Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - October 23, 1995, Winnipeg, Manitoba As Winnipeg free piss october 1995 editorials Brian Cole 6977044 political emergency the political heat has been turned up a notch or maybe even enough to convince health minister Jim Mccrae that its time to loosen his rigid Posi Tion on the status of emergency wards at Winnipeg five Community the opposition parties in the legislature have been hammering away every Day in question that is to be but grumbling from one of the govern ments Ovyn backbench ers is even when that Back Bencher is the erratic Norbert la and Deputy speaker of the Marcel he donned a yellow ribbon last week in support of nurses at Victoria general when a government member defies his colleagues because of local it is a sure sign that the pressure is Mccrae is allowing the simmering emergency room controversy to whittle away at his credibility and that of his the canny and usually astute Mccrae would be Wise to Cut his the Best Way of doing that would be to reopen All night emergency rooms at some or All of the Community hospitals until the facts Are in and he can per Suade the naysayers that patient safety will not be compromised and that any financial savings Are Worth the at the moment he is in a position to do in the Best advice he does from recent studies his own department commis is that the course he has chosen is the wrong a thorough review of emergency room service throughout the City conducted by Moe Lerner concluded although some emergency rooms could be they should not be until a Central trauma Centre was established and that any phasing Down of emergency should be Progress has been made towards setting up a Central trauma Centre but it is not yet in place there has been no gradual phasing Down of services but there has been a significant i drop in those this week will test Mccrae nurses will wearing those yellow ribbons As a Way of protesting the emergency Ward it will be convenient for the government to dismiss such a protest As whining from a special interest group undoubtedly and is part of the nurses motivation to kick r up a should worry that others will see it As a sincere concern for their patients Well he should use his Good sense to admit his mistake and move two solitudes Quebec separatist spokesman Lucien Bouchard appears to have a very poor understanding of the nature of the nation which he wants to that will come As no Surprise to anyone who has his he has been a a Sepa a a separatist in Between those everything from a Canadian ambassador to a to a progressive conservative Federal Cabinet minister to Leader of her majesty Loyal Bouchard last week attacked prime minister Chretien for what the separatist Leader called an inability on the part of the prime minister to recognize the nation Hood of English Bouchard clearly does not although he has never spelt it out is exactly right in what Bouchard accuses him of there is no English English Canada exists Only a juxtaposition to French Canada As constituted by it is the existence of Quebec that defines Canada As we know it Bouchard is wrong when he identifies English Canada As a unified entity bound together by deep feel Ings of by loyalty to the Central by Devotion to the by a common language and a common Bouchard clearly knows nothing about what he Calls English a vast and Complex country riven by regional ethnic linguistic antagonisms and cultural most Anglo phone canadians were in born in Bouchard should have taken the time to learn More about because an Independent Quebec would be another with All the same problems writ Small but the same problems there would be a linguistic minority the anglophones which wants to hold on to its language and culture there would be a native minority by All does not even want to be part of the new country there Are the ethnic groups that form an increasing proportion of Quebec society and have no intention of becoming pure English Canada and French Canada Are not there of Quebec and the rest of the but neither is an entity in they Are defined by each other and it is perhaps the ultimate irony of Canadian existence that it is the fact of the two solitudes that gives the nation its Union and its Winnipeg free press Winnipeg free press est 1872 Winnipeg Tribune est 1890 Rud v Redekop publisher email my Ca Duncan Ivi Monagle executive editor Brian Cole editorial Page editor directors Calvin Verne Kalichuk human resources Stephan Majorki operations Perry Nixdorf advertising Glenn Williams finance 1995 Winnipeg free a division of newspapers division of Thomson Canada limited published seven Days a week at 1355 Mountain Manitoba r2x pm 6977000 Wen Lucien and Jacques try a tactical manoeuvre if Canada loses the Quebec referendum on or if it wins by a margin so narrow that the matter is still in it will be because our leaders have failed to persuade Quebe cers that they really Are voting to leave the if the yes Side or loses by a few it will be because Lucien Bouchard has convinced Quebe cers that they can vote yes and still use Canadian hold Canadian passports in the minds of still elect representatives to the Canadian parliament in the polls show that Bouchard has been much More skilful in delivering this deceptive message than Daniel Johnson and Jean Chretien have been in telling Quebe cers what the vote is really Quebe cers have yet to hear in language they can believe that most canadians want them As part of but also want to have this apparently perpetual debate to be settled once and for the words being used by Chretien and by Daniel Johnson who has promised that he will use a no vote to negotiate Quebec real demands Are driving Quebe cers into the yes for the simple reason that they believe Lucien Bouchard to be a bet Ter negotiator than either John son or so Chretien has refused to let his actions speak louder than Fred Cleverley nowhere is this More evident than in the Canadian where nobody seems to have noticed Bouchard statement that a sover eign Quebec would be entitled to All the cf18 fighter planes now based in that any other Given the same Advance notice that a vote on Sepa ration would be would have found it prudent to schedule military exercises that would have taken every piece of movable military equipment out of Quebec on voting it would be a lot More difficult for Bouchard to argue that que Bec owned 30 fighter aircraft if those aircraft just happened to be sitting on the ground at cold it would have been prudent to have transferred the bulk of munitions stores currently in Quebec to the space available in the munitions Stor age facility near the stores could be returned after the vote was held and if the future of Quebec in Canada was a bit More it would have taken Only a few orders to schedule october Maneu vers at Camp or at Alberta which would involve the army and their which Are now in que a Bouchard would scream Blue murder that such moves would mean that a Sovereign Quebec was being stripped of the ability to defend that the property which would soon be Quebec was being Canadas chief of the defence general John de could reply that the exercises were routine and that the defence depart ment was taking advantage of a relatively quiet and the return of peacekeepers from to exer Cise As Many troops As it has been years since Canadian forces have seen a divisional size training Kue Beers Are sophisticate in political they would see what was really Tak ing and would understand that Ottawa was taking seriously the possibility that they might vote to leave the those practical Quebe cers would understand that Ottawa was taking reasonable precautions against the Chance that lightly defended Canadian forces bases in Quebec could face better highly trained teams from the que Bec provincial police intent on occupying those bases and taking pos session of the equipment they con we saw those teams at they looked exactly like army Quebe cers would understand then what a vote to separate would that they would indeed be a differ ent country which would not be Canadas responsibility to they would fall Over each other in their haste to cast their no Chretien has always said Given the question in Clear que Beers would vote Quebe cers would see the Transfer of military equipment not so much in terms of they would be miffed at Lucien Bouchard attempt to deprive them of so Many jobs funded by Canadian tax Bouchard likes to Point out that Canada would be forced to negotiate with Quebec because it needs what Quebec he May think that because Quebec has Canadas Only munitions Canada would be forced to buy ammunition for its forces this argument would be about As valid As his thinking that a separate Quebec would continue to Supply the bulk of Canadas Dairy Fred Cleverley is a Winnipeg his column appears Mon looking through a one Way Glass a member us the Manitoba press Council Yui m n02h1 Ubl Sallo a Reful my 110 French and English canadians communicate with each other through one Way whats worse is that its a Glass with a two Way microphone that picks up Only the most extreme Reform party Leader Preston who enjoys the support of less than on fifth of English Cana shouted through the Micro phone at Quebe cers last constitutional recognition of Quebec As a distinct society is a How does he know the fiscal regime pursued by Manning and other neoconservatives is going to change Canadas political English struggling to pre serve their Standard of will demand some form of political realignment of the poorer a More politically five or six Region nation will Quebec will no longer have to suffer the humiliation of being one province among but will reassert a Large part of its historic place within Cana the Reform party Leader and bloc quebecois Leader Lucien Bouchard alike Are surfing on the tidal wave of misunderstanding and misinformation set off Between Quebec and eng Lish Canada by former prime minister Brian Mulroney spent most of his nine years in office telling the people of Quebec they were stabbed in the and by the 198182 Patria Tion of the Constitution and by English Canadas no to the Meech Lake constitutional but is this True Quebec was isolated at the end of the 198182 Patria Tion How that isolation was More a result of shifting provincial alliances and political horse trading than of an English former Quebec Premier Rene Levesque joined the gang of eight premiers determined to Block Ottawa unilateral in the Levesque Sac Frances Russell Rifice Quebec historic veto Power Over constitutional change and signed on to the amending formula reflecting the 10 equal provinces vision of Canada seven provinces comprising 50 per cent of the nation Al this formula was a major sticking Point for the prime minister Pierre in a grand play towards the end of the Federal provincial constitutional conference in Trudeau got Levesque to join him in backing constitutional the seven English speaking pre Miers cried betrayal paving the Way for the so called night of the Long put in this 198182 As a Stab in the Back by eng Lish Canada loses much of its before Mulroney came to Power and decided to exploit the events of he frequently said and wrote that Quebec would never agree on constitutional change so Long As its government intended to secede from the former prime minister was not Only Content to make mischief with the Manitoba is bound by Law to hold Public hearings on constitutional the provinces All Elijah Harper didst say no to he said yes to f party task Force on Meech Lake met with Manitoban in an two week Odyssey from North to South and East to Here is How the task Force report itself echoed the testimony it obtained the Large majority of presentations were sensitive to what the Accord symbolized for the bulk of opposition to the Accord Cen tred on fears it would weaken the charter of rights and decentralize Canada too much and Block the perennial Western Call for Senate the committee heard from the Arch typical Western redneck but it constituted Only a in the Manitoba accepted Quebec distinct society clause and adopted the Quebec constitutes within Canada a distinct Sci Manitoba put the phrase in a Canada clause1 which mentioned other defining characteristics of Canada including the existence of the aboriginal Peoples As a distinct and fundamental part of Manitoba has the highest per capita population of aboriginal people in the exclusion of aboriginal people from the brokered Deal worked out in Ottawa in paved the Way for Manitoba no to Meech clutching an Eagle Mani Toba aboriginal la Elijah Harper refused unanimous consent to allow the legislature to suspend its rules to Speed Meecha passage in time to meet the june 30 Harp ers no was for aboriginal not against did Manitoba say no to the Meech Lake constitutional Accord in 1990 was Manitoba therefore saying no to Quebec and to Quebec desire for recognition As a distinct society after English and French canadians need to break the Glass and unplug the Frances Russell covers politics for free her column appears wednesdays and ;