Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - April 19, 1994, Winnipeg, Manitoba Aft Winnipeg free press w april editorials editor John 6977044 lacking conviction f to o leadership is trying to help people come to i their own those gentle com Jling from the lips of Audrey Mclaughlin during a visit to Winnipeg last offer one of Many Rea sons the Yukon my was an unsuccessful Leader of the new democratic Mclaughlin was unlike any other Leader of the nip or the not Only for the obvious reasons of gender and but for her particular leadership Tommy David Lewis and de Broadbent used the Force of their personalities and the Power of their convictions to cajole or Charm their audiences into adopting the social democratic a majority of canadians were never led to that conclusion but enough of them were to elect members of Parlia ment because of their Devotion to a cause and their duty to pro Mote packed a Wallop in the House of com in those the social democratic move ment was promoting a set of ideas family Al unemployment income old age pen the new having won those Battles Long fight to preserve those the rhetoric has become defensive and Mclaughlin convert the anger against the Mulroney conservatives into Opportunity because three provincial nip governments were governing More or less the same Way As liberals and tories were governing right across the a tight fiscal squeeze left no room for activist government looking to stimulate growth through vast Public when the inevitable clash came Between the idealists and the Mclaughlin steered Clear of the leading neither Side to any conclusions except that Mclaughlin make up her indecision became indifference after the election when she failed to show up for the opening of parliament in travelling in Asia was More pressing such Call it distraction was unheard of with previous nip new democrats looking for excuses will be tempted to say Mclaughlin failure was the failure of the Cana Dian electorate to accept women As political a More realistic assessment is that Audrey Mclaughlin could not inspire canadians because she had the Benefit of neither an inspirational message nor an inspirational leadership in politics Means helping people reach the right for All her integrity and Audrey Mclaughlin let too Many conclusions form without cutting managers Ity councillors should look carefully and so optically at the Large package of management and professional layoffs the City administration is they should be sure they have the full Story on the costs and the savings before they approve the chief commissioner Rick Frost proposes to Dur ing a 30month pruning two of the five City commissioners not including himself and 205 other managers and professionals in order to reduce the City payroll by million this year and million the savings May be real or they May the cites most dramatic downsizing Cut the Council to 15 members from and the annual expense for the care and feeding of councillors actually Rose to million in 1993 from million in if the management Layoff produces similar the City cannot afford the reorganization includes abolishing districts in the City if the districts Are Mere bureaucratic empires without useful they should certainly be but can a single supervisor on main Street actually supervise All the pothole filling projects or All the garbage collection routes in the City or will in prac soon see District supervisors appointed once again under another name elimination of districts will be an improvement if it cuts Down meddling by local where the District supervisor has to take orders both from the department head downtown and from the local no one can be sure who is in charge or what the policy for each of the 207 posts targeted for the Council should know Why this one was chosen and not an other and what the Impact will be on service to the in their enthusiasm for the councillors should not inflict inferior service that Only comes to Light cutting the Board to three commissioners from five seems like a Compromise with mayor Susan Thompsons wish to abolish the Board and put More Power in the hands of the mayor and her executive a three Mem Ber Board will have less expertise than a five member one and will probably do a less thorough Job of drafting City policy and directing the the Council should weigh the modest if they really can be against the damage that will c Winnipeg free press Winnipeg free press est 1872 Winnipeg Tribune est 1890 Maurice Duncan Mcmonagle executive editor John Dafoe editorial Page editor directors John Bardawil marketing Craig Barnard circulation de Belhumeur human resources Bill Brian finance Stephan Majorki production Winnipeg free a division of newspapers division of Nom son newspapers company limited published seven Days a week at 1355 Mountain Manitoba r2x pm 6977000 a member of the press Council after the then what it was better than an said the naked bungee and what Are we to make of that is this something so utterly insignificant that it deserves no attention at or is it a comment so profound that it deserves intense reflection on what it reveals about contemporary society its kind of hard to know these but Bear with me we May get there the Young woman who is quoted took advantage of an offer from a bungee jumping company of a free jump for anyone who was willing to do it Buck quite a few people took them up on the and to recoup their losses on the free jumps normally and fully one would have to pay up to for this the organizers sold tickets to spectators for each and they attracted quite a few people who wanted to watch other people do it with no clothes on the that not the spectators although if they had a real Eye for the they would have charged but let naked people in for a guaranteed Way to increase at Tendance at almost any event except for a Church Tea even i dont know much about bungee nor do i really want de spite the Young Ladys enthusiastic rec it is a phenomenon that has gained popularity in the last few years and which involves jumping off High places with big elastic bands attached to your Ankles or whatever so that before you hit the ground you Bounce Back up several i be Lieve until they reel you in and let you for this you pay if you want to Wear your clothes while you do clothed or i have no in Tention of Ever doing a bungee for one i dont like which is one of the reasons i live on these wonderful Prairies of for i am too cheap to pay to be bounced like a no matter How orgasmic it like most peo i look kind of ridiculous without my clothes that last comment is not meant in any Way to offend people who like to walk around without clothes i May not think much of the Way you but i defend right Down to my socks your right to walk around Bare naked if that is what you choose to i am an even More staunch defender of the right of women to go Bare chested in summer or even in if they like which has be come a bit of a Legal Issue in the last couple of and i think that a Bunch of buffs walking up and Down Mountain Avenue would do wonders to brighten up the Inkster Industrial which in its present not to put too Fine a Point on More Bor ing than me without my clothes bungee jumping is not unique to Western in it originated in the South on the Trobriand where the islanders built High tied vines to their an Kles and jumped the vines stopping them just before they hit the Natalie Mccurry attempts a bungee jump in Australia this had some kind of significance As a rite of passage or whatever in what we would once have called a primitive we cannot Call it that anymore because it is not politically Correct to Call other cultures primitive and be cause we Are doing it for no apparent reason other than that Given by the woman originally the Trobriand islanders at least knew Why they were doing it vines Are not particularly elastic and give fewer so the orgasmic nature of the act might be difficult to compare qualitatively but Why do we and what Are to make of this naked bungee to go Back to the beginning it cant be utterly in signify because the editorial pages of major metropolitan daily newspapers dont discuss at length utterly insignificant so there must be some thing Here to profoundly reflect but ill be darned if i can find perhaps it can be found in the Wom ans statement it was better than an As if an orgasm were the ultimate experience in her life up until that dont get me wrong orgasms Are Nice or so i am but some people live their whole fulfilled and meaningful without Ever having some people contemplate some people wonder about the meaning of some people contemplate the Cosmos my wife finds meaning to her existence in exploring new faults and failings in her thrills Are when they come but there should be More to life than in most of life is quite and its ordinariness the routine of a family the kiss be tween a husband and a wife or the hug Between a Parent and a child upon part ing for the Day is a thrill in itself if we can appreciate its not All that i but then in the kind of dullard who go bungee jumping Buckna ked on a Naftal virus attacks wheat Board senator Max chair Man of the Senate finance subcommittee on International Calls the Canadian wheat Board a nationalistic Cabal that manipulates the Market to favor Cana Dian Trade representative Mickey Kantor says the wheat Board is nearly unique in the world in provid ing unreasonable and unfair subs this should Cement the boards value among Prairie a growing number want the boards monopoly the North american free Trade agreement and the free Trade agreement Are like a computer worm they spiral through Cana Das killing off every ins Titu custom and attitude that sets this country apart from the the free Trade computer worm virus is doing away with Canadas tradition of using Public instruments to achieve so Cial and economic in the fat and Naftal were specifically designed to Transfer social and economic Power from govern ments to a single North american mar Public ownership never used to be a dirty word in it can scarcely be mentioned in politically Correct Crown corporations Frances Russell Are on the Way the internal logic of Continental ism Means Grain like other Cana Are thinking North South rather than East West for Market handsome farm subsidies like the Export enhancement program provide the added inducement of prices far higher than those paid by Canadas traditional offshore the Continental focus comes at a High it has aroused the Wrath of the powerful farm which has always seen the wheat Board As an unfair it also makes Canadian Farmers impatient with the discipline and regulation of the Farmers know they need the Board and railway subsidies to sell Grain to Japan or but they think they can sell it across the Border them Continental isms Price became obvious last week in employing tactics one official described As the tried a raw Power play using Taftas prohibition on tart diffs and the new world Trade organizations prohibition on quotas to muscle Canada into giving up its Supply management system in Dairy and poultry and accepting Export limits on its International Trade minister Roy who led the fight to convert the liberals to the fat and is now tacitly admitting their despite the existence of a free Trade agreement and now has continued to have its exports harassed by the hindered by the he that Why were so committed to a multilateral Trade organization so the opportunities Are reduced for unilateral action based on Mel a former senior Federal Trade opposes the fat and Naftal because of their Builtin Power imbalance against he says be fore free the never at tempted any Trade action against Cana Dian grains or the wheat i he americans always wanted to get rid of the the retired who was Canadas negotiator for the International wheat agreement but they never had enough Confidence in their position to Challenge us under world Trade now these Trade deals allow them to use their own Laws to take us they know they can bully Ian Giaui t Clark warns that even if Canada signs an agricultural agreement with the Naftal Means the government cant Stop its farm organizations from exploiting Law against Canadian Law cuts no ice under world Trade but it does under these free Trade the internal logic of Continental ism Means a swelling fifth column of Cana Dian Farmers is an unwitting ally in the american assault on Canadas agricultural John editor of the Manitoba Cooperator and former communications director for the wheat told the annual meeting of the durum growers association last november that Many westerners have become convinced the is their Only they get on a Soapbox to Praise the fat and to say if the americans wont take our we Are sure going to fix it is who will Al ways get fixed under the fat and for the worlds largest Grain exporter to flog Grain to the worlds Sec Ond largest exporter is Morriss canadians must re Alize we Are not trading partners in the Grain we Are competitors and always will be and lets not pretend ;