Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - July 31, 1991, Winnipeg, Manitoba Wednesday july third Way falters by William Pfaff special to the free press Stockholm Sweden governing social democrats face a serious Challenge in the general election which conies lit the a result of the fact that the swedish Model of famous third Way Between communism and capitalism tto longer commands the electoral majorities it the social democrats Are in an intellectual As Well As political Cri they have no substitute or sue Cessor to the swedish Model of the welfare state they created in the 1920s and to International it is that of a society of great social homogeneity and con with an exceedingly High level of based on Cess Ful High technology producing equally High Levels of government funded social protect social unrest the social democratic party came to Power in Sweden during the first world at the end of a Long period of social As late As the encyclopaedia Britannica could describe Sweden As a country with a Low Stan Dard of experiencing scar City and occasional famine in its Northern nearly a million swedes emigrated during the Sec Ond half of the 19th most to the United this was equivalent to a fifth of the total population of the country in government was in represent Universal male suffrage in voting for the lower House of parliament had been conceded in but the Crown still possessed an absolute veto on the social democrats in their first years of Power produced an immense democratization of administration and As Well As their ambitious social this created the famous swedish con the social democrats have been in Power for virtually the entire period Sweden at the same time experienced explosive economic develop based on its Mineral re the development of hydroelectric and new industries based on a Happy series of swedish inventions by Alfred among there was a Strong Craft tradition of metalworking and and Sweden became a major pro Ducer of specially Industrial products these could and did go of being produced and sold while the rest of Europe Tore itself apart in the second world but the swedish Economy today is in serious competitive difficult total outlay of government As a percentage of Gross Domestic product is the highest among All the organization for economic co operation and development coun tries per cent in the latest published Recd comparisons Denmark is at 56 per cent Germany is per and the per savings As a percentage of disposable House hold income is by far the lowest in the Recd area actually negative during the four last reported years swedes Are spending from their real economic growth has been lower than the Recd average during 15 of the past 20 Radical movement these material failures Combine with an ideological weakness to leave the social democrats in con the party Long period of Success has transformed it from the Radical movement of its Ori gins to an institutionally conserva Tive accustomed to weakened by complacency and its ideas Long ago became the Stock assumptions of scan Dina with the result that the younger generations a gratefully take for granted what their parents struggled to they have proved increasingly inclined to take More out of society Bank of assets than they Are will ing to put this certainly is not Only Sweden but presents a Peculiar difficulty where the social code is egalitarian and takes for granted shared the collapse of the soviet Model of socialism has also proved awk not because swedish Socia lists Ever approved the soviets totalitarian but because they rather too freely assumed that while soviet practice might be the principles of social Justice were on that while nato was Une Gali sceptical of nuclear system collapsed the abject collapse of the soviet system and the fury turned by its survivors and victims against its sometime Western apologists has left All of the scandinavian social democrats discomfited on that moral plane upon which they had until recently assumed themselves the swedish party current electoral Challenge will probably be beaten according to local even if the polls re main the social democrats have an unmatched party organization and can get out the vote favourable to at worst they will confront a new govern ment of centrists and conservative who when they last go Between 1976 and were unable to find a Strong com Mon the social democrats have decided to take Sweden into the european economic com membership in the dec will intensify Sweden Competition and the argument augment its competitive it will be easier to justify austerity the decision nonetheless suggests a search for an external solution to Sweden internal those Are More Radical than the social democrats seem ready to modern social conditions and the contemporary International Economy have deeply under mined the traditional welfare the swedish Model badly needs to be reexamined in the Light of where Europe stands so scandinavian social democrats do not seem ready for such a it will be important to see what happens to the swedish Model when Sweden collides with v prosperous but Are turning away from the social Rita Johnston celebrates her election As social credit leadership convention leaves so reds divided Vancouver the most often used word at the so Cial credit leadership convention in the glitzy Trad and convention Centre Here recently was but it has now become Abun Dantly Clear the governing party came out of the three Day event even less unified than it went into for weeks before the Conven the candidates had All publicly been preaching the Unity with an election required within the next four months at the absolute they said repeat the party simply could not afford the sort of divisiveness and hostility that erupted after Bill Vander Palms win Back in there was no time to heal the wounds the convention must not produce any wounds that needed to be at least a veneer of Unity was maintained through the first two Days of the As the delegates sipped wine and cheese and wandered in the candidates villages All set up in one huge noisy Hall where jazz bands mingled with taped music and with giant video serious candidates As soon As the speeches were it was obvious there were Only two serious candidates in the race Rita Johnston who had been sitting in the premiers chair since Vander Zalm was forced out in and Grace the party Grande Dame who had been persuaded by her supporters to come out of quoting polls which said she was the Leader most Likely to beat the the other three candidates Bac Bencher Duane for Mer social services minister Norm and former finance minister Mel Couvelier obviously didst have anything like the same kind of support As the two when the results of the first Barbara Mclintock in British Columbia ballot were made the close Ness of the race Between the two was even More Mccarthy who had hoped to be leading by More than 100 votes was in fact Only six votes ahead of that put the pressure on the other All of whom had to drop off the ballot under obscure voting rules of the party constr Couvelier was especially in the spotlight because he was solidly in third and because it was widely believed he would go to Mccarthy since it was Johnston who had fired him he thought from the finance Porto a devout seventh Day want even at the convention on Jacobsen freed up his delegates to go where they wanted and say How he himself would vote on the Sec Ond then Couvelier stunned the convention including Many of his own by heading to wards the Johnston Camp and embracing Rita that support was enough to put seen by Many As Vander Palms Over the top on the second by a vote of 941 to always a lady of still insisted upon the Unity theme As she conceded defeat and congratulated the she urged All the delegates to make Unity a living togetherness As the party started its next round of election but the minute Couvelier stepped up to the it was obvious Mccarthy words had gone for naught amongst Many of both own delegates and Couve Couvelier was greeted by a Cho rus of Boos and shouts like you killed the and several Mccarthy supporters walked out in the Middle of Johnstons in the Days following the Conven things have not got any bet at least four members of Couve Liers Riding executive in the Vic Toria suburb of Stanich North have some saying publicly they Are too upset with their la to continue to serve others saying Only that the time seems right for a blistering letter Mccarthy put out a blistering open letter to almost accusing him of being a traitor and of making untrue statements about her record on restraint in spending Public she she put her record up against his any and she suggested he was a candidate in search of a number of upset Stanich North social credit members have begun organizing to find someone to run against Couvelier at his renomination meeting next one of his voting delegates even turned up at a new Democrat nominating saying Couve Liers and Johnstons behaviour had proved they were morally corrupt and she was now ready to work for the Johnston also lost one of her senior Cabinet minis forests minister Claude who decided hed lost the fire and want going to run even though hed supported Johnston at the convention and had himself been renominated less than a month then Johnston set out on a train trip across paid Forby the to meet Small town the first breakfast meeting had a turnout of Johnston has a lot of Healing to do and very Little time to do it in before she must Call her mentally ill people suffer and society fails to act by special to the free press at first the human rights code and the Manitoba mental health act appear to provide a protective Blanket for persons with mental meant to ensure that patients Are not victimized by unscrupulous doctors experimenting with untried or by vindictive they have in Many cases placed All responsibility for the patients Well being on the patient As a voluntary those not committed to a treatment facility under the enjoy the same kind of Freedom that someone without a mental disorder but often that gives them the Freedom to destroy then selves or the Case history of one and there Many like illustrates Point after years of treatment for in and out of the some years ago this patient was judged capable of looking after and he is a try patient of the outpatient psychiatric department of a Large such he is supposed to go there by for hut As a voluntary patient Rete of simply fail to a jew up and no Ane in the psychiatrist in nor the nurse who his m do anything about it particular him not i was inc lied into society Gry unite Dasiea of hew to live in that his educational level is about Grade he had never shopped for Fried an egg or made a cup of no longer judged he is subject to uncontrollable outbursts of rage when subjected to real or imagined at such times he is prone to destroy smash windows and scream obscenities at anyone who happens to be around on a couple of has attacked people the mental health act states that a patient May be assessed As an involuntary and thus if a physician decides he is in danger of causing serious harm to himself or others or is suffering from substantial mental or physical deter nurse and a psychiatrist to whom this writer spoke recently stated flatly that in practice this Means the patient must be either suicidal or Homicidal and in a very severe state of deterioration before any action can be j hate to say said the but we just have to wait until a patient is in a real crisis before anything can be any one other than a physician who feels a patient needs Hospital must make a written under before a setting out the reasons Why a patient should be the Justice May then Issue an order for the the police May Tike the patient into to that it is All of these procures take of time in which the patient May be in a crisis situation with serious in teds his frequent rages have resulted in police being called to his place of residence More than but by the time they he had calmed Down and nothing was other tenants continued to com Plain to the expressing not Only but and As a Ted has been usually after Only a few months residence in one his upsets Are no doubt partly due to his struggle to get along on his own when he is unequipped to do As Long As he is a voluntary he cannot be compelled to enter a group Home where he would be assured of his three meals a having no idea of How to he spends his social allowance Cheque within a few Days after he receives and then is in the lineup at the soup not because he Doest receive enough but because he Doest know How to handle in recent like so Many Schizo he has his Tion and has been steadily his his doctor and his relatives recognize but can do no More than wait for the inevitable big people awaiting an earthquake can at least take some precautionary measures those waiting for a psychiatric patient to destroy or someone find their hands a person suffering from a heart attack is not asked whether he wants to be resuscitated when he enters an emergency once a patient has been nosed As suffering from a recognizable ill his doctor should be Able to see that he gets treatment whether he is a voluntary patient or an involuntary Freedom can be abused and under both the human rights code and the mental health pm is related to a person with by Garry Yoy i ;