Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - April 25, 1981, Winnipeg, Manitoba 6 Winnipeg free press saturday april 25, 1981 Winnipeg free press Freedom of Trade Equality of civil rights Liberty of religion published and printed six Days a week at 300 Canton Street. Winnipeg r3c 3ci by Canadian newspapers company limited Telephone 943-9331 second class mail registration number 0286 Donald Nicol published John Dafoe editorial Page editor Murray Burt managing editor editorials sending dollars abroad with the latest Levy announced by engery minister Marc Lalonde Consumers in Western and Central Canada will find that about 13.3 cents of the Price of every gallon of gasoline or heating Oil they buy will be going not to Alberta not to Canadian Oil producers not even to the Federal government but directly into the pockets of foreign investors foreign Oil companies and foreign governments. Those canadians will pay that foreign tribute even though every gallon of gasoline and heating Oil they consume is produced in Canada. And unless or. Lalonde changes the ideas he set out in his National Energy program last october the Levy could be doubled by the end of the year. The levies Are imposed for two purposes. One of a barrel goes to help Cushion Eastern Consumers against the Cost of imported Oil. Because the government keeps Canad an Oil prices at less than half world Levels immense subsidies have to be paid to the companies which import Oil from abroad. The subsidies Are passed on directly to the foreign producers. The More the Federal government does to inhibit Domestic Oil production and to discourage conservation the More Oil Canada will have to import and the higher the import compensation Bill will be. The longer it continues to be at loggerheads with Alberta Over Oil prices the More the province will Cut Back production. The longer Federal pricing policies and the Federal provincial squabble Block the construction of new tar Sands plants the More the Oil imports will grow. All those policies will Lead to even higher import compensation levies. The latest Levy of a barrel or about 3.5 cents a gallon will raise most of the billion which the National Oil company Petrovan will pay to Purchase control of the belgian owned Oil company Petrosina. The billions will provide a handsome profit to Petrosina s foreign shareholders but add nothing to the expansion of Canada s Energy reserves. Once again the latest Levy could be Only a beginning. The National Energy program envisages a degree of Public ownership of major Oil companies which goes far beyond the relatively modest Purchase of Petrosina. It proposes the Public Purchase of several major Oil companies and the creation of one or More new publicly owned Oil companies to run the new acquisitions. It makes an open invitation to any multinational Oil company which does not like the govern ment s new Energy rules to sell out to the Canadian taxpayers. It provides for a Levy of a barrel or about 12 cents a gallon to finance that future vast nationalization. The two levies help increase the Cost to Consumers of gasoline natural Gas and heating Oil Well beyond the Levels proposed by the previous conservative government which prompted such an outburst of bogus outrage by the Liberal opposition of the Day. Unlike the conservative tax they fall equally on users of gasoline and of Home heating fuel and they do nothing As the conservative proposals would have to help people on lower incomes Cope with higher fuel costs. All of this presents a curious picture of the present government s Energy priorities. More Canadian ownership of the Oil Industry is a worthwhile aim As is the expansion of Petrovan. Unrealistically Low prices to Consumers have their political Appeal but their Pursuit can now be seen to be since what is saved at the wellhead is added on in taxes. But the prime aim of government policy should surely be to ensure that the higher prices canadians pay for their gasoline heating Oil and natural Gas should Lead to the development of Canadian Energy resources. Soaking canadians to enrich foreigners does nothing to further that aim. The Garrison roundabout the Best thing that can be said of the talks that Are going on in Washington Between canadians and americans interested in the Garrison diversion project is that As Long As people Are still talking there is Hope that changes can be. Accomplished. The worst thing that can be said about the talks is that they Are beginning to sound like a record almost worn out from repeated playing. The latest round one that involved officials from the Canadian government from the . Government and from the governments of both North Dakota and Manitoba produced what has become an almost obligatory cheerful report about . Understanding of Canadian concerns. However the Content of the discussions indicates that people Are saying once More what they have said in the past. The Canadian delegates report that they sense a greater recognition of Canadian concerns about the danger of pollution but the message about this from North Dakota was an invitation to Canadian officials to inspect experimental work on the Overall project that the state government feels will help avoid pollution risks. What is being talked about Here is the experimental fish screen project Large in scale and designed to prove to everyone that technology can overcome anything. This has been the . Approach from the beginning. It has switched from a position of claiming that there will be no detrimental pollution to one that says the danger can be eliminated through technology. The change is understand Able when anyone reads the report on the project prepared by the International joint commission a report that was critical of the ability of screening processes to eliminate the Transfer of Marine life species from the Missouri watershed to the Hudson s Bay drainage area. It is unlikely that canadians will Ever be convinced that a screen can be constructed that will prevent the Transfer of Micro organisms from one River to another. Even if it should be possible this in itself will not reduce the other major Canadian concern that of the irrigation water transferred from the Missouri washing out the undesirable ingredients of More North Dakota Farmland and shipping them Down in the current of the red River to this country. The technical approach is not new nor is it the first time it has been tried. Last january a technical team was sent to Denver Colorado to discuss the experimental equipment and decided that none of it met Canadian concerns about pollution control. Gallery Phil Mallette Montreal s Nice new Symbol paying for Ottawa s error the Federal minister of health Monique begin has shown understandable reluctance to become involved in removing foam insulation put with her government s Blessing into Canadian Homes. The minister is Well aware of the dangers of opening the floodgates of financial assistance to people who suspect they May have hazardous material in their Homes. However the minister should not expect to escape her involvement in the problem. Foam in the past was not Only certified by the Federal government but was included in the list of materials for which the government would pay if canadians decided to use it to improve their insulation. The material has definite drawbacks. Because formaldehyde vapor is released from the insulation if it Breaks Down due to manufacturing or installation errors and because this vapor has been linked to respiratory ailments and Eye irritation and May cause cancer the Federal government decided last december to ban its further use on a temporary basis. Now at the Start of the warm weather that provides conditions under which the material is Best in stalled the government which was expected to lift the ban has decided to continue it indefinitely. Not All houses that have had the foam insulation installed have problems. Where the material has been properly mixed and properly installed and where adequate ventilation exists few problems have appeared. Where there have been errors in mixing installation or in poorly ventilated houses individuals Are being exposed to conditions that Are at Best irritating and at worst toxic. The Federal government should not walk away from its responsibility in these cases. Strict guidelines must be set to determine if the insulation is breaking Down and if that breakdown is a Hazard to health. Reasonable estimates must be made of the Cost of correcting the situation. But where the government has encouraged the material s use it must accept at least part of the responsibility for correcting its mistakes. Present estimates of the Cost of correcting the situation Range Between million and million. The amount is substantial and if nothing else should convince any future government of the hazards of moving too fast to push canadians into Home improvement programs. By Frank Walker special to the free press Montreal anyone knows who has ventured into a commercial Art gallery recently madness has taken Over. No matter How banal or trivial the works on display they Are littered with Little red dots announcing that they have been sold. An opening is now not so much a Sherry sipping Vernissage As a Rowdy bargain basement Sale. The investors have taken Over and Quantity not Quality is the order of the Day. The explosion which has marked the Art world in recent years is not limited however to painting and sculpture. The designers Are cashing in also and Montreal or rather mayor Jean dra Peau on our behalf has just paid 000 for a new Symbol to replace the traditional coat of arms which has graced the City for More than 150 years. There is a reason for this of course but the mayor is not about to admit it. The coat of arms was specific. Look at it and immediately one can determine the origins of the City in the Fleur de Lys the Rose the Thistle and the Shamrock set against a red Cross. No More of that. Instead we Are looking at a Cross which is not a Cross it is so help me a Street intersection bounded by Wavy lines Are an Island you see which also resemble a heart an expression of our love for each and arrows which evoke this is the mayor talking the attachment of citizens coming from the four Corners of the world for their the mayor was rather Touchy about the criticism which greeted his Choice. If other communities have had new symbols designed for such modest sums As or this is because they have not planned the grandiose future for their symbols which mayor Drapeau plans for his. The Price has been found quite acceptable by other designers and artists and Why not nor is it some feel exorbitant by other standards. After All corporations have spent millions attempting to build a change of identity around a new Symbol so Why should the mayor not do the same if he can rid the City of what has become an embarrassing reminder exorcism two Lone councillors both from the non francophone Community fought the Cost and the design but they got nowhere. The mayor knows after All which Way the wind is blowing and he was Able to follow his rather flagrant exorcism of the Irish the scots and the English with the announcement of a surplus for 1980 of million. Our new Symbol was described variously by Ordinary Montre Alers As a terrible a psycho logical perception signifying nothing pertinent to Montreal and a waste of some passers by thought the Money could be better spent on the needy or on housing or on the handicapped. But none of these things is to be found in the mayor s bag. Symbols Are his Strong Point and he has not done badly with them. The mayor has been As quiet during the recent election Campaign As he was during the referendum but he is known to prefer Premier Rene Levesque the Winner to Liberal Leader Claude Ryan the loser. He has got along Well with or. Levesque while his relations with or. Ryan Are not so much Chilly As Frozen solid. Or. Ryan after All spent much of his time As editor of be Devoir giving the mayor free advice and if there is anything the mayor does not like it is advice free or otherwise. Or. Leves que on the other hand has been remarkably gentle with or. Drapeau. He has even said Nice things about Montre Al and above All he is a Mon Trealer his Home is Here not in Quebec City. What is unfortunate about this minor event is that it is one More step not so much in the re writing of history As in blotting it out. The four groups on the old coat of arms All left their distinct and important impression upon the City. Without All four Montreal would be not Only different but less. There have been suggestions that Admiral Horatio Nelson should vanish from his column in the old City to be replaced by his namesake Wolfred Nelson one of the Patriot leaders in the rebellion of 1837, though there was nothing official about this. Queen Vic Toria in the Square named after her is still Safe though she has been splattered with paint on More than one or. Norman Bethune seems to be All right on his Little Triangle of land near Concordia University As Are the other statuesque echoes of a foreign past and some imposing Street names. So Les autres Are still around giving off bad vibes to those who react to such things. The new Symbol has been described As More decorative than symbolic. It certainly cannot be considered As sym Bolic but decorative even that is a misstatement. If it is anything it is completely Neutral and inoffensive. It tells us nothing which is what it is meant to do. A necessary restraint on police wiretapping bugging equipment Small sophisticated and dangerous a couple of years ago Rocky Pollock a Winnipeg criminal lawyer fixed a yellow sticker on his phone As a gag. The sticker which had been distributed by the Ontario Law Union said Cau Tion Calls subject to ramp intercept the gag turned out to be a reality. One of or. Pollock s clients James Stephen Wilson had been charged with keeping a betting House. Winnipeg police had obtained court authorization to tap or. Wilson s phone. In the course of the wiretaps police listened to Calls made by or. Wilson to or. Pollock. Inviolate Trust a solicitor client relationship is considered an inviolate Trust under our system of Justice. But police listened to More than a dozen Calls Between coun Sel and client according to evidence brought out at the trial. It is True police May have to listen to the conversation to determine when it starts and ends for it is All recorded on tapes. This poses a dilemma because they Are not supposed to listen to such conversations. Furthermore the trial revealed that police made Brief summaries of the subject matter of these client counsel talks which Legal authorities say is not warranted. Or. Pollock says that one of the conversations overheard was Between a woman and another solicitor in his office. She happened to have phoned from one of the Homes that were tapped. She had called her lawyer on a matter that had nothing to do with any offence but still it was overheard. Or. Pollock found the wiretapping unnerving. Says he you have no idea what it is to practice criminal Law in this Day and age when you can t rely on the confidentiality of a phone the invasion of privacy of others in a wiretapping Points to the necessity of the utmost caution in granting police permission to Bug phones. That is Why the criminal code requires a series of safeguards before police Are Given approval to wiretap. It is supposed to be used Only As last resort. In the trial of or. Wilson senior judge Ian Ubienski refused to admit the wiretap evidence because the conditions of the criminal code were not met. It is an important decision and strikes a blow for the right to privacy. Before police can wiretap they must obtain authorization from a Queen s Bench judge. Police received such an authorization. The Law says that the judge can authorize wiretapping Only after other investigative procedures have been tried and have failed that other investigative procedures Are unlikely to succeed or that the urgency of the matter is such that it would be impractical to carry out the investigation of the offence using Only other investigative judge Ubienski found that no other investigative procedures had been tried and so he dismissed the wiretap Evi Dence As illegal. The admission of such evidence he said would bring the administration of Justice into dire sole investigation judge Ubienski pointed to the Evi Dence of inspector Anton Cherniak who had directed the investigation under Cross examination he indicated that the interceptions were per formed under the authorizations that is the wiretaps and they were the sole investigations made. He reiterated clearly and directly that besides the wiretapping there had been no other investigation by his Sec Tion or the vice squad but he under stood the drug squad was doing some investigating. He knew of no alternative investigation to judge Ubienski Points to a similar Case in 1976, when or. Justice Meredith of the . Supreme court also ruled against the admission of wiretap Evi Dence. Or. Justice Meredith said that the procedures had not been tried. On that score it was not necessary to examine the order approving the wire tap. The police spent an inordinate amount of time and Energy to tape or. Wilson and others accused of keeping betting houses. Or. Wilson s phones were tapped from july to december 1978, around the clock. This required up to hours of tapes according to reports. Then the tapes had to be transcribed in a task that required about pages of typing. It was a costly wiretapping that one lawyer estimates May have involved expenditure of up to it turned out to be a Dud. Was it at All necessary could not other investigation have been tried first wiretapping can be a great waste of time As cited in one classic Case in the . Some years ago. Police wiretapped the phones of Elijah Muhammad the Black Muslim Leader in Phoenix Arizona. One clerk on the Fri payroll spent four years eight hours a Day five Days a week listening to his conversations. They revealed nothing of consequence. Says judge Ubienski of or. Wilson s trial i have come to this decision with some reluctance being aware of the length of time in processing the tape evidence. But the legislation clearly establishes a Standard to protect privacy rights. The court must protect them. The right of the police to intercept is Given with Clear procedures and limits. It is the obligation upon the court to see that they Are adhered to indeed and As this Case illustrates the privacy of people is violated in the fishing expedition of a wiretap ;