Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - November 14, 1981, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free november Winnipeg free press Freedom of Trade Equality of civil rights Liberty of religion published six Days a week at 300 Carlton Winnipeg r3c 3c1 by company limited Telephone 9439331 Winnipeg free press 1872 Winnipeg 1890 Donald nk5ol publisher John dafo6 editorial Page editor Murray Burt managing editor Rudy Redekop controller editorials the decision on tuesday in Many this has been a strange and unsatisfactory election one if rhetoric alone were the would leave the voters of Manitoba with a Choice Between two unappealing new democratic party Leader Howard Pawley has been touring the province doling out Many of them hopelessly some of them practical and too Many of them simply wasteful and Premier Sterling has spent most of his time abusing the opposition in crude and unconvincing most striking element of the whole Campaign is the fact apart from a Promise that we will All be Able to get our Teeth fixed for free by the end of the the conservatives have offered the voters not a single indication of what their legislative program would be if they were returned to in Lyons no doubt reflects an admirable refusal to try to seduce the voters with expensive promises and the conservative conviction that the Best government is the least but asking the voters to elect a government solely on the basis of its management style is asking a great All the rhetoric and the the crucial Issue facing Manitoba voters is How government will act to encourage the economic development of the province during the rest of this the Best guide Manitoban have is the approach of the two chief contending parties to the so called the Meg projects Are not a policy at the moment they Are not even a but the attitude of the two parties towards the proposed Western Power the Alcan smelter and the Potash reflect their attitudes towards economic development on All the the Alcan smelter depends on a Deal which will permit the company to incest in a Hal share of the provinces next Hydro the reason for that is Clear Manitoba lacks the raw material and the immediate markets that would justify the construction of an aluminium what it can offer is a secure and abundant Supply of the electrical Power which is essential to the smelting if that Power can be provided under an arrange ment which gives the people of the province a fair return on their then the proposed Deal represents a Chance to use Manitoba Hydro resources in the Way they should be used to bring Industrial development and jobs to the new democrats Are not prepared to judge the Deal on its they reject flatly any proposal which would give Alcan a share of any Manitoba Hydro they Are prepared to risk Public Money in Chancy joint ventures to explore for Oil and but they Are not prepared even to consider a joint venture in which the costs and benefits can be judged with some if rejecting the joint venture Means that Manitoba will be deprived of the Alcan smelter and the jobs it then the nip is Content to see the jobs go the Dps attitude to the Alcan Deal reflects the party attitude to development in the chief element of that attitude is a profound hostility to investment from multinational the party policy document denounces the conservative governments readiness to sell off our resources to multinational at the same it promises that Mineral taxes and royalties will ensure Manitoban receive a proper share of what the nip policy thinkers apparently fall to comprehend is that Mineral taxes and royalties Are precisely the return the province gets for Selling off its resources to multinational but the Dps chief strategy for resource development is to spend Public Money on a provincially owned company to explore for Oil and on a Manitoba Mineral resources corporation to work As a joint venture partner with private companies or act alone to guarantee our Mineral resources Are the fact that should be obvious is that there is no conceivable Way that Public corporations can guarantee the development of Manitoba they cannot begin to raise the Money without putting the taxpayers at terrible risk they cannot begin to provide the expertise needed and they cannot begin to establish the markets in which the resources can be sold once they Are Public investment in joint ventures is one Way of getting a return to the people of the province from the development of resources but it can Only at a marginal role in ensuring that these resources Are the provinces to the West Are enjoying More Prosperity than Manitoba at the moment because they have More abundant natural resources and because those resources Are beg developed massively by the same multinational corporations which the new democrats would drive from this there Are plenty of grounds for criticizing the economic performance of the conservative government Over the past four it has been unduly passive in too Many areas of economic it has put too much Faith in a few Large projects which May or May not come about by doing it May have weakened its bargaining but at least it is spared the ideological hangup which leads the new democrats to reject out offhand some of the most promising economic opportunities available to Manito it would be Nice if Manitoban had a Choice other than Between a Lavisse Zaire government or one whose ill considered interventionism would stifle opportunities for that Choice is not in those Circum Manitoba Best Hope for Prosperity and develop ment lies with the gallery Phil Mallette a motherhood strategy the rain you had to shovel Industrial strategy unveiled along with the budget by finance minister Allan Maceachen is a Good Deal More modest than canadians might have been led to expect from listening to the remarks of Cabinet ministers Over the past couple of gone is Industry minister Herb Grays pronouncement that would be an Active player in the Canadian gone is the proposal for a strengthened and More Active foreign investment review gone is the warning from now the Federal government intends to set its own policies in areas which impinge on provincial concerns and let the provinces adapt to them As they what we have in its place is a document clearly prepared Bya milked of the hubris which used to inform the Federal governments economic pronouncements but As of most of its the new document offers More description than precise it Points to the immense opportunities which exist in the development of resource based industries and the Poten tial for growth in those which depend on new it Points out the importance of ensuring that development take place at a steady and manageable it Points to the need to spread development As much As possible across the country and it warns that change will impose some costs As Well As no one is Likely to quarrel with any of those predictions when it comes to Basing government policy on the document tends to be remarkably it argues that Canada will Prosper Best in a competitive economic but at the same time it promises prompt and effective action against unfair and injurious Competition from it recognized that the provinces have a role to play in economic argues nonetheless joint planning is not always desirable but ends agreeing that joint planning and coordination Are it declares that substantial Public funds must be committed to economic development but at the same time recognizes the need for fiscal out of that comes a prop088 that the government make difficult choices and boldly undertake the adjustments needed for economic in Pursuit of All these difficult the government proposes a Long series of with the provinces with Industry and with the As might be expected in a document of this will provide the basis for a continuing dialogue about economic issues and new government policy thrusts As they emerge in the coming this Rich compost of boldness and spending and competitiveness and unilateralism and cooperation is Likely to leave the Ordinary Reader of the document somewhat baffled As to if the Industrial strategy really amounts what it amounts to at the it is an awful lot of designed More to accommodate conflicting and contradictory Points of View within the Federal Cabinet than to provide Clear guidelines about How the government intends to guide the Economy through the rest of this it is All summed up in this though ringing paragraph the economic development Challenge is National in demanding a National response yet the National response must be made increasingly sensitive to the local context in which each Canadian invests and and to the International context in which our actions and our Success will be it is vital that All groups in Canadian society work together with a common sense of purpose to secure Canadas economic most canadians would no doubt agree that their country faces great opportunities for economic most no doubt Are anxious to work together to secure their economic after Reading Maceachen pronounce will still be wondering exactly what the government wants them to by Peter Mclintock special to the free press Victoria residents of Canadas West coast have a Stock and smug reply when Prairie visitors remark on Winter rain As opposed to the Prairies Winter at least you dont have to shovel which is True of the but every now and then rain soaked British columbian discover As they at times you have to shovel it not merely the excess water in the in the or on the living room but All that it brings with it tree not Only sometimes the or its can shovel you garbage not excluding roads and rail lines right into the nearest River or that has been the experience of people in West and North and up the coast in the town of squad newspapers and to screens have been full of flood damage pictures after these coastal communities received an abnormally heavy rainfall at the Start of the the pictures could not help but re mind Winni Eggers of the 1950 Aerial shots of Squamish looked much like those of vital or Wildwood Park in that flood the difference is where the red River Rose slowly and did give Dike builders some the floods hit thanks to up to 130 Millimetres of rain in 16 hours in some areas one newspaper called it the Day it rained the water Rose in Rivers and dams with alarm ing Speed and spilled and when the Rains let dropped again just As but the damage millions of dollars Worth had been cleanup started As did the who was to blame for the damage who would pay for it the latter is a Touchy for two flood damage is not covered by insurance As floods Are considered an act of and insurance compan ies do not trifle with the this was the second time in ten months that Squamish had been on boxing 40 Milli metres of rain left the area at that the provincial government invoked the disaster Relief act and paid compensation to homeowners for damage to for lost furniture no Freak at that time the towns mayor said that the flood was a Freak occurrence and would not happen again in his he was and when environment minister Stephen Rogers North to assess the damage he appeared somewhat annoyed that the government would be paying damages again in less than a year and much of it to the same people who collected in As to the municipalities blamed the provincial the government the at Squamish people charged that Victoria had been dilatory in finishing off River diking which might have saved the Rogers observed that since last boxing Day the town had done nothing to head off future floods other than to file a drainage in the Many houses Are built on a flood Plain along the Squamish but As some homeowners they had lived there for 20 even if someone came through with a plan and the Money to move where could they be moved to the flood Plain development question of an old one wherever Rivers flow through built up areas As Winni Eggers Are Well once an area has been developed and houses it is impossible to move Vancouver ites blamed their Munici pal governments for not building enough storm or for making them too Small and for permitting development up the Side of the Moun leading to a removal of the Trees and natural growth that would normally impede Down flowing the West coast has been warned for years by environment Canada of the danger of recurring floods along its creeks and a slab of frigid air slides out of meets up with warm air from the South a weather front it passes Over and when it hits the High mountains that face the Pacific on the West coast the Clouds let go like a paper bag full of this weather pattern is not going to nor is the population pattern on the West the Only solution appears to be to Shore up what de fences there Are against rampaging creeks and but there can be no West coast equivalent of a duffs ditch to take care of the Waters when the Rains one controversial Issue today is what Price Alcan will pay for Hydro electric Power in its proposed alumni num smelter near some economists say it must be tied to the costs of future Hydro for these costs will be included in what Consumers will have to j5on minister of Energy and in an has provided More details of the negotiations with and they provide a different the Cost of Power will be tied in some manner to the Price of alumni num on the world Craik says the Cost of initial Power to Alcan will be somewhere in h will Alcan pay it generating station the Range of 50 or five cents per kilowatt this is about three times the present Industrial rate and about twice the consumer present average residential and farm rate is cents per kilowatt hour present Industrial average rate is when Alcan comes on prices should be higher for Consumers As initially Alcan May be paying a higher but what it will pay in the future can Only be deter mined by a full scale examination of the final the escalation clause contemplated in the agreement is an economic rent tied to the Price of aluminium on the world says safeguards what happens if the Price of alumni num Falls if it goes replies safeguarded against will come out in the the initial Price to Alcan of about five cents a kilowatt hour takes into account al cans investment in the As Well As such items As water Hydro fees for management of the Plant and Power transmission Alcan will become part owner of the new Limestone Plant on the Nelson and earlier the government had stated that it would have Only a minority interest and invest draft a confidential memorandum of intent Between Alcan and revised septem Ber reveals that Alcan will have an interest of per cent in the this would mean that Alcan will then be investing about for the Cost of the Plant is estimated to be it is an advantage to the for it does not have to borrow this on the it is a great Benefit for Alcan because it can write this off in depreciation for in come tax the memorandum of intent does protect the Manitoba position by stipulating that Alcan pay million As its share of the costs of the Lake Winnipeg regulation and Churchill River the Manitoba government now levies a water rental charge on Hydro at about million a As part owner of the Alcan will also pay its share of the rental Craik notes the charge is at the com plete discretion of the How it is Small potatoes in terms of a at present amounting to about million a year for George a resource economist at the University of and former economist of the Manitoba department of says i find it hard to see How tying the Price to aluminium is really a reasonable or appropriate escalation there has been a staggering increase in the Cost of new Hydro Kettle started in the mid 1960s and on Stream by is of similar capacity to it Cost Limestone will Cost More than six times by the time it is Churchman anticipates that after the present Hydro freeze on rates ends in rates May go up ten per cent a even if no Are rates have tripled since and he sees a Good probability they May even increase threefold by the mid he attributes this to three developments inflation refinancing part of the billion Hydro debt when it comes due the necessity to build an other Plant in the mid1990s to meet additional Power growth even with out Alcan or the Western Power the debt due before 1995 is at an average interest rate of seven per he it will obviously be higher after what will Alcan be paying then that will Only details of the agreement Are Craik says it will be a Good Deal for one Hydro economist Jakes a ent View will Alcan pay the in creased costs of the next Power site As Manitoban will have to pay it must pay the Cost of future you and i have to Why Doest Alcan pay everyone else is going to have in i asked Craik about the Issue of being tied to future Power Alcan wont get any advantage on old or new insists if you tie Alcan to future Why deny them the old he referring to the fact that Alcan will be paying More from the Pitfalls the government is fully aware of the Pitfalls of entering fixed agreements As Craik it has Exa mined Alcan agreements All Over the Manitoba interests will be absolutely he we dont want a Churchill Falls says Mai Deputy minister of referring to the fixed agreement in which Quebec is getting Power from Newfoundland at about on tenth of today from my were Mak ing sure Well get a fair others insisting that Mani Tobas interests will be protected Only if the Price is tied to the costs of new Power the matter is of great and also a departure of policy in Selling part of a Hydro Plant to a private it is a special Deal for this reason the details of the proposed agree ment should be examined at a Public hearing before the Deal is there Are Many unanswered the memorandum of intent stipulates that Alcan obtain an annual Energy requirement of billion kilowatt hours at the Power in a dry Limestone will prod uce about 65 per cent of average Capac or about billion kilowatt does that mean that Alcan will then obtain 86 per cent of the capability of while putting up per cent of the Money it appears for the confidential memorandum of intent says if Limestone Supply al cans Power demands which could occur in a very dry year Mani Toba Hydro will have to make up the difference at no Cost to the question of the Hydro Deal has been excluded from the socioeconomic Impact assessment now being conducted and which is to be the subject of Public hearings next there is no justifiable Rea son Why it has been it is integral to the there must be full disclosure of the facts in this forum or in a special committee of the Alcan should pay the same rate As other Industrial Why should it get a special Deal ;