Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - November 28, 1981, Winnipeg, Manitoba 6 Winnipeg free november 1981 Winnipeg free press Freedom of Trade Equality of civil rights Liberty of religion the financial mess published six Days a week at 300 Carlton Winnipeg r3c 3c1 by Canadian newspapers company limited Telephone 9439331 Winnipeg free press 1872 Winnipeg Tribune 1890 Donald Nicol publisher John Dafoe editorial Page editor Murray Burt managing editor Rudy Redekop controller editorials Premier elect Howard Pawley would be less than and certainly less than a if he did not make much of the fiscal mess he has been bequeathed by the conservative government he replaces on newly elected premiers customarily announce their Surprise and Shock at the state of the deficit the previous government left Sterling Lyon Sang that tune louder than most when he took Power in whatever the practical problems the projected Large deficits present for the new it will be hard to avoid some secret satisfaction that the tories were not Able to come close to the balanced budget they promised four years what we have at the moment is a after six of what the state of the budget is Likely to be when the fiscal year last the ultimate size of the deficit was some million smaller than was predicted in this Saul who got a look at the books As a member of the Dps transition suggests it could end up Many millions Only time will whatever the final figure the deficit is sure to be though probably less in real terms than the one left by the previous nip combined with threatened cuts in Transfer payments by the Federal it is certain to have an inhibiting effect on the plans of Pawley and his new Pawley has already made the responsible pledge that the new government will not embark on expensive new social programs until the provinces finances Are in better what the pledge will do to the million he promised Ito Dole out next month to Farmers and businessmen is the Premier recognized the essential fact that restraint alone is not the answer to the provincial governments budgetary a restoration of economic growth and the infusion of new business and new industries offers the Best Hope for providing the government with the Revenue it needs to provide essential services without going seriously into until that a balanced budget snot Only unlikely it is there is a need to demonstrate that the new government will be that it will avoid wasteful expenditure and that it will keep its deficit within reasonable there is a need As Well to demonstrate that it will not stand in the Way of the private investment which will be needed to revitalize the provinces if the govern ment takes those no one need be unduly alarmed at a deficit within the All the fiscal news is not necessarily tax changes in the Federal budget will provide additional Revenue to the province which will offset at least some of the Money that will be lost through the Cut in Federal Transfer evidence that Ottawa financial projections Are wrong May yet persuade finance minister Allan Maceachen to modify his tax sharing Pawley has already indicated that his government is not about to launch itself into 100 Days of decision with a vast array of new programs and new that is a sensible the projected deficit figure is a signal for Pru not for the squeeze on the City Winnipeg Bill Norrie and mayors of other Canadian cities gathered in Toronto this week to worry aloud about How provincial Grants to municipalities will fare when Ottawa starts curbing the growth of its subsidies to prov inces Over the next five Back Home in Winnipeg City the civic administration was showing How High interest kept High by Federal Are already cutting into Winnipeg spending the big City mayors Are concerned about How their provincial treasurers will distribute the pain of slower growth in provincial revenues resulting from Ottawa changes in the income tax and provincial subsidy the net loss to All provinces Over five years would come to according to the latest Federal some provincial governments suspect it will be More than those Federal transfers Are one element a Large one in Manitoba Case in the provincial revenues that finance Grants to school municipalities and All the other recipients who queue up annually for provincial the mayors have already seen the Federal government terminate direct support to municipal projects through the Canada mortgage and housing the new Federal pressure on prov to the extent that it is passed on to will be reflected in slowly deteriorating Levels of service in transit or wherever else municipal councils choose to make their that is the Point where the abstruse debates Over Federal provincial fiscal arrangements take on real meaning to the the mayors can see it coming and can see where they will have to Lake the blame for the Concrete results of finance minister Allan Maceachen efforts to reduce the Federal beyond their present Effort to pass the blame Back to there is not a great Deal they can do about but the axe has already been applied to Winnipeg capital works plans for next the cites senior civil servants have studied the costs the City would face for borrowings next year and have concluded that the City should borrow Only million instead of the usual defer a Start on the Kildonan Cut Back on local improve ments and keep the East Kildonan Branch Library in rented necessary reconstruction work on the cites oldest streets and sewers continues to be within deferring capital works in the Hope of lower interest rates later is a rational response to the present Cost of there no Assurance that interest rates will be substantially lower a year or two hence than they Are Between the pressure on operating revenues emanating from Maceachen and the pressure on borrowing costs emanating from the and from Canadas Central the City May be obliged to divert a steadily increasing share of its current revenues into capital works at the expense of recreation allowing the cites physical assets to crumble so that every councillor can get some playground goodies for his Ward is false Economy Ottawa tight Money policy Aims to Force municipalities among to do roughly what Winnipeg Board of commissioners is proposing defer capital projects with the employment they increase impoverish As Many people As possible and thereby Stop Winnipeg is loyally snapping to saluting and putting its workers and its citizens in the front rank of the ant inflation that is All very patriotic but we still have a City to gallery Phil Mallette defining native rights social Democrat Victory Shirley one of Britain bes liked has provided a psychological boost to those who seek an alternative to by crushing the labor and conservative candidates in a parliamentary by election in suburban the scale of her Victory is in a Riding held by the conservatives for most of this and won by a conservative majority in the 1979 general she came in As a Brand new candidate of a Brand new party and won by More than As the first Ever successful candidate of the social democratic she lays to rest any doubts that this group of disgruntled former labor and one former conservative is a Flash in the As the second Ever successful candidate of the social democratic Alliance of the sep and the Liberal she has proved that the Alliance will be a major Factor in the next general elec the sep was born this year because of the frustration and anger of moderate and righting labor maps about the increasing influence of militant left wingers on their for the first these maps have been vindicated by a real test at the ballot the labor candidate was an extreme a disciple of the ambitious Tony and he lost a Quarter of the previous labor vote to for conservative this result is like the Shadow of the Angel of death passing Over their reelection a Sharp drop in the conservative majority would have been no governments in midterm often suffer reduced majorities in Safe or defeats in marginal when there Are defeat on the Crosby scale is rare and suggests that the British electorate has cast the ruling conservatives in the role of the ancient with Thatcher As its Thatcher is too stubborn and self righteous to grasp the significance of the Crosby she is unlikely to change her if conservative maps ignore the Mes Sage that they have been Given by those conservative voters who have switched to the sep in then they will be volunteering for political suicide at the next general elec by Wilson special to the free press Ottawa minister tru Deau has seemed somewhat Iltem Perez in his encounters with Indian groups but his Basic in the encounters is Correct you dont recognize rights which dont he could have or that have not yet been defined and agreed it is understandable that the native groups want to see their rights included in the Constitution but the general provision that their existing rights will be protected is about As far As the country and its governments can go in revising the Basic Law of the 1 anything beyond that is part of the political process and it must be settled there before it can be incorporated into the the definition of native rights that exist now and agree ment on their practical implementation has gone unresolved too Long and fighting Over what should be in the Constitution is again Trudeau is his warning that the native groups must seriously negotiate with the govern ment or leave it to the courts to determine what rights they have is actually no More than a statement of obvious the Federal government is not some of the delays have come about because the problem has not been Given High enough ministers have talked Many times with the various groupings of the native encountered both disparity of views and Lack of realism in their ideas for a and retired bewildered to wait a while longer in the Hope that with More time things would be come if that approach the talk could go on for another Century with Resolution of the problem no nearer at the missing element has been determination to produce an agree ment within some reasonable period of except in the Case of the indians affected by the James Bay develop ment in there has been no real pressure to get on with prepared to negotiate whether the James Bay settlement was Ideal or not it was at least an agreement that can be defended and it came about through the pressure of the huge Hydro development was under Rivers were being diverted and the face of the landscape was being this produced a situation in which both the provincial government and the affected indians were prepared to it would be far better if the question could be resolved in other parts of the country before the pressures of development enforce a it is pos sible that the constitutional arguments Over the question have stirred things up enough to produce some sense of urgency on both in that the major conference on the subject now envisaged May be no one knows How much longer the present prime minister will stay in if he does decide to stay settlement of this Issue should be High on his list of the process the Federal government followed in the constitutional process is open to legitimate and grave the pressures employed were too Bru lacking both skill and they were maintained Long after fruitful negotiations could have been started because the Federal Side liked the idea of going ahead the Multi respect for the conventional aspect of the Constitution was belated and it was not a process to be repeated but there is a lesson in it and by no Means a new the lesson is in human there Are often occasions when it is essential that someone set the Pace if anything is to be achieved for All that was wrong with the approach on the the Federal Side did do if the government really wants a settlement of the issues involving native Peoples then it must set the showing a Little More political finesse this there is nothing inherently wrong with applying pressure to get negotiations moving and that is the necessary ingredient if Trudeau does retire his successor should put native rights and claims among the top items on his list of priorities for Manitoba voters reject growth at any Cost the defeat of the conservative government would indicate that most Matt bans were not enthralled with the Prospect of the me a projects were the Arsenal of the conservatives and the Promise of a brighter future for they were touted As a Uncein lifetime As if our resources in hydroelectric Power and Potash would vanish unless the three Meg projects were immediately the tories misread the growth is no longer welcomed at any without any questions peo ple today Are More concerned about the environment and the Protection of natural resources and do not go into raptures about there Are Many converts to the philosophy that Small is among them most in this re they Are satisfied with the size of the City and do not want it to grow any according to a recent Survey for the planning contrast this to the previous history of the when the great ambition was to be another bigness no longer has the citizens shouting for the conservatives Gamble on big Val Werier Manitoba voters think Small is Ness was also shaky for another Rea there was some distrust of the governments promotion of Mega pro jets As its main election people were alarmed that the govern ment was anxious to proceed More for political than for economic there was a concern that the govern ment would have to bargain from a position of weakness and would be forced to make major concessions to achieve the it was ready to sell part of a Hydro which the new government is not prepared to nor was any previous the fears were legitimate the government was prepared to give Alcan a special Deal on Manitoba does need Industry to provide More jobs and taxation the results of the election indicate that people want a thorough examination of All Environ mental and economic impacts of the included in the assessment must be alternative uses for Energy other than the nip government should air the terms of the Alcan Hydro Deal at the Public hearings dealing with the Impact a course the tories were not prepared to there is no reason Why the Public should not be fully informed on the Price set for the Saul one of the members of the nip transition says we Are not turning our backs on Alcan or any other we would like to have All the Meg projects As Long As they Are Good for Cherniack says that an ind Epen critical look will be Given the Meg projects because of the suspicion that the studies May have been directed in a manner to make certain the projects were approved no matter what the Adverse Allen professor of civil engineering at the University of Mani who has done work on Energy policies since the late also says there must be a wider examination of the the prime stated purpose of the Meg projects has been to create one of the yardsticks to evaluate projects in this is the capital investment required per the approximate outlay for Alcan is estimated at about billion million for the Srnel Ter and the rest for the Power at this it works out to close to a capital investment of million per this is an argument that warns us not to be Starr eyed about the creation of says the Job argument can be As he this is Only one yardstick and one must look at other economic there of Many spinoffs in construct and in the use of Manitoba equip ment As promised by these must be carefully weighed against the Adverse such As the potential for Lansdown also notes that it is imperative that any agreement be exposed to full Public discussion before it becomes in the Alcan As an this would answer suspicions that a hidden purpose is to use terms Here As a lever for a better Deal for Alcan in British there must be a Basic principle of says there is no need on the commercial Side for secret he maintains it is nonsense to Sug Gest that competitors will gain an advantage from full Public this Type of a project will have such an important effect on Public he that everyone should know what is going vast Power needs beyond the Lansdown says there should be a provincial study As to How electrical Energy is to be used most the question of Lon term contracts for a can or the Western Power Grid should be assessed very Alcan will require a vast amount of close to about half of the con sumption of the entire City of Winni we should take a look at what other things we can do with he if it is certain there Are no other then the direction Manitoba could take is in the Sale of Large blocks for big in the he suggests one possibility the use of electricity for heating Homes in off Peak the Peak Load is in Winter from about 4 and into the Early there is a decline in consumption from mid night to about 6 when Industry and Domestic uses during that he electricity can be stored in the form of hot water systems or Ceramic that an option we Haven really explored in this province in a major he it is something we should examine in addition to the Mega pro Manitoba imports a great Deal of Petroleum can we not con Vert to More electrical uses d d d d readers have called to suggest i slighted some women in my column last saturday dealing with the election of seven of the fair sex to the Legisla i had talked to three Maureen Myrna Phillips and Muriel time ran out before the deadline and there was no intention to snub the they Are women of stature too Mary Beth Dolin nip Kildonan a school Vic principal and respected educationist Doreen Dodick nip Riel the who ousted Cabinet minister Don Craik Char Lotte Oleson pc Gladstone Deputy mayor of Glenboro Gerrie Hammond pc Kirkfield former school trustee and a member of the Manitoba police some of my Best friends Are god bless i i 4 i ;