Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - June 20, 1997, Winnipeg, Manitoba A12 Winnipeg free june 1997 Brian Cole 6977044 editorials Freedom of Trade Liberty of religion Equality of civil rights sex Marks the spot Over the next some Manitoban Are going to have a pleasant new experience they Are going to discover red River exhibition the million Home of the the sex has Long marked the official Start of sum Mer in it takes place toward the end of june when summer is fresh and when school is winding Down and thousands of Young and not so Young people Are eager for the excitement of the Midway and the thrill of taking part in something that seems a bit especially after dark when the noise and confusion of flashing lights and spin Ning machinery make it easy to throw off some of the inhibitions that Are More easily heeded Dur ing the Long cold Winter and often dreary for the past 30 since they acquired a 480acre site on the out skirts of Winnipeg Adja cent to Assiniboia directors of the red River exhibition association have dreamed of building a permanent site for the a place where the sex could become More than a carnival and realize its original Pur pose As a showcase for Manitoban an exhibition of our Best and that dream will not be fully realized this creation of the Park is Only a first but it is a giant step As All will realize when they March through the main Gates and past the towering pillars that guard they will see a vast improvement Over the cramped Concrete confines of the old site at Winnipeg they will see artificial lakes and a clean promenade where the Midway and its visitors have room to there is a huge exhibition a band Shell and places for Flower and handicraft there Are facilities for horse shows and Riding com petitions which will be a permanent feature of the exhibition officials say other uses for the Facil Ity Are Only As limited As the imaginations of Poten tial already auctions and min formula racing have been suggested and eventually a provincial scale fair might be the exhibition Park is Likely to ease some of the pressure on the Forks while not detracting from the convention which still commands a better location for most the Park May give the Downs a boost As some Winni Eggers realize that wagering need not be an antisocial pastime pursued with a Mer chants on Portage Avenue and to a lesser extent on Roblin Boulevard May learn to look Forward to the Start of the All this Promise is the result of the dedicated efforts of directors of the exhibition who refused to let the idea of exhibition Park despite a Lack of keen interest from their fellow today a proper Home for the sex is no longer an its a Fine new place for us to another amenity to be enjoyed by viewers Choice setting up the rating system for television pro Grams that the Canadian radio television and telecommunications commission unveiled this week has served several it has been a useful make work project for the crts at a time when it is being rendered increasingly irrelevant by the very technology it was created to it offers a Handy guide to Alert children to programs that their parents May not want them to its ostensible Howe is As a tool for parents who the crts believes do not have the wit to know for themselves what kind of programs Are suitable for their childrens View the new system is intended to classify to pro Grams according to their level of violent Content and suitability for children of different age parents who fear that violence even cartoon violence on or or or the use of Vul Gar language will have a malevolent influence on their children will Welcome what a rating system cannot do is give parents the will to enforce this television diet on a daily the which can Block the reception of whole will eliminate that but the introduction of the Chip has been once again delayed due to technical no matter what system is in it still comes Down to parents taking the alternative is censorship an outright ban on certain kinds of Content on As some groups the single greatest value of a rating or of the v Chip if it is that it helps to stave off that kind of zealotry and leaves the ultimate Choice of what to watch with the where it should Winnipeg free press Winnipeg free press est 1872 Winnipeg Tribune est 1890 Rudy Einari Rudy Ca Nicholas editor Brian Cole editorial Page editor directors Harry Brown circulation sales and marketing Ian Cummins technology 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 ibb considers moving to a Tornow upstairs downstairs tory Bill acts out a farce Only Monty Python could do Justice to Manitoba proposed new Freedom of information and Protection of privacy act is such a perversion of its title that it invites the cynical laughter prompted by the British satirical a More appropriate both from its contents and from the flawed process that brought it would be denial of information and Protection of the Pri Vacy of politicians and bureaucrats to its Peter Jacobsen is one of Canadas Lead ing Freedom of information he has represented the Globe and mail and other Media in such cases As the Guy Paul Morin wrongful murder conviction inquiry and Ontario Hydro unsuccessful attempt to withhold information on the hazards of its nuclear Power he Speaks for the Canadian association of it appears to be quite a conscious step Back in facilitating Public Access to the lawyer said in an this legislation puts Manitoba close to the Bottom of the list among Canadian the Manitoba Law provides the widest possible exemption for Cabinet secrecy among the Cana Dian statutes that Jacobsen has Frances Russell All Manitoba Cabinet Docu ments will remain confidential for 30 compared to 15 years in Alberta and and 20 years in Ontario and that a generation and a half of Jacobsen that information is of inter est Only to the new Law extends Cabinet secrecy beyond its current sweeping actual min utes or other records and ministerial discussions were in any record that even reflects communications among ministers will Cabinet Dis Cussion policy similar Brief ing material and other records of the deliberations or decisions of Cabinet Are shrouded in is any proposal or recommendation prepared or reviewed and approved a minister for submission to Cabi net and a record prepared to Brief a minister about a matter that is either before Cabinet or proposed to be before a new twist in the Bill is that advice not Only from Public ser but also from outside con will be kept another Section in the Law gives the government the right to refuse to disclose information to Manitoban for no other Rea son than that it came from other the Federal govern and even the United the Bill removes previously available information from the Public government will be Able to deny information now stored electronically simply by Declar ing in its the information is too much trouble to government will also be Able to delay the release even of Avail Able information for up to six months enough time to get past an and it will be Able to refuse to release information simply because it relates to something already provided or publicly when youre looking for an Al encompassing relates is Jacobsen Manitoba still wont have a Pri Vacy commissioner with the Power to order release of info to the the cur rent passed by the nip and proclaimed by the conserve was legally required to be reviewed in the House committee want struck until its vital tory la Shirley claiming other pressing the in Defiance of the never reported when the Manitoba Library association requested the committees report under the current Freedom of information the government invoked the Cabinet confidentiality the government struck an inhouse committee to gather opinion on a new not from the but by invitation the ensuing report didst include submissions from some 28 government departments and when the Manitoba Library association requested those under Freedom of the government again invoked the Cabinet confidentiality the government used Freedom of information to deny Freedom of information on Freedom of its such a mockery of democratic principles and the dignity of its Frances Russell comments on politics for the free her column appears wednesdays and Home thoughts for Manning Reform Leader Preston Manning was not sure this week whether to go and live in the official Ottawa residence supplied by the government for the Leader of the Manning for Merly said it was Way too extravagant for Plain folks like himself and his on second a lot of Reform members Are telling him to go for it and he is starting to think it May be the last three opposition Lead ers have not lived in they were All leaders of the bloc which in its Short life has had Lucien Michel Gauthier and Gilles Dueppe As its they refused to live in an Ottawa House provided by the Canadian government because they did not want to Compromise their Quebec loyalty or their separatist nor did they intend to remain in Ottawa Long just Long enough to separate Quebec from Cana with those every opposition Leader since conservative George Drew has lived in the House was built in the style and about the same time As the grand houses of win Nipges Crescent Wood District and it has about it the same air of slightly old fashioned Bourgeois when the nazis occupied the Netherlands and Crown Princess Juliana took Refuge in she lived at the Netherlands makes an annual gift of tulips to beautify the streets of in memory of the canadians who died Liberat ing the Netherlands and in commemoration also of Ottawa wartime hospitality to the dutch Royal so the old House is Rich with National capital Trade the government bought it Terence Moore in 1970 and the department of Public works has regularly renovated and redecorated the building with each change of ten ant since Manning fought for the Post of Leader of the opposition All through his first parliamentary the bloc had elected slightly More members than but Manning and his supporters reasoned that a group dedicated to breaking up Canada was not fit to be official oppo now the election results have made him Leader of the but who prefers to be seen As a Prairie populist and not an Ottawa is not sure he wants to live in the official Resi Dence that comes with the since he made a great fuss in past years about the cars and other perquisites sup plied to Public it is Only decent of him to show a hint of embarrassment about living rent free in Stornoway at Public As a practical Howe he has now become an Ottawa Public As he Long yearned to and he must prob ably play the role whether it suits him or he is no longer the master of his own lifestyle or his own Leisure he is one facet of the Public face Canada presents to itself and to the world and he has to live up to others he May prefer to look and sound like a hymn singing country lad from South Ern but Canada requires him to look and sound like a Leader of the opposition to attend the official functions and meet the visiting dignitaries and join in the theatrical work of rep resenting mannings father under stood this role playing perfectly he climbed to prominence by defending the poor Farmers of Alberta against the heartless then parlayed his prominence into a Senate seat and a Niche in the corporate establish some of the westerners we Send to Ottawa sell out to the Eastern establishment and some do Arthur Meighen and Bennett sold John Diefenbaker and Tommy Douglas never the difference does not lie in the House or the clothes or the personal it lies in the con the the if mannings instincts Are it will not matter what House he lives his people will know by his actions whether he is still with if the House Swal lows up the then there was not much there to Start Terence Moore is a free press editorial his column appears on Stornoway is part of the image the Leader of the opposition should live ;