Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - March 1, 1989, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free press March Page 7 focus Meech Lake focus needs narrowing by Donald Bailey special to the free press As the controversy continues Over Meech we should stand Back a Little and try to balance the limited goals sought in the Accord against the profound damage that the Accord threatens or the without trying to achieve at the same time our own pet constitutional for it seems fair to argue that the accords proposal for Senate Reform will do permanent damage to the especially since the unanimity principle that governs that Reform Means that it May never be changed but it is quite another thing to try to gain at this time the Senate Reform that our particular group happens to to attempt the latter adds fuel to the bad feeling Over the it is also poor for it divides parties who might otherwise Central Points let us remind ourselves that this is the Quebec All participants in the debate say they wish to bring Quebec under the cons Titu yet Many of these same commentators object to the Central Points that Quebec we should therefore begin by looking at the clauses directly concerning what actual harm is there in recognizing that province As a distinct society to do so is merely an admission of the historical and constitutional any court required to give interpretation to the phrase Dis Tinct society would begin with the British North America act of clauses of the ban act Deal for official language a different civil a requirement concerning appoint ments to Federal courts entrenched for the purpose of protecting the provinces distinct one reason Why the explicit mention of the concept is so harm less is that it is not except to serve various political concerns of our own another reason is that Little of Judi Cial importance can be added to what is already spelt out in the ban and that includes language rights for intense controversy we live in times of intense Lan Guage largely due to inadequate education about our his tory and insufficient generosity to wards but our pre Meech Constitution was largely and it will ride out Bill the Absurdity of the sign regulations and Western objections to official the English in Quebec will and the legislative assaults on their rights will continue to be beaten Back in the the process May appear but we All live longer today heat should not Blind us to the acceptability and harmlessness of the distinct society Quebec is urged to the rest of us merely to the fundamentally Bicu Tural characteristic of while this clause should Shore up anglophone culture in it does not much help francophone culture in Grant Devine enjoys the unique distinction of being one of the first two premiers to ratify the Accord and later one of the first two premiers to pollute Quebec appears to be Able to select its nominees to the supreme court without seeking Federal government while other provinces have merely the right to offer a list of names from which the governor general in Council will this seems neither Judi Cious nor but it May be merely an egregious error in the the apparently guaranteed pro starters we think its bigger than the Loch Ness sort disturb portion of immigration to Quebec is another silly sort of it is the Only part of the Accord directly related to Quebec demands that appears to impose significant injustice on other even though it merely tries to entrench an already i place federa Quebec agree but it will not provide what Quebec As approximately one third of the immigrants to that province fairly soon leave for other other provinces need not for this loss of Quebec serves to balance what could other Wise be a severely unnatural popu lation growth of the in while Only some of these Quebec clauses actually help que they and others Are essential to its most of the potential disadvantages other provinces either balance out or will shake Down through natural we should ignore these features of the and concentrate on cleaning up its principal poll the most important of these is the thoughtless Way in which our first ministers granted the veto Powers Quebec wanted Over Vari Ous matters Long As everyone got no one appeared to notice that Universal veto trans lates into a unanimity requirement to modify the specified in other a permanent freeze of both the Lake and its pollutants something no other jurisdiction in the world would be so shortsighted As to allow and look what was Frozen almost the Only conceivable proposal for Senate Reform a provincial interference in the Crea Tion of new provinces that prime minister Trudeau should never have allowed into the 1982 Constitution even on his less inflexible terms everything if Plain words plainly portend currently characterizing the supreme need one go on any one of these three of the nine potentially Frozen elements is enough to justify dredging the Lake even if it takes 25 years to get agreement again on How to bring Quebec for Mally into the less National harm would be done than if these unanimity provisions Are entrenched until the end of lets not waste time discussing the Ideal Senate As an aspect of improving Meech it alone would not clean up Meech lakes and in the meantime we run the risk of freezing the current propos Al hard won rights the Accord has jeopardized the women rights that were so hard won in the charter affronted native leaders who have spent every year since 1982 discussing issues just As important to them As were the issues that Quebec won imperilled the potential for provincial status for residents of Yukon and the Northwest Terri tories and put at risk the National standards of health and Well being that have formed part of Canadas these final matters Are moot but each of them is too important to put at after what Quebec fundamentally its original five Are not so terrible that our first ministers cannot Grant them with out greedily demanding the same Points for the other not All the in my Are really critical or even beneficial for Why not ask our first ministers to return to the negotiating table to do Only what they claim was the main object of the exercise two years ago negotiate Only Quebec display the statesmanship of standing up to Quebec where advisable and of defending Back Home the granting to Quebec what is clearly important to that prov Ince that cannot possibly Hurt other provinces or the that in be the Quebec the Senate can come in the the nation would face a Clear and no longer a dangerously Donald Bailey teaches history at the University of herring Cove rises in revolt Over plans for sewage treatment Halifax this cites har Bor has been described As a metaphor for Nova Scotia politics the insult was aimed at not the and its status As an open sewer is sad by any thousands of Gallons of raw sew Industrial absurd sludge trucked in from existing treatment flow unadulterated into it each Day from outfalls located on the Dartmouth and Hali fax the result is smelly talk about cleaning it up has continued for but until re any effective action seemed then the provincial gov facing an imminent elec negotiated a Deal with the Federal government to split the million and it seemed something would finally the agreement was specific about Douglas Mackay in Nova Scotia the Money the feds would kick in the province the and the municipalities involved would split the it was fairly general about the not general the municipal area planning commis Sion had concluded that a single treatment Plant should be located near the tiny fishing Village of her ring a primary treat ment Plant could handle waste from and Miles of tunnels bored through Granite would carry sewage to the the Federal agreement adopted the map vision of it didst say the site had to be herring but it left Little a schedule attached to it described tunnels run Ning around the first gather ing from Dartmouth then and then tunnelling on out to Sandwich Point on the coast outside the beside herring beneath the sea the flow would be achieved by with gradually descending by the time they reached herring they would be some 200 feet below sea at that the Content would have to be pumped straight up to the treat ment herring a picturesque look alike of its Bette known neighbor Peggy recoiled at the idea of becoming Metros toilet and there arose the probability that the feds would want to try out new technologies for extracting Oil from in raised the dark Prospect of an Industrial the citizens of herring Cove and environs Rose up against the scheme and looked in vain to their Premier John for last weeks review How bore them in Public hear the review committee had examined the situation from every political and scientific it found a Complete dearth of information on Why herring Cove should have been there had been no studies on what the effects of the location might be on the Harbor and the not much thought put into the level of treatment recon and not even a water Quality the report said the Public would have to be More involved in the planning and for it would need More oceanographic studies Are needed to show what the currents Are at the Entrance to Halifax Inlet and adjacent without that in it is impossible to pre dict the effect of various outfall effluent could disperse or it could foul the area around or even Drift Back into the the cleanup also needs a a level of water Quality it wants to attain in the the report thought must be Given As Well to the now hypothesis raised earlier this which suggests that Harbor cleanup might actually cause contaminants on the Bottom to be released and float to the polluting the Harbor the committee raised the possibility of a longer outfall pipe extending from a primary treatment regardless of the level of the committee the effluent from the Plant will still be perceived As noxious and therefore should be placed As far away As possible from areas that support resource use and recreational the location of the outfall would depend on water and wind cur but it could extend 10 kilo me ters offshore at a depth of 45 taking effluent Well out to More studies the report presented 30 commonsense recommendations to environment minister John All but one of which he there will be More Stu Dies another committee will be established to ensure the Public is fully heard and informed in Layman terms before final decisions on the project Are All of which brought sighs of Relief to the fishermen of herring trend to privatization is neither new nor Wise like runs in now that with its trademarks of privatization and downsizing of Public is gripping senior Levels of some Winnipeg City councillors have dashed out to buy the latest privatizing City services could Cut costs and lower they Harold Macdonald Corydon gives the most honest argument contracting out saves Money because the Public expects less other such As Al Golden Don Michelson Henderson and Anne Jaworski Miles Macdonnell just re peat the familiar line privatization is cheaper because its More neoconservative nostrums Are anything but they in a reinvention of the very in the a British social historian documented eight problems with privatize Henry Mathews list sounds right up Iodate Price gouging of local governments by contractors profiteering monopoly pric ing practices and Price fixing corruption and bribery of Public officials Gross exploitation of workers wages far below the poverty shoddy service hazards to Public health and safety and abandonment of contract obligations when profits could not be by most British municipalities had placed key services in the Public but now the wheel has come full prime minister Margaret Thatcher has embarked on such a rigorous privatization program her next targets Are water and sew age last the financial Post gave a mixed review to thatchers under Frances Russell the headline social woes Threa ten thatchers Mathew Horsman wrote that the problems the Thatcher revolution were supposed to banish High interest rates and unemployment Are rising intercity regional Dis parities and the creation of a whole new underclass the number of people below the poverty line has risen by 83 per cent since 1979 Are the results of massive cuts in training social ser vices and intercity the Canadian Union of Public employees senior research John recently spent 10 months in Britain studying at the London school of in a Forth coming article for cures Cal Vert Points out and Saskatchewan Are looking to Britain for advice on privatize there is a growing link Between right Wing elements in Canada and at the invitation of the Fraser one of thatchers key privatization mad sen was in recently to advise the provincial government on privatizing our Public Stephen min ister of travelled to great Britain to see thatchers policies in action and to bring Back ideas for the Vander Zalm government to implement the Devine government of Saskatchewan has also looked to thatchers Britain for advice on its privatization so the question of what is happening under Thatcher in Britain has a very significant Impact on economic and social developments Here in what Calvert terms the Sale of the family Silver helps explain thatchers budget sur since the British government has spent billion to advertise the Sale for billion of Public assets whose current Worth is estimated at Over Public services have particularly one example is British telecoms which Thatcher privatized but chose not to services rapidly deteriorated As the new owners Cut costs and trimmed Calvert the Telephone system became so unreliable that 60 per cent of All Public phone Booth telephones were out of service on an average there were constant problems of crossed Calls being Cut delays in getting telephones installed and other Ineffie president of the Ber cupe local 500 representing civic pm says Winnipeg City Council has been nibbling at privatization for its gained More momentum if they really want to Cut councillors should apply their scissors to the six District system and its bureaucratic not the Blackman Winnipeg has one administrative person for every Blackman warns experience everywhere in North America shows private contractors lure civic governments by Lowall once the City has sold its equipment and eliminated its the Price tag suddenly Cupes Brief to Council Points to the example of two municipal Coquitlam contracts out its refuse its costs have risen to per household per Burnaby has a civic its household charge is now 40 per cent below in a British municipal Engineer had this to say if there was one description of work which should be undertaken by local it was that of the collection and disposal of House it was in the interests of the contractors to do As Little As possible and so increase their despite current fashion that still True the federation of Canadian municipalities reports no definitive study showing contracting out is either cheaper or More doonesbury Soho Pyou 6reaj Hap i Outt Pav 1 by Garry Trudeau m got in Pun top anp7cok the in5tzap on 50 w he just in to Wtzy main what happened to doctors appoint ;