Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - April 8, 1983, Winnipeg, Manitoba 6 Winnipeg free april 1983 1ft a f Winnipeg free press i Freedom 6f of civil rights Liberty of religion 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 a suicide proof party the heartening news from the Gallup poll for Canadian tories is for the moment at they Are suicide the unseemly events in Winnipeg last january caused some momentary doubt among some conservative party but a month presumably having consid ered the available the doubters were All Back on conservatives May Hope that voters will be just As tolerant of what is going on in Ridings across Canada As the party chooses delegates to its leadership they would be not to test that tolerance too what happened just after the conservatives Winnipeg convention was that the number of undecided voters Rose sharply to 31 per cent from 15 per most of those were evidently conservative supporters whose opinion of the party had gone Down As a result of the because of the conservative share of the decided vote dropped from 49 per cent to 45 per cent and the Liberal share Rose from 31 per cent to 34 per the news in the latest poll is that the opinions of Canadian voters have returned to where they were before the tory the proportion of undecided has dropped Back Down to 26 per cent tory support has bounced Back up to 50 per cent and Liberal support has fallen Back to 30 per cent Given the accepted margin of error in those the March Jesuu can be considered identical with that of january before the a of has happened in the month since that March poll was the unsavoury smell which has wafted from constituency first in Quebec and then in other parts of the must surely have led some canadians to wonder what they Are being offered As an alternative to the present it May be that so Many canadians Are so fed up with the liberals in Power that they will accept the conservative party under any no matter How tainted the process by which he was conservatives would be not to take that fact for the message they should take from the latest poll is that they have achieved a commanding level of support among canadians that Only themselves can recent tory Howe proves that they Are perfectly capable of destroying not quite constitutional the five pages of text which the Manitoba government proposes to write into the Canadian Constitution Are in the constitutional they Are an Effort to Settle old scores and to regulate in intimate detail the lives of future generations who in go their own the draft constitutional amendment would affect Section 23 of the Manitoba which is part of the Constitution of and would regulate the uses of the French and English languages in Manitoba old new the legislative and departmental services to the it would prescribe which procedures Are to be followed in which court if a Manitoban seeks departmental service in French or in English and fails to get the text is written in the spirit of a marriage contract or the deed of Sale of a together with schedule of trying to anticipate who May do what to whom and to cover All the it is the result of committees negotiating with other committees each member of each committee has his pet clause which therefore becomes extremely important in the dynamics of the negotiation though it May be of no importance at All to the Constitution of the Constitution sets out the fixed and fundamental terms of the social and political arrangement Between the Canad an state and its each generation has its own Way of carrying out those terms in regulations and Public when people who Are accustomed to writing statutes and regulations try their hand at writing cons Titu they naturally fall into the habits of mind of the legislative but when the intimate details of regulation Are put into the the result is predictable aspects of the text which seemed extremely important when it was written quickly sink into irrelevance so that future generations Are left scratching their wondering their forebears had been smoking when those parts of the Constitution were Constitution makers should not assume that judges Are fools who need to be led by the nor should they assume in every they know better than their grandchildren will know How shoelaces should be tied and faces those who think themselves extremely Clever because they have anticipated the possibility Remote and foolish though it is someone will bring an action demanding translation into French of the English parts of the provincial Hansard should recognize that they have at a hazy View of what uses the Manitoban of the next Century will make of the Constitution they those who Are engaged in the discussions and negotiations Over the amendment of Section 23 should step Back intellectually and reconsider what they Are they should recall that the Manitoba act is not the private property of Franco Manitoban nor the joint property of the parties to the Roger Bilodeau speeding ticket they should open up the process of developing the amendment to see How Well some of the proposed paragraphs stand up to the comments of interested the amendment is unlikely to pass smoothly through the Manitoba legislature or through the Federal parliament if it is not Well understood and generally accepted by the Manitoba if its subsequent implementation produces Nasty surprises for the no French Manitoba serious ill will is Likely to result which will not Benefit the French speaking a negotiated amendment to Section 23 of the Manitoba act almost certainly is a More intelligent route than pursuing the Bilodeau Appeal through to a supreme court the franc Manitoban Community and the provincial government can sort out Between them what the one needs and the other can live with the supreme court can Only determine the implications of the Law As it stands and they do not seem entirely satisfactory to but no one should be afraid of a conclusion to the Bilodeau no one need Bend Over backwards or agree to the addition of to the Constitution in order to head off the will the culprit holding us responsible to Freedom of expression please step Forward i pedal Levesque is in trouble a Little less for wheat when he announced the initial prices that would be paid Farmers for this years Grain senator Hazen argue made Good use of an old political the prices he announced were not As Low As figures which had been tossed around in the past few weeks within the Grain the prices Are than those paid last by setting these senator argue effectively told the world Grain Trade that Canada recognizes what is happening in the world by Ever so the initial Price for High Grade he is acknowledging concern Over Canadas recent substantial and More particularly its credit sales to the soviet those sales have drawn criticism from agriculture Secretary John senator argue May in that blocks criticism is but his Choice of the initial Price for this years wheat is an indication that he has heard the complaint and is dealing with it in his own just As significant As the prices that have been announced is senator argues Appeal to Farmers to Cut Back on their production this so As not to aggravate what is generally considered to be a soft the objection that the lower prices will Force More farm is Given present economic it would be a wonder if the coming passed without the bankruptcy rate among Farmers staying As High As it has been in the past regardless of the initial by setting the initial prices As High As he senator argue is taking a calculated initial prices Are supposed to be just and Are intended to be followed by a final Price that represents the division of Pool sales made by the wheat Board after expenses have been if the prices Are too High the difference is made up from the Federal in addition to lower initial this is the year that Farmers May Well be called upon to Cope with the Federal government changes in the crows nest pass agreement on Grain transportation although the necessity for changing these statutory rates cannot be disputed on a Lon term no one is suggesting that the change will be entirely painless to those it would have been beneficial had the changes been made during a time when world prices were rising but this is not Likely to be the Case this responsible farm leaders have reacted to the lower initial prices with a mixture of Relief and they Are relieved that the Federal government did not set initial payments As Low As it might have and they Are hoping that the world Market Price is about to by Frank Walker special to the free press Montreal National Assem Bly will end its easter break april then it will name a Date for a resumption of hearings by the special commit tee enquiring into charges Premier Rene Levesque misled the House about his part in the decision to Settle out of court a million brought by the James Bay Energy corporation against the Quebec federation of labor in movie serial like the patrons of an old time movie Quebe cers must wait for chapter two in the mystery of just Why a Crown corporation suddenly decided to Settle out of court for 000 the corporations Legal fees alone were a Case involving1 a Union rampage at a James Bay construction site in which caused enormous damage and Long they will have to wait after hearing testimony that the Premier told three senior Hydro officials at a meeting in his office or we will Premier Levesque has denied that he used undue influence to secure so Gen Erous a settlement for the which has been widely known for its sympathy with the parti the Premier claimed that Only one consultation meeting had been held under government in testimony has already shown More than one meeting was held involving the premiers and la which broke the Story in the first claims no fewer than 12 meetings of Levesque has called the newspaper Story false and but la Presse has stuck by its account of what went on in 1979 and so would suggest that the premiers office was indeed most anxious to get the Quebec federation of labor off the though whether what was done constitutes undue pressure is a matter of As one witness officials of a Crown corporation Are duty bound to listen to the though not necessarily to follow its orders or its but the As made Public by la Presse and the first would suggest that the pressure was heavy and the result the committee which is hearing the evidence is not a it is not empowered to censure even if it finds there has been improper conduct in part an unlikely since it has on it a majority of parti quebecois another committee would have to be formed to Render that verdict what the committee is not As important As what the evidence suggests and at this stage the suggestion is that there is a marked difference be tween what the Premier told the National Assembly in 1979 and what actually gave Way there was More than one meeting involving the premiers equally the Premier was determined to spare his Union friends the crisis of a lawsuit which might have involved them in millions of dollars in dam even if no further supporting evidence is those who watched the committee hearings on television have been left with the uncomfortable feeling that the Quebec Energy corporation did give Way in the face of very considerable Levesque has said he will resign if it is found that he did lie to the National but there is no Way the present committee is Likely to say Levesque comes out fighting against a rising tide of declared one newspaper headline in the Montreal but what the English language press says is not so indicative of the change in attitude toward the Premier As the response the French one French language paper carried a headline Levesque is beginning to resemble former president an other carried a frontage Story claim ing the Start of the committee hearings would be the most critical week in Rene Levesques political Odd coming from newspapers and journalists until recent have been incredibly uncritical about the Premier and his in trouble Isno but tithe Premier is in but whether he is in More than that is he has not lost much ground with the general it is Clear from a recent by his spouse to the common front those who support including the Quebec federation of have no where else to even if they do not like what the Premier has done to those who support separatism have nowhere else to certainly not to the As for the parti Quebe it too has nowhere else to except to stick with the Premier who in the a general unless the pre Mier chooses to Call which is not is a Long Way off and much can happen Between now and nonetheless life will not be the same for the he is no longer the unt ouch his integrity has been questioned and will continue to be a Novelty in the politics of this prov a few months ago it would have been inconceivable for him to be likened to a Nixon in a French language new spa he after no matter what might happen around the Prover Bial clean of Quebec facts on natives Here Are some facts about native people for persons who continue to be ignorant of approximately on half of All status treaty indians live off and Are thereby subject to All taxes that the average Canadian treaty indians on reserves pay sales tax on vehicles and purchases off re serves such As gasoline cigarettes and All hidden they do not pay income tax for income earned on the Reserve because the average wage is still below the poverty they do not pay property their land and houses legally belong to the government of Metis and no status indians pay All whether on a Reserve or Only a Small percentage of billion earmarked for indians Ever reaches the Reserve based on our local per person is on half of which goes for life on reserves grim we Are labelled As a progressive re that Means we know How to play the other reserves get there were Over 300 native students at the University of Manitoba this never mind the University of Winnipeg and the University of ten years there were Only a handful to be found in All of the Manitoba Indian brotherhood was funded Only 12 years it and All other Indian organizations have since then been fighting an Uphill Battle to gain local in the local band budget was per person and treaty Canada is Rich because of its while some people were and Are poor because they had no real Chance of being part of the today our reserves violence is but to and education teaches us that terrorism is rampant in the our dead Are Only statistics in your not real children and family we maybe if you looked at your loved ones and asked what would i do if they were being you would know what we this country land was leased by canadians in treaty you want to cancel your land lease payments Are More than the Best defence against terrorism is a satisfied with Hope for Tomor Row and True not Peter War rens hidden racists Equality where the majority rules with an Iron fist Over the where some Are More equal than where 80 per cent of the Gnu is controlled by a Mere 20 per cent of the Terry Nelson letters the Winnipeg free press welcomes letters from writers must give their name and names will be used and letters Are subject to Public ownership private business corporations should be free from government interference to pursue their objective of seeking in the they would provide jobs for All willing to work and All would be this is the theory behind private but it has never worked out that during my lifetime there have been Only two Peri ods when we had full employment during the first world War and the second world War and a few years into the postwar now we again have almost two million at a recent Public Lloyd president of the Winnipeg chamber of called for less government intervention inthe econ Premier Howard who participated in the pointed out that in those democratic countries with the greatest degree of government intervention in the Economy there is the least unemployment and higher living people who oppose government intervention in the Economy Are generally they want the government to help the Small businessman to bail out big corpor tons in financial difficulties to help homeowners and Farmers being ruined by usurious interest never be fore have people been clamouring for governments to do so yet Many of these same people object to govern ment intervention in the the commanding Heights of the the major will have to be brought under Public owner ship and control before any govern ment will be Able to end unemployment and the present economic Charles Biesick Winnipeg biased reporting i protest the use of the term severely handicapped in recent news stories and i refer in particular to references to baby Doe of Blooming the Downs syndrome Newborn who was allowed to starve to in every Csc broadcast and various newspaper articles free March baby Doe was called severely a Gross overstatement of the As there May be varying degrees of retardation in Downs syn drome there was no Way of predicting baby does to Label him severely handicapped is biased reporting of a most repugnant Nancy Hall Lang Winnipeg editors note roman Kowal of 373 Dunrobin ave nue was not the author of the letter too academic published on March blatant Bias the review by Jeffrey Anderson composers totally free March 15 of the i music concert re Veals the writers blatant Bias against local it is ludicrous to suggest that you cant even inordinate Dis plays of artistic value of new music by local Beethoven was local to one Wagner local to and their music was new the Point is that everyone is local to the area in which he but does that fact affect the Quality of his work the fact that Anderson fails to name the composers represented gives the review a strangely humorous Quali Are they that far beneath his con tempt or does he wish to spare them embarrassment local especially Peter Jim Bill Pura and Michael All de serve Karen Clavelle Winnipeg distorted Maureen in the learning disabled Field a free March 22 misrepresents our conversation by quoting out of context and fragmenting in the article i frequently sounded like those with whom i have spent years it particularly galled me that a wide ranging conversation Deal ing with past and present special Edu cation practices in Canada and the United states was used in a fashion that portrayed special education in Manitoba As less than such a portrayal does a great disservice to the special educators of this Brosnahan seems to have ignored an area we discussed at length the High Quality of special education services in this it is my opinion that Manitoba leads the Way in the provision of Quality programs for children encountering learning education in this province has been in the fore front in the attempt to move the Handi capped into the mainstream of i am not attempting to indicate that we have reached the or that we should rest on our but to characterize special education in the Way that Brosnahan is an injustice and an the fashion in which the reporter used or did not use what was said in our conversation leads me to believe that her intent was either to Tion Alize the topic or to use Only that information which helped establish an already formed Gerald Bravi associate professor faculty of education the University of Manitoba Winnipeg sure Hes the right Man for he does what Hes ;