Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 9, 1995, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free press january consulting themselves if there is one thing that every government of every Stripe believes in these it is no government will take a major step without Send ing out a committee to hear the views of All those interest groups that qualify for the Label of that was not always the forty years when the government was run by a tight knit network of powerful ministers and powerful Public policy was cooked up in the when Louis Laurent or Howe had made up their minds about what was Good for the the peo ple would be told and an obedient Liberal major Ity would vote their Deci Sions into until much More re budgets were prepared in the darkest any finance minister who allowed the smallest peek at the budget proposals before they were tabled in the House was expected to do the decent thing and All that has changed has it governments these Days certainly strive to create the image of the at least some of them get to express their views to the parliamentary in Terest groups Busy themselves preparing position papers for presentation to the travelling groups that Are not invited to appear give credibility to the whole process by bitterly protesting their exclusion or even by commandeering the hearing everybody takes the consultation process with pro found but there is reason to believe that things have changed less Over the past 40 years than Many might have while the parliamentarians Are flitting about the country taking the pulse of the peo much government policy is still being designed be Hind closed doors by the familiar cabals of Public ser vants and Over the past few the House of commons com Mittee on human resource development has been touring the country hearing submissions about what shape the proposed Reform of social programs should the committee has heard a wide Range of Many of them highly about the direction of the govern ments proposed reforms and Many of them urging not spending on social As reporter John Douglas revealed in this newspaper on what appears to be the real work of social policy Reform has been going on within the bowels of the civil people in the Federal bureaucracy Are Busy drafting reforms which Bear Little resemblance to much that the parliamentary committee is the Public reflecting the views of their masters in Are drafting programs to Cut reduce welfare dependence and push unemployed people Back to jobs even if they dont pay very the fact that these proposals have Little to do with what the parliamentarians have been hearing in their travels across the country does not necessarily mean that the consultation process is a the hearings help establish the climate in which the governments reforms take place and will help determine How far the government can go in its chosen maps who have served on the committee will have a voice in caucus which May be used to modify or soften the Tough proposals prepared by the but the in the has to do what it considers right for the country and stand or fall by that the real consultation will come three years from now when the voters get to pronounce their Back to health they cant Call it the jobless recovery any More than canadians found work last year and the unemployment rate dropped by almost two percentage they cant Call it full employment the unemployment rate at the end of 1994 was still per rate that at some Points in Canadas history would have been regarded As a National even As the healthy rate of Job creation continues through the present year and unemployment is still Likely to remain within the nine percent work during the recession will be lured Back into the la Bor Canada went into a profound recession four years combined with a significant economic it is Only now returning to the level of employment that existed in painful though the recovery has How the dire warnings that Canadas economic base was permanently destroyed have not come to there were full time jobs created last spread equally across the country and in both the manufacturing and service that is not the pattern of a devastated it is evidence of an Economy after going through a wrenching is coming Back to Winnipeg free press Winnipeg free press 187 Winnipeg Tribune Rudy Duncan Mcmonagle executive editor John Dafoe editorial Page editor directors John Bardawil marketing Stephan Majorki operations Perry Nixdorf advertising Glenn free 9 division of newspapers division of Thomson newspapers company limited pm polished seven Days a week at 1355 Mountain h w779qq editorials Freedom of Trade Liberty of religion Equality of civil rights editor John 6977044 on guard caught in Cable tvs trap there is absolutely no truth in the Rumor that the Cable to companies stuck us with that gosh awful Toledo station so that we would buy the new channels they Are beaming into our Homes free this the truth is that the Cable companies dont have to resort to such they will catch most of us by using what they Call negative a Catchy phrase that translates into Subtle pressure designed to trap most of us into paying for new television Chan Nels that darn few of us will Ever the Bottom line is that Canad coast to will end up paying million More to satisfy special in Terest groups and for the Opportunity to watch again shows that generally were not Worth watching the first Why do we put up with this raid on our pocketbooks certainly not for what is being apart from get Ting a Fox network which will stay on the air without any help from Canadian the rest of what is being offered consists mostly of re runs and programs aimed at special in Terest our dollars will employ people who cannot make a living in the real to world without our the last time the Cable companies mixed the pablum of compulsory pay Canadian stations like vision and Yov with some More attractive fare like and this time not Fred Cleverley one of the new stations will be Worth a plugged Nickel to most of just what we will pay remains a mys Tery to most not once on any literature i have received from Videon i am part of its monopoly has Price been neither has the Date on which i have to refuse the new ser if i dont want to pay for i managed to get the Price plus tax in writing from Videon but the refusal january so far is Avail Able Only nowhere in videos literature did i discover if i refuse the new Chan i will lose pcs the government has decreed that for every Channel there must be one Canadian if i dont buy the new this Rule dictates that i must lose one of the stations i now and Videon has decided it will be if i am too Lazy to cancel the new channels that Are on my to or if i Overlook the cutoff my Cable charge will go to per month from in both cases plus the actual increase including taxes will be about so the total will come quite close to a a Fig ure the Cable companies know full Well is the threshold above which few peo ple will pay for Cable else where in and particularly in the companies have found that it does not matter How Many channels Are people resist paying More than a most look Many buying satellite dishes when this a few including peo ple like me who live in a Condo minium where Cable charges Are part of the common element re ally have no because Videon has to Send Only one Bill to our build and not we enjoy a bulk Dis we Are told that our discounted Price will increase by per unit per plus if we buy the new if we say we lose the bulk discount which is Only available on the full package and As a result our rates would increase by More than per unit per All we can do to protect our wallets is to relax and enjoy what is happening to contemplating the future is we Are told we Are heading into a 300 or perhaps a 500channel to will we get them nine at a at plus per increment Why do we let crts chairman Keith Spicer pick our television fare there Are attractive new channels becoming the new history Channel be ing offered by is a Good we Are not being offered Why Spicer is waiting for a Canadian history Channel before we Are permit Ted a history Channel of any he is willing to order us to pay for the Way he has ordered us to pay for news vision the new French showcase and the new women whether we watch them or Why Are Cable companies allowed to maintain their monopolies their profit sheets Are nearly As objectionable As those of the Why not throw the door open and let whoever thinks he can run a Cable company do and not be required to let the government pick the bulk of his program Ming for him studies in the show that where companies enjoy a monopoly Cable to rates Are and where there is Competition rates Are we Are not caught in a technology if we the Cable companies would not be Able to include their pay preview previews along with the most Basic service they its time to let those who want to produce and Supply television do so without our compulsory tories face major problems by Janet Porter journal of Commerce of the Tow lotto press Council London the spectre of a Ca Nadia style rout now faces the British government As the traditionally Tor supporting Middle classes abandon the divided conserva Tive party for new style the standing of prime minister John major and his government has sunk so Low that the conservative party could conceivably be left without any Mem Bers of the House of commons at the next midterm by elections Are notoriously poor indicators of general elec Tion with the electorate using the Opportunity to express displeasure with the government while invariably returning to the usual voting patterns at a general but such was the extent of the conservative party de feat in the Dudley West constituency in mid december that political pundits doubt whether the government can re cover from such a a recent opinion poll showed the present British government is the most unpopular in polling with Only eight per cent of those questioned satisfied with the Way the country is being until disaffected tories have tended to vote Liberal Democrat when unhappy with government poli but this they flocked to la which overturned a conservative majority of almost in 1992 to take the seat with a majority of Over the swing from conservatives to la Bor was the second largest this Century and underlined the findings of opinion polls showing majors government is the most unpopular having lost one seat John majors tories face the Prospect of in the by election and suspended nine rebel tory members of parliament for refusing to support his european poli majors majority in the House of commons is Down to a barely work Able the governments parlous state was clearly evident earlier last month when it lost a bid to raise the value added tax on Domestic fuel after some conservative maps voted against the in an embarrassing climb the Chancellor was forced to present an emergency min budget that increased taxes on cigarettes and alcohol that was just one of a series of Politi Cal setbacks to befall major and his Cabinet in recent just As United states president Bui Clinton found Liat a rapidly Economy was not a vote Winner in the november so major has failed to convince the British Public that the Economy is doing the electorate is dismayed by tory infighting Over whether or not to push for closer links with furious Over the huge salaries paid to directors of recently privatized utilities such As British angry about the privatization of British rail that will break up the nationwide deeply concerned by the perceived threat to the National health and horrified by tales of sleaze within government on All these the govern ment has succeeded not Only in provoking its opponents but also in alienating its natural the English Middle but a Survey of voters in Dudley West showed the government has a far More intangible hurdle to overcome if it stands any Chance at All of winning the next general the elector ate is not As concerned about specific policies As it is about the society that has been created during 15 years of tory labor Leader Tony Blair has shown he understands exactly what people Are most about when he talks about the need to restore Community such talk does not mean Blair is vague on More specific in the few months since he was elected party he has shifted labor to the mid dle of the political spectrum by taking on the old guard left wingers of the party and throwing out socialist poli cies that were anathema to much of the he also is proving a fearsome opponent to major during parliamentary with a Clear grasp of the the English Middle whom labor must win Over if the party is Ever to return to have been the tories have rarely looked is far too Good a politician to take anything for especially after labors Shock defeat in the 1992 general while most of the country assumes he will be Britain next prime Blair understands How quickly Politi Cal fortunes can change and knows Nei ther he nor his party can afford to be complacent or Janet Porter is chief european Cor respondent for the journal of com Merce t ;