Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - March 24, 1988, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free press March 198ft Page by Frances Russell the nip will seek reelection by promising to review and possibly reduce taxes if either Urban affairs minister Gary doer or Community services min ister Maureen Hemphill becomes party Leader and Premier March doer and Hemphill Are beginning to put some Daylight Between them selves and the record of the Pawley administration of which they were says Hemphill we have to do a major review of the total govern ment Burden being carried by Low and moderate income there has to be some i Divi the decisions to raise increase Hydro rates and hike aut Opac May have made sense but it has created a Burden that is greater than the Low and moderate income people can we just have to admit it and we have to get Back our the people Are Tell ing us that what weve plus the tax increases at the Federal and civic have left them without enough Money for doer says the governments Defi Cit reduction perhaps was too i would want to look at the effect a 50 per cent reduction in the deficit in one year has had on the average the Urban affairs minister says he would not Cut the payroll he would examine the net income tax with an Eye to reducing it below a certain income he would also consider eliminating the property tax credit for people in Tuxedo so that people in Burrows get greater re Canada is not going to get real tax doer the Federal auditor general says there is billion escaping the tax system through loopholes every if we just got Manitoba share of about we could remove the Flat tax and the deficit the other two former municipal affairs minister Andy Anstett and agriculture minister Len Are creating their distance from the current administration on the need for government to explain itself to the Public and to provide Manitoban with Lon term All four agree the governments performance has been systematically distorted by the oppositions Manitoban believe they have the highest deficit in can Ada when it is lower than any other Western Harapiak blame Ottawa Anstett says Manitoban should blame the net income which Saskatchewan also on the fed eral tory they have systematically reduced Transfer payments to the provinces and forced the provinces to find new ways to raise Revenue to fund needed social taxes and what to do about them emerged As the Only real difference among the four during interviews earlier this their positions on the other major issues of the april 26 provincial from Crown corporation management and the Trade agreement to the Meech Lake constitutional Accord Are there some variations among the four on Anstett says abortion is a Federal Issue and he will not comment until be sees the proposed new Federal doer says abortion is a matter Between a woman and her but he would listen to medical and women health experts on the Point h tax policy splits nip candidates at which a fetus becomes a human Harapiak says he is distressed by the focus on it must be discussed in the larger context of providing a full Range of reproductive health services for he is prepared to see the rights of the fetus hem Phill says abortion is strictly an Issue Between a woman and her that is not abortion on to say that is to say the medical profession is Irres Ponsi the race for next wednesdays leadership convention has been polite to the Point of the foursome find themselves caught Between the Rock of party unpopularity and the hard place of an they All support the Pawley governments opposition to the Mulron Eyre Gan Trade Harapiak says the threat it poses to Manito Bas garment workers and the Call for Federal help from tory Leader Gary Filmon vindicates the Dps warnings that the Trade Deal would create serious Job Dis Loca the four also agree that they will submit the Meech Lake Accord to meaningful Public hearings if they cant get the changes Mani to bans would be prepared to veto the management of Crown corporations elicits similar views from the they Point out the governments new policy of Public accountability was never Anstett says one of the most important mechanisms to restore Public Confidence in the operation of the crowns is Public account ability through intense Public scr four new democrats compete in amicable he would like to see the annual legislative review of the govern ment enterprises taken away from the adversarial atmosphere of a standing committee and Given to a special House committee which would have the staff and financial resources to investigate fully the activities of each if we had had that process and the right questions had been asked Anstett the Manitoba Tel Ephone system would never have gotten into its disastrous saudi arabian we have to get away from the position that the government is there at the committee to defend the Crown corporation and the opposition is there to attack the four candidates give the clearest indication of their diver sity when asked what unique Quality they would bring to the Leader ship of the party temporarily at the Anstett says his chief asset is what he Calls his clarity and i the government has had to make a variety of difficult Deci Sions Over the past two years that have not been the govern ment has not explained the reasons for those decisions to the in not sure who is More responsible for the the Media or the but there has been a Lack of Anstett says he would follow for Mer nip Leader Tommy Douglass Tommy used to say we get so wrapped up in finding solutions that we implement them be fore the Public knows there is a i think i can provide clarity in political decision making and then in explaining those decisions to the its a question of articulating to people what the problems so they know Why the govern ment is doing what its peo ple want straight the straight they want to hear it clearly from someone they know is pre pared to Deal honestly and fairly with the they need to know a political leaders commit ment to principles and ideals and to Trust him to apply them with com Mon hot potatoes doer describes his gift As meet ing challenges in a Crea Tive i believe in openness and he thinks his two year record in Cabinet Speaks for he was handed a series of political hot he from responsibility for its after the saudi arabian debacle to property reassessment in he thinks he pulled the governments Irons out of the when i was Given responsibility for it was not exactly in the Best the first full year i had it had a million i have gotten it out of All those projects and made every one of them pub doer was preparing for Cabi net a seven year program to re move All Rural Telephone party lines and a 10year program to Cut the number of Rural calling areas from 160 to 60 when the government he cites Winnipeg reassessment As evidence he can manage and provide change in a Little More a former High school now says he brings a blend of experience to the Job of nip i have been involved in in the cooperative movement and at the Community i have demonstrated my leadership role in education and As a minister in two he was appointed natural re sources minister after the 1986 Harapiak says his Large mixed farming which he Pur chased from his is his guide in it requires a Combina Tion of hardheaded business sense including knowing when it is Nec Essary and responsible to incur a he emphasizes and the ability to plan Harapiak believes Manitoban want their government to set Over All policy directions and knowing a Lon term framework would make it easier for the Public to evaluate individual government policies and sense of Confidence for the most important question is the manner in which we fulfil our there must be equity and co opera the Public wants a sense of Confidence that the government knows where it is that it cares about the longer term and int Only thinking about the next people dont expect Quick fixes any they want a planned approach to such Long standing problems As Urban Rural the develop ment of the North and employ Hemphill projects a blend of doer and like she Points to her record managing two of the biggest portfolios in govern she is especially proud of several innovative programs she launched in education preserving Small schools and using modern technology to provide higher Edu cation in Remote she also believes she has taken the crisis atmosphere out of her cur rent new policy 1 knew what i was getting into when i got Community services last she i have managed to Deal with up to eight to ten crises a stabilize the sys tem and Start communicating new she was readying a new adoption policy have the highest number of children in care in Canada and i want to know when the government was like she cites the need to plan ahead to preserve Manitoba economic our traditional agriculture and Are under tremendous Small business and tourism have to be mainstays of the Small business helps every she wont Promise to lower taxes on Small but says government must be More sensitive about its Burden of regulation and red tape and should use its position As one of the biggest purchasers in the Economy to redistribute con tracts around the taken As a the four con tenders Are a neat balance of party the nip provincial in they Are All in the party mainstream and the cracks Between them Are paper doer and pull towards pragmatism while an Stett and Harapiak lean towards the Dps traditional Only an act of god can lose election for tories i hindi no Jishi will the Dps super careful attempts to present its solid leadership convince the people of Manitoba to return the government after All not will Gary Hilmons Campaign flubs Cost the conservatives the election not will Sharon Carstairs form the next government any More questions political science professors and political columnists Are often far too close to the events to be relied upon for much insight into what is going columnists from Toronto drop into Winnipeg for a Day or and report what Manitoban Are thinking for the nation to they do not know what Manitoban Are thinking about the election any More than they knew what the majority of Manitoban thought about the French language Issue in they often have trouble with unfamiliar such As the rate of Manitoba payroll the average Manitoba voter does not Ana lyse events the Way political columnists and commentators to the average voter Guy Savoie defection to the conservatives is of interest if the voter happens to live in where it May turn what appeared to be a Liberal shooing into a three Way few Manitoban will see the defection the Way new democrats Hope they and decide that there is really no difference Between liberals and conservatives and that the nip int too bad after if Howard Pawley had been Given the luxury of choosing the time for this there is a possibility that or the party he could stay in what the nip had to do was to wait patiently until the juror Over aut Opac rates and income taxes had died Jim Walding saw to it that they could Fred Cleverley heaven would probably have to intervene at the present time to get the nip Back into quite a few people in the party really believe that heaven will anoint a new Leader and sweep the party of principle Back into where its members who still have their cards know it most Manitoban had decided to turf Paw Leys pirates out of office before Walding cast his decisive they Haven had time to change their nothing that the nip or the liberals or the tories Are Likely to do Between now and april 26 will change their minds for two weeks have passed in the what has happened the nip is pulling out All the there is that cute trick of holding joint nomination meetings which draw respectable As they should considering that three or four constituencies Are the results a Multi Nomi nation meeting at Gimli Drew a on can dilate meeting in the same Hall a week later produced conservative All hoping that John buckles chunks record would not be shredded before everyone got a Chance to read but no matter what they the nip is stuck with a leadership convention it did not one that cannot possibly select the Best person to run the party and which must select the individual most Likely to do the Best in the if the nip is attempting to capture the publicity the Best they have been Able to do so far is Light a few a 60passenger bus trundles the four leadership hopefuls around to Rural nominating two newspaper reporters went the seats that were reserved for television Crews went there is a message people dont much care about the leadership they dont care much about the they want to get into the voting what about Hilmons fumbles they Are great stuff for the they often make great particularly when name candidates like Guy Savoie Are rushed from the room leaving questions dangling like but do they matter to the average voter not Filmon first said he was going to close the Morgentaler then said he would have to wait for the Federal nobody mentioned that it is not performing abortions How Many votes did that Cost the tories the conservatives dont have much of a constituency out there among the dedicated they dont have Many votes in the Gay Community How about Hilmons Yackaway from the payroll tax he said the policy if he had mentioned elimination and phase in instead of the other Way he would have been in no is he really in trouble with the business Community for what he did say Are businessmen going to be flocking to nip head chequebook in to Back up their votes do we have outdoor ice skating in july then we get to the Filmon says he cannot Promise binding arbitration and the doctors say they will go on strike without that they May but will they really vote for the the party that they know will not agree to arbitration will they vote for the who Are so organized they almost gave a nomination to someone who want a party member and who did not realize that party membership was a prerequisite for nomination the real situation is to most Manito it does not matter that Filmon May be a bit fuzzy on he should stay at least until he gets a Good look at the the facts Are that can run a Peanut stand better than the because they Are not burdened with an ant business philosophy and have seen bal Ance sheets doonesbury by Garry Trudeau ird As Ibe eve that looks after its my House ways be Duke but that being i must a that a Mam Vok hot Char gear counts Iknou Jhoun Harp youve to n ;