Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 8, 1994, Winnipeg, Manitoba A Winnipeg free press january editorials editor John 6977044 Friday night dead cancelling Friday night with Ralph Benmergui in no big a bad television show was ignored by audiences and the Canadian broadcasting corporation made a decision to Cut the losses and get what the failure does yet is that the Csc is badly out of touch with its that is Only part of the the Csc now has serious trouble on a number of fronts it is looking for a new a Vic president of English a Vic president of French television when interim president Anthony Manera leaves in Gebru a senior Vic president As Patrick Watsons term As chairman runs out in the conservative government split the positions of president and chairman in order to make the chief executive officer More accountable to the that was and remains a Good the new government should keep things the Way they while those vacancies stay the Csc is problems on the screen Are just As troublesome As problems on executive a steady exodus of viewers from news and Public affairs programs a direct re sult of moving the news from the comfortable 10 Slot to the distinctly unpopular one at has sent viewers Scurry ing across the dial in search of the grateful by is just As serious As the loss of audience is the alienation of Loyal advocates who Are now less sure of their support for Public other decisions continue to haunt the regional stations have been fewer programs Origi Nate outside of Toronto and late night news broadcasts have been cancelled As a fans who swore by the Csc Are left wondering where to look for services they once counted on the Csc to those will be less Likely to make a stink when the Csc cries As it routinely does when Cash strapped governments slash its As they have done for several years in a Row and will Likely continue doing in the foreseeable the new Federal government has not yet made Clear its plan for the How can it when the Csc has no plan for itself flapping without without purpose and without audiences is a recipe for crisis can be converted to Opportunity if vacancies at the top Are filled with executives who have a Clear sense of where they want the corporation to staying in closer touch with reasserting the role and importance of regional steering Clear of cheap american training and showcasing talented artists and and giving canadians Quality and variety unavailable elsewhere would be a Good place to phantom defamation the decision of an Ontario judge that the Csc did not indeed could labelled former Canadian airmen in an episode of its second world War series the valour and the horror is hardly a ringing Victory for Freedom of the it is a Victory for com Mon sense and should help discourage future attempts to harass journalists by rounding up bogus victims of their reporting and Freedom of the press was prob ably never in much because it is hard to imagine any judge taking the suit the suit was brought against the Csc supposedly on be half of the Canadian veterans of bomber com Mand in the second world War who Are still it claimed that the which questioned the bomb ing of civilian targets in Germany by Allied air de famed the reputations of All of there is a fundamental Absurdity in bringing suit on be half of Many of whom Are unaware that the suit is being Many of whom May Well have no desire to be included and some of whom May very Well agree with the facts and the interpretation put Forward in the Csc Justice Robert Montgomery of the Ontario courts general division ruled despite a new Law which opens the door to class action suits in defamation must concern an unless an individual is Ridenti there is no that makes sound Good sense to laymen apparent to those schooled in the Law As one Ontario Legal expert called it Basic kindergarten any other judgment would have left journalists Vulner Able to claims and Legal harassment from shadowy and ill defined the result would have been to strangle free speech and to inhibit Public the judg ment removes that potential bar to free it leaves individuals with their Legal defences intact should their reputations be damaged inaccurately or it leaves journalists and others including those who feel aggrieved by the valour and the to put their views Forward in the Arena of Public Winnipeg free press Winnipeg free press esl 1972 Winnipeg Tribune est 1890 Maurice Switzer publisher Duncan Mcmonagle executive editor John Dafoe editorial Page editor directors John Bardawil marketing Craig Barnard circulation de Beli Dumeur human resources Bill Burns advertising Brian Cottom finance 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 eating Lotus with the kids there is something a bit Dis combo plating about Green grass at but some How you get used to you also find that you get used to even appreciate the Flowers Blooming in the gardens and the Early Pink Cherry Christmas in Vancouver May not be exactly what Bing had in but in the Middle of december it makes a Nice especially for those who know All about White there is nothing disloyal to Winni Peg in this i plan to spend the rest of the Winter Here and i constantly Tell my Vancouver friends about the bracing Quality of an Early morning walk along the Slippery streets of the Prairie i never fail to men Tion the dry cold and the Crisp sunny in i Only go to Vancouver for Christmas every year because my two oldest children live there and be having eaten the fruit of the to they refuse to visit Winnipeg Dur ing any month with an r in i would gladly offer them the pleasures of a frosty Winnipeg Christmas As outlined by Rose Wyleman in her famous but there you Queen Victoria in her chair with Snow upon her snowy hair and Snow upon her feet does not tempt so we go to it every Christmas we return to the same comfortable apartment 10 paces from the Edge of Stanley my son and daughter live on the next Street with their respective mates and there Are ducks and geese to feed Down on the Banks of the nearby Lagoon and a Long seawall to walk on the mild morning of Christmas i always think of Vancouver As a sort of Clearing in the but the Camp site seems to get bigger every year and the backgrounds keep downtown for appears to be totally untouched by the Long recession that has cast a pall Over formerly prosperous cities such As Toronto looked just a bit seedier when i was there in Early but As always in recent had to be re explored because of new development and old landmarks have to be replaced by Glossy new a Christopher Dafoe Friend of mine has his office in a Large new building on Georgia last year when i visited him at his office on the eighth floor i admired his Clear View of the romantic North Shore this year that View has been removed by a new if he looks out his window now he gets a View of another mans office across the As we were going Down on the Eleva Tor he reminded me that his building is on the site of the old Ritz a watering Hole that he and i favored Back in the Early in everywhere you go in Down town Vancouver these Days you Are re minded of some Lon lost the store or House that once seemed As permanent a part of the landscape As the Lions or Siwash the new buildings More of ten than splendid examples of modern architecture but somehow you miss the old remembered downtown Vancouver once existed on a More or less human the mountains seemed almost close enough to that bulge of land be tween English Bay and Coal Harbour now seems to be so heavily Laden with steel and Marble that the addition of a single Brick might sink the whole thing and bring in the i is As Progress it is All very even handsome in a Mammo worshipping but you do sort of miss the old humdrum As it May have in the very Little has if you Overlook the almost frightening increase in the Goose popu there were always a few geese wandering around near the Lagoon in Stanley Winter and 1 can recall occasions in the 1970s when 10 or is of them used to Block traffic on the causeway Road to the first Nar rows now there seem to be hundreds of the lawns near the Lagoon Are Greasy with Goose the paths Are crowded with feathered panhandlers and flights of geese Fly dangerously by at head in they Are taking Over the Park and there is a danger that some sportsman on the Golf course will be charged with Hunt ing out of season after he Beans a Goose with a Ball on the first on Christmas Day my son suggested a brisk walk through the Park in Prepa ration for the big meal that was coming later in the Well go directly into the he there Are winding trails we soon discovered that if you leave the main trails you Are soon bogged Down in a morass of fallen bog and Skunk my who is exactly the age i was when i first took him on one of these tramps through the Bosky Woods of Stanley sped along like a born while i staggered behind with my shoes filling with my trousers splattered with i reminded him that in years gone by i used to carry him out of the Woods on my lets go and have he re changing the u 4 i 1 j tourism Vancouver photo Vancouver seems to be totally untouched by the Long recession which has affected other cities ride the breathe clean air the problem with increasing transit fares is that it hits the poor and ultimately the Environ effective next month Cash fares will be increased by five cents to and monthly passes by to the car is one of the biggest Pollut ants producing nitrous oxide which forms both acid rain and Urban everyone agrees drawing More people to Public transit is an effective Way of reducing damage to the envy its a Tough a car no matter How costly to is hard to displace because of the convenience and the Western world View that a person without a car is a obviously a bus with 60 passengers or so will use less Energy per individual than the average car which carries Only people in the City Rush if the environment is a casualty in the Competition Between the car and Public the evidence is Clear in Winnipeg and other the car is the number of cars in Winnipeg has increased by 220 per cent from in 1962 to in according to the streets and transportation depart while population has increased con Val Werier Sider ably in that the annual passenger rate has declined from about 60 million to an estimated 46 Mil lion last Nick superintendent of Cus Tomer attributes the current decline to the Economy and the Rise in changes in population have also had an Impact Over the the biggest Are a de Clining portion of the Urban sprawl has made it impossible to provide adequate service in Onrush hours to dispersed areas with Low increasing fares does contribute to the decline in it is recognized in All Urban centres that transit fares have to be subsidized to attract is of Benefit to Busi Ness and and reduces the need for other traffic Are according to the International Institute for sustain Able development it has been Esti mated that the Cost of traffic congestion Idle Drivers and idling cars reaches billion annually in the the province and the City subsidize transit at the rate of million a or 45 per cent of the Cost of in Case that sounds examine the subsidy of the in terms of expenditures on City streets for maintenance and capital this past year it was valuable real estate is used for the car mainly in unappealing parking from 1962 to the number of downtown parking spaces has in creased by 27 per cent to our transit according to a financial times article in is the most efficient in the country with the lowest operating costs per passenger and High that a great tribute to the officials boast that despite the in crease in they Are the lowest of any major Canadian while at the same time providing very competitive service if the system is it can stand a lot of recommended for but never acted one is the Southwest transit corridor along the Pembina railway right of Way from downtown to the fort Garry the Cost is million but in the Long run it would encourage More the transit system deserves a greater priority on the streets As in comparable cities such As Edmonton where there Are exclusive lanes for buses and car Calgary has a rapid transit motorists dont give bus Drivers the break they deserve in heavy the transit system has asked motorists to give buses the right of As when pulling away from the there has been a favourable response from the says we would have a different City today if we haunt capitulated to the car in the design of the in the five years leading to elms and Maples were removed from three Miles of streets in the heart of encompassing 34 the reason to Widen the streets and convert them into one Way thorough fares to Speed the a grievous in jury to the Grace and character of the ;