Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - May 12, 1995, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free press May editorials editor John 6977044 Manitoba celebrates Manitoba 125th birthday is truly an occasion to cel we have built a life on the isolated Prairie that has become the envy of much of the our democratic our tolerance for our ethnic our sense of Community have helped us overcome the hardships of a harsh Northern we have always been the Linchpin Between East and we have found a Way to Combine the rugged individualism of Alberta and the Prairie collectivism of Saskatchewan without losing sight of the essential fact that Canada is More than the sum of its our native Peoples will be among the first to embrace the Experiment of aboriginal self govern that is a natural Given the Long and Rich history of native people in both the South and the North of the role of Metis Leader Louis Kiel was Pivotal during those turbulent times in 1869 and when Mani Toba asserted its right to provincial it was the Metis Strug gling to keep their land and their Way of who pushed the Cana Dian government into a Deal that led to the birth of they did not keep much of that land and Many of the old ways have been but aboriginal Manitoban were surely the driving Force that led to our birth As a since we have welcomed people from around the Many fleeing religious some escaping economic All looking for a better on the land at first and later in the our ancestors understood that hard work and tolerance of our neighbors meant that anything was our relative isolation and harsh physical environment have made us resilient and determined to build a society that puts a Premium on family that creates opportunities to enjoy a multitude of cultural and recreational All year Long in any kind of we have accomplished great things Here that continue to be the envy of places much bigger and much we have sent Many thousands of people away to Excel on the world stage in in the in in Sci ence and that is not something to that is something to there is every reason to believe that those qualities that made us Strong in the past will keep us Strong in the fun we can raise a Glass and Toast the first 125 years with full Confidence that the next will be full of accomplishment and Community police Winni Eggers concerned about crime should be pleased that the City is one step closer to adopting a comprehensive system of Community while there will be Many wrinkles to Iron the new sys tem is meant to forge stronger links Between police and the neighbourhoods they the new presented this week to a City Council will double the number of Community based police officers to at least the including foot will work out of 10 police service centers which will be open 10 hours a seven Days a Startup costs Are projected to be with an annual operating Cost of the proposal is based on the Edmonton where Community policing has contributed to lower crime rates for personal and property offences and More arrests for crimes like drunk driving and a key element there has been requiring citizens to report minor crimes in person to neighbourhood rather than doing it by that has resulted in fewer incident reports and has freed up officers to respond More quickly to Seri Ous the Down of is that what looks minor to the police May not feel that Way to the a citizen who arrives Home late at night to discover her car or Home has been burglarized May be frustrated to learn that she will not be seeing an officer and must wait until the next Day to report the crime in for or those who Are that May be easier said than there Are also stumbling blocks to be overcome with the Winnipeg police a proposal to allow one officer cruisers to be dispatched in Stead of just during daytime is sure to meet with some resistance from the police officers Are understandably worried about getting caught without backup if a seemingly minor situation got out of they have also expressed concern in the past that Community policing is viewed within the Force As a Deaden the next step is for Premier Gary Filmon to fulfil his election pledge to provide the extra million needed to help the program get off the if Community polic ing can deliver on its Promise of safer it is bound to win acceptance Over it offers a return to the Days when officers had close ties to those who lived and worked on the streets they Winnipeg free press Winnipeg free press est 1872 Winnipeg Tribune est 1690 Rudy Redekop publisher Duncan Mcmonagle executive editor Joi in Dafoe editorial Page editor directors Verne Kalichuk human resources Siepi Ian Majorki operations Perry Glenn Williams finance 01995 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 the rewards of obscurity almost everything in life is in both senses of that the late Shaun one of Canadas Best novelists and one of the most controversial contributors to this newspapers editorial Page in its Long and distinguished we like to describe it Here at the free said to me that there is al most nothing in life that is funnier than he went on to prove that Point brilliantly in his but this article is not about so you can Stop Reading right now if you have that kind of gut Ter this article is about the peculiarity of almost every aspect of life probably every single aspect of a Friend of mine once observed that Light is a funny Light can Illume but it can also in the particular context of the she was talking about the lights coming on in the City at they Light the and help keep us Safe and help us find our Way when we Are wander ing some years there was a Black out in i drove through it to a friends place and was struck by How dark and How a City looks with no lights you dont feel that same experience in the dark Ness of the Countryside at the City lights Are also Beautiful in they Light up the towers of illumination pretty enough to put on even in the skyscrapers or what passes for skyscrapers in Winnipeg do not seem nearly so dominating and so threatening in the when they serve at least As a sign that there Are people As they do during the when by their sheer size and Lack of they reduce people to i Sig but the City lights also obscure the More Beautiful it is hard to see the stars in the City at because the Neon or fluorescent and whatever kind of Light it is they use for Street lamps these and the Homey lights in the windows of the houses where people actually obscure the to see the lights of the heavens in All their glory the the Northern the full magnificence of the Moon you have to leave the lights of the City and go out into the darkness of the of is also a common you cant be a Beacon if your Light dont Sang Donna and she was not singing about the headlamps of your her Mes Sage was a spiritual we speak of shedding Light on a when what we literally mean is to make something to reveal its actual which brings to mind another conversation i had recently with a Young Man who is pursuing graduate studies in with the innocence of he thinks that because i work for a newspaper i can actually i try not to disabuse him of that and i Hope that none of you but the question that he asked me was illuminating in it was whether i thought that if he tried for style in his writing of he would Hurt his Ca in a world that made any sense at that question would never if a question had to be it should have been i dont think i can write very Well and will that Hurt my career As an his Torian this and especially the academic appear to make less and less sense As the years go Morton and Arthur lower were two of the most distinguished historians to come out of Mani Toba or to work at the universities in this both had impeccable academic both could write their excellent history in Lan Guage that even simpleminded people like myself could read and there have been Many Fine writers who were also excellent historians in Canada there Are Many academics in other disciplines who Are expert in their subjects and expert in their Abil Ity to communicate their not Only to their Peers but to the great unwashed As they Are held in dire that is probably because most academics write Home for they May know their subjects they May be Brilliant schol ars although it is hard to escape the suspicion that they Are not because if they were the clarity of their thought would be apparent in the style of their writing but they cannot commune and so they come to the theory that style has no place in the writing of that there Are too Many there is too much to be crammed in for there to be any room for readable the scholar who writes with or even with is suspect As a so there goes there goes for that matter goes if we can count him As an his Torian there goes even Donald Creigh ton All victims of a school of scholars who have turned their inability to write Well into a German medievalist were infamous for the density of their saying that something read like a bad translation from the German used to be a scornful expression it it is the kind of Praise our academics i Hope my Young Friend will look to the great writers of not Are also the great Histo rather than to those advising him who appear to be remarkable for their density in More ways that the writing of after is meant to not to the pot is calling the Kettle Black by Stewart Macleod Thomson news service Ottawa a few Days the Globe and mail published excerpts from a speech by Reform party Leader Preston Manning in which he tackled the medias systemic sources of no quarrel with it would be difficult to disagree with just about any thing he what made his Points so intriguing was the fact had he not mentioned the one might think he was talk ing about opposition parties in Parlia including his mind opposition parties and the Media have entirely different Man dates and but the unfairness and imbalance that Man Ning finds in the Media Are certainly no strangers to opposition he talked of the medias focus on Short run news the emphasis on emotional issues rather than rational is sues the fact that negative news gets More attention than positive news that action is More newsworthy than fail ure to act that destructive activity gets More attention than constructive activity in other just about everything that one might be inclined to say about political parties in oppose said the Reform party Leader spin doctors can make much More of Short negative and confrontational messages and he is right on the its just a question of where the spin Doc tors happen to one example offered up by Man Ning was his party alternative Bud released a few Days before finance minister Paul Martin brought Down the official he said that instead of focusing on these constructive the Media or stole of Preston Manning should do less More thinking them showed far greater interest in Martins reaction to the Sugges while not merely defending the i think its fair to say that what Martin says about any financial even in a reactive is far More important than any proposals by a second inline opposition not to put too Fine a Point on what the Reform party at a time when the governments budget is ready matters very Little for what the Reform party says about the official budget not until the next election what we can be guaranteed in opposition reaction to a budget is that the remarks will be imbalanced in All not since confederation has an opposition party Given its stamp of approval to a when you have 128 years of Unbro Ken its difficult to justify the 129th identical but there have been As recently As this when some newspapers offered their approval of a Bud albeit while not meaning to disagree with mannings general it would be More helpful As with the he would offer Clear alternatives that would Appeal to readers and we absolutely agree with him that Short term confrontational such As the turbot get More Atten Tion than a scientifically based conservation program for preserving cod but surely some attention must be paid to Reader or listener in and in this it would be difficult to accuse the Media of ignoring the co Stock the Reform Leader also suggested his party want getting due credit for attacking the lavish pensions of More attention has been focused on the fact that some Reform maps had not decided whether to opt out of the Hes but Only because Reform had made it a party Issue and anytime individual maps Buck party policy its bound to get you might have noticed All the news generated by the handful of liberals who voted against the governments gun control As for the idea that the Ottawa Media is susceptible to capture by the governing Manning clearly exposes the fact Hes a he could have asked Brian Mulroney about that or waited another year or so to see what might befall Jean Chretien apart from these Little it seemed like a ;