Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - April 24, 1990, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free press april Page 7 rms when Ostry policy elite listens Ottawa she has been called Canadas first inter National economic superstar a person whom the policy the advisers to the mighty and almost mighty on this planet listen to with care a Jet setter who brings a special intellectual glow to eco nomic and Trade today As she is a lady with a Fero Cious work and a set of responsibilities to if you spend a lot of time at in or Frankfurt or or a few dozen other major you Are certain to run into Sylvia Ostry one Day a slight almost fragile in appear suggestions that the Winni Peg born economist Nee Sylvia Knelman might be easing into re heard Here and there in the Federal bureaucracy a few months were More than pre these Days she is to be found at gatherings in new washing ton or Canadas capital discussing her new governments and corporations in a shrinking world on hungarian to explain ing the proposals of the the Blue ribbon an International panel she co chaired which has just completed a report setting out a blueprint for transforming the hungarian Economy or perhaps looking up an International Bene such As Sony president Akio Morita in in search of Finan Cial support for the Long moribund Centre for International studies at the University of which she now Heads and Hopes to bring to on a bad Day Shes former disarmament and Gatt ambassador Alan an old time colleague and now Joe Clarks environment likes to say about on a Good Shes a which May explain Why Sylvia Long in the top ranks of the Federal shimmered As a Bright though somewhat Dis Tant Star famed with her mandarin husband for throwing glittering parties that in another Day were major events on Ottawa social her departure from Ottawa some 16 months ago to take a break and do some research on Trade policy went largely the prime she was not Happy to see her she since the Start of the Uruguay round of Gatt been his in charge of the As Well As his personal representative in the preparations leading up to the 1988 Toronto economic sum Mit and at the Summit changed thinking once established in her Toronto and As the first Volvo fellow at the Council of foreign relations in new her thinking for one her husband had for years lived in where he Heads Ontario educational to ser Sylvia Ostry decided to stay if that is what you can Call she said goodbye to not without a great Deal of and some Ive always been my overriding in Terest is in Public but Ive always retained a very Strong Joan Cohen Ottawa editor quasi academic Ostry said in a recent i started out As an and now i suppose Imback but for Ottawa and Sylvia Ostry an Era in a sense had for in her we looked for a linkage in a career that saw her move from labor econ starting with a teaching stint at Mcgill Long to her position now As a leading Light in the inter National economics she went from Mcgill to Oxford and eventually came Back to Canada and what is now statistics which she in time the Ostry were or were they As head of the economic Council in the late she became interested in the question of Deregla which was just then being launched in the air she put the Council to work on a deregulation producing a comprehensive i depth analysis everything from federally regular de to municipally licensed taxi systems came under out of Ostry maintains a ferocious schedule the Trudeau government was not interested in the but the Effort was to open up a Brand new world for Sylvia via the organization for economic cooperation and the British head of the economic Section of the Recd was retiring after 17 the in those Days dominated by the was looked on As a Branch of the British very very the director of the Recd wanted new blood and new approaches in the Way Recd looked at the major world Strys work intrigued and he offered her the chief economists it was their Model was they were paying Little attention to the underlying Structure of the econ i had been interested in labor in in in in the most Micro ele the Whitehall predict did not willingly accept Ostry or her it but she would not and very Ronald Rea Gan took and with him came Supply Side in not a Supply Side Ostry but the Micro Economy does happen to be the Supply Side of the she had powerful american support backing her of the Recd never looked she acknowledges change would have come at some the Short term perspective of the keynesian could not have survived the challenges of the came and Ostry came Back to Canada As Deputy minister of International her interest in International economics firmly As she was immersed in the International manoeuvring leading up to Punta Del where the Gatt round was and at bringing Canada onside with 13 countries in a combined Force seek ing fairer farm Trade Clear sailing it was not always Clear after a there were Public hints of tensions Between Ostry and Trade negotiator Simon to whom she had unexpectedly been told to they were two people with Strong Strong egos and Strong there were Derek the prime ministers then chief of staff and a key player in the Trade Neotia was also absent from Strys cheering inside the she was often yet around the associates she commands rare re from new Michael Aho says a sign of this respect is the fact along with a noted hungarian was tipped to head the High level group working on the hungarian economic plan a group that includes onetime presidential aspirant and former Delaware governor Pierre do a French Nobel laureate in economics and a former economic adviser to British prime minister Margaret himself a world travelling observes that her friends and admirers Are be they include policy economists and increasingly Mem Bers of the business Community contacts made in her Recd Post As a Canadian Public and As the pms Sherpa at the when takes the thought one step i Proba Bly have the Best network of contacts of its an Accident in not i made incredible contacts at the then i came Back and became the Summit Sherpa a nepalese meaning guide or path breaker and Gatt that combination is if youre the Summit Sherpa you have All the g7 but if youre in the Gatt you have to be in touch with a whole Range of less developed it gives you a whole extra group of she must have a lot of interest ing lunch and dinner Conversa Aho referring to her crowded travel Shes an extraordinarily keen observer of whats going and always eager to learn Alan who from his Geneva Perch shared Gatt duties with Sylvia offers a More person Al he admires he Strys personal her great moral courage and her great intellectual if she had a conviction she was Sylvia Ostry has had a great Impact on Canadian and International fearless in expressing he re did not mean she was stubborn and i found we could on occasion disagree quite fiercely but it never affected our because of her Many people who might not want to hear what she has to say still have respect and even a fondness for that Beesley goes on to suggest that part of Strys strength is her capacity to synthesize a Range of matters and produce a integrated conceptual approach to her it is a capacity that emerges in Strys Pat setting new governments and corporations in a shrinking world is the product of her year with the Council on for eign relations and of round table discussions with corporate executives and others from the Europe and stressing the policy formulation it looks at How Trade policy is developed in this it also looks at some Large stresses and strains on the world trading system which the Gatt even if will leave on another financial magnate George Bronfman nominated Ostry to co direct the hungarian ostensibly be cause she represents a nonthreatening Ostry argued she knew nothing about she found the Challenge the commission study builds on work begun by a group of hungarians in funded now by the Hudson Institute and other the finished Docu just gives the government now being formed in the East european country a plan for its first 100 Days that would Engi Neer its very overnight transformation into a Market econ no models the difficulties Are the models for such a changeover non for while privatization is the a first obstacle to be overcome is to establish who presently owns another prob Lem relates to the nonexistence of an unemployment insurance sys tem that might protect workers in the upheavals the report has no Mem Bers of Hungary various political parties helped write and the commission planned to press wherever it can to get the plan adopt Ostry has her own building Job to do a Challenge to breathe life into the Centre for International which has been Little More than a Shell since it was created in the her goal is to obtain sponsorship outside Canada for a string of for eign chairs for foreign who would network with canadians on International research projects dealing with the political econ she would like them to pursue some of the topics raised in her foreign relations Council whether this is 1 dont she finds the sponsors she approaches Are enthusiastic about the except stated or they Are dubious about the Prospect of centring such a world status project in she responds that Canada is uni quely it has no great Power axe to it on the other uniquely positioned As a Bridge Between the g7 countries and the lesser countries of the it is a role that is not she does not know if outsiders or tories finally soften on decentralization plan we will do everything to Stop vowed Peter president of the Manitoba government employees but when he made the comment last november the Chance of Success seemed minimal because the Union had few Legal weapons to fight the governments decentralization As recent events have pub Lic pressure and determined opposition can have an although decentralization will there Are signs of More flexibility in the with recognition of individual needs and the government appears to be returning to a position espoused by the Premier when he originally announced this the plan to assist Rural and Northern areas was widely applauded by municipal but civil servants did not neither did Liberal Leader Sharon who accused the government of acting arbitrarily and questioned the promised economic Bene fits of such a while her party supported the concept of it totally rejected this heavy handed those comments were repeated in March when the government identified the 690 positions in various departments and Crown which would be moved from Winnipeg to 60 towns and villages in other parts of the once More recipients of the Bounty were but civil servants were dismayed and opposition politicians were Carstairs said Volun tary transfers would be the Best while others focussed on the political reason ing and Lack of logic to some of the Many individuals in the designated positions did not want to but they also did not want to be while the government had indicated every under the dome Arlene Billinkoff Effort would be made to find them alternate there was no because of the apparent unwillingness to make a firm the Mega mounted a charging that the Premier was refusing to stand by an earlier Promise to treat employees Olfert called on All members to write and Call their Las to voice disapproval of this politically and morally wrong everything would be done to Stop this unacceptable he one Way was informing the Public of the situation through a Large appearing the Day civil servants were sup posed to have indicated whether they were willing to its headline said it All de centralized government services should be an Opportunity for people to find jobs in their Home its not working out that the governments approach will do Little to create jobs for those who want to remain in their own rather than being forced to leave in order to find a Good stated the the policy also transplanted employees despite the premiers Promise that they would not be thus Demon Strating a very uncaring it we believe there is a better Way to do if the government refused to listen to some civil servants decided to test its willingness to Cope with the confusion which would result if All employees in a specific office did not accordingly 23 people in the vital statistics Branch would not commit themselves to moving to a location which Many believed was unrealistic in terms of the services they hoped such action would make the Gover ment rethink its recognizing the expense and inconvenience in training an entirely new Syd who is responsible for decentralize my advice to the government has always been to Back off if something looks he did not want the government to appear unreasonable and while there was no definite he seemed willing to recommend a different the need for a new approach became More apparent when 14 people in the professionals certification and student records office indicated unwillingness to go to Russell and 24 out of 30 in the lands Branch intended to resist transfers to in most the individuals were whose Hus bands work in such action indicates the plan for decentralization is in total charged Mega executive director Ken who believed the Issue had been aggravated by conflicting comments about Job while Northern affairs minister Jim Dow Ney accused Union officials of creating Trou ble and rejected any idea of altering others in the government were prepared to a letter was being pre pared to be sent to All members of the requesting those interested in mov ing to Rural areas to come it is time to Widen the Appeal for Candi dates and find out who actually is interested in said while the govern ment might be embarrassed by such he believed it was better to be embarrassed and do the right the Union and Carstairs had proposed similar action months it was the Posi Tive noted but the government had been in such a it lost touch with the human although Downey said the critics were Over emphasizing a shift in policy and insisted volunteerism had always been part of the there did appear to be a decentralization will but there is More willingness to take individual wishes into those unwilling to leave Winni Peg will have an Opportunity to stay without endangering Job it is a much More sensible Why did it take so Long doonesbury by Garry Trudeau a thata uonp5rful Pocan i the final funeral arran65 you Saip the Wake was the cast 17 was my Yino ;