Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - October 17, 1995, Winnipeg, Manitoba A Winnipeg i w free press october 1995 Juji Ihrk us at m Siw l in Jim shoring up the Whites bloc quebecois Leader Lucien Bouchard has proved to be no More successful than Premier Jacques Parizeau at leading the separatist Campaign for the october 30 Bouchard had scarcely assumed the Mantle of Lead spokesman than he began calling on Quebec women to Breed faster to Shore up the numbers of the White the Quebec separatist movement is not officially racist or any time they Stop to think about the leading Quebec separatists say that Quebec belongs equally to All Quebe cers without regard to race and Gen Der and that All the people who live in Quebec Are equal before the and a racist idea lurks at the Core of Quebec it surfaces when separatists look to see whether the idea of sovereignty enjoys the support of a majority of French speaking people in the As though the votes of the others should be considered it surfaced again when Bouchard was Campaign ing before an audience of women saturday do you think it makes he that we have so few children in Quebec were one of the White races that has fewest that really that suggests we Haven solved our family yesterday in Bouchard tried to explain away his he said he was merely advocating better social programs to enable parents who want to have More children to do Premier Jacques Parizeau also took a Stab at explain ing Bouchard if youre asking whether the majority of the population is rather White in the while other members of the population Are of other col i will say yes he that about a fair description of what Quebec society so what i mean what on Earth Are we talking about what we Are talking about is acceptance of the Elemen tary values of Canadian society and Quebec if Bouchard and Parizeau wish to defend the inter est of the White races or to recruit women As Breeding Stock for the they Are not worthy to be political leaders of a diverse Community which guarantees equal rights to All its without racial or gender Dis Bouchard explanation and Parizeau explained Bouchard should take the first Opportunity to apologize for his wounding and offensive remarks and show that he does recognize Why they were wounding and his continuing bluster made matters if he cannot bring himself to it May be time to give action Democrat ique Leader Mario Dumont a turn As Lead spokesman for the blood spilled in vain the death toll continues to mount As fierce fighting in Southern Lebanon even after important new strides towards peace in the Region Are this weeks murder of nine israeli soldiers is designed to slow Down the peace it will not Suc it will Only cause More blood to there is no Independent authority in Lebanon to influence movements on the the Hezbollah Resis Tance is backed by and whatever Public authority there is in Lebanon is controlled by the who flirt with the idea of peace with until the syrians get the violence will the main Issue dividing Israel and Syria is disposition of the Golan that plateau once part of Syria but taken by Israel during the six Day War in 1967 and annexed formally in the israelis will either in part or in pending a peace treaty with Syria and the full diplomatic relations that would go with within Israel there Are few issues More emotional than the return of the those Heights were used for decades by syrian gunmen who lobbed rockets into Northern killing civilians and scattering com prime minister Yitzhak Rabin has promised a referendum before the Golan is returned to but there is such controversy Over any troop withdrawal or dismantling of that a referendum Victory would not prevent the civil strife bound to if the syrian government believes that Israel can be intimidated by Hezbollah it has Learned Little about israels Way of responding to it is far More Likely to strike Back with greater Force than turn the other Hezbollah guerrillas do not want their tactics Are aimed at scuttling the peace turning israeli Public opinion against if the syrians truly want allowing the murderers to escalate the fighting in South Lebanon is hardly the Way to go about what such an escalation is Likely to do is turn More israelis away from the labor government of Yitzhak Rabin and towards the Tough talk ing liked opposition led by Benjamin Netanyahu who is far tougher on an accommodation with Syria than Rabin Ever this blood is spilled in editorials Freedom of Trade Liberty of religion Equality of civil rights Brian Cole 6977044 Winnipeg free press Winnipeg free press est 1872 Winnipeg Tribune est 1890 Rudy Duncan Mcmonagle executive editor Brian Cole editorial Page editor directors Calvin James circulation Verne Kalichuk human resources Stephain Majorki operations Perry Nixdorf advertising Glenn Williams 1995 Winnipeg free a division of newspapers division of Thomson Canada limited published seven Days a week at 1355 Mountain Manitoba r2x pm 6977000 a member of the Manitoba press Council vol 13 no 313 Canada Post air yemeni no 563395 in search of a platform it is a far better thing that i than i have Ever done it is a far better rest that i go than i have Ever Dickens Svend Robinsons act of self Sac Rifice at the nip leadership convention last saturday does not quite rank with Sidney Cartons March to the Guillotine in a tale of two in it May have More in common with Joe Clarks decision to Call a leadership convention after winning a solid vote of Confidence at a tory party convention in Winnipeg a dozen years it was a remarkable gesture on the part of a politician who has been widely regarded As courageous and outspoken but not exactly a team not Many politicians quit while there ahead even if they Are pretty sure they will lose in the Long Robinson was pretty sure that his Lead on the first ballot was slim enough that he would lose on the Sec that decision should have been made by the by taking the decision out of the hands of the Del Robinson demonstrated Little concern for party democracy but a lot for party John Dafoe Alexa who was handed the leadership by will need All the Solidarity she can she is not widely known in much of though where she is known she is widely she inherits a party that is recovering from a disastrous election that is dispirited and unsure of its future the party like its predecessor the cooperative Commonwealth federation has been in the dumps before and has bounced Canada today is saddled with Many of the problems that produced support for the nip in the unemployment is High and shows no sign of significant Many Young canadians fear a Bleak incomes Are going Down and the Gap Between Rich and poor appears to be social programs Are threatened with those Are issues that have been bread and butter to social democratic parties in the they will be the problem for the nip is while the problems facing Canada Are As Clear As the solutions to them Are when the Kcf was founded 63 years the solution was obvious the eradication of capitalism and its replacement with a cooperative Over the democratic socialists in Canada and elsewhere defined that mandate in a number of ways Public ownership of the Means of distribution and Exchange Public ownership of the commanding Heights of the Economy the planned somewhere along the demo cratic socialists became social democrats and Public ownership faded As the Core belief of the demo cratic nothing has quite taken its health and social from the shared equal prominence with Public ownership and they remain the issues on which Canadian social democrats can Wax with fundamental economic problems even nip governments have been forced to slash social these those old social demo cratic certainties have been replaced by something a Good Deal More to Tony the new Leader of the British labor party and the Man who is Likely to be Britain next prime socialism is not just about economics or politics but about How i try to live my life How you try to live Alexa Mcdonough May Well have been tuning in to Tony to its All about Hope and optimism and caring and sharing for of course or social democracy for that poli tics of any Are about All of those but if Alexa Mcdonough and Canadas new democrats want to emulate Tony Blairs elec toral they will have to offer something a Little More nourishing than Sweet political John Dafoe is a former editorial Page editor of the free his column appears spare me from drawing welfare most of us know some peo ple on welfare the welfare As they Are commonly at most of us should know those of us who dont have led very Middle class lives and they Are the ones who Bandy about the term welfare the problem that arises now is per haps that too few of us know any Wel fare we Are too cloistered in our Middle class existence and because we dont really know what happens outside of our River Heights or Charleswood or suburban exis we dont really know whats going on out in the real i have never been on but i have known and know now a lot of people who have been or still i never want to be on welfare i passionately Hope that i never will that is one of the reasons that i am such an assiduous Appl polisher Here at my place of i sometimes get a Crick in my neck from nodding my head so vigorously in agreement with whatever Odd proposals my Bosses May come up jobs Are hard to come by these being entirely without any useful i live in fear that my employ ers will Twig to that fact and act upon leaving me not Only unemployed but and me and my family sleeping in the car until it is repossessed and after that under Bridges or in bus i have some idea a Little perhaps of what it costs to even for just the Bare we All need the Bare necessities and welfare barely pro Vides often it Doest even pro vide and despite the old Disney i dont think that people should have to live on just the Bare necessities of the idea that they that they that their poverty can be compensated for by a Loving family drawn closer together by their Mutual is Patent whatever family services minister Bonnie Mitchelson might one wonders if she has Ever experienced one in if most of the people who create the regulations governing welfare or the people who administer those regulations have Ever been alone and info Tom Oleson nicely alone with Small and hungry it might be a useful thing if they were All made to exist for an extended period of time on the Bare necessities of As we can attempt to impose that on the politicians by turfing them out of but they always seem to land on their feet has anyone Ever heard of an impoverished for Mer member of any government about the administrators we can do they Are Only the simple mentors of government and we All know How Well paid they Are to enforce those policies few of their children Ever show up at the food we also know Well How enthusiastically bureaucrats stick to their regardless of How extraordinary individual circumstances May it happens in every aspect of gov but it seems to happen with particular frequency and with particular passion if that word can be ascribed to bureaucrats when it comes to the welfare there is a welfare cheat where people can work out their grudges or play out their prejudices by informing on their there is constant talk of and encouragement for further cuts to welfare rates that Are already there Are genuine welfare people who work on a bet Willow Aster says it is Tough making ends meet on because they Are Content to vegetate on the amount of Money they can get for doing there Are genuine welfare people who deliberately set out to defraud the system through a variety of elaborate they get and the publicity that sur rounds them gets Good Media play and provides fuel for Well paid politicians who play on the Public Antipa thy to welfare there Are some things that Are wrong with welfare that have Noth ing to do with the recipients them selves but Are simply inexplicable quirks in the for exam should parents on not working or taking any be Able to Send their kids to daycare for a nominal charge when struggling working parents pay about a month so that they can go to work and earn a Little More than that but these Are All most people on welfare Are not they Are people much like you and me who have had worse who have made worse decisions or who Are victims of hard times and a bad most of them would choose to work if they As a group of articles in this newspaper yesterday some of them do work on the making fifty Bucks a Hundred Bucks so that they can buy a Little bit More for their they Wel fare in they Are simply victims of a system that refuses to allow the unfortunate in society to live in any kind of the cur rent climate of thought that these people Are already paid too much May bring further squalor to their lives As welfare rates Are All children deserve a treat occasionally every Parent should be Able to have an occasional evening this is supposed to be a civilized society a civilized society attempts to ensure that everyone has a Chance to live in honest people on welfare dont deserve our they deserve our sympathy and our sup they dont get most of the so i shall have to continue pol Ishing just for Tom Oleson is a Vree press editor Ial his column appears on tuesdays and ;