Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - August 17, 1981, Winnipeg, Manitoba Shn9 a gang of i War to foil Trudeau Vancouver when the eight provincial premiers who have United in opposition to the Federal government institutional package ended their lest three hour Long meeting in the ninth floor of the Fiji Shore inn on Vancouver they issued no formal statement concerning mat ters they had their new Premier Bill Bennett of ish Columbia reluctantly agreed to dear before group of newsmen in a meeting room off the hotel after first announcing there would be no statement at the Only smattering of real news came from newfoundlands Brian who while in full stride Down the hotel hallway to Ward the at plans to reach the people of the two dissenting Ontario and new Over the if of their particular elected Peckford spoke to reporters who had cooled their heels for three Days of the formal premiers meeting in where nothing happened on the constr and who had continued to wait while the group of eight munched on eggs and com beef discussing what moves they would make to Deal with the supreme court decision on the legality of the Federal package he said that the newsmen should not be sur prised if things and to explain the position of the eight to the people of Ontario and new he mentioned Public opinion and said that after these took people jiving in Ontario and new Brunswick would understand Why eight Provin Cial governments would not give the same support to Ottawa that their own governments were the other tackled individually by reporters from their own refused to elaborate on Peckford some said they understood what he and others Shook their meanwhile the Newfoundland Premier was already on his Way to the Airport and his Home province six hours by air and Al eleven hours by the clock by the time what he had said had been relayed to Premier Richard hat Field of new the statement had become one that hinted at civil Fred Cleversey disobedience to any unilateral move to Patriate or Amend the Canadian Constitution by the Federal is Likely to be the news that will be enlarged and repeated again As the strategy of the eight dissenting the Strate it will be will be to break the Law if the provinces disagree with of the supreme court agrees that the prime ministers package is and within the Powers of the parliament of Canada to and if the parliament of Canada passes the package and sends it to Westminster for the approval of the British and if the British in the words of Manitoba Sterling holds its nose and passes what Trudeau and if the Constitution comes to Ottawa Complete with an amending formula and a Federal version of a Bill of rights for then the eight provinces will simply refuse to obey the Law of the if the process could hold up under All the ifs and if this were the position of the eight dissenting pre prime minister1 Trudeau would have a clearcut fight on his hands and could count on the support of the major Ity of canadians to uphold the will of no matter How distasteful it might be for the provinces to Stom the simple fact is that the provinces will never refuse to obey they will negotiate until they get an agreement they can live what will happen is that the Constitution that is domiciled in Ottawa will eventually become a Constitution that is decided and negotiated by the political leaders of the eleven political Federal and that Are in the fact that no hard news came out ten premiers met in but Only eight went on to Vancouver to discuss their opposition to Ottawa Constitution plans of the Vancouver meeting of the group of eight is simply an indication that these men have accepted an eventual political solution of the Constitution As and that they think there is Noth ing to be gained by announcing in Advance the groups strategy so that this strategy could be countered by the Federal there is no doubt that if the Federal governments package to Patriate the and to attach an amending formula and a Bill of is sent to then the dissenting premiers will go there As quite Likely All of them at the same Premier Lyon Points out that several provinces have offices in the British capital and that these offices have wide contacts with the British it May not be protocol for Heads of provincial govern ments to be met officially on National but one of the advantages of a democracy is that there Are Many parliamentarians not restricted by pro and if they see the visitors it becomes difficult for govern ment members to ignore the same the dissenting premiers Are counting heavily on the fact if they have to visit it will become quite pub Lic in that country that the request from the Canadian government for Permis Sion to hold its own Amend it without reference to Westminster and to include in it a Bill of rights that exists nowhere in Britain represents a request for Britain to momentarily re Vert to status of a colonial the British parliament will be during this return to to pass legislation to which there is wide spread opposition among the people it is intended to the premiers Are counting on the likelihood of faced with such a doing no More than cutting itself Loose from the controversy in by washing its hands of any responsibility for Canadian if this then the Constitution would be sent to Ottawa in its present there is no objection to this on the part of any of the and it would be up to the eleven governments then to agree on a system whereby it could be it would be possible to begin work on a Bill of if one could be agreed to by a majority of governments Accord ing to a previously agree to Amend ing the matters would be settled around a conference the Way Canadian internal affairs have been settled since riots show safety net does not work Are the first target of rioters anger and frustration by David Wilson the Boston Globe London the ominous message of Britain riots is that the safety at least As presently does not work very this news will be unwelcome to conservatives who believe that the govern ment ought to prevent absolute want and let it go at Seldom is it recognized that an with a few entitlement pounds in his pocket is More difficult to Cope with than an angry youth who is for the Young and the Black who have been besieging this country Are neither the starving peasantry of some third world exc Olony nor wage slaves of ruthless they Are the children of of a benign and caring welfare state and the streets they have lighted with petrol bombs Are paved with Good nobody in Britain goes naked or nobody goes without free med ical the state feeds the children with family allowances if you qualify for you also qualify for free tuition and living shelter is inadequate but the few remaining Stone Row houses with privies out Back Are giving Way to affordable Council Public since the second world War conservative and labor governments alike have been building a socialist new Jerusalem the tories say theres too much labor insists there int but almost nobody is ready to abandon the these even than the multitude or ferocity of Street Are what shocked this country in an establishment strategy of welfare and unemployment lots of Leisure and lots of human services suddenly was perceived to be the intractable fact is that the Wel fare state produces an unanticipated Supply of apathetic outsiders with a lot of time on their some body is Frozen violence the Vio Lence that flooded English streets this summer is apathy your Journeyman marxist would presumably categorize the rioters As the Reserve army of labor but this is just sticking a 19thcentury Label on a late 20thcentury these peo West British born Blacks and Whites Are not they excluded and the real world of struggle and of creation and of recognition and of to citation in matters of of is closed to the Days have to be celebrity mongering foot alcohol and other drugs and space invaders Are recognized for what they Are Means of spending or wasting and the anger there is a new word Here in this source of the English it is Slang for aggressiveness or an act of aggressive As demo a dozen years ago became Short for racial of intensifies in another these people would be impressed to fight for the Empire or shipped off to colonize the Carolines or Australia to work off their were Britain truly poor with Peoples minds and hearts fully engaged in a struggle for there Likely would be no problem of Street the answer to the question of what to do about the outsiders As 1984 approaches continues to elude a society that regards itself As the worlds most for violence is More than a Domestic this Island de pends for what is left of its glory on foreign Trade and tour every suggestion that it is racist or even merely disorderly threatens these indispensable sources of survive for other the message would seem to be that the entitlement therapy strategy that being will not loll peace fully m the safety but occasionally climb out and throw rocks and petrol the immedi ate target or Opportunity of the the eight who Early decided to by whatever Means Possi the Federal Constitution Are not busying themselves issuing strategy statements because every Premier is convinced that eventually the position of the eight will Sterling who chaired the group for the first year of its says he is relatively unconcerned about the immediate future because he cannot conceive of a situation where a constitutional amending formula and a Bill of rights could be imposed in a federation of eleven governments As Long As eight of the eleven opposed he Points to a statement already made by Quebec Premier Rene Leves who argued about the future if the Federal packaged was stamped approved by the supreme the parliament of Canada and the Parlia ment at the resulting piece of Levesque would be interesting in the fact that it represented an amendable Canadian Constitution As envisaged mainly by Pierre but the Quebec pre Mier suggested that the practical application of it would depend on getting the support of a majority of this he would support those aspects considered to be beneficial to the there is Little doubt that Levesques like those used by Brian Peck Ford in could be interpreted As meaning that the dissenting provinces could eventually use civil disobedience As a Means of continuing their opposition to the constitutional there is no doubt at All that each of the dissenting provinces has its own particular reasons for joining in the Quebec would find it easier to pursue a course of Independence from a Loosly knit such As is proposed by the provincial than from a More centralist Federal As is proposed by prime minister tru Alberta is always in the thick of the fight to protect its present ownership of its natural something has managed to Cut across usual political Battle lines to produce a degree of unanimity in opposition to the proposed Constitution changes that has been found nowhere else in Canadian the Man who will chair the group of or the gang of depending on the Persua Sion of the individual describing Biu says the intangible Bond that has so far held the group together is a common belief that democracy Means governing with the consent of the go this he is miss ing from the constitutional economic nationalism a recurring Liberal theme the minister of Deputy prime and member for sleepy a committee of being Maceachen is now reaping the Harvest of his As the Dollar and interest rates continue to establish abysmal the principal diver of the Canadian summer has be come this suspense fill performance of economic indicators almost there is something new for the guinness by pfc of world the minister of who believe Ftp a tenured professor of economics before taking up obviously had no idea How far the Dollar could or How High interest rates r could the Economy was already in some As John Cospie even before Misia Eusea top up put the Dufft Guties have beep immeasurably by the jingoism economic measures in is budget otherwise proclaimed As the National Energy Glo Baj inflation is Pney part 9l the probe end the massive no Confidence of Bath the Mestie nig foreign an4 iwo feel poro myties in the Canadian gov and in m Dalton Camp there Are such Phenomena As cyclical infestations and other blights in the Ybera there is the recurring phenomenon of cyclical economic its last recorded appearance occurred in june in the form of Walter Gordons first budget the Gordon budget Fea tured a 30 per cent sales tax on take overs of Canadian companies by non residents an increased withholding tax on Canadian dividends to nonresidents and a 50 per cent annual depreciation allowance on new assets for companies with at least 25 per sent Canadian those who Toje met cowed by on the fingers of one bjfl4 Mel the stat Lon term Impact on the nations econ omy should be substantial it de Allan Maceachen and Walter but among those who did not Welcome it were the governor of the Bank of the presidents of the Toronto and Montreal Stock sex the american ambassador to Canada fellow named George Ball and the entire daytime population of Wall the substantial Lon term Impact of this magnificently adventurous foreseen by the Star never Rea Lize there 8 Short term Impact on the Polit team career of the budgets architect Walter Gordon beat a steady Retreat for Roost of its key subsequently resigned his portfolio later quit politics put it would unfair to suggest that Gordon Ever relented in the Fervour of and a Long As he was Kcf without allies in the to wails of his Many to wrote to to Zwia ourselves on the other it would be reasonable to assume that those on the one Side it represented the familiar Liberal continents list Wing while in the other Side were the economic the it might also strike you that of All those on both the Only two men still in office Are As prime and in the latest cyclical adventure in economic nation this time clothed in the Guise of Sqq Newbury National Energy comes under the sponsorship of the Only two survivors among Walter Gordons like minded former the critical question is whether Mac Eathen will inevitably be obliged to Swallow himself and All As Gordon was up swiftly Phi aged to the answer probably is no Gordon was too much the theorist and least a and As Well a Man sensitive to Maceachen is first a politician and one with an immunity to criticism that is the achievement of 28 years in politics ignoring Lester Pearson was Walter Gordons prime and the quickest weve Ever known in the Art of reversing his Trudeau the last and Only time he changed his mind came after he announced his retire the prime minister and the minister of finance will Likely Tough it out there being no so on orig while thais in him ;