Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - July 15, 1997, Winnipeg, Manitoba A10 Winnipeg free july Brian Cole 6977044 editorials Liber in of religion Equality tic total rights season of protest the publicity stunts and Mutual intimidation Are coming thick and fast this summer As log Gers and environmentalists Square off in the British Columbia Greenpeace and other ecologist groups Are campaigning for severe restrictions on cutting old growth loggers and lumber companies Are trying to match them move for Amsterdam based Greenpeace met last novem Ber in Vancouver and picked British Columbia log Ging practices As the target for this years Brazil and Indonesia Are destroying forests More but a Campaign against poor native log Gers would offend Greenpeace supporters and could easily prove fatal for the activists on the front log Gers Are relatively wealthy and nonviolent protesters in rarely come to the target was Well when anti logging protests this Spring shut Down Forest loggers objected to their loss of they Strung a log Boom around a Greenpeace ship in Vancouver Harbour and refused to remove it until Greenpeace used its fundraising Power to cover their lost when that the loggers Union filed suit against the ecologist have been training each other in slinging themselves High up in the Trees so that loggers cannot Cut Down the tree with out hurting the they have been threaten ing to Campaign for a worldwide Boycott of British Columbia lumber exports until the government and Forest firms accept Greenpeace the movement wants forestry companies to temporarily Stop logging along the provinces mid coast in Pris Tine Hemlock and red Cedar forests that stretch Over an area about twice the size of Vancouver they want extensive scientific studies undertaken on biodiversity before logging and they want the Forest companies to agree to phase out clearcut logging of All old growth Trees and to work mostly in second growth publicity stunts and occasional disorders show the determination of the Green pacers and the loggers but they do not Lead toward a reasonable either Side can play that game and it proves Noth Greenpeace might get further by producing persuasive beyond the Beauty of big Why British columbian should forgo the income they can earn by cutting Down those Trees and putting them to grim message the marching season in Northern Ireland reached its Climax on the glorious As it is known to the British provinces protestant it did not take the form that was last the marching set off the worst violence Between catholics and protestants in a generation and it was feared that this year would be As bad or the glorious twelfth climaxed in a chaos of conflicting signals that were variously interpreted As hopeful signs of peace or As discouraging omens of a even More violent about the Only message that seemed Clear in All of it was the one Given out by the outlawed Irish Republican army and its Legal political sinn the Ira responded to the Orange orders cancelling or rerouting its most contentious marches a considerable Concession with a Campaign of shooting and bombing in sinn fein replied by scorning Britain attempts to bring it into Multi party peace set to resume in septem Ber and which that political party has Long demanded to after taking office in the new labour government in Britain dropped its demand that the Ira disarm before sinn fein could be admitted to the peace process in a risk Laden attempt at a com agreed that if the Ira declared a cease sinn fein could participate while talks on disarming continued on separately from the Politi Cal in going this it effectively backed sinn fein into a removing any legitimate excuse for the Ira and its political associates to refuse to in the terrorists and their spokesmen appear to have dropped any pre tence of wanting the Ira intensified its Vio Lence and sinn Feins Gerry demanded Complete capitulation by the message seems they Are not interested in any solution in Ulster that accommodates any interests but their own it is a grim but those who Are honestly seeking peace in Northern Ireland now know what they have to Deal Winnipeg free press Winnipeg free press esl 197 Winnipeg Tribune est 1890 Rudy Redekop publisher email Nicholas editor 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 a division of newspapers division of Thomson Canada limited published seven Days a week at 1355 Mountain Manitoba Rex pm a Mamba of the Manitoba pms Council vol 125 now weeding out chemicals the City of Winnipeg cant afford to keep Public swim Ming pools yet it can afford to continue to spend our Money on poisonous pesticides and herbicide Weed lovers just As the world is getting Wise to the fact that herbicides and pesticides Are responsible for increasing rates of cancer and other the City reminds us that we have a civic duty to nuke Mother according to a notice in the newspaper earlier in the the cites Weed control Branch operates a Snitch line so you can tattle on people who allow weeds to grow uncontrolled on their you can Call the line to Register Weed the Weed control Branch personnel May enter the land and destroy weeds by property owners have a responsibility to control but nothing in the notice tells us to buy chemicals to control our own we Are free to mow them or fertilize our lawns to encourage a More natural choking out of unwanted or we can yank them out with a Weed unless we control our the Weed police May exercise their Power to use chemicals to Spray our included among the cites Penni Mitchell choices for herbicides and pesticides is a Lawn chem ical rated by environment Canada in the same class of pesticides As a popular Chemi Cal sold in overt counter Weed Mec prop is not Only Good for nuking it can also be absorbed through the lungs and skin and can disrupt Normal cell division in animals and according to a recent article by Steven an Environ mental consultant with a Mas ters degree in environmental Mec prop contains impurities that May include furans and cancer aus ing the department of agriculture says Mec prop has the potential to contaminate ground it has been linked to birth defects in animals and declared insufficiently tested by the environmental Protection it int just Mec prop that the its a More stub born than a dandelion that spraying chemicals to get rid of weeds and insects is a beneficial Way to spend tax com pared to the benefits keeping the cites swimming pools open for across a staggering metric tonnes of alone is sprayed every year and because of health Agri culture Canada has recently adopted new guidelines on its but dont blame who Are starting to use less Pes on a per acre individual homeowners typically apply 10 times As much pesticide As even though is considered it stays in grass for up to six so if your kids walk or crawl on the run through the sprinkler or your dog uses the they will get some in their at a world conference on breast cancer being held in Ontario this the links Between pesticides and human cancer being a growing body of research says that endocrine Dis Ruyters including chemicals like act like hormones and interfere with the body Normal and there linked to increased breast cancer the Good news in Israel banned three carcinogenic pesticides benzene lindane and Dot and saw a 50 per cent reduction in the in breast cancer mortality other countries Are following Mexico recently agreed to reduce its use of Dot As an As part of its Naftal Many Canadian cities Are beginning to limit the use of herbicides and the Montreal horticulture society says its goal is to quit using no matter what prob no matter Public health regulations rely on proven cases of cancer and other illnesses before chemicals Are removed from the but ongoing government Cut backs mean fewer less Rig Orous last the Federal government announced that it was firing its drug safety staff and closing some laboratories in its food directorate the staff that Moni Tor chemical residue in food and agricultural with Over 100 Active pesticide ingredients known to cause can cer in humans and Winnipeg should move towards adopting a Public policy of ban Ning herbicides and and adopt natural alter and keep the pools Penni Mitchell is coordinating editor of horizons her column appears Glen Clarks pointless bombast the popular formula for solving the problems of confederation and holding the country together goes under two names devolution and Dis both terms have a similar meaning but there Are Subtle and important differences Between those Are campaigning for devolution want the Federal government to Transfer Many of its Powers and constitutional responsibilities to the provincial like Reform party Leader Preston want that Transfer to be Leav ing Ottawa with a but sharply set of respond like most provincial would Settle for some thing less Many of them would be Content if Ottawa backed out of those such has health and into which it has intruded Over the years through the use of its spending the Chretien government appears ready to go along with that idea and abandon much of its Power to use Cash transfers to the provinces As a Means of enforcing its standards on provincial the Goy eminent insists on its right to set standards for but just about everything else appears to be up for disentanglement adds an ele ment to the theory of it suggests that governments at both Federal Provin get out of each others Terri if Ottawa should Back off from areas of provincial the provincial governments should be equally willing to Stop sticking their noses into areas of Federal there is a lot to be said for that element of disentanglement and it could usefully apply right now John Dafoe to Glen British columbian Slippery and manipulative pre Premier Clark has spent the past several weeks indulging in his own foreign policy by launch ing a kind of personal cold War against the United the ostensible purpose of the pre Miers Campaign is to save British columbian Salmon fish Ery from depredations of America fishermen in the states of Washington and the net result of the Campaign has been to make Canada look fool ish in the eyes of americans and to leave British columbian Salmon every bit As unprotected As they were Premier Clarks first bold International stroke was to announce his intention of deny ing Navy submarines the right to use the Tanoose Bay naval training facility in if the aim was to bring about a surrender in the Salmon wars it was a the americans paid no probably because they knew that Canadas Federal government Glen Clark has launched his own cold War against the would never allow it to Clark keeps threatening but no one is paying much Premier Clarks next bold stroke was to launch a Public relations Campaign in the state of newspaper and radio ads informed residents of the state that their fishermen and their government were embarked on a Campaign to destroy the West coast Salmon rhetoric the premiers complaint and the Canadian con Cern about fishing practices and the failure to reach an agree ment on a new Salmon Conven Tion have not Clarks advertising Campaign had the exact opposite effect to what was Washington residents rallied angrily behind their fishermen and their government and their Devotion to sound fishery practices and the preservation of the the Federal As it has been tackling the problem in the diplomatic Way with no More but pre Mier Clarks Effort to Barge into the displaying muscle flexing and Tough rhetoric to get action where Ottawa striped pants brigade had turned an International disagreement into an International sooner or the Salmon issues will probably be settled by the usual compromises that define Canadas relations with the United Premier Clarks bombastic interventions Are doing nothing to hasten a they providing a powerful argument for two Way John Dafoe is a former Etc Tor editor of the free his column appears on tues ;