Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - April 14, 1981, Winnipeg, Manitoba 6 Winnipeg free press tuesday april 14, 1981 Winnipeg free press Freedom of Trade Equality of civil rights Liberty of religion published and printed six Days a week at 300 Carllon Street. Winnipeg r3c 3c1 by Canadian newspapers company i Mitori Telephone 943-9331 second class mail registration number 0286 Donald Nicol publisher John Dafoe editorial Page editor Murray Burt managing editor living with or. Levesque three and a half years ago the parti quebecois won an election in Quebec by promising to hold a referendum on sovereignty association. Yesterday it won another election by promising Mil to hold a referendum. Both promises in fact gave Quebe cers the same message a vote could be safely cast for the pm without the fear that the province would be launched immediately on the Uncer Tain Road to political Independence. With that Promise ringing in their ears a significant number of Quebe cers who voted in 1980 against the referendum proposal for sovereignty association. Voted this time for its author or. Levesque. With the Issue of separation apparently safely on the Back Burner they were ready to give themselves the luxury of three or four More years with the amiable or. Levesque rather than with the Stern and forbidding Claude Ryan. The fact that or. Levesque promised to set sovereignty association aside of course does not mean that separatism is dead. Or. Levesque and his party remain committed to a separate Quebec and they can be expected to pursue that aim once More when the time grows Ripe. Suspicions Are already being voiced in Ottawa that they will use their renewed mandate to undermine federalism and Speed the Day when the Quebec people will be ready to accept their option. That suspicion is not completely unfounded. Between the previous election and the referendum the pm government did spend Large amounts of Energy and Public Money seeking to Tuni Quebe cers against federalism and to scuttle Federal Provin Cial agreements. But after the referendum or. Levesque did play the Federal game fairly. We should know quite soon whether he intends to continue doing so. The first test will come later this week when or. Levesque meets the other seven premiers who Are opposed to prime minister Trudeau s constitutional proposals. If that meeting produces a straightforward plan for Patria Tion with an amending formula then or. Levesque will be seen to be maintaining a common posture with the federalist premiers of the other provinces. If the premiers plan is encumbered with demands for recognition of self determination More provincial Powers and the like then it will be Clear that or. Levesque is Back playing his own game. The Quebec election result demonstrates the hollowness of or. Trudeau s claim that he is charging ahead with his constitutional package in order to fulfil a Promise to the people of Quebec. Or. Trudeau s constitutional changes Are not the ones that were promised to Quebe cers during the referendum Campaign and Many of the province s voters appear to have recognized that fact. The prime minister s performance May or May not have Hurt or. Ryan s federalist cause but they clearly did not help it. At the very least it did not persuade a Large number of que Becer s to abandon their Long standing inclination to balance Liberal Power in Ottawa with an opposing Power in Quebec City. Real negotiations at last the most hopeful sign to emerge from yesterday s meeting Between Energy minister Marc Lalonde and his Alberta counterpart Merv Leitch was the fact that neither of them had much to say when it was Over. Previous meetings to negotiate an agreement on Oil and natural Gas policy tended to produce an immediate spate of Public comments aimed chiefly at putting the blame for failure on the other fellow. The fact that both ministers this time Are keeping their Mouths shut indicates that this time they Are going to make a serious try at negotiating an agreement. They Are going about it in the right Way. Instead of setting Forth All embracing packages of prices and taxation they have suggested new directions to be pursued in further talks first at the official level and later Between the ministers. That is the Way that serious negotiations take place. There is no guarantee that the sensible approach will produce an agreement. The Gap Between the two sides in prices in Revenue shares and in philosophy remains vast. But the two ministers and the governments they represent must now understand the political and economic Price of continued disagreement. Their differences cannot be settled overnight and there is no reason to expect them to be. But if yesterday or. Lalonde began to agree that his National Energy policy is not the infallible document he believed it to be last october and if or. Leitch agrees that Ottawa s claim to a modestly bigger slice of the Energy pie must be accepted in fact As Well As in theory then they both have achieved the beginnings of Wisdom. The future Prosperity of canadians in All parts of the country will depend on whether those beginnings Over the next few weeks or months can be made to Lead to an agreement which will get canadians investing again in their own Energy resources instead of pouring Consumers and taxpayers dollars abroad to enrich foreign Oil producers. End support Wilfa arabs May tip the balance keep University fees progressive party Leader Sidney Green has noticed like others before him that working families Supply less than their share of the students who attend University though they pay their share of the taxes to support universities. In that sense they Are subsidizing higher education mainly for the Benefit of Middle and upper income people. But or. Green s solution abolition of University tuition fees and a Matching increase in government Grants would Only make matters worse. It would give those Middle and upper income people a 100-per-cent free ride through univer sity at the taxpayers expense instead of the present free ride and would raise the Money off the same taxpayers including working families who Are paying now. Inability to pay the tuition fees is about the least important reason people give for not attending University. A great Many students on finishing High school wish to Start work immediately. Others find that University education is not needed for the career they have chosen. Others again Are unable to meet the academic requirements. Family values and traditions play a part in career choices and rightly or wrongly some working families consider University a waste of time. A National Survey of the student Aid system last year examined exactly this Point. It questioned a Sample of canadians in their 20s and 30s who were of an age to attend College or University in the 1970s but did not do so and asked them Why they did not. Twenty per cent replied that finances were at least part of the reason. Only eight per cent gave finances As the sole reason. The people in that Small group include the Only ones or. Green could Hope to bring into University by abolishing tuition fees. Some of them would still be discouraged by the much greater non tuition costs a student generally incurs to feed clothe and House himself during his student years. A More Liberal student Aid system would meet the needs of those prospective students better than abolition of fees. With or without fees a disproportionately Large number of University students will come from Middle and upper in come households because those Are the students who most often make career choices that Lead through University. Or. Green May wish it were not so but abolishing fees will not change it. If or. Green wishes to get More people from working families into University he must begin by Persuad ing them that it their while. If he wishes to ensure that the people who directly Benefit from universities Are also the people who pay for them he should be asking for higher fees with an expanded student loan system to collect the Money Back from those who graduate into Well paid jobs. Lack of Money is admittedly preventing a few Manito bans from attending University. Abolishing tuition fees is probably the least efficient least effective Way of trying to remove the financial Barrier. It makes the kind of sharply defined against the Grain proposal or. Green likes to advocate easy to turn into a slogan. Reforming student Aid is not such a Catchy slogan. It obliges its advocates to Roll up their sleeves and examine the Boring and troublesome details of who the students Are How they pay for their education and Why the rest Are not studying. But it is a much More promising Avenue. By Nehomia Meyers special to the free press Reh Vot Israel voters May determine who will be Israel s next prime minister. To be sure they make up Only eight per cent of the electorate. Yet after the june 30 elections when the Knesset is Likely to be split Down the Middle Between the liked and religious parties on the one Side and the labor led left on the other a few Arab mks could hold the balance of Power. In labor s pocket for Many years the arabs were pretty much in the pocket of the labor party. As the party in Power Between 1948 and 1977, labor could offer sub Stantial benefits to arabs who co operated with it. And traditionally minded Arab notables were More than willing to do the party s bidding in return for their share of the spoils. These notables headed lists affiliated to the labor party lists which ended up with some 70 per cent of the Arab vote in the 1950s and most of the 1960s. Things began to change however with the emergence of a Well educated radically minded generation of Young arabs during the last decade. Almost to a Man they turned their backs on the labor affiliated lists choosing instead to support the comm mists. In the 1969 elections the communist party received 34 per cent of the Arab vote in 1973, 37 per cent and in 1977 when the communists ran under the Banner of the democratic list for peace and 50 per cent. This gave the communists five seats and they would probably have obtained More had not some Arab voters heeded the demands of still More Radical groups like b naia Al Balad sons of the Village which argued that voting even for communist candidates was Tanta mount to accepting the jewish state. Labor hoping to turn the tide has adopted a new approach this year. More or less giving up the idea of affiliated Arab lists it has opted in Stead to enrol arabs directly in the labor party. So far it has Arab members and next month when it chooses its candidates for the Knesset there Are Likely to be several arabs among them As Well. Yet it still re Mains to be seen whether Arab Candi dates will attract a substantial number of Arab votes. The communists will certainly be hard to beat. For while the great majority of israeli arabs Are most certainly not marxists they Are attracted by a party which is stridently anti zionist and enjoys the blessings of Yassir Arafat. Arab attitudes have Little or nothing to do with the conditions of Arab life. In the two years since the Camp David peace treaty hundreds of israeli arabs have visited Egypt and seen for them selves How much better they live than do their Brethren on the Nile. Rising standards local arabs Are also aware of the rising educational standards they enjoy today there Are Young arabs in israeli institutions of higher learning where they have the same conditions and study the same subjects As jewish students. Far from being discriminated against they May even receive preferential treatment in some instances. Otherwise it would be hard to explain How it is that 15 of the 45 highly coveted places in this year s new medical school class at the Haifa tech Nion went to arabs. When these 15 finish their studies they will have no problem finding jobs. Arabs studying technical subjects however Are Likely to be in a More difficult situation on graduation. Many Good engineering jobs for example Are in defence industries where arabs Are simply not admitted. Calouph Hareven a leading expert on Arab affairs is deeply disturbed by this situation Andrj by the fact that there Are no Arab Cabinet ministers no arabs holding top jobs in the civil service or in private business no arabs on the supreme court Etc. Posing a clearly rhetorical question he asks should arabs be denied such positions because they hate or perhaps their hostility towards us stems at least in part from their being denied positions of authority in a state where they make up eight per cent of the electorate Anu id per cent of the no Contact bemoaning the absence of social con tact Between the two Peoples. Or. Hareven adds it is absurd that there Are jews in Israel who have hosted egyptians in their Homes and yet have never hosted an israeli be that As it May close Contact does not always Lessen conflicts. This was evident at a recent session of a Tel Aviv University seminar for English teacher three quarters of them jews and one Quarter arabs. Under discussion was the subject of How Israel s Independence Day should be marked in the classroom. Sara a jewish teacher from Haifa mentioned various stories that were Worth Reading and also suggested teaching pupils to sing the theme song from the film dus. Some of the participants did not know the song but Ahmed from the Village of Umel Fahm came to the Rescue. I know it and it Means a great Deal to Ahmed declared. Then looking straight at the jewish teachers he boomed out the words this land is mine for it belongs to no one in the room had any doubts about what Ahmed meant or for which party he would be voting on june 30. Just like to the recent attempt on president Ronald Reagan s life and a child s remark As she watched the shooting on television prompted me to write. At the first news Flash from the radio we switched on our television and were shocked to witness the incident being played Over and Over. The child in question exclaimed this is just like a to at these words i realized that violence is so much a part of everyday television programs that the attempted assassination of the presi Dent and his colleagues seemed to be like a daily occurrence on to seeing wounded men lying on sidewalks peo ple screaming and running about and police trying to arrest the murderer. I think that this should make All of us aware that the Clear message that has been fed to the youth of today through television movies Etc. Is now being realized in real life. 1 believe it is High time that parents and All concerned citizens take action against the fearful excesses before the same happens to our country As has happened to so Many others. T. Lav01e Winnipeg president Ronald Reagan too pessimistic in his letter of March 31 entitled holocaust . Kelly leaves a much too pessimistic impression of or. Nor Man Alcock s visit to Winnipeg. Or. Alcock did say that All indications show a Drift towards a global nuclear War but he did leave with us an optimistic plan that pointed to a Way that Canada can take Steps to turn the world away from the path towards destruction. He called it peacemakers association of nations pan is an organization of nations such As Canada which has declared or would declare against using nuclear weapons As a Means of settling International Dis Putes. Other nations which have shown a similar interest in finding a peaceful alternative to War Are Sweden Yugo Slavia and Costa Rica. Many other nations can be expected to follow their Lead. Canada can and should take the initiative in proposing such a working peace system. Harold Robson Winnipeg. Nuclear reactor 1 wish to express my concern about the proposed nuclear reactor which is being planned for the White Shell provincial Park area. I feel that one reactor in the province is enough. If this reactor were to be built near the Park it would be dangerous to the people and the wildlife of the area. If an Accident similar to the three mile Island Inci Dent should occur All the people and wildlife would be destroyed. If the reactor is needed it should be built further North so that it will not Hurt anything if something does go wrong. It would be much safer and More practical to invest the Money in fur ther developing solar Energy or the use of Hydrogen for electrical Power. Lisa Maciejko Valley gardens Junior High Winnipeg letters the Winnipeg free press welcomes letters from readers. Writers must give their name and address. The author s name will be used and letters Are subject to editing White Knight naps Renaissance right Wing policies by moving so quickly to implement his Campaign promises president Ron Ald Reagan forces us to examine the Validity of a right Wing perspective on world problems. President Reagan and Secretary of state general Alexander Haig state that the major danger to the world is from International terrorism and sub version particularly from the soviet Union and Cuba. They plan to reassert american supremacy in the world. There will be increases in military spending a reduction in foreign Aid the use of military Force to solve International problems the abandonment of human rights priorities and intervention in latin America to support oligarchies and military regimes which protect american business and Security interests. Al Salvador has been selected As the place to begin to teach the soviets and cubans a lesson. The United states is extending military and moral support to the Junta in Al Salvador a Junta it Calls moderate to fight an opposition it Calls leftist operating under the direct Ion of the soviet Union and Cuba. If we move from this focus on major Power Competition we see a different picture painted by Church groups academics and reporters. They have shown us the extreme poverty of the vast majority of the population under the control of a few families who have monopolized the wealth of the country. They have shown us a Junta which although initially welcomed has driven a Broad Cross Section of salvadorean society into a United opposition. The Correct View of the situation depends on your priorities increasing Power and wealth for the already pow Erful and wealthy maximizing benefits to american business and Security or development and peace for the people of Al Salvador. We can write to the american government and the Canadian govern ment to ask that they press the Junta to accept mediation now and to ensure an immediate election supervised by Neutral nations that will permit the people of Al Salvador to choose their govern ment and a future direction for their country. Beyond this we can make Clear our rejection of policies of confrontation. Kim Malcolmson Winnipeg raise Deposit something that has bothered Many of us is the Way some Slob throws his empty Beer bottles on the roads in school Yards or anywhere his warped mind decides. We have to pick up the broken pieces from our Yards repair punctured tires and sew up children s feet that have been slashed. The Deposit on these bottles has been raised to 10 cents apiece recently. This is still too Little to Stop a drunk from throwing bottles around. A much higher Deposit May act As a deterrent. An increase to 50 cents a bottle would help. The new Rule that empties must be turned in packed in their original Type of Container is a stupid step backwards. Many kids earn spending Money look ing for empties. Now they will get nothing unless they can find enough of the original Beer Carton. Stuart Phillips Crystal City Man. Birthdays Esther Kaus Winnipeg born Moose Horn Manitoba april i find it disturbing that people in Canada have eyes but fail to see and ears but fail to hear. Country after country continues to fall victim to the forces of communism. Recent examples Are Angola Nicara Gua South Vietnam and Cambodia with Al Salvador Honduras Guatemala Italy and Thailand scheduled to fall in the near future. Nicaragua denies she has gone red needs the foreign Aid which the United states has wisely denied her. When will the nations of the free world Wake up to the fact that we Are quickly becoming outgunned and out numbered must we wait until the so called forces of liberation wage Bat the in our Back Yards and streets i am sure that the enslaved people of Poland Afghanistan Czechoslovakia Hungary and Southeast Asia Etc., would be Only too Happy to Tell us who is the dragon and who is the White although the latter has Dis mounted and has been napping for a few years. James Fedoruk Winnipeg displays of horror with regard to the front Page photo graph of april 8 neighbors stare at victims of massacre in san Salvador slum yesterday. Bodies littered about 100 metres of the Street it cannot be ignored that our society finds interest in displays of violence and horror or that the majority of events making the news Are in nature negative and pessimistic. I realize All news is not Good news and the Public has a right to see events As realistically As possible. But As a subscriber i implore you to use discretion when choosing photographs for future front pages. . Mazepa Winnipeg i am appalled that once again the free press has accepted and printed an advertisement of a political nature for Renaissance Canada. This organization enjoys tax exempt status As a religious Charity yet there is nothing but Politi Cal Content in its advertisements. While i personally find their views repugnant i recognize their right to comment in a democratic society. However if they wish to mount a political Campaign they ought to do so according to the rules by which other political factions must conduct themselves. These rules do not include the right to an indirect subsidy by the Canadian taxpayer obtained by purporting to be a religious Charity. I Trust the free press will accept no further political material or Money from this organization until it has declared itself to be a political entity renounces its government subsidy and conducts itself in an honest manner As a legitimate political Force. Philip a. Knight Winnipeg flab vim imn Omitine in Bunny Auxin ;