Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 5, 1994, Winnipeg, Manitoba A f Winnipeg free press w january editorials editor John 6977044 cold War Loon Ness news of the pointless and irresponsible scientific projects of the cold War Era continues to filter out bit by United states Are More forthcoming than Canadas officials about the idiocies of fear of commonly cited As a reason for suppressing Public information in is no bar to disclosure in the records have come to Light in recent weeks in government departments of experiments in the 1940s and 1950s in which radioactive materials were administered to teenagers in a school for the mentally to i pregnant to prisoners and to Termi Nally ill patients in order to observe the effects upon it is far from Clear that the subjects of these their parents in the Case of the what they were letting themselves in Energy Secretary Hazel Oleary has acknowledged that compensation will have to be paid to people who were the White House has organized a task Force to comb through other archives to seek other similar a Telephone hotline has been established for Possi ble victims to make themselves known to the govern the Canadian approach in parallel cases is More Dis Canadas defence department in 1980 issued a Whitewash covering the spraying of cadmium Sulphide and Zinc Sulphide dust Over Winnipeg in 1953 by the Winni Eggers were Given a fake explanation in 1953 of the nature and reasons for the Experiment to which they were the revised version supplied by the department in 1980 was Only slightly the 1980 version announced that the risk to the health of win nip Eggers in the 1953 Experiment had been since no facts were cited in support of that it seemed to rest on something other than Canadian officials habitually consider that information in their files should not be made available to the and one of the reasons most commonly cited is that the in formation might be used to support lawsuits against a Public Winnipeg civic officials have been using that excuse recently As a basis for refusing to divulge in formation about the state of the sewage pumping system during the heavy Rains of the summer of the government is keenly aware that thousands of individuals May bring claims for damages because of dangers they were exposed to without full and informed consent in the radiation experiments of 40 and 50 years the agencies consider it their duty to establish and publish the facts and they Are seeking to do Canadian scientific research in the cold War Era was governed by ethical principles much like those in the and some of such As the brainwashing experiments of Montreal psychiatrist Ewen was commissioned by a search in Canadian archives such As the one the Clinton administration has started might turn up comparable because of the Canadian passion for no such search is once they resigned former tory Cabinet minister Harold Neufeld missed a Golden Opportunity to resurrect a time honoured but rarely enacted principle of parliamentary democracy the ministerial when the Filmon government insisted on pursuing a policy of building a Hydro dam which Neufeld thought be he leaked the vital information to the he could have there was a time when ministers Felt obliged to resign if their personal expressed in collided with those held by the government As a Mackenzie King was thought to demand that each of his ministers sign their letters of before being sworn into if the need the prime minister simply filled in the Blanks and the minister was Canadas defence minister during the second world James was forced out of Cabinet by Mackenzie King when the minister from Nova Scotia was too outspoken in his support of conscription for overseas Walter Gordon resigned from Cabinet in 1965 when the liberals failed to win a majority Gordon had Given prime minister Lester Pearson some bad Politi Cal Call an Felt obliged to accept responsibility by offering his in Neufeldt a resignation would have drawn considerable attention to his principles and would have jolted the government at a time when every vote mat he did not the governments policy was re directed by others the Ontario government which backed out of an agreement to buy Manitoba Power and the objective Neufeld wanted was ultimately a resignation on principle would have been a better Winnipeg free press Winnipeg free press est 1872 Winnipeg Tribune est 1390 Maurice Switzer publisher Duncan Mcmonagle executive editor John Dafoe editorial Page editor directors John Bardawil marketing Craig de Belhumeur human resources Bill Brian Stephan Majorki production Winnipeg free a division of newspapers division of Thomson newspapers company limited published seven Days a week at 1355 Mountain Manitoba r2x pm 6977000 a member of the Manitoba press Council l Reform misses real issues Reform party Leader Preston Manning is urging his flock not to enter provincial politics and instead Bend every Effort towards electing him prime but before Manning or his party can think about they should seek credibility in and that Means dealing with the real issues con fronting not what have Manning and the Reform party been doing while the nation continues to languish in recession and fed eral and provincial governments meet to discuss the deficit crisis Manning and his Reform maps have been Busy taking caucus votes on whether they should refuse to use parliament Hills Barber cafeterias and forgo travelling Busi Ness class on air planes and demand to Ken salary and pension the votes Haven been some Are More willing to Don sackcloth and ashes than Manning himself has put a phoney for Sale sign on a tax rust speckled 1988 Pon Tiac formerly driven by nip Leader Audrey at such stunts trivialize these Riou Ness of Canadas economic and fiscal at they deliberately mislead the Public into thinking it can be solved simply by politicians pulling in their instead of Tilting at windmills this past Reform could have earned its opposition pay by directing Public attention to some of the real last for Canadas National Globe and advertised a on Day conference it and insight information will hold on tax minimization through corporate at Only plus the and the february 16 Toronto affair is a must attend for chief financial controllers and corporate can you afford to miss this Confer ence on the various methods of corporate reorganizations and the technical rules which apply to them the news paper and join Industry Frances Russell leaders for important new sessions on Canadas first corporate minimum tax in Ontario and new rules on Cross Border also important up dates on liquidations and debt corporate tax avoidance is very much at the Root of Canadas debt As Manito Bas coalition for social pointed out at a recent news conference in front of Winnipeg Royal Bank build about billion a year in potential tax Revenue is lost due to Ottawa fail ure to collect outstanding corporate choices data not from some suspect left Wing but from the Mulroney governments task Force on government organization headed by former conservative Dep Uty prime minister Erik a photo its time Manning got serious about important choices also using information published in the financial that in the Royal Bank had million in net but received million in tax this Means any one of the Banks own tellers was de ducted More income tax that year than her Canadas corporations pay just per cent of their income in the lowest among our major trading part in the corporate tax rate is per Cross order butterflies create another tax Haemorrhage from and not just because of the manufacturing jobs that left due to the free Trade agreement or the forecast More jobs expected to flee under the North Ameri can free Trade Neil professor of tax Law at York University Osgoode has catalogued How multinationals use their ability to shift profits across Bor Ders to escape Ottawa profits of Canadian multinationals Are exempt from tax if earned in a for eign country with which Canada has a tax an avoidance scheme frequently used by multinationals is to establish a subsidiary in a tax Haven country and then import goods into Canada via this Brooks the Price the tax Haven subsidiary charges the Parent firm will be far higher than the original Price of the allowing the multinational to leave the bulk of its profit in the Taxa Brooks says this system gets milked to its maximum due to free Trade and its natural incentive for Canadian Plant multinationals shift operations to the Southern and mexi canadians lose communities Are tax Revenue is government deficits and debt social services Are Cut and hopelessness and social breakdown in when it comes to finding a culprit for the there int much com petition Between data like this and haircuts for old Forest remains in danger City councils decision to buy a Forest from Gen Star develop ment along the Lovely la Salle River is to be the Pur still to be is to save the 121acre Forest in Norbert from being developed into a Golf it was an unanimous decision to pre serve this Beautiful River Bottom for encouraged by Public pressure by 13 environmental Spear headed by the coalition to save the there is something in a major clause in the Deal which has sparked the coalition to request it be deleted in the final Gen Star required a licence from Manitoba environment department in order to develop a Golf course on property and so applied for the environment department is still considering the now with the proposed Public acquisition to preserve the there is absolutely no necessity for an Environ mental but the City insists the licence should be obtained As a condition to the agree a clause labelled As preposterous by Yude Val Werier counsel to the the reason is to justify the Price of for the property because that what it would be Worth if devel oped into a Golf it maintains that the Price cannot be supported unless it is based on a Golf the licence is the City at first tried to Swap land with but that didst pan the Price agreed on is considered reasonable by the land surveys and real estate in comparison to similar purchases in the Bill City finance commissioner says if the province is unwilling to Grant a licence then the land is Worth a lot furthermore there would be no need to buy it for it could not be our he is to protect the taxpayer in the Best Way we an other clause Grants Gen Star first right of refusal in the two years following the the City decides to Ter Minate its use of this property As a Park and to develop a Golf Here the City decides to save the for est by preventing the development of a Golf course and in the next breath leaves the door open for the construction of a Golf Carroll says this clause was included at the insistence of Gen Star to protect its position in Case a Golf course was to be the problem is that it leaves the door open to the City to develop a Golf course in the a licence is in Force who knows what inter ests will come into play in the the Purchase approved by Council was to have come into Force on contingent on the environment licence being but that Date was not despite in the pressures exerted on the government by Gen Star to meet the that Means the matter will be opened up to new and it seems Likely to involve a Public hear meanwhile the Manitoba Environ ment department expects an Environ mental assessment will be completed by the end of the it has the authority to refuse a licence and certainly there Are adequate grounds mainly that the Forest and the la Salle River should not be put to any Commer Cial it is Normal for the environment department to hold a hearing when there is Public response to the extent Gener ated Over the Norbert so it is expected one will be recommended to the whatever clearly there is agreement that the Forest must be pre plan adopted in states that the City shall establish As a priority a linear open space and Park and shall Endeavor to acquire Riverbank lands for this Pur a Golf course can be built on other a Forest is an organism evolved Over the one that gives our City a character and Patrimony that must be it is not expend so Why risk future development by insisting on a ;