Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 11, 1990, Winnipeg, Manitoba 6 Winnipeg free january Winnipeg free press Freedom of Trade Liberty of religion Equality of civil rights published seven Days a week at 300 Cartton Winnipeg r3c 3c1 by newspapers division of Canadian newspapers company limited Telephone 9439331 a member of the Manitoba press Council Arthur Wood publisher John Dafoe editorial Page editor Murray Burt managing editor Rudy Redekop controller Winnipeg free press est 1872 Winnipeg Tribune est 1890 bad advice on the Bridge the City councils works committee wants the Council to turn the Charleswood Bridge from Winnipeg project for the Benefit of the City at Large into a neighbourhood project for the Benefit of the people living closest to the Council should not accept that the if it is to be built at must serve All Winnipeg and not just the residents of Charleswood and James Assini All the taxpayers will pay for the us million Cost of the Bridge is hard to justify even in the present state of the the project will increase traffic on sections of Roblin Boulevard and Portage Avenue which Are already heavily travelled at Rush it will intensify pressure for development of vacant land in South Charleswood and in Assiniboia North of Saskatchewan Avenue and for higher density development in buildup parts near the those expansions will entail great municipal expense for the related Public services and will cause deterioration of other parts of the the project was approved by the former Council despite these in the alignment now the Bridge could readily be connected to a future North South heavy traffic artery where the Cit owned Charleswood Golf club now that in would form a Section of the cites inner Beltway once it is connected with the Extension of Bishop Grandin Boule construction of that with or without the rest of the would allow traffic to reach the Bridge conveniently from a wide Section of South it would also destroy the Golf course and bring heavy traffic near the adjacent a group of Charleswood residents has a different which the works committee has now they prefer to connect the Bridge with Haney which can be a Means of reaching Roblin Boulevard but cannot extend further than building the Bridge in this align sent would raise the Cost of the entire project to million which will be paid by All the property owners in the alignment to Haney Street would ensure that Charleswood residents will have a Quick and easy Way to Cross the Assiniboine River to such destinations As Winnipeg International Airport and Polo Park shopping it will also ensure that the Bridge will be Little used by traffic from other parts of the the Haney Street design will tend to make it the private Bridge of that the Council builds Bridges and the taxpayers pay for them for the general Benefit of the whole the purpose of Bridges is to carry residents of Jame Assiniboia and of Charleswood would be Best served if they could have the Bridge without the but the rest of the City should not agree to such a if there is to be no connected traffic there should be no plenty of people want to live on the outermost ring of the where they drive Home along other Peoples streets but no one drives Home along their that is one source of the demand that drives development Ever further out on to the each new outermost ring of destroys the peace and quiet of the districts Between it and the Charleswood Bridge is being shaped in part by these people moved into Tuxedo and Charles Wood for the peace and quiet of a District far from then More houses were built near Taylor Avenue and close to the perimeter the resulting traffic is a form of pestilence on the older part of on Tuxedo and on River where residents imagine that they can redirect the pestilence to other victims by Means of the Charleswood Charleswood residents also Hope to limit the damage by making Access to their Bridge awkward for traffic from As Charleswood councillor Bill Clement told the committee in advocating the the local people on both sides of the River do not want the Bridge to become part of a transportation that is the nub of the if it is not part of a transport the Bridge is useless for the City at Large and should be the entire logic of the Charleswood Bridge is under review at the insistence of Manitoba environment minister Glen the new Council elected last october has not studied the costs and benefits of the citywide Access is crucial to the Case for now that councillor Clement and the works committee have opened the that Case should get close and critical the unaffordable prize the great difficulty that Lloyd a would be Liberal leadership has encountered in raising enough Money to place him in the starting Gate Demon Strates How intensely restricted the Chance to make such a bid has the former Cabinet the party chief defender of Western Canadian interests and a lieutenant in two Liberal regimes should not be eliminated so quickly and so crassly As it appears he soon will any serious candidate for the Liberal leadership this it needs More than to enter the Gate and far More than ultimately at his or her More Likely than will need the backing of million in declared Campaign funds and a Little More unpaid help from friends in secure places who can dedicate their staff to a Little Campaign the result is a new and dangerous kind of corporate involving corporate care and control of when Money matters so those with Money matter much More than the general party Axworthy and his supporters made a vain attempt in september to have the million spending limit lowered to they were outvoted More than spending limits of that sort do not bother sup porters of Montreal my Paul Martin and former Cabinet minister Jean they should bother the party membership and All canadians of voting we cling to the naive supposition that when we go to the polls we can make a Choice among if we Are sufficiently interested in the democratic we assume that we Are free to join any party to help in the preliminary but the massive spending which dictate massive preselect the Candi dates who can present themselves for the leadership of any political party that has any Chance of forming a there is a serious danger now that the right to contest the leadership of a major Canadian political party will be restricted to those with Independent wealth or with the ability to Call on major corporate the kind of free Orall contests that selected a Pierre Trudeau or a Robert Stanfield May be a thing of the the new democratic party set spending limits for its leadership candidates which Are truly if not the very most that any candidate could spend within the rules was the result was that delegates were Given a Broad Choice of most liberals would want their spending limits to be More Liberal than those of the new but most canadians would want them to be More democratic than they now both the Quality and the Quantity of the Field in a leadership race of Axworthy would be a worthy contender at the party convention next june in he would be unlikely to but Likely to influence the if the Lack of million or More forces him to Bow it will be Clear that the bulk of the decision making has already taken doing Battle with wrong Bill by Leonard Shifrin special to the free press Ottawa the senates toughest Job these Days is deciding on which of the Mulroney governments bad legislation to do it May find that picking the unemployment insurance Bill was a tactical thus the government is win Ning the propaganda portray ing the senators As hurting the very people they claim to be qualifying period for a dozen the variable Entrance requirement set Ting the qualifying period for i at 10 to 14 weeks of depending on the regional jobless has been a temporary part of the i pro each time it was on the verge of expiring making 14 weeks the nationwide requirement the government introduced legislation extending last As part of their cutback the tories proposed a More onerous ver that would become a permanent part of instead of ranging from 10 to 14 the requirement would be 10 to 20 weeks with Only areas of More than 12 per cent unemployment requiring fewer than 14 weeks of the legislation was pushed through the House of but Liberal senators walked at rubber stamping a Senate committee is currently holding hearings on the 6 was the Day the 10to14 week ver and the govern ment rejected the senates attempt at an interim a 14week eligibility requirement is therefore in effect everywhere in Cana that Means someone who loses his Job today in Newfoundland needs 14 weeks employment to qualify for instead of the 10 weeks he would need if the new Bill were says the Mulroney the beneficiaries of the senates they Are people in the booming Toronto where the require ment would become 20 conveniently ignored Are places like Saint with its per cent jobless and Vancouver Island with its 10 per cent while their qualifying period has gone to 14 weeks from 10 because of the expiry of the old ver that is still better than the 16 weeks that the tories new version would refugee Bills the last time the Senate tried rewriting tory legislation was the refugee two years at the urging of civil liberties it tried adding safeguards to ensure that those seeking refugee status got fair hearings and we rent sent Back to places where their lives would be in eventually it passed the but Only after the government accepted some of the civil liberties the i Bill is a very different piece of the tories Are not about to abandon their cutback and it is hard to see any Compromise re whats by choosing to fight on the Senate May have under mined its bargaining position on the next Bill it is due to Deal with the legislation creating a Clayback of family allowances and old age pen seniors terrified the National pensioners and senior citizens federation has already called on the senators to reject the or at least fully Index the income threshold at which it so it keeps Pace with Infra seniors Are terrified by the tory plan to let the threshold fall three per cent behind inflation each year bringing it Down to the equivalent of by the time a 65yearold turns if the Senate eliminates that pro vision and the government insists on restoring the result could be Polit ical but if the senators Are battling with the government on the i front at the same that might let the Mulroney government sidestep both issues with a counterattack on Senate the senators May find they wasted a Golden Opportunity by chasing a weaker asset to City the letter authored by Kravetsky in the december 23 free press contains a Lack of knowledge of facts As they relate to the Winni Peg convention a White ele Phant it is not it is an asset to Winnipeg and Between 1975 and 1987 the Manitoba govern in direct tax benefits on behalf of collected better than As general chairman of the metro provincial convention development committee which spent four years in study and design before commencing i would emphatically state that the objectives of the centres construction As a downtown catalyst have met with outstanding and i quote from a communication from the re search and policy analysis Branch of the City of Winnipeg As follows the construction of the Winnipeg convention Centre in 1972 was a major stimulus to development within the sector of downtown be tween Portage Avenue and Broad from memorial Boulevard to Smith the convention Centre Centre boosts tax was the catalyst for renewal of this this process still is continuing the principal tangible result of this from the perspective of local is a very substantial increase in tax the major new developments that have taken place in the study area since in 1988 yield in real property tax school and municipal and in business for a total of for these two local government the com parable figure for these same Sites in prior to was in real property tax and 459 in business tax for a total of the increase in property and Busi Ness taxes for the subject 1988 compared with is the Impact of the Success can be readily recognized with the new building spurred on by the centres such As the Holiday Lakeview Eaton just to identify a because there Are Many it became the successful Anchor for the redevelopment Between Graham and it also has direct financial support and Benefit for the restaurants and during that period 1975 to delegates spent Over it also employed full time and part time employees that totalled Over employment the realty tax on the two Square blocks occupied by the Centre and Lakeview Square in 1971 produced in the same two blocks produced in taxes for the City of on the question of taxes of All the Centre generated to the three Levels of government a total of More than As an economic catalyst the Centre is an outstanding Success and of continuing Benefit to the City and the province As it continues to attract new dollars perhaps Kravetsky cannot Tell the difference Between a White ele Phant and a Pink Bernie Wolfe Winnipeg letters the Winnipeg free press welcomes letters from writers must give their name and names will be used and letters Are subject to deplorable place in the past few i have heard of the great projects which the City fathers Are planning for the City of the mayor and Council believe that a new Arena constructed at the Forks and a rapid transit system will transform the City into a place of interest and cosmopolitan Charm to sport enthusiasts and tour in Winnipeg is a sad and deplorable place in which to the animals that coexist with us in the same environment Haven a decent lodging in the place designated As a cats and dogs Are taken off the Street where they have been forced to wander because of irresponsible these animals Are thrown into an overcrowded shelter in which they can be attacked by larger what a horrible and this be cause City Council will not allocate funds for a new shelter so that animals can have Comfort and Protection in their last of people must have plea sure and luxury and the finest that Winnipeg can for the animals anything will Winnipeg is indeed a sad and deplorable Irene Cooke Winnipeg misused words sacred such As de Are being repeatedly misused by the mass Media and some influential politicians in order to misinform and mislead the Public and to Garner Public support for military and economic Aid to undemocratic military and to justify the financing of certain unholy International on the other what Are considered unsavoury such As communist or Are used in the West to insure majority Back ing for intensive interventions in the affairs of no cooperating govern or countries designated in to justify military Aid to mercenary rebels in these and even invasions of countries whose governments Are declared unacceptable to the United there is a Long and frequent rec Ord of this kind of action by the Ever since in the most recent such the misused words were and democracy again the excuse Given was the need to get general Noriega removed for running drugs into the and not stepping Down in recognition of the recent election but without a the real con Cern was to replace a non cooperate ing Strong Man with someone More Friendly to continue to guarantee the Panama canal safely in con Many other countries in latin some of them ruled by illegitimate military who Are running drugs that end up in the Are not so Long As they agree to subvert the economic and political interests of their own citizens in favor of the interests of the i clearly remember How this weapon was used against us in Southern Manitoba where i grew up in the 1930s and 40s following the great self help Cooper credit societies and Farmers unions were being some local people and the mass Media at the in order to discredit these most democratic of suggested they were inspired by com and so countries Are misrepresented by whatever name serves the interests of the superpower and usually has nothing to do with the actual of the Media floods the world with the people who deny the use of this form of manipulation Are probably the most victimized by Menno Klassen Winnipeg lights out i am not sure whether it is because of the longer hours of darkness or some kind of Builtin weakness in the lights but i find it in credible the number of vehicles that have at least one headlight not not Only is this it is extremely dangerous in these cold Days of exhaust fog and frosted if you Are one of the Drivers who find it too much of a bother to Check their lights dont be surprised to find you Are wearing another or a Pedes Tri As a Hood ornament because you Are hard to the next time you Are letting your car warm up for a few turn All your lights get out of the and walk around it to see if you can be Roy Pollock Winnipeg political myths there Are a lot of myths and legends in Canadian politics and most of them have been invented and nurtured by politicians for their own Sleazy language and racism Are two myths that have been invented by politicians and used again and again to maintain Politico superiority in As Long As there is tension Between the anglos and the Francos the Politi Cian will reign supreme and the Ordinary citizen will not even be asked to vote in a referendum be cause of another politically inspired myth people Are too stupid to know How to we have the Meech Lake Accord As an outstanding example of politicians taking Over the citizens right to vote on constitutional the Ordinary citizen is too stupid to vote on Meech he Doest understand i say that the Ordinary citizen has greater understanding than our prime minister who goes about the country stating that the Canadian Constitution is not Worth the paper it is written so we must pass Meech Lake to make it impossible to change that the proposed goods and services tax is another political invention that is too complicated for the idiotic citizen such As you and me to under so the politicians must vote on it for the citizen knows enough about the greedy tories to understand the game they Are ing with the great grab of the sales the prime minister and the finance minister stood Tough for a nine per cent then the Good tories come in on the finance committee and recommended a seven per cent rate with More items to be the poor benighted citizen will show his gratitude by accepting the seven per cent Deal without but we Are on to we know that the tories will accept a seven per cent or five per three per cent or even a one per cent rate just As Long As they get the sales tax legislation passed through this enabling legislation will then allow Wil son and Mulroney to use orders i Council to set whatever rate they desire without approaching Parlia ment Collier my husband will come by later and bring you a ;