Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - October 3, 1992, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free press a seven Days a at 1355 Mountain Manitoba r2x3b6 phone 6977000 newspapers of Kiwi of Thomson newspapers company United a Winnipeg free press october editorials Maurice John Page editor Bruce director David c Lee managing editor Craig Barnard circulation director Christopher director of finance de Belhumeur human resources director Stephen j Ray marketing director Stephan Majorki production manager a Meme Reuthe press Council of Trade Liberty of Equality of pm rights reason not rhetoric Premier Gary Filmon struck the right note As he launched himself into the constitutional debate this Rea son and he should drive the not rhetoric and it but no one should expect that it entirely fundamental questions about Canadas future Are at stake in the referendum and those questions Are bound to arouse the emotions As Well As the All the participants in the constitutional debate would be Wise to follow Hilmons the debate has grown seriously overheated in its Early much of it has Little to do with the actual Charlottetown Accord and a lot to do with political prejudices and with regional and group for those Canadian voters who wish to follow Hilmons reason and in formation Are by Well before Vot ing Day on october every Canadian should have had an Opportunity to read the actual words of the Charlottetown they As have a Chance to see the Legal text of the constitutional Amend ments which will be put to parliament and the Legislatures if the people vote yes in the for most people who Are not the words of the Accord will be More useful than the Legal the Accord itself is a parts of such As the Canada Are in the form of be Gal that first suggested by Manitoba task Force on the is not Only largely Complete it is perfectly Clear to anyone except those who Are wilfully determined to misunderstand other such As the one covering the social and economic refer to specific clauses of the Constitution but make their proposal in nonlegal still such As the Section on the re formed Are much More general in the Section dealing with aboriginal self government has been attacked As vague and the ultimate form of self government is not but the process for establishing it is set out in considerable in the text of the Charlottetown agreement runs to 20 legalized those who read those 20 pages will know a though not of what they will need to know to make an intelligent Choice on octo ber while the Legal text is Likely to be of More interest to lawyers and governments than to most other it is important that it should be made Public before voting that text of be subject to minor amendments once it was placed before parliament and the provincial Legislatures for a difficult but unavoidable Issue in the Campaign is what will happen once the vote is will a yes vote Settle the constitutional question for some time to come or will it simply precipitate More constitutional wrangling will a no vote simply Send everyone Back to the constitutional drawing Board or will it be another step to wards the breakup of Canada and will the economic consequences of that breakup be substantial or negligible those questions Are More difficult to answer than ones concerning the substance of the agreement because they involve predicting the politicians on All As Well As economists and have come up with radically different pre two people on the same Side have come up with diametrically opposite this is an area of the debate that badly needs Hilmons ingredients of reason and canadians will have to set aside both fear and euphoria and make a Clear and Cool calculation about the Likely political and economic consequences of their vote on october a Peoples Victory brazils reintroduction to democracy has not been a Happy president Fernando Collor de who campaigned successfully on a Promise to end corruption in the brazilian has now been impeached by Congress on charges of he will be tried by the Senate in about six months and in the interim Vic Epresi Dent i mar Franco will attempt to form a new coalition out of the 18 parties represented in brazils his is no easy Collor promised Radical most of which have yet to be inflation is at 24 per unemployment at 15 per and which owes the largest International debt of any third world is in default on its pay ments and seeking further renegotiation of the the 18 parties from which he must draw a coalition agree on very Little and run the political spectrum from left to right the world the if and West Ern governments will be pushing for a continuation of economic Reform and the privatization of state As Collor bides his time awaiting Tri Franco must create a government and a set of policies that can Deal with the problems although not created by his were certainly aggravated by Franco May Well feel like the Lamb being led to the Many brazilians May be feeling a Little disillusioned with democracy and the possibility of the military stepping in to restore order once again is in these difficult they might recall Church ills com ment that democracy is the worst form of government except for All the and re member that those words were not spoken entirely in the corruption that appears to been Demic in brazilian politics at As a legacy of decades of dictatorship will take a Long time to Root but corruption is not unique to or to latin or to the third world in it is found wherever there is government and whether it be on the grand scale of which Collor is or the much smaller scale of a City councillor profiting indirectly from his office and in Church ills message was that a democracy is never perfect and never eliminates corruption but even with All those it still allows the people to whatever its it has that one great and redeeming dancing in the streets by their hundreds of thousands after the impeachment of brazilians appeared to understand that important their country is in Cri its democratic system is fragile and May not but they had won this Bat at and were right to celebrate this Small Victory in an infant those of us in the More geriatric demo such As should take a look South or East or West and perhaps try not to take for granted what is so treasured and envied a Kook reborn Ross Perot has finally accepted the advice of his paid volunteers and for Mally entered the presidential he ran once before an undeclared Candi Dacy announced with flirtatious fanfare on Larry King inns popular talk on the Day his stillborn candidacy was Ross Perot told his legions of Loyal followers that the democrats had revitalized themselves and that he had no interest in throwing the Fate of the presidency into the House of having Dis appointed his he walked hum excoriated by the press for his Cava Lier attitude and lambasted by even his Clos est advisers for letting the Side his former campaigned called him a Ross Perot is the Man who attacked female news reporters at Abc this week be cause he didst like the Way they were ask ing aggressive he said they were trying to prove their he is the Man who paid his volunteers million to make sure his name was on the ballot in All 50 he is the Folksy Corn Ball who nothing wrong with this country cant be cured the Way my Pappy used to treat that Ole Fox in the Hen this is the Man who now refuses to answer any questions that Arent directly Rel Evant to the concern of the american that Means no questions about his mean spirited private investigations of his now that the ego driven billionaire has entered the both governor Clinton and president Bush will have to Deal with last in an attempt to talk Perot out of High level advisers to both Bush and Clinton flew to dal Las in a shameful display of political Grovel Perot Power was waning fast his temperament ill suited to Public the shallowness of his ideas under Embarrass ing his use of immense wealth to Advance personal ambitions his ignorance of the american Constitution sex his pretensions had been Laid then the frightened sycophants from the Republican and democratic Camps flew into Perot Home town on a Mission of dubious it succeeded in doing Noth ing for their own candidates but elevated Ross Perot to the status of a big time Power broker capable of commanding the Atten Tion of the next president of the United the race will now be More interesting and less Bill Clinton still enjoys a healthy Lead in the the Bush candidacy still stalled and showing no signs of the endless and Uncertain negotiations for a series of televised de Bates is nearing some sort of american voters will witness the three candidates Square they will hear Ross Perot talk about his Radical plan for eliminating the huge american budget they will hear of plan to raise gasoline taxes by 50 cents a Perot cannot win the his residual can play havoc in states such As Texas and Florida where Bush chances will be Hurt by Ross Perot he has the potential to be the a fitting role for an unfit i still think this is just another attempt to make me pay income everything but a plague of toads millions out of the provinces Drift ing into the arms of Uncle the Dollar the Economy in total collapse it sounds a lot like life under a tory govern ment led by Brian in it is the pms vision of the future As it could be if the no Side prevails in the forthcoming National constitutional hyperbole is the word that Best describes the Campaign so far and it seems Likely that things will get much worse before voting the demise of this Canada we love has been predicted for of breakup was supposed to occur immediately after the rejection of the notorious Meech Lake there was talk then of the last Roll of the Dice and Canadas last doomsayers there was a lot of angry comment when Meech but the country itself sailed on and things continued much As they had be the explosion that Many doomsayers had predicted failed to take it was a not a this we Are by Many of those who predicted Blue ruin and worse last time that the crash really will come unless we All fall into line and commit the supreme act of with or without a Legal Mulroney is not alone on the Battle ments of beside him stands his own Joe the great Nec roman who has predicted everything but a plague of toads if canadians do not hold their noses and say yes to his vision of the new Clark has even alluded to and we All know what that is this the Man who people were recently describing As Canadas youngest elder statesman these be your 0 Israel when this sort of tone has been set in a it is always difficult to get the participants Back to Terra f this is a particular problem when leaders of opposition parties have been tempted to Christopher Dafoe join the government Audrey and Jean May wish to appear rational and Downto but who will notice them if they do the temptation to announce armageddon must be very Strong let us Hope a Jean and the others find real arguments to give us and refrain from the grand Grignol tactics of Brian and Canada has never been More in need of politicians who know How to keep Calm and fend off hyperbole also comes into play when mul Doon tells the voters what will happen if they say for the great enthusiast announced in Halifax this week that a yes vote would produce millions of new an increase of 25 per cent in Middle class incomes and a 50 per cent reduction in illiteracy by the year and every one will win lotto politicians Are not alone in predicting what will happen if canadians do not vote the right top businessmen Are also gazing into the mists of time and predicting disaster or depending on How the Plebs Are we to take these predictions seriously can top business leaders re ally see into the future treason and conspiracy if these men Are one wonders How we All got into the current financial both of have economists and constitutional experts who stand ready to contradict the views of opposing economists and constitutional what else is new it is always a kind of Miracle if you can find two experts who agree on alarm has been expressed Over what some observers see As a growing tide of opposition to the Charlottetown appeals Are being made to odious comparisons Are being there is talk of treason and Many i Are not certain Why they feel this overpowering urge to vote the referendum question is so Many of the details of the Accord Are so vague and open to How will the pro posed new dispensation make us All happier and More prosperous nobody knows for certain and Many Canadian feel that they Are being in to take a great leap in the seriously suspect and then they consider who is asking them to take this great leap of for Mil Lions of i the Mere fact that Brian Mulroney is in favor of the Accord is enough to make it seriously i is others had a hand in preparing this particular and yet mul moneys hard sell sets off a Bell of perhaps Many canadians feel that this Man has led them into the ditch too often in the past to inspire Confidence in his current appeals to the Mulroney is in of Trust Many canadians would sooner Trust a dog with a sausage or a Fox with their prize if Muldoon is in favor of Many it will just get us into a bigger mess than it May be unfair to a great Canadian but there you after has he Ever lied to us before it May be that it is impossible to have a real debate on such an emotional and Divi Sive Issue especially when so Many of those who claim to support the Accord admit that it Falls far Short of when you Are halfhearted about you tend to push harder and Competition pays 14 cents an hour global Competition is not All that its cracked up to recently a segment on International news on Csc Channel referred to the Competition of Indonesia in achieving Industrial an indonesian Well groomed and self stated that Indonesia was producing High Quality products to meet the compe theres another Side to the Story that was not indonesian workers Are exploited and paid the government it self at less than the minimum rights ignored harpers in an article by Jef Frey a workers rights advocate who spent three and a half years in Indonesia working for the of Lucios asian inst cites the role of the giant Ameri can footwear company As an example of what can happen in free documents with the Case of who gets just under 14 cents an hour in a Plant producing footwear for Ballinger says that workers Are compelled by necessity and employer Fiat to put in extra the receipt for april shows Sadirah worked 63 hours overtime for an extra two cents an working on an Assembly Sadirah produces the equivalent of pairs per says Ballinger labor costs to manufacture a pair of nikes that Sells for in the is approximately 12 last year Nike recorded a net profit of Ballinger reports that Nike closed its last Plant in the in the 1980s establishing new factories in South when labourers there gained the right to form Independent wages went so Nike shifted new factories to poorer coun tries such As Indonesia where labor rights Are generally ignored and wages Are but on seventh of South meanwhile jobs were lost in the where the average wage in the Industry was an multinationals will go anywhere to com often on the backs of the indo Nesia is a dictatorship ruled by general us Val Werier Harto since the today continues to provide military Grant Aid to somewhere in this is a Nasty aspect of an authoritarian government is recognized with military Aid at the same time workers Are deprived of jobs by corporations paying indonesians one fiftieth 14 cents the wage scale Back How prescient was Thomas american and third president of the 1801 to 1809 who Drew up the declaration of the merchant has no he an aphorism so applicable to global Competition the North american free Trade agree ment is under attack in Canada and the because of the attraction of Industry to Low wages in the Canadian press re ports the hourly manufacturing wage in Mexico is us compared to in the and in in addition to Low wages Mexico does not enforce environmental standards in Indus nor does it have the social benefits for workers in place in Canada and the the playing Field is not a level Gordon who was Canadas Deputy chief of the free Trade agreement with the admits that environmental impacts Are Only marginally addressed in the North american free Trade labor standards Are entirely this is As it should says with issues that Are simply too important to be managed through a commercial agree Hes off these fundamental con Cerns must be addressed from the its too late after an agreement has been in the United consumer and environmental groups have filed a lawsuit to Force the administration to prepare an environmental Impact in the the Law requires such a state ment for All major policy decisions and alternatives or solutions to any environment Canada has no such progressive the world has just been exposed to a cynical display of unbridled Competition and the lust for no matter what the Cost to this was the speculation in for eign the Trade in Money contrib utes nothing to the Well being of countries As in the production or Trade of in routine commercial transactions companies May need to convert one currency to but As the Wall Street journal Points 90to95 per cent of trading is speculation on playing with the eco nomic stability of yet this is what Francis analyst of the prestigious based in had to say about the european cur Rency crisis the net Impact will be Posi he was referring to profits made by major Banks and brokerages with significant foreign Exchange never mind that countries Are battered in the pro there must be some moral standards and allegiances to social equity in Competition and free Competition has its not at wage rates less than 14 cents an exploited indonesian workers i ;