Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - December 18, 1979, Winnipeg, Manitoba R v Winnipeg free 6f Trade Equality 6f civil Liberty of religion published six Days a at 300 Carlton Winnipeg r3c 3c1 by publications Western limited Telephone 9439331 second class mail registration number 0286 Bonald a acct publisher r s Malone chairman Peter editorial Page editor Murray Burt managing editor Maurice Western Ottawa editor r h Shelford president general manager on transit one policy Issue that will attract considerable voter interest in the coming election Campaign will be the Way in which the parties propose to help Urban transit part of any National Energy it is obviously necessary to encourage a Good proportion of those who daily travel to work in private cars to make the switch to Public if fewer private cars make unnecessary journeys Witk Only one or two then less of the country dwindling Energy supplies will be this could help Lessen Canadas dependence on imported Oil and make self sufficiency an achievable any Campaign to encourage greater use of Public transit must have two main themes measures to discourage wasteful users of private transport and incentives to Poten tial users of Public an example of such a coordinated policy might be increasing the Cost of fuel for private cars while keeping stable the costs of fuel for Public Public transport is also much More attractive to potential users if the equipment is modern and if there is enough of it on the streets to make sure that travellers do not have inordinately Long Waits or journeys in which they Are packed As tightly As these kinds of policies cannot be developed alone by the municipalities that have primary responsibility for Urban transit municipal councils can raise funds for their transit systems Only through bus fares and their limited taxing this Means that any realistic policy that Aims at using Urban transit As a component of a National strategy to conserve Energy and use it More wisely must draw on the Powers of the provincial and Federal so All three Levels of government must be prepared to work closely together to share the problems and potential benefits of Urban transit the key level is the Federal because of its ability to adjust fuel taxation policy and thus and because of its ability to divert some of its huge into capital Grants to Urban transit Federal governments can also help in other imaginative the budget brought Down by finance minister John Crosbie and Defeated in the House of commons last week shortchanged Urban Crosbie proposed to use his Powers to increase the Price of fuel to All canadians by raising the excise tax per gallon from seven to 25 As a disincentive to unneeded travel by private car this was a logical Why did he not continue the existing exemption from excise tax on fuel enjoyed by Urban transit systems surely this could have been the logical other half of his what he did was to give Urban transit systems a 10centsagallon rebate from the 25 cents the net effect was to make Urban transit systems liable to pay 15 cents a gallon where before they had paid this was bound to mean higher bus fares and probably higher property because his budget contained no provision for providing direct Cash Aid to transit the Only Energy related disbursement he planned was his Energy tax credit scheme for something that would not help transit the inevitable jump in bus fares was also liable to disco Urr age the increased bus ridership that would have been encouraged by higher gasoline doubtless Rosbie will be explaining this apparent illogical Ity during the the other parties will be advancing their own proposals for sustaining and improving Public transport As a part of a National Energy when the Tibe fal party advances its own it will have to at the its previous promises to Reform Urban transit Rajme to pitching in since the current election Campaign began an Atmo sphere of supreme Premier Sterling Lyon was no doubt just trying to get into the spirit of things with his first contribution to the Lyon is entitled to pitch in and help his but babbling on about socialist bedfellows and marxist rhetoric does not reveal a profound understanding of the issues of the moment in Federal by the time this nonsense is canadians May have despaired of Ever again meeting a politician who does not insult their concern Over writing the Manitoba department of education met with consider Able opposition when it announced that it intended to test the skills in Basic subjects of a random Sample of the provinces the recently released results of an examination of writing shows that these tests can be of the test involved almost students in grades and 12 and covered various writing students in Grade 3 and Grade 6 were asked to write a students in Grade 9 a and students in Grade 12 an the results indicated that 50 per cent of the provinces students need More help than they Are getting in one aspect or another of this vitally important there were some encouraging results 20 per cent of the students tested were found to have Good writing ability and 50 per cent were said to write thirty per showed no one expects the school system to produce graduating classes that Are composed 100 per cent of prose but it matter for concern when 30 per cent of the students Are to be weak in writing ability and 50 per cent to need the report included a number of chief among them that More emphasis be put on writing skills in the school curriculum and that teachers pay More attention to imparting this essential skill to their More such tests Are not Only of writing but of Reading and mathematics As and they should prove valuable in enabling the department of education and the Public to judge the performance of the the taxpayer has a right to know what he is receiving for the considerable portion of his tax Dollar that goes toward the Cost of without the kind of information that can Only come from some form of standardized he has no Way of knowing whether his Money is being and whether his children Are being cheated of the kind of education to which they Are Many people will think that this Survey does not go far there seems to be no reason Why we should not conduct tests that will reveal which schools Are doing Well and which Are not that after is of most importance to the individual who sends his Chil Dren to a particular not to the provincial school system in it would also enable school divisions to concentrate remedial work where it is most Given the trends of recent however there has been Little information available for use in evaluating the performances of teachers and schools since departmental examinations were abolished in 1970 we should perhaps be grateful for the information we Are getting As general and it it is still of some value in helping us determine the strengths and weaknesses of the education double dilemma there is both support for and opposition to the Manitoba Law that permits police to without people who Are too drunk to look after the Law itself was passed because police were often anxious to protect people from Manitoba severe but at the same time were reluctant to do soil it meant laying judge William Marantz has ruled that the Law is beyond provincial but his comment that such detention is permissible in the soviet but not in is entirely too dramatic to be seriously considered As a reason for allowing individuals to freeze to part of the dilemma is the reluctance of the in times of increased Public to act in what used to be considered a commonsense while there Are cases where police enthusiasm has exceeded acceptable these incidents should not provoke a general attitude that interferes with the Protection of the Manitoba Cabinet has decided to submit the provincial judges opinion to the supreme court of the if the Law is thrown the essential problem will still exist the Protection of people through their own endanger their lives in Manitoba on the other some kids never give their old age financial Security a second tribunal to try the Shah by Jeff Endrst special to the free press United new there is a joker in the iranian crisis deck which May prove to become no laughing matter to the International it is the idea that the deposed Shah Quarte Century Rule in Iran should be investigated by an International Tribu Iran has since gone further in its demands on the United it wants it to investigate also the alleged american guidance and collusion the Shah reported terror against his own the Ayatollah Khomeini even suggested that president Carter and several of his predecessors in the White House should be held account Able for past events in hostages these demands could be dismissed As legally but As Long As Iran holds 50 american Diplo Matic hostages and threatens to put at least some of them on trial for Espoo the demands cannot be dismissed out of the idea is that if it helped to release the it would be worthwhile to concoct some and hoc machinery to allow Iran to air its charges and frustrations under the International spot it is for this very reason that in Secretary general Kurt Waldheim is seriously going ahead with plans for some form of a Blu ribbon International commission to review Iran com plaint against the the Security Council has been privately informed about Waldheim ideas on this none of its 15 including the United is said to have objected to the on condition that the hostages Are released Waldheim aides say that the panel would review but not this is not what Iran has in and it remains to be seen whether such an approach would be acceptable to those ruling the country at the panel would consist of reputable persons from various geographic religions and Legal that in itself could make value judgments in Law and morality diff but the far greater danger in setting up such a panel would be the almost certain Appeal of the precedent it would there Are always Many governments which would like to put one of their former or current adversaries beyond their control on Public if it should be acceptable to put the Shah under International Why not Idi Amin of pol pot of Cambodia or emperor Jea Bedel Bokassa of the Central african Republic retribution from the Point of View of Many International retribution against proven despots would be Justi there Are Many who feel that the Shah May have been the villain in the past but that his role is now being played by the Ayatollah who would resolve such a and How there Are endless possibilities and variations on this most of them unacceptable to some countries and All of them questionable under International the Nuremberg tribunal on nazi War crimes had a solid moral basis for its but it hag never stopped being a major Point of Legal controversy among International the late British philosopher Bertrand Russell created his own International but Many people questioned the presumed political impartiality of his group and his selectivity in subject the problem with investigating the Shah is that an International panel could arrive at conclusions in conflict with International the panel could recommend the Shah extradition de spite the fact that there is no extradition treaty Between Iran and the United dangerous Experiment in officials recognize the danger of the proposed but some of them Are playing Down the possibility of it being misused in the they say that the hostages in Iran represent a special Case which Calls for innovative others fear that these innovative approaches could become established practice if Strong political pressures so there is always the plausible argument that the risks involved in a Possi ble political trial of the Shah in Absen Tia would be justified if it saved the lives of the hostages and prevented the crisis from exploding into a military Jeff Endt is a United nations letters the Winnipeg free press welcomes letters from the authors name will be and All letters Are subject to inaccurate i am the general manager of the Winnipeg humane society and in that capacity was most concerned at the letter to the editor published in your edition of december no person entering the society premises at 5 Kent Street would be Able to wander about without reporting first at the reception desk and the description of the conditions of the facilities of the society whether in the adoption kennels or in the Pound Section is not accurate nor the society cannot and does not keep its kennels immaculately clean 24 hours a the limitations of budget and staff Render this they Are cleaned no less than once daily and to ensure that the kind of conditions that miss Daniels alleges prevailed do not in fact occur within our apparently the person who wrote the letter had her dog picked up and brought Here by the animal in order for a person to get a dog released they must sign a release no person by the name of Michele Daniels has picked up a dog from Here recently or at any other if in fact the conditions described in miss Daniels letter were True then were she in fact a member of the society or a past president of the Junior humane society the compassionate and humane thing to do would have been to bring those conditions to the attention of the staff on the one of whom is i would also like to add that 10 years ago our women auxiliary spent thou Sands of dollars to install Cable heat in the floors of our kennels and no dog has to sit on a cold the humane society welcomes Well founded and constructive it cannot and does not take seriously the complaints of those whose credentials Are Walter Davidson Genera manager Winnipeg humane society Winnipeg Selkirk papers the recent announcement that the Manitoba government will provide 000 of financial support to a project aimed at publishing the Selkirk papers is very Welcome the rationale that was put Forward for doing so raises a number of in her announcement of the cultural affairs minister Norma Price said government backing was being Given so that the Selkirk project would not be lost to another province and University As was the Case with the Louis Riel project and the one being proposed for York surely the financial Aid is being offered because the Selkirk project is worthy of such support in its own right and the government has the responsibility to Back such with regard to the York factory York University will be the administering if funding is largely because faculty Mem Bers of that institution perceived the need for such a project and took the initiative in organizing in this the ministers comments smack of sour More to the in attempting to launch the project i approached Price and provincial minister of natural resources and environment Ransom to seek the support and cooperation of the Manitoba in the Case of i asked her if it would be Possi ble to increase the staff ache Manitoba provincial archives by one person to facilitate the classification of Hudson Bay company archives of relevance to the proposed this request amounted to no More than asking the provincial government to live up to the agreement with the company to trans Fer its archives from London to Winni Price declined such support citing fiscal on the other was somewhat More we had asked if staff from the Manitoba wildlife service might be available to the project on a Fullor Par time Given that we lacked expertise in that i was informed that budgetary constraints did not permit highly Active involvement in the proposed but wildlife specialists in the government would be available to us on a consulting basis As other duties i Hope the governments support for the Selkirk project signals a change in attitude on the part of the govern ment and a recognition of its responsibility to adequately fund and support efforts aimed at preserving aspects of the provinces we still Wel come a More Active involvement of the provincial government in the York fac tory failing 1 Hope that the government will live up to the original agreement it entered into with the Hudson is Bay company and pro vide adequate staff and funding for conservation so that a priceless Archi Val collection will be properly cared everyone would Benefit from such Arthur Ray associate professor York University service woes like Many other fellow feel i have to voice my opinion of this new the majority of people whom i have seen interviewed who agreed with the budget Are of very High what about us lower class people unlike other people my husband cannot go on strike for higher wages or he would be charged with he is a member of the armed forces and of this Date his annual income is after which servicemen have More of than plus Bills Asim sure we All it ends up that we Are stretching our last Dollar in the Day before unless the wife works we can barely get by and unfortunately we cannot always work be cause in the places we live unemployment is very it really irritates me How civilian people think we have it so some body has to do the Job regardless of the we have to replace furniture More often than a person who is situated in one place at All times because of loss or damage by moving Why dont they ration fuel if the situation is that bad we were forced to go on rationing in Europe five years ago and nobody up and died because of in fact everyone got along quite unfortunately we Are 18 Miles from otherwise id Start walking when i needed to there has to be a better Way and i think that the people of this country should have More to say about average people weve got to protect our Chil Drens Fredericksen cab no Appeal i Means a rapid increase in if governments Are fighting one weakness of government run automobile insurance is the Lack of any Appeal procedure to a regulatory Agency if the aut Opac judgment is Ussatis a Friend of mine lost his two sons and his parents in a fiery automobile Acci Dent in aut Opac arbitrarily sets an upper limit of compensation per because the Drivers of both vehicles were deemed 50 per cent at the death of the two boys is payable at using this the death of the passengers would have resulted in no compensation whatsoever if the Driver of the vehicle in which they were passengers had been 100 per cent at if that is what is the Point in taking out passenger Hazard insurance there is no tribunal that will decide whether aut Opac is fair in its Deci it is a propose contrast this with my own experience in new York a number of years i was hit from behind by another and it turned out that we were both insured by the same subset our settlement offer turned out to be a very niggardly i reported the particulars to the new York Auto Mobile insurance commission and the company was ordered to Settle with me to my Complete the Point is that government run insurance provides no machinery for regulating the insurance the consumer is completely at the mercy of the insurance that is not very Good Henry Winnipeg inflation Toni our governments they must place a different interpretation on the prices directly under government control Are rising faster than any the Price of gasoline has doubled since this is blamed on a shortage of the Oil companies Are realizing record profits even after spending vast sums for our governments appear to believe that inflation is caused by too Many people having too much Money to buy too Many new houses and too Many new their cure for inflation is to increase prices so that most of us have no extra Money to buy when we buy we need to produce and More people Are out of we have had increasing prices for the last 40 in spite of this continual most working people could afford to buy a House and drive a with mortgage rates around 15 per cent and gasoline Over a most of us cannot afford to buy a House or even drive the car very although everybody Liv ing with inflation want really that bad until the government decided to fight pk1hgle Winnipeg everybody complains about Infra the experts present so Many different causes and solutions that it is hard to believe they Are All discussing the same to most Infra hey do i leave Remote control car in my toy Box ;