Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - April 23, 1981, Winnipeg, Manitoba 4 Winnipeg free press thursday. April 23, 1981 mtg text Beirut quiets Down As fight rages in Zahl raising Cane workmen Plant Forest of walking Sticks in the Garden of a hotel in the town of Epen in Southern Holland. The owners Don t really expect the canes to grow they re Given free to All visitors in Celebration of the hotel s 50th anniversary. Reference to god meaningless lukewarm response greets plan to insert deity clause in Constitution the Trudeau government s decision to recognize the supremacy of god in a Patriate Canadian Constitution Drew mixed reaction from Winnipeg s religious civil rights and political experts yesterday. Justice minister Jean Chretien justifying the decision to include the religious reference in a secular political document said the government has received thousands of letters asking for it. As a result the liberals decided to insert the words whereas Canada is founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of god and the Rule of in the preamble to the Constitution. University of Manitoba political Sci ence professor or. Murray Donnelly said he wonders How Many letters the liberals will get now from those who oppose their decision. My own preference would be to leave it out. It s a meaningless thing for most people even believers. Belief or non belief in god is a matter of the individual conscience. It does t change the universe what we do he said. Referring to god in the Constitution might be a violation of the principle of Church state separation Donnelly said. Mac Watts Dean of theology at the University of Winnipeg said As a believer in the objective reality of god he had no objection to the constitutional reference. Clark Trudeau radically split on How Canada should be run continued from Page 1 consensus building be used to create a new Constitution. He argues that the Federal govern ment in its present form does not fairly reflect the regional nature of the coun try and therefore that the premiers who do should have considerable Sway. The basis of Trudeau s Case is that the country is something More than an association of provinces a hanseatic league of City states or "500 shop Ping centres with a list of govern ments. There is a need for the National government to act in the National will and retain the Power to Over Rule the desires and will of various regional leaders who May be acting Only in their own specific interests he has argued. At a deeper level the constitutional Battle is the Confluence of two radically different streams of thought about How a nation should be run and a people governed. The Trudeau approach in its ultimate form amounts to a highly structured precise and architecturally clean vision of running a country. Vari Ous Levels of government would have their responsibilities and would act within them. Rights of Man written Down in Stone could not be violated by any of the layers of government including his own. The cartesian thought process behind today s flurry of activity conflicts at the most Basic level with the vision of running a country favored by Clark and Many of the premiers. Power Levels shifting their View sees various shifting Levels of Power and emphasis and its basis is the British evolutionary approach to a Constitution. They say it works has worked Well for Canada in the past and above All leaves the coun try in the constantly adaptable and adapting. If the linear plan does t work it is hard to scrap. Under the Clark pre Miers approach the various shifts would be taken As the natural course of events. Today s constitutional Resolution is far from the form it might take if Trudeau s approach were extended. He argues that it deals Little with existing Powers except to take away the Power from All Levels of government to violate a specific set of rights and freedoms set Down in the charter. Meanwhile the House of commons yesterday contented itself with the de tails. Nip Leader de Broadbent said his party will support the Liberal Amend ment placing a reference to god in the Constitution. He also said it was his party which pushed the Federal govern ment into changing the formula for amending the Constitution so that Manitoba and the two other Prairie prov inces would be on an equal footing with British Columbia and individually in the same position As the four Atlantic provinces. If All goes according to Liberal plan today and tonight the charter of rights a request for palliation of the 1867 British North America act and an amending formula will have cleared the House for consideration by the supreme court. Friends say Sands close to death after 53 Days of no food however he said he would not fight for the reference to god in the Docu ment. It s always easy to believe nothing and certainly the tendency in our society is to March to the Standard of somebody who says i believe Noth ing if everyone has to measure up to the standards of those who believe nothing what have you to measure up he asked. Reference to god in the Constitution is not out of keeping with our in which the primarily american concept of Church state separation has never been As Strong he added. There has never been a full separa Tion of Church and state in Canada Watts said. As to whether the reference to god May offend the religious beliefs or non beliefs of some Watts said the Constitution will not represent All canadians measure of majority he said the document represents some measure of majority the dissent ing minority is not but the Protection it provides for the minor Ity is absolutely in the past the majority of canadians have recognized the supremacy of god and the Law Watts said. Abraham Arnold executive director of the Manitoba association for rights and liberties said Marl has not Dis cussed the Issue and has no position on it. No one in our organization was pushing for it. We were concerned with the rights of my position is that the morality of it the Constitution lies in the Way human rights will be protected in ways that will be meaningful to he said. A Constitution should emphasize Freedom of religion and Freedom of religion recognizes that people have different approaches to continued from Page 1 the hunger striker said by friends to be close to death had told the Legisla tors he is determined to die if the British government refuses to meet his demand for special status for Ira prisoners. Moves to save Sands elected a Mem ber of the British parliament from his prison cell earlier this month were centred in Dublin capital of the Irish Republic where his supporters approached the papal Nuncio archbishop Gaetano Allisandi. Allisandi said he was ready to visit Sands in Belfast s Maze prison at any time provided the British government had no objections. He said Pope John Paul could intervene in the Case if he Rke ived a request to do so and consid ered it necessary. The two Catholic teen agers were killed sunday when the British vehicle slowed into a mob of rioters hurling gasoline bombs in Londonderry. At the funeral the Mother of one of the victims hurled herself on the grave 4and relatives of the other teen Ager collapsed and had to be carried away. Several hours after the funeral a mob smashed into an Auto showroom in Londonderry drove out six cars and set them afire. The trouble soon spread to other areas As mobs attacked police with stones and gasoline and acid bombs. Police said some Sharp shooting youngsters used Sling shots to fire bal bearings at troops and police. Many masked groups of youngsters Many of them masked threw up barricades around the roman Catholic bog Side and Creg Gan quarters despite appeals from priests who buried the teen agers not to attack Security forces. In Belfast Stone throwing roman Catholic youths attacked Security patrols hijacked four vehicles and set one afire. British troops fired plastic bullets at the mob and the demonstrators responded with gasoline bombs. One British Soldier hit by a gasoline bomb leaped from his armoured personnel Carrier his uniform blazing and extinguished the flames in the Street. Beirut up fighting Between syrian troops and Christian militiamen tapered to sporadic exchanges of sniper fire in Beirut today but raged without let up in the roman Catholic City of Zahl so Kilometres to the East. Meanwhile israeli forces shelled the South lebanese port of Tyre Early today As yet another ceasefire took hold in Beirut after a Day Long artillery Exchange in the capital and Zahl took at least 12 lives. A ceasefire ordered last night by lebanese president Elias Sarkis appeared to be taking hold today in Beirut except for occasional bursts from snipers As syrian and Christian tanks and artillery fell silent. It was the 19th truce ordered by Sarkis since syrian artillery attacked the christians in Zahl on april 1. But police reported continuing exchanges of gunfire Between syrian forces besieging Zahl and Christian phalanges party defenders on two Hills overlooking the City. Lasted 30 minutes sources in Tyre contacted by Tele phone said the israeli bombardment lasted about 30 minutes and that pales Tinian and lebanese moslem forces in the town 20 Kilometres North of the israeli Border returned the fire. Four people were reported wounded and several buildings including the Post office damaged. In Tel Aviv an israeli military spokesman said israeli forces attacked Tyre and Sidon last night and Sank a vessel. Fighting yesterday in Beirut set fire to scores of buildings on both sides of the Green line Frontier dividing Chris Tian East Beirut from the moslem West. At the same time rival lebanese moslem militias fought their own War in several areas of the moslem sector. Casualty figures from the syrian Christian shelling in Beirut yesterday were not available but a police spokes Man said six people were killed up to midday in Zahl. Police said earlier that at least 25 people had died nationwide since the Savage new fighting erupted monday after a 13-Day truce. But this was believed to lag far behind the actual toll since Beirut newspapers reported 21 dead in the capital monday. Everything is Black said a resident of moslem West Beirut said by Telephone yesterday. You can t see the sky because of thick residents of Zahl reported by Tele phone yesterday that their besieged City was being pounded by syrian Artil Lery on the surrounding Hills. A police spokesman said syrian forces trying to tighten their noose around the City Christian militiamen on two nearby Hills. Zahl s residents returned to underground shelters tuesday when syrian gunners renewed their on Slaught after a two week Lull. The City s Christian Bishops appealed for immedi ate intervention. But at in Headquarters in new York there was no Hope for a new initiative by the world organization to halt the fighting since Syria and its soviet patrons opposed such a move. Flyers became league champs continued from Page 1 intermediate league. They became the scourges of the Manitoba Assiniboine hockey league capturing the league championship then advancing to the Canadian final. Their record since the Start of the season is 37-6-0. Their following is Small but it s growing As they approach Heights never scaled before by an intermediate team from Winnipeg. The to Rechko and Matviy chunks won t get their Money Back from Gate receipts this weekend. But they Are comforted by the knowledge that la Batt s has promised to help while Lowry distributors the Green Briar inn and Prairie re manufacturing have chipped in apiece. Hersh Wolch the Well known lawyer has also Contri buted meanwhile Joyce and Jeanette sweat it out at Home. Group will Collar suspect police told continued from Page 1 fading civil rights group would not make the picture Public. However the new York daily news quoted Larry Mitchell a spokesman for Innis As saying the Core suspect was a Black Man. Mitchell said the group s investigation indicated a conspiracy involving Whites. Innis said his investigators would Collar their suspect by 1 . Satur Day if police had not arrested anyone or made some Progress by then. He said the person was under surveillance. I certainly consider it Innis information said John Glover agent in charge of the Atlanta Fri office. We will be checking it last night Atlanta television station Waga reported that Innis s witness was a Miami woman who had received information by Telephone from an at Lanta Man. It quoted the woman As saying she was told that a Black Man and White Man were responsible for several recent slayings. Schaffner who refused to say if he talked to a Miami woman said Innis aide George Holmes called him Mon Day and asked for a meeting to discuss evidence in the cases. The interview took place that evening. In a statement Schaffner said he told Holmes that unless the Core investigators took their information to the police by 6 . Tuesday he would do so. He said he called authorities tues Day night. Meanwhile Brown said police Are trying to figure out the latest wrinkle in the slayings. Three of the last four victims have been adults. All 21 prior victims were children. Before the bodies of Michael Mclntosh 23, Eddie Duncan 21, and Larry Rogers 20 All described As Small for their age were discovered the oldest child was Brown said. He said the Young adults deaths were assigned to the special police unit investigating the slayings after evaluation of various characteristics of the deaths including the method of killing and where the bodies were found. Esso Hopes to finish pipeline work in 1984 Maire English throws herself on the grave of her son Gary one of two boys killed during sunday s riot in Londonderry. Continued from Page 1 Mackenzie so that construction of the 860-Kilometre, Small diameter pipeline could begin Early next year. Comple Tion is scheduled for mid-1984. Esso argued during regulatory hear Ings that a 1977 Federal commission s recommendation of a 10-year moratorium on All pipeline developments in the Mackenzie Valley should not apply to the Norman Wells project. The company said that dealt mainly with the massive Arctic Gas pipeline along the Mackenzie and it was not fair to compare Norman Wells in size and scope. Much of its route would be through already cleared land. But Erasmus contends the pipeline will be a tremendous setback for the Dene who Are about to resume land claim negotiations with Ottawa after a three year hiatus. However Indian affairs minister John Munro has refused to guarantee no pipeline would be built before the Dene claims Are settled. We weren t taking the position that there should never be any develop ment we weren t saying there should never be any Oil coming out of there but just that certain conditions should be met Erasmus said. Those conditions included implementation of environmental safeguards be fore construction started. Esso s plans to build artificial islands in the Mackenzie which is covered with ice for about six months of the year. Operations would have to be shut Down during freeze up and break up. Petrosina takeover to boost fuel costs Ottawa up Consumers can expect to pay higher prices for gasoline and Home heating Oil later this week when the government imposes a special Levy to pay for the takeover of Petro Fina Canada inc. In february by government owned Petro Canada. Government sources said yesterday the Levy is expected to be announced in the commons today. The Levy May increase prices by about half a cent a litre or 2% cents a gallon. The Levy was first raised at the time of the takeover. Energy minister Marc Lalonde said then con Sumers would face Only minimal in creases to pay for the acquisition of Petrosina of Montreal. William Hopper chairman of Petro Canada said in february he would ask Ottawa to get taxpayers to foot the takeover Cost because the state Oil company was strapped with debt ;