Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - November 3, 1981, Winnipeg, Manitoba Tighter control Over education by Terence Moore the Lyon governments education policy has benefited Stu dents with special schooling private minority language groups and school divisions with de Clining it has been unfavourable to to the few school divisions with increasing enrol ments or with Low Cost programs and to teachers with Bright ideas for new courses or better ways to under education minister Keith the government has established tighter provincial control Over what goes on in the it has brought Back the old school inspectors under the new Label of Field represent it has instituted departmental testing to detect teachers or schools whose pupils Are it has issued course guides to teach ers which spell out in More detail than before what is to be taught and leaving less scope for the most imaginative teachers and providing More support to the less Cosens he has avoided adopting every new educational fad that comes along or using schoolchildren As Guinea the course guides he has had the department he said in a recent Are really clearcut so As to leave Little doubt in the teachers mind about what is required to be he has had very positive response from but Dorothy president of the Manitoba teachers regrets Sterling Lyons policies have benefited minority language groups but caused some damage to Manitoba Libya ambitions widely feared by Jeff Endrst special to the free press new York there is considerable irony in the recent libyan claims that a conspiracy is afoot to invade its it lies in the fact that despite a Small population million heavily armed and Oil wealthy Libya is itself seen As an invasion threat by Many of its neighbors in North Africa threat that became real to neighbouring to the some months the libyan charge affaires in new Awad made the invasion allegations in the Wake of the a Sassana Tion of Anwar Sadat and shortly after two american Azacs aircraft began patrolling the regions in Egypt and the Sudan that Border on sudanese president Jafar Numeir has made a Libya plans to invade his country and has moved units of his ill equipped army to the Border area which abuts on both Libya and num Eirys concern about Chad arises because this former French col ony has a problem similar to the present governments in Cambodia and in All three the governments have been installed and maintained by troops of a foreign in this task is being performed by libyan they moved in three years ago to help out one political faction in Chad against the Side that won is the current government in the losers have become known As exile insurgents operating against the government from bases in the the organization of african Unity has not accepted the fait a com but it is powerless to change in the Libya just refers All concerned to the client government in Chad which obligingly confirms that the libyans Are in Chad at the governments they would not leave Chad until the insurgents in the Sudan gave up their attempt to upset the current peacekeeping Force the africans had a they offered to put up an african peace keeping Force on condition that the United nations would pay for after being by the in that the Security Coli Neil would never approve financing for a military Force which it could not Chad expressed its readiness to accept such an Oak military there has been no Seri Ous attempt to form but there Are other and even the present government in Chad does not deny their libyan maps show chunks of Northern Chad As part of that territory had been part of Chad during the French colonial Era Between 1900 and there Are persistent reports that the area has uranium Libya says it does not need and Chad says that if there Ever was the French would have taken but the situation around Chad is not a simple quarrel Between two political factions vying for Libya into and Khz Addavis declared pan islamic aspirations in Africa have apparently Given Many leaders of the Region a these fears were accentuated by Khz Addavis announce ment of a Libya Chad he has not overtly pushed for a merger re but he has not withdrawn the what scares some of the african countries is Khz Addavis reputation for moves others often consider to be Irra after invading for exam a Qaddafi said we consider niger second in line to niger is not the Only country in the Region that worries about Khz Addavis perceived role of an islamic unifier and equatorial Guinea and Gambia broke relations with Libya last Ghana and niger expelled libyan dip Kenya and upper Volta re fused to allow the establishment of Peoples bureaus in their last after accusing Libya of involvement in an explosion at the embassy of Chad in the Sudan expelled All libyan in the presidents of Mali and the Sudan have charged Libya with attempts to overthrow their Senegal and Gambia have accused Libya of imprisoning their nationals and putting them into military training against their Ghana has charged Libya with inter Nal subversion when it expelled its the widely esteemed for Mer president of Leopold said that libyan forces Are designed to destroy Africa South of the Sahara and create a vast libyan the situation around Chad had started getting Nasty even before Sadat the Sudan had complained that libyan aircraft bombed villages in the suspected of harbouring units of former Chad de Fence minister his Sene Habre who had vowed to stage a Egypt and the Sudan have begun to take the libyan threat Libya has reacted with a complaint to the in Security Council that the two countries Are massing troops and equipment on Libya Bent on Libya says that threat is nothing but Washington pretext for beefing up its military presence in Egypt and the it is now appealing to the american and world Public opinion to be aware that the United states has plans to intervene in Domestic libyan the narrowed the she is disappointed that the spirit of innovation encouraged by the preceding has been in the present period of declining she teachers Are worried about their jobs and feel under pressure to play it Safe and go by the a special Effort is needed to encourage teachers to be but the govern ment has done just the scuttling innovative efforts launched by the former government and discouraging teachers and students from coming Forward with new course the governments most dramatic move in education was scheme for financing school the Edu cation support the program was generally welcomed in its first year is to continue in Force through 1982 and 1983 it produced stable or lower property taxes in most school larger and bet Ter designed government Grants to school divisions and a Promise that shrinking divisions would not lose Grant support in the Way they had previously for every drop in enrol doubts about balance doubts about the balance of winners and losers in the second and third years of the the Transcona Springfield division was forced into a Sharp local tax increase this year and warned other divisions that they will find themselves in the same position As the program the complexities of the Fine print in the programs Grant rules leave room for the program appears to Promise each division an automatic annual in Matching the inflation ill three quarters of its without regard to increases or decreases in it clearly promises that a division will not lose Grant support when it loses students during the school these promises have been welcomed by shrinking divisions which have found they cannot compress expenditure in direct relation to enrol ment a part of each divisions Grant under the new rules is called Pupil support and relates to the number of students in its schools each year Over and above 75 per cent of its september 1980 enrol the program appears to say that this part of the Grant will vary from year to year in direct relation to year to year changes in Cosens insists that is a misinterpretation of the but people whose business puts them on the receiving end of the Grants remain convinced that the Grants will vary with enrol Pupil support is pegged at per not benefiting from the annual inflation special difficulties there is concern that divisions with dropping enrolment will have difficulty curtailing services in proportion to the loss of Pupil there is also concern that extra Pupil support earned by the few divisions with rising enrolment May not be sufficient to cover their extra costs As commonly the additional pupils cannot simply be fitted into existing a further concern revolves around the programs use of 1980 budgets As a basis for future some divisions had much Richer programs than others in 1980 and such As Transcona want to upgrade previously modest the Grant scheme promises substantial support for trans for Industrial vocational education and for services to special needs but any improvement in other areas aimed at raising the Quality of education in a Low Cost division must be paid for by a special Levy on the local in launching the education support the government threw into it a substantially increased contribution out of general government As a less had to be raised out of property taxation and few homeowners outside of Transcona Springfield and River East found their taxes in but the total amount of the Grants will be higher again next year because of the costo living the government has not announced what education Mill rate it will apply next year to raise the Cosens has said he Hopes to keep it at 37 Mills for farm and residential property and 75 Mills for other but he has also said he Hopes to distribute the rising Burden Between property taxes and general government Revenue in about the same proportions next year As in this election he kept the property taxes what a government will do the year after an election remains to be specially needy helped the new Grant program dramatically increased support for services to special needs including the the the emotionally Dis the the retarded and others who cannot readily be educated in regular the Lyon government also completed the rewriting of the Public schools stripping but great swatches of outdated and irrelevant matter and reducing it to a relatively comprehensible in doing the government disappointed teachers who had been hoping for improvements to their Job Security and for confirmation of sic leave provisions they had won through local collective bargaining with school they won neither and Are keeping up the the government also altered the Public schools act to release school divisions from their role in administer ing provincial support to private the government had already abandoned the fiction that private schools were supported Only tothe extent that their students used the services of Public schools and authorized Grants to private schools for their own the Public school act changes further simplified the pro As a provincial support for private schools has risen from million in 1978 to million in Cosens said a further change May be needed to raise from the present per student the ceiling on Grants to private the Lyon years have also seen the widespread adoption of French Immer Sion and the beginning of halfday schooling in German and the big losers under the Lyon governments education policy have been the the government began by reducing University support to million in its first year from the million provided by the Schreyer government in its last increases in subsequent years brought University support to million in the current Over the last five As Manitoba support to its universities has risen at about five per cent per year while the general level Olf prices which universities must pay like anyone else has risen at about twice that the resulting damage the universities is difficult to but it has probably involved loss of some Mobile instructors who can do better else declining Quality of University libraries and increased general Tacki Ness of physical More focus on Page 8 election Outlook for liberals is difficult the Liberal party of Manitoba is in a difficult within the Span of four it has moved from being the official with 34 per cent of the vote and 14 members in the to a minor which received 12 per cent of the vote and elected Only one if the current election is a Continua Tion of that the party May emerge with even fewer votes and no one bearing its name in the understandably the liberals do not want that to occur and insist that the pendulum has begun to swing in the other unlike the who have expressed aspirations about becoming the next Liberal Leader Doug Lauchlan admits most attention will be Given to specific City Ridings like where he is and fort where june Westbury is fighting a difficult Battle to retain her he also expresses optimism about River Boniface and even where negative feelings about the tory Parachute candidate May Benefit the Liberal in the Rural areas he is hopeful about Rupert land and Portage la Prairie and sees some potential in the Dauphin and at no time does he sound certain of As do the two major parties under the dome Arlene Billinkoff who have a stranglehold on certain the liberals will have to fight All the that is particularly evident in where Lauchlan is facing three Strong there despite his position As which in other parties Means someone who travels throughout the assisting other Lauchlan will stay Home to fight his personal his Campaign has been interesting As it alternates Between positive constructive and no constructive criticism and old fashioned on the positive Lauchlan says he will find solutions to help financially struggling senior citizens and presents his party suggestions on funding of pos secondary he wants the Federal government to recognize Manitoba needs and suggests both Levels of government set up a special fund for target faculties in areas where student and Industry demands Are i while he disagrees with the Ottawa plan to Cut Back he is even More concerned about the provincial governments reduced funding Irr the past four it places us in a dreadfully difficult and there must be a he for Deb financing might be in provided that the funds Are not used to pay for roads and television that last comment is indicative of his the tories have spent too much Money and time to Laud them Lauchlan the Mega which Are the Core of the tory have been he and people do not know whether or not they will be a Good for he does not like the idea of giving Alcan a share of a hydroelectricity generating but admits it May be it is difficult to judge until the government makes Public All terms of the agree he is equally concerned about the agreement for a Western Power the resource should be developed if there will be a Good but this is a very Tricky Deal and there must be recovery of Cost of the original exit is totally irresponsible not to provide All the he it is political opportunism of the worst kind and downright but do not All parties indulge in opportunism Lauchlan has certainly tried to take advantage of various when the liquor control commission announced an increase in Price for wines and liquors because of higher Federal excise duties and he accused the province of using the liquor commission for election trick since the tax had increased sep but the Price arranged to become effective november was not announced until he believed it was an Effort to make the Federal and its provincial look on a More personal he has been spending a lot of time urging Jim Downey to resign because the agriculture minister owns land near the site where Alcan May build a Lauchlan has said there must be full disclosure and rejects the suggestion that his Call for Downers Resig nation is it is not an attempt to Blacken an he in but merely an Effort to ensure that a Cabinet minister is above re is that the reason for his attacks on Len the tory candidate in Wolseley said to be based on information supplied by stated that Domino had been absent from the House several years because he had been in Florida picking up a boat for Bob the former Mem Ber for who is serving a seven year sentence on drug Lauchlan denies his party supplied the but he has tried to capitalize on he places particular emphasis on Dominos saying he has Only been a part time Lauchlan believes his approach is legitimate because Wolseley requires a Good Quality of if the deficiencies of some of my opponents come certainly that is not mud its part of the Campaign of in interested in winning the so is every one of the 195 Candi Only 57 will get their wish and sceptics doubt that the Liber als will be among doonesbury Duke i he Hap a phone br16ht i Isth very pick up that mat for Wop All a Mil him sky you going to throw if ;