Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - May 20, 1997, Winnipeg, Manitoba A12 Winnipeg free May Brian Cole 6977044 editorials Freedom of Trade Liberty of religion Equality of civil rights economic reality Bank of Canada governor Gordon Thiessen indicated this week he May have to move his Short term interest rates up because the Ket is moving them up his stimulative by of Low interest rates has not yet brought unemployment Down As parliamentary candidates talking of jobs should take account of the realities Thiessen is wrestling campaigning party leaders have been offering their solutions for Job creation Reform Leader pre Ston Manning promises a tax Cut after the budget is tory Leader Jean Charest promises an immediate tax Cut and Sharp curtailment of employment insurance premiums and prime minister Jean Chretien and his liberals would balance the budget and subsidize Small Busi youth technology and i Nova Trade and Infra Alexa Mcdonough and the new democrats would raise taxes and set Low unemployment targets in place of the Bank of Canadas Low inflation the task of reducing unemployment Howe be harder than the party leaders Are letting government layoffs in Quebec and the completion of subsidized Meg projects in the Atlantic provinces have contributed to High unemployment in those these experiences suggest that the tax and insurance Premium cuts promised by Manning and Charest May have Adverse effects besides the advantages they offer Job creating some workers will lose their jobs or their benefits to pay for the Public sector adding to Chretien infrastructure projects and other subsidized works May keep workers off the Market for a but they will create a bulge in unemployment when each project is is Mcdonough policy presumably Means she would reduce interest run a deficit and Toler ate rising inflation and a declining Exchange rate As Long As unemployment was above a specified but Thiessens Experiment with an interest rate policy Independent of the has already shown the limits on National policy in a global Thiessen said last week an Independent monetary policy Doest mean that Canadian interest rates Are completely protected Independent from what goes on in the Canadas economic growth rate lies about the mid dle of the group of seven leading Industrial economies ahead of behind Japan and the attempts to sail the ship faster than the wind is blowing Are Apt to produce perverse voters should keep an Eye out for the damage the parties Job strategies would inflict As Well As the benefits they might debating Unity the French language debate sunday evening did not provide any new insights into the positions of Canadas political parties on the ques Tion of National the discussion amounted to Little More than a rehash of party lines that have been repeated a million times the televised debate did serve one extremely useful it focused attention on the fact that canadians will have an important Choice to make on june 2 National reconciliation or although this Choice has been apparent through out the election it became Crystal Clear sunday evening when bloc quebecois Leader Gilles Dueppe reminded voters that his party seeks Power for one purpose to break up canadians outside Quebec were reminded that Reform party Leader Preston Manning is not part of the he is part of the his adversarial approach to Quebec and his reference to Jean Chretien and Jean Charest As Quebec politicians Only confirms the View that he sees National Unity As nothing More a hot Button Issue to gain votes in the the questionable nature of reforms National Unity policy is underscored by mannings belief that Quebec should be Able to preserve and promote its culture and language so Long As other provinces have the same left unexplained is How such a policy one that would allow language and cultural polices to differ dramatically among English language provinces would strengthen there Are indications that canadians inside que Bec Are starting to abandon the politics of confront polls show soft nationalists Are moving to the conservative along with the Liberal is pushing a conciliatory approach to the question now is whether canadians outside of particularly those in Alberta and British Are prepared to do the Winnipeg free press Winnipeg free press sat 1871 Winnipeg Tribune eat 1890 Rudy email Nicholas Brian Cole editorial Page editor directors Harry Brown circulation sales and marketing Ian Laurie Verne Kalichuk human resources Glenn Williams finance and administration 1997 Winnipeg free 9 division of newspapers division of Thomson Canada limited published seven Days a week at 1355 Mountain Manitoba r2x pm 6977000 a member or the Manitoba press Council vol 125 n0137 1 Parizeau is no Surprise t t thy Are so Many influential canadians so sur w t prised that former Quebec Premier Jacques Parizeau planned a unilateral declaration of Quebec sovereignty within Days of a referendum Victory did they not expect him to do exactly that if these influential canadians Are really surprised then we Are in deep if they Are sur prised it Means that Pur govern ment really believed the name Pamby words of the die hard separatists and had absolutely no plans to Deal with what would happen if they were not telling the truth and turned out to be less reasonable than we thought them to before the last i wrote a column in which i Sug not entirely Tongue in that we would be smart to Fly every airworthy f18 fighter base Din Quebec to cold i suggested further that we begin moving our armed forces stocks of and every vehicle that could be out of Quebec before the vote was our ships should go it looks like these suggestions would have been Good had the vote gone the other it is possible that we would have seen Fred Cleverley combat equipped Quebec Provin Cial police at the Gates of every Canadian forces base in Quebec the next Quebec government officials had already contacted every francophone member of our forces stationed in Quebec requesting they switch their Alle Giance if the yes vote carried the embassies had been contacted asking about International it turns out that Parizeau had received advice from France that the Way to get International recognition was to move quickly to declare he admits As much in his nor was this advice As secret As Parizeau would now have us Are the influential among us now so surprised that the government of Quebec was Well on the path to a uni lateral declaration of Independence do these people we have chosen to govern us really think that revolutions which is what a separate Quebec would amount to Are conducted by gentlemen according to the Marquis of Queensberry rules any Canadian who has read the history of other countries which have faced breakaway factions must have been As i at the Handoff approach by the Federal government during the months leading up to the last ref the pattern was certainly Clear for anyone to most successful revolutions that have taken place in the past have been pushed along by fewer than 15 per cent of the people affect this hard Core of support certainly exists in other revolutions have succeeded when the so called soft sup part revolutionaries grew Large enough for the Core group to claim majority that was what the last referendum was All the hardcore Parizeau tried to con Vince their softer supporters that the vote was not really to Sepa but Only to begin negotiations to bring about a better Deal Between Quebec and the rest of thousands of Quebe cers who voted yes in the referendum did so fully believing that a Vic tory for the yes Side would leave them in Possession of their Cana Dian free to use the Canadian Dollar and even to elect representatives to the Canadian they were not Vot ing for the revolution their Lead including had in always careful with his Parizeau has left the door open to deny that he was contemplating a unilateral Declara Tion of Independence before negotiations began with the rest of the Only a declaration would have Given Parizeau the clout he would need for such to a udi would be like a strike vote to a something to have in the bag before serious negotiations could would it much matter to Parizeau that he was saying one thing while intending to do another for that if the strategy would it really bother Lucien one of those who is now claiming that he knew nothing about plans for an imme Diate and is surprised at Parizeau frankness not Bouchard goal is the same As that of inde Sovereign Fred Cleverley is a Winnipeg his column normally appears on Charest sacrifices environment conservative Leader Jean Cha rests Promise to my children clip May have won the hearts of Media pundits during last weeks televised leaders but another Promise made by Charest that night would have a More devastating Impact on future generations than a Sovereign with his vow to merge environment Canada with the depart ments of natural agriculture and Charest Laid the groundwork for a move that would see Environ mental Protection in Canada razed from the political land its hard to imagine a Polit ical party promising to do even More environmental damage than the liberals have done in the last three and a half but Charest did just government objectives Are carried out through departmental programs and size is if you Cut a you Cut its when departments Are combined into one bureaucratic competing interests become neutralized under a single min putting environmental Protection under the thumb of the powerful departments that work to maximize extraction under mines and forests would reduce Canadas environmental measures to a voice in a Large departmental Cha rests new Mega department would be called sustainable its an environmental a Green it sounds but its about As warm and fuzzy As the move to change the name of the unemployment insurance program to employment insure remember when the lib eral government changed the name of the department to human resources thousands Penni Mitchell Denly disqualified from receiving benefits they had contributed to the once sustainable program funded solely by worker and employer then government just dipped its hand into the pot when a surplus accumulated even though fewer people qualified for fewer Bene vowed to spend workers Al premiums on training for jobs that didst the liberals 1993 red Book contained a commitment to environmentally sustainable devel but since the liberals have demonstrated clearcut contempt for Environ mental Protection environment the smallest Federal had its budget slashed by Mil almost a and about staff were Laid with fewer people on staff to enforce corporations that disobey the Canadian Environ of unemployed people were Sud Cha rests plans to Ety taxes will Hurt the environment mental Protection act Are rarely the Canadian Forest service has also been forced to close 16 forestry centres and 20 regional forestry As Parks Canadas budget has been chopped by it int just forests and Parks that have been under the Liberal environmental protections were lifted to allow mining in Bird sanctuaries and wildlife just before the election was the liberals introduced a Long awaited endangered species which was condemned for doing nothing to protect the swamps or forests where about 80 per cent of Canadas endangered species make their accused by environmental organizations of yielding to pres sure from industries that cause the pollution of our air and the Liberal govern ment offer a solid Rea son Why the Bill was so watered Elizabeth executive director of the Sierra club of said that the Liberal legislation creates a permitting system for the Legal extinction of an end ironic Survey last year showed that Strong environmental Protection was favoured by 90 to 97 per cent of canadians in every Region of the fortunately for the their track record on the environment Hast registered during the elec Tion Charest May worry on television about the country his children will but his vow to sever the Regula tory autonomy of environment Canada in a Multi departmental merger would be a recipe for Dis Penni Mitchell is coordinating editor or horizons her column appears on tues f ;