Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - April 13, 1981, Winnipeg, Manitoba 6 Winnipeg free press monday april 13, 1981 Winnipeg free press Freedom of Trade Equality of civil rights Liberty of religion published and printed six Days a week at 300 Cartton Street. Winnipeg r3c 3d by Canadian newspapers company limited Telephone 943-9331 second class Mah registration number 0266 Donald Nicol publisher John Dafoe editorial Page editor Murray Burt j Aid to Africa s refugees the Federal government s decision to contribute million to an International Effort to help Africa s growing refugee problem is the right one. Equally right is the note struck by external affairs minister Mark Macguigan when he said that solutions to this problem can Only be found in Africa by the United nations organized the 84-country conference in Geneva because of the alarming numbers of africans now living in miserable conditions in refugee Camps because of social and political dislocation. The current estimate being used by the in is that 1.5 million refugees Are destitute and hungry in Somalia in the Sudan in Zaire and in Cameroon. The total for the african continent is estimated to be five million refugees. Somalia has refugees because of its diplomatic and sometimes military conflict with Ethiopia Over the Ogaden Region. Ethiopia s military efficiency was so enhanced by soviet and East German advisers As Well As cuban infantry detachments that the Ogaden peasants had no alternative but to trek into Somalia to escape artillery bombardments air raids and attacks on their villages by land forces. Eritreans have fled into the Sudan to escape ethiopian government reprisals caused by the attempt to establish an autonomous Eritrea. Zaire has suffered Domestic rebellion against its government and has had an influx of refugees a biased out of Northern Angola by the cuban army. Cameroon has received refugees fleeing oppressive governments or factional fighting in neighbouring equatorial Guinea the Congo the Central african Empire and Chad. There Are refugees from the chaos in Post Amin Uganda from genocidal killings in Burundi from the strange govern ing theories of Malawi s president for life Hastings Banda from the Bush War in Zimbabwe from South Africa s apartheid policies from political upheavals in West african states from the Battle for Possession of the former Spanish Sahara. The result of these disruptions has been an Ever growing band of homeless hungry frightened people now numbering in the millions. This mess is being discussed by the world Community because the organization of african Unity a Misnomer if Ever there was one has failed utterly to clean it up. The Oak is paralysed by its policy of avoiding discussion of the internal affairs of its member states. This led to the grotesque irony of the Arch Butcher Idi Amin becoming president of the organization and playing Host to one of its meetings in the same Kampala in which his troops were then forcing hundreds of prisoners to murder each other in his bulging prisons. It is very inappropriate therefore that the Geneva meeting should now be featuring the disease of petulant politics. The russians and their subject countries Are not present because they say today s misery is caused by Western colonial nation that ended in the 1960s. The arabs Are sulking and dragging their feet because the israeli government is present. Some National Cheque books Are producing absurdly Low contributions because of the argument that others Are More responsible for solving the problem. Nigeria for example has offered a ludicrous million from its bloated Oil revenues More than that figure is lost every week because of corruption waste and Malad ministration in Nigeria. Such imperfections do not justify inaction by other coun tries. The United states has pledged a creditable million. Western european countries Are being generous. Canada s commitment is of appropriate size and reflects this country s compassion. The real solution remains the Restora Tion by africans of political and social stability in their own Region. Studying University needs Canadian universities and their employees Are anxious about the level of Grant support their provincial governments will be providing them from 1982 Onward. The Federal government has announced its intention to reduce starting next year its payments to provinces under an arrangement supposedly for the support of Post secondary education. If As a result provinces have less Money to spread around universities fear they will head the list of candidates for corresponding cutbacks in provincial spending. Federal payments to the provinces will be determined by1 the eleven governments involved according to the strength of the Case the provinces can make and the role Ottawa wishes to play in subsidizing provincial operations. But whatever Deal May be made Between Ottawa and the provinces after the current five year arrangement expires next year universities will still have to operate and will have to find the necessary Revenue in some combination of provincial Grants student fees and private donations. The Canadian association of University teachers is advocating a Federal Royal commission of inquiry with provincial participation to investigate the financing of universities and to recommend the contributions that should be made by each level of government. That idea is unlikely to go far. Federal payments to the provinces in the name of Post secondary education cannot logically be isolated from the elaborate network of Federal provincial arrangements covering medi care Hospital insurance social programs equalization and a Host of smaller special deals. Financing universities is a provincial responsibility and not a suitable subject for a Federal inquiry. The University Community can however help assure its financial future by providing a coherent statement of its financial needs and of the merits of various ways in which those needs can be met. A nation wide Survey sponsored and conducted by administrations teachers students and per haps other interested groups could document province by province and for the whole country the extent to which underfunding has damaged universities the tasks they will face for the rest of the 1980s in teaching research and. Community service and the costs they will incur to carry out those tasks. It could also usefully explore the advantages and Pitfalls of higher student fees expanded student Aid higher provincial Grants and novel fund raising strategies. The arrangements that May be made Between Ottawa Ana the provinces need not concern the universities directly except insofar As provinces May use them As a pretext for starving their universities. But the country does need from its universities a careful statement of their needs of the ways in which those needs can be met and of the Price each province will pay if it fails to meet them. It will then be up to each provincial government to find the Money where it can either in the Federal Treasury or in the pockets of its own taxpayers. National Mirror to quote from the Canadian broadcasting corporation s submission that was made last month to the cultural policy review committee of the government anything which can be said about Canada can also be said about the Csc. You could describe our country As economically implausible painfully diverse and full of contradictions. You could also describe Canada As one of the freest most creative most humane most exciting and most successful countries on the Brief then goes on to say and you could quite accurately describe the Csc in the same perhaps. Any Public corporation that requires half a billion dollars a year to survive could be described As economically implausible. The Csc could be described As painfully diverse and full of contradictions. Although there will be some who will object to the Csc being described As most creative and most humane anyone whose ears have been assaulted with All the expletives that were deleted from Richard Nixon s tapes and whose sensibilities have been exposed to a graphic visit to a homosexual steam Bath in Toronto will certainly agree that the Csc is much Freer than the self policing american networks. It May Well be the freest. Perhaps the Csc is right in suggesting that anything that describes Canada describes the Csc. One thing for which we can All be thankful is that the Csc has not suggested that some of the descriptions that Are used by its audiences to describe it particularly in a single Channel Market could just As easily or readily be applied to the country As a whole. I can hardly wait for income tax time bringing As it does Ottawa s warm reassurance that we Are not to be the new tory super weapon by Anthony Westell special to the free press Ottawa significance of the procedural Battle which had been rag ing in the commons until the parties worked out a peace treaty last week is that the conservative opposition seems to have invented a new and deadly form of filibuster. The time honoured or rather Dishon ored Way of holding up the passage of a government measure has been for opposition maps to spin out debate by speaking As often As possible and for As Long As possible moving amendments and forcing votes. But if the blockade lasted too Long the government could always bring in a closure motion to end debate. Decisive vote closure might take a few Days and provoke some criticism but in the end the government majority could have its Way and carry its measure to a final and decisive vote. But this time faced with the govern ment s constitutional package which they judged to be of unusual importance and also unpopular the tories came up with a new strategy based on the fact that questions of privilege and Points of order take precedence Over All other business. The tories reasoned that if they could just invent enough questions of privilege and Points of order they could not Only Stop the House from proceeding with the constitutional de Bate but they could also prevent the government from getting on the Agenda to introduce a motion of closure. So for hour after hour the regular debating time of the House was occupied by a succession of tory maps rising to argue obscure questions of privilege and invalid Points of order. The speaker of course kept ruling against their arguments but the tories kept invent ing new arguments. Prime minister Pierre Trudeau and his liberals could Only sit fume and protest against the abuse of Parlia ment. They could not break through the tory blockade and they had to Start making concessions. Or. Trudeau had argued consistently that Reform of the Constitution was an Issue for political rather than Legal decision. He had hoped to get his proposals approved by the Canadian parliament and ratified by the British parliament before the supreme court of Canada could Rule on the legality of the procedure. But As the Success of the tory delaying tactics made it increasingly obvious that this timetable could not be met or. Trudeau suddenly reversed himself last week. Statesman presenting himself As a responsible statesman offering a reasonable Deal which the opposition would be irresponsible to refuse he proposed to the tories end the filibuster allow the House to debate and pass the constitutional proposals and the government would wait for and accept a decisive judgment by the supreme court before taking further action. It was in fact a major Concession and it did put the tories on the defensive forcing them to explain Why they were refusing the Deal. Reversal last week or. Trudeau increased the pressure by reversing himself again and offering a second Concession if the tories would end the filibuster he would sit Down with the provincial premiers once again and make a final Effort to agree on an amending formula that could be inserted into the constitutional proposals. The tories realized they probably could not continue the filibuster for much longer without irritating the pub Lic and anyway they had won All the concessions they were Likely to get from or. Trudeau and so a Deal was quickly struck and announced on wednesday. The Deal has been hailed As a Triumph of parliamentary Compromise in which the opposition gained some of its Points while the government won approval for an order ending the filibuster and setting limits on the constitutional debate. But the hard fact remains that the government majority in fact was forced to its Knees by an opposition minority employing a now form of filibuster for which there is no apparent remedy. That is not exactly Good news for admirers of parliamentary govern ment. Love it or leave it i have just suffered through another one of Roger Newman s articles City needs better planning free press. April one has to wonder if or. Newman is shortsighted or simply thick headed. Or. Newman s View of Winnipeg appears to be that of someone who is asleep at the wheel and Only wakes up when he reaches the parking lot behind the free press i agree with him when he says Winnipeg is a City because of its certainly it is a City made up of some very Fine people. But it is also a City that has a great Deal of physical a peal. Winnipeg has Rivers Parks clean streets and a pleasant blend of old and new architecture. Old Market Square As a businessman and Active participant in the old Market Square redevelopment i invite or. Newman to join me for a walking tour of the historic Winnipeg warehouse District. Every year thousands of Winnipeg Gers and tourists alike enjoy the inter Esting architecture Beautiful streets and pleasant surroundings that Are to be found just one Short Block from the Concrete Jungle at Portage and main. We Are hopeful that the Core Initia Tive program administrators will recognize our past efforts and will assist us with our future plans by allocating a fair portion of their funds to be spent in this area. Or. Newman s suggestion that the North Side of Portage Avenue is in need of help and is an eyesore cannot be disputed. I suggest that a Large pan of the problem lies with the landlords and not the City. If the building owners continue to rent space to arcades and Massage Parlours All the Money spent to create Parks and apartment build Ings will be wasted. Civic Pride and responsible landlords Are the major ingredients required to clean up the North Side of Portage. If this is coupled with a change in the tax Structure i am sure that ample private funds would be available for its redevelopment and a very minor amount of Core initiative funds would have to be spent. Or. Newman s Conception of Progress appears to be massive towers of Concrete and Glass traffic congestion and High priced real estate. I Sug Gest he look at Winnipeg s past and discover the future. Winnipeg does not need to take a Back seat to Calgary or Edmonton when it comes to City plan Ning. Our City has been built through the amalgamation of several smaller cities. Each area still retains some thing of its old identity. The downtown area has deteriorated in some areas but tremendous improvements have been made in others. If or. Newman would dwell on the positive aspects of Down town Winnipeg he would do everyone a favor. If he cannot find any perhaps he should move. Richard l. Walls president old Market Square association Winnipeg letters the Winnipeg free press welcomes letters from readers. Writers Musl give heir name and address. The author s name will be used and letters Are subject to editing. With regard to your front Page Story of april 6, progressives pose threat to nip the Story makes some serious errors and consists mainly of Specula Tion. I assume your editors will soon Start giving proportionally As much analysis and coverage to a real Politi Cal party with members and 15 candidates chosen democratically by the members in their constituency. The mathematics of the threat Are dead wrong. You assume that by Cut Ting in half the nip margin the progressives could cause an nip de feat in a series of constituencies. This would be True Only if the progressives also took every single conservative vote and if there was absolutely no change in voters and their preference since 1977. It would also be True if the progressives took the entire nip mar Gin in those constituencies. However both of these Are big As your Story indicates. Your reporter says that a Survey of new democrats who signed the pro Green petition found no one who had joined the progressives and Only two who said they May join. So the fact which you report is that there is no swing of support from the nip to the progressives. This seems to be con firmed by the fact that of the seven candidates announced for the Progress Ives Only two were new democrats and they have not been members since 1977. You rehash the last random Sample poll by the free press which indicated a massive drop in conservative sup port and some increase in nip sup port. This indicates that 1977 margins May be almost useless in speculating about the next provincial election. The Only fresh news you had to offer was the Lack of an nip swing toward the progressives yet the headline and most of the speculation was about a threat which your own Story refutes. Perhaps the free press thinks that nip strength Unity and support for Howard Pawley Are not news. That would explain Why you headline the slightest difference of opinion within the party and Bury any news about nip growth. If there was a swing of support from the nip to the progressives it might Hurt the nip in closely fought Ridings. However that observation does not justify the incorrect mathematics and pure speculation of your Story. I will be waiting to see whether the new democrats in Dauphin constituency get More coverage when they nominate a candidate of april 11, than four progressives got in March. Surely you will not ignore Dauphin As totally As you did the new democrats who turned out in december 1980 to nominate Paul Dupuis in Emerson. Also i Hope that As the election approaches we will see less news stories which attempt to justify the editorial Page and More objective re porting of the Manitoba political scene. Bill Regehr president Manitoba new democratic party Winnipeg warped logic amazement and a degree of disbelief struck me on april 4 when health minister . Sherman announced that the government is considering com plete coverage for out of province med ical costs. This government seems to be unable to set a realistic fee schedule for the physicians practising in the province but then decides that when Manitoba doctors move elsewhere they should be paid the full amount of a much higher fee schedule it sort of makes one wonder what Type of warped logic is being inflicted on the citizens of Manitoba. . Crust my Winnipeg not a Hick town As a native Winnipeg Ger it irks me each time this City is criticized. If it is not our Winter then it is the Economy which is constantly being attacked. As if that is not bad enough we have to put up with critics who term our City As being a lifeless Dull whistle Stop of a place. Most annoying to those who follow the sports scene Are the verbal blows which our two pro franchises the jets and the bombers Are constantly receiving. Winnipeg is notorious for its bitter climate which clutches the area usually in late october and often does not let go until at least the end of March. We do have cold spells which make even the Heartiest of Winni Eggers dream of Hawaii. Nevertheless How often is the fact that Sunshine hours Are abundant in this Region recognized by Hinse who stereotype the Peg As being a dreary place our Summers Are probably among the nicest in Canada As Sunshine Cou pled with warm temperatures is Preva Lent. There is a myriad of advantages associated with living in Winnipeg. Our houses Are among the cheapest Avail Able in the country if it is so great moving to Alberta then compare he Cost of purchasing a Home or apart ment there As opposed to this City one May ask what can you do in for one Ballet lovers Are Able to watch one of the nation s Best companies the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. As Well there is the Winnipeg symphony orchestra which does a first rate Job. Other attractions Are the Art Gal Lery convention Centre and the Mani Toba theatre Centre. Thus it seems fair to assess Winnipeg As a place with much culture. The Beautiful resort areas of Manitoba represent another attractive feature or Winni Eggers. Such regions As the White Shell Riding Mountain National Park and the Lake Winnipeg Beach areas allow City people the use of facilities which Are first class. Winnipeg is not As undesirable a place to live As some people paint it to be and it is by no Means a Hick town. Fred stand1l Winnipeg Seal Hunt in the free press of March 21 let ters a number of people spoke out quite strongly against the annual Mari time Seal Hunt. They denounced the Hunt calling it an inhumane Slaugh Ter. The annual Seal Hunt is not a Slaugh Ter it is a Seal Harvest. Populations Are determined and quotas Are established. Quotas Are strictly enforced and there fore no danger of Over harvesting exists. But what about inhumane 1 am As much against cruelty to animals As anyone and it is unfortunate that every year we hear of a few inexperienced Hunters who Are doing a less than professional Job. Demonstrators screaming and carry ing protest signs and who risk their own lives on the ice floes Are accomplishing nothing on the pups behalf. Is the Seal Hunt really that important that it must continue yes. In addition to providing badly needed exports sealing keeps the Hunters employed and let us not forget a certain amount of self respect comes from being Able to Cam an honest living. De Rempel Starbuck Man. And furthermore i would Shorter hours Ami More sexual f r ;