Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - April 20, 1981, Winnipeg, Manitoba 6 Winnipeg free press monday april 20, 1981 Winnipeg free press Freedom of Trade Equality of civil rights Liberty of religion published and printed six Days a week at 300 Carlton Street Winnipeg r3c 3c1 by Canadian newspapers company limited Telephone 84 3-9331 second class mail registration number 0286 Donald Nicol publisher John Dafoe Edil onal Page Edilo Murray Buhi my Nattini e Jilozi editorials Security talks drag on the european Security review conference in Madrid has been going on for seven months now and there is still no end in sight. Delegates from the 35 nations that signed the Helsinki accords in 1975 have adjourned for easter but when they reconvene on May 5 they will be facing another protracted debate. Speeches by the soviet and . Delegates on the final Day before adjournment revealed the very different approaches taken by the two nations towards the Helsinki accords and the review conferences. To Moscow the accords and the review procedure Are a Means of preserving the status in Europe and of promoting its own self serving proposals for disarmament and military detente. To the United states and other Western nations the process is useful primarily because the accords Are the Only International agreement that links human rights with political and Security issues. They Are a highly useful club with which to Bash the russians Over the massive violations of human rights that Are part of soviet policy at Home and abroad. What is holding up the conference now is that the americans have largely gotten what they wanted out of the conference but the russians do not yet have anything that they can take Home with them. The conference opened with a review of the human rights provisions of the Helsinki accords that both embarrassed and infuriated Moscow. Delegate after Delegate detailed the consistent and deliberate violation by the soviet Union of every single human rights provision of the accords and the . Delegate returned to the theme in his final speech which outlined a series of recent acts of repression against soviet human rights activists. Having taken their licks Over the last seven months the russians do not intend to let the conference adjourn without getting something from it. What they want in particular is agreement to a european disarmament conference that would meet in Warsaw this year. The Snag is Over what form the conference would take. Moscow wants it to be open with the conference setting its own Agenda in the first stage and then proceeding with a second stage without submitting the results of the first to a review. Western nations insist that its mandate be decided at Madrid and its result be reviewed in the context of the Helsinki accords. The russians clearly feel that they need something from the conference that will let them save face and there is room for Compromise. The soviet Union has already made an alternative offer to which the West has yet to reply and which will be considered when the conference resumes next month. The Only alternatives to reaching an accommodation with Moscow would appear to be letting it drag on indefinitely or walking out. The first would be useful for awhile. The Shadow of possible soviet intervention in Poland has Hung Over the conference since it began and dealing with the Helsinki accords As it does it is a Good forum in which to Challenge soviet actions. The second however would be a mistake and none of the Western nations appears to be contemplating it. Although the conference is unlikely to achieve any agreement of importance it and any succeeding review conferences Are invaluable As a Means of applying pressure on the soviets Over human rights issues. That pressure does not often seem 10 yield results in ending specific human rights violations in the soviet Union but it does hold them up to examination by the world. The Helsinki accords provide the Only forum in which the soviet Union must submit to such an examination and As such they Are a tool that is Well Worth keeping. A Union for doctors a respectable Case can be made for requiring All Manitoba doctors to pay dues to the Manitoba medical association. It is the same Case As is usually made for obliging All employees in a bargaining unit to pay Union dues even if they do not wish to support the Union they will All presumably Benefit from pay increases won by the bargaining agent hence they should All contribute to the Effort. But if the Mma wishes to Model itself on a Union even to the Point of having the health services commission Check off Mma dues from its payments to doctors then the association must logically accept the related rules and practices of unionism. Dues for example should be proportional to medical income. If the dues Are to be regarded mainly As a Means of purchasing fee bargaining Power then the doctors who have benefited most from the Mma s efforts those who have won the Best fee income should pay the most. It would not be reasonable to charge a full Flat rate to a doctor who is Semi retired or who for other reasons rarely practises or to a doctor whose fees bargained by the Mma fail Short of covering his costs. Moreover doctors now practising in Manitoba started when there was no requirement to pay dues to the association. A new Rule can fairly be Laid Down for those who enter the profession in Manitoba from now on they will be free to make a Choice before setting up a practice whether they wish to work in a province where they Are required to pay dues. But it is hardly fair to Dragoon into the compulsory Check off those who already made their Choice on the understanding that they would not have to pay dues. The proposal also raises a question Over the Mma s professed concern for the Supply of medical manpower in Manitoba. If every doctor practising in Manitoba must pay Mma dues then those who do not wish to pay dues must practise elsewhere. The Mma will Cut the people of Manitoba off from the services of those who for reasons of conscience or for any reason do not wish to pay such dues. The association will then have to drop All pretence of doing All it can to ensure a sufficient Supply of physicians in the province. Finally the Mma cannot be both Union and management at the same time. At present it retains and defends its Power to write the fee schedule and thereby to allocate among the various specialities the Money that the government makes available for payments under medicare. It has done that allocating work so poorly that by its own account fees for anaesthetists radiologists ophthalmologists and psychiatrists Are unduly Low to the Point of creating scarcities in those specialities. For that reason alone the Mma should probably resign from that function. It must certainly do so if it wishes to operate As a Union. Unions bargain with the employer to get the Best they can for each group within the bargaining unit. Transformation of the Mma into a Union entails accepting a similar role. Judging lawyers the Law society of Manitoba s decision to establish a committee on competence represents responsibility and a better than average assessment of current Public attitudes and includes just a touch of preventive maintenance de signed to keep at Bay any increase in government intervention in the Legal profession. Some Manitoban who have had dealings with lawyers will probably Point out that the new committee whose primary aim is to Deal with incompetence is not Likely to want for customers. But it is almost certain that the move the first of its kind involving the Legal profession in Canada will be imitated elsewhere. Other professions particularly Medicine and dentistry have had to set up peer committees to Deal with members whose service to the Public could be impaired by imprudent use of drugs or alcohol. As Well these committees have been called upon to Rule on those professionals who because of advancing age Are no longer Able to provide the Quality of service due to the Public it is a problem common to All professions. Consumers Are becoming More conscious of their rights in these matters. Consumers of Medicine or of Legal advice must have Access to committees such As have been authorized by changes to the Law society act or they will quickly exercise their Access to politicians in order to Correct what Are perceived to be shortcomings or incompetence. Tell me. How the Heck do you do it with this worthless stuff you Deal out to me insurers and reformers meet left Wing labor As a former member and president of the Manitoba new democratic party i concur with the recently reported com ment of nip la Sam Yuskiw that the nip would be better off without the formal support of organized labor. Two years ago when i resigned my nip membership some of the now discontented members of the party Pooh poohed my reasons Only one of which was the domination of the party by a certain group of Manitoba labor leaders whose intentions go far beyond the aspirations of social democrats. There Are some decent labor leaders in Manitoba but they Are not the Domi Nant group anymore. It was they who strove for the new Jerusalem while the current crop strive for Babylon Ian mayhem in society. Yet nip Leader Howard Pawley who with myself Al Mackling and others fought against labor Block voting during the establishment of the nip now says that the concerns that i had myself at that time have not been borne that is the same comment one hears from British labor party Leader Michael foot about the social demo san Yuskiw crafts who have left his party. Both or. Foot and or. Pawley Are willing Cap Tives of the same Radical elements. The people of Manitoba do not de serve the mayhem that would result if this Radical element were to gain Power in the province. Of even More personal concern to me is the confusion that must reign in the hearts of the Many Good and Long time supporters of the once social democratic nip. Adding to this confusion is the obvious decision by the far left ele ments to Lay Low until after the next provincial election now that they have a significant number of their Candi dates nominated. Frank Syms Yellowknife . Not a rip off re Len Coates column Auto world free press March or. Coates makes the garage business out to be a real rip off. I do not think this is fair or reasonable. Although costly the garage that we patronize does not have the front end Man diagnose the problem. He makes out a work order on the basis of what the owner tells him. The Mechanic then takes Over and it is his problem to determine the source of the trouble and Correct it. The process of elimination is twofold. There May be Only one spark plug malfunctioning but if the Mechanic replaces Only the one plug chances Are that the plugs have All functioned for the same mileage and in a Short time the owner is Apt to be Back to Tell the Mechanic that he did not eliminate the problem. The Mechanic feels it is bet Ter for All concerned to replace All the plugs if they have served their Normal lifespan thereby performing a better service to All concerned. I have been and will continue to be willing to pay the Man who can do two hours work in one and get me Back on the Road in record my problems solved. I am wary of the fellow who stumbles around looking for the right tools Etc. And takes three hours to do a two hour Job. . Pearen Brandon Man. Letter by Leonard Shifrin special to the free press Ottawa insurance company executives and social reformers Seldom move in the same circles. The Ottawa sponsored National pension conference which brought them together for three Days was therefore a rare Chance to find out if they at least spoke the same language. Yes and no the answer it turned out is yes and no. They use the same words but they give them different meanings. That s not a pension the insurance company spokesmen would say in response to one question after another that s a social to the reformers the statement made absolutely no sense. Solving the social problem of senior citizens need ing retirement income after All is the reason for pensions. The private insurers proved to have a very different View. As they see it pension plans Are forced savings schemes through which workers Cre ate pools of investment capital for business. Some of the insurers the Progress Ive ones were willing to concede that the workers have not been getting a fair return on their for in stance pension funds having earned an 18 per cent return on their investments last year and 15 per cent the year before the progressives were prepared to acknowledge that benefits could have been indexed to cover the ten and nine per cent inflation rates of those years. What they could not Deal with was the 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 such eco to editing fact that however much private schemes were improved they would still be premised on workers spending their entire adult lives in the work place. And half the population women do not. A Public pension scheme such As the Canada pension plan can be adjusted to take into account the years a woman spends at Home raising Young children so that her retirement income does not suffer As a result. For a private scheme years without earn Ings whatever the reason Are Sim ply years without the forced Sav Ings that generate pension credits. Women s problems the social reformers insisted Canada s pension system had to take into account the life patterns of women. The insurance company executives said poor old women were a social problem and not a pension Issue. The cup also has no difficulty cover ing Low income workers and those who do not stay Long with any one employer. Private pensions cannot. But this too is a social problem say the Industry spokesmen and not a pension Issue. If the purpose of a pension system is to provide the most adequate possible benefits to the greatest possible num Ber private insurers admit they can not match a Public plan. And if provid ing a fund for private sector borrowing is also important then a Public sector plan can do this As Well. As welfare minister Monique begin noted this has Long been the Case in Sweden. Some private insurers tried arguing that an expansion of Canada s Public plan can t be it was presumably a reflex reaction because there is no link Between the Treasury and the financing of the Canada pen Sion plan. The Only effect on government reve Nues of the cup private pensions and retirement savings plans is that contributions to All three Are tax deduct Ible. Costly deductions last year the deductibility of cup contributions Cost the Federal and provincial governments million in lost tax Revenue. Deductions for private pension schemes and retirement Sav Ings plans Cost them almost five times As much billion. The National pension conference was a forum for discussion Only. The Deci Sion making stage of pension Reform starts this summer when Federal provincial meetings begin. In the Best of All possible worlds it seems to me the results of that process would be threefold. First legislation governing private plans should be strengthened to require that these be improved in All the ways their custodians acknowledged they could be. Second the cup should be improved in the ways its proponents set out to fully protect those who As one Delegate put it Are at Home raising the next generation of pension contrib and third the scope of the cup should be expanded so that its Maxi mum benefits Are no longer limited to 25 per cent of former earnings. To Date Only Saskatchewan has endorsed those objectives. The other ten governments Are still thinking things Over. Share the wealth nothing to hide Pic claims during the past two weeks the free press has run advertisements sponsored by the Canada employment and immigration commission. These ads encourage employers to report names of their newly hired employees to the commission. It appears the purpose of this is to prevent former claimants from continuing to receive benefits while they Are employed. As chairman of the Community unemployed help Centre inc., i endorse the commission s concern that benefits be paid to those unemployed who re quire unemployment insurance Bene fits rather than employed individuals. I also appreciated the concern in the and which Points out that reporting lapses by newly hired employees were often not intentional attempts to defraud the commission. Unfortunately the and does suggest widespread abuse and can have the effect of stigmatizing the unemployed who apply for unemployment insurance benefits. This Type of and can tend to discourage destitute unemployed persons from exercising their legitimate right to apply for and obtain Pic benefits until they find work. It also can leave the impression with the Gen eral Community that the unemployed Are somehow out to beat the this is a Gross misrepresentation of reality. We would submit that the Sot major Ity of unemployment insurance claim ants Are reporting their return to employment conscientiously. We would further submit that of those who Are not fail to do so due to the unnecessary complexity and ambiguity of the forms especially in cases of partial literacy and where English or French Are Sec Ond languages. Any of your readers who Are having difficulty with this or other problems obtaining their legitimate entitlement for Pic benefits Are Welcome to Contact the Community unemployed help Centre located at main Street by phoning 942-6556 for assistance. The Centre is a non profit Independent organization established to provide an advocacy service for unemployed per sons. P. Newman chairman and Board Community unemployed help Centre Winnipeg aut Opac s Bill the bad news in your front Page Story april 10, was that Daniel John Macdonald had suffered devastating injuries for which he was awarded the highest Ever in Manitoba dam Ages of nearly the Good news however is that or. Macdonald can be sure that he will collect promptly the full amount the court has ordered because the defendant in the action was the province of Manitoba which can now dip into the bottomless purse of the taxpayer to make up the difference not covered by liability insurance. In August 1979 this writer suggested to the last of the Many committees which investigated the automobile insurance business in Manitoba that everyone licensed to operate a motor vehicle in the province should be provided with unlimited Public liability insurance. Such an action would place the Bill for damages done in its proper place the office of the Manitoba pub Lic insurance corporation. Maurice l. Norman Winnipeg birthday mrs. Sigurros Helgason Gimli Manitoba born Riverton Manitoba april i take exception to . Clayton s letter headed who is to blame which appeared in the free press recently. Or. Clayton feels that the inability of the conservatives to solve the economic woes of Manitoba is the fault of the nip s negative business climate which still prevails or threatens. If this is so i would ask or. Clayton to explain the existing mess in provinces where the socialists have never been in Power. I would have thought that with the business expertise of the conserva Tives they would have been Able to turn the Economy around and balance the budget As promised. Do they now suffer from Lack of incentive when working for the Public we can create a favourable climate for private takeover but it is the will of the monetary giants that have the final say. I fail to understand the narrow mindedness of those who refuse to recognize the benefits of Public ownership Petro Canada Hydro Manitoba Tele phones aut Opac Etc. Do they not real ize that it Means lower rates to the consumer with any profits credited to our deficits private Enterprise has had the priority in All profitable deals especially the Oil Industry. Perhaps this is Why one half of the world s wealth is concentrated in the hands of one sixth of the population. Regardless of who is to blame some form of redistribution of wealth will have to take place if the world is to survive. Is. H. Thomasson Winnipeg sensationalism i am shocked that the free press would publish april 8 the picture of the Grain elevator worker who was so severely injured in an explosion in Corpus Christie Texas. As i am a Mother who has witnessed the horrors of the Burn Ward at the children s Centre i am aware of the physical and emotional pain of severe Burns. To attempt to capitalize on this Man s suffering is beneath contempt. Marc Wedlake Winnipeg with regard to the editorial of april 2, sin no More everyone gets upset when it is discovered that police Are making use of information that was Given not to them but to another entirely different department of govern 1 for one do not get upset in this regard and i know Many other people who do not. It is All right for people to use social insurance numbers to obtain family allowances old age Security and Canada pension plan As identification to Cash cheques and for any other reason to Benefit themselves. They do not confine the use of these numbers for these purposes they do use them when committing illegal acts and when they Are used for this purpose then they should be available to the police. Whatever happened to truth honesty and integrity what do we have to hide . Hinton Winnipeg release my you fools. If he s a British spy he s working Tor ;