Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - November 30, 1987, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free press november 1d87 Page 7 focus passion Clouds facts at Economy conference Toronto one by one around the they Laid out with care and with passion their Case on free the Al consuming economic item at this third annual first ministers conference on the it would be hard to prove that the talks changed the nature of the de for those on either yet through the today Confer ence prime minister Brian Mulroney May Well have made a few Points for himself As Well As his making the most of opportunities to improve his own credibility in the free Trade he first of to get his fifth Premier Brian Peckford on Side in support of free Trade and a sixth John Buchanan strongly he managed to restate his determination to bypass the expected Senate opposition in getting the Deal apr in some still unclear the promised opposition from Ontario Premier David Peterson in implementing provincial elements of the he staked out some new ground in the free Trade with his most exhaustive statement yet on the it might be noted that one of the More interesting contributions to f he Trade debate was very Likely the one from Manitoba Premier Howard expressing Strong concern about the Trade Sawley claims he is not rejecting the idea of free Trade out of and urges Mulroney to go Back to the his speech offered a curious mix of emotion which hinted he would be fundamentally opposed to any free Trade and Abco nomic arguments some of which can be with a bit of study of the Mulroney major opening state ment to the conference did not often or touch a it was trying to cover too much territory to pause and savor any particular set of facts and in that in the speech Joan Cohen Ottawa editor demonstrates the futility of trying to Deal with All aspects of the agree ment in a single there is never time in those circumstances to in simple the effect or purpose of any Given yet the speech makes a genuine Effort to help people understand what is at How the dispute settlement the Auto pro the procurement and invest ment and Many More will it also offers a string of reasons Why we should not think Canadas sovereignty the line begin Ning with the governments own rec Ord in standing up for the country it is providing our military with icebreakers and nuclear powered submarines it obtained Canadian membership on the g7 economic Mulroney adds that the experience of other countries which have joined a Trade Community offers further argument against allegations that our values or Way of life end an please note that general de Gaulle was not around when France joined the common yet there is another Large Mes Sage in the prime that is perhaps More it is this of course you can Trust this government to negotiate a Deal that is in Canadas Best economic inter just look at what weve done for you so the As outlined by the prime minister since this government came to Power three years ago one million jobs have been with 90 per cent of these reversing an earlier l Premier Howard Pawley had a lot to say at the first ministers some of it hard to figure some canadians have seen their incomes Rise above the poverty line our Economy has been growing faster than any other in the seven nation economic Summit the prime rate is Down by More than three by our economic design is discernible to All Mulroney suggested hopefully in a key deficit lower interest new invest increased consumer tax regulatory the Trade agreement is obviously one of the most important components of that economic Agen one of the greatest prob lems in Selling free Trade is the Low esteem in which canadians hold this in terms of promoting the economic welfare of Ca it has scored remarkably shooting opens eyes to Quebec racism Montreal the fatal shooting of a Young Black Man by a police Man has opened the cites eyes to a racist Streak that can no longer be the death of 19yearold Anthony Griffin has become a rallying Point for Montreal sizable Black Community and other visible and for those who believe there is still too much racism and brutality in the Montreal Urban Community police who had failed to appear in court on a burglary was taken to a police station on november he was unarmed and but in the parking according to police chief Roland Griffin made a move to the officer ordered him to Griffin turned to and was hit in the head with a Allan cosset was suspended without and has been charged with who is the first Montreal police director Ever to so much As admit there is a problem in police relations with has been Mak ing an honest Effort to build Bridges to minority and to create a More representative he has not yet had much Success Only six Black police officers in the Force of but he was and intends to keep trying even though the grif Fin killing has put the racist Mark on James Stewart in Quebec his whole recently More than people of All Ages and skin colors marched through downtown Montreal to protest the they carried mostly in Reading Stop kill ing our youth and dont at a meeting of the Quebec Liberal party general a Resolution was passed unanimously asking the Bourassa government to set up a Royal commission on interracial re lations and racism in Quebec police the minister of cultural Louise supported the Resolution publicly and Premier Robert Bourassa said his Cabinet would consider the anger and frustration in the ethnic communities is so great that the government will probably have to Well beyond the simple laying of charges against an a general inquiry into police conduct and into the status of Visi ble minorities in Quebec would be needed to get at the causes of racial tension and Correct the there is a pattern of police mis treatment of Blacks and and a pattern of paying Little attention to Only As Blacks and other victims of police brutality have been winning civil suits against the have the abuses been Given proper Public even the majority of pre occupied with preserving the French language and Are not fully aware of the racial crisis building up in minority there Are about Blacks in the Montreal area of them French speaking of haitian Bourassa inquiry the other half English speaking native born or of Caribbean origin about there is no Black and no single Black but each group has Well documented records of racial discrimination and inequitable such of is but it still happens and not just from a few bad apples in the police it happens in in the taxi business where haitian Drivers Are sometimes in the Job Market and even in the occasion Al bar or Blacks have trouble finding jobs and keeping their incomes Are lower than they have More trouble with the and More trouble Inte grating into Quebec society especially those who have Little desire to learn this is a familiar Story in Many parts of this it has not had much attention in Montreal where French English issues and Quebec role in Canada Are usually front and the City cannot ignore its visible minorities much How Montreal will probably remain predominantly but plural ism and multiculturalism Are the wave of the if Montreal cannot adjust to by making sure All its people have a fair it is not going to have much of a this should Call into question the Low credibility rating which clings so tenaciously to the prime but so far no amount of Good economic news has succeeded in doing armed with a whole new set of Good news was trying on the other Side of the free Trade Premier Pawley had his own a quite marvellous mix of emotional arguments and rational economic the first Lead off with pronounce ments that the free Trade Deal goes to the heart of what Canada is All that it is a Choice about our and whether or not canadians now want to deny the values of generations who came be fore they proceed to familiar assertions about our readiness to provide social benefits to our our National health our pension our income support pro and warnings that these and All the publicly achieved services Are put at risk by a Trade yet he does not say these Are the Standard emotional arguments against a free Trade arguments that dont hold up in any economic As the Howe Institute took pains to argue in its Trade Monitor last people who make these arguments about the surrender of our Way of life to some Market do minted american As the Premier does in his would seem to be fundamentally opposed to a Trade the second part of Hawleys speech takes a different the Premier first of that he would have accepted a Deal among other did not have an Adverse effect on or social since he did not try to show that something in the present Trade Deal puts these in it is hard to fathom what should have been done but then comes a change of As Pawley begins to focus on the Trade the most obvious failing of the agreement is that it does not achieve Canadas number one negotiating objective secure which Means an end to harassment of our and hog pro in that harassment should be substantially reduced under the As most people who have studied Trade Laws will Tell last years softwood lumber Case would Likely have turned out very the Premier has every reason to be concerned that the threat of countervail action against subsidized Canadian goods and nothing has been achieved in defining what kinds of subsidies Are on the other contrary to Hawleys there will be substantial changes in the for eign investment behaviour affecting the concessions were not All on one the Premier raises some Tell ing for one he Fig ures that the investment changes mean that All Manitoba save about six could be bought out by foreigners without government assorted segments of the agriculture Industry will be hit vegetable and fruit poultry and egg producers and Grain Fann he Are very he sees the Deal As potentially blocking off his Energy policy including the right to a Canad first Energy Pawley is particularly con and properly about the continuing threat of countervail a in Hawleys advisers still have some Homework to when that work is done we might hear More from the Premier about How he would negotiate a Trade endorsements and apologies can be confusing reverend doctor Howard the general Secretary of the general Council of the United Church of Canada wants me to apologize for what he Calls my free wheel ing judgment of the head office of the which i blamed for the inclusion of the Church name in two Page advertisements urging canadians to oppose the free Trade agreement negotiated with the United he wrote that i might write again on the subject or even offer an As Robert White the very idea that Canadian Auto work ers president Bob White would apologize for anything he said or did on the free Trade Issue aroused my i consulted the enclosed copy of the letter Mills had written to International Trade minister Pat on Page it read the advertisement in question was published at the initiative and with the financial support of the Canadian Auto workers the United Church of Canada was not consulted nor did it contribute to the i could find no reference to Bob Whites but i got Only pages three and five of the pages two and four were it is still not Clear to me How any organization could feel free to include the name of the Church on one Side of such a controversial some members must be in some in i telephoned he apologized for the missing but said that he was not personally familiar with the details of Bob Whites he said i would have to talk to Bonnie the Church director of the office of Church in i telephoned she was not too familiar with Bob Whites apology she talked a lot about the Fred Cleverley advertisement being or not being read she pointed out that nowhere did it say that the United Church had endorsed the i asked her Why the Church had not announced that it had received an apology from Bob she said that there were Many members of the United Church who were pleased to see the Church name in the and that it had been decided that if anyone who did not like it the apology would be Mills had also written it is not the head office but the general Council or its executive my italics that articulates policy to guide members and staff i think there is a Fine line Between head office and the general Council its policy on to divulge if necessary but not necessarily is Vintage Mackenzie Only those who were irritated enough to ask would be told the Church did not oppose free head office being on so Many matters these those who direct the Church Are con stantly trimming the head office sails to meet what it perceives to be current opposition to free Trade May not represent the views of the majority of Canadian pre or even the majority of it is the View in trendy Bonnie Green let slip the thinking Down in the Toronto head office of the she different regions have different things to lose in free when i suggested that different regions might have different she replied that she hoped those who saw gains not want the poorest in society to be whatever that i asked again about Bob Whites apology for using the Church details were not i telephoned the Public relations office of the Canadian Auto workers also in the person i spoke to there knew about the but had a somewhat different she called the letter one of explanation rather than an apolo to be absolutely i telephoned Bonnie Green she could not be reached at her i left a outlining my further questions about Bob Whites apology to the i received a message Back to Tele phone Green at her Home that i i discovered that a she had been extremely Busy at meetings b that her office had not told her what my phone Call was about and c of did not have a copy of Whites letter at her Home and could not explain Why the Caw office would interpret it she said i remember that he said he apologized for the it is still unclear whether a he apologized for using the Church name without or b whether head office of the Church really wanted such an Bob White is obviously As is the head office of the that there Are so Many of us out Here that Are too dumb to understand that listing the Church in the and does not mean that the Church agrees with the rest of the i accepted Mills invitation to write again on Why the United Church of Canada should be the Only Church listed As being opposed to free Why the Canadian Auto workers Felt so free to do so and Why the Church head office is obviously not upset that they i do not think i have apologized for making a free Wheeling judgment on the Church head office but the Church has a different interpretation of the word apology than i Mills May write me he might mention the i dont think the United Church has a policy favor ing but then i didst think it had a policy of support or opposition free doonesbury by Garry Trudeau a country a an ;