Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - May 17, 1995, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free press May a Choice at City Hall for mayor Susan Thompson and her 15 colleagues on Winnipeg City today meeting to decide whether or not to approve the cites share of a million entertainment Complex is certain to present them with the most difficult and controversial decision they will make before they face the voters in far More than politicians at the Federal and provincial lev Are being asked to stretch the Bounds of fiscal Pru Dence to the the provincial government is in a Posi Tion to other Levels of government can Point to direct and Indi rect returns from an investment in a new facility the fed eral government will collect More income tax and get the province More in come tax and the City can talk about How wonderful everything will be for Winnipeg but that Doest pay the in order for the City to match the provincial and Federal contributions of million and cover other expenses that Are a part of the Arena councillors must approve a pile of new at least if the overburdened prop erty taxpayer is to be saved any major in then new streams of Revenue will have to be the City will propose an increase in the business tax in since businesses stand to Benefit from a new Arena and the continued operation of the Winnipeg they should accept that higher tax rate As part of the Cost of keeping nil hockey in some councillors Are proposing More vat revenues be directed towards pay ing off the Arenas that is an idea the province should consider More carefully than Premier Filmon did at his meeting with councillors on some vat profit is now directed towards economic development projects for Winnipeg and could be diverted to the Arena if the provincial government Fil Mon should be less territorial about vat Money and More sympathetic to the fiscal squeeze facing the province and the City of Winnipeg share the costs of certain infrastructure those agreements Are re negotiated from time to finance minister Eric Ste Fanson has indicated some perhaps enough to Cushion the cites saving the jets and coming up with a formula to finance a new entertainment Complex has brought out the Best in Winni Eggers and amidst All that excite it should not be forgotten that making this improbable Rescue Mission succeed is going to be the Filmon government has neatly transferred the political heat to City that Transfer should be accompanied by a concerted Effort to share the Burden More councillors should approve the Deal and Call upon the pre Mier to do the honorable Argentina Reform there is an incongruity in the results of Argentina election this president Carlos Menem was reelected by a significant majority and his party won a majority in the lower House of his re election gave his governments policy of Tough and pain Ful economic Reform a Strong endorsement from the peo ple of what is Odd about this is that Menem leads the per Onist and that policy is not at All in he has pretty Well turned the Peronis party on its Juan Peron took Power in Argentina in 1946 on a platform of nationalism and populism and an Odd kind of Industry was taken Over by government corruption and oppression were Peron destroyed the Argentine Economy and ensured the collapse of its while still waving the Peronis was democratically elected in he has undone the worst of state industries have been Tough economic measures implemented to reduce inflation from per cent in 1989 to four per cent in he has brought a new stability to Argentina and a better Hope for the in this incongruity is a message to the rest of latin the old ways Are latin America is poorer than it should largely because of the corruption or the ineptitude of its past the mexican crisis initiated a flight of capital from Argentina and other latin american a crisis that spread like an economic ebola virus and worsened their investment now seems Likely to return to bringing with it jobs and better if Menem stays the and if the size of his Victory does not subvert his commitment to Argentina finally has a Chance to assume the kind of place it should hold in the Venezuela should All be prosperous nations with important roles to play in the International even the poorer nations should be better off than they that they Are not is the fault of the governments they have had to that they still can is evidenced by Argentina or at least it will be if Menem can now stay the editorials editor John 6977044 Winnipeg free press Winnipeg free press est 1872 Winnipeg Tribune esl 1890 Rudy Duncan Mcmonagle executive editor John Dafoe editorial Page editor directors Verne resources Stephan Majorki operations Perry Glenn 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 addled by electoral fever Ottawa winning an election must be a Heady experience for any politician who garners the support of thousands of All of whom have placed in him their sacred Trust to manage their economic and so Cial it is so in that it some times creates for politicians a kind of intoxication that we Call electoral be like Over consumption of electoral fever produces a variety of behavioural changes including Demen loss of equilibrium and sometimes All clinical studies indicate electoral fever does not Render its victims consider if you will a Case of advanced electoral fever contracted by Manitoba Justice minister Rosemary Vodrey still in the throes of Post vote has been recently spotted in Ottawa lecturing members of parliament about the provincial election and her governments Man Date for the Vodrey came to Ottawa to give maps a firsthand account of the prov inces position on the controversial gun control Given that the Filmon like Saskatchewan and is already on the record As opposing the introduction of a National registry for All to dress presentation to the maps was not expected to create much that National reporter was until her electoral fever flared according to the Fil Mon governments solid majority Vic tory in the recent provincial election gave her party a Clear mandate to oppose the theory is based on the premise that since her party was on record As opposing the people of Manitoba have endorsed that in her haste to wrap up this premise in a neat Vodrey neglected to note that a free press poll on election issues showed that Only three per cent of Urban respondents and 12 per cent of Rural respondents Felt gun control was an elec Tion beyond the highly question Able front porch anecdotes of Vodrey and her tory there is Little evidence that gun control was anything More than a titillating Side show in most what is even More shocking about this intellectually dishonest premise is that it could be uttered at the same time As Filmon was shattering a much More important election Plank by promising to plunge millions of tax payer dollars into a new Arena for the Winnipeg having previously rejected All suggestions that the Arena be totally publicly Filmon left his Vic tory party on april 25 and proceeded to broker a Deal to keep the jets in Winni in a new Arena that required a provincial contribution of some Mil much More than the million he was willing to contribute before the consider that in june when a Blu ribbon committee recommended each of the three Levels of government spend wait for this million on a new Filmon responded that he could not in Good conscience expect Manitoban to fund a Mil lion facility Given the shaky future of nil hockey in Small in an interview with the free press just last when the Premier was asked if his decision to sink million into a new Arena was tantamount to a com plete reversal of his reelection Filmon i think that is probably armed with this pro found change of Filmon has proceeded to snatch the jets Back from the jaws of disaster and in the has nearly succeeded in convincing the other two Levels of government to join Winnipeg City Council As this column is being debating Fil Mons new vision while Manitoba senior Cabinet Lloyd has reserved while there is not enough space in this column to fully debate the pros and cons of a publicly financed let it be said that there Are certainly positive spinoffs from such a Large construction project that will partially offset the taxpayer investment but the Lon term economic contribution of the facility and team Are less if Filmon knows any thing for it is that the Arena de Bate is much More divisive among his electorate than gun control by All is still supported by a Clear majority of polls on the Public financing of an Arena have shown voters to be almost evenly split and certainly Filmon must wonder about what kind of mandate he really has on this taxpayers should at the very More honesty from their political leaders before the Cheque Book is pulled and All taxpayers need to ask More questions about How and Why Filmon has changed his mind about investing in a new Filmon should take the time now to make his Case for much larger pub Lic investment in a new perhaps he once the fever has i in a previous column i told of re search by Canadian and american scientists who Are shedding new Light on Lake Winnipeg and the impacts of the ice age years this is about another aspect of the fascination with Lake an intriguing Story about this vast Inland sea with a deep imprint on the prov Over in Ole has been unravelling the secrets of the Bottom of Lake Winnipeg in his lab at the Story begins Back in 1967 when he came to Winnipeg As a visiting scientist at the Freshwater Institute and remained on staff for several in an extensive study was made of the plants and animals living at the Bottom of the Saether specially is gnat like insect and he had ample scope to examine these creatures after several Hundred specimens had been a world authority on he took a Batch Home and is still studying them to this he has identified about 220 new species in Lake the Freshwater Institute itself was highly praised in an article in an Oslo journal a few years Back about a it stated Here in the Saether obviously benefited from a Fertile scientific environment and be came highly productive in writing pub there Are about known species of midges in the world and they have the facility to adapt to a wide Range of Why Are midges so important they feed on organic material and waste to provide sustenance for they Are critical to the food says a biologist at the Institute every species fills a Niche in the ecosystem and when we know whats we can learn More of the Quality of the each Midge has a Story to they look like mosquitoes and some who see them As pests May cringe at the larger species up to an Inch in s mighty midges but they do not Cobb has witnessed the phenom Enon of swarming midges at Lake Winnipeg As i have and no doubt Many most midges live for one sea son in the water and emerge As adults to on a real humid night in says they May Rise like a billow of smoke from a tree and go around in the males swarm in a tight group and the females Fly in to get Fer As they Fly and beat their wings they produce a loud humming mysterious in the rising and falling in the undulation of the after the females return to the Lake to Lay their eggs and the Lake Winnipeg is Host to All kinds of intriguing life forms tile photo males take to Trees and cottages to die the Survey of insects living at the Bottom of the Lake was made in 1969 following an extensive initial study from strangely a com Parison of the two was not made until recently in a paper prepared by Flannagan and from casual Cobb believes the midges Are but up Odate research needs to be con ducted to learn whats happened since 1969 to life at the Bottom of the it would reveal any impacts of pollution and throw some Light on the health of the it would also give an indication of the state of the environment Over a vast for Waters from the Foothills of the from Ontario and from North Dakota flow into Lake the watershed is enormous close to one million Square Kilometres of Terri tory Drain into the the 1928 Survey revealed a Bountiful Lake for 87 species of caddis a Small Mot like two had disappeared in the South Basin by the 1969 As for the a an important source of food for it has been drastically reduced from an annual production of about tonnes in the reason for this Dis appearance is its a highly productive Lake and we must know More about the changes to keep it that Lake Winnipeg has a great diversity of Stem Ming from the ice in the melting period of glacial Lake Agassiz which once covered most of water coursed in from All Points of the com pass providing a Rich Lake Winnipeg is a remnant of glacial Lake Manitoba is celebrating its 125th birthday but the midges have been around for millions of years and this longevity is a real Success a characteristic of Lake second of two articles ;