Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - September 24, 1981, Winnipeg, Manitoba J Winnipeg free september Winnipeg free press Freedom of Trade Equality of civil rights Liberty of religion published and printed six Days a week at 300 Carlton Winnipeg r3c 3c1 by Canadian newspapers company limited Telephone s439331 Winnipeg free press 1872 the Wirt leg Tribune 1890 Donald n1col publisher John Dafoe editorial Page editor Murray Burt managing editor Rudy Redekop controller him or Quebec unjust sign Law since september 1 of this Quebec Law has forbidden businesses in the province to display on their Public signs any word of English or the Many other languages spoken by minorities of the Quebec the language Law enacted by the parti quebecois in 1977 required All Busin esses to rename themselves in French last this year they must blot out from their signs German and above All the language Law has been largely accepted by Quebec French speaking most of them were not affected by it since they were already working or attending school in most of those who were inclined to use English go along with the idea that they really ought to speak French and Send their children to French some As if it were the bad old Days of 20 years ago when some English businesses were regularly discourteous to French speaking customers and Are Happy to see the shoe on the other the Quebec Liberal party in this years election Campaign promised to relax the school allowing English speak ing children from outside Quebec to attend the provinces English there were other issues in the but that Promise formed a part of the program the electorate the pm promised to keep its language Law intact and won the the Law is understandable to the extent that it widens the opportunities for French speaking Quebe cers to study and work in their own the right of French speaking parents to choose the language of their childrens instruction is but the French speaking electorate clearly accepts the restriction and All parties in Quebec politics propose to keep but the pm language strategy identifies the no French minorities in Quebec As part of the so Long As some people in Quebec Are openly speaking the reasoning some French speakers will be infected with the same disease through will defect from the French speaking it is unjust in principle to forbid a person to hang up a sign in whatever language he it is foolish in practice to suppose that French speaking people Are More free to use their language when other languages have been put away out of the sign suppressors Cater to the worst instincts of intolerant nationalists whose love of the French language consists mainly of hating the but they bring no real Benefit to now that it has come to the Point of sending in the language police to arrest recalcitrant English businessmen who per Sist in displaying English words on their there Are signs of a shift in one recent poll found a majority of French speaking mint readers willing to see English on Public signs alongside newspaper commentators Are suggesting a saw off that would allow English to appear in predominantly English sections of Montreal the at the same Are being asked to decide on the Validity of the sign rules and of the whole language the pm government is unlikely to Amend its treasured Law unless ordered to by the but there should be plenty of room for flexibility in the implementation since English signs do not in reality Hurt canadians in other work out their own versions of linguistic Justice regardless of the nonsense perpetrated in the Manitoba government has hired a talented and persuasive franc Manitoban away from the external affairs department to figure out practical ways in which the government can provide service to its French speaking citizens in their own language beyond what is required by the he faces a hauntingly Large but at least Manitoba for All its has never dictated the language of signs people hang up on their Alcan chooses a site a Pya if it were not that an election May be called in the next few Days or the announcement of a site for an aluminium Plant that May or May not be built in the province would be regarded As a Normal event leading to a final decision on the part of the aluminium company of the pending election distorts the conservatives will attempt to portray the site selection As a positive indication that the Plant will be built while members of the opposition parties Are Likely to suggest that the decision has been pried out of the company so the government can make political the real significance of the decision has Little to do with the aluminium company of Canada has announced a feasibility study to assess the suitability of Manitoba As a location for a new As part of this study it is necessary to pinpoint a specific area in which the Plant would be and to carry out environmental Impact the selection of a potential site is a necessary step along the Road to that the site less than 20 Miles North of the City on land that is not considered to be especially valuable for the agricultural use now being made of is one that is obviously acceptable to the company if it decides to go ahead with the what remains to be determined is whether it is acceptable to those responsible for environmental con Cerns in and to the people who live close by and who will be most affected by the proposed after the necessary studies Are it will be possible to decide whether the site is As acceptable to Manitoba As it is to the selection will be judged on its the selection of a site acceptable to Alcan does not guarantee that a smelter will be built in it is a step toward a final the Bull boys in Ottawa political civil servants Urban affairs minister Gerry Mercier is right to be concerned that his assistant Deputy minister has put himself in an awkward position by announcing that he will be a candidate for the nip nomination in River Heights cons Titu his comes a Little late in the under legislation passed by the previous nip govern David Sanders is entitled to seek political to take a 35day leave of absence for the duration of the election Campaign and a five year leave of absence during the life of the next government should he win a that legislation is clearly there need be no Legal bar to the vast majority of Public servants exercising their democratic right to work for political parties and to run for that right should extend to those holding senior policy positions which involve them As close advisors of a an assistant Deputy minister holds that kind of the conservative government has had four years in Power to change that through or fear of it has failed to do the present Embarrass ment is a civil servants have a right to their political opinions and to express those opinions by but the elected and the people who elected have the right to Confidence that the policies the government was elected to implement will be carried out faithfully by the Public that Confidence is bound to be sapped when a senior civil servant runs in a political Campaign whose aim is to remove the government from office and change those Sanders has been an excellent and dedicated Public in his own he is convinced that he can faithfully carry out the policies of the government while campaigning publicly against but Sanders mind is not the Only one that in the minds of his political and in the minds of a substantial part of the his ability to carry out his duties in an unbiased Way has become the Law should have been changed to avoid this whatever the there is no question that Sanders ability to function As a senior advisor to the government has been badly his right action would be to do what other senior civil servants have done when they sought political office and by Wilson special to the free press Ottawa the uncompromising tone and proposals of the leaked Chretien document on federa Provin Cial finance would be difficult to credit if the government had not actually followed the strategy proposed in last septembers leaked Tough Guy memo on the constitutional unyielding without that the Chretien memo would simply be taken As a bargaining position to be used in what would inevitably be difficult negotiations with the provinces Over the Feder Al contributions to share Cost social since the Federal govern ment did adopt the unyielding Goit alone strategy outlined for them last year by assistant Cabinet Secretary Michael the thought has to be entertained that we May be on the Brink of More unilateral action from the we Are involved in two views of As the prime minister has said in the although the nature of the two Are somewhat different from those which he has one is the cooperative federalism which the late Lester Pearson introduced and which helped Mold the con temporary shape of the with its very High level of Basic social jus the other is not Only More centralist but is also More authoritarian in its approach to other Levels of govern involving the substitution of political Force for political skill and Mak ing confrontation and Competition for Gower a Norm of National the approach proposed by Justice minister and that actually followed in the constitutional Are closely they represent the end of cooperative federalism which the prime minister seems to View As having led to dangerous weakening of the Central the new course appears to have its roots in the fallout confrontation Between the Ultra nation lists in Quebec and the Quebec politicians who opposed it by building French Power in Ottawa As a counter to Quebec it is a National Extension of the politics which have divided the French Canadian Community so deep debatable the divisions within Quebec inevitably reach the National the wis Dom of extending their pattern to inter governmental relations generally is at least it can readily be argued that this imposes an Overly Paro Chial approach to National political creativity of a very High order produced the concept of cooperative federalism which can too easily be viewed As Only a in it found its expression in the share Cost programs and was the Means of sur mounting constitutional barriers to the establishment of our existing social policy Structure with a reasonable level of common most of the programs involved provincial jurisdiction where the Federal government had no constitutional a satisfactory solution could have been found for the Richer prov inces by providing them with More tax room during the fiscal disputes of the the sole justification for a Feder Al role was that the Mere provision of tax room would have left the poorer provinces at a great pre venting them from establishing ser vices at All comparable to those of the country wealthy frustration All through this last years constitutional the Federal Side has been fond of insisting that we have experienced 50 years of constitutional fru Stra this ignores the reality that pearsons statesmanship surmounted constitutional barriers and shaped the social policy Structure of the because Pierre Chretien and others ignored the real develop ments that had taken place just before the Federal claim of frustration was and remains it arises either from failure to understand the times through which these like the rest of have lived or upon a deliberate distortion of recent the share Cost programs have the fault that they have proved financially open ended with one contributor unable to control rising this is a genuine problem to be dealt with but once again the nation is faced with the Federal Choice of a doctrinaire approach Over the pragmatic the substitution of Bullyboy Federal tactics for political Genius is a major deterioration in our National affairs and it ignores the lessons to be found in pearsons failure to report citizens pay 1 was pleased to see the free press coverage of nip Leader de Broad Bents speech on Al Salvador at the University of it is important that Public figures speak out on the situation i cannot understand Why you failed to report on the second speaker of the Cecelia As a member of the association of families of political prisoners in was invited by the United nations to address its commit tee on human rights in she was in Winnipeg on her Way Home to widespread violations of the most Basic human rights by the Junta government of Chile have been corroborated by amnesty Gomez spoke with courage and dignity of the horrors of life in Chile for political prisoners and their she brought firsthand information of a situation that deserves the concern and help of the respectful attention of the Sheila bog och de Broadbent nip Leader 1 cannot spare to join the Keystone club to share Sterling Lyons but i would like to ask him what assurances Manitoban have that the proposed Meg projects Are coming our Way can his governments interference assure their cooperation in hiring dealing with Manitoba or even their obedience to pollution Laws Why has it taken Lyon so Long to realize that Manitoba has an unemployment problem has he been too occupied with his task cutting programs and winding Down publicly owned enterprises for the Pri vate sector bargain Hunters May i suggest to our Premier that there Are More deserving and essential services to spend on what amounts to recruiting workers for Pri vate companies and advertising what they can do with our 1 notice that the Oil companies Are also trying to improve their image by if the product is there is no need to Thomasson Winnipeg by election needed As a resident of Wolseley constituent i have been informed by Len Domi no rather than put us to the expense and trouble of actually Choos ing a replacement for our recent tory he and Premier Sterling Lyon have decided that he can represent us until Lyon Calls an is this an indication of progressive conservative respect for the elector ate Domino was elected by the people of Matthews and presumably remains their representative until the next election is we in worse Ley do not have a Dominos attempt to foist himself upon us is an insult to the electors of both if he wants to represent As he apparently and if he has any influence with the Why not suggest a Bielec Tion to Lyon Richard Stuart Winnipeg the Winnipeg free press from readers writers must Sivc their name and the author name will be used and letters ure subject to to reception we would like to comment on the letter by David to rip free september the american signals which Videon distributes to its subscribers Are received affair at our headed near the Border at the receiving equipment at Tolstoi is of state theart Quality and maintained jointly by the engineering staff of both Videon and greater Winnipeg Cablevision the signals Are then transported to our local headed at Norbert via microwave facilities which Are leased from the Manitoba Tele phone system and we Are certain it would confirm the Quality of those television reception in Manitoba is subject to a number of unique considerations which do not affect other parts of the furthest signals received at Tolstoi must travel a distance of Over 100 Miles from the transmitting television station in the United and somewhat weaker than in the uniquely Flat landscape of the Prairies can create certain problems with the microwave delivery system from Tolstoi to significant signal fading can occur due to reflected signals cancel Ling the original the effect can be likened to skipping a Stone across a Calm for these the Quality of the signals is particularly during the summer months when atmospheric conditions heighten the i would like to assure and your other that we Are actively engaged in research to improve the Quality of these signals and we in the implemented unique technical methods to improve in response to Reynolds com ments regarding satellite delivery of television signals Videon was the first Cable company in Canada licensed to provide satellite delivered House of commons service to its while satellite is a technically Superior delivery a bilateral agreement Between Canada and the United states at present prohibits reception of signals by one country from the satellites of the for this the Federal department of communications will not Issue a licence for a satellite Earth receiving station television receive Only Taro where that Taro is intended to receive satellite Sig nor will the Federal regulatory Agency governing broadcasting and Cable television in the Canad an radio television and telecommunications authorize distribution of such signals by Cable Vic president and general manager Videon Cable to Winnipeg economic woes canadians Are at the mercy of the Federal government and the govern ment of High interest rates and High Energy costs to the Consumers Are two of the most significant areas of Premier Peter Lougheed and prime minister Trudeau have politically and economically chosen to manipulate the taxpayers of the richest will get the political will get stronger through the signing of the Energy its self induced billion deficit will be substantially reduced at the expense of the the end result of these economic moves will place Canadian Consumers on the threshold of How can there be Unity among canadians does the prime minister speak for Canada lets Wake up the political and eco nomic controllers in Ottawa out of their cruel Nicholas Lewadnyj Winnipeg no please recently i received a Lovely Manitoba coat farms pin from a political figure who expects to be running in my constituency in the inevitable upcoming provincial the pin was accompanied by a letter from Len Domino welcoming me to the cons Titu Domino has to my knowl actually been nominated As the conservative party representative in this and is still the representative for i do not appreciate gifts from Politi Cal figures which have been sent to make me what a Nice Guy especially around election i see it As a form of we have enough problems with pressure from special interest groups trying to influence the course of gov we do not need to allow questionable practices Akin to i urge All the residents of Wolseley who received similar gifts to Send them Back and demand instead sincerity from political de Francesco Winnipeg Tough Bargainer on september the free press published a letter by Jacques Bougie of Alcan beyond reproach in which he objects to any reference to the conservatives Chi project by those discussing the conservatives Alcan Bougie must be aware of the fact that his company advertising Campaign in Manitoba is taking place at the same time As a progressive conserva Tive advertising Campaign about the possibility of Alcan building a smelter in Manitoba at some future Bougie May not be aware of the fact that the progressive conservative government of Manitoba in the 1960s built its Hopes around private Chi was the major conserva Tive Meg project of the late Chi involved the loss of tens of millions of taxpayers much of the blame went to a conservative Cabinet that was More anxious to say there was a big project than it was to negotiate a Good Deal for the same progressive conservative and indeed some of the same Are working to offer Alcan a Deal which is not Good enough for if that Deal was Ever it would seriously harm the integrity of the Manitoba Hydro system and place Alcan in an uniquely favourable Posi so Bougie should realize that As Long As he is negotiating with conservatives who signed the Chi he cannot avoid connection with the Chi Sterling Lyon himself signed the Chi i agree that Alcan is a proud and Good corporate i have been told that Alcan is a Tough and that it will live up to the letter of its an nip government would negotiate just As so that if Alcan does decide it wants to proceed with a smelter the agreement is fair to both the people of Manitoba deserve to be represented As forcefully and capably As the people of Alcan Are represent Howard Pawley Leader Manitoba nip Winnipeg come Trudeau is explaining his economic policy on that i i ;