Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 14, 1987, Winnipeg, Manitoba D j Winnipeg free press january Page 7 focus Contra situation desperate by Robert Stone special to the free press Miami the third floor of an office directly across from the Cia Southern air transport at the Miami Airport is the Headquarters of the United nicaraguan opposition the main umbrella group of the contras fighting against the sandinista government of on the Wall of an Interior past the surveillance cameras and the armed guard is a Large a photo graph of a pair of badly worn with toes sticking out through the that is the real tragedy of Nica says Frank press Secretary and founding member of the nicaraguan democratic Force pointing to the we have to reach a Point where the sandinista government would be seen As Able to we have to look like this May Well prove to be an impossible in spite of the Praise lavished on them by Ronald describing them As free Dom fighters and the moral equiv Alent of our founding most political experts in latin America and the Western world consider the contras to be murderers and they Are not As peace Loving people uprooted by turmoil in but As a Force trained from Cia manuals to mine destroy torture and All in the name of in the Uno has embarked on a political offensive de signed to counter this image and win friends the which includes unofficial contacts with latin american governments and a Public relations Campaign in the United is aimed at countering the perception that the contras Are solely a military Orga but As Luck would have during a meeting in san Costa in which a political platform was to be the washingtonian Contra scandal broke and the meeting degenerated into As a result there is no sign that they Are prepared to replace the they have not presented a single proposal for eco health or agrarian Reform As an alternative to sandinista government poli the first priority for the is to militarily establish themselves firmly Side Nicara for Only by making military gains can the contras persuade the Congress to renew Aid in the nicaraguan contras Are losing their War with sandinista As death toll while some fun guerrillas have been inside Nicaragua for years the organization claims that its main bases Are on nicaraguan it is common knowledge that most of the Contra forces Are based in Camps in the Las vegas just inside Hon they Are frequently attacked by nicaraguan in the Contra fighting ability is so poor that for most of last year they were hemmed in at their base Camps nearly 20 kilo metres inside prevented from taking the offensive into Nic the rebels claim to have men in arms but Many observers feel that this is an most estimates put the rebel strength at about approximately belong to the Hon Dura based about Are members of the Southern opposition Block fighting along the Costa rican Border and about Are miskito indians in the Atlantic coastal the Reagan administration has been arming and training the Contra army both overtly and covertly for Over four in theory they should have been Able to fight their Way into Nicaragua and set up a base by but increasingly they have required As they did in Early Decem ber when army helicopters ferried honduran troops to Rescue the main Contra pinned Down by sandinista in february the contras Are scheduled to receive the second instalment of the million that Congress approved in this would give them one last Chance to establish themselves in Side Nicaragua and let an impatient Honduras return to Neutral the Contra operation is badly be Hind it also relies on the Assumption that the nicaraguan population is yearning for libera Tion and will Rise up to join the fight against the an As sumption that caused the failure of the Bay of pigs but after four years of incursions they have never found enough support to allow them to the sandinista have grown in num weaponry and military Many analysts of Central Ameri can politics feel that the collapse of the Contra operation is close at dissension has been widely reported Between the the main recipient of american and other rebel aside from internal the Contra Effort has been criticized for its military ineffectiveness and Gross human rights of particular concern Are two Central figures in the Contra leadership Adolfo the fun civilian chief and the fans Lead ing military colonel Enri que Bermudez is controversial be cause of past association with de posed dictator Anastasio Somoza As a High ranking officer in the nicaraguan National Ca Lero is seen by critics within the Congress and in the Nicara Guan exile Community As too closely linked to the Somo vistas and the pre revolutionary the main reason for discontent with these is that under their leadership the Contra movement has not Only failed to establish any political support in Side Nicaragua but has been continuously plagued by allegations of corruption and drug with Contra support facing Seri Ous difficulty in the United most observers feel that the time has passed when they might have been Able to affect the situation on their own without military assistance on a Large Frank Arana heaves a great one Way or he 1987 is the year the Fate of Nicaragua is Alberta tories fume Over collapse of Deal on loan to sync rude Edmonton seemingly minor dispute Over a loan has brought relations Between Alberta and Ottawa to their lowest Point since the dying Days of the Trudeau it goes to show that when stupidity rules on both even tories can Start fighting Over the silliest the stakes seem almost trifling a loan guarantee sought by syn the synthetic Oil producer at fort to help with a million the Alberta government agreed to help and negotiated terms for a million to be drawn Only if Oil prices fall below a it seemed like a Good Deal for since it allowed sync rude to get started but wont Cost the province a Penny unless prices fall by More than after working out the Al Berta Energy minister Neil Webber write late last year to his Federal Marcel asking that Ottawa take half the million nearly everyone in the Alberta and All 21 Alberta tory maps in were convinced they had a after sharing the loan might never Cost Ottawa a and the political benefits would be huge for a government that has lost credibility in the to the commitment is in said Jack the new parliamentary Secretary to Masse and my for the Riding that includes fort in several yearned Premier Don Getty said that both prime minister Brian Mulroney and Deputy prime minister Don Mazan Kowski told him they favored the on Masse lobbed a Small Bombshell in the form of a fou Page letter that denied the Al Berta infuriating tone Masse not Only said but rubbed Albertas nose in the refusal in a professorial tone that infuriated nearly everyone who read the he reminded Webber that Ottawa had contributed most to the that Alberta had benefited that the province had applied late for the and had refused to pay some Federal taxes on the because of All huffed Don braid in Alberta the loan is properly the sole respond Mility of the it hard to quibble with masses facts Are All but he could not have written a letter More Likely to cause trouble in testy Alberta if he had hired a roomful of experts to do Getty was instantly he told a press conference i know i had the support of the prime minis Ter and the Deputy prime minis Ter and in interested to see what happened to deadliest insult then came the deadliest insult he could direct at a Federal tory government its As though we went from 1975 to 1986 and nothing happened in the Man on the griddle was the luckless Alberta my who predicted i am the one to he said blaming the disappointment on his failure to lobby whose own Vegreville Riding is not far from syn had some explaining to do when he visited Calgary and Edmon ton the next he never admitted he promised Getty but did not really deny it he time and that Ottawa has helped Al Berta greatly and pointed out the the loan guarantee is really mean since the project is going ahead without therein lies the great mystery of the whole the stakes were very almost but they somehow generated almost As much rage As the great Lougheed Trudeau Battles of the this happened because Alberta politicians expected too and having shot their Mouths off got very angry when they were made to look and who has no feel what Ever for failed miserably to Guage the depth of anger in the he rejected Albertas re quest without sensing the powerful symbolism that lurked behind in the end both governments Sim ply looked inept and like two boxers trying to land punches in a ring full of banana Don braid is an Edmonton journal Peterson rides High but Sho Diness takes Shine off his Cabinet David Peterson clearly believes while he is such a Star he can afford some Sho Diness among his supporting this explains the Liberal pre Miers leniency toward three of his maps who had to resign from Cabi net posts in the past six months because of an unenviable Ontario Peterson reinstated Ken Keyes As solicitor general with unseemly Keyes stepped Down Only in december after a newspaper Dis closed that he ordered alcohol served on a police when the Law permits it Only in licensed premises and Eric Dowd in Ontario the Premier put Rene Fontaine on the ladder Back by making him parliamentary assistant to the tour ism Fontaine lost his Post As Northern development minister last when the progressive conservatives revealed he secretly kept shares in resource companies while in a position to influence poli cies on a Clear conflict of Peterson said he would have reap pointed Elinor who resigned As chairman of the Cabinet manage ment also last but for the fact that police Are still investigating a company her Busi Ness consultant husband helped obtain million in provincial breaking a Rule that ministers spouses should not be involved in getting contracts with another the Premier said he would be glad to reappoint Caplan once the investigation is there Are no Hardan fast rules on How much penance a disgraced minister should serve before being returned to a Cabinet Keyes offence was the least Seri while he not was not driving the he was supposedly leading a Campaign against drinking on boats and he set a poor his four week suspension from his solicitor generals Post he continued throughout in the Cabinet in his other role As minister of correctional services was a Mere Token penal Peterson also would have shown greater sensitivity if he had switched Keyes to another rather than restoring him to admin ister the very Law he the manner of Keyes reinstall Tion was appropriate in secret at the lieutenant governors Home in Hamilton instead of at the Legisla As is with the Media and Public not informed until after the new minister had been whisked the Only thing miss ing was a plastic bag Over his head to hide his it clearly was not an appointment of which Peter son was Fontaines indiscretion was More a legislature committee concluded that he could potentially have profited from his undeclared although there was a lot of evidence he was extremely dior Peterson called Fontaine terribly not the most impressive recommendation for a Cabinet come but the Premier wants Fon Taine Back because he was the Only Liberal elected in the North in 1985 and the Waters Are clearly being tested to see if the Public and the Media will object to Fontaines rein statement in the Peterson appears to be convinced already he can reinstate Caplan without any outcry and no doubt has been encouraged by a Large Section of the Toronto which seem mesmerized by the liberals and keep complaining totally without justification that she was treated harshly and even discriminated against because she is a the Premier also will have read the polls which show he remains immensely popular despite his ministers failings and has probably concluded that he can get away with australian Senate provides warning for Canada the liberals proposed elected and equal Senate might solve regional alienation and protect the interests of the smaller but it might also cripple the National Senate Reform is the Hoa Riest Chestnut of Canadian it has moved out of the Halls of Academe to become the policy of a major scant attention has Ever been paid to a sister parliamentary which has an effective and equal Senate perennial Politi Cal headaches and periodic constitutional crises along with earlier this the journal of Canad an studies published an article by Brian a political science research fellow at the australian National University in he warned canadians against adopting the australian Australia upper House enjoys coequal legislative Power with the australian House of the liberals Senate would have a six month suspensive but the ability to frustrate a government for six months is More than it the six month hoist motion on legislation is normally regarded As the parliamentary killing on some key government such As Money Bills a six month delay could produce a full blown crisis for the party in who was writing about the elected and equal Senate proposed by the Canada West says Given the strength of regionalism in a Senate elected on the basis of equal regional representation would seem tailor made for complementing a House of commons that can be dominated by the larger provinces As a House Frances Russell of regional that would be but for National policymaking and effective it could be Crip whatever method of senatorial election is either the first atthe Post simple majority or proportional Cre ates Galligan Australia has tried when Australia employed the simple majority used to elect members to the House of representatives and the Canadian the australian parliament Only worked if the government had a majority in the upper on the two occasions that it did the governments were Ren dered one did nothing during its term but try to Force a double dissolution to get its it lost its own subsequent the other was Hamstrung in its attempts to Deal with the depress Ion of the 1930s and was finally Defeated in the House by its own frustrated proportional whereby seats Are apportioned according to the percentage of popular vote received by each was introduced in it has brought other Australia two major Par the Liberal country coalition and always elect about equal numbers to the meaning effective Power rests with one Small splinter group the australian democrats and one or two ind Epen since proportional Gal Ligan the australian Senate has become very it cannot be controlled by any government and it goes its own Way by invalidating government policies and even holding governments to the most extreme instance was the 1975 constitutional the majority labor government of Gough Whitlam could not get any of its Supply Bills through the the governor general dismissed the Whitlam even though it retained the Confidence of the lower in a double since Australia has had its own Senate Reform having to do with clipping the senates of is resisted by the smaller australian Galligan says there is nothing to preclude a repeat of the 1975 in prime minister Bob Hawkes current labor govern ment has had its efforts to put an end to tax avoidance continually proportional representation would create a Checkerboard of regional based parties and allegiances in he a Nega Tive coalition of provincial interests could emerge and either spoil government policy or Trade support for regional payoffs with the likelihood that National government would be weakened and whether a nation As fragile As Canada has seemed for much of the last decade can stand such an institution Al weakening of its National government is parliamentary government and an elected upper House dont in parliamentary government and federalism Are income federalism essence is two coequal one representing the people and the the federations the parliamentary systems essence is one chamber of predominant Power to which the govern ment is the Only real solution to provincial in Equality and friction As the prestigious British the once pro for Canada to adopt the american congressional with the executive and legislative branches Canada could resolve its regional conflicts through a powerful but most canadians would Likely regard the loss of their familiar political traditions too High a Price to pay for regional in the end party policies aside the Cana Dian Senate is Likely to stay the Way it doonesbury by Garry Trudeau Kips collect All the pieces of Iran crisis Puzzle Shoue to mom Nap a Puzzle the family can track pm with your ;