Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - October 17, 1997, Winnipeg, Manitoba L my i a12 Winnipeg free october Brian Cote 6977044 editor Trade warlords on Council we jul be preparing to 1jl p to the polls to elect a municipal govern l affluent that should function in a new Structure created As a result of the cuff report released last it should if theory be a Leffier Structure with bet t6f reporting and More there should Ift theory be bigger shoes to fill for the successful mayoralty candidate and More clout to executive policy committee should in theory be More powerful and the standing committees should be better focused on policy rather than Soufl Pillors should in theory have new especially in terms of Long Range whether the Structure operates in fact As Well As it should in Howe will depend largely on who is elected to work within is an Issue George cuff was not asked to address arid cuff does at least not in pass judgment on Quality of sitting councillors or their unique he note in his report that Council is a fractious place where personality conflicts play too Large a role in voting behaviour and he notes at a Council salaries Are not Likely to ensure that a com plete Cross Section of Winnipeg society considers the honour attached to Public that is a polite Way of saying some people on Council Are or at least they seem Bone Heads compared to others who Are not on just Why it is that representation at City Hall is not As Good As it might be is not but with structural issues out of the and a year to consider the we would be Well advised to find one place to look would be the electoral which gives far too much advantage to incumbents through a combination of Low voter turnouts and name become warlords who Rule their fiefdoms until they decide to another place to look is the political currently there is Little accountability at City there Are no slates beyond informal coalitions that form and fall apart depending on and there Are no platforms beyond Broad statements of Princi ple that candidates earnestly profess in forgettable Campaign in the absence of slates and plat forms it is impossible for voters to decide who has failed to deliver As promised and vote even within City Hall it is difficult to Tell what councillors Are up one Day they Are for an the next it May be the flip flopping is Only that the Issue has changed in Subtle ways Between it May be the flip Flop is the result of an honest that the Flipper realizes they should be a or it May be the flip Flop is an accurate indication of the persons who to say too much License the Little Bienvenue decals being fixed to some Manitoba licence plates look pretty Good and make Clear that Manitoba is a province with a Rich French heritage within a bilingual nation that is the envy of the but As Nice As they As much As purchasers of decals and their creators wish the Fumon government had had the wit and generosity to include the nine letter French word along with All the other clutter it approved for Manitoba new licence the decals clearly Are a of the and that is Ilia possible to quibble about the illegality of the off cast to say there is Little difference Between them and Eugence brackets with slogans if you think to argue Manitoban with old plates can they want on the front so Welcome but it misses the j to jute As it is issued does not include the word and putting it there is a defacement As surely As painting on hate argue that right or the decals must be displayed to achieve the greater Legal Bat the courts Embarrass the Fumon gov t Jato making licence plates either bilingual the society has it might help fight such a Battle in Hopes of z a Clear ruling on what constitutes bilingual to the Sam believes it has Legal i on which to argue unilingual licence plates violate 23 of the Manitoba or failing violate the provinces bilingual services policy which states identity documents and certificates intended for the general Public shall be in a bilingual if the has such a it should Sim ply launch a court Challenge and Stop encouraging Only with a Wink and to engage in acts of civil disobedience that create division and ill will and make a mockery of the More important issues at Winnipeg free press publisher editor my Oij editorial Page editor directors barfly grown circulation sales and marketing Laurie advertising Virne Kowchuk human resources technology Stevy imams finance and administration ciw7 i of thai Tufton e 8 six degrees of separation chivas gruesome Export by Leslie ill Len to the free press Vancouver few coun tries have pursued the traffic in human body parts with quite the Vigour of but even hardened observers have been taken Aback by the most recent Brazen Steps taken by the chinese govern ment to increase its share of this disgusting China Sells the body parts of people who have been judicially executed for any of the several crimes which it deems to Merit capital while this is not officially it has been widely reported in both medical and human rights literature and never convincingly it is no Small source of human body China does not pub Lish annual numbers of exec but amnesty International has tracked Down More than a making China by far the worlds busiest judicial exe until execution was almost always performed in pub by Means of a shot or two to the Back of the head of the Kneel ing and this remains the method most since at least part of the objective is to achieve a deterrent but in recent China has introduced execution by lethal in a bureaucratic this is Only available to qualified that if you have been sentenced to death for any of the various crimes drawing capital punishment govern ment household certain thefts you can apply for the Needle instead of the but you must Accord ing to a medical executioner in the qualifications include Good general health age Between 20 and 35 years no blood diseases or drug addictions body weight Between so and 68 in other words you have to be a prime source of body you will be an excellent candidate to be kept More or less alive physically even after you Are technically brain dead from the lethal the body parts can be harvested at in the Best to coincide with Market your body will almost certainly be cremated before the remains Are released to your ensuring that any Organ harvesting remains a state lethal injection not Only has the advantages noted it avoids some of the hazards of the traditional execution method in terms of unintended Organ dam not much is known about the pathology of fatal shots to the Back of the head at close but there seems to be some Evi Dence that the trauma can cause collateral damage to internal organs not actually touched by the a la of this helps to explain a4 Why the chinese govern would permit the chinese press to describe the new procedure in glowing and Why it would permit Western Media to interview quite candidly a medical executioner this is this is letting the world know that if you want an Organ trans you will get the Best Choice in in the past 10 the inter National Trade in human body parts has become in Many the Trade is Ille and in most it is at least socially Only in China is it effectively a state one of the last to survive the rapid privatization of business in that very commercial every other country in the world wants to penetrate the Chi Nese convinced that if Only the right Deal can be put together the profits will be the right deals rarely but still the entrepreneurs dance to Henry Fords famous refrain Oil for the lamps of because most Western coun tries now follow National Agen Das set by such the governments of those coun tries Are unwilling to Call China to account for its state participation in this ghastly Canada has Little to our Trade potential with China is relatively we have far bigger stakes we also have an important segment of our population with roots in if these people were to speak individually or through Orga against the chinese Trade in human body it just might provide our National government with a tiny bit of courage to Tell the government of China that this despicable traffic is not acceptable from a mod Ern state in a modern Leslie millin is an editor with the issues in the footsteps of Ginger Snook Ginger Snook died in but his spirit lives on in he was the prototype of a Breed of Winnipeg character that still thrives in the Odd atmosphere of this Ginger Snook was known through an Oral tradition to win nip Eggers of a Hal Century he was famous for being famous famous for his curious famous for his Post As chief City famous also in the Oral tradition for his informal title As the Moonlight Honey dip he was famous for appear ing at political meetings to ask questions and make speeches that were far funnier and far More memorable than anything the Public officials had to he caught people of guard and mocked the you had to pin just one Label on you would have to Call him a Winnipeg you find characters in All there used to be a Char Acter in downtown san Francisco who could be seen each Day Tak log his toaster for a walk a toaster on wheels which tie Ted by the Cord along the san Cisco now that is a stunt for a san Francisco Char it is not a stunt for a Nipes a Winnipeg character should be always a tiny it alarming because of a thought process that others cannot easily my the late Harold developed into a of in the later years of Bis career at the greatest of e and in Bis career As a Stock be went by the name old Man Hbeo be bad a method for islam Ngtye is would then step to face up the Street m Herere a owner Terence Moore the bus usually appeared pretty that another thing about Winnipeg characters they love to they love to gather a crowd and draw people out of the reticence that often imposes silence Between i can see Bramwell Tovey developing into a Winnipeg character if he works at it a Bertha Rand was a Winnipeg she took in stray cats at her Home in James and regularly Defeated the civic officials who tried to enforce the bylaw limiting the number of animals you could keep in a her career is reasonably Well Docu the Oral tradition tells of Bobby a Winnipeg character who haunted the offices of Public officials in the Era of John Bracken and Douglas i have found no writ ten record of Bobby but the Oral tradition holds that he was a Brit with no visible source of income who seemed to know plenty of important people and who easily talked Bis Way into the offices of mayors and premiers to push Bis scheme for a retirement Community in Rural that another thing about Winnipeg characters behind the laughter and the jamming and the outrageous there should be a serious the serious purpose can be but should be morally worthy in its the records i have do not describe a serious purpose in Ginger but i believe his to remind the authorities of their mortality and their limit i sometimes warn my wife that i am going to become a Winnipeg character in my later she discourages the she cant see herself being married to someone who goes about the town making a fool of but maybe she can see that All too within her own my wife is the youngest the one who can get away with endless clowning and can say things said by an older Sis would be severe or wound ing coming from her they Are not wounding because she is the family Clown with a special licence to say those that is another thing about Winnipeg characters they can say the things that others know to be True but Are not free to say for fear of giving a Winnipeg character cannot give offence because anyone can laugh it All off As the rantings of a Bramwell Tovey and i Start out a Long Way behind Ginger Snook he arrived with a name that already aroused curiosity and provoked at least a smile even before be opened Bis my wife is a Long Way ahead of both of us because she already to proclaim the the prise Winnipeg characters is that they must renounce even when charac ters Are no Ems takes thai the audience is used to laughing thai they cant so if seriously want to Start a career a Winnipeg i bad better get the serious busness out of the Way swum ;