Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 6, 1987, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free Jaf Turfy Winnipeg free press Freedom of Trade Liberty of religion Equality of civil rights published seven Days a week at 300 Ca Llort Winnipeg r3c 3c1 by Canadian newspapers company limited Telephone 9439331 Winnipeg free press est 1872 Winnipeg Tribune est 1890 Donald Nicol publisher John Dafoe editorial Page editor Murray Burt managing editor Rudy Redekop controller a member of lie Manitoba press Council editorials Desjardins wriggles the arbitration system which health minister Larry Destardins personally designed and agreed to has produced a per cent increase in medicare payments awarded to that was More than Desjardins was planning so he is trying to wriggle out of the Deal he to change the rules As soon As the other Side scores a he probably could save a couple of million dollars that but the Cost to his reputation and the governments would be very As part of the Desjardins is making an argument about others who negotiate pay with the if the government gives the doctors per cent it will have to give everybody per which it cannot afford to the argument therefore it cannot give the doctors per As wriggles it is the doctors have been making do with much less than the increases other bargaining groups have been receiving in recent the per cent which the arbitration panel has awarded them includes an element of which is not unheard of for other groups who fall at other bargaining the government and its employee groups might agree that strikes and pressure campaigns would not be used and an arbitration panel would be asked to Settle the amount of pay unions generally prefer to wring All they can out of bargaining and keep the strike option for policemen and the strike is not a real option and so arbitration was chosen As a better Winnipeg councillors Are sometimes appalled by the pay increases and other provisions which arbitration produces for those but they finally accept the rules and allow themselves to be they Swallow hard and Honor the if the award to the Manitoba medical association is cited at other bargaining the facts of the Case provide the obvious other groups who Are willing to be bound As the doctors Are bound can also take their chances with they May get Lucky or they May arbitration can result in settlements that astonish All parties by their by their generosity or in other its advantages Are that both sides renounce pressure tactics which could damage the Public and both sides Are Able to make their argument to a mutually agreed the system produces the occasional but one Surprise does not invalidate the system nor erase its the school teachers about whom Desjardin is concerned sometimes turn to arbitrators to Settle their pay education minister Jerry St brie Hopes teachers will accept a oneyear pay freeze and choose modest improvements in school programs but teacher groups Are still free to demand pay increases and push their claims to if the governments policy is to accept the arbitral awards it likes and overturn those it the teachers will have a great Deal to worry As will firemen and an arbitrators award could be so outrageously unreasonable it would simply have to be the award to the Mma is not outrageous and not unreason it is inconvenient for but the world is not run for the convenience of he and the government granted the doctors after Long and careful thought and in return for the suppression of that was the if the or is then the whole Deal must be off and Manitoba will take a Long step if the Deal is to be changed then All others who bargain with government will have to wonder whether it is Worth the Aquinas achievement philippine president Corazon not yet a year old in has used her time and her popularity proving her control of the country and the Wisdom of her she has not yet established either a democratic government or a definite social and economic though these Are taking the deposed Ferdinand from his hawaiian continues to make noises about but he is now an president Aquinas achievements speak for the first time in 17 civil War is not being fought in the mountains and Backwoods districts of the the communist led insurgent movement accepted and is More or less respecting a 60day ceasefire from december 10 Onward during which the guerrilla bands Are not shooting up military convoys nor extorting Money from the in is not sending its army in Pursuit of the guerrilla during the Aquinas administration and the rebel leaders Are negotiating about the makeup and policy of the a plebiscite scheduled for february 2 invites the electorate to accept Aquinas Constitution confirming her As president and providing for gradual establishment of elected representative institutions to govern the the ceasefire gives the government a Chance to invite guerrilla fighters to abandon rebellion and take comfortable government the communist leaders will have their work Cut out preventing desertions and demoralization of their it was easy to paint the dictator Ferdinand Marcos As the cruel face of International the mild and accommodating Aquino is harder to cast in that the president is Likely to win massive Public support in the february 2 that show of following two months of inactivity and perhaps dwindling numbers in guerrilla will help dramatize the relative strengths of the president and the the presidents conservative critics complain that Aquino has elevated Lawless communists to equal dignity with the government by negotiating with them and signing a ceasefire with Marcos for 16 years tried and failed to stamp out the rebellion by purely military he kept his dignity but could not win his Aquino has already succeeded where he the bargaining table where government and communist spokesmen meet is filling the role in the parliamentary is met by a parliament or the policy of the country is debated More or less the administration meets and answers its chief political opponent the two govern ment and compete for moral and political advantage and try to Lay before the country programs which will command Broad the communists Call for removal of the military suppression of private land Reform and civilian control of police forces which Are now under military they also seek places for themselves in a coalition government or National unification a proposal which president Aquino has wisely rejected from the the in offers amnesty with Honor for Rural development and economic it invites the communists to take part in the february 2 plebiscite and to run for local and provincial office in the elections which the Constitution schedules for next Aquinas other main opponent had been her own minister of Juan Ponce a Holdover from the Marcos she patiently endured his Public complaints against her policy and his hints at a military coup but finally dropped him in a Cabinet the whose Champion he claimed to made no move to support him but remained firmly Loyal to the with Enrile the communists pacified and her own popularity apparently president Aquino finishes her first year of office with All the authority she needs to Start tackling the Industrial the inequalities of the heavy foreign debts and the patterns of corruption that have limited the Power of the Philippines and kept it economically and politically dependent on the United Job Survey regarding the article storm spoiled Job Evans says free december 6 concern ing the november estimates from the labor Force Survey for Manitoba firstly the snowstorm which occurred during the weekend of no vember 8 had no Impact whatever on the data collection phase of the sur interviewing took place during the week of november 16 to and More than 96 per cent of the House holds contacted responded to the the cautionary note which statistics Canada included with the employment estimates pointed out that the results from Manitoba were affected by the storm in the refer ence week november 9 to to which most of the Survey questions the results from the which remain As reliable in november As in any other indicate that the employment patterns in Manitoba were severely affected by the Bliz Zard and its aftermath during the there were persons who reported that they had lost some time from their Job during the week because of the there was also an increase of in the estimated number of persons letters the Winnipeg free press welcomes letters from writers must give their name and names will be used and letters Are subject to storm affected Job pattern who had lost their Job since the previous the Job losses were concentrated in con communications and other and in the manufacturing these employment declines Are Likely part of the Normal seasonal reduction in employment which would have been distributed More evenly Between no vember and december in a typical because of the there appears to have been a More abrupt reduction in seasonal employment this this will not Likely have a Lon term Impact on the which should return to Levels which Are typical during the Winter i Trust this will give your readers a better understanding of the reasons behind the unusual changes in labor Market estimates for Manitoba which were provided by the labor Force Survey in the sur vey remains As accurate As always and simply reflects the Impact of the severe snowstorm on Manitoba labor Ken Bennett statistics weather Wisdom i am asking your readers to share with me any Amateur fore casting methods known or followed by Rural in Par still retains that blessed Affinity with nature which the City people have lost or and i am hoping the Rural folks will be generous in their should i receive enough 1 through the assistance of the explorations program of the Canada put All information in a Book and make it available to Cana to illustrate the sort of thing i am looking for on the Canadian Plains Many believe that precipitation will follow 90 Days after a others believe that the length of a hogs weather vane part of the pancreas at butchering time Indi Cates the severity of the approaching to forecast the moisture prospects of the next slice a Large onion in two halves and the 12 inner rings will show the moisture Content of the year to Himsl 248 Grandview Moose s6h 5k7 refugees i want to voice my concern about refugees entering Canada too easily at the expense of the taxpayer a Day per this country is already yet Money is always found to support projects to show the world How Nice Canada we have a High rate of in students have to pay higher fees to enter obsolete equipment is not replaced because the government has no Money to do there Are Many starving Young Canad when Are the different Levels of government going to Wake up Gaston Boulanger Winnipeg correction the free press made an error in transcribing a sentence in the letter Indian education free de Cember the sentence As it appeared read the research does not support Orl Kows Point that the tension Between native Indian students and other students has in creased Over the last few it should have read the research support Orl Kows Point that the tension Between native Indian students and other students has in creased Over the last few the free press regrets this birthday Sarah Winnipeg born province of Western january a bust uncertainties need resolving Wilson special to the free press Ottawa at a time when Many of the uncertainties confronting this nation and others Are too Many that could be resolved Are left overhanging the future by Politi Cal leaders and no one can foretell when the prices of commodities vital to full Canadian Well being will that is the sort of uncertainty we must live bringing to it whatever National stoicism we relations the future course of our vitally important relationship with the United states is filled with in some of these arise on the Ameri can Side of the Border and Are beyond our direct although not necessarily beyond our Are within Canadian control because they Start on this Side of the Border in the attitudes of the political there for too Many unsettled questions in the defence relationship Between the two coun tries and these cannot be resolved until the Canadian governments de Fence policies for the future Are clearer than they Are an authoritative White paper on defence is Long the uncertainties cannot be resolved until a Clear statement has been As the softwood lumber dispute has not All Trade questions Are regulated by the free Trade the country does not really know this governments Basic View on the unsettled question whether Trade disputes should be negotiated or left to settlement through unilateral action by one party or the the negotiations which have just been concluded were not launched on Federal initiative but were a response by the Central government to pressures applied by premiers Wil Liam Vander Zalm of British Colum Bia and Robert Bourassa of Quebec against the Strong inclinations of David Peterson of at the Federal it was one More and hoc approach without the guidance of an underlying in the Case of the the country at least knows that the governing party believes close relations with the United states Are essential to Canadas simmering Force we do know what the underlying Liberal attitude to wards the relationship would be if we elect that party to government in the Sharp anti americanism which accompanied the Liberal nationalism which surged up after the 1980 election was blunted by the recession but it did not nor did the Liberal party economic a it remains a simmering Force in our affairs contributing to uncertainty because its future course cannot be the Canadia United states uncertainties Are the most significant of the International ones which we have some Power to there Are Domestic ones As Well which cry out for the National taxation system is destabilizing because change in it has been too frequent in recent years and because we do not have a real idea of the nature and extent of the tax Reform which May come from finance minister Michael he pays lip service to tax simplify for but so far his actual thrust has been toward com his instincts seem sound but the firmness of his grip on his department is open to disappointing regional disparity has received a vast amount of lip service and a Deal of Money in the last two the results have been profoundly poor markets and prices for Many of this country traditional commodity exports exacerbate the prob Lem without stimulating the needed fresh thinking in either both Are guilty of confusion Between Long term approaches and the hopeless course of subsidizing people to live in dead end few massive problems in the country history have seen so Little political Cour the country does not yet know the answers to two important questions where the Liberal party really stands in the political spec Trum and what either party will really do about the mess to which National finances have been re in the latter we have politicians gifted in Doublespeak with the visual habits of poorest widows get raw Deal by Leonard Shifrin special to the free press the Mulroney government owes Canadas poorest widows Mil but it could probably make a Deal for half that the Only improvement in our so Cial safety net introduced by the present government was its 1985 Extension of the income tested spouses allowance to cover poor widows and widowers aged 60 to it estimated that of them would qualify for All or part of the and the Cost of the measure would be million a funds lacking when the opposition parties argued that these parted and never married single people at the same Low income level should be covered As the government insisted it could not afford More than the million budgeted for the then a funny thing Only eligible widows and widowers turned and the Cost of the pro Gram proved to be Only Mil if the number of Low income i separated and never mar ried singles who would qualify for benefits has been similarly Over the Cost of extending the provision to them would be less than and the governments leftover million would cover More than half of even if the government is unwilling to accept any increase in outlays beyond what was that does not mean it has no alternative to sitting on the when the spouses allowance was in it was provided Only to households in which a pensioner and his 60to65yearold spouse were living on a pension meant for when the pensioner the preposterous result was that the widow lost her spouses allowance As Well As his the Only piece of legislation passed by Joe Clarks Short lived government was in response to that if a spouse receiving the allowance became she would continue receiving it until she turned 65 and qualified for her pen that created a new anomaly be tween the widows who received the spouses allowance because payments had begun while their husbands had been the wrong age when he ending that Absurdity was the rationale of the Mulroney an discrimination the consequent discrimination against those in the same age group who Are alone and poor for reasons other than widowhood is one another is an incongruous Benefit level through the guaranteed income pensioners Are assured a minimum income of a but the maximum spouses allow Ance is that is because the allowance was originally intended Only As a top raising the Guaran teed minimum income of a one pen sooner couple to what the supple ment provides for a two pensioner household which is less than twice what it provides for a be cause the couple has Only one rent to glaring omission when the spouses allowance ceased to be Only for spouses and began to be paid to widows As the legislation should have provided for to these households of one to be increased to the single pensioner it should but it did not and historical Accident is not much of a rationale for the government main Taining an income guarantee level for 64yearolds that it has acknowledged is inadequate for 65year the Cost of raising the month maximum spouses allow Ance to is less than million less than half the million which remains of the million the government it could afford to spend on raising the incomes of destitute widows to within hailing distance of the poverty if the Mulroney government will not spend the remaining Money on extending the spouses allowance to a further group of destitute Nearse it could at least use part of the funds to make benefits More Ade quate for those who Are ;