Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - April 16, 1981, Winnipeg, Manitoba 6 Winnipeg free press thursday april 16, 1981 Winnipeg free press Freedom of Trade Equality of civil rights Liberty of religion published and printed six Days a week Al 300 Cartton Street Winnipeg r3c 3c1 by Canadian newspapers company limited Telephone 943-9331 second class mail registration number 0286 Donald Nicol publisher John Dafoe editorial Page editor Murray Hurt manay maj editor cheating on student Aid the Manitoba education department relentlessly seeks for students who May be cheating the student Aid system. But a nation wide Survey of student Aid conducted by provincial education departments last year suggests Manitoba has a More severe problem with the Aid system cheating the students. The Survey found that about 42 per cent of the students who graduated from Canadian colleges and universities in the late 1970s received a government Grant or a government guaranteed loan at some Point in their student years. Some provinces aided a larger proportion of their students some a smaller but Manitoba was right at the National average 42 per cent. There is no indication there that Manitoba has been aiding More students than it should. But the National Survey by education departments also examined unmet need Gap Between the costs a student must incur for a year s Post secondary education and the amount of Money he can raise from All Normal sources including his savings his parents summer jobs and govern ment Grants and Loans. Nearly All provinces had some student Aid recipients with unmet needs. Nation wide the Gap averaged among Aid recipients whose needs were not topped the poll with an average Gap of that figure measures the extent to which Manitoba is cheating its student Aid recipients. Unmet need As described in that Survey is the tip of an iceberg. It reflects the situation of students who attended College or University despite the unmet need. They covered the Gap by taking out Bank Loans at regular commercial rates by borrowing from family members or by living in substandard conditions. The number of students who finding that student Aid would not cover All their costs gave up on the idea of attending College or University can Only be guessed at. But it is probable that the province with the highest per student level of unmet need in the country Manitoba has that dubious Honor is also the province with the largest proportion of prospective students discouraged from pursuing Post secondary education because of the shortcomings in the student Aid system. Since this province is also found to be the most aggressive in harassing Aid applicants for old Bank statements we Are left with a student Aid administration calculated to prevent needy students from seeking education when it should be encouraging them. The governmental Survey of student Aid found that the system is working remarkably Well but that there is an important group of students especially married students or those with dependents whose unavoidable costs Are not acknowledged by the student Aid rules nor covered by the Loans and Grants. The Reform of student Aid must include a realistic assessment of what it costs a married person or one with children to attend a year of College or University. A reasonable Effort must be made to ensure that most students Are not cheating the system. But if the Manitoba government got its priorities straight it would make a greater Effort to Stop the system cheating the students. Programs not police the decision to authorize the satellite delivery of More Canadian originated television programming makes much More sense than sending the police after canadians whose Only crime is wanting More variety in their entertainment. The Canadian radio television and telecommunications commission has approved the application of a new company Canadian satellite communications to provide four television channels and eight radio signals to Remote and under serviced Canadian communities. The approval is not Likely to sit Well with Csc president Al Johnson because it effectively dumps for at least two years the Csc s plan to launch its second network. The newly authorized service will sideline the Csc by occupying the Only satellite channels now available and new ones Are at least two years in the future. The programming that includes one ctr affiliate two English language Independent stations and an outlet of the Independent French language network in Quebec cannot be expected to meet All the expectations of residents of Remote communities. But if the experts Are right available Canad an programming and Canadian news will be preferred by these residents to the american superstitions and specialized programming they Are now getting through dishes that instant policy in practical terms Howard Pawley s announcement that an nip government would opt for first contract legislation rather than an anti strike breaking Law represents a More realistic approach to the violence and confrontation that sometimes accompany Union efforts to obtain new agree ments. There remains however one nagging question. Why did or. Pawsey not present this Compromise to the recent party convention rather than drag it out of a weekend meeting restricted to the party executive and candidates for the next election the Manitoba nip has been seriously split Over the Issue of domination by organized labor. The party policy in favor of anti strike breaking legislation stands As a Beacon in the eyes of some of its members to that domination. The fact that debate on the Issue was successfully sidestep Ped at the last party convention reinforces the beliefs of domination by those who Are opposed to it. The split has taken two directions. The most vigorous opponents of control by organized labor have already bolted party ranks and have formed a new political party whose strength if any is bound to Cut into nip support at the next election. Or. Pawley s policy in favor of first contract legislation May gain some support from those who have expressed their dissatisfaction but have remained within party ranks. But even these will have to explain to their own supporters How a party can have one policy adopted by its membership As a whole and another announced by the Leader just weeks after an annual convention. Or. Pawley s policy would have More influence on the voters had it been submitted As it should have been to the party convention. The Canadian government considers illegal. Nationalism even in television programming is not free. While Remote residents Are now paying nothing for the american satellite programming the Cost of beaming scrambled Canadian signals to a satellite and Back to Earth will be reflected by a charge of about per customer each month to the local television distributor. By the time local costs Are added customers can expect Bills in the neighbor Hood of a month. There May be some who will prefer to continue As before at least until the new generation of . Satellites carry scrambled signals that Are available Only to those who pay. The new Canadian system will require the company to borrow a maximum of million during the next five years but the application submitted suggests the debt will be retired in eight years. It would be unfortunate if in the interests of the prompt retirement of the debt Canadian licencing authorities Are tempted to prosecute people who May not fall into line and immediately switch their viewing. The hint of prosecution has been voiced already by Jan Skora the Midwest director of the crts. The company that has been licenced to provide the satellite package has been granted a consider Able advantage by virtue of the licence. It should not need a police Force to Back it up. Programming schedules Are not carved in Stone. Having been granted a licence the new company should attempt to win its customers by service and performance. If it cannot attract customers with the programming it has asked for it should ask for changes not ask the government to Send in the police. The licencing of Canadian programming on Canadian satellites is the Best defence against the intrusion of foreign signals. But the Mere fact that a signal happens to originate with a Canadian station is no reason to make criminals of people who chose to watch something else. Set tvs clarify by was of expenditures is god like Rene Levesque help finance minister Brian Ransom told the legislature tuesday that if the taxing and spending habits of the new democratic party up to 1977 had been projected on to 1981, the province today would be facing a cumulative deficit of billion dollars. That is a chilling thought but even More Scarey fiscal horror stories can be imagined. For example if the present conservative government s taxing and spending habits of the current year were projected into the future the cumulative deficit by the end of the 1984-1985 fiscal year would be about billion dollars. A year later it would reach billion almost four times this year s total budget. That projection proves one of two things that the tories have us on the Road to fiscal disaster or that you can prove anything with figures. By Frank Walker special to the free press Montreal Man was foolish perhaps but no fool. He knew what the British had done to the acadians he knew what had happened 90 years ago in Manitoba he knew what had happened in Ontario. Only Quebec could protect the Quebe cers. If there is a he told me i Hope he is like Rene Levesque. I adore that personal Triumph it is difficult to beat such feelings in a general election As Liberal Leader Claude Ryan discovered. There Are those today who have been Quick to claim that or. Ryan threw away a sure thing. Certainly he made mistakes. He seemed too often to trim on the language question and to fudge As in his promises to the electorate but he did not lose the election. Premier Levesque won it and it was a Triumph for him personally More than for his party. My acquaintance was not the Only one who adored him. Throughout the Campaign gestures of affection greeted him across the province it was Rene they wanted and Rene they trusted. The separatists too managed to shrug off his Promise of no referendum Dur ing the lifetime of the new Assembly a Promise incidentally he will find hard to break and saw in him still the separatist Leader something he did Little to dispel. In meeting after meet ing and again on election night the crowd chanted on vet in pays want a the result is As or. Levesque claimed for it that the Victory of 1976 has become deep rooted and Perma like Premier Maurice Duples Sis Union National before it party is concerned Only with Quebec its defence and its promotion. For or. Ryan the future is gloomy. As happened to his predecessor Robert Bourassa after his defeat so the questioning has begun about the future of the Liberal Leader who worked so hard and shaped the future of this country by his referendum Victory and who seemed unbeatable in a Long string of by elections. The final figures of 80 seats for the parti quebecois and 42 for the liberals Are a massive defeat but in terms of the popular vote he upped the Liberal percentage from 34 in 1976 to 46 in 1981, against an increase in the parti Quebe Cois share of 41 in 1976 to 49 in 1981. Or. Levesque was As gracious in Victory As or. Ryan was dignified in defeat but there can be no illusions in either Man about what has happened. Or. Levesque May or May not abide by his promises. There was some Slippery arithmetic in the parti quebecois calculations and if he tries to implement them the massive deficits he and his administration created in his first term will increase in his second. Unemployment he must do something about Unzem per cent on average and far More in the bad pockets. He is committed to Large scale new social programs but at the same time committed to fairly substantial tax cuts if the budget which was offered As election bait earlier this year becomes the first budget of his second term. But just As there was no real scrutiny by the electorate of either the parti quebecois record or its promises so we May find in the months to come an unusual Charity in the judgment of his supporters. In terms of the province As a whole there was Little change. Only one Cabi net minister was Defeated most of the effective candidates Liberal and parti quebecois won seats. Two anglos Robert Dean a Union officer and David Payne a former assistant to Camille Laurin won something of a break through in parti quebecois terms but of no importance in terms of the real politics of the province. The parti quebecois is the party of the quebecois with neither obligations nor alliances outside the province. The anglos and other non Franco phones stuck with the liberals As was expected and of the 33 seats on the Island of Montreal Only five changed hands directly with the liberals taking four of these from the parti quebecois and breaking through with two wins in East end Montreal. Verbal violence the magnitude of the Victory was matched by the enthusiasm of parti quebecois supporters but this was a quiet election Day the age of the baseball Bat and the Goon squad is Long gone and there were Only isolated examples during the Campaign of verbal violence. Racism did surface As in or. Levesque s radio references to Les and the constant reiteration of the charge that the liberals were not their own masters but the servants of other Anglo interests. Or. Ryan was Correct in his claim that the province is still treading a Tightrope of uncertainty both economically and socially. The economic effects will undoubtedly be Adverse but How Adverse is unclear. A Good guess would be that the government May shift slightly towards More conserva Tive budget policies but it must do so within the framework of massive elec Tion promises. For finance minister Jacques Parizeau the platform wizard these Are going to be testing times. For the Federal liberals who turned out in Force the results must also have been a disappointment though or. Ryan was no favorite of or. Trudeau s and More than five years of dealing with the parti quebecois have produced working compromises in Many areas while retaining a Public stance of Mutual antipathy. For non quebecois whose province this also is the results May not be All bad. The parti quebecois in its new position of Confidence and authority is unlikely to proceed further in those areas which have most affected the minority language and education. They May even be tempted to relax or. Camille Laurin s More spiteful Legal exercises As indeed they should. The Issue of a French Quebec is no longer in doubt. Strike breaking the Philippines the greater Winnipeg Gas company is embarking on its next strike breaking tactic. The striking workers who have not paid their Gas Bills while they Are on strike and the members of the Public at Large who Are supporting the strikers by not paying their estimated Bills Are currently receiving disconnection notices. It will be revealing to see if the Gas company which did not have sufficient staff to re Light Pilot lights when com Pany equipment was struck by vandals will have sufficient staff to shut off Gas supplies when the payment of Bills is delayed. Don Scott Winnipeg on the picket line this is in response to a recent letter the Philippines an Island prison. The accusations made by the writer Mang Ambo Shook me somewhat because i feel i am Well informed about local conditions in the Philippines. I have nothing to gain by this response As i am not a filipino i am not Canadian and i have no political or diplomatic Alliance. I am an autonomous businessman who recently visited the Southeast asian area. Recently i had the Opportunity to visit the Philippines for an extended stay. From my observations i can assure you that if an election were to be held at the present time president Marcos would be re elected. President Marcos and his party have done an almost impossible task of improving the living conditions of the people of the Philippines. Economic conditions Are improved. However they could be improved More rapidly if it was not for the ignorant attitude of the Man in the Street who seems to be dead set against Progress. The government of the Philippines is bending Over backwards to attract business and Industry to its country. The English language for Many industrialists is a real plus Factor in the decision to set up factories in the Philippines since instructions to the labor Force Are More easily accomplished. Although Many filipinos May want to leave their country for areas of better economic Opportunity there Are also people in Winnipeg who think the grass is Greener elsewhere. . Pittoors Winnipeg letters the Winnipeg free press welcomes letters irom readers. Writers must give their name and address. The author s name will be used and letters Are subject to editing. Nuclear Energy Vimy veterans lesser cultures in response to the letter by Katherine e. Fleming entitled one Canada free press april 7 i would first commend the writer at age 17, for taking an Active interest in Canadian politics. Miss Fleming states that she is an English Canadian who thinks that the most valuable aspect of Canada s com position is the fact that we Are a bilingual nation. She then makes Token mention of our mosaic makeup which makes us great Western Canada is not and never has been either bilingual or Bicu Tural. There is no justification for the French English Brand of bilingualism in a Region peopled and developed by a multitude of ethnic groups several of which outnumber the French. The historical claim for French rights be comes a slur against the native people who might Well have never existed according to this argument. My intention is not to imply that instruction in French is detrimental or undesirable for anyone. It goes without saying that a second language is a valuable asset that should not be a luxury in a country As wealthy As Canada. But Why must bilingual mean French English what about the languages of the silent majority of Western canadians. No one would suggest that several languages be adopted for official use. But Why should one a relatively minor one be singled out for Elevation when it is obvious that there is no logical justifiable reason for doing so special status for one language implies that All other ethnic groups regardless of size Are second class that their contributions Are lesser and their culture inferior. N. Gerrard Arborg Man. Poles apart your editorial of april 9 entitled senator meet or. Pepin is not factual and is one sided. While it is True that senator Hazen argue was not elected to the position of minister responsible to the Canadian wheat Board Many Large companies outside of farm organizations urged the government to put senator argue in charge of Grain move ment and to Nail Down the Crow rate which is most important to the West. Jean Luc Pepin is a party Man and is doing a Good Job. You suggest that these two men should talk to each other. They Are poles apart and never did or will agree on the subject they both represent. Senator argue is probably wondering Why or. Pepin does not suggest nationalizing up rail and having it and the in handle the transportation system for the taxpayers at Cost. . Bradford Winnipeg birthdays Katherine Daniel Rivers Manitoba bom Ukraine april . Flegg Winnipeg born Brighton Sussex England april the nuclear Energy controversy really gets me. All this talk All this fuss. Our scientists come up with a Cost effective Way of producing Energy and All most people can do is to sit Back and balk complaining that there Are too Many hazards too much risk. Many anti nuclear people Are nothing but out of work social workers and bleeding hearts looking for somewhere to poke their noses where they do not belong. They do not know what technology is All about. It is High time we paid More attention to the dedicated technologists we spend so much Money training. These Are the people we have always turned to when we have needed help in building our sewers our Bridges our dams and Waterways. Without them we would be Back in the Days of the Caveman no warmth no running water and none of the modern conveniences. The anti nuclear people will not listen to reason. When they Are Given the facts and figures they to hum and Tell you flatly there s too much researchers will easily dispel any worries we might have about the so called harmful radiation from nuclear reactors. Being honest they will also say there is a certain element of risk. However they will Point out that if you were to look at the statistics vis a vis accidents and deaths in other Energy producing industries you would find that they were considerably More than those of nuclear. Instead of listening to the convoluted tripe of the anti nuclear lobby we should listen to the specialists. They Are the ones who know. Jim Mosher Winnipeg i would like to Appeal to any Veteran soldiers of the Canadian corps who took part in the capture of Vimy Ridge april 9, 1917, also the attack on Fres Noy May 3, 1917, and who would be willing to assist in the preparation of a Book to write me at the address listed below. The Book i intend to write will cover the Battle of Arras from april 1917 until May 1917 which will give Exten Sive coverage to the famous Vimy Ridge assault. Without Canadian help i am lost Jonathan Nicholls 176 Penrose Avenue carpenters Park Herts wd1 5ah England naturally in no twin top Speed you la four i the ;