Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - April 13, 1981, Winnipeg, Manitoba N n j i 4 Winnipeg free press monday april Rene Levesque left is noisily confident of the pm s chances while Liberal Claude Ryan shows the Strain of the Campaign. Quebec turnout could top 80% both leaders remain sceptical about polls which give the pm a big Edge continued from Page 1 to make sure they get out the vote today. Ryan although telling supporters they must accept the results with chins up if they lose again appealed to them to Trust the liberals own informal surveys showing them ahead. The liberals could also Hope that the Many people who refused to participate in the polls More than 20 per cent in both cases Are Liberal supporters. However while polling experts agree Many of these people do support the liberals they also caution that Many Are elderly and Are immigrants and Are less Likely to get out to vote. Meanwhile Roch Lasalle who quit As the progressive conservatives Only Quebec member of parliament to Lead the decimated Union National seemed resigned to his Fate and suggested he May leave politics if he in t elected. The polls open at 10 . Est and close at 8 . There Are 525 candidates for the 122 seats in the Quebec National Assembly and 4.4 million eligible voters. Standing in the Assembly at dissolution when Here were 110 seats was pm 67, liberals 34, Union National five Independent two and vacant two. Michel Lepage chief of the pm s electoral statistics office said last week he was expecting about 80 to 83 per cent of voters to actually vote about the same number As in the four past Quebec elections. But Pierre Bibeau chief Liberal organizer said he thinks turnout at the Advance polls was Down and if that trend holds it would favor the pm. The Campaign expected last fall but postponed after Ottawa announced its controversial plans for the Constitution began March 12 and for Many the result seemed a foregone conclusion. The pm had lost the referendum 60 per cent to 40 per cent and had failed to win even one of the 11 by elections held since its election in 1976. But the foregone conclusion exploded with the first Batch of polls released two weeks ago showing the pm ahead voter satisfaction with the government very High and Levesque with a two to one Lead in personal popularity Over the More austere Ryan. The liberals immediately counter attacked on the Issue that was critical in All previous contests Over the last 4 years Independence. My a wants to toughen bargaining continued from Page 1 negotiations by having the Misc de duct from their fees an amount equivalent to an Mma membership a year to be forwarded to the association. About of the doctors in the province belong to the Mma. Some non members Are not practising physicians but have academic or govern ment positions. An Mma spokesman said the intent of the deduction of fees Resolution is to have doctors pay for the association s efforts in negotiating contracts on be half of All practising Manitoba physic ians regardless of membership. Effectiveness questioned but some doctors question the Mma s effectiveness in negotiating fees for the profession saying the government has continually beaten the association at the bargaining table. Opposition to the resolutions is Likely to come from this body of physicians. Or. Colin Nisbet a part time medical consultant at great West life Assur Ance co., said he did not join the Mma when he came to Manitoba in 1976 because he was totally unimpressed with the Way it handled negotiations that year. If they would have put up a Good performance then i would have he said. Nisbet said he does not believe the service doctors receive from the Mma is Worth and so he would not be in favor of the proposal. A Union would detract from the Doc tors Freedom to practice said or. Dev Prakash a general practitioner who also does not belong to the Mma. I Don t believe anyone should be forced to join a he said. Prakash said he would contemplate filing suit against the Mma and the Misc if dues were deducted from his fees. I m a free Enterprise Man and i Don t like he said. Although the annual meeting resolutions describe a doctors Union the Mma spokesman said we d prefer to Call it an association with improved collective if doctors attending the annual meet ing vote to endorse the resolutions they have several courses of action open to them said the spokesman. They May decide to ask the executive committee to approach government and begin ironing out legalities or they May choose to hold a referendum to Ascer Tain whether the province s doctors approve of the proposal. But Many voters seemed to take Levesque s word that there would be no referendum in the government s second term and even if there was an election on the Issue it would t be for at least three years. Levesque also got a lot of political mileage from his Battle with prime minister Trudeau Over the Constitution even referring to it indirectly in the party s Campaign theme Faut res Ter forts we have to remain Ryan s prediction that a provincial Liberal government could reach agree ment fairly quickly with Ottawa on a new constitutional amending for Mula gave Levesque even More ammunition. Otherwise Levesque campaigned heavily on Good government. The liberals approach in the Early stages was to concentrate on the econ omy particularly the government s billion deficit this year claiming it was larger than All other provinces com i bind. Both parties went on an election Promise spree trying to woo the undecided and Shore up their support wherever it was shaky. The most original Promise was the pm s pledge to give Low interest Loans to families with at least one child who want to buy a new or recently renovated Home Worth to the pm went after the Rural vote traditionally the fiefdom of the Union National. Lost shuttle tiles no big Deal space Agency officials say continued from Page 1 the three powerful engines were perfect yesterday. A handful of the tiles were shaken off by the stress of launch but officials of the National aeronautics and space administration said the gaps were in non critical areas and posed no threat to the Crew or the spaceship. Neil Hutchinson first shift flight director at shuttle control said the 13 to 15 tiles that were ripped away or damaged apparently were hit by a Shock wave As the Craft barrelled up through the atmosphere. The tile dam age was discovered when the Astro nauts televised a picture of the Tail Section to the ground. He said the missing tiles designed to protect Columbia from re entry heat were on top of the spaceship and would not be affected by that heat. We Are not worried about any other tiles work ing he said. As a precaution Nasa asked the . Air Force to photograph the space ship s Underbelly with its High Resolution satellite tracking cameras at Cape canaveral and in Hawaii. Officials euphoric and Crippen will Fly the 80-ton Columbia Back to Earth with a wheels Down Landing scheduled at . Cost on a Long dry Lake bed at Edwards air Force base Calif. It will be the first spacecraft american or soviet to go into space return and be ready to Fly again. Nasa officials euphoric Over the Early Mission Success said that if the flight continues to go As successfully As the first Day and if subsequent tests go just As Well they might consider cutting the number of test flights to three from four. Young and Crippen were As pleased As the ground Crews with the launch. With Only minor problems to worry about they took time from their Busy work yesterday to enjoy the View from 276 Kilometres up and to share their feelings with shuttle control especially Crippen making his first flight after training 15 years As an Astro naut. That was one fantastic ride i highly recommend he exclaimed As Columbia soared into orbit. Of Man that is so he remarked on seeing Earth from space for the first time. Young setting a human record with his fifth trip into space was a Little More reserved. It sure has t changed he radioed. It s something else out he s been telling me about it for three said Crippen. When you see it it s face to face Energy talks first since fall by the Canadian press Federal Energy minister Marc la Londe and his Alberta counterpart Merv Leitch take what has been billed a tenuous first step today toward resolving a lengthy confrontation Over Energy pricing and related issues. The two men Are meeting face to face in Winnipeg for the first time since he controversial National Energy pro Gram and budget were unveiled in october prompting a series of Retalia tory measures by Alberta the primary Oil producing province. The two governments have been at Odds since Ottawa announced oct. 28 it was unilaterally imposing on the producing provinces new Oil prices and taxation measures As Well As a dramatically revised Revenue sharing scheme that More than doubles the Federal take. There have been sporadic meetings Between Federal and provincial officials since october but no serious attempts at the ministerial level to get Back to the bargaining table. Both ministers Are being accompanied by a delegation of officials including their Deputy ministers for this meeting on so called Neutral territory. Despite increasing pressure from the Petroleum Industry that the govern ments Settle their differences quickly Lalonde said earlier this month they have agreed not to put a comprehensive Energy pricing agreement on the table at this initial encounter. Instead they want to use the meeting to sound each other out on areas of Dis agreement with an Eye to setting the stage for More detailed negotiations during the summer he said. Lalonde has remained silent on what areas the Federal government might be prepared to move while Alberta pre Mier Peter Lougheed and Leitch have both said Ottawa must come to the table prepared to offer something new. Leitch told a Toronto audience last week he is not optimistic about the outcome of the meeting. No movement nothing Ottawa has done or said to Date indicates that it has the will the desire to reach an agreement the producing provinces could find accept major issues include new Federal taxes on Oil and Gas revenues an excise tax on natural Gas and the Domestic wellhead Price of Oil now a barrel compared with a world Price of about the Federal government has imposed Price increases that will raise the Well head Price to a barrel by Jan. Less a barrel than Alberta had proposed during the failed talks be tween Lougheed and prime minister Trudeau in july. The two governments also have been locked in a numbers War Over the split among Ottawa the producing prov inces and the Industry of billions of new dollars in revenues resulting from the Price increases. Under the new federally imposed formula Ottawa says its share will increase to 24 per cent from 10 per cent the producing provinces share will decline to 43 per cent from 45 per cent and Industry s take drops to 33 per cent from 45 per cent. Alberta and the other producing provinces of British Columbia and Saskatchewan say the Federal government is exaggerating the amount of Money they stand to make Over the next several years and understating Ottawa s potential revenues. Resolution of the impasse becomes increasingly important with the Pas Sage of time. It s the first time the ice has come up so High in 28years the governments face deadlines by the sponsors of two Oil Sands plants proposed for Northern Alberta who say the projects will die unless Ottawa and Alberta agree by july 1. Lougheed has withheld final approval of those projects As one Means of protesting the Energy program. He has also rejected Ottawa s suggestion that there be a separate agree ment on Oil Sands pricing on grounds the projects Are his prime bargaining chips in the dispute with the Federal government. As further retaliation Alberta began reducing its production of conventional Oil on March 1 by an average of barrels a Day Over the three month period ending june 1. In response the Federal government imposed a new tax on Oil consumption of one half cent a litre or 2.25 cents a gallon to allow it to collect about million each Day to pay for increased imports to fill the Gap. More cuts slated further cuts of about barrels a Day Are slated to begin june 1 and a final Cut of barrels a Day is scheduled for sept. 1 if there still is no agreement. Meanwhile the province successfully challenged in the Alberta court of Appeal the Federal government s plan to tax exports of natural Gas from provincially owned Wells. The decision favouring Alberta might provide a moral boost to the province s position that resources it owns cannot be taxed. But Federal and provincial spokesmen have said it is a narrow ruling applicable Only to a Small amount of Gas that could be produced from three government owned Wells As opposed to private producers Wells. The producing provinces have been bitterly opposed from the outset to the Federal government s decision to impose a tax of 30 cents a thousand cubic feet on All Gas sales whether destined for Domestic or . Markets. On the surface both sides appear to remain Adamant there will be no major reversal of positions. Lalonde insists he has some room to manoeuvre without major surgery to the National Energy program perhaps suggesting a More rapid increase in Oil prices at some Point Down the Road. But he has repeatedly said the goals of the National Energy program Are not negotiable. Falling tree kills youth on farm a Winnipeg teen Ager helping a rela Tive Cut firewood saturday morning on a farm near Swan Lake was killed after being struck by a falling tree ramp said. Richard Donovan Saxton 13, of Clif ton Street was pronounced dead on arrival at Swan Lake Hospital. Meanwhile a Man from Friedens Ruh five Kilometres Southeast of Winkler is in critical condition with head injuries suffered when his truck slammed into his barn saturday. Ramp said Peter Friesen 56, was sitting on the passenger Side of his half ton truck when the vehicle began to move in reverse. The injured Man was unable to Stop the truck before it collided with the Side of the barn he was taken to Bethel Hospital in Winkler where he is listed in critical condition with head injuries ramp said. Continued from Page 1 woman s living room has caved in. Climbing on to the roof now level with the one can look through a gaping Hole in the ceiling and see furniture strewn about a Knickknacks Cabinet teetering at a Drunken Angle a vase balanced precariously on a shelf. Split Walls leak insulation. The front of Grandpierre s cottage with windows judiciously boarded to weather the Winter is now at an Angle of about 50 degrees to the ground. A Utility shed which stood in the dwell ing s Way when the ice moved in is tilted at a steeper Angle. This place is a total said one cottage owner snapping a picture of destruction arbitrarily determined by the direction of the wind. Down the lakefront John Andrich his wife son and daughter in Law worked at extracting an aluminium boat from a Boathouse which col lapsed under the weight of the ice. We be been Here for 28 said Andrich. It s the first time the ice has come up so High the first time the Boathouse has been they managed to free the boat but its trailer was twisted beyond repair. Like Bourbonnais they will spend the summer rebuilding. But first they must wait another four to six weeks for the ice to melt. Lake ice is beguiling. We were Here last sunday and everything was said Williams. It looked so innocent out there on the Lake so cottage owner Duff Martin recalled the Spring of 1966 when her son and his Friend were playing Ball on the Bare Sandy Beach. She called them in for lunch. We were eating when we heard this godawful she said. We looked out the window and the Beach was piled High with ice. That s How Quick it even now a Light gust of wind causes the ice to crack and shift ominously. One of four cottages and boathouses crushed by wind propelled sheets of Lake Manitoba ice at twin takes Beach Friday ;