Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - April 27, 1983, Winnipeg, Manitoba Election look Victoria British Columbia government of Premier Bill Bennett came to office in after three years of the new democrats headed by Dave the sacred majority was pretty solid so to 18 nip with one Liberal and one conservative the last time that anyone other than a member of the two major parties managed to get the so reds went Back to the people in 1979 and came away with their majority much reduced so to 26 nip in a House two seats now they Are at it and chances Are that the slide May be continuing for social resulting either in a near tie or an nip what promised to be the major Issue of the Campaign blew up last weekend when nip Leader Dave in a blatant play to get Union announced that if the nip were elected it would do away with the so reds wage restraint program on government Premier Bill Bennett gleefully jumped on he claimed it would Lead to economic chaos and higher and would be unfair to those unions which had already signed con nip party workers Svere even some Union leaders and members wore next in an equally blatant attempt to Barrett announced that the nip would be much tougher on Public pay raises than the so reds have promises the elec Tion May be settled not on programs and platforms but on who is and who is not running for each for the two party this May be Custers last Dave Barrett has now been beaten he has had 22 years in and some observers feel that his reputation cannot stand a third he stayed on after 1979 Only because there was no one or Able to step into his he faces a similar situation the person thought most Likely to succeed him As Leader was Stu Leggatt of a former but Leggatt is one of those not running this having accepted an appointment As a county court running in his place is Mark who has resigned As an Bill on the other Hay two victories to his but there is some feeling that Bennett would be no More comfortable on the opposition benches than de Schreyer was in Man and take him self out of scramble if he there would be a rare old scramble to succeed one person who has openly voiced his in Tention in this regard is sacred Educa Tion minister Bill Vander who is not running this he is sitting this one out in his Home Riding of doing a John Turner in the Hope that something May turn each of the two parties May suffer from with the result of the 57 legislative some dozen or More could turn the tide one Way or the Vancouver with its Large pro portion of retired Surpris almost solidly the two exceptions Are the Ridings of Stanich and the islands and the Victoria suburb of Oak both Are represented by Cabinet ministers the former by finance minister Hugh the latter by Energy minister Brian Curtis has been making noises about getting but he is running again and his opposition comes from the Man whom he barely Defeated last time out John a Stanich Al nip caucus researcher and former free press in Oak the former Leader of the and in his Clay an extremely Able and popular Scott set the cat among the pigeons when he let it be known that he was considering getting Back into poli this undoubtedly would have split the righting vote in that Rig twin Peter my unlock in British Columbia Gish Village beyond the Tweed and could possibly have led to Isian Smiths after consultation with his decided that he would stick to a Nedi in Victoria which carries two the big news was the of one of the most popular Ever to Grace the a Nellie Barber is widely As an Amateur musician Leader of an orchestra and of the cites immensely popular singalong Messiah at Christ a tireless worker for his Coti Stitis As has been his partner a Bourdon but Charlie has had a lifetime his tory of cancer and there have Toen some signs of so los Lias bowed his place is being by Victoria Alderman Robin who has almost As High a profile As and he and Hanson to be a shooing for the swam to Shore other so reds who Are not include Pat Jordan As Toni Tim was noted for to Shore from the wreck of an plane in Victoria Harbor instead of waiting to be Peter Tiyna Man he of the expense accounts and Pouilly suisse and Allan Wil Liams As attorney has had a rough particularly payment of to mass Praxi orderer Clifford in Williams Riding of West Van co verhowe sound ered the second safest sacred in the province the sacred nomination was thought to be a cinch for Viand coming politician Mark f ormer chairman of the West school but at the last a former conservative John who had been a social credit party member for Only two parachuted and after an intensive three Day masterminded by Vancouver Lxi Etnier Murray stole the nomination from leading to cries of foul from his is ill on the the seat of Dewdney May swing again of because of the resignation of the member George in sacred ctn ances have not been helped by the scandal Over grades Finger Crux ii of land added to Deputy minister Scrace Mccarthy Riding during Redis Tribu close Call results of the British Columbia election could end the political career of either Bill Bennett above or Dave nor have the generals always been Able to control their even the someone leaked to Dave Barrett a sacred paper which appeared to Indi Cate higher user fees for Hospital medicare not said Bill this was a position paper Only and there was no intention of raising then in Northern an nip Candi Date publicly endorsed his Patty min ing unfortunately this was a policy which Barrett had already publicly he having suffered a deep sea change towards the mining Industry from that which he held when he was the he was quoting from an nip which was passed by an nip Conven Tion but which would never be enacted by an nip in an nip candidate boldly said that his if would scrap Alt Light rail transport said an nip government would review nothing and when Hydro let it be known that it is seeking a 25percent rate increase after Large rate increases in recent Energy minister Smith said no Way six per cent would be the most that Hydro could Hope although the Peewee parties do not have a Hope of doing they could conceivably win one or More More they could act As spoilers in some of the More closely fought in this the Odds would favor the As a tory or Liberal or even Western Canada concept candidate would be More Likely to take votes from social credit than from Dave Barretts boys or vis puts overment on hold Toronto William Davis likes to Trot out and country when he is running six Ort of reasons people should think icon Day of him and his Davis was last at it before 1981 when he swore to def the monarchy to the it was to find least still the two opposition threaten Ling the Premier returned to his and True themes again in an att Emrit to put a bit of Flesland Blooml into his to none speech which opened the 1983 Legisla Ture he reminded his Ai Tience that his government will be festivities in 1984 to the 200th anniversary of the arrival of the first United Empire loyalists and the Queen will to Here and part of the Bicentennial is fundamentally since the first settlers arrived in but 1984 is the Yeaste fore a provincial election and a politically More opportune time to Maice on tartans feel Happy about their lest and their progressive gov neither event place Eric Odowd in Ontario next has much to do with a speech from the which is supposed to announce government pro Grams for the legislative Davis was obviously desperately Short of material for his throne which had by far the least substance of any of the 13 or which he has been responsible As Premier and told ontarian almost nothing they did not already it promised vaguely to try to help the already improving Economy and pro vide if and when the province could find somewhere it could put its shoulder to the and pleaded for moderation in wage and Price de it tossed out a few a minis Ter will be Given specific responsibility for women although there was nothing More Concrete for who on average Are paid Only 63 per cent of mens Farmers will financial presumably to show them How to make a few dollars go a Long and a study will be made of the Way new technology is affecting jobs and which is something the Davis government apparently Lias just begun to Davis throne speeches traditionally have been much More drawing together every Crumb of potential government action and exaggerating them into a Daviss puny Effort this year invites interpret Davis arid company May have run out of his administration is showing signs of being rundown and some ministers Are Sloppy and lacking in Davis had planned Cabinet changes before the legislature session but has postponed them until others Are laying plans to run for the Ontario conservative if Davis re tires or moves to Lead the National the atmosphere of uncertainty is not conducive to producing Long Range Davis in the opinion of the opposition has been too preoccupied with his ambition to be Federal if a Safe Opportunity presents to devote the Effort needed to produce programs of substance any thing major has to come through Daviss Corner office or pull together a throne the ambition to go Federal May still be because Davis pointedly re when discussing his throne to commit himself to staying to the end of the 1983 to see his few paltry programs his refusal can mean Only that he will be a candidate himself or is trying to keep those who would support him unaligned so he can use them As a Davis May think it is of some advantage to As a possible Federal to downplay any initiatives his government May be considering some of his strongest critics in the Federal party Are those who believe his government has been far too intervene budget but the biggest reason for Daviss extraordinarily lightweight throne Speerli May be simply he has accepted both that his government does not have the Money for Large scale new pro Grams something that has been creeping up on Ontario for years and that he might As Well own unless its revenues improve on Tario will have difficulty doing much More than maintaining current pro while still piling up deficits of Between billion and billion a Davis has been burned in making several undertakings in last years throne speech were not kept and the Premier said with unusual frankness that to help Young peo ple up As was held Back because the province simply did not have the although it will go ahead this Davis has put his government on Ontario can expect to hear less about this years programs and More next years Federal finance minister Marc la Londe told a Winnipeg audience last saturday his budget didst stimulate consumer spending for the simple Rea son that Canada Doest have enough employed Consumers with Money to while agreeing that consumer spend ing is a major source of economic averaging about 60 per cent of Gross National Lalonde said it is dependent upon Overall eco nomic Confidence and let us be what we mean by the term they Are not just the people who have who have the Money to spend on consumer goods and the taxable income against which to Benefit from tax la Londe told a Laurier club Consumers also include All those canadians without people who Lack Money to spend and who pay Little or no Federal personal income now let us be Clear about the most important consideration in whether Consumers buy or it is not the Price of goods and services a modest Francos Russell decline by Way of sales tax or a temporary increase in spend ing Power is not going to Mascor a big the most important tiding is having the Money to adj red for most of Means having j for others who have a its Riet ving the Confidence to go out and Sparaci that is Why the budget presents a comprehensive program to eco nomic strength for sustained 1 of Crea that is Why the budget increases direct employment assistance to help ease the problems of Trie Unzem just prior to his and Lalonde had met tie new Union of unemployed who told him in no Uncertain terms that the budget was totally inadequate in terms of addressing Canadas unemployment despite its stated pro business and pro investment it forecasts 10 per cent unemployment for the next several the Why and How of economic growth has Long been a Chicken and egg argue does it occur by giving business the incentives to spend and creating jobs and Confidence and consumer spending or does economic growth happen up by giving people More Money to causing business to invest and hire More there Are economic terms for the two stimulative the first is the second is the uniqueness of this recession leaves government in a inflation has coexisted with recession High rates of personal savings have coexisted with Low consumer its a recession that defies All traditional theories and prescriptions a new economic Lalonde told his audience that e sectors potential inflation and High interest Rales made Consumers cautious Long before the Onset of the inflation and its High interest were a result of Canadas lagging productivity throughout the and particularly paying off existing mortgages became much More attractive than in earlier As a the personal savings rate was on a rising trend through the 1970s and reached a remarkable level of per cent of disposable income in the minis Ter faced with a new Lalonde has opted for the traditional trickle Down restore business Confidence and productivity and the rest will but Terrance executive director of the Canadian Council on social a National non profit organization which conducts re search on social policy says the budget overlooked a massive area of Opportunity to employ canadians and thus inspire the Confidence necessary to real economic i Hunsley says the governments assistance to business was but it failed to recognize that business simply cannot create All the jobs required by a country which has the fastest growing labor Force in the business is moving into the postindustrial and is Likely to use its new incentives to invest in not As the Indus trial sector is operating at about 60 per cent capacity and it will be some time before it spends at the government ignored the voluntary service sector which huns Ley says May Well he the future for unemployment which Cost the Federal government a record billion in represents Only 56 per cent of the actual Cost of unemployment to the Economy in terms of lost spending Power and foregone government Hunsley in Stead of writing off these the government should have invested at least a portion in expanding the service jobs in education and Hunsley Points out this which employs has been decimated by the it is it Doest compete with other rather than losing the Money through Unzem Why not direct it into wages to hire those same people in these chronically underfunded areas Hunsley also argues that the Volun tary despite the conventional is productive and does provide economic the wage Bill is billion a but its contribution to the Economy is society consumes human services the same Way it consumes the service sector hires builds and occupies buys out Industrial sector int the Only area that has evidenced growth has been the service As technology eliminates More and More traditional the human ser vice sector May indeed be the Only source of major new employment in the sooner or politicians and economists will have to come to grips with this ;