Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - May 27, 1985, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free press May 1985 Page 7 by Dionne new York times the visit of Pope John Paul ii to the Low countries is Likely to prove important for the future of the roman Catholic not just for the Way the Pope received but also for the course he outlined in the face of the Many Rankan file catholics took the Opportunity of the Popes visit to the Luxem Bourg and Belgium to say directly to John Paul what millions of catholics have been saying to each other and to their the dissent covered a wide Range of notably sexual issues and birth the desire of Many women to be ordained As priests and a general wish for greater flexibility by the Pope and the two facts Are noteworthy about the Popes reaction first that he accepted the criticism showing some understanding for those who opposed him second that he made quite Clear that he intended to press ahead with his program to reassert traditional Church the two outcomes Are not As contradictory As they might the Pope made notably in comments to reporters aboard his plane on the Way that he understood that Many catholics had difficulty with the Christian message As he interpreted one can Well understand these problems because the Christian life int he but for the the difficulty is not with the message his opposition to birth for or to Liberal sexual norms but with the state of the world and the frailty of human the Pope can understand those who have difficulty living up to what he regards As Catholic Ethi Cal standards what he opposes is trying to change the standards two themes emerged clearly in conversations with Vatican officials during the Popes the first was that one of the biggest problems the Pope sees with Liberal dutch catholics is their failure to use the same moral yardsticks As others Are at least willing to acknowledge that there sin said one High ranking Vati can the dutch Are the second is the Pope understands that one of the prices he will pay for his outspoken pub Lic reassertion of traditional values is outspoken Public oppose he can accept said another Vatican adding that this did not imply that the Pope is willing to change his this has important implications for the extraordinary Synod of Bishops the Pope called for no vember to reexamine the results of the second Vatican Liberal catholics rally to the Banner of Vatican arguing that it not Only modernized the but bred a spirit that de mands further the Pope has always called him self a Strong advocate of Vatican but in an address to belgian Bish the Pope made Clear that he shared the misgivings of Many conservatives who believe that liberals have pushed the spirit of the Council too the important implication of this View is that the Pope sees one of the tasks of this novembers meeting As rooting out certain secular some would say lib Popes visit sets tone for Council Popes visit to Low countries showed that he will not Stop promoting traditional Catholic eral ideas that have grown in Side the Church since the time of the Council in the Early such catholics in the nether lands and Belgium say that the Church can update its views on Many matters without losing its Christian or specifically Catholic the has said Many times that this process can amount to nothing More than calling evil and on his arrival in Rome prior to his recent Elevation to archbishop John Oconnor of new York said the Pope May be leading the Church into a new Era involving a More aggressive affirmation of its traditional Prin this May Well be the message of the trip to the Low countries that the Pope is quite prepared to listen to quite understanding that the Road he proposes is Nei ther easy nor it is equally Clear that no amount of criticism will make him change constitutional demands by Quebec Are unacceptable Edmonton although they Arent saying so Alberta officials Are appalled by Quebec Las test constitutional in the Quebec position so startled them that they were relieved when budget news buried the easing the pressure for Quick the document so rash in its so incompatible with West pm feeling about that one can Only Hope its a negotiating ploy to be softened most albertan have no quarrel with Premier Levesques demand for recognition of the Quebec peo Ples Quebec special nature demands a measure of special thoughtful westerners have been and even a trifle that Quebec Felt betrayed by the constitutional Deal reached in 1981 and signed into Law in Alberta played a leading role in Quebec exclusion by proposing the amending formula that the other provinces finally Ever the Alberta tories have hoped for a Compromise that would ease Quebec Back into the Constitution without inflaming local but Levesques demands go so far that Western provinces cant accept they violate utterly the notion that no one province should be Able to Block measures most canadians in Levesques government is not Only seeking virtual Independence within but tremendous authority Over what the rest of Canada May or May not the most ominous Section is que becs demand for a veto Over constitutional changes that affect Federal institutions or the creation of new Don braid in Alberta this to cite just one exam that even if every other province wanted an elected Quebec could say Quebec could forever Block provincial status for the Yukon and Northwest territories and probably since they be these Are nervy demands because the supreme court has ruled that Quebec never really had a even under the pre1982 constr its hardly Likely that the other provinces would accept a Quebec veto after giving up All claim to their own in in another vital the Divi Sion of Power Between Ottawa and the Quebec demands either a veto or full Federal funding if it decides to opt out of an Amend this Means that if All provinces but Quebec wanted a change funding for Quebec could either prevent the others from going ahead or get Federal Money to run its own if another province didst like the it Block the rest nor could it get any com Quebec also insists on being exempt from most of the Federal Char Ter of rights and freedoms except for two sections on democratic free in All other Quebec would subordinate its own Laws Only to the Quebec charter of human rights and Quebec is hardly unique in seeking to evade the the other pro vices May opt out of certain parts if they feel Brave enough to take the political Alberta has vowed to do this if its labor Laws Are found Union but Quebec is after something much different the right to stand outside the charter while staying within this demand goes far beyond any legitimate quest for cultural protect it would Rob the charter of All respect by creating the checker Board of rights that Pierre tru Deau argued against in As Quebec also demands full authority Over language the exclusive right to determine its offi Cial language and to legislate on any linguistic matter within its Juristic in the province offers full Protection for English language ser vices in and the right of English speaking children from elsewhere in Canada to be educated in this is More generous than any guarantees provided by other prov inces to French speakers yet once the payoff is an exclusion from the and after All Levesque still insists that Quebec retains the right to vote itself out of Canada at any the whole document smacks of backdoor Independence that would leave Quebec immune from outside but incredibly potent in Canadian these Are impossible the Federal government cant Possi Bly accept nor can the other including however much they want Quebec to be part of the constitutional Don braid in the Edmonton Jour nals political tory budget gouges the poor by Leonard Shifrin special to the free press the Battle for the soul of the Mulroney government is and the Good Guys in a budget that dishonoured the promises and professed sacred trusts on which the tories were finance minister Michael Wilson gouged the poorest of canadians while extending new benefits to the the conservatives propose to eliminate the first three per cent of each years inflation indexing of old age despite Mulroney solemn Campaign pledge of com plete indexing of old age pensions to the actual Cost of says the indexing to the full consumer Price Index will continue for the guaranteed income supple does that mean the poorest be those whose sub poverty in comes qualify them for the supple will be protected despite giving that misleading it poor seniors receive the Universal pension As Well As the and the supplement is not being boosted to compensate for the pen Sion being less next year than it would be with full poor seniors will fall another further below the poverty line in and the effects will be the following year they will be further into poverty than if the Mulroney Promise of full indexing had been and by 1990 they will be further below the that a far cry from the tory Campaign Promise Ras soon As the governments financial position to provide increased Finan Cial assistance to single senior Citi Zens whose income is below the poverty the governments financial Situa Tion does allow an increase in registered retirement savings plan resp contributions for High in come those earn ing or More will be permitted to increase their tax deductible resp contributions from a year to in their 50 per cent tax that gives them a tax saving of a and it will Cost the government it would have Cost even More if the government want also proposing to reduce permitted contributions for those earning less than instead of being allowed deductible contributions of up to 20 per cent of their limit is being Cut to 18 per and the new ceiling is to be not indexed just for Cost of living increases Over three per the Way the old age pension and family allowance will be from now fully for the poorest the reduced indexing of the family allow Ance will be More than compensated Over the next three by planned increases in the refundable child tax starting in the child tax credit will also have its first three per cent of indexing Eli the result is by even the poorest families will have lost More than what they gained from the increases and be falling further into because budget measures Are phased in Over a period of it is customary for governments to pub Lish tables showing the financial Impact Over that period of the Wilson budget a piece of finance department paper marked secret fell into the Public Domain during the course of the budget Day and it shows How big the governments raid on social benefits in direct contravention of its pledge of several months ago really in the fiscal year ending March benefits to children will be million less than what they would be under present and old age pension benefits will be a Mas Sive billion that will be More than enough to finance the budgets billion Giveaway to Rich investors in effectively abolishing the capital gains so much for sacred trusts and solemn pledges of com passionate labor Laws and Union prompt Tan Jay move dont be surprised if the government at tempts to dismiss the decision by Tan Jay chairman Peter Nygard to move the head office of his company to Toronto As vindictive or As politically these accusations will not Bear close if Nygard really wanted to move to Toron to for any reason except his stated that of the ant business attitude of the Manitoba he would have done so and without if he wanted to gain the maximum political advantage from the an he would have waited until an election had been called to add his bundle of kindling to the Nygard has two reasons for leaving the province where his company was the first is the labor legislation that is already in the second is the labor legislation that has been promised by the Pawley govern there at the Laws which make it ridiculously easy to certify a and almost impossible for dissatisfied employees to get rid of a Union they do not the government has promised Plant closing legislation that will Cut deeply into the credit available to any company proposing to locate in the As Well As Laws requiring equal pay for work of equal a pie in the sky proposal that will take an army of bureaucrats to and make the run Ning of any business much More when these present and future problems become the cake which is iced with one of Only two provincial payroll taxes in the it is Small wonder that the Nygard marketing Centre building in the new water front development in announced several years had another floor authorized last year to House the head office of what was once a Winnipeg based International Fred Cleversey garment there Are the minor Nygard says that he is forced to Deal with a Radical Union leadership backed by a Radical labor anyone wanting to Label Nygard As simply antiunion has to explain away Tan jays 30 years of Union and nygards personal record of dealing with some International in for 15 years without serious anyone wanting to put an antiunion Label on Tan Jay will have to explain Why the company was Able to live with an internationally based Union for 10 years without having a single incident referred to a provincial labor including the boards operating under the Schreyer adm Nistra then they will have to Deal with the change that has produced More than 100 referrals to the labor Board of incidents within the past referrals that have forced Tan Jay to hire two lawyers to Deal exclusively with labor matters and referrals that have resulted in not a single decision favourable to the nygards description of life with the Mani Toba labor Board has been communicated to his he says Day in and Day out we Are the subject of unfounded and misleading allegations by the we Are continually having to appear before the labor Board to prove our innocence against Union these Radical Union organic aided and supported by this provinces almost frightening and destructive labor have literally forced your company to take this direction to move its head office to anyone who wonders How Nygard expects to improve his Manitoba position by moving his head office out and leaving his factory Here does not understand the International nature the garment in the last three Tan jays business has in creased by sales of this trans lates into new twice the number now in All have been established outside of those who suggest that a company like Tan Jay would expand its labor Force in Low wage countries no matter what should look at the company for the first ten years of nygards All expansion took place in expansion decisions Are made in head the possibility of Manitoba expand Given nygards perception of the government ant business behaviour and a head office in ranks somewhere behind the possibility of cutbacks in Manitoba Industry minister Eugene Kos writing to Nygard the Day the head office move was expressed sur prise that he had not been informed of the company perception of the and said the government was committed to bringing about a climate conducive to the promotion of in Tan Jay president Murray Batte reminded Kostyra at a meeting held just six months the minister was told directly that Tan Jay had added employees in Thunder rather than in because of Manitoba unbalanced labor Laws and be cause of the per cent payroll tax in this Tan Jay is no corporate welfare the company has a limited participation in a Federal program of technology research in which its contributions Are several times those of As Tan Jay was approached by the Manitoba government to help create make work jobs As part of a Federal provincial but bureaucratic delays resulted in the number of jobs dropping from worker weeks to worker in this program the Compa nys financial contributions to the program matched the combination of Federal and provincial the government says its priority is its attitude is responsible for eliminating a few of the variety that help create More just by being in doonesbury by Garry Trudeau me m campu5coautioh 5c0t in an Jimmy log thought you might my Carp Mai Mamps have an 0100 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