Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - July 30, 1995, Winnipeg, Manitoba A6 Winnipeg free press july 1995 editorials Brian Cole 6977044 Balkan Rescue the War in former Yugoslavia seems Likely to Widen and intensify in the weeks the watching world is powerless or unwilling to Stop the but Canada should at least Lead an Effort to Rescue civilians who want out and help them Start a new life troop movements suggest that Croatia is about to Send its army to help bosnian muslims defend the Bihac enclave in Western Bosnia from the attacks of serb armies from Bosnia and two croatian army Divi 18 artillery pieces and 12 tanks have been transferred from Western which Croatia recovered from serb rebels in a lightning strike last to a Likely staging Point for an Advance on the arrival of a new army in the bosnian the atre would spread the War wider and increase the destruction and the harm to the United states is preparing to lift the arms embargo until has impeded the shipment of weapons to the bosnian weapons for serbian forces have poured into Yugoslavia despite the sup posed a More heavily armed bosnian army would probably resist serbian attacks More serbian faced with a newly arrived croatian army and a better equipped bosnian will have to seek More generous support and heavier weapons from their supporters and allies in the for Mer soviet in these Canadian troops under United nations command will have Little left to they can barely operate As it is with More armies and heavier weapons around they will have even More difficulty bringing food and Medicine to besieged groups of civilians and restraining but Canada should not merely Wash its hands and leave the armies to expand the civilians in the War zone who wish to leave their War ravaged land and Start a new life in Western Europe or North America should be helped and children orphaned by the War should be rescued and paired with adoptive Canada should do its part and urge other countries to do in if the United states is going to open a Supply of arms for the bosnian that country should be urged to recognize the practical human results of its policy and prepare for increased violence and a Stream of Canadian churches and associations organized the arrival of refugees from Vietnam after the collapse of the anticommunist forces proving that this coun try could recognize a human tragedy and respond to the Balkan War May soon develop into a comparable if we cannot Stop the we should at least Rescue the victims who want to be judicial screening the latest Batch of judicial appointments in Manitoba demonstrates the effectiveness of a new Way of screen ing aspiring system is designed to ensure that no ill tempered lawyers join the exclusive judicial the biggest difference Between today system and the age old one it replaced is that interested lawyers must now apply for the gone Are the Days when Loyal party members after an intense lobbying Campaign organized by friends would wait anxiously by the phone for their Friend the minis Ter to Call to pass on the Good there Are still intense lobbying campaigns launched but a committee of seven including representatives from the bar the Law the Bench and Lay people representing the Community at vet All applications care the committee has three options to to recommend highly or not to recommend at any minister of jus Tice would be foolish to appoint a lawyer who failed the committees thorough once the applications have been the minister of jus Tice then that is when politics of a different sort Are played Justice minister Allan Rock has made a Point of appointing qualified women to the Bench he there Are too few women judges on Manitoba Only one of seven on the court of and before last weeks appointment of two women to the court of Queens Only six women on that 35member great care ought to be taken before lawyers Are elevated to the these men and women Are appointed until the age of they cannot be removed from office unless they behave their judgments determine who gets the kids when marriages break up and they decide the Fate of convicted in the age of an entrenched charter of rights and they interpret the fundamental Law of the every Canadian has a stake in the there Are differing opinions about who makes a Good the Best candidates on paper dont always make the Best but what this new process helps to prevent is the appointment of men and women who have no business exercising judicial the system Winnipeg free press Winnipeg free press est 1872 Winnipeg Tribune est 1890 Rudy publisher Duncan Mcmonagle executive editor Brian Cole editorial Page editor directors Calvin Verne Kalichuk human resources Stephan Majorki operations Perry Nixdorf advertising Glenn 1995 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 you in intuitive enough to pick up general Lack of respect for us around Welcome Sarajevo Mexico ends Oil monopoly the mexican governments decision announced last to privatize the petrochemical business of the National Oil shows that president Ernesto Zedillo is continuing Down the path indicated by his a reduces Carlos since the Salinas policy of Market economics and International Competition exposed Mexico to the deep and painful recession in which it is now the former president is now widely condemned in mexi but no National political party is offering mexicans a promising alter native to open Borders and free mar Zedillo wants to show that he is politically Independent of but he is paying him the compliment of continuing his Lemex is not the political Power House it once Salinas began his presidential term seven years ago by arresting the president of the Lemex which was a political machine Independent of the ruling the former head of the Union remains in the National Oil monopoly reputation sagged in the 1980s when residents of Mexico City began to grow tired of breathing the filthiest air to be found in any major City of the it turned out that the cites old fashioned Lemex refinery was the largest single source of air pollution and it had to be the company further Hurt its own reputation on april when the sewers erupted under 190 City blocks of Mexico second largest killing at least 210 peo Lemex has never owned up to dumping the gasoline that blew up in the but since it is the National Petroleum there Are not a whole lot of other this when president Zedillo needed a loan in Washington to re float the National he had to surrender be mess Export sales income As be mess Over seas now pay their accounts to a new York Bank where the proceeds Are available for seizure by the government should there be any problem about the Terence Moore Canadian broadcasting Corpora Tion correspondent Liz in her report on thursday about privatization of be mess petrochemical Busi Drew attention to the former political symbolism of the huge state owned firm and reported that Mil Lions of mexicans were outraged by the proposed the basis for that assertion was she told her listeners that Sale of the petrochemical business was the first step toward the dismantling of the entire stat owned though it was Symbol of mexican Independence from foreign of the petrochemical plants does not oblige president Zedillo to sell the rest of the company if there Are Clear advantages in keeping parts of it under govern ment while romantic nationalists in Mexico May suspect that the nation is about to lose a pre Cious they Are Likely to find pretty quickly that the country is none the canadians have been through a similar exercise with the creation of pet Ocanada and its subsequent return to mixed Public private own Joe during his Brief stint As prime ran into nationalistic resistance to his wish to privatize but when the Mulroney government in 1991 invited the Public to buy shares canadians got used to a privately owned pet Ocanada file photo in the there was no perceptible injury to the the government still holds about 70 per cent of Petro Canadas shares and Pri vate investors own the state ownership of an Oil company has not recently been an Issue in Canadian in this what should canadians make of the mexican govern ments plan to sell parts of its National Oil company and How should Canadian correspondents in Mexico try to Coyer the Story the interesting question is whether National ownership of an Oil company benefits the that is a hard question to get at in con Crete though it is Worth noticing for both Canada and the need to borrow overseas and to keep the International lenders reasonably Content has dictated domes tic policy in the last couple of Canada has to fight its govern mental deficit Down to maintain lenders Mexico has to impose usurious interest rates on All its Domestic borrowers in order to compensate for massive withdraw Al of foreign owning an Oil company does not by itself make a debtor government Independent of International financial it did give Mexico an asset to Pawn Early this but did not spare it from the indignity of pawning the it May Well be that millions of mexicans were outraged by the governments intention to sell some petrochemical but they were probably when their president this year went begging for Loans in the Sale of a petrochemical Plant need not be an occasion for outrage there Are better ways to control the Oil Industry than owning the Compa Nies and there Are better ways to defend National economic Independence than creating a pet Ocanada or a the outrage Palmer detected is no doubt but it is Worth putting in Terence Moore is a free Piess editorial his column appears on court Case raises fears crisis Centre workers and advocates Are holding their collective breath this summer As the supreme court of Canada Pon Ders a Case that could have serious implications for the treatment of women before the at Issue is whether defence lawyers can gain Access to the records of counsellors who have worked with victims of sexual Vio women advocates say the request violates a woman right to privacy and could deter some victims of sex Ual or physical abuse from seeking therapy and Justice through the the Case before the court involves a judges decision to order Arden Beharriell counselling records to be turned Over to a lawyer defend ing the Man charged with sexually assaulting the court is expect to hand Down its decision on whether the records must be released in the the significance of the Case has prompted women groups across the country to raise funds to cover Beharriell Legal in senator Sharon Carstairs has played a key in the Penni Mitchell helping to raise in this province the plight of sexually abused women strikes a chord with the for Mer Manitoba Liberal i have been the victim of sexual assault As a child and so these cases Are important to me she says if the Beharriell Appeal is Hunsuc its going to prevent women from going into the therapy they need to and for Many the court process is part of that heal the senator Carstairs says the Money raised in Manitoba is a signal that a lot of women have experienced and feel strongly about the Protection of their privacy in Karen an associate professor of Law at the University of Man is doing extensive research on the trend toward disclosure of per Soji Jal 95 per cent of who Obj she says Are in sexual assault and also helped write the fictum in the Case before the supreme the Beharriell Case is just the tip of the iceberg in a trend that crisis Centre advocates say compromises their ability to provide counselling and a Safe place to in Ontario alone last year there were 40 cases where defence lawyers sought crisis Centre one Windsor crisis Centre went so far As to destroy some of its files rather than turn them Over to the the question of the accused right to counselling records surfaced in 1988 when Ottawa lawyer Michael Edelman advised defence lawyers during a conference to whack complainants hard at the preliminary attack her with All youve got so she will say in not coming he then advised lawyers on How to go after the personal records of complainants in sexual violence a judge would Only order personal counselling records to be turned Over to a defence lawyer if the witness is believed to have a mental illness that would affect their perception of but advocates say having your per Sonal records dragged up in court is a kind of sexual and one that infringes on women rights to fair treatment in the no tall lawyers Are successful in seeking personal a Winnipeg judge recently denied a lawyer defending a Man accused of sexual assault Access to the records of one of his Deanna director of Klin is counselling called the decision but the ruling Stop a Dif Ferent judge from making a differ ent and crisis workers in Manitoba Arent waiting for the backlash against victims to hit crisis workers and therapists Are already meeting to discuss record keeping policies that will allow for the Protection of their clients privacy and ensure they get the coun Selling they the important says is that women dont Stop coming Forward for Penni Mitchell is a Winnipeg Jour her column appears on Sun ;