Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - October 28, 1987, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free press Freedom of Trade Liberty of religion Equality of civil rights published seven Days a week at 300 Carlton Winnipeg r3c 3c1 by Canadian newspapers company limited Telephone 9439331 Winnipeg free press est 1872 Winnipeg Tribune est 1890 Arthur Wood publisher John Dafoe editorial Page editor Murray Burt managing editor Rudy Redekop controller a member of the Manitoba press Council editorials the Price of acquiescence this weeks overwhelming parliamentary support for the constitutional changes which emerged from the Meech Lake conference has More to do with the desire to win Over Quebec than with any vast enthusiasm for the Resolution that desire should not be dismissed of All three parties in the House of commons Are interested in winning votes in it is that they were also moved by a genuine desire to see Quebec become a willing and enthusiastic part of the Canadian that end appears to have been a Large proportion of those Quebe cers who think a lot about the Constitution like what they most the of the rest presumably regard the Issue with same mixture of impatience and indifference with which most other canadians regard their Quebec acquiescence has been purchased at a if parliamentary approval is followed by the endorse ment of All the provinces and the Meech Lake propositions become part of the some serious problems will Lurk Down the the problems Are not Likely to Lead to the constitutional doom that some excitable observers they certain to enshrine some inequities and Lead to some needless the least of our future constitutional problems Are those Likely to be created by those opening paragraphs which rather to define the bilingual essence of Canada and the role of the Federal and provincial governments to preserve or promote constitutional language this vague of support any amount of speculation about How it will be interpreted by politicians and judges in the what is is that the clause which recognized Quebec As a distinct society should give the govern ment of that province no Power to take any illiberal action which it could not take now under the Constitution As it it is reasonable to anticipate that the clause which requires the Federal government to provide fiscal compensation to provinces which opt out of share Cost programs in their jurisdiction so Long As they introduce their own programs which meet the Federal need not interfere seriously with future social it will presumably encourage More federa Provin Cial discussion before Ottawa acts in Fields of provincial jurisdiction but that is no bad contrary to the beliefs of doctrinaire most social reforms in this Century have not been achieved simply by the application of the Federal Boot to provincial the real problems from Meech Lake Are Likely to Spring from less Central and less essential the worst is the one which gives the provinces the Power to nominate future candidates for appointment to the that proposal is bad on every it gives the provincial premiers a direct control Over a Federal institution which they should not it gives the premiers every incentive to maintain that system in combined with the clause which requires the approval of All 10 provinces for future changes in the status of the it virtually ensures that the genuine Senate which Federal and provincial politicians profess to will never come the unanimity clause also stands in the Way of any Opportunity for the Yukon and Northwest territories to gain full status As equally mischievous is the clause which promises an annual Federal provincial constitutional the Point of a Constitution is that it should be a consistent Factor in a nations any Constitution must be changed from time to time but change should be carefully out and hard to come calling a constitutional conference every year from Here to Eter nity declares an open season on the the document which is supposed to establish fundamental verities about Canadian life and politics will become a target for every ambitious provincial parliamentary approval alone does not make the Meech Lake proposals part of the All the provinces have to approve it so Only three have done in those Manitoba still has a useful role to it is certain that the constitutional Resolution will not go through the Manitoba legislature until some time next that gives the province at least time to press genuine Senate in the shape of an elected and equal before it is too for that to Premier Howard Pawley and his Cabinet will have to get their brains around the obvious fact that an elected Senate has nothing to do with the old House of privilege which socialists have always if they can manage that intellectual then they might yet help bring about the kind of Senate Reform which will strengthen Western Canadas voice in the Federal gov if they then the West can forget about a fair shake in creative consciences the vote on the House of commons Resolution adopting the Meech Lake constitutional reforms tested the con science of Many members of pressured on one Side by serious doubts about the and on the other by party members of All parties were forced into creative acts of could match the creativity of Winni pegs Liberal member of Lloyd Axworthy was faced with the need to vote for a Resolution in which he found virtually no which in his Many Grevous Fortuna Tely for his continued position in the upper ranks of the Federal Liberal he was equal to the the Meech Lake agreement was so he that he had no Choice but to vote for so that his John who supported could keep his party win the next and then abolish Axworthy has pointed the Mulroney government is so bad that he is justified in stooping to anything to get those rascals of is just another Way of saying that he will stoop to anything to get his rascals Back avoiding a plague Manitoban enjoyed the outdoors this summer More than the summer usually the dry spells were Long enough and the wet spells Short enough that the mosquitoes never got a Good barbecuing was up and Mosquito fogging was sharply the summer passed without even a hint of an outbreak of Western Equine encephalitis beyond one Case in a never did the Public cower indoors wearing Light coloured never did fear of infection and death by encephalitis spoil the Long summer the Plains and Rocky Mountain sections of the United states were not so the morbidity and mortality weekly report of the centres for disease announced 29 human wee cases in where one patient died and a scattering of other human cases in North Dakota and with a total of 37 reported cases in humans and 132 in this was the worst year for the disease in the since the encephalitis season was less than that of 1975 when the outbreak in North Dakota and Minnesota infected 277 humans and 281 there is no Way of telling now whether next year will be a Good one or a bad for the disease comes and goes for no apparent it is not the Scourge today that it was half a Century the 1941 outbreak produced More than cases in the Canad an and nothing like that has been seen wider use of insecticides and better Public information programs have saved the Region from a recurrence on that the usual Way of finding out if the virus is Active in the neighbourhood is to watch mosquitoes of the Type that most often carry the virus and let chickens get bitten by mosquitoes to see if they catch the this year these warning signals showed that the virus was Active in northeastern Utah in two parts of the Imperial Valley and the Sacramento but no Case was reported in humans or horses from those As people get better at avoiding the mosquitoes when the disease is the outbreaks should continue to get less there is Little Hope of abolishing the but canadians and americans Are getting More skilful at evading free Trade May erode values As a Canadian like i do not display the Flag nor do i sing songs of but i have a deep attachment to the country and its and so i am fearful that free Trade with the May draw us so firmly within the orbit of our neighbor that our emphasis on cer Tain values May be it is reasonable to assume that a country 10 times As powerful will exert the dominant influence in an embracing mistrust there is a mistrust of prime min ister Brian and it is not farfetched to assume that he resorted to a Trade pact simply to raise the plummeting fortunes of his he is the one who vowed in 1983 that he would have none of free Trade because it affects Canadian so we dont know enough yet about the Deal because of the secrecy such an Issue would de Mand the widest Public debate but the draft was despatched with less of an airing than a minor municipal zoning free Trade May in fact Benefit but this agreement goes beyond the expansion of the americans will be Able to invest virtually says Adam Bromke professor of political Sci Mcmaster the americans will have free a Cess to our Energy markets in such a manner As to be treated like any province in even when we Start to run out of our own says Peter Contri buting under the draft trea Canada must provide proportional Access to the diminished Supply without Price Dis criminal Shahram who teaches economics at the University of Winnipeg says Canadian con Val Werier tool of the Pace of its resource development will be severely Compro a stronger presence in our the service sector and investments is bound to have a great Impact on does any other country provide such entree to a giant if such Access were internal it would be a different Ball game but Canada is being tied More exclusively to one the Hazard of such a partnership is that the stronger one would Canada lose its voice As a Middle because of its closer ties to a superpower will Canada be inhibited from taking an Independent stand from the Reagan admin ready to Call out the cavalry rather than seek political solutions will not Canadas reputation and ability to perform As an instrument of moderation be muted in the stronger Alliance with the i am most concerned about being drawn More closely to any administration that has dreamed up the mad Star wars cousins we Are not a better people than the americans and the appellation of cousins is though we have different traits and our american affiliation remains the Canadian family that has no american relative or Friend is a we speak the same watch the same inane to programs and consume hamburgers in extravagant dress drive the same americans Are More As Are their Are generous to a patriotic and essentially great they also like to carry guns and have no idea that Ottawa is the capital of our canadians have different traits and Atti shaped As we Are by our institutions and the americans Are most Daggres full of Hustle and As someone has there Are no slow lanes in the Mammoth free ways of los there is an abiding compulsion to be compulsion from the very there has also been a compulsion to Annex in the american House of representatives protested the Tion of Canada As a violation of the Monroe an american View that the continent was under its sphere of free enterprising americans Are suspicious of the Canadian tradition of a mixture of private and Public the has no Petro air wheat car or the widespread ownership of Hydro Power nor is there the scope of social such As which canadians have come to accept As protecting the weak and the Impo our institutions Are John writer and former Cana Dian says that the Canad an system of government has More in common with Germany and Australia than the United we dont think in All things like even if we Chew says we think differently in a lot of ways and i am fearful that we would lose some control of our destiny if clutched in the bosom of the priorities Premier Pawley has his priorities so badly clouded by a smoke screen that he cannot detect what should be his and his governments number one priority health and social ser which incidentally Are the number one priority of most Manito bans whom he so piously professes to Howard Hawleys number one priority is to Purchase with the voters for his he continues to proceed in that direct Ion by setting up new Crown corporations with his number one objective of creating jobs and thus More votes for his party at taxpayers laying the pipeline does Pawley expect the Resi dents of this province to put Faith in his Promise of great benefits for Manitoban by the Purchase of ices Gas distribution system How can he expect Manitoban to forget his disastrous and costly adventures into flyer Pic reinsurance blunders and the web which have resulted in Over million of Manitoba taxpayers Money being lost the take Over of ice and the Potash mining venture in the Long run will no doubt end up the same As their other due to his govern ments incompetence and poor Man Mcdonald Winnipeg ideological the continued determination of the Pawley government to take Over the natural Gas distribution in our province can have no other than ideological the govern ment shall own the Means right out of Karl it must be the reason As costs to Consumers is to be reduced by the present if they can find million under the Golden boy for Why cant the Money be better spent propping up our failing health care system there is Only one Bright spot i can see to the whole exercise outside of pleasing the most left leaning of the it will to some extent solve our unemployment ice now operates with 250 based on the efficiency of both Manitoba Hydro and the Manitoba Tele phone i am sure we could and will increase the payroll to at least Given a year or two of government Hughes Portage la letters the Winnipeg free press welcomes letters from writers must give their name and names will be used and letters Are subject to Coronation Park what do the residents of Boni fac Norwood think of the Amalga mation of our separate French and English libraries into a by Blithe Quel at first i was outraged at this compulsory French i wanted to make some suggestions for changes but the suggestion cards were printed Only in it soon struck that our politicians had found a Marvel Lous Way to virtually close a Library and get no blame for Coronation Park Library is but a poor version of its former and we have Only our City fathers to another problem is Inace Sibili there Are Only French novels on the main the main body of books at the Bibliog Cheque is on the second which is accessible by a spiral Access is awk Ward for parents with Young children and anyone carrying Par there is an elevator that says staff Only and it has a picture of a wheelchair on this makes item Barr Assing for anyone who is disadvantaged to seek the sign should please ask Assis Tance in using the the final problem is a Lack of a physically disadvantaged person with a grasp of Only the English language could spend a great Deal of time before finding the Reading material he or she a first step towards improvement would be to put up a sign that says Library and signs could be suspended from the ceiling Over adult English and childrens English i am sure this would not be offensive to the French Library users and would be appreciated by the English Library Donna Lynn Mckee Winnipeg nagging i am angry with the biased re search of Jerry Cooper and the free press decision to publish his comments on wife abuse in a flip Pant and sensationalized manner shows afflict free october Cooper is quoted As saying that nagging is not a woman Only to continue later in his remarks using specifically female pronouns in reference to and male pronouns in reference to those who Are in nagging is a form of communication usually used by those who feel powerless to implement direct and who feel their ideas and opinions Are being this is often the Case with couples involved in an abusive rela Cooper states when nagging is carried to an it can Lead to family this is not it is an excuse that continues to allow men to Batter their partners with women Are never responsible for a mans Vio Lent acts towards it is a mans Choice How he will react to a woman supposed but this Choice should not include Claire Milgrom Winnipeg real Competition free Trade advocates Are bound to an article of we have to learn to compete in the Tough International they say again and As if this were an imperative of reality but competitive at what it is assumed that Competition must always be for More foreign Market sales and profits for those who own the commodities that Are but what if Canadian people prefer to compete for other goods Independence of National Security of jobs and Energy re a human scaled and Many sided production Canadian sovereignty Over Trade practices and and an in plundered natural environment the Competition for these which is a fight for our very survival As a is somehow always absent from the free traders talk of increased the Only Competition they can think of is the business retrace for increased shares of the world Market As with the dogmas of the Medie Val the free Trade theology knows no alternatives to its prescriptions for invoking fears of eternal damnation outside the american it preaches a Sermon of National sellout to find the door to and what is this heaven conditional Access to a for eign Market that has already spent itself into the largest Trade deficit in it is time canadians risked nation Al our struggle for a better and distinctively Canadian life against those who would make us another Branc Plant of the de Clining american Empire is the real International sup porters of free Trade have simply run away from this concealing their flight from the Field under a nonstop barrage of propaganda of How competitive we should John Mcmurtry professor University of Guelph second rate the letter Irish struggle free september 25 indicates to me that we have a hate organization in this City calling itself the James Connally not unlike most pieces of second rate Dooley letter lacks coherence More import Andrew Bonner Winnipeg my name is Frank and i love Ronald ;