Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - November 25, 1996, Winnipeg, Manitoba A6 Winnipeg free press november editorials by tort Stile 1697044 sound economics everyone agrees on the problem with Canadas consumer the question is what to do about some economists and lobby including Nipe based have argued for the last couple of years that governments could pave the Way to a stronger Economy by boosting Public spending and reducing interest the combination of these two it is would create employment stability and result in enough economic growth to cover the deficit at the same How interest rates could simply be arbitrarily reduced without setting off inflation or triggering a slide in the Dollar is never fully nor is it Clear How the problem of government deficit and debt can be solved by As it turns the Canadian Economy today is showing signs of and it is Worth pointing out that this modest but steady improvement is occur not because govern ments followed the advice of choices and but because they did the slow but steady improvement in the Economy can be attributed to two major Public policy decisions the Bank of Cana Das tight monetary policy and the decision by Feder Al and provincial governments to clean up their balance the Central Banks decision to hold inflation to Between one and three per cent is a controversial in deciding that the inflation of the 1980s had to be the Bank effectively changed the rules of the economic causing hardship for hundreds of thousands of canadians who struggled to these difficulties were compounded by across the Board government cuts that resulted in Public sector layoffs and increased to focus on the problems caused by these Deci is to ignore that matters would be worse today if the hard choices had not been the fact is the combination of tight monetary policy and government cutbacks produced lower inter est a stronger Dollar and a solid foundation for future this is readily apparent in the most recent economic projections by the con Ference Board of Canada show this provinces real Gap will grow this year and per cent in Canada will record real Gap growth of about per cent this year and per cent next the Promise of economic growth can be seen in the decisions by two Manitoba companies motor coach industries and Vansco electronics expand their operations and create about 600 full time most of the credit for these new jobs must go to the entrepreneurs who created but it must be acknowledged that these and their Are benefiting from Federal and provincial economic policies that have Cut Public contained taxes and fostered International the trend would seem to indicate that we have Dis covered a plan for building consumer the Only question now is whether canadians will have the patience to stick with Pilot project t t Tinni Eggers will be Able to see in March whether tourism operator Wayne Flett can v v fill the Walker theatre night after night with busloads of out town concert Flett has rented the Walker beginning March 1 and approached impresario Sam Katz about booking entertainment into the if this venture bears Flett and City Council will be Able to judge what investment should be made in renovating pan tages playhouse and the deserted Capitol and metro Politan theatres for More of the councillors Are rightly reluctant to invest Public funds in renovation work on the theatres until they see How the City will recover its Flett has already said he would Mothball the Capitol theatre and renovate it gradually Over five now he has rented the Walker alone while continuing talks with the City about the other the cites commitment can deepen As the ventures prospects of Success once Flett has a definite arrangement with an impresario who has a track record of booking entertainment and filling his plan will look once he has pack aged and marketed entertainment in one he and the Council will know what renovation invest ment in the metropolitan and Capitol buildings can be the City should go out of its Way to help fleets venture if he needs other attractions to package along with concerts at the Winnipeg has plenty to Good seats at wrestling matches an legislature debates might be a Good Winnipeg free press Winnipeg free pms 991 i Winnipeg Tribune est 1690 Rudy email Nicholas editor Brian Cole editorial Page editor directors Harry Brown circulation sales and marketing Ian Laurie Verne Kalichuk human resources Glenn Williams finance and administration div published a tee Canada limited Jef to Urual wac Council stand Tuere and ook Down Mot a look m no i int t the camera do Wal crying flirting with anarchy government House Leader Jim Ernst acknowledges that the course the conservatives have embarked upon could Lead to anarchy in the the new democrats have All but promised that it and it Springs from Premier Gary Hilmons attempt to keep his Nice Guy image with Manito bans while he ignores Public faced with the evidence of overwhelming opposition to the privatization of the Manitoba Telephone the Premier promised not to impose closure and to debate its privatization through Christmas if at the same the Premier recognized that the longer the debate dragged the greater was the damage to his Over two thirds of Manitoban oppose the Sale of the Crown Tele phone company according to a recent Public opinion so the government asked speaker Louise Lacquay to do its dirty work for it and invoke clo sure next week on the its privatization on the speaker no parallel exists for Madame speakers ruling in Canadian parliamentary in the 1987 precedent she cited from the House of speaker Frances Russell John Fraser did not impose clo sure he Only ruled that the Mulroney government should be allowed to debate Bill the drug Patent Protection legislation that has added billions of dollars to the costs of with Only 1987s thin Reed to rely speaker Louise Lacquay told the House at she will put the question on whatever opposition amendment to the its Bill is being at she she will conduct the votes on those questions Neces sary to dispose of third speaker Lacquay said she is merely applying the but she acknowledged earlier in her statement that she was dealing in an area where there is a Gap in the As government House Ernst was asked How this will will the speaker leave her chair and take her seat As an la to move the closure motion herself replied the speaker will Call for the he will move the in the speaker and the government will invoke closure Ernst was then asked what the speaker would do if the opposition began moving Points of privilege and Points of i guess she will ignore the government House Leader but How does the speaker ignore Points of order and Points of privilege 4 t dont know what she is i going to Ernst some he con it becomes and anarchy it could in an impassioned nip House Leader Steve Ashton warned the government that the opposition will no longer accept any legitimacy in House he put prospective buyers of its shares on notice that the Sale could be subject to Legal Chal Lenge for not having been prop Erly passed into armed with books on parliamentary history and precedent and shaking with the opposition House Leader accused pre Mier Gary Filmon of being incompetent and unethical and the speaker of having destroyed her he compared her to speaker Rene Beaudoin in the 1956 pipeline according to the office of speaker in the Parlia ments of the written by Philip former clerk assistant of the House of speaker Beaudoin allowed himself to become an instrument of the governments parliamentary speaker Beaudoin Bent every Rule to help the Liberal government of Louis Laurent ram the trans Ana a pipelines Bill through the i put you on Madame that from now we do not accept any legitimacy in your Ashton Contin echoing the phrases of the conservative opposition Leader of the John you have shown a Complete Lack of impartiality and we will not accept the premiers loss of perspective has caused him to taint the share Compromise the speaker and scratch the last shred of Teflon from his five feet beyond the Legisla there int a Manitoban who Doest know that it is the government who will invoke closure on the Sale of its next thurs Flances Russell covers politics for the free her column appears on wednes Days and big brother issues a warning vol 124 no 335 most canadians dont give a Hoot about what their Neighbours Are watching on they May be a bit envious when they Dis cover that someone has one of those mini satellite dishes that deliver hundreds of commercial free but in willing to bet there int anyone outside of government who thinks the dish owner should be tossed in jail for what he is Why then has the Federal Ern ment started a Campaign aimed at prosecuting people for the television they watch per haps the department of which has launched this Cam has been watching the department of which pulled the strings that put a Manitoba Farmer in jail for the crime of Selling his Grain without the governments didst we fight a one in which thousands of canadians gave their partly so that people could read what they listen to what they wanted and say whatever was on their minds i remember when we thought it was terrible that the nazi government of Germany jammed radio and when they shot people they caught with 1 remember when we thought it was terrible when the old government of the tried to Block radio and sent anyone caught listening to unauthorized broadcasts to Siberia Why then ire we keeping quiet when our own department of Industry tells those of us who May be watching television that there Are penal ties for breaking the Law which include floes in some jail terms Industry minister John Marley says this is not a just a Andy Mcmechan had better move Over Fred Cleverley in that jail cell he is sitting in for Selling his own he May have some company soon canadians who Are criminals because of the television they simply the government has botched its handling of the new technology represented by smallish television and its Only solution is to threaten canadians with jail if they dont the warning comes just in time to Dampen Christmas dish what we Are witnessing is another classic loss by the regulators in their Many races with at the Canada has three authorized Small dish properly licensed to Supply what the government Calls authorized the Only problem is that not one of these services is on the the government is on shaky the Law May say that it is illegal to receive unauthorized but courts decide what the Law so far the government has lost All its attempts to convict and police have had to return equipment Mauley warns against watching Legal they perhaps a civil court judge can be convinced that customers who seek services where they can get them Are somehow liable for maybe a Lack of National but dont bet on the government gets Down right silly when it suggests that canadians using Gre Market dishes Are being duped by unscrupulous dealers who sell these it Points out that if the services include Disney or Hob the customer should suspect he is being sold something it is As if the government never suspected that some canadians want these whether they Are Legal or the Canadian broadcast regu the Canadian radio Elevi Sion and telecommunications is stuck in televisions Stone even if its licences get their services off the ground the crts Canadian Content requirements will guar Antee that they will be less attractive than the unauthorized channels out at authorized Canadian services can offer about 200 movies a for the same More than All uncut and commercial Are available each no one can watch movies a but the availability is attractive to some who should not be prohibited from paying their own Money for what they want to Canada will not disappear As a what will happen if the threats of jail dont work will the government follow the example of the dictators and Start shooting anyone it catches with a dish that Doest have a government stamp on it Fred Cleverley is a Winnipeg his column appears on ;