Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - August 6, 1995, Winnipeg, Manitoba A6 Winnipeg free press August a nuclear necessity for 50 years the debate has been going on should the United states have dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima and another one on Nagasaki three Days As the years have passed since the Enola Gay took off from the Tinian atoll with its historic the debate has become increasingly a judgment made so years ago is evaluated by what we know it is evaluated on the basis of both about the nature of nuclear weaponry and the internal politics of Japan in 1945 that was not available to those who made the Deci Sion at the on August when the bomb fell on Canadian soldiers were on their Way to Japan to prepare for an Many More american and British soldiers were also on their Way to invade Japan to end the the number of Allied casualties which that invasion would have entailed were estimated in the hundreds of thousands the japanese fought a Tena Cious and ferocious War to protect their conquests and an invasion of the Home land was expected to be even More bitterly contest the atomic bomb was an attempt to prevent that Slaughter and Many of the critics of the decision to use the bomb would not be Here today to criticize if it had not been made because they Are the sons and daughters of the fathers who would otherwise have died on the beaches of the argument is made that the japanese were preparing to sue for peace even if that is True it was not known at the the argument is made that the japanese should have been shown a test of the bomb and Given the Opportunity to surrender before it was used against them but Japan continued to wage War aggressively after the bombing of Hiroshima and even after the bombing of those bombings claimed tens of thousands of most of them the precedent had already been first by the japanese and the and then followed by the that civilians were a useful target of Many More would have died in an and no reasonable person can argue against the Utility of using the atomic bomb in the context of we regret its we can regret it in the larger the context that we know but that regret is not a particularly useful weapons Are made to be the atomic bomb was inevitably going to be used the devastation that it caused in Hiroshima and in Nagasaki made the world nuclear despite their vast have not been used they May never be used the killings that occurred in those two japanese cities were not done in vain they were meant to end a Long and bloody a War which Japan has yet to Deal the bombings did end that and it to find fault with those who ordered even with the Benefit of they also taught us a grim lesson that we Are not Likely to the mayors Power recommendations from a municipal task Force looking at ways to Reform City Hall should be debated during the election Campaign this there is no pressing need for the Filmon which must Amend the City of Winnipeg act if Many of these changes Are to take to be in a Rush to follow the task forces the most controversial recommendation suggests the mayor should be Given a second vote in the Case of a that for would have saved Council the embarrassment and expense of voting a second time on the question of a tax deductible status for donations to the spirit of Manitoba endowment can take Many forms there is constitutional Power and then there is the Power of Winnipeg strongest mayors relied More on the Steve Juba would Appeal to the people whenever he was having a rough time bringing councillors on when councillors picked up their telephones and worked the crowds at Community they would run into Steve Jubas ideas Over and Over the legislature passed a series of amendments to the City of Winnipeg act that took effect in time for the last municipal elections three years those changes reduced the size of Council from 29 to 15 and gave the mayor considerably More Power than the position traditionally the mayor was granted the authority to appoint the chairs of the four standing committees and to appoint a Deputy Many of the task Force recommendations offer sensible suggestions about reforming and recasting administrative structures at City the next Council should have a careful look at but tinkering with the Power relationship Between the mayor and the councillors should wait until the changes made Only a few years have a Chance to become part of the political culture at City mayor Susan Thompson has All the Power she needs to be an effective Leader at City she just has to use editorials Freedom of Trade Liberty of religion Equality of civil rights Brian Cole 6977044 Winnipeg free press Winnipeg free press est 1b72 Winnipeg Tribune est 1890 Rudy Redekop publisher Duncan Mcmonagle executive editor Brian Cole editorial Page editor directors Calvin Verne Kalichuk human resources Stephan Majorki operations Perry 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 i ims a Gen give you authority lets give it a real Chance those who Are bold enough to Advance before the age they live and throw by the Force of their own the prejudices which the maturing reason of the world will in time must learn to Brave Cen Mary we seem to be surrounded by people who Are trying to change the world from what it is to what they think it should Fred 1995 this business of changing the world is meddlesome when faced with the Prospect of the self appointed defend ers of the status quo react pre their wobbly Knees Jerk out uncontrollably from beneath As they try to trip up the efforts of Equality they Are Quick to accuse All social reformers feminists included of committing a fabled crime known As changing the it is As if every social belief and habit of Law were and by making sweeping statements based on fear instead of they could Stop the efforts of aboriginal people and others to ensure they get fair take the Case of affirmative Many people seem to believe that the idea of giving one group preferential treatment in hiring was actually invented by women and other marginalized groups of in preferential treatment in the workplace is an employment Penni Mitchell practice that has benefited men of european ancestry in Canada for 200 years or labor Force statistics show that women with equivalent education and experience Are not hired and promoted at the same rates As aboriginal Immi visible minorities As Well As people with disabilities Are also left out of the preferential hiring a new statistics Canada study shows that women Are falling further behind men in income having lost per cent of their average while mens dropped per so what is affirmative and Why is it dragged off the shelf like a wet Noodle and used to lash out at anyone who Calls for equitable Access to education or jobs affirmative action policies in the Public sector in Manitoba generally say that if two people Are equally qualified and can do the the equity group candidate would be this is not reverse which suggests that those who Are overrepresented in the workplace Are automatically passed but a Way to ensure that the diversity of our population is reflected in the qualified candidates Are Only hired when they meet employ ment employment the 1990s ver Sion of affirmative not Only looks at who is but looks at All hiring this is where youll hear talk about lowering when a better description would be expanding the for exam it May not be essential for a Job that an applicants education or work experience be if work experience in Zimbabwe is Compa a handful of nonprofit organizations and private companies in Manitoba have some kind of affirmative action but the employers with the largest work forces and the greatest accountability to tax payers the Federal and provincial governments and the City of Winnipeg have affirmative action policies that Are not enforced or else have an Uncertain affirmative action can work when employees As Well As employers Are behind when the province set up its affirmative action policy 10 years it signed a joint agreement on affirmative action with the Manitoba government employees Union under the president Gary with a loyalty to the Job Advance ment of its existing the Ngeu eventually decided that affirmative action could threaten a Hir ing system based on by that the political will had diminished although some depart ments and Crown corporations Are making efforts on affirmative others Are doing one local employment equity consultant with provincial and Federal government experience says that Only minuscule improvements in hiring have been made with the province because senior managers Arent held accountable for improving their hiring its the one policy in government you can according to the Federal employment equity legis currently up for applies to federally regulated Indus tries like but not to its own civil it requires companies to keep but no follow up is there is also a Federal policy requiring Large companies bidding on sizable Federal contracts to keep statistics on hiring the City of having made some innovative moves with the police and is losing its affirmative action coordinator next Sandra Rychuk is going Back to her Job with the Federal government after a three year stint and it int Clear whether her Job will be after ten employment equity has Only just begun to make a Dif Ference in some hiring it be starved out when the political will to make a difference Hast even Given it a Chance to Penni Mitchell is a Winnipeg her column appears on Sun tears of rage Over Bosnia plight by Anthony Lewis new York times Chicago the Bill passed by the United states House and Senate to break the arms embargo on Bosnia is not a it is a cry of outrage outrage at bosnian serb and outrage at the Long absence of an american commitment to Stop a policy would necessarily include measures for the period after the embargo is when the United nations Protection Force would pull out and the serbs would undoubtedly try to seize it would face up to the need for american Force to protect what is left of Bosnia while its army gets heavy and to protect the withdrawal of Ungro the failure of the Resolution to Deal with the hard issues Cost it the sup port of some respected congressional both republicans and enough others Are Likely to change their votes when president Clinton vetoes the measure so that the veto will not be but what Congress did was nevertheless extremely it is a Long time since the two by overwhelming have expressed such contempt for a presidents for eign the votes reflected frustration at president Clinton record of empty rhetoric on Bosnia his Tough words As a his broken promises in in the criticism should go Back to the appalling weak Ness of president Bush in failing to oppose serbian aggression when it started in the feelings expressed were not just those of the members of con they spoke for a growing number of americans appalled at the brazenly murderous behaviour of the bosnian serb forces and their com Ratko Mladic told in officials this week that he had had the bosnian army commander at Avdo executed after the serbs Over ran the supposed Safe the nazis did not do that to captured soviet generals in the second world and refugees reported that general Mladic was present at a mass execution of bosnian men in the other Safe area taken by the by now Only serbian apologists impervious to reason defend what the bosnian serb forces have after they looted and burned Zepa a in Philip called their actions monstrous and Irra americans have been called indifferent about and they Well might be when no president has explained what is at stake there in moral and political but Many Are not indifferent there is in the land a sense of unease and Fouad the distinguished Johns hop Kins foreign affairs wrote in Over the abdication of americas Over its passivity in the face of Brazen we Are not yet an Ordinary country that can walk away from great moral issues and not be of course Clinton has not been alone among Western statesmen in the weakness that has allowed the bosnian serbs to carry out their eighteen months ago prime minister John major said Britain must act to bring about the immediate lifting of the siege of using All the Means Neces Sarajevo remains its peo ple subjected to daily its air port and highways Day after Day a child is hit by a Mother masked serb soldiers prepare for another just and his fellow leaders Are now finally facing the Cost of their the president told reporters the other the Only thing that has Ever worked in the last two and a half years is when the bosnian serbs thought the United nations would permit nato and the americans who Are working with nato to use air Power to Stop the it is hard to read the presidents words without bitter realization of How Many lives could have been saved if he had acted Long ago to Stop genocidal aggression the Only Way it can be stopped by but there Are some signs that this time he and other nato leaders mean what they say about stopping Ratko at the Clinton administrations urging they have extended their threat to use air Power to protect not Only Gorade but Sarajevo and they had better mean what they if they do the result will be to inflict further wounds not Only on Bosnia but on the Western leaders themselves and their Anthony Lewis is a columnist with the new York ;