporters astonished he zoomed off again around the Flower supposedly seeking a parking aware All the time that it allowed the slavering to cameras More foot the but Resolute Clark knows he cant compete in that he concentrated on the emphasis that there is no link with the last tory government that died under Diefenbaker in a terribly frail looking John Diefenbaker wandered around at the recep Tion eager for muttering his usual witty displeasure at the overlooking of his old Clark can survive that the Only question is whether he can survive the Irish fatalism of Crosbie who says in answer to Why he took a Post he didst want i know enough to know that you dont argue with prime you answer yes sir and no he sighed the sigh of the damned at the thought of the finance i have no future political in ready for the scrap in my Grandfather was prime minister of finance in Newfoundland with a budget of i was minister of finance in Newfoundland with a deficit of now in minister of finance of Canada with a deficit of it makes a Man Are bound to be disappointments when a prime minister faces an oversupply of Talent from a most of the appointments nevertheless were almost All predictions included Don Mazankowski of Vegreville As transport he also assumes responsibility for wheat an excellent he was the leading opposition transport for the defence ministry now including veterans Allan Mckinnon had no serious there was Little doubt that Jake Epp and Gay Hnatyshyn would receive Cabinet rather More surprising Are their As minister of Northern the industrious Epp seems a Good it could certainly be argued though that John Fraser deserved something better than the Post now Allied very oddly with the it is also rather difficult to relate Hnatyshyn conspicuous parliamentary gifts to the Energy while there was never any doubt that Flora Macdonald would hold a key Post in a Clark few until very recently expected her to emerge As external affairs experimentation evidently appeals to the new prime As it did to his while there will be no formal As in there is to be in practice an inner setting priorities and working with policy sub too much is sometimes expected of the system is Worth we will have to judge by Las tilt for increased to exposure whenever a govern ment Bac Bencher gets to his feet during question it is either because he is about to ask a minister a question he wants to be asked will the minister please confirm the wide popu Larity of his program to Aid widget keepers or it is a sure sign of a wide and dangerous division within the government caucus but particularly in Mani has put new desire in the hearts of the government backbench ers to be seen by their and to be seen to be this desire has apparently overcome one parliamentary tradition that of question period being primarily an Opportunity for opposition questions and has substituted a television exposure contest Fred Cleverley while members of the opposition Are Likely to complain about the prac they must take some responsibility for the the Straw that broke the conservative caucus and brought about the change in was when the opposition finance Crit Saul asked eleven ques one after on a single at that the tory caucus caught How could any members explain to a constituent who watched the question period on Subtle practices of the parliamentary constituents simply would not accept the explanation that questions any Bac Bencher May have Are always settled in the secrecy of the caucus Why should it appear that Only members of the opposition were anxious to discover the details of government policies As far As the general Public was con the questioners were and those who remained silent were being the backbench ers assembled their a search of rules in other across and throughout North America turned up not a single Case where a government caucus had imposed upon itself a Rule of silence during the question there was also the argument that by remaining the backbench ers gave the appearance of doing nothing to earn their the latter argument really Hurt those members who had lost recent disagreements with their constituents about the value of i caucus there was the argument that the situation could be remedied if the speaker simply limited the number of questions allowed any single opposition but the conservatives were anxious to avoid the same criticism they levelled against Peter the last nip who steered a narrow course on the number of questions and the phrasing that was from the time that Harry Graham took he has allowed a much Freer question although he from time to note that a particular member May be asking his or eighth question on a single this gentle Rebuff worked but More recently the member being admonished is Likely to simply thank the speaker for keeping it is a Clear Case of if the speaker allows the they will be if he then he is stifling the Public right to the real Point at is television since the Cable companies have adopted the practice of televising the entire provincial ques Tion period at the same time As the National conservative Back benches have had to Swallow both the news clips that Are invariably taken from this period and the situation in on the opposition members get the equivalent of 45 minutes of to exposure a the gods of the Antenna have made their presence Felt in the Manitoba opposition members will now have to compete with government backbench ers for the speakers and if the Normal television pattern ambitious backbench ers May clamor for attention with probing ques rather than accommodating this should prove to be a test of the if the questions become too will the no questions Rule be reimposed Cabinet ministers expect rockets to be fired at them from the not from behind their ;