Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - October 30, 1995, Winnipeg, Manitoba A6 Winnipeg free press october 1995 editorials Brian Cole 6977044 the Road ahead Manitoban have never feared innovation in social and political but there Are certain Funda mental principles that experience has taught us to cling when Canada is shaken by challenges such As the Quebec sovereignty Manitoban have to Check again to see what they expect out of As a Middle sized province in the midst of a continent wide Manitoba has Learned to wait out the storms that swirl Over in a country dominated by British Columbia and a smaller province can exert influence through the Power of its ideas and the determination of its we cannot Dic Tate terms to we can set achievable goals and pursue them Manitoba has done extremely Well out of the National rail converging made Winnipeg a the nationally sponsored Grain Export system kept the Grain growing districts competitive in world mar Federal Money finances provincial government services beyond what Manitoban could afford on their Early in this Manitoba was a Frontier Community receiving set tiers from Central and East Ern Europe who arrived Here deeply attached to their own languages and evidence of social disintegration persuaded the province in 1916 to forbid the use of languages other than English in the pub Lic the diverse minority cultures continued despite the official and remain Strong the Manitoba experience shows that Peoples attachment to their cultural roots easily defeats governmental attempts to promote one culture or discourage Manitoba experimented 80 years ago with imported improvements on the system of representative govern ment referendum and the Experiment was soon in a province of this the Citi Zens have no difficulty making their views known to the Public officials and the Public officials have no difficulty knowing when they have offended the proposals for Radical surgery to the system of parliamentary government arouse occasional interest from disgruntled minorities but none from the Broad Manitoba has always been a player in the International Export of furs first brought european traders Export of grains and other natural products keeps the provincial Economy in business and connects Manito bans to every provinces that developed their industries behind Tariff Walls Are discovering the global Economy As something new and Access to for eign markets both physical Access through the trans port system and economic Access through commercial and financial systems remains vital for in any rebuilding Job responding to Quebec Manitoba can Compromise on matters of symbolic import attempts to elevate one culture Over Mani Tobas experience arouse intense passions but Are finally there is plenty of room to negotiate on regional equity within but a Manitoba govern ment has Little room to manoeuvre on the maintenance of a Central government that binds the regions on the system of representative government and on an open Economy that lets Manitoba sell to the the cuban question cuban president Fidel Castro spent several Days in the United states this Castro was in new York to attend and address the Soth anniversary session of the United he took advantage of the Occa Sion to sell Cuba As an Opportunity for business and to win support for an end to the embargo on his he was a great Media much to the dismay of the Clinton which supports the but he did not have much Success in the areas that matter getting rid of the embargo and attracting although he abandoned his traditional Battle fatigues for a business he left no doubt that it is not the clothes that make the whatever he remains an unrepentant communist not Only a but a communist of the Hartline he continues to Deal with political oppo dissidents and human rights activists with an Iron fist Cubas prisons Are filled with those who dared to propose democracy for the following the collapse of his Mentor and sole source of sup the soviet and the general flight of communism around the Castro has been forced to at least partially come grips with he has not done it he still clings to an ideology that is almost universally discredited now embraced Only in name by former hard line communist states such As China and until Castro changes that which seems unlikely he will have a difficult time Selling himself and his country in the United that is Canada has always deplored castros despotic but it has maintained Trade ties with his the cuban at have benefited from that and even the cuban system May have been moderated by if the United states were to follow Canadas example in the effects would be such that Cubas face would be changed and changed despite Fidel castros Winnipeg free press Winnipeg free press esl 1872 Winnipeg Tribune esl 1890 Rudy email Ca Duncan Mcmonagle i 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 6977000 a member of the Manitoba press Council vol 123 no 325 Posi sales agreemeni110 563395 if just joined us pm were talking about and in not making two men to believe Ulep rest of Canada will negotiate m Quebec after Quebec separates Wake up before its too late to thether the people of Quebec vote yes or no Canada faces Mas Sive canadians Are at a Fork in the we can stay on the path this nation has been travelling for the last decade and the path of abandoning our Public purpose and the instruments of our civil society to the interests of markets and the global neoconservative it has brought us where we Are faced with the unprecedented popu Larity of the separatist option in que Bec and the withering Way of most of what makes us what we we can resolve to rebuild the country As the fathers of confederation originally a country with a National character and mis Sion that was More than just num Bers on a or fiscal or International Trade balance a country that recognized the need for Public As Well As private a country that celebrated diversity at the same time it forged continent wide links of real social and eco nomic no matter How much we dont want Quebec to its hard not to be caught up in the excitement of the yes even to feel a tinge of envy for its Joy and self con it should be a vision for All not just a vision that says a country is More than a Stock the tens of thousands of canadians who streamed to the giant rally in the heart of Montreal Friday after noon were coming not just put of fear of the geographic and political implications of a they were coming out of fear of losing their own Iden few English canadians can Hon Estly say that Quebec language and culture int Central to Canadas sur Vival in North whose language is indistinguishable from the great melting pot to the have relied More than we care to acknowledge on the Dis Frances Russell Tinct society in our midst to define who we that distinct society with its collectivist values is at the Root of much of what makes us different from the Canadas belief in Community Over the individual has been the driving Force for most of our distinguishing from medicare to National broadcasting and from equalization to publicly owned in it is Why we Are the Best country in the that collectivist culture has been under relentless attack for the last decade and the attack is Well on its Way to succeeding in much of English a fact which is pro Pelling separatist support in just listen to the underlying Mes Sage from bloc quebecois Leader Lucien Bouchard and Quebec pre Mier Jacques we can build a better society a More com passionate a society which will respect the rights of working save social main Tain Quality of you used to look to Canada to help preserve these but Canada is dismantling stay with Canada and youre putting your Community and your values at As if to underline the separatist industrialist Conrad Black sneered at Canadas caring and canadians rally in sunday in support of the no compassionate society in a recent speech at the University of convince an Awakening que Bec of our desire to share a country with we embarked on the most ill considered of All Canadas nation Al to show that we Are More caring and compassionate than the Black this idea began relatively innocently with Universal medical care and much stricter gun our medical profession and gun owners and collectors were somewhat the worst consequences of this policy was that it began the unique and in the Opin Ion of including most Alber tans and including me the absolutely mad concept of trying to define a nationality and a country by its social Black and others like him need to ridicule and destroy this special aspect of Canada because it stands in the Way of their Market driven societal they Are afraid of because it empowers Ordinary peo ple to take on the massive and impersonal culture of global Busi Blacks message has gotten through to wide sectors of English Canadian Public As it Suc the characteristics of our land after is so wrong about defining a nation through its social programs what is Blacks preferred yardstick yes or tonight vote is Likely to be Only the first step in a massive National even a razor thin yes if it int the end of the it is a makeup Call to English canadians to Stop the Ero Sion of our National purpose before its too late for All of for Many they Arent leaving Cana we Frances Russeli covers politics for the free her column appears wednesdays and lets All get on the Gravy train one fashionable Way of getting Money these Days is to find a government made up of people whose ancestors have inflicted injustices on your ancestors and to demand some of those who took part in the million Man March in Washington recently said As our ancestors spent hundreds of years As your they we should be compensated for that our own aboriginal peo Ples Are using a variation of this your ancestors stole our they you owe us a Good Liv ing now and forever More because they the arguments Overlook some pertinent the White race in the United states paid a particularly High Price in blood in a civil War to Correct the injustices of the people who Are now the majority in Canada had the skills and put in the Effort needed to develop the resources on the stolen land and create the wealth to which the aboriginals Are now laying no the politically Correct thing to do these Days is to accept the guilt for past actions that were com Mon practice at the time but which Are unacceptable the Only right thing to we Are told again and is to ease our guilt by handing Over piles of what about people like me is there nobody we can hit with the same argument is there no time in history when our ancestors were Fred Cleverley treated unjustly As we now under stand injustice is there nobody we can sue not As canadians we by def those of us whose skins Are White and who were born in this country have been in the Drivers seat since the Day of our we Are the guilty ones who must just a our government says we cannot claim to be Canad on the new census form we will be compelled by Law to fill out and file next in the Section where the government asks our claim ing to be a Canadian is not an in a Long list of the Only Box available for our Mark is the last the one marked we Are the others in the country of our some of us might regard this As an since we believe proudly that canadians we were born and canadians we will provided Quebec Doest wipe out our country before we we could regard the Lack of a Canadian designation on the form As our ticket to new we have to reach Back to our parents or our grandparents or beyond to find out who we really we May be victims i recently As a one of those computerized research forms which claim to Trace the origin of my family i knew already that my parents and grandparents were born in my computerized genealogy claims that the name or variations of can be traced right Back to the saxons in obviously i have a claim for compensation from the who stole the Saxon land in 1066 under William the those dastardly nor mans killed some of my enslaved and exploited the territory to the Point shortly before i was they claimed control Over nearly one Quarter of the world in an obviously autocratic and racist organization called the British those normans trashed the sax who by then had outgrown their own warlike ways and had developed a culture More civilized than their i like to think they were peaceful and idyllic in the conquerors actually took Possession of the country where i now and imposed their ways on had those Peac Elov Bonewit nature saxons not been treated unjustly by the Canada would not have been stolen from its and i would most probably be sitting comfortably in my Saxon thinking Beautiful thoughts instead of spending my time oppressing dont Tell me history differs from my interpret i want to blame the it could be Worth hard who Are today normans the French that it has Money to Burn testing nuclear it is time i filed my claim for compensation because of the unjust treatment my ances tors perhaps i could per Suade a few friends to help me stage a protest in provided i can con Vince the French government to do the right thing and to provide funds so i could express my views we do no less for those who claim our i am sure that the French govern ment would fall Over Given the Opportunity to atone for the sins of its after the French must feel the same guilt we on this continent Are always told we should feel As our wallets Are Emp tied to Correct i intend to file my claim just As soon As i figure out a Way to Over come one Small research on my wife Maiden a name i always thought was scottish As it was for Many actually goes Back to the names brought to the British Isles by those same nor Man invaders who savaged my i guess ill have to go it Fred Cleverley is a Winnipeg his column appears ;