Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - June 23, 1997, Winnipeg, Manitoba A6 Winnipeg free june Brian Cole 6977044 editorials Freedom of Trade Liberty of religion Equality of civil rights shameful legislation there is Only one thing that can be said of a government that uses its Powers to limit the free Access of citizens to information about its activities shame on the provincial conservative govern most of whose members howled a decade ago for the Heads of new democrats whom they accused of stonewalling during the mix and aut Opac now they Are ramming through Bill legislation to Amend the Freedom of information act by making it easy for them to hide records of what they have done to our shame on Premier Gary who proudly and repeatedly declares that his parents escaped the tyranny of Eastern Europe but who now defends Bill which gives him excessive and unnecessary Powers to quash Access to any information that even reflects what he and his ministers Are Dis cussing or which might relate to something already in the Public on Fil Mon who fought Media requests for information about his activities Dur ing the jets debacle stonewalling that was decried by the provincial ombudsman As not Only wrong but wasteful of time and Money and who now accuses reporters of wanting Foi in order to get civil servants to do their research at Public shame on cultural affairs minister Rosemary who As Justice minister was admonished in a judicial report on the riot at heading Ley for not knowing it was powder and who now appears to not know the provisions of Bill 50 even though she struck the inhouse committee that developed it and is responsible for getting it passed into on Vodrey for calling the changes minor when she knows full Well that one of those minor changes Means that Access to electronic which governments increasingly rely will be denied if it is deemed difficult to this provision can Only be seen As Petty it makes into Law the argument used by the Manitoba ies to deny the free press and the opposition Access to data about How much gambling Money was coming out of Manitoba the govern ment defended the corporations position for 11 despite the ombudsman conclusion the argument was now what was laughable is to be the Filmon government had an Opportunity to make government More open and but instead chose to take the province further Back into the dark in the words of the Canadian association of it could have amended legislation to have Cabinet documents released after 15 As is done in instead of it could have brought in Protection for whistle blowers so that civil servants would not fear reprisal for exposing the it could have created a privacy commissioner with Power to Force the release of information that bureaucrats and politicians withhold simply because it makes them look fake budgets t t tinn pegs City Council is unable to sweep the streets in a year when we have a Spring v v Snow storm and a red River since Snow storms and red River floods Are regular occurrences in these filthy streets will be equally the Council is also unable to buy sufficient books for the Public libraries or maintain the Side sewers and water lines in the year following a Spring Snow storm and a red River the Citi Zens should not expect the City to provide the usual municipal services after a Winter with Snow and a Spring with a City budget that assumes Little Snow to be cleared off the streets in the Winter is a fake a budget that makes no provision for the flood Protection work that Winnipeg has to do every now and then is a fake the Council is having to revise its budget pleading the surprising facts that Snow fell in the Winter and the River Rose in the the assumptions proved to be false and now the Council must write a budget that More nearly matches the the streets will need to be cleaned in the budgeting for self cleaning streets is More make the Public libraries do need to be stocked with books and the Public infrastructure does need to be repaired and if those purchases and projects Are pushed off into the the City is imposing costs on future As if the Money were borrowed from the this is shortsighted Winnipeg free press Winnipeg free press eat 1872 Winnipeg Tribune est 1890 Rudy Redekop publisher email Nicholas editor Brian editorial Page editor directors Harry Brown circulation sales and marketing Ian Cummins technology Laurie advertising 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 169 nil mums the word for pcs information is Power and its not surprising that those who have it Are unwilling to share that the longer they have the More unwilling they the former nip government of Howard Pawley brought in Manitoba first Freedom of information act in despite prodding from the opposition it never got around to proclaiming it before losing a budget vote in the newly elected memories fresh of their Days on the speakers left when a Little More information would have been very thank hastened to proclaim it in septem they have since evolved into one of the most secretive and centrally controlled govern ments in All Media requests for information and interviews must first be screened through a Fourier son Cabinet communications this same political office vets All news releases issued by the provincial governments information services even interviews with government backbench ers go through a government caucus Given this control it is hardly surprising that the pro posed update of the 1985 Foi Law takes the concept not Frances Russell nor is it surprising that the legislative review process that produced by supposed to be open was closed and attempts by the Manitoba Library association to Access it through Foi were rejected under the Cabinet confidentiality heritage and citizen ship minister Rosemary Vodrey Calls the legislation a Good bal Ance Between the citizens right to privacy and right to inform she Doest explain How a citizens right to privacy is protected by the most sweeping cab inet confidentiality clause in she also claims the govern ment developed the act through Public consultations and the distribution of a discussion paper on Access and privacy she keeps repeating both assertions despite a Crescendo of opposition and Public the governments communication strategy on the legislation was it was introduced simultaneously with the new per Sonal health information when the focus of Public Atten Tion is on the privacy of health its easy to slip through a More draconian restriction on Public Access to a Broad coalition representing the Canadian association of Jour the Manitoba taxpayers the Manitoba association for rights and the Manitoba Library association and the Council of women has since hurriedly come together to fight the secrecy provisions in the the Day before it launched its request for a the government voted Down a six month hoist motion moved by Diane Mcgifford Paul president of the Manitoba Library says Freedom of information ranks up there with Freedom of speech in terms of importance in a he Calls the governments closed and secretive process dumb founding and a this legislation int about but about How it can be Neilson government is becoming Ever More my idea of democracy is that citizens have to be Able to understand what the government had and if government is going to keep As much As it wants Between itself and some then How do citizens make informed choices Mike a producer with to Speaks on Freedom of information issues for the he says the legislation takes the worst of All the acts in Canada and brings them Ogeth the bureaucratic and Politi Cal interest in secrecy is to take precedence Over the Public right to it is death of information Access by a thousand bureaucratic Vodrey should reread the comments of former tory la Gerry Mercier when he opened debate on the nip legislation in people in government some times forget that government is there to serve the Public and not be its Mercier All governments have a tendency to he and Foi is a Way to prompt More honesty and Candour in i believe that open govern ment has to be the basis of a stronger democracy and Hope again through this through More information being made available to members of the that the democratic process can be Frances Russell covers politics for the free her column appears on wednes Days and no service for dish customers earlier this representatives of the Canad an broadcast Industry paid a visit to the California head quarters of one of the major distributors of television programs through the new pizza sized satellite the Cana Dian business group had Only one it was that direct immediately shut off the service it was delivering to an estimated Canadian if direct the delegation the company would find itself facing Mega lawsuits in the delegation makes two the first is that direct is not licensed to distribute Tele vision signals in the Sec Ond is that some by no Means All of the programs being beamed into the Canadian dishes Are the same programs for which Canadian licensed Broad casters pay Canadian distribution we dont know if the Canadian broadcasters mentioned that they simply cannot deliver the programs on which they hold distribution rights to the majority of the canadians who subscribe to direct Cana Dian Small dish technology is lag Ging so far behind what is readily available from the that peo ple Are going where the programming and Are buying from if direct caves in to the wishes of the Canadian Broad it will be because the broadcasters have the full Back ing of the Canadian government in making on the basis of is the preposterous demand that those who can sup ply signals should Stop doing so until those who cannot catch even an outfit As big As direct to is bound to have some second thoughts when faced by the Power of a National Fred Cleverley should ask themselves which Side their government is theirs or that of the business the fact that the government enjoys Little support from canadians who want watchable Tele Vison Doest enter the after the or so direct dishes in Canada Are a very Small piece of the direct direct can be forgiven if it reasons that canadians have a right to sort out their own television Canadas crts anointed Small dish has been promising for years to provide smallish program but has yet to do express Stu was supposed to take Over when Canadas Only Legal satellite television can bowed to the wishes of Canadian broadcasters and converted its analog signals to Digi and in the process blanked out the screens of every Canad an who had attempted to follow the governments wishes and subscribe to the Legal service provided by Over signal after signal disappeared from what can com used to Call its country Cable service about a year All signals that needed decoding were dish owners still to do without a Canadian signal canadians who had tried to play the game according to the rules set up by the government and the Canadian broadcast Industry were left with dishes that could deliver the the the Csc and the there is a certain frustration in having to watch programming that virtually bogs Down when the Stanley cup ends in four games rather than it is frustrating also to look at what was once a Legal dish and is now an expensive beginning in 1995 can com customers were flooded with information about express Stu arriving later that they were offered Dis counts because they had dealt with express Stu so As dead As a the fact is for the bulk of canadians who need a the Only route has been the Grey which is to subscribe to available or the Black mar which is to steal canadians Are a la abiding lot and most have decided that television is Worth paying they dont much care whether they pay a or a Canadian in most cases they cannot get television from a Canadian company and where it is available the Price is far greater than that of a ser it is widely predicted that with in a year or so Small television dishes will be like cellular what will be sold jul be the this wont happen Here until we Tell the and our own broadcast that we Are perfectly capable of deciding what we want to watch and that we intend to do just Fred Cleverley is a Winnipeg his column appears on ;