Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - August 19, 1981, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free August 7 focus by John Burns the new York times for a year now the soviet Union has been faced in Poland with a a series of challenges to communist party leadership unlike any in Eastern Europe since the second world prom the Moscow has warned against the dilution of con my nist party Power implicit in the growth of a Independent labor Union and in the demands of that movement for press a say in economic management and the democratization of More than the manoeuvres by soviet troops and the Tenor of Kremlin polemics have suggested that Moscow was on the verge of military intervene but each time the soviet Leader ship has drawn apparently persuaded that the risk of damage to the soviet unions International position and the sheer Cost of an occupation outweighed the problems inherent in letting the poles continue on their Independent last at an Oceanside re treat in the top soviet officials again confronted the polish and by All indications decided As before that for All the discomfiture of develop ments in Warsaw they will continue to work for their ends by political rather than military Large soviet troop concentrations continue to sit near Poland and will Crank themselves up next month for some of the largest manoeuvres since the second world but the Kremlin disposition for now seems to be to keep the soldiers and polish citizenry at their latest meeting with Poland Leonid Brezhnev and his associates in the soviet politburo extended a helping hand by agreeing to defer repayment of to lands mounting debt to the Kremlin until at least this an Extension of previous debt deferments by was aimed in part at easing Warsaw prob lems in rescheduling its much larger debts to Western which have been reluctant to accept polish terms for recycling More than billion in Loans unless assured that the soviet Union was making sacrifices at least As by easing credit pressures and agreeing to step up supplies of raw materials and Light Industrial the Kremlin also signalled that it would Welcome an upturn in the polish econ some reviewing the soviets had suggested that the Kremlin might be Content to watch As the upheaval in Poland depressed Liv ing in the expectation that this eventually would turn Public Opin Ion against the Independent Trade Union that has led the push for political and economic from this the polish party Stanislaw who travelled to the Crimea with the polish Premier and defence Wojciech could consider the 24hour trip a Suc but a careful Reading of the communique issued after the talks showed that the Kremlin remains unreconciled to the kind of responsive and relaxed communism that has been the goal of Solidarity and to which Kania and the country other leaders have been slowly and reluctantly and the communique was Milder than the general flow of soviet propaganda about Poland in recent As diplomats Here it was almost bound to be the soviets generally ire punctilious about the forms of their International and this alone would make them reluctant to be seen to be hauling the Leaden of a Sovereign ally across the As Long As they feet that they have to work through the existing ish it would not be in the soviets interests to stir polish nationalism by treating the Warsaw leaders like this would also explain the absence of the ominous references to Warsaw pact military might and the pacts readiness to re secure socialism in formulations that have cropped up in soviet propaganda when the Kremlin has wanted to remind poles of the risks of drawing soviet tanks into their As it the soviets settled for a reiteration of the polish leaders prom ise to Rebuff the threat of counterrevolution and to strengthen Poland As a firm link of the socialist Community of states and what emerged from a close Reading of the communique was How careful Brezhnev and his politburo Konstantin Chernenko and Andrei Gro were to have any hopeful expression of views on the polish Situa Tion placed in the Mouths of the polish the after summarizing the Steps outlined by the polish leaders for overcoming the crisis in them selves a highly conservative formula Tion of polish policy that would be hardly recognizable to Many poles offered a synopsis of the soviet reaction that made it Plain that Brezhnev was not it Laid Brezhnev stressed that the soviet communists and All the soviet people Are following with dose Atten Tion the events in the polish Peoples the soviet Union holds a consistent internationalist stand with regard to socialist Poland and wishes that the polish communists and the entire fraternal polish people should be implementing successfully the Deci Sions of the ninth party Congress aimed at the strengthening of the pot ish United workers party As a Marx is Leninist party and the consolidation of the positions of socialism in the the communique followed with an explicitly attributed to either Side in the on Antis pietism in Poland and on efforts within and without Poland to dig a Trench be tween Poland and the soviet and with a reference to the blood spilled by soviet and polish soldiers in the second world it also noted How the might and High International prestige of the soviet Union meet the interests of the Peoples taken these state ments were a reminder to any pole of the realities of his country situation As a crucial ally of All this was far from the worst that polish leaders have heard from Moscow since the Onset of the polish Reform and was mild com pared with the strictures contained in the letter dispatched by the soviet Central committee to the polish Lead ers in which stopped just Short of calling them Poland members Gromyko Centre Chernenko let poles know they Are not Happy with Justice triumphs in defeat of liberals Ottawa there is Justice in this world after mondays by elections proved there is no Way that the which has been passively accepting record interest record and High deserved to elect a member in the it but right up until election eve there was almost arrogant Assurance that Jim Coutts was going to win easily in Toronto Spadina a lot of people wanted to see Coutts Defeated for reasons other than the governments economic track As principal Secretary in the prime ministers office for the past six years Coutts has become known As the Mas Ter political he and new principal Secretary Tom Axworthy had become known among political insiders As the sleaze it has been alleged that Coutts could not take a direct line from Point a to Point b if his life depended on he would be his detractors to take a roundabout route just so he could do some political fixing on the his emergence As Liberal candidate in Spadina smacked of arrogant Manip Peter a Young member of parliament whose main political distinction was that he held the safest Liberal seat outside was suddenly elevated to the Senate to create a even before Stop Leys commons seat was and Ottawa diary Peter Thomson certainly before Spadina liberals could scout for a Coutts announced his candidacy for the suddenly called Coutts lost in Spadina the Way it was orchestrated was a thing of albeit with utter cynic but what is it prime minister Trudeau has said Power corrupts and absolute Power corrupts absolutely a few Days ago Jim Coutts looked like a powerful political he was certain to be quickly appointed to the to become the political Power broker for Ontario in the and perhaps to be considered As a Likely candidate to try to succeed Trudeau when he Steps today Coutts is Licking electoral wounds for a second he lost in an Alberta Riding in he is too politically oriented to depart from the political but his wings have definitely been he wont soar so High so fast again for a and a Good Many people including Many liberals Are quietly chortling about the Spadina d d d it was not so much the conservative Victory in Joliette As the magnitude of it that was Many and certainly a Good Many Felt that Roch Lasalle had lost too much stature when he deserted tory ranks to Lead the Quebec Union National party in the april 13 provincial election and had been soundly believing they had a Chance of taking Lasalles personal fiefdom away from the liberals threw everything into the Joliette there were Lasalle won in Joliette Cabinet ministers galore to assist the Liberal and numerous strategic Grants to firms and organizations in the it was All in with some announced and some unannounced sup port from the parti scored an overwhelming d d d there were winners and losers aside from the candidates on the and its track rec was a definite to have Given up the safest Liberal seat outside Quebec has to worry thinking Liber there will almost certainly be an Early Cabinet the government will have to shake itself out of its lethargy on interest inflation and the endangered perhaps Energy minister Marc Lalonde will even have to soften his stand in dealings with Alberta and the Nan conservative Leader Joe Clark can claim a but not credit for Lasalles Victory and perhaps a very Small measure of satisfaction for the improved conservative showing in Clark campaigned hard in both i but the fact is that Lasalles Victory was largely and the ran third in spa there will still be pressure on Clark to Call a leadership convention but he will Likely continue to d d d the and Leader de can claim something of a Victory in Dan heaps Success in but most of the according to people who watched the Campaign must go to Heap himself for his tireless Effort to meet every voter in the Riding and his persistence in making the econ omy an any Way one reads political Justice has been Bennetts style is Welcome change from Lyon buried beneath the blizzard of a cities emanating from the 22nd annual pre Miers conference held last week in Victoria is both Good news and bad news for Canadas hard pressed state of Federal provincial the Good if he is to be the new chairman of the conference of Bui plans a sharply different tack from his immediate Man Tobas Sterling in contrast to the vituperative and incessant ing employed by Bennett Hopes to be saying it is time to end the winners and losers approach which has turned every federa Provin Cial Issue into fierce Battleground at canadians May be about to see some statesmanship brought to the f de Era provincial conference that if Bennett pan Shepherd his truly flock along with about which there is considerable legitimate but Bennetts views about his role Are refreshing after years of sterile parochialism and negativism from the in an interview with the Globe and Bennett said both Levels of government were plagued by a dangerous View which saw All issues in terms of winners and this is s very difficult period and Bennett there has to he attitude we change among All of Frances Russell i dont want to be considered a person who would sell out his province because i am on the other i dont want to sell out my country on narrow canadians have wailed a Long time to hear the words my country uttered in that context by a provincial but Bennetts approach int that Siv it flows directly from the position throughout years of constitutional persistently has championed the not of expanded provincial but of More Power for the regions at the if the new tone of reasonableness shown by the Premier parries through to the conference table with ing if Bennett can persuade Bis fellow premiers to try his tack Lor a Ottawa will be hard pressed not to respond in kind and soften a Tew of its own stiff necked some other premiers May be ready to follow Bennetts moderate Lead alter persistent reports of their engross ment Over Sterling Lyons conduct of the Smeu Tow his interviewer that he planned a quite Dif Ferent tone from the Manitoba he would work More closely with prime minister weve got to Calm Down the ran Bennett this Ness of ill go my Way and get As much As i that got to but now for the bad if the premiers Ever had a Golden Opportunity to prove to canadians the Validity of their claim to equal authority with Ottawa in it was this with the Economy stagger inflation at a the Dollar a 30year iwand the Federal government apparently of the opinion that the mess must be left to heal the 10 premiers could have moved into the vacuum with some leadership and As nothing else their claims to More Power for put once they failed to prod uce anything beyond designed More to Bridge their serious than to offer solutions to Canadian there is a striking similarity to the communiques from Victoria and those from last years Winnipeg conference and the 1979 gathering at they Deal with the same issues year after year after they produce the same empty phrases which Bennett add Niue w newsmen were designed so that each Premier would be free to make his own Preta tons of the in the premiers had this to say about Energy the question of Energy prices was the subject of intensive the premiers reaffirmed provincial responsibility Over natural they that important differences remain Over the future of Oil prices in last the Energy communique read in part the other than agreed that the Price of the depleting reserves of Canadian Oil should Rise in stages to More adequate in reflect the value of the re source this year didst produce a separate Energy perhaps because the provincial divisions on the Issue Are now in the Sam caused economic recovery blueprint the premiers were reduced merely to calling for a fair and equitable agreement on Energy As with the such Cal disagreement even unilateral action by the credibility of the premiers claim to equal status with Ottawa suffered further with their impossible demand that Ottawa reduce its deficit but not Cut spending on share Cost programs and continue to do without greater Access to natural resource put the premiers had no new ideas to offer the country on any of its most pressing in fairness to they probably be petted to provide they after not responsible to the whole but Only to the and often quite interests of their provincial and it is this repeatedly underlined by their annual inability to project a Clear vision of the Canadian which belies their claim to be full and equal partners in Sqq Newbury ;