Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - May 24, 1997, Winnipeg, Manitoba A saturday free May 1997 m id Brian editorials Freedom of Trade Liberty of religion Equality of civil rights Library censorship if Winni Eggers Are re faced this it has nothing to do with the nor is it because they have come to believe that the cites Library usually models of Are in truth purveyors of rather it is with the Case of the Book women on top How real life has changed women sexual the Winnipeg police department and Manitoba department of Justice have made the City the laughingstock of the in a caller to a radio talk show complained that the a collection by author Nancy Friday of the sexual fantasies of a number of was available in the Winnipeg Public the police went to the checked out the Book and sent it to Crown attorney Mike Mahon who decided in his it violates the obscenity so that is straight Forward enough and no More egregious than such cases usually if that were All there were to the people of Winnipeg could blushing by endure a Brief period of notoriety As the Bluenose capital of the chief of police and the minis Ter of Justice in their blushing by admit that a mistake had been life could go Back to Normal and the Book could resume the obscurity it had until now so deservedly enjoyed during the six years it occupied shelf space in our libraries and Book As women on top can most charitably be described As trash As research into human it is but in its Content it is no better and no worse than a lot of similar Reading material that is freely available in contemporary its in any Are not the Issue if tasteless books Are to be added to the crime stoppers list of anonymously reportable the police locker room and the Crown attorneys offices will be stacked with books and Maga Zines with the Good parts but that is not All there is to the suppression of a Book always threatens the possibility of a danger to the Public it is always a threat to Freedom of expression and should be undertaken Only after profound this Case poses particular danger because of the Way it has been pursued by the police and the Justice it was no sense of Community outrage that sparked this action by the it was inspired by one Anonymous Call to a radio phone in the Natur Al medium of Cranks and the in admits that she has been unable to sufficiently outrage the Community in any other North american City to the Point of taking this just As a person is inno cent until proven a Book cannot be considered pornographic until it has judged to be so in a court of but instead of Lay ing charges so that both the Library and women on top could have their Day in the police threat ened the Library with charges unless it withdrew the Book from circulation and threatened Book Sellers with charges if they dared to offer it for the police have tried to circumvent the Law and ban the Book that ban has librarians Are nervous and Book Sellers Are the Book is unavailable now in some bookstores decline even to order it for customers and the Library has put a hold on its other jurisdictions in acting on an Alert sent out by Winnipeg have declined to take any action against the Book and librarians across the country regard the police action Here As a Prece Justice minister Vic defends this police suppression of a Book through intimidation As Normal the Issue cannot be left at the meeting Between the police and the Library on Ideal the police should withdraw their complaint and failing the City should instruct the Library to refuse to withdraw the Book and the prosecution should it is intolerable that the courts should be avoided so that the police can act As an arbitrary censor and usurp the authority of the judiciary while the minister of Justice smiles in if the people of Winnipeg Are re faced it is in legitimate Community values have been outraged not by a Book but by the actions of government Winnipeg free press Winnipeg free press Ett 1872 1890 Rudy publisher email Ca 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 1997 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 125 no i state and citizen behind All the shenanigans Between the province and the Federal liberals Over who should pay what for the flood and there is a deeper discussion waiting to be Lloyd Axworthy makes a Good Point when he says that the International joint commission a body which negotiates Cana water issues should report before a detailed Post flood plan is put into but he could go further than the response to the flood needs a political discussion that goes to the heart of the relationship Between the individual and the it is not a simple discussion and the decisions that need to be made Are not simple inhabitants of Grande Pointe and Agathe who watched their Homes disappear beneath the floodwaters naturally feel that they should now be receiving full compensation for what they have inhabitants of the City of who pay among the highest taxes in the country and who saw their Homes flood perhaps feel even More strongly that they deserve full they May be Agathe and Grande Pointe residents now feel that they should be protected against future Nicholas Hirst and they May be the emotional effect of losing a Home is so great that it is difficult to argue that those who lost them Bear some responsibility for their loss because they were built within a possible flood and it would be perfectly fair for those in Grande Pointe to argue that they had built their houses to the recommended ele vation but i did not say this was an easy the Point is this Complex fac tors caused the flood of a flood of similar proportions May or May not come Back in 100 years or analyses being worked out by the province will give us a better idea of How often we might suffer a 1997 but no analysis can Tell us whether a flood of that size will actually occur next the year after or but when it comes to spending a brutal political decision needs to be Are we going to protect communities against a 100year or 150year flood Are we prepared to build dikes against a flood that could Well not happen again within our or our childrens and what is the individuals responsibility to protect him or herself politicians make Deci Sions like this All the but discussions rarely take place in this when the flood Way and the Assiniboine River diversion were built to protect the City against another flood like the one that drowned the City in a lengthy cos Benefit analysis was made to justify but often the Public cares less about cos Benefit it is very difficult to consider the Cost of anything when we Are talking about Homes and but it is important that we whether we provide an 84 year old with a triple bypass whether and at what stage we use technology to make a premature baby viable Are political they Are politics on an almost primal level what Money should be spent on what by whom which lives should be which lost a discussion about the Money that should be spent protecting us against floods is not even the Only because this Dis Cussion is not Only about spend ing it is also about duties and what duty does the province have to warn about the dangers of building in a potential flood Plain what form should such a warning take should the province not just but prevent is this the provinces responsibility or should there be National rules the trend Over the past couple of decades is for politicians the nip excepted to argue for a reduced role for the few Point out How that should increase the responsibilities of the few canadians would like a state that enforced rules that prevented building near Poten tial flood residents of Agathe and Grande Pointe can argue that they were never warned of a flood of the size we have just but As we build for the we should examine and debate who should Bear the future in doing we should learn much about our preferred relationship with we might discover that this is what makes us Nicholas Hirst is editor of the free his column appears on the chances they squandered this May be the first elec Tion in Canadian history when Only one party runs to govern the it has also been a Campaign of squandered the new democrats entered the race with a Bright new Leader and half the political spectrum open to them and them Alexa Mcdonough had a Chance to reach out Well beyond the traditional constituency of the she chose to reinforce the Dps Core vote marginalizing her party and losing a Golden Chance to broaden the Dps telling voters that the party objective was to Send More Mem Bers to Ottawa without any phony pretence of winning Power was a sensible Low ering expectations to match the reality of a party that held Only nine seats in the last House of but the nip platform reminds voters of the bad old Days of spendthrift governments running up deficits that drag Down the Treasury and prevent spending on social the tax and spend combination advanced by is Mcdonough is so far removed from the coun try mainstream that new democrats have sealed their own they have denied them selves the opening that a conservative Liberal government and the Reform and tory opposition handed Alexa Mcdonough has tried to make jobs the Issue of the Cam she had correctly spotted a major weakness in the Liberal an unemployment rate that continues to be too if the Canadian Economy is As buoyant As the liberals Are telling us it then Why Are million canadians still out of work that question Lay at the heart of the nip Campaign a potent theme that should have taken it stalled because the Dps solution of taxing the spending More on social pro Grams and relying on govern ments to create permanent jobs Doest ring it is not the for Mula adopted by nip govern ments in the especially in Roy Romanowsk it is not the for Mula that shows up in any Sam pling of Public opinion across the it is a formula that Nar not widens the Appeal of the nip at a time when a More centrist position could have done the liberals Jean Charest and the tories Are falling Short of their potential if there is a consensus about anything in Canada these Days it is that the country needs a National alternative to the Liber the Only party that seemed capable of cobbling together a coalition that included every Region of the country was the Charest has performed Well he is smooth and likable in both official but his party platform is so full of important that finance minister Paul Martin has shot rhetorical Cannon Mcdonough missed an Opportunity to broaden nip through them without cracking a the tories Are promising an across the Board tax huge cuts in Federal spending and a lower the problem with the tory aside from any philosophical objection some have with further eroding the Federal is that More than billion is lost in the Charest says the numbers add up but he Doest say this Shell game with the num Bers plays to the liberals when Paul Martin says the tory numbers dont add his credibility tarnishes Cha rests freshly polished the tories have nowhere to go but How far up would they have gone if their economic pol icy if there were More to the Campaign than the if there were rather than negative reasons to vote tory Charest says he is running to achieve he now has two seats in the House of com that is not a credible Preston Manning has created his own fashioning the National Unity Issue to suit his Core his Well Tai lored rhetoric about Equality of the provinces plays Well in Alberta and British Columbia but has Little resonance anywhere else in the he is running for the Job of Leader of the opposition and the Way to land it is to pitch that theme hard where the Reform party can win its he too has marginalized his the bloc quebecois is running to destroy so far it is destroying Only there is Only one party run Ning to win its not sup posed to work that Way in a healthy Jim canis the free press Fea Tures his column appears on 1 a ;