Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - November 12, 1989, Winnipeg, Manitoba 8 Winnipeg free november Winnipeg free press Freedom of Trade Liberty of religion Equality of civil rights published seven Days a week at 300 Garlton Winnipeg r3c 3c1 by newspapers division of Canadian newspapers company limited Telephone 9439331 a member of the Manitoba press Council Arthur e Wood publisher John Dafoe editorial Page editor Murray Burt managing editor Rudy Redekop controller Winnipeg free press est 1872 Winnipeg Tribune est 1890 a shabby achievement when All else the least that can usually be claim died for a Federal provincial first ministers Confer ence is that everybody agrees to meet at the economic and constitutional conference which ended Friday in Ottawa they could not agree even on senator Lowell prime minister Brian Mulroney Point Man on the Meech Lake will spend weeks travelling the provincial capitals to see whether there is any Point in meeting that is a pretty shabby achievement for two Days of Federal provincial wrangling and it May look Evert Shabber after senator Murray has finished his the Gulf which separates the governments of Manitoba and Newfoundland from those which support the Meech Accord remains awesomely it slightly less wide than it appeared last wednesday when the conference Premier Clyde Wells of Newfoundland was threatening to have legislature rescind its ratification of Meech Premier Gary Filmon was sticking firmly to the de mands for change contained in the report of his Provin task and Mulroney was responding to both men with mean and Petty by Friday Wells had agreed to wait before rescinding the Mulroney was being oily and polite instead of oily and rude and Filmon was still sticking to the task Force the one hopeful note was the agreement of the prime minister and the premiers to begin substantive discus Sions of Senate Reform before the Meech Lake Accord is if Manitoba and the other provinces which Are pushing for a reformed Senate be presented in Advance with a satisfactory blueprint of the kind of reformed Senate Ottawa and the provinces would a it would be easier to Swallow the accords unanimity Rule for making changes to the whether the promised negotiations will actually prod uce that kind of blueprint remains open to Premier Robert Bourassa of Quebec made it Clear that bureaucrats will represent his province at the Neotia at the political level he will not even agree to discuss the matter with his let alone with the other it is doubtful that the process As defined by Premier Bourassa could produce satisfactory guarantees of Senate while negotiations will also t6uch of the other areas in which the dissident provinces object to Meach there is even less Assurance that they will produce results in those Bourassa was sticking to his position that nothing in the Accord can be changed and through a Cloud of dense seemed to be saying the same some changes have to be made to the Accord if it is to be made that will demand flexibility on All sides including that of Filmon and Filmon did an admirable Job of introducing and defending the proposals contained in the Manitoba task Force his tougher Job in the months ahead will be to determine which of those proposals Are essential and which can be bargained but troublesome there is much More than a front Row seat to history in the television pictures of thousands of East German citizens who have seized upon their govern ments new open door policy to leave for the the Border directly instead of being forced to travel through a third the exodus confronts the Western Alliance in Europe with some serious consequences of its own cold War rhetoric which for years has supported the reunification of the two German nations while relying on Moscow never to allow it to the events which change history Seldom take place in an orderly and thoughtful the emigration resembles More an Avalanche than a if it there would be no Surprise should West find it necessary to Amend its own policy of welcoming any and All German citizens who make their Way out from behind the dividing so far the problems Are those of accommodation and the problems May Well become much Many West germans see the event As the Start of a Welcome reunification of their the soviets have identified what would trouble them in such a Mikhail Gorbachev May be Reform but it is unlikely that he would be willing to announce that a reunified Germany would become part and parcel of the Western Powers have never thought much of a reunified Germany which would be a member of neither nato or the Warsaw by a Neutral Germany could not Host several Hundred thousand nato no one knows for sure whether a Europe without the presence of soviet and american forces on its soil could remain at peace much longer today than it was Able to do before the the second world history unfolding live on the evening news is it is also a matter for serious a new approach needed police chief Herb Stephen believes his department did a great Job investigating the death of mistakes were he acknowledged before the Justice but he believed those mis takes did not affect the the he sustained his initial verdict that Constable Robert whose weapon killed was not at faced once with the same set of chief Stephen would proceed in much the same he would not even asking the Royal Canadian mounted police to the death of a suspect in an altercation with a Winnipeg police that leaves the Winnipeg Board of commissioners and the City Council with a if they consider that the handling of the Harper Case reflected major misjudgments which should be they cannot rely on chief Herb Stephen to make the but his judgments Are the ones that will continue to govern the Winnipeg police department and to color its response to native people in the City officials should be thinking about policing needs Over the next few years and about the kind of chief they since the chief Stephens department has in a state of mounting tension amounting some times to emotional turmoil because of the questioning and criticism and the errors that have come to the challenges to the chiefs account of the matter originated with native organizations and were focused and amplified by the Justice that is the kind of world in which police chiefs must now a questioning and sceptical Public does not simply take the chiefs word for it that a policeman did no people demand to know How he came to that policemen Are called to explain a chief who cannot anticipate that kind of prepare for it and Roll with it is sure to have a Tough time running a police department in the chief Stephen believes he made a mistake in saying publicly that he was sure Constable Cross had done nothing another he would conduct the same kind of investigation and come to the same conclusion but he would keep it to Winnipeg needed to hear that he would ensure a More thorough investigation next time and keep an open mind until it was it needed to hear about Steps to take native leaders into the departments let them see How the police do their work and Tell the chief what they Winnipeg needs police management in that style and a chief that can provide fighting fires according to the Canadian inter Agency Forest fire we have lost approximately million Hect ares to Forest fires in Canada this our losses do not run that High every year or Stum Page fees and shakes and shingles duties would not be a our losses every year should be unacceptable to a nation which is Quick to criticize the Brazil ians and malaysians for the destruction of their rain we criticize the africans for killing off their elephants but excuse our losses As an act of nature against which we Are we Are defenceless Only if we allow ourselves to be so because of Lack of planning and our aim should be to minimize As much As is possible the damage we incur Many of our Manitoba As indeed most of us feel we Are not getting our fair share of Federal Why then have none of them recommended that the Portage air base be used As a training ground for firefighting pilots where the letters the Winnipeg free press welcomes letters from writers must give their name and names will be used and letters Are subject to latest equipment available might be used for location finding and the most effective methods of fire control could be developed Quebec might even allow some of our local aircraft manufacturers to build a few improved perform Mance instead of spending billions on defence defence against the Mili tar Industrial Complex going is it not about time we used our brains to protect wherever improve our our worst enemy is Gauthier angry the Bush ablaze f when i read the article a woman dream comes True free october 29 on the same watched the Csc drama where the spirit i cried and i was i was angry at my nonnative ancestors who accepted and sup ported the assimilation policies enforced by the government of the How Many native children have been lost through nonnative adoptions How Many children have been adopted by physical and sexual abusers How Many children have taken their own lives because of the inadequacies of the child welfare system How Many native children were separated from their families and placed in residential schools How Many youngsters died because of abuse or broken spirits How Many children lost their native language and Cul Tural identity i am angry at the child welfare system which continues to place native children in nonnative i am angry at our education system which still fails to address the needs of native i am angry at native leaders and professionals who complain but do Little to change inadequate systems and fail to police the placement of i am angry at native people who could provide Homes for children in need but fail to do it is important for our future that our children develop into con knowledgeable How Many More atrocities must native children suffer Lagimodiere Winnipeg too limited it has been my experience that the Media in our City Are too limited regarding professional this summer a private water ski club i was involved with succeeded in per forming a six person mixed team the first time this had been done in upon contacting two local to stations and two major newspapers on two different we were turned Down for coverage because All cameras and reporters were As signed to bomber games for the same i do not deny that professional sports coverage is important to Many Winnipeg but it does not seem right that an occasional alternative event be completely ignored due to conflict of Are our Media so limited in staff and or Are priorities strictly devoted to professional sports with no flex Lity this is incomplete coverage of events in our the Media should consider a broader Range of interest Janet Hamilton Winnipeg Why allowance if the nongovernmental Allied workers Are excluded from North Ern tax allowance what reason does the government give the taxpayer to justify their employees Hospital ramp and clergy getting a Northern living Al Lowance should this Benefit now be Herb Kreuger i basking in Superior Virtues by Christopher Dafoe special to the free press is Quebec a distinct society everybody knows it they speak French that is the one thing everybody knows about even canadians who live in Cor ners of the country far away from Quebec understand that the province is noted As a place where most of the people speak French As a first Lan even people living As far away As China tend to know of Quebec As a place where the Lan Guage of Moliere and Michel Tremblay holds Pride of when canadians speak of the French they mean that Canada is a bilingual one of the two official languages being Quebec is the main place where Canadas other official language is although people try to speak it in other parts of the country As some speak it Many simply get an a for others would be Well advised to take More lessons or give fascinated canadians in general Are fascinated by even if they pretend Quebec is As a Gener Al fascinated by the rest of As a Quebe cers tend to be they Are a Dis Tinct society and they know to the average an English Canadian is a kind of retarded for some decades now Ever since English speaking canadians began to wonder what Quebec wants English speaking canadians have been explaining Quebec to each some English speaking journalists and broadcasters make a Good living interpreting Quebec to other English speaking when the current dispute Over the Meech Lake Accord broke out and when canadians began to wonder whether Quebec in a distinct various pundits came Forward in a selfless manner to explain French Canada to the rest of us once West rebuked the Csc organized panel discus Sions of expert Quebec watchers who explained Quebec society for us and chided the Western provinces for Horning in on the National constitutional the Globe and always ready to misinterpret one part of the nation to ran a seemingly endless series of Arti cles that seemed designed to prove not Only that Quebec is a distinct society but a Superior one As those who have been paying close attention to the experts in recent weeks will have picked up much of the following essential which i now pass on in condensed form for those who missed the panel discussions or Globe and mail Arti cles because they were too Busy with their French lessons or were out of the House picking the kids up at French immersion according to the Quebec without a distinct society and language is Only a part of they make better for one name one English language movie made in Vancouver that nearly took top prize at Quebec has better pop Quebec pop singers Are stars in what about englis Canadian pop singers Anne Murray come off it food tastes better in especially in restaurants and around the Home dining room English canadians Are hooked on to dinners and other tasteless american in Quebe cers eat things like Coq Auvin and pea soup and have lots of really great none of which is even the chinese food is better in and dont even ask about the its Quebec men Are better lovers than the men who live elsewhere in Cana English speakers make love with the lights out and forget to take their socks when they whisper Sweet nothings their breath smells of la Batts in a lovers breath is heavy with the fragrance of a really Good possibly a Chambertin serious talk there Are More intellectuals in Quebec than in English they have serious discussions about important matters in cafes and Over chess englis Canadian intellectuals talk about football and who got Quebec intellectuals talk about the Art films and the refinements of Quebec has better Many of them top que Bec politicians get to be prime min most englis Canadian politicians Are although they Are somehow less regional if they come from and anyone West of Midland is a that restraining the itch to meddle by William Pfaff special to the free press Paris Mikhail Gorbachev has not taken charge of the soviet Union to preside Over its that has not seemed fully understood in some circles in the notably in the United states where one current of opinion persists in demanding from Gorbachev such evidence of sincerity As would amount to if not capitulation to the soviet spokesmen Are warning the United states that measures May be forthcoming in the soviet Union that will seem inconsistent with an objective of democratizing soviet so in other Gorba Chev approaches the Point of crackdown on some of his Domestic problems and opponents As he recently cracked Down on a too Riti Cal accountable it actually has never been evident that Gorbachev intends a democratization of the soviet system As that term is employed in the he wants an accountable so Viet an efficient and predictable obeying its own with voters enjoying a Choice among candidates for there is no that he contemplates a multiparty system or an end to the leading role the communist party plays in the soviet unions he even the development of multiparty politics in Poland and although the limits of that tolerance have yet to be they May from that it May be speculated that the culmination of his own program of Reform might eventually provide a form of democracy in the recognizable As such in the one Hopes we will whatever the Western Powers do not have a Deci Sive role to an enabling they can or external circumstances favourable to orderly internal processes of Reform in the this Means positive response to arms limitation and arms reduction proposals Able to free resources on both it implies Western initiatives on arms and political it implies waiver of the Jackson Vanik legislation in the United states linking Trade to jewish Emi Gration and human rights issues which now is in the works in Wash it suggests a setup on West Ern restrictions on High technology Trade a matter on which washing ton has been recalcitrant and More accommodating Trade policies with admission of the so Viet Union to some of the institutions of world economic beyond that there is not much to be but the soviet Union is not asking for More to be discus Sion in the United states of help ing Gorbachev touches Fatu Ity at a round table in the new York times of october 29 brought together Anthony Solomon of the Donald Kendall of and Marshall Goldman of the russian research Centre at they discussed shipments of toothpaste and pork bellies to the to help lacking better drop that phrase if or even pork were the we could All Eduard the soviet foreign has very properly objected to such i beg of you to drop that help the soviet Union economically with perestroika is a mat Ter for our and it is we who must see its plans through to the it is proper to ask what is seemly or the West to or to the soviet Union its its ruling and revolutionary its apparatus of Power and the servants of that apparatus have Over the past 70 years not Only led their own country into its present appalling condition but have imposed upon half of Europe backward moral corruption and oppress since the 1940s the soviet Union has fuelled useless conflicts in the third world and provoked the West Ern Powers to squander a major segment of their wealth on Why should we not step Back and let them take the consequences grim Outlook one is constrained by the knowl Edge that if they fail to get them selves out of their mess the consequences could be grim for us As Well As for one also is compelled to respect the moral seriousness with which Gorbachev and his col leagues have undertaken their the truth of the is that the West can influence the affair Only As Shevardnadze it is the so who have to see it the West Caw help Eastern which is another the meeting in december bet tween Gorbachev and pres ident George Bush will be the form it is to take will add to its Bush has been extremely accessible to the press since he became president unlike his the american on the other has in the past contributed heavily to turning East West summits into such Nightmare events As to corrupt the proceedings the american government first among have contributed to this it is time to try to Call a Bush is Well advised to go to sea with Franklin Roosevelt did not even Tell the press before his 1941 meeting at sea with Winston Chur he went fishing off As a result he and Churchill got a lot Bush and Gorbachev have a lot to ;