Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - May 24, 1995, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free press May editorials editor John 6977044 a Marvel of Brevity the speech from the throne which opened the first session of Manitoba newly elected legislature was a Model of its kind Sweet and to the Premier Gary Filmon had already served notice the speech would be because the new session is simply carrying on the work of the one that was disrupted by last months general the document read yester Day by lieutenant governor Yvon Dumont was refreshingly free of most of the hot partisanship and padding that is customary on these not entirely of there was the ritual refer ence to the Strong and Clear mandate delivered to the Filmon government by 43 per cent of the voters on april there was mention of a growing sense of purpose and which is not All that apparent to sup porters of the opposition there was the usual paragraph of com plaint about Federal government cutbacks to the in a paragraph which May Well have been re written up to the very last there was Praise for the unparalleled response of Mani to bans to the threatened loss of the squeezing All of that a capsule sum Mary of the govern ments legislative plans into two and a half is a Small Miracle of compres Sion that future governments ought to try to the important part of the speech is the paragraph which sets out a constructive Agenda and a reasonable timetable for the legislature Over the next six the House will devote the next six it should debating the estimates presented with finance min ister Eric Stefan sons budget during the previous it will adjourn at the end of june and return in mid sep tember to take care of unfinished the business which Premier Filmon promises will be completed this year includes the legislation which will re quire the present government and those in the future to bring Down balanced if the legislation passed in this session reflects the Bill but not in the last then Stefanson will face a real Challenge at budget for a government which changed its mind to the tune of million Over financing for a new Arena in the steadfast determination to impose balanced budgets now and forever is if not entirely the Good news for those who believe that the govern ment should be regularly accountable to the legislature is that Filmon promises to bring the House Back for six weeks in rather than indulging in a Long recess of the kind that was common with the last Legisla the Premier has less reason to Duck the legislature these Days because the election presented him with a comfortable he has a greater need to meet the legislature because he has a program to get if the Premier follows the fall session with another one begin Ning in late january or Early february of next peo ple in Manitoba could have some Confidence that responsible government has been restored in the rights for prisoners Aaron Spence is half but totally Spence claims he should be allowed to vote in fed eral elections from within Stony Mountain penitent where he is serving a fou year sentence for Bur Spence argues that although he and other inmates live in we Are still human beings and we Are still part of he is right on the first Are human be Ings and Are treated As they Are protected from cruel and unusual punishment and Are guaranteed due process under the he is in further claiming that Basic humanity brings with it an entitlement to for Are human they do not the claim that inmates Are members of society and therefore have a right to vote is even less in by Are not members of they have broken the Laws of society and Are locked out of the Loop As More members of society Are persons who agree in a social contract to accept responsibilities in return for when persons turn to when they choose to be delinquent in discharging their Respo Sibili they break the contract and forfeit their claim to Spence and other inmates go before the Federal court in Winnipeg today to plead their right to a vote under the Canadian charter of rights and it will be an important test of the expanding influence of the charter on the Laws of in this the court will have to decide whether the charter can restore to an individual a social right which he abandoned when he turned to Winnipeg free press Winnipeg free press est 1872 Winnipeg Tribune est 1890 Rudy Redekop publisher Duncan Mcmonagle executive editor John Dafoe editorial Page editor directors Verne Kalichuk human resources Stephan Majorki operations Perry Nixdorf advertising Glenn Williams 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 t just think of us As of us As inseparable separatists joined at the hip a trifling inconvenience ii Post nil Minim o suppose you want to build a garage Only two inches closer to the Lane than the required two the province sets out the procedures for changing the you must advise your adjoining neighbors by registered you must put up a big yellow zoning poster in front of your property for two you must submit to the City a property land you must provide a building location certificate done by a Manitoba land Surveyor which May Cost or and if approved you Fork Over plus get to the in the act of registering guns under proposed new legislation becomes a trifling there Are Many other bureaucratic examples to show the process of gun registration is a passing but the Issue has generated a great Deal of heat that obscures the fact that most favor registration for a Good Rea son it May save lives and exert greater control on and i Grant they Are not devoid of Are in the but a vocal group behaves and argues As if it represents the Justice minister Rosemary Vodrey and Deputy Premier Jim Downey took the same Cue to justify a trip to Ottawa to oppose gun they claimed contrary to the polls that the Manitoba election was a Clear rejection of gun i wonder Why our Manitoba minis ters dont get excited about a much Graver Issue to take them to Ottawa such As child in our province the highest incidence in i dont denigrate the View of those who Are not in the majority of my colleague Fred Cleverley has correctly pointed out the arbitrary seize and search sections of the act and How they Are a threat to civil Justice minister Allan Rock has promised to Amend these there May be the View abroad from the heated controversy that All Rural people Are Hunters As Well As a percentage in the fact is they Are ii a minority and their numbers have been Val Werier the number of Hunters 90 per cent who Are males has decreased Mark according to an extensive Survey by statistics Canada called the importance of wildlife to responses were received from canadians 15 years of age and the covering a ten year period end ing in showed that Hunters constituted per cent of the in the ten year the number of Hunters nationally had declined by 17 per in Manitoba the decline was 20 per cent from to at the same time the number of those who used a camera instead of a gun who went out to View wildlife or the registration of guns is not the big Deal it is made out to up photo in trips and other such activities in creased by 19 per from to in so the trend has been away from Hunting to other activities in the outdoors involving i am not one of the for As i have stated i hate but i do not deny their right to their what shocks is the View of extremists who labor under the misapprehension that we Are part of the United states and that it is a citizens right to Bear Reform party my Mike Scott of recently stated the major danger of democratic1 government is predatory mob and the task of those who promote Good government is to find ways of keeping it from getting too an armed citizenry is an important part of equally those who seek unlimited Power for government fear a citizenry Able to resist encroachments on their As Dalton political commentator and has this is preaching in the statement of is a pernicious View of an attitude shared by extremist righting groups in the the government is considered the a Mali Cious and dangerous stand in a demo in the final the govern ment is the there Are opponents of gun registration who feel they Are being pushed around by government and so they object to the process of registering their in the broader picture of How we be have As a it is Petty to object to the trifling inconvenience of Register ing go to Rock Rock is on the right track when his program is strongly opposed by the powerful National Rifle association which threatens to Boycott Hunting trips to this is the organization that is in favor of citizens carrying concealed revolvers and owning assault we in Canada take an opposite stand to these insane ideas and that another reason Why i support the the weasel and the Rabbit if you looked at a picture of pre Mier Gary Filmon not just any but a certain kind of Pic Ture in which he offers a certain kind of you were to take a Fine pen and draw a few Long whiskers on either Side of his face extending from around his nose to the outside of his you might find that he bears a certain resemblance to a if you were to have the Honor of see ing him in perhaps even meet ing him face to and he was think ing that things were going particularly his or they were going particularly against you might even imagine that he Actu ally had those so much like a Fox might he that of an example of More it is an Odd mixture of a automorphism and an anthropomorphism is the Quality of attributing human characteristics to animals your dog your cat does Rato Morphis is the a word coined by Arthur Koestler to describe the habit of some scientific research ers of studying mostly and extrapolating their onto Tom Oleson human it attributes animal characteristics to it is largely discredited among most people except for behavioural psychologists or As it applies to the relationship Between rats and in which Case the rats tend to come out More be that As it As the speech from the throne was delivered in the Legisla Ture on Filmon looked truly like a Fox firmly ensconced in an unguarded Hen comfortably full and and Why not he has just led his progressive conservative party although perhaps not exactly under that Banner to its third term in among other the throne speech dealt airily with health care on which the tories have always been sus and with promised but de balance budget leg which most people in Manitoba with functioning brains know is a Crock a fact that makes it although still to understand How most tory Las can support it of mentioned the Winnipeg and the tremendous Effort made to save perhaps because out of All the key players in the jets cesspool of Filmon is the Only one to crawl out smelling As if he had just bathed in if Filmon is a rata Morphi Cally Are nip Leader Gary doer and Liberal Leader Paul Edwards if we were to elongate doers we might see in him a weasel of and Only in the Best qualities of that its its relent less sense of Opportunity and its Intel ferret might be a More appropriate As the session Prog doer will be ferreting like mad to get the goods on the govern but ferrets Are now regarded As pets and doer is far from Domestic in his seat in the doer moves his hands go from his Chin to his forehead to his Lap to join and wring he takes co pious notes and whispers to his seat his eyes Dart along the governor ment benches looking for even though debate has not yet Filmon glances at him and is perhaps not As comfortable As he Given that the session is Likely to be a Tough one and doer a Tough and what of then foxes and weasels need and Edwards seems designed to play that he looks the part if you watch him Long you might expect his nose to Start twitching and in the last election he even played the darting and jumping and leaving his ravaged party with Only three seats in the on As he will be for some time to he was in a seated in the having lost his seat in the last for All he displayed Little he can stay in his Brier thinking and perhaps that As brer Rabbit Al ways got the Best of brer As Peter Rabbit always eventually outfoxed Billy once Filmon and doer Are through tearing at each will emerge the ultimate Given the mood of the Manitoba he be ;