Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 14, 1995, Winnipeg, Manitoba A Winnipeg free press w january dying in dignity members of the Senate committee studying Eutha Nasia should take a Good look at an inquest concluded by a Manitoba provincial court judge this judge Howard Collerman decided that withdraw ing a dying mans Respirator while injecting lethal doses of morphine to inhibit pain and distress did not constitute assisting a that judgment was at Odds with a conclusion reached by Peter the provinces chief medical following judge Collerman Markesteyn said the next time he is confronted with allegations of euthanasia he will pass the matter along to the be he our of fice is not a crime investigation unit were a death investigation if an appropriate Law were on the neither Markesteyn nor the police would need to be such a Law would recognize the value of allow ing people to die with terminal a physicians and nurses who give care to the by and the families of suffering patents de serve a Law that is com passionate and this Case is not the same As the one involving sue where a physician administered a lethal injection that was the cause of but the Amy trophic lateral sclerosis Lou Gehrig disease is the the pattern of steady dete the the loss of bodily the total dependence on others and the certainty of imminent death Are All the Canadas criminal code forbids assisted in the Case of sue the supreme court of Canada up held the constitutionality of that in the Case of the Manitoba judge Collerman conclusion at a Coro ners inquest was that the patient died of natural causes and that no Laws were the Challenge facing the Senate committee and then the parliament of Canada is to draft a Law which permits suf Fering people to die with dignity while protecting others from the task is not in his minority judgment in the sue Rodriguez chief Justice Antonio lamer set out conditions necessary before a physician assisted death should be sanctioned by those conditions include the consent of a terminally ill patient of sound mind and the Assurance from a physician and a psychiatrist that those factors Are the supreme court passed this ethical question Back to the where it the Senate committee should recommend a compassionate Law setting in line with chief Justice Lamers the conditions which must be met for a death with getting it backwards Manitoba entertainment Complex chairman John Loewen says there is Little Point meeting with City Council looking for site approval for a new Arena until the Federal government announces its Loewen has it backwards human resources minis Ter Lloyd Axworthy should not contribute anything at All until Loewen and his group of new members were recently the extent of private there Are still too Many uncertainties about the Long term viability of the Winnipeg jets the Arena in which it would be the principal for the Federal government to evaluate the Wisdom of coming to the table with Cash in Axworthy is a seasoned political who knows there is Little tolerance for Public in vestment in Wishful More will be known when jets president Barry Shenkarow can explain the details of a Revenue sharing agreement that he has yet to negotiate with his the owners of the other 25 teams in the National hockey As it too Many carts Are being put before too Many it has become conventional Wisdom among the proponents of a new Arena that a facility is Neces sary to generate enough Revenue to keep the jets in win but that figure was arrived at before this weeks la Bor agreement was signed by the owners and the and nobody yet knows what a Revenue sharing Deal will mean for the jets Bottom line in the Long it could be that a generous equalization formula will radically reduce both the Price of admission to an nil game in Winnipeg and the necessity of building a million maybe it maybe a refurbishment of the existing at a Cost of million would be sufficient to keep the team afloat and the taxpayers out of the Axworthy is Wise to act when Loe Wen and his group Are ready to talk publicly about what Money they have and when the dollars and cents of running a team Are More than an expression of Good Faith from the High rolling then the Federal govern ment can come to the table knowing that White elephants Are nowhere in editorials editor John 6977044 Winnipeg free press Winnipeg free press est 1872 Winnipeg Tribune est 1890 Rudy publisher Duncan Mcmonagle executive editor John Dafoe editorial Page editor directors John Bardawil marketing Stephan Majorki operations Perry Glenn 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 press cd null trying his hand at Hamlet a lot of rubbish is being written about the performance of film Star Keanu Reeves As Hamlet in the current much publicized Manitoba theatre Centre production of shakes Peares celebrated much of the nonsense has to do with the Barking and screaming that invariably goes on when a Well known film personality at tempts something out of the Ordinary or takes up residence briefly in a town unused to the presence of film first of All the fans go int he gorgeous what a hunk a number of the More enthusiastic fans spend hours and Days standing in the cold out Side the stage door in the Hope of catch ing a glimpse of the never fully abandoning the Hope that he might catch a glimpse of them and notice an elusive glint of Beauty that lesser men have there is general agreement among the fans that the performance will make everybody forget Giel Macready and Al though Many of the fans have not Actu ally heard of these celebrated hamlets of Reeves has no Wor Ries As far As his fans Are even if he Falls off the stage or runs his sword into Gertrude by mistake no real harm will be to the uncritical Eye All this will simply be a part of his Brilliant new interpretation of the Olivier Hamlet May have wanted to sleep with his Mother and Gielgud Hamlet May have had a glad Eye for laertes if the latest Hamlet wants to kill his so be what could be More up to Date to the this will be the greatest Hamlet of All time and anybody who says it int had better watch a number of commentators have suggested for this Hamlet is a make break the crucial performance of his life in to hear some people the future course of the Reeves career As an actor depends on his i suppose it adds excitement to the event and makes everybody feel that they Are Christopher Dafoe participating in the making of theatrical but the fact remains that the Success or failure of this Hamlet will Likely be of Only passing concern As they say Keanu Reeves is already a hot prop erty in the film thanks to a number of successful screen perform his latest adventure film has coined Money around the it seems highly unlikely that failure or Mere modest Success As Hamlet will make Keanu Reeves Box office Poison and cause the moguls to declare him if things dont work out at Mac there May be no offers from the Royal Shakespeare company and the Comedi Francaise May think twice about asking him to try his hand at to but it seems Likely that the Ca reer will no matter a Manitoba theatre Centre photo Keanu Reeves will need vigor and a Good theatrical performance is not like a gladiatorial combat in the time of the emperor at which life or death was decided on the movement of a life is much safer these even in the and the judges Are much More the Public tends to remember your last performance and nobody really expects every visit to the plate to produce a Home what is needed Here is a sense of Reeves should not be viewed As the current sacrificial victim on the altar of but As an Upland coming Young actor who is trying his hand at what does he need to play the role first of All he needs a Good there Are a lot of lines to vigor is also playing Hamlet has been likened to working in a ditch with a shovel you have to be i remember seeing Christopher Plummer in the Green room at Stratford after a performance of Hamlet in the he looked As if he had just climbed the actor playing Hamlet should also speak clearly and have the ability to make feeling seem opinion is still divided on whether intelligence is Essen although it has been suggested that brains can be an i once heard a famous actor say that Good legs Are All you really which May explain Why a number of actors have opted to attempt the role in Trou one thing you can count on with re Gard to any performance of Hamlet or any other important for that matter is that opinion will be divided on whether the actor brought it almost every experienced theatre Patron has an idea about How Hamlet should be done and Only a really resourceful actor can convince nearly everybody that his interpretation wins the even the critics often contradict each other with regard to the merits or demerits of a As Reeves has undoubtedly Burbage could have told him weve come a Long Way maybe Manitoba is going to be 125 years old this year and i pose this question has our Quality of life improved Quality of life entails happiness but it is an elusive state and we dont know we experience this Bliss until it has one fundamental Advance in the life of canadians is the Assur Ance that the needs of the poor and weak will be this is our social safety based on the View that society must look after the less we should pause to think of the great Advance brought about by social legis lation and government How Ever imperfect it May How horrifying it is to look Back at the Days before the principles of social Justice were set Down in our Law a vision of our Canadian Way of so vile were some of the conditions in the Market place that in 1886 Canada appointed a Royal commission to con Sider the relationship Between capital and it found children As Young As ten working 65 hours a children As Young As six were sentenced for steal ing lifes lets go Back to More recent the great depression of the to illustrate the depth of the depression examine these statistics in net income from Prairie farm operations was but by 1931 it had dropped to minus million because of an actual loss of operations in the and the hard headed businessmen of the time offered the same advice As to Day government pathetic letters were sent by the impoverished to the first millionaire prime minister of i am very hungry and the stamp which carries this letter to you will represent the last three cents i have in the wrote a desperate woman from Hamilton in during the past two weeks i have eaten Only Toast and Tea in the past fortnight i have lost 20 there is deprivation today but no one need go hungry with the availability of social services and assistance not available 60 years to come Back to the Are people happier today we have much More in the Way of material we can press a Button and bring into our living room the wars of the world or a Fine nature program and exhortations to buy a particular Brand of breakfast Cereal or the ads Are offensive in their turned up All the world is louder and harder after the big the Pace is there has been a revolution in lifestyle with both spouses working in most and a sizable number of single mothers coping on their what chances do kids have in Homes where there is no supervision or love we live longer but there is More stress and tension in so less disposable More marriage a warped sense of values that sees a commemorative Coin for accused of two vicious snapped up by the there is a crazy attachment to any thing that gives instant response and to the belief that technology will have All the will the information High Way bring us Joy and Contentment we Are being overwhelmed by inform communicating by computer has its Speed and convenience but it also reduces human Contact and the Opportunity for contemplation and the ferment of ideas when people Are face to face and not just staring at main we still Are a blessed nation and if events move at a frenetic we have the Rule of Law that is stable and protective of the something that cannot be said for most those who deride the role of govern ment need to be reminded that the Laws promulgated in the past 60 years have advanced the Well being of citizens such As in hours of minimum our health care system and the charter of inherent in these Laws is the danger of leaving the mar Ket place As the sole arbiter of our of in the criticism of our social pro Grams today there is the View that the system is too soft and the fact is that our social spending is significantly lower than in most countries in Northern and Western according to the organization for eco Osmic cooperation and in 1990 these nations spent about 25 per cent of their Gross Domestic product on social compared to 18 per cent for no doubt the social safety net can be questioned and but there is no substitute for social ;