Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 23, 1990, Winnipeg, Manitoba Itaf Tieg free january Winnipeg free press Freedom of Trade Liberty of religion Equality of civil rights published seven Days a week at 300 oar ton 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 overseeing the professions the professional licensing bodies in Manitoba could serve a vital Public they could push professional standards steadily higher and provide reasons for Public Confidence in the licensed Public disciplinary hearings would be one step in that that Reform by itself might not make a Large difference to the professions and their relations with the it be part of a Man sided Effort to win and keep greater Public the College of physicians and surgeons and the Law to take the most prominent depend mainly on complaints from dissatisfied patients and Law clients to give Rise to disciplinary inquiries and to the secret hearings which might end in reprimand or licence suspension for a doctor or a that is an unreliable Way of detecting a patient can be poorly treated by a doctor or a client by a lawyer and yet leave the office entirely delighted with the a Good bedside manner can cover a profound Well of professional a doctor can coast along with a fiercely Loyal group of patients who never complain against him though most other looking at his would advise patients to take their symptoms patients Are More Apt to complain about discourtesy or tardiness rather than deficient medical knowledge or bad the College of physicians and surgeons frequently disappoints complainants because they expect it to defend patients the College considers that the civil courts Are the place for arbitration Between a doctor and a dissatisfied the colleges discipline process has the narrower Job of deciding whether a doctor constitutes a danger to the if the College wishes to find and eliminate dangers to the it should look for for the chief medical examiner of Manitoba informs the College of surprising conduct of a doctor whose patient has some use should be made of that when a doctor informs the College of a patient formerly misdiagnosed or inappropriately treated by another some action should then be that information should not simply disappear Down a dark occasionally a judge is distressed enough by a Law yers poor representation of a client to write a letter to the Law of All the people who might the judge and the opposing lawyer Are Best equipped to know if a clients interests were poorly defended in an aggressive Effort should be made to solicit from judges and lawyers their comments on colleagues work so that the facts can become known and others in the profession can add their disciplinary hearings in Manitoba Are now kept secret on the grounds that a professionals reputation could be unjustly destroyed by a Public hearing of frivolous on the other Side of that the Lack of Public discussion ensures that some professionals keep High reputations that deserve to be in covering All the licensed doctors with its the College of physicians and like the Law is vouch ing for some practitioners whose work should be Chal Public Confidence in the licensing body voucher therefore has to be limited and by issuing Public comment on dozens of the trivial and the routine As Well As the More licensing bodies could define and explain to the Public the conduct they require of their a few egos May be bruised at the but the professionals would get used to a defeat for tobacco a Small Victory for Public protest in Philadelphia is a huge defeat for the tobacco a vocal coalition of religious and health organizations waged an assault on the Industry marketing and methods and at Issue was the Reynolds tobacco plan to test Market in Philadelphia its new Brand of the target Market for a Mentho lated was Community groups raised a they received a Little Well placed help from health and human services Secretary Louis he spoke scathingly of the tobacco company plans at the univer sity of Pennsylvania school of in Reynolds cancelled its marketing the company was Wise to do no marketing Campaign that attempts to attract buyers for a product As damaging As cigarettes can stand up to close scrutiny or Public the Victory of the will Likely raise the indignation of those who fear for their individual rights in the face of Public health advocacy groups there Are Many who will defend to the death their right to choose paternalism in any Guise can also be Public health groups should not cast themselves As surrogate mums and dads in defence of those who Are too easily persuaded by corporate neither should tobacco companies disguise themselves As makers of Over the decades they have done just that in promoting cigarettes As a Symbol of maturity among Young virility r in and Happy Independence among the tobacco Industry has never used advertising to Tell cigarette buyers what they Are getting an mood altering substance which can bring a Little imme Diate pleasure and far too much Lon term the Reynolds company had a Choice to proceed with its plan to woo american Blacks to it ran headlong into the that some very vocal people were prepared to Tell very loudly the part of the Story that Reynolds was leaving in More and More people Are shunning preliminary figures show that consumption last year fell per some 50 billion cigarettes went up in smoke a huge decline in numbers compared to the 73 billion ignited in the Industry is in worse difficulty the More North americans see tobacco clearly for what it it is in Retreat in both countries and in danger of losing its Black the secret platforms things have become a Little strange in Manitoba politics since it became a three party game but never so strange As in the past few with the conservatives and new democrats All battling for the Middle of the it was not surprising to hear Al three parties profess to be following the same they have gone a step they Are fighting it out to see which party can most successfully conceal from the voters the fact that it has any policies at the liberals apparently Are winning that they forged to the front by managing to hold a full scale policy conference without anybody far from being upset at the they profess to be Sharon Carstairs Hast stopped chuckling smarting from that the leaders of the other parties Are fighting Back behind closed nip Leader Gary doer will not actually deny that his party has any when he will admit that the election will be fought on the the voters Are left to guess the the tories Are getting late into the game of devising policies and not telling they did not get to hold their secret meeting until All this strategy promises to add a rare excitement to the provinces next election Campaign whose Date May already be a Well kept secret in the minds of the three party the leaders debates could take the form of a to game show guess the a pointless statistical proposal by Leonard Shifrin special to the free press Ottawa former nip Leader de Broadbent going away present to the House of commons last month was a motion that parliament seek to achieve the goal of eliminating poverty among Canadian children by the year the governments surprising response was to we inform canadians that the entire As represented by All unanimously supports this Deputy government House Leader Jean Charest the significance of info run is entirely not one extra Penny gets directed to the children of the poor As a because no specific program action is called that was the concern of British Columbia new Democrat my Bob a former nip Leader in who told the House that the words of the motion should be emblazoned on a and the Banner Hung in the House of commons so maps would be reminded of their pledge every Charity tactics he also suggested adopting the tactics used by Charity drives like the United which erect a giant thermometer style billboard to Mea sure Progress toward their the House should erect such a Board to record the level of child poverty As the numbers go he and if those numbers do not go then we do not deserve to be reelected As members of this he parliament int Likely to risk embarrassing itself by embracing Kellys measuring stick but even if the maps wanted statistics Canada May be on the verge of making that four sets of figures according to the most recent stats can income the number of children in what it Calls Low income circumstances and everyone else Calls poverty was in for future instead of giving us a counterpart it proposes to present at least four sets of each calculated different Why according to its recently published discussion paper on the simply to emphasize the fundamental arbitrariness of the in of course there is arbitrariness to any poverty there is also arbitrariness in the definitions Sta scan uses to measure most other things from the Gross Domestic product to unemployment counting Only those who search for and ignoring discouraged would be but for almost a Quarter Sta scan poverty lines have provided us with a consistent Means of measuring Progress toward Mak ing Canada a and a More compassionate it was the appalling poverty Fig ures for seniors which inspired the Wode Adelong series of pension improvements that dramatically reduced those and it was the figures for children which persisted until they could no longer be treated As a temporary product of the recession that led to last months action in the As Well As the unanimously passed there was a decision by the commons health and welfare com to hold hearings on child poverty and prepare a report on the effectiveness of existing Public poli cies and solutions and alter a a Broad spectrum of National so Cial policy organizations has United in opposition to the Sta scan propos the groups Are not against changes in the calculation method for poverty particularly if this makes the availability of More de tailed data conflicting numbers what they Are opposed to is letting statistics Canada effectively destroy poverty measurement by providing such a multiplicity of conflicting numbers that none of them has any it is hard to believe that Sta scan would actually proceed with such a but it is equally hard to fathom Why it would make the proposal in the first forms of larceny on the controversial Casino at the hotel fort Garry got under from the opening of its Well dressed people filled the place to overflow the common complaint was that the facility was not big enough to accommodate All who wanted to for her part lotteries minister Bonnie Mitchelson makes no apology for the governments involve ment in the Casino that will generate million and so it with the exception of a few religious on this one the people Are going to get their cake and eat it too if we pause for a moment and take a look behind All the jubilation and self congratulation i think the cake we have baked for ourselves is nothing Worth celebrating to begin no one is foolish enough to believe that gambling has any intrinsic redeeming the personal Domestic hard lost productivity and the in crease in crime that result is Patent Boule table at by obvious to All of in defence of its position our Money starved government assures us that the Revenue will go to pay for health care and other but this does not in any Way mitigate the social Cost that must be paid to provide legalized the common rejoinder to this observation is that people Are going to Gamble anyway and therefore Why should society not Benefit from their sin As we currently do with heavy taxation on booze and my answer is that such a rationalization is As fundamentally immoral As gambling for in the final analysis both the act of gambling and the legitimizing of it by govern ment Are equivalent forms of Lar for the Gambler it is larceny in that he expects to get something that he has not earned through honest hard the underlying mechanism being that the ill Fortune of others will provide the Means of his Good similarly it is larceny for the government to reap revenues it has not earned legitimately through taxation or business the underlying mechanism Here is that the ill Fortune of those who Gamble will provide for its Good for for government to directly profit from the misfortune of the smoker and compulsive Gambler is truly immoral do we As a society really believe we can hide our callousness and immorality behind the veneer of Good works and Blackie respectability int it time we begin to ask ourselves if we have taken the free ride ethic a Little too far or will government someday be debating die merits of a sin tax on hardcore pornography or establishing gov Ern Mentrin prostitution houses so we can pay More of our health care Bills of give the people what they Ryan Sandulak ministries director Bethesda Church Winnipeg letters the Winnipeg free press welcomes letters from writers must give their name and names will be used and letters Are subject to Bridge project i wish to disagree with the conclusions drawn in your editorial of january 11 with respect to the Charleswood Bridge is factually inaccurate to suggest that the cites works and operations com Mittee is attempting to turn the Charleswood Bridge from a Winni Peg project into a neighbourhood at its meeting of january the committee recommended d that Council rescind its decision of october 1988 insofar As the Charleswood Bridge project being constructed on the basis of a t intersection alignment at Roblin d that the Charleswood Bridge project be extended from Roblin Boulevard to Grant Avenue along the Haney Street and the alignment be on the basis of a four Lane Roadway plus a one Way northbound frontage Road on the East Side of Haney Between Grant and d that funding in the amount of in 1991 and in 1992 be allocated in the five year capital estimates in order to undertake these works As part of the Charleswood Bridge d that immediately upon councils adoption of these the City be directed to make the necessary application to the prov Ince for a licence to construct under the Manitoba environment in making the above recommend the committee considered the ability of the Roadway to operate effectively under opening Day and year 2007 projected traffic the Roadway will also have flexibility to Deal with surges in traffic handle transit allow for emergency maintenance and continue to provide Ade quate capacity during inclement weather All in a Safe manner for traffic including through emergency situations and Access to private the selection of the Haney Street alignment to Access the Bridge from Grant Avenue will also ensure the retention of the Green space in the area and the continued operation of the Charleswood Golf it is Correct to state that most frequent users of the Charleswood Bridge will be those residents living to the South and North of the Assini Boine West of Kenaston Many of these people presently utilize the James Bridge to Cross the Assiniboine by pro Viding the Charleswood Bridge As an alternative for these the James Bridge traffic will be re this will Benefit All the peo ple from other areas of the City that presently utilize the James committee is of the very Strong opinion that the construction of the Charleswood Bridge will Benefit not Only residents of Charleswood and but All other users of the James Bridge and route committee by its action of recommending the Haney Street align ment has gone to considerable lengths to ensure that Access to the proposed Charleswood Bridge River crossing will provide a continuity of traffic flow from Grant Avenue to Ness Avenue and eliminate the considerable number of turning move ments required to Access the former proposed intersection at Roblin this action will also ensure that the Charleswood Golf course can continue to operate with out the threat of ultimately being needed for a future in the Haney Street alignment will give greater Choice of Access to the residents and Busin esses on both sides of the River and will Benefit the entire Chris Lorenc works and operations committee trapping fur i would like to reply to the letters by Bill Zaretski and Charles Bennett in the free press Why do these gentlemen take the trapper to task for trapping fur to make a its a Tough As a trap line can be 30 or More Miles its cold and isolated and hard a trapper May work All season for if these gentlemen Are so against the killing of i suppose they dont eat Steak or Fried i suppose they dont Wear leather shoes or have leather belts or Down lined if they Are so worried about the environment then i suppose neither of them drives a uses a Bath room or Spray because All of these things pollute the Environ if they do eat Wear leather and drive a then i suggest like most anti trap ant Hunting or ant anything else they Are they Only want the animals to have rights when the outcome Doest effect Tom Nean Brandon sad truth in response to the article Educa Tion Reform is i must say i Admire Joseph Macks Cour age to take the position he it is often difficult for an individual to stand up for his or her particularly if it goes against the Grain of established groups or Orga More the article re Veals a sad truth about our present educational system perhaps it serves More the needs of bureaucrats than it does our As the system is being patched up with programs for student sat the rate of dropouts continues to standards continue to de Macks article must not be As we must continue to insist that our educational system have the highest Quality pro Grams and the Best educational Lead this can Only be attained through an open open com participation and our youth should be the Only vested surely representatives of trustees and teachers could transcend their own vested interests and look More broadly at the needs of our students let us begin the 1990s with a fresh Savoie Winnipeg Snow clearance i am a senior citizen and am writing to i have never seen such bad management of Clearing Snow on sidewalks As i have this it is especially bad outside of senior Homes such As the one at 185 Smith i saw one elderly woman with a Cane fall while Mak ing her Way to the bus Over Hills and lumps of Snow with ice i cant remember when i last saw Sand sprinkled on the Lumpy is the mayor trying to save on Snow clearance in order to spend millions of dollars for a new plus his foolish idea of millions for an overhead transport system it looks like Irene Lear Winnipeg Hes stepped out for a did you want to leave a message ;