Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - June 28, 1997, Winnipeg, Manitoba A h f saturday free june 1997 i u Brian Cole 6977044 editorials Freedom of Trade Liberty of religion Equality of civil rights from far and wide Canadas hanoverian descended Monarch and her creak Consort visited Newfoundland this week to help Canadas Irish accented province celebrate the arrival of the first englishman in what is now As it that first englishman was an italian named Giovanni a Genoa born venetian navigator who had taken up residence in London and who sailed across the Atlantic in 1497 with the encouragement of the Monarch Henry Canadas ethnic identity has been somewhat blurred from that Day to Cabot went Home to Bristol believing he had been in modern scholars believe he had landed in Newfoundland or perhaps Cape Breton that was 500 years human occupancy of this land is much older than since inuit Hunters had been in the Arctic islands for thousands of years and other Hunters had occupied Southern Canada As soon As the ice of the last glaciation the Canada we have now was built by All these Peoples those Cabot found those he never those who sent him and those who followed in the Wake of his tiny it is a work of Many hands from Many Cabot claimed the place and its people for the British Monarch who had sent but the claim was a hollow the tudors did nothing for the both us people who inhabited the Hudson Bay company was preserving its fur monopoly and obstructing settlement in the North Ern Interior of the continent from 1670 but the British Public authorities took Little interest in that corporate Canada became a British country in France had lost the seven years War in the peace the French authorities saw More advantage in retaining the Catholic society of the Lawrence Valley there fore fell to Britain through an Accident of diploma England 1497 claim to the Gulf of Lawrence began to take on meaning two and on half Cen Turies later when Britain in fact took control of the Lawrence Canada has been a Multi multiethnic proposition throughout its written it has had an trading Economy and served As a play ground of monopolies from the time of the Fishers and fur Cabogos voyage is Worth it shows How tenuously Canada was linked to Britain in the Cen Turies following his the British coloration of Canada came to seem foreordained and but it was Little More than the Luck of the extra mile in Ulster less than two weeks after the Irish Republican army murdered two policemen in Northern British prime minister Tony Blair has launched another initiative aimed at kick starting the Ulster peace the killings in the town of Lurgan were the terrorists response to an earlier British proposal that eased conditions for participation in the negotiations by sinn the political Arm of the As Well As the sinn fein purports to represent moderate Catholic republicans in Northern in the British election in it won two seats in sinn fein does represent some portion of Ulster but they have other spokesmen As sinn fein is important in the peace process because it is the voice of the that link with the terror is also the major impediment to the party Britain has previously insisted that the Ira agree to a ceasefire and turn in its arms before sinn fein can be Blairs latest coming so soon after required considerable courage and Demon Strates a Resolute commitment to the peace it offers a major Concession by agreeing to separate the Issue of disarming the terrorists from the Issue of political participation in the peace if the Ira effects a sinn fein can come to the table while negotiations on the iras laying Down its weapons continue on another there is a Dan Ger that this initiative May alienate Ulster protes Tant whose participation in the talks is and May encourage their own extremists to do but with the marching season almost upon Northern Blair is clearly conscious of the potential for catastrophe if the peace process remains he has gone the extra mile to Avert that catastrophe and in doing he has left sinn fein and the Ira with no legitimate excuse for refusing to meet these Winnipeg free press Winnipeg free press est 1872 Winnipeg Tribune est 1890 Rudy email Nicholas editor Brian Cole editorial Page editor directors Harry Brown 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 174 id have brought a Wreath but that would be meant Clear cutting my Flower Britannia setting Sun t t then i was at High school in England our geography teacher would proudly open an Atlas and display the vast amounts of territory across the world that were coloured it he thought our ter even though the British Empire had been carefully converted into the More egalitarian sounding the message remained the same it was not just the Waves that Bri Tannia these reflections have been highlighted for me Over the past weeks As the Date for the hand ing Over of Hong Kong to main land China has drawn Ever it is now upon us and i find myself thinking of empires in decline and empires on the sir Wilfrid Laurier May have believed that the 20th Century would belong to Canada it certainly did not belong to but the 21st Century May Well belong to however wrongheaded it May have been for my schoolteachers to bring me up believing in the British As the rulers of the great est Empire the world had Ever that belief coloured generations of my being weaned from it has been difficult both for individuals and for Britain As a even As the Pink bits of the Atlas were being described to me Nicholas Hirst As the process of withdrawal from Empire was More than under when sir win Ston Churchill vowed towards the end of the second world War that he would not preside Over the Dis solution of the British the truth was that he and his predecessors already if Canada had Ever been part of the British by the end of the second world War it no longer India had gone by South Africa was thrown out and in one of the most Farsee ing statements of any British Harold Macmillan remarked that the winds of change were blowing through the British since the second world War have withdrawn from historians May argue about their politicians May argue about the benefits of the but for the British finding a new role at Home and abroad has been far from overseas investments shielded Britain from the effects of Industrial decay at an attitude born of Empire was not conducive to building a new style of country after Britain May have withdrawn from but has still seen itself As having a Broad world role than has been justified by its True Power realizing that you have lost what you once had is never easy and the leaving of Empire was hardly a voluntary the giving up of Hong Kong is not quite the final episode in the passage from Imperial greatness to former great but it is a loud tolling of the Britain had neither Power to negotiate the nor strength that could make the passage More palatable than it it is what Hong Kong Means to the rulers of Beijing As a window on the capitalist world that matters not what Britain thinks or the Story of the handover is still As the most pop Ulous place on with a vibrant Economy but a political system mired in chivas future cannot but help but Surprise and its handling of Hong Kong is a singularly important element of that will Mainland China remove free Doms or exploit them China is a developing Britain Story is fading into his there have been bumps along the Road out of Margaret Thatcher made a name for herself by her Sabr rattling Over the but the Tenor of the world since the end of the second world War was the fiasco of not the Victory Over Britain retains the trappings of not its sometimes i feel As though the whole coun try is one giant historical theme those upright Young men who Parade by Buckingham Palace in their red jackets and funny hats Are but what do they have to do with 1997 it is difficult today even to know what the monarchy now once it was a Symbol of Unity and a figure head representing Britain social the social Struc Ture is in tatters and the Monar Chy May be better appreciated in North America than at the Britain i remember is no the place i visit is not the place i grew up the passing of Hong Kong puts the Empire fur ther into the vaults of with each such Milestone it becomes More and More difficult to live in the and for is a very Good thing Nicholas Hirst is editor of the free his column appears on in the Palm of an old hand Dave Brubeck stepped tentatively towards the this was a journey taken thousands of times the first of them Long before most of the adoring fans in the Centennial concert Hall were his picture appeared on the cover of time Magazine in tentative because the Knees Arent what they used to a bit worn perhaps by All those trips to the but the what magnificent was with a touch As Light As a Feather and with understanding As deep As the grand the audience knew this was a piece of musical a moment to be cherished that would surely never come for More than two and a half the Dave Brubeck quartet thrilled the when it was All after the standing bravos and fans filed out of the Hall with a Spring in their completely satisfied that they had just witnessed All a concert can it was an exhilarating what makes the musical achievement All the More remarkable is that it comes to men past any traditional retire ment Brubeck writes a piece after each grandchild is at last fridays we heard his newly composed trib Ute to the latest whose Mother is pregnant yet Dave Brubeck turns 77 this year and his Brilliant Bobby Jack six and Randy Jones still play with a freshness and zest they Felt 50 years some of them have been playing together that and the evenings can West global communications chairman Israel told the audience he started to dream of bringing Dave Brubeck to Winnipeg half a Century the quartet performs musical sometimes talk ing in sometimes in threes and always with ease and with affection that any audience member can immediately their technical accomplish ment is Only half the Story the creative spark the such performance longevity is not the Yiv born pianist Vladimir Horowitz returned to Moscow at the age of wowing the russians with his hardly diminished by the passing decades of turmoil that preceded his historic return to the concert Horowitz was not without his eccentricities he would perform Only at 4 Oclock on a sunday audiences would have shown up at 4 Oclock in the he kept performing until a heart attack stopped him for Good at it is an inspiration to witness Genius still in full Bloom at an age when most people Are Content to sit Back and reflect on past Glo Ripesi or bemoan missed oppor passing of time has Rait slowed Dave Brubeck Brubeck told the audience that his quartet recently returned from an exhausting trip to country hopping the Way itinerant teenagers looking to find themselves on a Beach or maybe somewhere watching Brubeck and his friends gives us Mere mortals some Hope that there might be life after Early that maybe we too can find ways to stay to to continue drawing pleasure from All those things that delighted us in younger an artist recently turned commented the other Day that he was now at the top of his better Able to communicate his thoughts today than he has Ever former Manitoba Premier Duff Roblin spoke eloquently to a crowd of admirers this coincidentally the same number that Brubeck thrilled a few Days Roblin turned 80 earlier this pop in at any gym or health club around town and watch the octogenarians running around the working the rowing and step pumping swimming laps or joining aerobics visit one of the seniors classes at the universe where Bright minds stay challenged by the excite ment of keeping on top of Dave Brubeck concert in Winnipeg was More than a once in lifetime musical treat for jazz it was four old Guys holding a crowd of the the Young and i Between in the Palm of their hands for As Long As they had fun doing what a Jim canis the free press Fea Tures his column appears on ;