Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - September 28, 1981, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free september 1 focus All of us support Ottawa lifestyle Peter Thomson is leaving his position As Ottawa editor of this newspaper to become executive adviser on Public relations to he Canadian wheat in the following the second of he reflects on the significant changes that he has seen during 14 years in Ottawa As a As a ministerial aide and As an Ottawa everyone agrees Otta is an attractive City and a Good place to raise a Ottawa thanks to the Federal governments presence and the ability of government employees to wring Side benefits from the Many amenities which Are beyond the Finan Cial capacity of a Normal civic admin there Are the wide driveways along two Rivers and the Rideau canal driveways bordered by acres of neatly kept grass and Flower the in provides the longest and least expensive for of Dawans skating rink in the Ottawa also has a National arts Centre which started off costing million and ended up costing million in dollars that were Worth twice what they Are Canadas taxpayers not Only covered the Cost of the arts and its annual deficit which runs into millions of and the and the canal and skating but they have also footed the Bill for some of the most prestigious buildings in the government buildings which enhance the Skyline and enrich life in one need not Admire the architecture to be impressed with the Bank of Canada for constructed so As to completely enclose the old Bank of Canada the new one Cost something like seven times the Cost of More Normal office the Banks Glass Walls reflect sur rounding buildings and the its Price tag reflects a Complete mockery of restraint and an ability of the bureaucracy to accommodate them selves expensively if not there Are other impressive govern ment buildings the Howe build ing with its million Dollar each Eleva tors and 40foot Trees inside the Structure the Lester Pearson build ing for external overlooking the Ottawa River and Gatineau Hills beyond the defence building by the Rideau canal and those buildings and the other office towers and hotels that have sprung up in the capital have helped make Ottawa an attractive and bustling it was not always fourteen years ago the parliament buildings stood not Only because of their architecture but also because they towered Over the there until a prohibition against any Ottawa building being More than 10 storeys High so that it would not exceed the height of the peace there was then no theatre worthy of the it is certainly appropriate that the country capital have a Beautiful arts Centre where dignitaries from other lands can be received in a splendor equal to that which their countries for the the arts the the canal and All that goes with it at Canadian tax payer expense is a worthwhile Bonus that goes with living in the Ottawa is above All a government City and that tends to make it different from any other in government is by far the biggest there is virtually no pollutant producing Industry in the National Cap Peter Thomson Ottawa editor ital Ottawa is an uncommonly clean it also has some uncommon characteristics resulting from the fact that almost everyone is a government employee characteristics that strike one when he first one of those characteristics is con Stant caution in All Otta wans drive As though they were in a funeral three flakes of Snow on a Winters afternoon not Only sends the Public servants off Early in Masse to beat the traffic but immediately turns three Lane traffic into one Lane not to i everyone but us reducing Oil use expense is not spared when it comes to improving the buildings and social amenities of take the slightest risk of bending a Ottawa has to be the Only City in Canada where Drivers can create a traffic Jam with 10 there Are other elements of this innate Public servant caution in Otta one example is indelibly imprinted on my it came about six or seven years ago needing one More sleeping bag for a camping trip i hurried with one of my sons then six or seven to a local sporting goods out the sleeping bags were All in three Levels of Quality and we chose one and waited for the clerk to take the was tied up with an earlier customer obviously a Public this customer also had a son with probably 13 or 14 years of who plaintively complained weve been Here half an lets take one and i dont know the father we should talk to your sister about replied the she wants us to get dont Rush parried the we want to be sure its the youth pleaded with his father to take one and get out of the Way of other customers to no the last words i heard As i dragged the clerk away to take my Money were dont you think your Mother should have a vote on they May still be there trying to the episode made a tremendous impression on my what was the matter with dad he he was a civil i of course what it really was is known in the vernacular As the cover your self it pervades and it prompted me to on that occasion and to get my family out of Ottawa before it came to believe the whole world operates that there Are other interesting aspects of life in the Ottawa for a tremendously stratified so Mere directors do not impose upon assistant Deputy ministers at cocktail parties or often get invited to the same one and so on Down the the system is Only slightly More Subtle than a caste Mark on the there is a general Assumption that Public servants Are so dedicated to self preservation that they do not work that is a dangerous generalize at the Middle and upper Levels of the in there Are Large numbers of ambitious and hard working bureaucrats whose efforts match anything to be found in the private they with unrelenting to enlarge their areas of sometimes they infringe on each others managing to Transfer a or a function from one department to such ploys result in tremendous defensive a senior bureaucrat May Dawdle when his minister needs instant information for an emergency debate in the but he Springs into furious action at the first hint of encroachment on his rather than quarrel among themselves for More jurisdictional re Federal bureaucrats will team together to do their Empire build ing at the expense of the it has been suggested by enlightened politicians that 90 per cent of Federal provincial quarrels Are really a matter of Federal bureaucrats fighting Provin Cial such is the atmosphere in a City different in character from any other except another the process goes round and round but some things do two of the first stories this journalist filed from Ottawa were on Harold Bud Olson resigning from the social credit party to sit in the commons As an Independent and on Jack pickers Gills resignation from the Cabinet to become chairman of the Canadian transport commission which he had Olson went on to become a Liberal a Cabinet a Defeated Liberal a senator and again a Cabinet Pickersgill served his term with the Etc and retired to become a renowned political historian still admitting that giving Public servants the right to strike was the greatest mistake of the Pearson some issues just never More focus on Page 8 by John Best special to the free press Paris and but the West is beating its dependence on but there is a feeling Here that Canada is not pulling its weight in this historic the International Energy Agency an affiliate of the 24nation organization for economic cooperation and has been urging Canada for some time to allow its Domestic Oil Price to Rise to world but even under the new pricing agreement Between Alberta and the Federal conventionally produced Oil in Canada will sell for not More than 75 per cent of the world the Price will be blended in with that for newly discovered but the blend will still not touch world Al though Oil extracted from the Athabasca tar Sands the world Price is now about a about double the Price in but is expected to Rise Over the next Canadas foot dragging As far As the Iea is what Canada has done is not Good though better than the feeling is that with its plentiful Energy could withdraw relatively painlessly from the world Oil import Market if it so the key is to Stop tinkering with Price controls and let the Market take that might mean gasoline sooner than most candian motorists would but it would be a surefire Way to push Down con both the europeans and the Ameri cans have done this it is said it one beneficial result is reduced Overall demand for Oil and a Check of sorts on Price for members of the there was an absolute drop in total Energy use last despite a nominal on percent increase in total it was accounted for largely by an eight per cent drop in demand for demand for Oil was also Down in the first and second quarters of and for the year As a whole a drop of Between three and four per cent is forecast by the this translates into an average consumption rate of just Over 34 million barrels a Day compared to million last year and million two years the United states accounted for an estimated 55 per cent of the an eloquent commentary on the Efficacy of Washington belated decision to Abol ish pricing european Mem Bers of Iea accounted for 28 per Japan 16 and Canada practically it is becoming increasingly Clear that the Structure of Energy systems in the industrialized countries is changing in a Way that will result in a continuing reduction in dependence upon Oil As a primary Energy so wrote Frederick the Cana Dian director of Leas office of Long term Energy use per unit of Gross production had declined by almost 13 per cent from 1973 to while Oil use per unit fell by More than 19 per at the same Domestic Energy output was up More than 12 per percentage decline by the end of the if present trends Oil use among Western countries could be reduced to Between 25 and 30 per cent of total Energy against approximately 50 per cent at net Oil imports could be lowered to 15 to 17 million barrels a Day against 24 million at Iea officials see the world Oil mar now experiencing a relative tightening again in the mid to late 1980s due to growing demand by the Oil producing countries themselves some purchases by the soviet thus the wests As seen is not Only to maintain but to intensify its conservation and of foil automobile safety inspections May save lives if you received one of those printed invitations from motor vehicles registrar Peter Dzygala to bring your car in for a safety inspection this or you had lots of in the last year for which Complete records Are More than Manitoba mostly from got exactly the same perhaps invitation is too polite a word to demand would be More since the notice says that a particular vehicle has been selected for and that it is to be presented for inspection at the time and Date the demand does thank the Motorist for his not until it has reminded him that failure to comply May result in the cancellation of your it is this Carrota Nestick approach in the notice that persuades 18 of every 100 recipients either to sell their vehicles immediately they receive the de or to cancel the plates in order to avoid having to undergo these people avoided the second printed on the top of the inspection Sheet the first consequence listed on this Sheet reads licence plates because of the in the four teams employed by the department actually inspected not the that were called Fred Cleverley of the motorists were volunteers for the they brought their cars in without having received the demand that they do the Low number of Volunteer inspections disappoints the inspection because they firmly believe that they Are in the business to help rather than harass each year the department faithfully advertises the location of the inspection units and invites real not demands people to bring their cars two things prevent a flood of Volun anyone who just shows up for the rather than being called is charged a Small fee for the it is not the fee that keeps the majority of motorists it is the fear that the inspection team might find that would ground the car on the and leave the Motorist waiting for the next bus Jack who is the head of the motor vehicle inspection says this almost never even with the More than motorists who Are dragged in through the demand although 68 per cent of the vehicles fail to get their safety sticker on the first time through the fewer than two vehicles in a Hundred Are failed for what Are described As hazardous most of these Are simply Given time to have the defects repaired be fore having to go through the safety Check a second the majority of failures Are for non hazardous such As Burntout turn signals or licence plate a Hom that does not or defective exhaust the remedy is simply time to get the defects re what Are the chances that you will be selected next year you probably know if you have been chosen this because the safety Check program operates mainly during the summer months and is now winding if you live in and Are driving a vehicle More than four years you have about a Onei Nten Chance of hav ing to put your car through the inspection of the compulsory inspections carried out in were of vehicles registered in Winni since there Are about vehicles registered in the and since certain such As heavy duty vehicles and school buses have to be checked each the average Motorist stands a Onei Nten Chance of being called in any one if he lives outside his chances of being inspected drop drastic Only cars in Winnipeg and bran Don Are subject to selection each the rest of the province is divided into 32 circles of about 25 Miles and the Mobile inspection units visit half of them each being selected one year does not give anyone a ten year free the Selec Tion is on a random basis using the branches registration and there Are people who Are after being called in several years doonesbury that the computer has stuck on their particular perhaps the most important question that has to be asked about the safety inspections is whether they Are Worth the tax dollars it costs to operate the Jack Sinnock is prepared to Trot out reams of figures to prove that the Money is being Well the areas subject to yearly inspections show a lower failure rate than those where inspections Are carried out every other not Only is the failure rate but the incidence of Hazard Ous failure is Sinnock is con Vinced that simply haying a compulsory inspection hanging Over ones head is sufficient to convince Many motorists to have minor repair work rather than putting them the branches work with passenger cars is secondary to its concentrated programs on heavy duty vehicles and where More lives could be at try telling that to anyone who has just received one of those offers that cannot be or to one of those who sell their cars before the inspection Date Rolls the random Selec Tion is really Peter Dyga runs the entire motor vehicle had his car called in last he a thasia what Haj lilt ;