Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - August 11, 1981, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free press Freedom of Trade i Quality of Smi rights Liberty of religion at see Omni puff r36 by Eana Stan i swipe Muff Ifray Malta offid editorials issues for the premiers preparing to leave for Victoria the attend this years annual meeting of Canadian Sterling Lyon said that the Economy of Canada was the most important Issue to be to is not new for Manitoba Premier to be concerned with economic he was elected in 19 mainly on these and his promises to Cut Back on he carried out his promises so enthusiastically that he has eroded some of the support that he had when he received his mandate from the there is no doubt that Premier Lyon will be concerned with the Economy when the premiers meetings begin there is no doubt that he will also be concerned with the future of the Battle that has been waged Between eight provinces on the one and the Federal Ontario and new Brunswick on the Over How Canadas Constitution should be brought to Ottawa from London and in what form it should tied in with the constitutional Issue Wilt be concerns about the stalemate that exists Between Ottawa and Alberta Over the future Price of and the amount of foreign Oil that must be partly because Alberta has decided to fight with the Only weapon it the control of Oil the future of the and the a Teri Oralen of Federal cos shared programs that have Long been a part of Canadian life will be subjects As important As the Economy when the premiers gather around the Victoria conference few of the premiers Are talking openly about the importance of these subjects because of the rift that exists Between the eight provinces opposing Ottawa and the two agreeing with the Federal the Victoria meeting will be the second time the dissenting eight have met since they decided to form a common front to oppose Ottawa constitutional to the meantime the matter has been referred to the supreme court of Canada and the decision is expected the eight will meet to plan their since they have already announced that a court decision differing from their views will not be regarded As the final word on the for Many years the annual get together of the ten Canadian provincial premiers was More a social affair than a meeting of this matters of substance will Likely occupy the participants much More than social Ottawa reneges again honesty is always honesty from a Politi Cian is often but honesty of the kind exhibited by the Federal minister of regional economic Pierre de Bane is if Only because it underlines the political reasons Why Ottawa disregards Western Canadian prob de Bane has sent a telex to Manitoba finance minister Brian Ransom ending More than a year of negotiation aimed at renewing a cos sharing scheme called the North lands the telex announced that the Federal government was not prepared to renew the but would extend it for another during which the Federal which was million last would be Cut to Between million and the main reason for the de Bane was that the Federal government was not getting enough political credit for the Money it had advanced during the past five because Federal visibility was the Money was to be Premier Sterling Lyon described As a sign of the times the fact that a Federal Cabinet minister would be so Blunt about the reason for reducing Federal who received the said he was for the past Manitoba government employees have been negotiating with their Federal counterparts in an attempt to achieve a new North lands they discovered Early in the negotiations that past such As sewer systems and other physical development were no longer acceptable to the Federal government sought what were termed As labor intensive the Manitoba negotiators attempted to accommodate Ottawa new the provincial govern believing the agreement would be allocated its share of what it thought were acceptable projects in this years what is left As a result of de Banes telex is Little More than a Shell of the former agreement it would have not tipped their hats often or bowed Low to satisfy the politicians who collect the Federal taxes and who decide How those taxes willbe at least de Banes telex indicates where future priorities must be placed if Ottawa is to be persuaded to help the less fortunate regions of the for 60 per cent of the As was the Case under the old Ottawa wants 90 per cent of the political this May Surprise those who always thought that Federal Aid was extended primarily to assist a Region and the people living in this was always Foremost in the Public announcements ing such Aid in the if de Bane is to be then future Federal Aid will be translated much More openly into the number of Federal seats it can be expected to regardless of the to the Region and the people in a role for West fed it was never easy to understand exactly what Elmer Knudson had in mind for his Western Canada much of its rhetoric sounded like Western separatism but members hotly denied suggestions that it was Knudson was prone to make slighting remarks about French canadians or immigrants but members were outraged at suggestions of under the it was not surprising that the organization never got off the ground in Manitoba and after a Brief flurry of attention in it fizzled there West fed has found a role As a grab bag for All the forms of crankiness and bad temper which Are irrelevant to the real concerns of Western at its poorly attended annual it provided a platform for those who want to reinstate abolish gun control and the income banish French from the Corn flakes boxes and lock up the prime there is a certain crotchety Charm to All those people with if they know where they stand and they say what they however irrational it might West fed can give them a Chance to get tilings off their chests without getting Overly embroiled in the serious debates about Canadas regional the fact that West fed has returned to the Backwater does mean that serious differences do not exist Between Canadas regions and Between the provinces and the Federal it does not even mean that the danger of Western separatism has though it is the National Energy policy is politically divisive As Well As economically the fallout has not yet All settled from Ottawa unilateral action on the tense negotiations Are pending Over Federal provincial financial All of those issues should be dealt and within Canadas traditional political if they Are new versions of West fed May Well if that the new versions May not be quite the joke the first one the ministers balance Sheet by special to the free press Ottawa just a year of the Cabinet were rest ing up for the political adventures they knew Lay ahead and scenarios were being written charting the ways of turning government into an irresistible failure of the september constitutional conference was anticipated and the Battle lines of unilateral action were being worked the enthusiasts for a High level of state intervention in the Economy were Labouring Over their Blue print for the transformation of both the Petroleum Industry and Many of the political economic patterns emerging within the balance Sheet now if a troubled Allan vacationing in his beloved Cape were to interrupt an afternoon walk and Jot Down a balance Sheet covering the intervening these Are some of the factors he would have to rec Ord d even with a solid parliamentary majority in the commons behind the governments Effort to launch a constitutional drive no one could Stop came unstuck and ended up in the delays of the courts d inflation has grown substantially More bringing with it the alarming development of excessive wage settlements which inevitably must spawn still another round of in creased production and living costs d the Dollar has sunk from its Satis factory 87cent which provided exporters with a comfortable Edge Over their to the 80cent Range with not even the most qualified experts Able to guess where there May be a floor to Stop the decline d increases in Oil subsidization costs which will Knock Askew his modest proposals last october for a steady decline in the size of the huge govern ment deficit d canadians nation of the Oil Industry which turned into a takeover frenzy so worrying that he had to ask the com Mercial Banks to Stop financing it d extreme interest which seemed Short term and almost experimental when they first appeared in have become a prolonged feature of the Economy with incalculable con d tortuous efforts to resolve the Oil pricing and Revenue sharing dispute with Alberta still under having grown increasingly Complex d not a single additional barrel of Oil produced domestically under the Nep which would not have been available with the goal of Canadian self sufficiency of Supply further off in the future than Ever d controversies Between govern ments and regions which have torn at the nation inevitably adding new scar tissue to the Canadian fabric d increasing american resentment of Canadian policies with the growing danger of retaliation in some form carefully selected to ensure that it is painful the Prospect of exceedingly difficult Federal provincial fiscal negotiations in an atmosphere from which the effects of the constitutional and Oil quarrels cannot be excluded a prime minister vacationing in Africa whose real intentions about his touted retirement remain As obscure As on the credit Side he could put d continued Loyal support of Ottar ios government despite increasing res Riveness among that provinces businessmen d no More than minor erosion of his party standing in the opinion suggesting among other things that the inflation psychosis is so deeply embedded in the country that people no longer expect the government to do anything about the problem d a much better employment Situa Tion than he suggesting the great latent strength of the Canadian Economy despite the seriousness of the troubles afflicting it d considerable Success in keeping under control the yearning of his col leagues to spend More and More of the governments overstretched reve Nues d great challenges lying immediately ahead for himself but matched by exceptional political opportunities with tempting fruit within the grasp of a skilful a Man with great studying that balance should not be begrudge a fortnight in Cape Bre hands not tied 1 seek to clarify several facts in your article of August 5 entitled humane society says hands tied regarding the dogs kept in the garage on Nairn ave the in is the humane society receives its enforce ment Powers under part in of the animal husbandry act of the province of Manitoba and we Are limited to enforcing that part of the the dogs in question Are not being kept in Viola Tion of these statutes so the humane society has no cause or grounds to remove these our hands Are not tied As we have no intention of taking any such when this Issue first came to i went to the garage to see the my Only negative observation was that the garage needed i was not appalled at the filthy conditions As your reporter had i Felt that the sanitary conditions were i would have taken Steps to Contact the necessary authorities i reiterate that this situation is not a major concern of the humane we have no complaint against commo Dore Ritchie or the River there Are Many More pressing problems Garding animals in this Paul Gross general manager the Winnipeg humane society coverage lacking the free press reported on the new City of Winnipeg official Access to information policy on june our committee questions the editorial judg ment of the free press in not giving this policy greater attention and Analy the article reported Only the mini mum facts about the new information policy the three avenues of Appeal by which a citizen could try to get information from the City to Gether with a list of the eight categories of information that Are excluded from citizen other significant details such As the fact that information re quests would be supplied at reason Able Cost and the procedure to initiate a request were not we believe that such a significant statement of City policy should have been treated in greater your article fails to examine important questions about the new what Are the reasons for excluding certain categories of information a simple listing of them does not explain the meaning of these complicated Cater what degree of support did the Council give this policy were there any significant comments in the Council debate on the meaning and implications of this policy for the citizen was there any opposition to or criticism of the policy were any amendments or alternatives proposed As experienced users of government did not your papers Edi tors or columnists have some critical reactions of their own to the councils policy such superficial coverage of City affairs can Only contribute to apathetic and uninformed political discourse in both i depth reporting the right of Access to information ire the foundations of citizen participation in Linda Dixon Marcia Ducharme june Putka Donna Mckillop Paul government publications committee Manitoba Library association Winn neg letters the Winnipeg free press welcomes letters from writers must give their name and the authors name will be used and letters Are subject to progressive place simplistic decl fallout one who writes a letter to the editor these Days criticizing the nuclear Indus try must naturally expect some kind of fallout to such is the Ness of the Industry that it seems to require every Adverse comment to be so my letter of july which pointed out the discrepancy Between atomic Energy Canada limited Vic Epresi Dent Stanley watchers remarks about preliminary calculations indicating that radioactive waste could be buried in Granite Rock without creating a health Hazard and the remarks of an Independent technical advisory com Mittee which said that not enough work had been done yet to enable anyone to make even a preliminary estimate of its Drew a carefully orchestrated response free july 17 from Hatcher himself and from Grant the science Secretary for the technical advisory the letters from both these men fail to the very simple Point which my letter made at my they fail to address once it is this in some of his remarks those devoted to what the research so far Hatcher has gone a carefully beyond the strict entitlement of his data into the role of promoter and Salesman whereas the technical advisory com in its much More careful and restrained language about what the research was operating with the sobriety and respect for facts which we look for in Hatcher in his reply cites some of the other things he said in his and cites the commendation of the technical advisory committee tog Apuls so none of which is at we Are ail delighted to hear that Good things Are being that real care is being what we Are not deut Ted Bear is the vice president of decl becoming in careful in some of his Public statements about what the research so far can be said to thengs letter is a mystifying one until it is read As a letter nearly overcome by its own inner he wishes it to be read As showing Solidarity with his scientific colleague there it Side by Side with watchers obviously arranged to arrive at the free press though his had to come from Hamilton during the mail yet his letter in fact agrees with my Point in this discussion concerning can be claimed from the decl research so far on nuclear waste stripped of its highly technical what thengs letter says on the Point at Issue is that the results so far Are chiefly aimed at verifying the computer mod Elling procedures at rather than As accurate predictions of future this is Why not even preliminary statements can be made about what the research he then goes on to observe that there is nothing in the evidence so far to contradict the Hope that nuclear waste disposal might one Day be safely taken in Granite but this is a Long Way from saying what Hatcher is the remark to which took that the preliminary Calcis lations indicated radioactive waste could be buried in Granite Rock without creating a health we find in this correspondence a pattern repeated far too frequently by the nuclear Industry a failure to answer objection raised bitter lift cause they do not listen to the Public to perceive what it or because they follow the classic if you cant answer objection answer different one so appear to be As g result the credibility Gap re Herb in his letter published july poses a question which remains fundamental to the future of our prov Ince who will speak for the people of Manitoba we have listened to pre Mier Sterling Lyon espouse the cause of a balanced budget and the need for restraint when it was time to get himself we have Only to look Back at the record a massive deficit exceeding accumulated in the last four years of conservative administration and added to our Al ready staggering provincial at today interest that can Hurt for a Long looking at the last such deficits Are the result of irresponsible willing on the one hand to spend our hard earned Money to run the province As they see on the other refusing to take the responsibility of raising the Money needed to cover their the conservatives Way of replenishing the Public coffers hits Manitoban where it hurts most but leaves resource Indus tries laughing the Way to the i agree that our Economy does need the Alcan along with any other Enterprise that wishes to establish itself in i with Lyon and his conservatives p to How we attract investment and Industry to our if we Art going to attract sound investment and Industrial development we will also have to question the policies of the firsow Traci legislation is almost As absurd As anti Scab it has Little effect on multinationals aside from leaving their workforce Unzem u quickly drive the Small business sector into in the Spring of in the midst of this political a Small group of politicians saw the urgent need for our prov take to be Given sound and realistic and progressive party of Manitoba was with regard to your editorial of a gust trustees cant be your comment about the Winnipeg 1 school division trustees proposed stipend increase of 93 per cent represents a knee Jerk response to the actions of one school All trustees of the other 56 school divisions in Manitoba Are unjustly painted with the same while i agree that the recent action of the Winnipeg Board is highly question your simplistic solution suggests that democracy in Canada cannot work your approach to create new Provin Cial legislation for a trustees pay scale begs the question whether our system of democracy can function of you imply that our electoral process cannot provide accountability at the i i feel confident in the ability of citizens of Manitoba to act and react Brian Gudmundson trustee fort Garry school w progressive Gam Date Raton constituency Sta Aipel crying and Tell did we get the loan or didst we i 4 ;