Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - October 6, 1997, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free october Brian Cole 6977044 editorials of Leide the real threat the troubling thing about senator Pat carneys ruminations about British Columbia separatism int so much the idea of sovereignty As much As what it the notion of going it alone would be laughable if it we rent being taken seriously by politicians who know How to milk a sacred cow Western alienation when Thev see that because the idea of an Independent is easily exposed for what it is a weak minded Effort by a washed up try politician to get some attention for her dying the underlying sentiment that gives Rise to is a Little More difficult to Deal with much More the most significant flaw in is carneys argument for to is that it does not Actu ally address the problem it purports to in it would Likely Only make the problem is Carney said British Columbia should consider using separatism As a Means for renegotiating its position in confederation because she was frustrated by Ottawa inability to resolve the ongoing Salmon treaty dispute with the United putting aside for the moment that is Carney was a Trade minister in the government that signed the original treaty which is now causing everyone so much How would is carneys Sovereign handle the problem threaten to Cut off lumber exports to its largest customer ban the makers of the files television series from working in Van Couver there already considering a move to los Send in its Navy the fact is no including the United has an easy time negotiating International a Sovereign would not be an the worrisome thing about is carneys state is not that they might Lead to a genuine sovereignty movement in it is that they encourage provincial loyalties rather than National residents tend to see themselves As British albertan or Manitoban rather than they measure government not by what it does for All but by what it does or does not do for their which were drawn Only to make administration of the country take on new meaning beyond their original leaving aside the question of this kind of provincialism is not Likely to Lead to the breakup of but it will almost certainly eat away at our sense of shared experience and National Moose with juice the opening game of the new season want a great night for the Manitoba Moose of the International hockey not Only did they lose the game they were shut out by the Chicago wolves but they played before Only prior to the one of the hockey teams own Mark was lamenting the current state of season ticket sales Are Down and the Moose need to sell tickets per game just to break opening night didst augur Well for a profitable season the organization lost last year or for the future of hockey in in six other Canadian cities last the hockey season the National hockey league season opened As of lost its nil franchise to a City in As Quebec City lost its team to a City in and there is considerable speculation that Calgary and Ottawa Are too Small Market for their nil teams to be viable much the signs Are not Good for the future of professional hockey in most of Why should this be one reason is hockey level team requires pretty deep of does not have an no level it has an in level which brings in the complicating Factor of the groaning style of hockey in that league is a far cry from what Winnipeg is used with its former connections to the world hockey association and the there is a huge Gap Between the Quality of hockey in the nil and the it should not have to be that there is no shortage of talented hockey play but Many of including several who played for the Moose last Are playing in Europe for More Money than can be had in the Winnipeg has shown it can support major league hockey and it is Only one of a number of so called Smau Market cities in Canada and the hungry for Good the players Are the fans Are that is needed is owners with enough imagination to upgrade an existing league or form a new it be the first after Winnipeg free press Winnipeg int Gnu my i Winnipeg tritons in Rudy publisher Nighous editor Edmaie Page editor i rectors Harry Brown circulation sales and marketing Laurie advertising Verne Kauchuk human resources Perry technology Glenn Willlams finance and Arnini Strazan Pfuhl i fall Jau Alj Laauli emission con Mission control Section inspect will Mai Lead to fascism no longer is the left the Only segment of society concerned about in a speech to the University of Ottawa this Sylvia Canadian Ambas Sador to the Uruguay round of Trade said global markets May be achieved Only at the Price of obliterating some fundamental human Cul Tures Are being she and a line must be drawn Between efficiency and sover this Courtney the president of Noranda was even More Blunt in a speech to the Canadian club of pointing to the growing Gap Between Rich and poor in Cana Pratt said corporations cannot afford to be indifferent to the society in which they oper ate they can Only Prosper if society the Broad support for Busi the Public Trust that is Crit ical to our ability to operate and is enhanced if business is perceived As having a genuine concern for society and making a positive he we do Well by doing this is the Bottom line of social its Good for business and Good for to Tony such Penlight Frances Russell nement is Welcome like a ship passing in the Only illuminates the darkness the former director of the social affairs department for the Canadian conference of Catholic currently chairs the committee on corporations for the International forum on a world citizens movement that is com ing together to preserve demo he has recently written a Book entitled silent coup con granting the big business takeover of in an interview in Winnipeg Clarke said democracy itself is at stake in the corporate thrust for worldwide so called free Trade treaties like the North american free Trade agreement and the multilateral agreement on investment Arent really about Trade in goods and services at he they Are Charters of rights and freedoms for corp the multilateral agreement on investment now being negotiated by the 29 member countries of the organization for economic cooperation and will result in corporations hav ing More rights and freedoms than the citizens of the nations to which it applies because it will allow business to set social and economic policy and go to court to enforce its will on any recalcitrant if the Mai becomes Clarke the right to vote will be meaningless because no regardless of its intentions or can trespass the narrow limits of the treaty they include providing National treatment to All foreign business and avoiding Trade distorting subsidies like Many social services and abstaining from discriminatory performance require ments like specific numbers of jobs be created or Environ mental or labour Laws to be once a country signs the it cannot abrogate it for at least 15 the Mai and Naftal arise out of a decision about two decades ago by the trilateral an organization of major corporate leaders from North America and to Roll Back what it called an excess of democracy in the Western since the very concept of government itself has been under attack to the Point people Are coming to accept the loss of Many of their most important social and Public in corporate Rule Means the privatization of Polit ical Clarke society will be split into firsthand second class the first the will be the corporations that will exercise political rights through National and International the second class will be the peo whose Only real rights will be As investors and Clarke says the Challenge for groups like his is to shift the Public focus away from the evils of government to the conduct and Power of the corporate Sec Tor and to ask people if they feel any More free or secure now that government has been he finds it ironic that the Mai is Likely to be signed next the 50th anniversary of the univer Sal declaration of human do people understand that those rights Are going Down the tube and Are they prepared to give them up and if they Are then we will walk into Frances Russell comments on politics for the free her column appears wednesdays and Cut the then the tax vom25 will just to forgive the unwashed among us if we appear they Are obviously confused or they be wasting our time and theirs asking us what we want them to do with the extra Money they expect to have on their hands we bought into the expense cutting policies that have worked earlier than expected and which Are now threatening to create surplus funds both in Ottawa and Here in we agreed with those policies because they made it didst take a rocket scientist to realize that we could not continue to try to Row ourselves into so we bought the cuts and tightened our some of us less gracefully than we understood that we had to bal Ance our books collectively As we Are forced to do when we accepted the cuts we also delivered another message to our politicians and our that was to get rid of our Lon term debt in addition to eliminating the some of Pur politicians Lis provincial including our Are whittling away at the Lon term debt that hangs around our necks like a Ottawa did not near it has been so Long since Federal politicians and their bureaucrats have seen a set of balanced books that the Mere anticipation of doing so seems to have set off a whole new round of plans to spend this prime minister Jean has announced that when they will be used half to pay Down Jon term debt and half for new program spend the prime Fred cute Vertex when the pm is in full Laws lose their import Chretien avoids mention ing tax reduction like he would the what is most Likely to happen is that the figures will be manipulated so that the surpluses will continue to be but never actually lest the bureaucrats be forced to by pay Down these bureaucrats must be the Only canadians left who still believe that debt can be eliminated by growth closer to Manitoba finance minister Eric Stefanson has announced plans to listen to the people to see what he should do with the million he expects to have once the works All done this Stefanson has mentioned tax but Only to dismiss the saying that he has never seen evidence that tax cuts create while we realized that some of our Money went into make work most of us didst realize we were paying higher taxes than necessary mainly to create real Stefanson ignores the fact that tax cuts let Ordinary people decide now to spend their rather than having bureaucrats spend it for the extra Money Stefanson has Avail and the extra Chretien my surplus accumulated by the feds oust used Topay Stef bump of fluid use or Ilhan surplus the gut expects to is not govern ment it has been taken from Ordinary canadians who have paid their if they Are paying More than the govern ment then the amount should be Joe citizen can spend his Money better and smarter than any civil servant can spend it for the course that should be Fol Lowed by Ottawa and by the province is tax this will be As easily understood by the average citizen As was the need to Cut Manitoba has begun a 30year plan to reduce the Overall Provus Cial debt to it should adhere to this plan and use taxes to pay for Ottawa should adopt a similar plan to reduce the Lon term debt of All canadians to Zero Over 30 or 40 if the Federal and provincial economies improve because of balanced budgeting and debt and the Opportunity presents itself to get rid of the debt so much the the average citizen will with the budgets balanced and the debt reduction accounted the next step should be to reduce not to spend Here in shaving one percentage Point off the provincial sales tax would Cost the province million in Revenue but would put an extra into the pockets of a Manitoba family of Stefanson has he could Cut the tax by two cent age Manitoban win know what to do with the whether they Daas politicians think they should and spend it at or whether they blew it of a trip to the Choice should be Fred Cleverley is a Wim ipes Wetter his column w ;