Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - August 18, 1981, Winnipeg, Manitoba In if it per Sim Berlin if is a City with Many f Many or perhaps with pot a it was a Symbol of Eold the Western worlds show window behind the Iron after the meat of 1971 it was a Symbol of of East and West bridging their Forest West Berlin tried being a Normal City like any but what Normal City is Cut by a Wall defended by and land mines for that what kind of detente Symbol is a divided City but who needs Gold War symbols after All these years City of City of re Concilia City like All others now West Berlin has a new it will play a spiritual say its political it will be the City of German the other evening on the Kurfner a boy carrying a signboard for the big Eden dance Paradise total disco chatted with a Middle aged Man in a Shabb genteel suit and a Jehovah witness hawking the watch Tower in Max the Juggler amazed passersby with his flaming a mexican scout troop in red and Blue Necker Chieves foraged for ice Cream Blacks from Africa and Blacks from the United Whites from the United states and Whites from every even some germans sold handicrafts from sidewalk theatre marquees advertised superglue welled tourists ate at restaurants that the chauvinistic frenchmen of the Michelin Guidebook deign to the museums Are the sym phonies the Parks the lakes West Berlin claims to have More water than Venice and More registered pleasure boats than All the rest of West this is the Berlin that was celebrated Between the wars As one of the most exciting cities of the it is still but according to some longtime it is the sidewalk show on the Kurfuerst Tendam is con fined now to half a dozen Many of West berlins problems Are those of All cities rundown a Large foreign born minority that must be a rebellious youth Cul too few not enough in the divided the hot House atmosphere makes the problems seem More the generation Gap is particularly acute in West some 25 per cent of the cites two million residents Are pensioners far More than in any other West German Many of these people have lived through the entire postwar Are bitterly anticommunist and deeply resentful of the casual left shyness of the cites More recent youth another nearly one out of Are or the children of foreign they need their children have special schooling and they Are not necessarily much interested in the idea of Berlin As a Centre of West Berlin is a work Bench it ranks with Hamburg As West Germany largest manufacturing but most companies now have their Headquarters outside Ber the City therefore can never be More than a Way station for West Germany top business nor for the top political since the govern ment sits in it is on this population Structure that a new West Berlin leadership Hopes to build its Conception of Berlin As a focus of German the previous West Berlin govern propagating the idea of West Berlin As a City like any ran afoul of an Urban scandal like any involving City and had to re children play in front of the Berlin Wall there have been Many changes since the Wall was built 20 years and some berliners fear being forgotten the new governing Richard von came to office warn ing that the very normality of the situation in recent years Cut by a to be but no longer the flashpoint of East West confrontation was Breeding a provincialism that threatened to isolate West Berlin even from West already the City is separated by 160 Kilometres of East Germany from its natural hinterland in the with Berlin out of the headlines As Well As far von Weizsaecker it would Only seem Ever More Remote from the daily concerns of West Ger mans rather like the Island of Sylt somewhere off the North sea berlins von Weizsaecker should be to remind All germans that they Are one West Berlin is uniquely qualified for such a it also is uniquely to begin there is one whole German East claim ing the allegiance of 17 million Ger that does not agree with the theory of the Unity of the German because of their different sociopolitical according to this East germans feel themselves to be of an entirely different National consciousness than West even granting that the argument is it makes the Point that there is not one Centre of German conscious As Paris is the Centre of France and Moscow the Centre of Germany was never More than an amorphous except for the 74 years Between the time that Otto von Bis Marck United the German lands under prussian Hegemony and the crash of nazism after the second world when the holy roman Empire died in it consisted of separate City theoretically each subordinate Only to the idea of the German even West Germany has no real the government meets in Frankfurt is the financial Capi Hamburg and Dusseldorf Are centres of Munich is the Hub of the no West German City has taken Over from Berlin the role of if Germany has a consciousness at it May As Well reside in for it has no other and West Berlin is still the most pleasant Ger Man according to any number of longtime in part because the head offices and National politicians live freeing Berlin to concentrate on culture and it is the most uncrowded of German says a i can Park my car right outside my it is psychologically uncrowded As according to a student who is squatting in an abandoned she is aghast at the election of the conservative von Weizsaecker As governing for she fears a crack Down against she voted for the alternative a coalition of leftist and hippie opposition groups that emerged As West berlins third largest the alternatives and the Christian democrats of von Weizsaecker would seem to be a recipe for but so far the City seems Calmer than it did before the election last there is real tolerance says the there is real Freedom says the problems plague sales of Candy reactors by John Best special to the free press Ottawa atomic Energy of Canada is doing its Best to make it appear that the recently concluded reactor Deal with Romania represents the big breakthrough that the troubled Canadian nuclear Industry has been looking James president of the Crow owned called the Deal a and press spokesman Mike Martin called it the Deal of the believe we Are not doing to lose Money on this Martin was quoted As we Are going to make the allusion was to the Sale of a Candy Power reactor to Argentina Sev eral years on which Canada lost an estimated aels upbeat pronouncements were obviously intended to convey the impression that Long worrisome questions surrounding the future of Candy were As Good As but in that purpose they failed Dis the picture is As Uncertain and confused As it Ever and that is saying the very announcement which purported to usher in the Bright new Era served to underline the grow ing credibility Gap Between the govern ment and canadians Over nuclear exit was worded in such a Way As to suggest Canada had succeeded in sell ing a second 600megawatt Candy to communist and in a Way it the statement failed to make that there never had been a first sealed and the first Sale was announced nearly three years but while doing some preparatory work on the construction never purchased the reactor the two sides could not get together on the what the government announced therefore was a Supply agreement co vering not one but two if it works the Canadian nuclear Indus try should soon be getting orders for million to million Worth of reactor on past that May be a big the extremely Tough Are insisting on some fairly sizeable offset purchases of romanian farm machinery and clothing by Cana How competitive the romanian products prove in and what happens if they do not remains what is Clear is that decl is going to great lengths to find foreign buyers for the which has been a bitter and at times costly disappointment in world decl desperately wanted the romanian contract to give Candy some much needed visibility just As it took a commercial risk years ago in Selling to Argentina so the reactor could gain a foothold in latin counting the two sales to Only four full scale commercial Candus have been sold and offshore sales Are widely regarded As the key to a robust Domestic nuclear Donnelly himself has acknowledged that without More foreign sales the nuclear Industry with its direct a employed staff will presumably decl a research and devel engineering and marketing Agency with full time will do the but there Are Strong reasons for canadians to be a bit sceptical about what is in the decl lost up to million on the ill starred Sale to it mothballed the la Prade heavy water Plant in Quebec after investing million on nearly a billion dollars in debts associated with two heavy water plants in Cape Breton have been written off by the the most perplexing thing about the current foreign sales drive decl is now trying to Market Candus in Mexico and among other coun and is actively looking for repeat business in Argentina that it is taking place while the government is supposedly reexamining its whole nuclear the review was launched More than a year soon after the liberals returned to it is an inhouse coordinated by the Energy de and its terms of reference have never been made however they were they obviously did not prevent decl from barrelling ahead with its drive to increase reactor there have been some indications to facilitate this the govern ment May modify the strict safeguards Canada maintains to ensure that Candy and its waste products Are not used to make nuclear the idea would be to pull Canada Back into the mainstream of nuclear from the standpoint of anti weapons the government has been under mounting pressure to do just since Canadas present Posi Tion is held to be hurting Export oppor the first discussion papers from the review were released but in making them Public Energy minister Marc Lalonde conspicuously neglected to mention the kind of forum he envisions to allow Public he had previously promised that the Public would be Given the Chance to air its he even held out the possibility at one Point that the government might pick up the former conservative governments idea of a full blown investigation of the nuclear question by a parliamentary that is the least that canadians should be Able to expect on such a vital and controversial resolving retirement conflicts is no easy task is the provincial government ing off its responsibility by referring the retirement Issue Back to the courts or has it taken the proper step by removing a potentially contentious matter from the political Arena the governments position changed in the past when a judge of the court of Queens Bench overturned the mandatory retirement of a former civil servant in labor minister Ken Macmaster they would await the results of a Oneman inquiry into the Issue of retirement in the Public and private before taking any Legal a that approach seemed to make but after More consideration the government changed its mind and in tended to Appeal the court decision did it but to prevent More people from fighting retirement or merely to clarify the matter As soon As possible clarification is As numerous court hearings and appeals have re most appeals against retire ment were handled either internally or by an 3 univer sity of Manitoba professor brought her fight to which ruled that Oxe collective agreement clause requiring her to retire was a violation of the provincial human rights despite that decision a under the dome Arlene Billinkoff Gerry said the government would take no immedi ate action until other adjudications on retirement were mamas feared that the removal of a compulsory retirement age would undermine the total collective bargain ing procedure and create a Messy where employers might have to create grounds for dismissal of elderly it would also create chaos in the calculation of pension benefits and he predicted pressure from labor and management utile action was taken at that but it was evident the professors Victory was instrumental in the Deci Sion by Aubrey the former Deputy registrar with the Manitoba court of to launch 4 court Challenge of his forced his previous attempts for Extension had beg rejected by the civil service com Mission and the human rights commis the Marshall Roth dismissed the Appeal on the Gro oads that the civil service superannuation which Calls for a Manda tory retirement superseded provincial human rights the provincial government appointed the same lawyer to conduct a Public following a recommendation from the human rights commis Sion for a clarification of the entire retirement the inquiry was to examine both private Ana Public see tors and recommend whether the provincial human rights legislation or other related acts should be when the inquiry began Public hear Ings in a wide Range of opinions became the City of Brandon favored mandatory retirement at 65 with an option of extending employ ment in special but the City of Winnipeg favored Normanda tory provided it was phased in while the Manitoba federation of labor and the Manitoba government employees association preferred the retention of a fixed retirement age decided by collective bar the Canadian association of mechanical and Allied workers and the Canadian Union of Public representing Winni Peg civic favored voluntary it was a difficult problem to As the Manitoba association of rights and liberties voluntary retire ment should rat be used to Force people to work longer than they want but compulsory retirement was a violation of human on the other Sidney Green said there had been no intention to ban compulsory retire ment when the human rights act was he not in favor of but believed employers and employees should have the Freedom to determine the appropriate retirement Midway through those Newport Case came to court and the judgment was overturning the adjudicators the judge said the human rights which was passed one year later than the civil service superannuation should take Prece the implication was that compulsory retirement no longer applied within the civil service and if the legislature wanted to exempt civil ser vants from the application of either those words would have to be for the province was prohibited from terminating any employee solely on the basis of newmans lawyer regarded the Rul ing As a landmark which would have significant judging by its latest the government despite his earlier statement no action would be taken until the report from the inquiry was received in late the labor minister said it was important to resolve this Legal because the government wanted to be absolutely certain about the Correct interpretation of the it intended to go to the court of Appeal for that coupled with the results of the would hopefully place the government in a better position to determine its next considering the political ramifications of the the referral to court May be the Best move for the eventually the matter will return to the elected officials and they will be compelled to take the appropriate will not be an easy doonesbury 919 a 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