Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - November 26, 1982, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free november Ocus airline Deal alarming i by Joart Cohen free press Ottawa editor Ottawa its goodbye hello concorde All Over Quebe Cair 2 is exactly the but will if Fly the parallel was drawn by Liberal my Pierre a lawyer steeped in transport who says it was in who dreamed up the Quebe Cair 2 concept transport minister Jeanluc Pepin put to the Quebec government the other the is his Deniger is not entirely comfortable with the current twists and turns of transport policy in this and he makes no Bones about other knowledgeable people agree with Deniger that the 2 proposal May today be the Only or at least the beginnings of an an for Canadas and perennially debt Ridden regional but that does not Stop them from having other discussion has barely begun on Pepins interesting proposal Quebec government for a 5050 Shar ing of investment and interests be tween the province and air Canada in a Brand new Quebec the proposal Calls for an insertion of an expected million to Mil Hort by each of the partners into the new the Purchase of some que Belair facilities and equipment As and otherwise the abandon ment of the old with its Credi to Sand shareholders left to fight Over the in the Ever resourceful Ottawa has a new form of bailout and As Pierre Deniger quite accurately it is cheap at the the combined with Pepins have thrown up a disturbing set of Side and most arises from Pepins revelation during questioning on the subject in the that air Canada is occupy ing a new or More precisely being restored to a very old in the nations airline if we Are to take Pepin at his it is the Centrepiece of Canadas air and the instrument the government is relying on to establish its air Canadas history tells us when air Canada comes the air travellers inter ests come moment easter Canada will feel the Impact the second is the fact that the first time since it began picking up bits and the air Industry de Havil Norair seems unabashedly Content to make its proposed move As with so with air Canada this though it is widely assumed the government was not Overly anxious to come up with the offer in the first and the closely related to the is that Quebe Cair 2 seems Des tined to be brought to life in a regime where caution has become the Rule of the the thrust toward a competitive air which had brought stepped up service and cheap travel to has been and even thrown into who has been monitoring this last is in the trend could have unfortunate implications for the pro posed Quebec along with others in is concerned that the new airline will not be allowed to fight head ahead with air Canada for the hearts and dollars of Quebec instead Deniger left fears Pepin May be setting air Canada before air service to of a of the robust pea As a regional the new Quebe Cair 2 could even be Given the Humble role of feeder Deniger reason to and to he was As an aide first to the powerful Canadian transport commission Guy to and then to former transport minister Otto As the new competitive Era was starting to open the late and he was Vic chair Man of the commons transport com Mittee that last Spring proposed some far reaching new rules that would set the nations carriers on a firm competitive those Deniger Are now gathering dust in the transport department officials do not like these Are rough Days for the air but deniers scorecard leaves no doubt that an excessively protectionist regime has set in the Ottawa formally left hew Laws and new poli the historic tradition that made air Canada the country chosen air to be nurtured and protected from the cold winds of Competition by 1978 the mighty step had even been taken of giving up air free reign to compete against it As a National it Over the Strong objections of air Canada that domes tic charter travel was made available to canadians in that same period a move that ultimately goaded Thena tonal airlines into producing discount fares and finding a vast untapped Market in the Field of Low Cost Leisure air in recent was increasingly being called on to prove itself in the to the Bene fit of canadians across the but Jeanluc Pepin seems to have had something quite different in word has been circulating that he told a private meeting of the commons s transport committee that his Central responsibility was to air and to ensure that it was looked Industry officials were not too sur prised the other in response to a question on the Quebe Cair Pepin made the startling pronouncement to the com Mons that most people realize that air Canada has an important role to play in the rationalization of air transportation in the Central part of the most people accept and this is Why i have always thought that air Canada should play that so even the opposition has failed to argue the but most of not being privy to Pepins private until taken it for granted that the not air was responsible for setting air policy the Public not the welfare of air was the chief deniers concerns Are not untre he has made it his business to track the rulings of the Canadian transport the govern ments regulatory and he has seen a parallel trend of protectionism examples the move by the Etc to halt the deep discount fares offered by in air Canada on Montr Alvan Couver and Toronto Vancouver and to put up new fences to the ruling by Etc that airlines competing on the Busy Mon trea Toronto routes could not offer such As store Cou Pons and free cars to lure Passen Deniger adds that recent Etc Rul Ings show the Agency applying a rigorous definition to the requirement of Public if an airline applying for a new route cannot prove that More service is required its application will be turned what does this mean for the pro posed Quebe Cair 2 will service and ability to compete be the or the convenience of air Canada and what about also he governments fondest Hopes at the still since fully owned by air these Are just a few of the questions being raised by Pepins Quebe Cair Many of the answers could ultimately be of interest to All Canad Kostyra request for plan changes Worth a look by Christopher Leo special to the free press a political sparring match Between Manitoba minister for Urban Eugene and Winnipeg mayor Bill Norrie has captured Media Atten the Issue is the ministers request for major changes in both Winnipeg development plan and the Core area in the Case of the develop ment the request comes at the Lith hour of a lengthy approval pro including Public hearings in win Nipges communities and at City Winnipeg editorial writers seem to agree that Kostyra has gone too he has been pictured As a John to Urban mired in issues beyond his Ken and engaged in subversion of Winnipeg local government the editorialists Are being too although there is Good reason to scrutinize the provincial initiative cautious even it is top Early to Tell whether Kostyra has subverted democratic decision making or Wyeth on the he has Given it a shot in the to it is significant that most of the criticism has focused on proce not the reason is Clear the substance of the provincial requests has much to recommend for the minister called for tighter restrictions on suburban development than Are recommended in the present plan such restrictions have been widely recognized As an essential Protection of the cites future financial As Well As its attractiveness and he asked the City not to abandon its efforts to bring about relocation of the up rail Yards a proposal which has Long been discussed and has deservedly enjoyed much serious the minister also recommended pro visions designed to keep citizens involved in and informed upon the development of plans for their in he has thrown provincial support behind what is arguably a reasonable Compromise Between Industrial and residential land use in the much disputed Logan area redevelopment paying attention to these substantive issues while vociferously criticizing the provincial initiative on procedural the Media have taken an uncharacteristically bureaucratic if the proposals Are constructive and sen it is Worth ruffling some feathers to get them on the beyond there to the procedural Issue question of whether the process of democratic decision making is being undermined than meets the the critics Assumption is that the municipal decision making process which produced plan Winnipeg represents democracy while provincial intervention represents the impersonal hand of big brother interfering in local to put it is stretching a Point the reverse May actually be somewhat closer to the the idea of municipal government representing a democratic forum close to the appealing As it is wide of the for most of the present Century and still to a consid Erable extent today municipal affairs have been governed by the idea that local administration should be this like most political has a mixed in it grew out of a Well meaning attempt to place local administration in expert it was thought that this could be accomplished by keeping municipal decision making above another aspect of the nonpolitical Howe was the belief that the real Power in municipalities should be wielded by the business Community and the municipal Many proponents of the openly proclaimed their desire to disenfranchise immigrants and working it is on such ideas that our municipal institutions have been As a re they have been designed to Maxi Mize the strength of the administration while minimizing political representation and political this is not True of provincial in a very real municipal governments Are More rigidly Bureau cratic and less responsive than Provin Cial since municipal governments have been designed not to Deal with political the great issues of this Century have passed them leaving them weak and robbing them of much of the respect they once such important matters As land use planning and which were once local have progressively been taken Over by senior partly because my crippled by their refusal to take on political were incapable of meeting popular demands in these by con fronting social issues and dealing with have developed a tradition of democratic response to popular de mands and have been repaid by Public attention and High voter municipal by avoiding these have become and have reaped Public apathy and Low voter citizens awareness of municipal unresponsiveness is expressed in the you cant fight City it is no that plan Winnipeg exceptionally Intelli gent and thoughtful document attracted Little Public interest during its Long journey through the labyrinth of municipal Kos tyra Hais attracted More attention to plan Winnipeg in two weeks than a succession of municipal officials have in three that is because the minister Par takes of a tradition of articulating and resolving while municipal poli the Superior ability of Many of Are constrained by a tradition which makes it All too easy to gloss Over mute or just Plain avoid Kostyra May be Able to contribute something constructive to Winnipeg political and to give democracy a much needed to be that outcome is not it is certainly easier to raise As the minister has than to resolve but the fact that plan Winnipeg is at last attracting Media attention and serious discussion of the issues it raises augurs perhaps Kostyra has Given no Riethe Chance he needs to transcend the municipal tradition and demonstrate his Superb political Christopher Leo teaches Urban affairs at the University of taxpayers pay postage for nip puffery perhaps raising a fuss Over 45 cents postage is a waste of even More of a waste of time than raising a fuss Over the misuse of government station the average voter seems to understand these issues much better than the propagandists who round Premier Howard it was the use of the Peoples postage meter for personal purposes that started the downfall of Rene it was almost a comic opera the Schreyer to see whether the designated conservative hitter could get to his feet to during question before the nip courier arrived at the office of the Queens Cheque in to pay for the latest mailing of party it has not taken too Long for things to get Back to nip this week a number of letters were Delu Vered to those who work in the press of the my letter poked As if it had been addressed by but it was in an impressive on the in embossed under Neath the familiar Buffalo Seal were the words the Premier of r3c on the front the envelope bore Only the imprint of a Standard postage serial wont keep any one in took Only a few minutes to on the behalf of the taxpayers of Manitoba that the As they say in those pet Ocanada was the envelope was a it Fred Cleverley heavier than the usual and took 45 cents i an to to discuss the problems of the would need 45 cents Worth of unless Canada Post had really flipped its wig and decided to enforce its policy with a it was not an invitation to in Side were two the first was five pages in and carried a treeline it was headed meet ing the challenges in a part on action taken by the nip government december 1981 november the document was highly in that there was not a single mention of anything such As the payroll Only words devoted to the Praise of the historic decision made by Matt bans in voting for the new democratic party in larger num Bers the Ever on hardly the responsibility of the aver age i to distribute the but the paper was Given today limits on party propaganda spewed out at Public sex probably i really seemed that statements such As it the nip has enough Confidence in the Basic strength and great future of Manitoba to tackle economic matters actively and posit were More suited to going through the party own postage As it the nip is keenly aware of the poverty and injustice which remain such a significant part of Dian seems a statement More suited to a Campaign platform than to a tax supported message from a Premier once he is is supposed to represent its message about How the nip has fulfilled its election commitments will probably be disputed by other politicians collectively received just a few percentage Points fewer votes than the nip did last these politicians will heartily agree with the final which says rather than spend a great Deal of time celebrating the impressive Start to this term Manitoba new democrats would prefer to keep work ing on ways to better use this prov inces limited Means of grappling with an economic downturn that has brought such Hunan misery and waste of or Mph economic in the other politicians might even suggest How the App is responsible for some of the bar gaining away of the Western Power Grid and the loss of the aluminium smelter and Potash mine that were part of Manitoba future before it came to will be it is nearly certain that they will not get the use of the taxpayers postage meter to do if that piece of propaganda was a misuse of taxpayer paid envelopes and postage the other two Page enclosure was it was printed on the party the trocolor Letterhead that begins great great fun and the it was a condensed version of the five Page it quoted the pre Mier on such subjects As his election the freeze on University tax Relief for pensioners and so the Premier promised to continue this course of the Only ques Tion is whether he intends to continue the of Public funds to distribute his party if he i can heartily recommend that the next time that one actor play Harry comes Back to that the Premier see it is a monologue concerning the life of Harry he should notice the scene where As president of the United has finished writing a letter to a member of his he puts the letter in an envelope and seals he does not use his government paid Secretary to Type he then reaches for his takes out a three cent and puts it on the i would think that Harry Truman had Access to a taxpayer owned postage or at least to an envelope full of taxpayer paid but he knew what the taxpayers should not pay i am sure Premier Pawley will be surprised to find out that those around him apparently think that taxpayers should pay for nip we Are paying for the be cause the fingers on our postage meter belong to the party Sqq Newbury Bottom Hub this is a you of Oft in Cut ;