Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 7, 1995, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free press january editorials editor John 6977044 jets Are still losing Public Money is subsidizing the losses of the Winnipeg jets hockey club but the Public has Little idea of How its Money is being that Lack of accountability was a weakness of the agreement signed by the province and the Winnipeg jets in 1991 and it remains a weakness labor turmoil at the National hockey league Only exaggerates the agree ments there May be a Good reason Why the City and the Provin Cial government Are each forwarding quarterly cheques to the jets in the amount of a total of million this that is How much Money the team expected to lose this sea just Why the team is losing so much when there Are few salaries to pay is not it is not Clear because the interim steering commit a group of citizens appointed to oversee the hockey teams Hast met since the players were locked out last there Are no answers because no body charge is asking any if the nil Board of governors meeting rejects the National hockey league players associations latest pro As it is expected to do this weekend in new the season May Well be greed will have prevailed and the their Small business people and the fans will be out of pocket and out of the tax payers in Winnipeg and will certainly be called upon to pay out less than if the team actually suited up and played a game that counted for there must be a full accounting of the teams expenses and there Are confidentiality clauses negotiated in the interim operating agreement which protect certain expenses from Public such As management including jets president Barry but there is no reason Why the taxpayers should be kept in the dark about the Way in which the team has managed its affairs during the How Many of its for exam were necessary to sustain the operation of a hockey club that did not play silence from the jets has not been at a time when the team needs All the Public support it can for a new for the continued subsidy of its losses and for Selling tickets once the players take to the Walling is hardly a winning Public relations the jets future will depend on the Confidence of win nip Eggers in the Long term viability of the Confidence is built through knowledge of the facts and Faith in the the jets and their government part ners should Lay More out for the people to if they the Confidence they need will not be there when they need keeping Busy a rare intersession Al meeting of a Manitoba Legisla Tive committee produced Good results this Manitoba Hydro executives were questioned about a series of Power outages in the Southwest Corner of the City by Charleswood la and consumer affairs minis Ter Jim he says he wanted to do a Little prodding somebody has got to keep these Guys those somebody should be members of the since Ernst is also the government House he can implement a lesson from the tees of the legislature should meet More the Filmon government has shown no particular fond Ness for calling the House into in the Legisla Ture sat for a total of 104 in 1992 for 98 in 1993 for 93 Days and in 1994 for 75 the chamber is dark far More often that it is leaving the 57 Las free to attend constituency liberated from the responsibility of at least in the operations of the the advantage of using legislative for example to review the operations of Crown is that the Public can attend those meetings and witness first hand the interaction Between politicians and those whom they Are asked to hold any competent chief executive officer of a Crown corporation spends dozens of hours preparing for those knowing that every word will be on the Public in the Case of Manitoba Ernst was Able to use the committee forum to express the frustration of his constituents that a series of Power outages in the area has caused including the loss of most of last Falls Grey cup next the same commit tee will meet to review the operations of the workers compensation members of the legislature no have plenty of questions for the minister and the every party in the legislature says better use should be made of the Talent available in All three no Rule changes Are necessary to Call meetings of the committees More As House Leader and prodding should Lead the Winnipeg free press Winnipeg free press est 1972 Winnipeg Tribune est 189q Rudy Duncan Mcmonagle executive editor John Dafoe editorial Page editor directors John Bardawil marketing Stephan Majorki operations Perry Glenn 91999 Winnipeg free a division of newspapers division of Thomson newspapers company limited published seven Days 9 week at 1355 Mountain Manitoba re pm 697700q a member of the us lob press Council fifty years a cheery dullard memory is a mysterious it is amazing How the past can slip away from you and then be recalled by a simple event or a few words written on a scrap of the past is often like a darkened you look and see nothing and quite in a Light goes on and All the actors and events Are clearly a Light went on for me this week when i out of the a note from a Reader who had been looking up her old school records at the provincial although her name is now unfamiliar to it appears that we were in the same Grade one class at Queenston school years and years possibly before the building of the per the in was 1942 and most of the children in miss Frances or monds class were six years old and getting their first taste of kindergartens did not form a regular part of the Public school system in 1942 and the notion of so much a part of life for the preschoolers of to was largely most of us ran wild for the first few years of our Young lives and entry into Grade one represented a major step from the an Archy of childhood to the organized discipline of formal for Many of us it was a hard my correspondent kindly provided me with a photo copy of miss Ormonde school attendance record for the period september december including a list of class members the old Roll in that we answered morning and afternoon throughout our school those who imagine that the pre baby Boom Era was a period of Small classes and strict segregation of the sexes will be interested to note that miss Ormonde class at Queenston school in 1942 contained 44 pupils and was about equally divided Between boys and it is also interesting to note that the pay for an experienced elementary school teacher with full nor Mal school training in to what Many people now earn in a month making hamburgers at a fast food then As was very much a labor of dedication and the Mone tary rewards were but there Christopher Dafoe must have been satisfactions that Only a teacher can fully at a distance of Over 50 years Many of the names on that 1942 school list summon no face to the minds but Many Are clearly seen As they were and a few come to mind As they Are although i am not at present on intimate terms with anyone i knew in Grade some of i Are no longer although i Hope i am mistaken in memories of those first months at school Are i recall drawing a Ball with a red band on the first Day and i remember chanting the times tables and learning the letters of the Al i also recall a Day when the entire class got the strap Over a minor riot that broke out after Natalie Craw Ford and i had an altercation Over ownership of a paint i played truant for the first time in miss Ormonde class chose an afternoon when the class was unexpectedly taken on a when i got Home my Mother asked How i had liked the what picnic i re giving myself another time we had air raid Drill and an older boy told me that we would be dive bombed by the japanese air i ran All the Way Home and hid under my i must confess that i was not a Good the term scape race was of ten applied to me and it took a Long time to adjust to the demands of i spoke out of i was rest gazing out the window daydream ing or leaving my seat and wandering Between the rows of i was a Showoff and imagined that everybody liked my jokes and was madly inter ested in everything i had to some might think that i have not changed i had spent part of the previous year in Hospital recovering from the effects of polio and at one Point it was decided that i should spend afternoons resting at i missed some important Les sons and when the school year ended it was decided to keep me in the first Grade for another i have a vivid recollection of going Home with the final report card con Taining the bad the verdict had been rendered i was a a Dum even after half a Century i can feel that sinking feeling that came Over me As i walked Home very slowly along the lanes of River but i was a cheerful child and was never unhappy for if i liked something i Learned it and since i knew How to read i was convinced that i could learn every thing i needed to Given enough i have had Over 50 years and there Are still books waiting to be read and there Are still interesting things to thank miss wherever you a lonely walk Down the Back Lane with a report card in one More shot at Grade guitars and a Well of compassion when i wrote a Story about John Printer not his real name on my main Point was that he was an example of How the system was discriminating against the poor while favouring the mighty in High we read stories about chief executive officers of among them getting More than million a in the prov Ince Over the past year has severely Cut assistance to those Over 55 and childless couples by 23 per not including the paid directly to land i never intended it As a column to elicit support for once employed in a printing firm in now unemployed and suffering from i told the just giving the that he was not going hungry and had a decent i underestimated the Good hearts out there in i had mentioned Printer would get a guitar if he had extra for he once played the in free press readers responded with enough guitars to last him several the phone started ringing the morning of my column and i accepted a guitar from the first Arm a Werier she had bought the guitar when a col lege student in in it is still in excellent she was gracious enough to deliver the Gui tar and Case to she Felt really Good about providing Printer with her old others who called included Margot Coulter of Riding Given a guitar by her daughter 20 years my heart goes out to she in a Way its a disappointment that i cant give this it turned played and taught the i Why i dont whether she played any other it turned out she played the Mouth flute and rec Lawrence who teaches Organ and harpsichord at the univer sity of Manitoba school of music offered a guitar As did Dave on behalf of the professional property managers association who wanted to provide a new others were equally Printer could use a pair of pants and Joyce wondered whether he could use Brand new trousers left by her husband who died last they were too i am Ever so said because i thought i would do a Good i sure wish i could have helped that As for she says i try to be cheerful but its an awful blow to me to lose my husband with whom Ive lived for 52 a woman who insisted on remaining Anonymous dropped a card in my mail Box with a a retired Printer sent i Felt Good talking to All these com passionate they made it sound As if i were the one making these kind i thank you so much for listening to said one woman offering a the sense of civility and Community is still among i called asked if 1 could drop in the Day before he 1 was feeling unwell in body and he figured he had the his Mouth fell open As i walked into his suite near the main Street carrying the that Beautiful he As he took the guitar put of the holy i didst expect any thing like this to happen to he haunt read my Are you sure a Reader sent it he he strummed the tuned played a few More its a Good he then i gave him the Money with the card attached from the Anonymous there were tears in his i believe anyone would do anything like he this is in of my i cant believe Christmas sure came for me this he i come away from this Story with a couple of observations readers Are up set that the poorest Are often the Vic Tims of today 1 also see a Well of generosity and compas Sion in the something we need to remember when fierce Competition is offered As our Way to ;