Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - April 13, 1981, Winnipeg, Manitoba 4 Winnipeg free press monday april 13, 1981 Jam s hag any wire who of pc pre5s what am i bid right hand upraised of Ken s mention bicycles at a City Sale of unclaimed bicycles saturday. Auctioneer Ken Morrow . Auction service makes his pitch before a sea of faces not to about people signed in to bid said City officials. Quebec polls Point to pm win Montreal up the parti quebecois which stunned the country and even itself by sweeping to Power in 1976, stands today on the threshold of a second term that Only months ago seemed improbable. The party has apparently succeeded in repeating what it did so Well in 1976 temporarily shelving the Issue of sovereignty association until some future Date. Premier Rene Levesque winding up Liis Campaign for today s vote said yesterday the turnaround in the party s fortunes after its stinging referendum defeat last May is because we kept our but Liberal Leader Claude Ryan waxing philosophic after polls saturday showed his party falling farther be Hind said the province s future is being decided by a Superior will. May the will of the father be both leaders remained at least publicly sceptical about two polls giving the pm an Edge of Between eight and 14 Points among decided voters. I have a word of Leves que told audiences All Day saturday. Forget the he cautioned sup porters not to become complacent and 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 dues proposal May unionize doctors continued from Page 1 an my a spokesman said the in tent of the deduction of fees Resolution is to have doctors pay for the association s efforts in negotiating con tracts on behalf of All practising Mani Toba physicians regardless of member ship. 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 medi Cal consultant at great West life Assurance 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 doctors Freedom to practise 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. As the progressive conservatives Only Quebec member of parliament to Lead the decimated Union rationale seemed resigned to his Fate and suggested he May leave politics if he in t elected. Polls close at 7 . Cost the polls open at 9 . Cost and close at 7 . 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 there 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 exploder 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. 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 Levesque Given ammunition 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 combined. 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. Sex Federal minister Marler Dies Montreal up George c. Marler former Federal and Quebec Cabinet minister died Here during the weekend. He was 80. Marler a native of Montreal and former notary who was minister of transport in Louis St. Laurent s Federal Liberal Cabinet and member for West mount St. Antoine from 1954-1957, died Friday night following a heart at tack. He was provincial minister without portfolio under Quebec Liberal Premier Jean Lesage from 1960-1965 and also sat a member of the legislative Assem Bly from 1942-1953. He was opposition Leader for the last five years of that period. From 1940-1947, Marler was a Mon Treal City councillor and vice president of the City s executive committee. He left politics in 1965 to become chairman of the Board of cements la Farge Quebec Ltee. Marler is survived by his wife three daughters and a son. Funeral services Are to be held Here tomorrow. Lively Energy debate bewildering Cambridge mass. Up americans and mexicans were left scratching their Heads in bewilderment this weekend after witnessing a Lively display of Canadian Energy politics. Canadian participants in Back to Back Energy seminars had their Small audiences at Harvard University laughing and confused As the canadians colourfully aired Federal provincial and inter provincial grievances. Quebec and Newfoundland representatives went head to head on their current dispute Over transmission of hydroelectric Power from Labrador. And representatives from Alberta and the Federal progressive conserva Tive party took the government to task for the National Energy program which they described As discriminatory and an impediment to bringing on new supplies o f Oil and Gas. Goal termed fairy tale Wayne minion chairman of the Al Berta Petroleum marketing commis Sion labelled the program s goal of Energy self sufficiency by 1990 As Noth ing Short of a fairy tale. He now is convinced Hans Christian Andersen is alive and Well and writing prose for he Canadian the Lone Federal voice belonged to senator Jack Austin from British co Lumbia who defended the Energy pro Gram particularly its emphasis on canadians nation of the Petroleum Industry. The political sparring prompted an american participant to observe at the final session saturday in an admitted understatement that the Energy debate in the United states had certainly not reached the fever pitch of Canada. Others Shook their Heads laughed and conceded Canadian politics had them baffled. One mexican simply suggested he envied such Freedom of speech. Governments accused the two seminars sponsored by the Harvard based University consortium for research on North America were designed to bring together politicians Public officials and academics from Canada and Mexico and then Canada and the . To discuss common prob lems and opportunities for Energy development. Leo Barry Newfoundland Energy minister spared neither Quebec nor the Federal government in his re Marks. He accused Quebec of executing a giant Ripoff by refusing to renegotiate a contract that has forced Newfoundland to sell upper Churchill hydroelectric Power to Quebec at such Low rates that Newfoundland has been losing million annually in potential revenues. But he reserved his harshest criticism for Ottawa which he said has failed to exercise its jurisdiction to ensure free movement of electrical Energy through Quebec to alternate markets. The Churchill development in Labra Dor is Cut off from other markets by Quebec which insists the Power must be sold to the province under the terms of the existing unconscionable con tract that still has 61 years to go Barry said. Newfoundland will not proceed with the lower Churchill Power develop ment until it has the Choice of Selling to other provinces or to the . If Quebec is not prepared to pay a fair Price. Our political solution is to browbeat the Federal government to treat electricity the same Way As Oil and have the National Energy Board set out terms and conditions for the free movement of electricity to another Barry jokingly suggested newfound land would be willing to put the trans Mission line in a pipeline if that is necessary to get Ottawa to act. Denis l homme Quebec s director general of Energy responded that Barry was being Overly sensitive and should remember the upper Churchill project would not even exist if Hydro Quebec had not provided financial and technical backing. Bourassa enters fray former Quebec Premier Robert Bourassa entered the fray saturday saying it would be a dangerous Prece Dent to reopen a contract negotiated in Good Faith in 1969. But he urged both governments to negotiate a Deal which would give Newfoundland a greater share of the profits in future joint Hydro developments. Bourassa making a Brief appear Ance before Rushing off to some last minute Liberal campaigning for today s Quebec election said in an interview the Issue must be resolved quickly so the lower Churchill project can be. Completed in time to capitalize on the need for hydroelectricity in the North Eastern . Suggestion discussed Barry said in an interview Bourassa s suggestion is being discussed in negotiations but is not the immedi ate solution. The key is getting a trans Mission corridor through the province so Newfoundland has some real bar gaining Power with Quebec. Barry also ridiculed the Federal government for trying to keep newfound land from owning its offshore re sources. There still will be enormous Federal Powers to whip us into line if we become too but he said the Federal View essentially is we Don t want to have the same problem with you Guys that we re having with minion of Alberta charged that the National Energy program particularly some of its taxation measures is an attempt to undermine the province s right to resource ownership something it won in 1930. He warned Alberta was not prepared to turn the clock Back 50 years. Oil Price pact talks begin in Winnipeg continued from Page 1 meeting on so called Neutral Terri tory. Despite increasing pressure from the Petroleum Industry that the governments 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 meet ing to sound each other out on areas of disagreement with an Eye to setting the stage for More detailed negotiations during the summer he said. Leitch told a Toronto audience last week he is not optimistic about the outcome of the meeting. 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 the Federal government has imposed Price increases that will raise the wellhead Price to a barrel by Jan. 1, 1984, less a barrel than Alberta had proposed during the failed talks Between Lougheed and prime minister Trudeau in july. Locked in numbers War 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 govern ment 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. 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. Ottawa suggestions rejected 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 convention Al 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. 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 pwned Wells. The decision favouring Alberta might provide a moral boost to the province s position that resources it owns cannot be taxed. App Oil spectators watch the . Space shuttle Columbia lift off. Spacecraft Columbia performs beautifully continued from Page 1 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 ;