Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - March 14, 1988, Winnipeg, Manitoba It Winnipeg Pratt March Page 7 focus events free Pawley to follow his dream Regina a National Confer ence of governors was hardly the place you would expect to find Howard Pawley contemplating his political but there he was last having lunch in the restaurant at the ele Gant grand traverse resort talk ing about Canadian Paw Ley was one of five premiers who were attending the governors con Ference in traverse Michi those were Heady last for new democrats in the party was rising like a Volcano in the National sup planting the liberals As the Public most popular months ear Lier the nip had finally broken the 30 per cent Barrier for the first and the momentum eventually carried the party into first while at a minimum an election was still More than a year it was hard for new democrats to suppress their they knew being the Peoples when it was midterm for a govern was a Long Way from being the Choice of voters in the Sanctity of a polling Howard Pawley knew that As Well As but he was human which was Why Over lunch he help but talk about the possibility of the nip forming the next Federal the rising fortunes of the nip had naturally led to All kinds of speculation about the candidates the nip might get to run in the next there was talk of an nip dream with names like Stephen Roy Bob Allan Dave Barrett and Howard when the fantasy was at its there were even Anonymous Mur Murs that Jean the frustrated might even become the nip Star candidate in que like everyone Pawley had Dale Eisler in Saskatchewan heard his name attached to the dream team it was that speculation which led him to explain his frustration at wanting to take a Stab at the Federal but being trapped by his Fate in Mani having won reelection to his Sec Ond term As Premier the year Previ Pawley could not hide his interest in Federal the idea of perhaps being pan of a National government intrigued but in practical there seemed no Way that he could make the move from provincial to Federal slim majority kept Premier tied the problem was purely one of at the his govern ment held Only a two seat margin in the Manitoba As much As he yearned to run Federal the situation was simply too precarious for his government for him to make the As the he obviously Felt duty bound not to do anything that might destabilize things for the nip in the same sense of duty to Provin Cial was perhaps not quite As Strong for others in Hawleys they too could see the potential at the Federal and some were openly toying with the idea of running faced with the realization his own obligations kept him from leaving provincial Pawley was not about to allow others to abandon the to prevent any Migra Tion to the Federal Pawley presented an edict to his Manitoba nip they were told by the Premier that if any one of them broke ranks and went for a Federal Pawley would do the in other his loyalty to provincial poli tics had to be matched by the others in his it was an interesting method to maintain but Given the pressures of the Dps slim major Ity in Manitoba and the lure of Fertile options on the Federal Pawley obviously Felt the need to take a although the Federal nip gradually came Down from the Clouds in Public the Pawley govern ment remained on a razors a coupled with a Maver ick left the govern ment hanging by a when the thread snapped recent plunging Manitoba into a provincial it was hardly sur the real for most was the subsequent announcement by Pawley that he was resigning As Leader and would not be running in the april 26 it seemed to add further confusion to what was already a chaotic but upon the move by Pawley while dramatic does make what you have to do is put it in the context of the dire situation the Manitoba nip now faces and Hawleys own personal if we Are to believe the most recent opinion the Manitoba nip is running 25 Points behind Gary Filmon and the conserva the situation is so Bleak that the new democrats Are virtually tied with the a party with Only one seat in the it is hard to imagine a worse scenario for the fall of government and his own resignation mean Pawley can seek a Federal the party is bearing the full Brunt of the Public Wrath Over a across Leboard hike in Auto insurance at the same the fiscal condition of the govern ment is critical due to borrowings in foreign currencies by the Pawley estimates Are that Loans in risky currencies by the nip government could Cost an additional billion because of Money Market it is a desperate situation that required desperate by re Pawley played the Only card the nip had one that gives it a Chance to try to make a clean break and perhaps somehow rebuild its credibility with the elec but As it also frees Howard Pawley to attempt what he didst dare try before his government was put out of its racial tensions Rise in Montreal As Blacks protest discrimination Montreal racial tensions Are growing in putting As much Strain on the Community As the eternal language the cites visible and especially its anglophone Are fearful and they see them selves As victims of discrimination and of racist inspired police brutality and they want it to for them the fatal shooting of a Black youth by a Montreal police officer last november was so was the officers recent acquittal on a charge of manslaughter when the jury accepted testimony that the shooting was accidental and Unin the racism in the killing of Anth ony Griffin and the acquittal of Allan cosset was not so Evi Dent to most to them what happened to Griffin could have happened to any and the acquittal rather reflected the reluctance of juries to condemn police officers for acts performed in the heat of a jury acquitted Bandit Hunting Sherbrooke police for sex of shooting to death an James Stewart in Quebec innocent carpet layer As he slept in a the Griffin Case stands out for Blacks As a brutal Symbol of the racism they suffer at the hands of and of which there is ample two other Montreal police offi for have just been fined for the vicious beating of a Black Man judging by the court was motivated solely by the mans there Are few Blacks in this City without some Story of police intimidation or Quebec preoccupied with majority issues of employment and the collective Des tiny of the French in generally ignored the sporadic signs of tension among Montreal area the Montreal Urban Community police almost exclusively White and until recently did not even acknowledge it had any problem with visible but finally the complaints Are get Ting some official a special inquiry on police relations with visible minorities and eth Nic groups has been launched by the Quebec human rights Public hearings will be held and every interested group will be invited to state its Case and describe its Montreal police director Roland who is an enlightened has met several times with Black he is also trying hard to recruit ethnic police Quebec Justice minister Herbert Marx also met recently with representatives of the Black and promised a predominantly civil Ian Board to review complaints about the he also promised affirmative action programs aimed at fighting bringing More visible Minori ties into the Public service and on to government Marx was disturbingly about details of the review Board and affirmative action pro he had Little More to say than he had said on the subject a year but his meeting with Black leaders was apparently successful in convincing them he is serious now about real the minister said he would be meeting with the Lead ers again soon to work out details for a review Board that reflects the multicultural nature of the Montreal the Blacks of Montreal Are not Likely to be satisfied with any More official neglect of their problems with police and with a francophone society that still has not Learned to accept there Are about Blacks among the two million residents of the Montreal about of them Are originally from Haiti and speak about Are part of the Lon established anglophone Black Community of about Are of West Indian mostly English speaking and not very responsive to official attempts to make them bilingual or to adopt French As a working or second Lan this mix of race and language issues creates a delicate problem for the Quebec government and the francophone which was Marx met expressed not too delicately recently by la Presse columnist Gerald be supported and encouraged by the anglophone troika the Al Liance Quebec and the protestant school Board of greater Montreal the West Indian Community in Mon Treal often acts As though it were in Toronto or write Leblack anglophones Are right to demand Justice and respect from White francophone police and bus said but relations would be easier if they them selves took account of the Franco phone majority of their adopted the trouble with those sentiments is that haitian who Are part of the francophone majority of their adopted have As much or More reason to complain of mistreatment and racism in As is no respecter of language or of the City has a festering race problem in both and not much time left to Deal with ample of shooting to Eatn an Nee Aiosi exclusively Iuie Marx waa can nip score on curve Ball thrown by Pawley right off the lets get one thing there is no truth to the Rumor that Premier Howard Pawley plans to leave Manitoba just As soon As he can because taxes Here Are too that is a what is not a at least to the is the curve Ball the Premier has tossed in the general direction of his caucus by his Deci Sion to resign at the same time As he was forced to Call a general the question is whether the Premier has poured a Glass of magic elixir that will propel his party to or whether he has just tossed a Gigantic Monkey wrench into whatever chances his party those on the elixir Side of the argument suggest that Pawley will be Able to draw All the anger Manitoban feel toward his govern ment on to his own leaving his successor a Clear path to turn around Public opinion and to keep the nip in it is possible that the premiers Basic decency would have carried with in the election a degree of sympathy that could have produced at least As Many votes As the new Leader will the Monkey wrench theory has much to commend Between now and april 5 the which obviously did not anticipate the Walding will have to find and nominate the majority of its 57 a task that will require finding replacements for people like Al who has quit just As decisively As the Premier even the party will have to Orga Nize a leadership tins Means picking arranging for the meeting and running this Effort May Drain As much from the party election Campaign efforts As the publicity Fiona the leadership contest will it could Well be that the leadership convention will require the i Fred Cleverley nip organization to run very hard to stay in the same place in the Public opinion while All these events Are taking an election Campaign has to be the nip May be a party of but the Premier has Given them no the Premier took pains during his Resigna Tion news event to draw a comparison Between the leadership convention during this years Campaign and the held just three weeks before the 1969 elec which chose de Schreyer and gave the party its first taste Ever of the premiers desire for a rerun of 1969 is perfectly not too Long ago a talking about president Ronald reagans return to notre said that the president was essentially a Happy Man because he loved to live again past and the film he made there was one of the happiest times of his Back in 1968 the nip was growing in Howard Pawley got elected for the first time and later achieved his greatest political political repeats Are if they Bobby Bend would have been the Premier of Manitoba arid John Turner would be prime the Dps 1w9 leadership convention was not a it was a the year before Sid Green had mounted a deter mined bid to oust the party Russ pulleys message to the party annual meeting was a Promise to the Dele Gates to delivered Schreyer the following year provided he Paulley was still in the people of Manitoba were dissatisfied with the government of Walter they were dissatisfied with 12 years of tory government under Duff and they were annoyed a bit because Weir had become Premier simply by succeeding and had never faced an they were More annoyed at Weir for calling the election when he did because the Date was perceived to be a Low blow against the designed to catch the party before it had its real de in in 1969 the nip organized a whirlwind leadership convention and chose de in time for him to use the Conven Tion As a springboard to the last three weeks of the election everyone knows what in 1988 a party leadership Campaign is not being forced on the it is a self inflicted it promises to be a contested Conven Tion and even a party As United As the nip is on Meech Lake does not emerge from a contested leadership convention in the Best position to fight an election con tested leadership conventions need time for the wounds to no matter what the opposing forces say As they give the new Leader their unanimous one of the results of the nip convention will be that the new Premier of Manitoba the convention Winner will become Premier immediately will be in the same position As Walter Weir the new Premier will be Premier because he was picked by party not by the people of Manitoba in an if the new Leader is a member of the present it is difficult to see How the troubles of the government can be Transfer red to an individual who by then will be in a position to move out of the province to avoid the if the new Leader comes from outside the it is difficult to see How he will be Able to get the genuine support of the Candi dates who suffered the wounds of the trenches Only to see a new general arrive from a Safe spot in the rear area to take the elixir will be drunk at the leadership the Monkey wrench May bring matters to a grinding halt three weeks Premier Pawley has chosen his spot for the it is in the Peanut doonesbury by Garry Trudeau you Khou Thorbs a lot of talk pays about How the lacks competitive in relation 70 asian ski teliin6 7hat to High school and this Cias try jelling 17 tothe Ihms Thi Oass who have National scholars Wuu you stand of have hoan6 ;