Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - July 8, 1997, Winnipeg, Manitoba A o Winnipeg free july to Brian editorials off title Lisny of religion Equality of civil rights prisoners of history this past the world had one Eye on where humanity creative Genius was on glorious and the other on Northern Lre where our destructive Folly was in full it had no reason to be looking at Canada at but if it had been it might have seen both forces at on a manmade robot was trundling around the surface of the sending data and pictures of that fabled planet Back to Earth in a Triumph of human curiosity and at the same in the town of Portadown in Northern ire the sound of marching men added to the echoes of a bloody reminder of the continuing tyranny of the the Orange orders Parade in Portadown was the first major event of Ulster marching sea which culminates saturday on the glorious the anniversary of a great protestant Victory Over catholics in 1670 that is still celebrated each year in the Hope of keeping alive today the hatred that was born More than 300 years the violence of Portal own spread across Northern Ireland and promises to get worse As the glorious attempting to Ward off the annual the British govern ments Only Choice was which group of terrorists to Cave in it chose to allow the protestants to touching off an angry Catholic last it attempted to Block or reroute the igniting violence by it is a reminder of How chained Ireland is to its history and How the past conspires against a solution for the we Are All prisoners of our Canada has a great Battle in its past the Battle of the Plains of Abraham in when Britain seized control of what would become this country from France but Canada has taken a different course from Ireland our past contains the solution for the if Ulster today shows the Folly to which men can turn Canada shows the with at first two Peoples of two religions and today Many Peoples of Many religions living peacefully today that accommodation is As que Bec stands poised to leave and Many in the rest of the country Are willing to wish it god in the last canadians openly spoke of the possibility of civil War and not All of us recoiled at the that does not need to Northern Ireland is chained to a history of but ours is one of Hope and we can continue to make the Canadian accommodation if we choose Mexico evolution in a country known More for revolution than Evo the election of Cuauhtemoc Cardenas As mayor of Mexico City Marks an important turning Point in its journey to his Vic tory comes at the expense of the the party that made it a party that owes its legacy to his general Lazaro just Over a decade Mexico was marked by a stagnant political corruption and huge International debt the Pri leadership concluded the future of the country could Only be secured through a program of economic it was under this policy that Mexico joined the general agreement on Trade and now known As the world Trade and eventually signed the North american free Trade agree ment with Canada and the United a closed Economy with a reputation for political patronage and was open for in doing Mexico showed it was serious about reforming its Economy and joining the family of Liberal democratic it did so knowing that democratic Reform would be the Price of these bold were not without Crit the left leaning Cardenas broke with the party in in part Over its economic which were a marked departure from those of his he lost in a bid for the presidency that year amid charges of vote rigging by the Pri else critics railed against the charging Mexico was As corrupt As that civil liberties and the right to join unions would never be respected As Long As the Pri was in but the Pri with support from Washington and plodded a human rights code was measures have been introduced to strengthen the Rule gnaw and efforts Are under Way to clean up systemic that is not to say the Pri has been that it is free from the malignancy that infected it for Over 60 years or that it Benefit from a stint in it is to that its program of economic and political Reform is starting to take the Elee Tion of Cardenas is Winnipeg free press Winnipeg free press est w9 Winnipeg Tribune est we Rudy email . Ca Nicholas Hirst Brian Cole editorial Page editor directors Harry Brown circulation sales and marketing Laurie Verne Kalichuk human resources Glenn Williams finance and administration 1997 Winnipeg free g division of newspapers of Thomson Canada a roiled published seven Days 8 week at 1 355 Mountain uan Teba m pm 6977080 lessons for the liberals t t Tith a Glimmer of Light appearing at the end of w the budgetary and with a parliament of All the tendencies ready to Start its Canada is primed for yet another of those fundamental debates about the proper role of a powerful tendency in Parlia and in the will cling to the View that the role of government is to continue to make itself an equally powerful tendency will main Tain that the time has come to return specifically the Federal government to its role As an activist Force in at the Root of the As is at the Root of most political debate in is the question of the minimalists think most Quebe cers would be persuaded to stay in Canada if the Federal government was less the activists think and other would be attracted by a Federal government prepared to do Good in every Corner of the the Liberal As will do its Best to cling to both ten in according to an article in the Globe and mail on Satur the party came very close to adopting the double barrelled approach to government activism in the months leading up to the recent general a group of heavy thinkers in the senior ranks of the party came up with a plan to restore government to its former prominent they proposed that the Chretien government should choose a few key such As child improving educational standards and creating a More innovative it would set specific targets improvement and involve the provinces and the private sector in a team Effort to achieve the proposal was quietly scuttled by prime minister Jean Chretien handlers but the idea of a More activist government is surely not dead in the Liberal Jean Chretien finds himself in office today sorely bereft of vision and the apostles of activist government will certainly Volunteer to fill the the Liberal activists have a Point governments have to do More than sit idly by and watch the budget get but if we Are in for More government those who Are behind it should learn from past mis the first lesson is to avoid government action for its own much of the fiscal agony of the past is years or so took Root when the Trudeau government in its final years in Power embarked on a spate of govern ment busyness to prove Vance to All parts of the result of All that unproductive activity was to run up uncontrollable deficits and to feed Public scepticism about Thev aim of government measures to reduce child Pye Tyas not to Demon Power and effective Ness of it is to help parents cannot afford to Kudsi Impf Day care programs not to Demon Strate the Federal governments reach into every Corner of Cana Dian society it is to secure and stimulating places for the children of working the second mistake to avoid is the temptation to affix firm tar gets to new Liberal activists Point out that president could deliver on a Promise to Send a Man to the so Why cant Jean Chretien Promise to reduce child poverty by 50 per cent others Point out that the Chretien government can live up to its target for deficit so Why cant it set a firm target for reducing unemployment the answer is that one set of commitments refers to actions which Are largely in the control of while the other refers to results which Are not entirely within government Conj president Kennedy could be pretty sure by spending enough Money and by concentrating enough he could put a Man on the finance minister Paul Martin can be pretty sure that the government can take measures to help poor but he also knows that firm targets can be easily frustrated by unexpected if government spending could eliminate governments could be held to firm experience shows that it however Busy the Chretien government turns out to be in its second a becoming mod esty is in there is no need to indulge in frantic busyness in order to demonstrate the Domi Nance of the new it will do Well enough if it contents itself with being John Dafoe is a former free press editorial Page his column appears on signs of Hope seen in Hong Kong a member it the my tote press vol 125 n0 182 by Thomas Friedman new York times Hong Kong for Many North the handover of Hong Kong is just the latest instalment in the Long running morality play the butchers of Beijing the but Hong kangers look at events Here with much More mixed for its not communism versus but nationalism versus the Rule of that there is real eth Nic Pride Here in the return of chinese after 156 years of British but there is also real fear that what Hong rangers appreciated most about Britain Rule of Law will vanish along with As one Hong Kong Nessman remarked to me on Han Dover Day i feel torn like i just watched my drive out of town in my new Merim glad Shes but what about my car what about that car since the there have been some intriguing straws in the wind the first is How relaxed this place the racy activists wasted no time defying a police ban on unlicensed demonstrations and the police responded that they were not going to waste taxpayer Money prosecuting end of my Favourite democracy demonstrators were those sell ing miniature plaster replicas of the goddess democracy the students of Tiana men Square had they went for Lloyl a and they were made in where else the chinese army troops that the networks focused on so relentlessly a toured chivas sovereignty Here and then disappeared into chivas communist party is still banned in Hong and Bei Jing is hesitating to make it because if it becomes a Legal party in Hong Kong it will have to run in Hong Kongs next legislative and if it runs it will get creamed by the democratic Tung chivas handpicked chief last week promised that elections for a new legislature would be held by the hottest Selling shirt at Hong Kongs Shanghai Tang department store is emblazoned most Flavoured what might this be telling us the relationship Between China and Britain Over Hong Kong was like a bad marriage everything one did the other any democratization by China treated As a stick in the any assertion of sovereignty by Britain treated As potentially the next but now that China has Hong Kong and can afford to be More because leniency no longer constitutes kowtowing to its something they do in the interest of stability in Hong which is now also their the second Straw in the wind is the speech chivas Hong Kong May have profound effect on Jiang gave on handover Christine one of the leading pro democracy activists in the recently disbanded Hong Kong insisted on Reading aloud to me passages from that speech when i visited her last week Hong Kong Resi dents will enjoy their rights and freedoms in accordance with Law and will All be equal before the Law a gradually improved democratic system suited to Hong Kongs reality is an important guarantee for its social and political Hong Kong will develop democracy gradually with the ultimate aim of electing the chief executive and the legislative Council by Universal suf Hong Kongs Success is attributable its oped Legal system and highly efficient civil whats new is that the chinese president want speaking about some British Colony he was speaking about the importance of legality and democracy for what is now part of How Long before elites in Shang Hai or Tianjin come to Jiang and say that the cant compete economically with Hong Kong unless they have what he has vowed to preserve in Hong Kong civil Rule of Law and a Market Economy free of corruption the Point is that Osmian Dover there Are still real poli tics in Hong and it will add to the real politics already going on inside Chin How much and for How Long remains to be but if you Only look at China through the simplistic Lens of butchers i you miss those politics and their pos Sibili the people who understand that Best Are the democrats Here Thomas Friedman is 3 Colum nist with tire few York ;