Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - July 21, 1980, Winnipeg, Manitoba Wiki Peg free Winnipeg free press of Trade Equality of civil rights Liberty of religion i Tayt a Donalt of col publisher to duo by Ganc Keifan Nourr Andrs Elf Nefreo a k Murray Burt Mafiti gig Etc for Peter Mclyn tour Edword left Teflos Sci cow of fled forum coming clean at last a taste of opposition even a Short spell of six months can have a remarkable effect on the Outlook of a political it has apparently transformed the Federal liberals irom Adamant defenders of the View that the Public should Only be told what is Good for it into Canadas greatest promoters of Freedom of Hie of have proclaimed their Devotion to the Public right to know but every time they have been called upon to act in producing a White in drafting legislation or simply in responding to demands for information they have done their Best to prevent any significant All that has Secretary of state Francis Fox new Freedom of information Bill does everything that the liberals once argued such a Bill should never it establishes the right of the Public to see government documents unless there is a very Good reason Why they should it sets up precise guidelines about what sort of thing should be unavailable it does for talk in vague general terms about National Security but instead describes specific areas involving Security where secrecy must be besides establishing an information commissioner to Rule on the governments refusal to divulge it permits a final Appeal to the All this has been so impressive that the retired member Jed who has been fighting for Freedom information legislation for a has awarded the Liberal Bill a higher Mark than the one introduced by his own conservative party last in the Liberal Bill looks very much like the one that was presented to the conservative Cabinet last summer before it got watered everyone will not be so senior civil who thrive on will be politicians who share Sterling Lyons distrust at the introduction of american practices into the parliamentary will be and there is no doubt that the new legislation from time to going to make life awkward for politicians and but the ultimate argument for real and effective Freedom information legislation remains unassailable it is essential to democracy that people should know what their government is up to As Public business becomes More and More the need for a legislative guarantee of openness becomes More and More if knowl Edge is the Lack of knowledge is the new if it is will give some measure of Power Back to the there one Essert Tiai note of the govern ment tabled new legislation just before the summer parliamentary it will have to be considered by parliament when it its some time next a lot can happen Over the there will be certain pressure by the proponents of secrecy to change or weaken the it will be Terni Atung simply to forget the whole Issue to leave the Bill on the order paper As evidence of the governments change of heart but1 never to pass Given this governments past record on the the need for Public vigilance Post office Reform the transformation of the Post office into a Crown corporation has been advocated for so Long and accepted in principle so Many times that canadians would be Wise to restrain their cheers until the legislation which will bring about the change is actually the fact that a Bill has been presented to even though it will not be debated until the House reconvenes in the is a hopeful step towards a More efficient postal the advantages of the change have been Public knowledge for a it will give the Post office management the and the to operate the service on efficient business at the the Post office has to act through a Host of other government departments in matters such As construction and labor rela under its new the Post offices labor relations will be governed by the Canada labor relations act rather than the Public service staff relations that will give it much More flexibility to negotiate Over the implementation of technological the bugbear of labor relations Over the past several the new status will give postal management the Freedom and the incentive to innovate and to adapt to the revolution in conversion to a Crown corporation will of solve All the problems of the Post it will not transform the victorian minds which persist at Many Levels of manage ment though it May make it easier to get rid of some of it will not eliminate the attitude of suspicion and resentment which is and often by the Canadian Union of postal workers though it could help begin the evolution towards a More peaceful and cooperative labor it has Long become Clear under its present the Post office had no Hope of solving the problems which were rendering it progressively More costly and the new if will at least offer a new technology wins again it would be difficult to find a better example of regulations chasing and than the appearance on the roof of Winnipeg newest the Holiday inn of an Earth receiving dish for satellite television As of last 50 hotels in the Chain in North America were offering satellite television signals to their another 75 hotels in the same Chain were scheduled to get the receivers during the first Quarter of Agency has decided that the unauthorized use of signals is a matter Between the company producing the signals and those receiving if a fight the weapons that will be us dare Likely to be those of including scramblers and and certainly not in Canada the dishes have no Legal status the Federal department of communications because of an agreement that exists Between Canada and the United licence Earth receivers to pick up the Only Canadian signals on Canadian satellites Are those covering parliament and the abcs Northern the agreement Between Canada and the prevents anyone from Selling signals he has received from satellites owned by the other but the hotel is not Selling the it is offering them As part of us hotel it is a problem that the Canadian radio television and telecommunications commission has set its mind the commission has promised a report on the matter within but those close to the commission suggest that the delivery Date is somewhat As each new satellite receiver goes into the problem for the government becomes More perhaps the Best solution is that already adopted by the Federal communications commission in the that practical quite apart from the legalities of the the decision by the supreme court of Canada denying Manitoba the right to collect retail sales tax on items consumed in aircraft flying Over the province is a practical to Grant Manitoba and the other provinces which were lusting to Board the Gravy train the right to such taxes would be to create an unmanageable and extremely complicated system that would have to among other the depreciation of moving parts during the time the aircraft was in Manitoba the relative Worth of drinks As part of the ticket in firs class sections and to devise a method of accounting that would decide whether a drink purchased in Ontario airspace was taxable if it was partly consumed in Justice Alfred Monnin of the Manitoba court of Appeal summed it up in an earlier decision when he suggested that to extend the right of taxation upwards to heaven and downwards to hell smacked of the divine right of of medically swapping an entire the constitutional Battle by Wilson Ottawa the adversary approach of conventional politics is certainly one of the routes by which the goal of a revised Constitution can be pursued and it is the one that is clearly that probably was made inevitable by the combination of Strong provincial positions and the prime ministers Tough Guy responses on behalf of the Federal the Hope in this approach is that the tensions and conflicts to which it gives Rise As they work themselves erode the most extreme aspects of both Federal and provincial positions and produce some sort of balance in the the legitimate interests which must be served in this if it is to have Are Complex because they Are regional and local and the country will suffer if any of these is unduly they can Only be Well served through a very balanced constitutional approach to the not by extreme the prime minister has often insisted on the need for or some to speak for the nation As a that is what he is doing in the current process through the Public statements he is making about issues that involve More than one level of he the Tough protagonist of the Federal government and that is quite another thing than taking a National the role of Federal protagonist involves defence or expansion of the Powers of one level of the National overview involves understanding and concern for each layer of legitimate regional As Well As the absence of participants dedicated to the National overview is the disturbing element in these constitutional discussions because that vacuum Cre ates an Situa the horse trading that inevitably results is no guarantee that the balance canadians require in their Constitution will in fact be in a lengthy newspaper interview which has just been the prime minister discusses provincial de mands in terms of not in terms of the merits or Lack of them which May be inherent in particular thus he places in juxtaposition provincial demands for owner shop of offshore resources with proposals for jurisdiction Over Fias if this demonstrated a greed for separate problems in there is nothing automatically Good or bad about the fact that some provinces want both they Are Sepa rate problems and each should be treated on its if we genuinely want depressed re Gions to achieve the economic health of stronger parts of the then there is an argument in favor of newfoundlands ownership and control of Oil developments off its that would be the surest Way of bringing the Newfoundland Economy up to National Levels and ending the provinces client relationship with the rest of the coun if this is the control becomes As important As ownership because the role to be played by both individuals and Supply and service becomes that is the sort of interest More Likely to be Well served by a provincial govern Orient than by a More Remote one in it of immediately raise one of Trudeau major concerns the right of any Canadian to share in work and developments even outside his Home the need for bal Ance is remoteness in the Case of one of the major coastal complaints has been the attitude of remoteness fishermen encounter in Federal before he entered the House of the present minister of Romeo was an eloquent spokesman for this local or regional concern and he was the author of the the bureaucracy is the Here one thinks of agriculture where there is concurrent Federal and Provin Cial with both Levels of government playing roles that generally Are viewed As useful and no Contra seen against this a provincial demand for jurisdiction in the fisheries can be seen As part of the search for balance but not if you Are confined to the role of Tough protagonist for the Federal govern unlike politicians at any Given Ordinary canadians have a vital con Cern with the effective Powers of three Levels of it seems to me that at Trie moment they would be entitled to ask who Speaks for our full Range of concerns poor journalism i wonder what spell Larry Zolf has cast Over the free press on several it has published his intemperate frothing about the Winni Peg jewish he is entitled to his and i do not for a moment suggest it is incumbent upon the free press to Check and make sure that his facts Are accurate and his accusations i am not a spokesman for the Winni Peg jewish As one of its i resent even an oblique suggestion that Larry Zolf the Toronto Sage is the knowledge Able authority on our wolfs latest a new Low in should not remain Dunans on the entertainment Section of the july 12 edition of the free press you carried his review of Harry Yutkins the journey into our Heri Tage a Story of the jewish people in the Canadian met Zolf belittles the work by referring to it derisively As a picture but he grudgingly admits that Yutkins Book As ethnic history is More than its almost Good Yutkins prose is not All that what an insulting patronizing Zolf is Correct in stating that Gutkin is not an historian and does not pretend to be Why then does he describe Gutkin As a Lister of and Amateur rather than a professional historian of Western Cana Dian jewry As for the complaint that Gutkin is essentially a jewish Zolf reveals his inconsistency in taking Gutkin to task for having omit Ted names that Larry deems worthy of inclusion in the Book for a purportedly self proclaimed Zolf displays historical his statement that Sam Bronfman bootlegging activities had letters the Winnipeg free press welcomes totters from writers must give their name and the author s name will be used and letters Are subject to editing Back to grass roots Lack of concern All teachers were not just those at Peru a lot to do with Antisemitic backslashes among dry Wasp Farmers on the Prairies is sheer May i Sug Gest that Many dry and even wet not necessarily Only were Antisemitic Long before the Bronfman appeared on the Prairie Zolf s remarks about the late Chernia Kare uncalled for and in bad if i read it Larry Zolf attributes his fathers meagre salary As a teacher in the Peretz school to a member of the school this Contention is defamatory and out Zolf should be aware that teaching had been the poorest paid it was not till the 1960s that including those in jewish at last began to receive a living i cannot agree with wolfs Asser Tion about Yutkins shabby treatment of the jewish communist movement in the Section 04 politics is rather there is no mention of names of prominent jews in the com ueberal and conserva Tive parties who have beat elected to office at provincial and fed eral u teems thai Harry Gutkin chose to strew the role of the rather than the comparatively jewish participants in where did Larry Zolf obtain the in formation that Harry Gutkin is a Nice orthodox jewish boy there is no particular crime or sin in being Ortho but i can vouch that Harry Gutkin never was nor is an orthodox jewish i found the Book to be a readable Story a definitive history the jewish experience in Western can the Book is Well written and carefully Harry Gutin is a professional in graphics and and his expertise is evident in the selection and placement of the material in the As for wish to state the there Are limits of propriety and Good taste that a Book reviewer should knows not the Boundary line Between criticism and personal bad taste seems to be his his of Harry Yutkins Book is not a it is an the free As a responsible should not tolerate such spurious Harvey Herstein Winnipeg a solution i knew that sooner or later King Hussein of Jordan would be a major Factor in the Middle East he has to give up some of the West Bank to the Flo and i wonder How he will react to having the Plo for a it was net a Surprise to see the picture of King Hussein and president Carter the usual idiotic and forced smiles on their King Hussein has an Ace when jockeying with president Carter it is the City of Jerusalem is not it is the heart and prayer of every it is the Centre and the Core of jewish culture and civilization since biblical it was founded by the jews Long before the Advent of christianity and peace must come to the Middle East and i suggest Jerusalem be made an International the holy and Hal Lowed shrines of moslem and jews to be secure and protected Jerusalem to be ruled by a civic Council composed of arabs and israelis with a jewish a Small Force of israeli troops could protect the Eph Portigal Winnipeg As a former Campaign manager for the progressive conservative party in the 1977 provincial i agree with Dalton Camp in his column free july 14 entitled party system stifles new Camp states political Power now flourishes outside the party concentrated among a few so few As to count them upon the fingers of one hand two hands if you also count Deputy but the real killers of political parties have been Money and Money buys which debates the value of in order to give More relevance to our political parties we should through the electoral More inde pendent thinking candidates who May be More representative of the elector ates the electoral act should encourage citizens to become involved in the Polit ical process and should provide financing Means for Independent candidates As Well As party paid political commercials should not be allowed on to or radio so that the major parties Are not allowed to dominate the new policies and talented leadership will not come from our political parties which silence the voices of individuals who disagree with to Salvage democracy we must re turn to the grass perhaps then distrust that the electorate has for All politicians will Jack als1p Winnipeg very human my comment to the letter by free press july 3 regarding Paul sullivans commentary on the finding of the Condon child u far Tram finding it 1 found it very i Marianne Long Winnipeg As a resident of West end Winnipeg 1 am gratified to Leam that there is going to be a Canadian transport commis Sion investigation into the methanol spill in the car Yards last according to various professional Opin ions there is evidently a real Hazard to those of us who live within a mile of the but what must disturb Many area residents is that there will be no Public according to the announce ment this will be merely a probe by a senior commission Ken Tik the Public and organizations May talk to but no Public it would appear that the Canadian transport commission does not consider the spill of a deadly chemical in the heart of Canadas fourth largest City to be of such serious proportions As to Merit a Public treating this matter so lightly Bor Ders on Lack of concern for Public Magnus el1ason Winnipeg i tear Zifcu the japanese save Aat fete must 10 i u ;