Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - September 29, 1981, Winnipeg, Manitoba 1981 t focus court gave two differing signals Ottawa what Canadas supreme court gave with one hand in historic documents it handed Down monday an unequivocal Legal Sanction for the government to take its constitutional Resolution to London it took away just As strongly and much More stunningly with the if More ways than the set of judgments issued by the supreme was As remarkable As anything was the fact that it required the Reading of two majority judgments each running to More than 40 pages a True picture to emerge of the political difficulties now certain to face the Trudeau govern ments amendment in its first a seven me Ember majority headed by chief jus Tice Bora Laskin gave a and at moments Green Light for the trip to Westminster an enticement reflected in Justice minister Jean Chretien beaming arrival at a press conference less than two hours after the documents were More significant but a second More significant judg ment by a six Man majority four judges stayed firm but Laskin and two of his colleagues moved Over to the dissent offered this More startling finding we have reached the conclusion that the agreement of the prov inces of Canada is constitutionally required for the passing of the proposed Resolution for a joint address to her majesty respecting the Constitution of the court that is what the eight provinces have been insisting All in As the judgment was to a majority in the houses of the Federal parliament acting alone would be creating a different federa the supreme court is powerless to Stop the findings came in a buildup of overturning the opinions of the top courts of Newfoundland and the supreme court majority up photo Joan Cohen Ottawa editor found that a convention that a binding procedure has developed in Canada requiring provincial consent for constitutional changes affecting the the court reviewed the 22 Amend ments to the British North America act made through examining them in More detail than the lower it found that Only five directly affected Federal provincial relation no exceptions All of these amendments were agreed to by the provinces there Are no the court added a second time round for going on to quote prime ministers through to John Diefenbaker on the need for such a second critical to the ultimate was even More to the supreme court stepped As no authoritative body has done before to Tell canadians what their Constitution consists of including the British North America act of assorted Federal and provincial conventions and rules of the common Law interpretations of the Law handed Down by the in breaking with the convention re Garding provincial the tru Deau government would thus be Vio lating the Constitution of the the courts explanation of conventions in Canadian political life was detailed and Many canadians would perhaps be surprised to learn that important parts of the Constitution of with which they Are most familiar because they Are directly involved when they Justice Ronald Martland left exercise their right to vote at Federal and provincial Are nowhere to be found in the Law of the cons Titu for it is a fundamental requirement of the Constitution that if the opposition obtains a majority of the polls the government must tender its resignation but fundamental As it this requirement of the Constitution does not form part of the Law of the the court describes the main purpose of constitutional conventions As ensuring that the Legal framework of the Constitution will be operated in accor dance with the prevailing constitutional values or principles of the period it should be borne in that and Justice Roland Ritchie right hear chief Justice Bora Laskin read the courts while they Are not Laws some conventions May be More important than some their importance depends on that of the value or principle which they Are meant to the court had launched its dissertation by noting that the Constitution covered wide territory the phrases Constitution of and Canadian Constitution do not refer to matters of interest Only to the Federal govern ment or matters under Federal Juris they Are clearly meant in a broader sense and embrace the global system of rules and principles which govern the exercise of constitutional authority in every part of the Cana Dian As the court was also to explain when conventions Are broken the courts Are powerless to they can Only express an the arguments Are not As the court the proposed constitutional amendment with its charter of rights Bridges provincial legislative authority on a scale exceed ing the effect of any previous Amend ment where provincial consent was sought and the the court went could affect every facet of provincial it would also operate retrospectively As Well As pro exposing Laws enacted even before confederation to it was a judgment scarcely designed to leave a member of the Trudeau Cabinet As Jean Chretien had been Neutron warheads Are needed in Europe by Robert Cameron special to the free press Washington three years soviet president Leonid Brezhnev said that the had developed a Neutron warhead but would not produce it unless the United states first decided to do the United states has now opted to do just shortly Brezhnev used the occasion of a Krem Caspar Weinberger Lin communist party Leader be to Call for an end to the development of Ever More terrible types of Brezhnev is holding Western Europe hostage with a massive buildup of conventional and nuclear military Power in the last while at the same time he is continually urging so one has to take this plea with a Grain of Salt if not As Down right will not happen with or without Neutron nato is never going to attempt liberating dissident parts of the soviet Empire with military on the other based on historical and current one would be a fool to take the soviet pronouncements of peaceful cooperation at face this is so even though one might argue in attacking the the soviets would be killing the Goose which is Ever More enthusiastically laying Golden eggs for them notably in the form of High technology curiously for the erstwhile granary of a move to update natos current nuclear which will counter the soviet ss20 and backfire bomber is under for Many reasons this is not an Ideal deterrent for a potential enemy having massive conventional Force and which is geared for immediate use of both chemical weapons and Battlefield nuclear Neutron weapons will admittedly be something As most readers of the daily news should know by Neutron warheads work mainly with lethal radiation that can kill people by penetrating Armor and structures without destroying they offer a redoubtable Fence not to be confused with a Maginot line but add Little to an offensive this accounts for their identification As classic defensive contrast this with the effect of earlier nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki consider the death toll and areas of populated infrastructure reduced to rubble in the second world War with one bomb then make your own judgment on Neutron weapons being More terrible or now a word about an objection offered by a european if we get Neutron the soviets will he so we will be no better this putdown simply does not apply to the situation in Western nato forces by definition Are not going to take the offensive they will be prepared for trouble in defensive Posi enemy forces will make Ideal targets when they concentrate As they must a and even if they too have Neutron nato will still have an advantage be cause of necessarily bigger enemy concentrations for nostalgic objection the same european expert is also responsible for a somewhat nostalgic to Neutron Wear German he shudder at the thought that Neutron weapons might be used indiscriminate like Dot against this would make nonsense of both the strategy of flexible and the principle of sparing first use of nuclear weapons in the event of he goes on to Many european strategists feel that antitank which nato members Are producing by the hundreds of can do the Job equally Well risk ing the escalation of Border skirmishes to an atomic this suggests that German military personnel would not mind a Little bit of old fashioned mayhem along the Bor to be sure rather than compensate for natos shortage of Hie Cost manpower with High technology weapons even though they offer a Quan Tum improvement in As a matter of about the same time As i read the an More focus on Page 8 american writer suggested that soviet emotion Over the decision to acquire Neutron warheads May Stem in Large measure from soviet who like roughing things up and destroying the Countryside As any afghan peasant can confirm so resent the thought of Neutron warfare because it would be Sissy warfare some people argue that because Neu tron weapons would not entail massive civilian they Are More Likely to be this logic suggests that nato weapons should be As indiscriminately damaging As so we would be deterred from using but As Secretary of defence Caspar Weinberger Points out that is not the sort of deterrence that will keep the peace a fourth Chestnut on the Neutron controversy is this whether a president would Ever authorize use of Neutron weapons to Stop soviet a Mored columns that Are tearing into West if it carries the risk of nuclear retaliation on the american Homeland if he would we had Best pack up nato and try to forget the or turn the problem and some Neutron weapons Over to the who think natos strategy is for the since flexible response is completely incompatible with How the so Viets have advertised they plan to if push comes to Good fences make Good As Robert Frost after he scanned the but the reasons for Chretien full steam ahead approach Are not hard to the first Sevenman majority judgment each of the judgments was written not by a single judge but Colle Gilly gives no hint of the Road blocks the supreme court judges have found on the Road to authority exists it finds that parliament has Legal authority to initiate the amendment process in Britain via its what is Central Here is the untrammelled authority at Law of the two Federal houses to proceed As they wish in the management of their own pro the British North America act does not control this authority or require that it be subordinated to provincial the court it demonstrates in a lengthy exposition that the United kingdom re under the 1931 statute of West the Legal Power to Amend the British North America act on the same basis As it had done since Conedera namely on receipt of a Resolution passed by both Federal houses of Par the still without hinting at what was to went on to argue that other than those Deve loped in International do not crystallize into it was thus to become Clear that Canadas Conven Tion threw up no Legal impediment for the this judgment on its own would give much Solace to the Federal govern it for that though the provinces have supremacy in their own allocated this distribution of Powers is not projected into Canadas dealings with the United it notes the one constant since the enactment of the British North Ameri Ca act in 1867 had been the Legal authority of the United kingdom parliament to Amend it observes that we Are involved Here with a finishing operation in the Job of creating a Canadian and talks of operating the old machinery perhaps one More but in the end the court cleared no easy path to a two opposing and conflicting forces Are at work formal process the Trudeau govern ment has brought into on the one running with a red Light appears the most All Are Fence ending and Bridge building regardless of when the election is the Campaign has in it has been going on for at least a or As the cynics since the Day after the last All parties have been More Active since the end of As they nominate raise Money and try to attract More the six Montgold headed by Sidney began reaching out to the general Public with a seminar in Early featuring an impress Ive list of guest while the attendance was not those present Learned the party position on a num Ber of economic matters and were Given an Opportunity to express their own the liberals attracted even fewer people to their youth but that event provided provincial Leader Doug Lauchlan and Federal ministers with a platform As they attempted to build up the Confidence and Faith of those attending the because of their Small the progressives and liberals have More difficulty than their big Brothers in attracting attention on the provincial and have limited their the tories and new demo generally recognized As the main opponents in the Corning have under the dome Arlene Billinkoff been extending their activities As far As the voter can the new democrats Are taking the traditional enhanced by their task Force the Leader is working his Way through the recently concentrating on areas which appear to be either leaning towards his party or possibly swerving for in the past month his Urban Campaign has focussed on fort Wolseley and the first two of which were narrowly won by other while the newly created Ellice Riding May cause problems for the nip As a result of Boundary Redis his Rural journeys have been Pri Marily to Ridings such As Brandon and where his party May steal from the with added attention to where the nip representation May be in interspersed with those Howard Pawley has met and spoken to numer Ous such As the Manitoba federation of which is essential to future Success of his meanwhile constituency associations Are holding Money raising social gatherings and party workers Are assembling the forces in anticipation of the main the tories Are following a similar track at Are hold ing various gatherings and sending out requests for contributions for the elec Tion at the same Cabi net ministers Are touring the province in an Effort to mend fences and build Bridges into new that is the acceptable approach for a political but when that group also happens to be the it has even More avenues of Communia while the new democrats can Issue news releases on various aspects of their activities and those pieces of paper Are automatically Lin ked with the on the other the tories can Issue announcements through information supposedly relating regular government pro in the past few those releases have included special school for a senior citizens Job million for dental health services for a million personal care Home and for the Keystone Centre in Brandon and the granting of a contract for the first phase of a Multi million Dollar project for the Dauphin general those Are not direct political but obviously the tories Hope the Public will get the message about who is providing the another favorite government gambit is in the past two citizens have received pamphlets about the safer a White paper rationalizing various social an outline of the government position on the Constitution and a recent letter to All parents informing them of the child related income support program which was announced More than a year on the economic develop ment department has funded a series of advertisements lauding the most recent display has been full Page newspaper citing the Industrial benefits of the backed up by a series of three minute television com sponsored by the conserva Tive while the earlier efforts were at tacked by the in most cases the furore was the negative feelings resurfaced with greater intensity when viewers were exposed to the combination of the governments printed ads and the party television As far As the critics were the thin line separating party and government activities had been blatantly the Only thing missing from the ads was the slogan vote said Russ there was an irony because there trying to bribe the taxpayers with their own but using the Public purse for purely political messages was an abuse of the he something should be his Leader Pawley tax Dol Lars should not be used for an election he and the most Honor Able thing for the government to do is Call an election it was sensible but is the government ready for the real election doonesbury on tic Council of economic financial co Muhm can you Wink of a Peason Why Wall Smeer should so to youd policies Shaw As itis Formet accept Ima Kaip Wall smears Nas Maymay Tihada Fth a Star ;