Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 19, 1990, Winnipeg, Manitoba U u Winnipeg free press january Page 7 focus Paul Martin Sheila Copps and Jean Chretien three Strong candidates make the Liberal race a contest that should be worthwhile and Worth leadership race looks promising Ottawa at 9 est Sheila Copps for Mally launched her Campaign for the leadership of the Liberal at tues Day Jean though not yet formally in the was delivering his first major policy state ment of the at 12 noon wednesday Paul Martin was announcing in the three major candidates were out in the open and the Outlook appeared this is shaping after As a contest worthy of a major with viable Candi dates and genuine for is at Peak with every sign of being Well pre these candidates Are prom Ising to respond to the need for a contemporary the a still enthusiastic Jean Chretien and two relatively new arrivals on the parliamentary Promise to come Forward with policies that can renew and revive the if they take care not to let them selves be dragged into the Meech Lake that discussion should put a new gloss on the party Axworthy quits Lloyd Axworthy wrote himself out of the contest with considerable dignity and a refreshing he acknowledged his decision resulted not Only from a shortfall in funding but the fact that he was not picking up grassroots Only Central canadians will be on the inevitably shaping the debate to reflect a Central Canada perspex Axworthy voice will be on canadians had their first look Sheila Copps in the round As a leadership no longer the shrill voice Ever ready to break into a ministers statement with a jeer or Joan Cohen Ottawa editor but As a politician who has Deve loped and and one who represents a new generation of lib fair enough it will never be for gotten that the freshman was the rat packs most irrepressible performer and in her Public Persona never a but thoughtful veterans used to say that it was Copps and her three male buddies who made up the rat pack who represented virtually the Only life stirring in Liberal ranks after the party 1984 Slaughter at the six rough years if anything raised Liberal spirits in those Early it would have had to be the rat Copps added to through six rough a fierce loyalty to her Leader and a sense of deep discomfort when he came under Public at somebody needed to take on the tories and Copps never shirked the a list of her interventions in the debate in her the first session covers just Over three pages in Hansard almost identical to those from her party she spoke for the human Side of she was Ever ready to denounce abuses and incompetence by by those with other types of by those who would despoil the this she signalled that her horizon wider than past interventions might she wanted to see a revival of Canadas activities on the International stage she declared herself ready to discuss a wide Range of economic and Trade Liber als themselves will be left to judge whether there is an appropriate balance in her approach to govern Copps she herself honesty in our political admirers claim there is a certain Lustre about a that pulls in a product of her Bright manner which com Bines with a certain fragility in her Jean though not formally a candidate until next is generally viewed As the front runner in the Chretien has been gone from the commons some four years but no Liberal on the National scene other than Turner is better coming to the podium in the overflowing University of Ottawa Law school auditorium this he inevitably radiated experience and a self effacing human the a very carefully drafted served an assortment of above it Laid out in detail his position on Meech it indirectly signalled his determination to Over come his two widely recognized yesterdays Man the first is a View of him As yesterdays a Man who first entered the Federal Cabinet under Mike Pearson and served there through Pierre Trudeau 16 year right from the top of his Chretien was promising a renewed the strongly reinforced in his 1984 bid for is reflected in a View of him As a on Issue a Man who argues with mov ing Fervour for a United hospitable to both its official Lan but a Man with Only one speech to the speech offers a list of seven other Broad subjects which govern ment has to and committed Chretien to offering policies to meet there have been repeated reports that Chretien aides have been coaching him on the issues of the nature of Canada when it came to giving his View on the nature of there was no denying the overriding influence of Pierre Trudeau and his vision of a country in Chretien uniquely joins the French and English cultures on a National and there was no denying the attractiveness of that in a country where the clash Over the rights of each language group is threatening to Render it but despite the carefully constructed Dodges the questions that today brought the two sides to a seemingly inescapable he would ditch Meech without offering que Bec the assurances it probably has to have that its five Basic require ments will be in he Waters Down the Potency of the distinct society so that Quebec cannot accept his proposal to bring the distinct society clause into the constitutions pre Amble echoes Pierre Trudeau suggestion of two years ago and a decade he offers no Way around the pres ent impasse Over opting out and offers a new amendment formula for Senate Reform that should out rage anyone outside Central Cana in his speech states a position it offers no solutions to the but his vision of a United Canada with Strong leadership at the Centre remains a hugely attractive one and for Many liberals this Cabinet Veteran himself is scarcely less but not in any sense Paul Martin came onto Centre the Impact he made was of a kind that has eluded him since his election 16 months the mans voice was gentle but the words in tune with the times and undeniably what a lot of canadians have been waiting to he called on liberals to join him in building a new Liberal right on he told canadians they must change the Way they think about their absolutely the world has changed beyond rec but canadians have scarcely he told canadians they have a right to expect straight talk and honest talk from their he promised excellence in political performance and from the Public he told canadians their country can be great those that will do Best in this new world Are those that under stand that in order to compete they will have to restructure and rebuild their and that their societies Are going to change Funda Martin offered no specific propos but he offered As did his opponents in their own ways a vision of where the Challenge in Martins Case it was unambiguously in adapting to a much changed global situation and of the role political leadership must play in achieving this normally a gentle Martin was deliberately unsparing in his attack on Jean clearly determined to make the yesterdays like the the Montreal industrialist promised to spell out his Agenda in detail in the months certainly one or even 10 or 20 does not an Ideal candidate there is More to leadership than or even Good yet in the Case of All three Candi the speeches conveyed an unmistakable message of the in sight and Type of message they want to bring to this the son of one of Cana Das most durable is the least known of this until his appearance this his political skills have appeared very much his his inbred commitment to political ser vice after an exemplary performance in private building up Canada steamship lines and his entrepreneurial skills make like the other a politician to watch in this Martin chose to seek office and live in a lower Middle class Riding he once told this inter his interests related to the kind of Brendan butter matters that the people who live there Are concerned should Appeal to a Broad spectrum of fire victims lift theres enough pain associated with the death of a Friend or relative without a newspaper Story somehow adding to the yet that what happened when Joanne Sinkevich died 30 in a fire which destroyed her Lansdowne Avenue she was her tragic death was reported in a news Story the Lead item in a Roundup Story on Page 3 about nine fires in the City Over the new years but City editor Pat Flynn Felt the fatal Blaze might be Worth More than that four paragraph he assigned Kim gut a journalism student at Ryerson pol technical Institute who was interning at the free press at the to talk to neighbors and coworkers about Joanne sin Guttormson state of woman House shocks appeared 3 on Page it portrayed Joanne Sinke Vich As a lonely eccentric who took taxis to work and who rarely talked to it described the Interior of her Northend Home As covered with empty wine bottles and the Kitchen counters and stove piled High with garbage and papers and More readers surely could come to Only one conclusion and impression of the troubled life of Joanne an impression Joannes friends and coworkers feel was unfair and clouded the memory of a very special How could you take a human tragedy and make it worse asked one dont you have any sensitivity for the memory of a person the caller said she had known Joanne for More than 30 years since their their involvement with the ukrainian National youth her personal problems were her own said another caller i really lost a lot of respect for the free press the Way it handled Joanne had her share of problems like ombudsman Barry Mullin so Many of us but they were no ones business but who identified themselves As close friends described Joanne Sinke Vich As a unassuming person Friendly and polite never one to put on airs two coworkers said Joanne was a Bank employee who respected the Public she served and in respected by one of Joannes passions in life was both As a dancer and As an she was Confounder of Winnipeg International Lyk Nown Susalka dance ensemble where she inspired fellow dancers and pupils with her Talent and Why was so much made of the state of her House and not of her Many accomplishments in life asked one your Story was big on gossip and Short on facts and that clouded the memory of a very special per Guttormson said she tried to get comment from the Bank where Joanne had worked but staff refused to saying it was Bank she also tried to Contact the Susalka dance group without id never done a Story like that before and i guess now i wish i had More time to find out More about it just seemed to me that she must have been so so said who received several Calls about the fairness of her Story before she returned to said City editor Flynn i thought it was a great it was a sad slice of life but one you just cant i guess its the kind of Story that makes us All ask do we really know our neighbors or the people we work with Flynn said he would have preferred an other Day to expand on the Story a Little but i want unhappy that they chose to run he is a very caring but before people care they have to i can understand the reaction of its sad but we All learn from things like in perhaps taking that extra Day to More fully explore the life of Joanne Sinkevich May have prevented the additional heartache the Story seems to have Joanne sinkevics final years May have been troubled ones but she had made a positive contribution to the arts something that received Little notice in the n n n Rod John Melnyk and Mike Urbanski were three of the voices in the chorus complaining about yesterdays front Page headline Bunch of ukrainians say no to hazardous waste your headline writer was stretching and he stretched the Point Mazur was trying to make completely out of said anyone Reading the Story will get Mazurs anyone Reading the headline will think a Bunch of ukrainians dont want a hazardous waste site near the town of Ross the headline did indeed distort Rossum resident Raymond Mazurs Mazur said they said they cant build it the waste Plant too close to the Park Riding Mountain National Park because of the what Are we a Bunch of Ukraine Leschisin noted that Mazurs comment was made to contrast the seemingly greater concern for animals than the people who live in using the partial quote in the headline made it look like a put Down of people of ukrainian he provincial editor Julian Rachey said he discussed the quotation with reporter Randy Turner and liked the Impact of Mazurs headline is not the he n Qin columnist Gordon Sinclair commen tary 11 about the acquittal of my lome Nystrom was decried by three readers As another in a seemingly endless series of mean spirited cheap shots at i want to suggest that Sinclair com ments would be considered bigoted and stereo typing if they were applied to any other profession or ethnic its equally Offen Sive to portray All politicians As Dishon said one serving the Public makes politicians fair game for Public Howe must be when its applied with a Broad As in this it indeed becomes stereotyping and that doonesbury by Garry Trudeau pubic in thinks pon515 change the shout or Buttz a Zamanian pc pm pet ;