Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - May 4, 1998, Winnipeg, Manitoba A10 Winnipeg free May Brian Cole 6977044 editorials Freedom Oft Yade Liberty of religion Equality of civil rights getting it right we tend to think the mounties always get their and we tend not to wonder two cases in recent have raised grave concerns about How mounties get their or perhaps More How they do the along with others in the recent have seriously undermined Confidence in the profession Al competence of the and have led to demands for an in one Amanda an aboriginal girl of was bludgeoned to death at a Rossburn an aboriginal suspect was quickly but there was Little evidence of his guilt despite the fact that As Many As 40 officers were involved in the i Vestiga a charge of second degree murder was eventually Laid against Clayton George men but the charge was stayed when it was Learned mounties blatantly and repeatedly violated his rights in order to obtain incriminating in the second Dorothy an aboriginal was killed in the Pas when a Shotgun pressed against her Teeth was Dis the White son of the town sheriff was immediately identified As a it was a year before he was the second degree murder before an almost totally White jury in a Community with a significant aboriginal resulted in a manslaughter grave con Cerns have been raised about the Sloppy and seemingly superficial nature of the ramp when the investigation of a White suspect in the killing of an aboriginal woman is found to be super while the investigation of an aboriginal suspect in the killing of an aboriginal girl is found to be excessively it is not difficult to see Why some suspect that racist attitudes had a bearing on both nor is it difficult to see Why it is suspected that for All their vaunted the mounties Are not the highly trained and disciplined Force we believe them to there simply were too Many blatant errors and Gross violations of rights and procedures to suspect whether these blunders Are or whether they Are symptomatic of systemic problems ranging from staffing and posting to training and recruit ment is but that they undermine our Confidence in the Force is the ramp have promised an internal investigation of what went wrong in the Cook Case and Are co operating with the Justice department to get to the Bottom of what went wrong at the the results of those separate initiatives Likely will not satisfy the affected families and May not satisfy anyone but the ramp should have an Opportunity to demonstrate How things went wrong and Why it is not Likely to happen same old song it might have been the Power of and certainly her heart will go All by but when Celine Dion was honoured by the beast of Cana Dian she must have been thinking its All coming Back to me and what was coming Back to Celine arguably the most famous Canadian on the was How people keep trying to use her Fame and Tal ent for political the or Occa were ceremonies at which she received first the order of Quebec and the order of Canada in recognition of the incredible contributions she has made to her Home province and Quebec Premier Lucien Bouchard was first to praising her for at age Heights unequalled in the history of francophone which of course is but its kind of like remembering Bobby Hull for his the Media then descended on the demanding to know what she thought of the politics of the receiving both Quebec and Canadas highest citizenship awards on thursday and this has nothing to do with she it Doest matter if its the government of Canada or France honouring i see it As an award coming from the its a free it May be that is who earns Mil lion a year Selling tens of millions of was being not taking a position because it might alienate fans on one Side or the something she discovered a few years ago when she declared for it May be that she As she that achievements and subsequent awards have nothing to do with politics and should it May be that she is simply the most famous example of the mood of most who polls say simply want the separatist politics to go away so that they can make the most of their time and Winnipeg free press Winnipeg free press est 1872 Winnipeg Tribune est 1890 Rudy email Ca Nicholas Hirst editor Brian Cole editorial Page editor directors Harry Brown circulation sales and marketing Laurie Verne Kalichuk human resources Perry Nixdorf technology Glenn Williams finance and administration c1998 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 126 n0149 no nip needs to reach out in the Dps glory years in the 1970s and Early the party placed a decent second in in last tuesdays the new democrats didst and didst even expect to do better than this is More confirmation of Manitoba two solitudes and the widening social and economic chasm Between but it also raises doubts about the Dps claim to be the government in its True that by elections Are notoriously poor predictors of general eighteen months before the conservatives won their second majority government in april they not Only struck but ran third in four of five the new democrats had no More likelihood of unseating the tories in Charleswood last tuesday than the tories had of unseating the new democrats in Johns and Rupert land on such is the Gulf Between the two they Are part geographic but mostly Sci eco predominant in the Rural Southwest and Winnipeg is comfortable and the Cen tred in the North and East of the province and the old City of win is marginalized and Frances Russell what continues to complicate matters for the new democrats is that Ever since its 1988 the Liberal party has taken some of the poor and marginalized and a lot of the progressive constituency from the nip and very Little of the comfortable and conservative constituency from the the Charleswood by election is a warning shot across the Dps Bow despite the Liberal party implosion in the Legisla a big slice of the progressive vote still sits in the Liberal Liberal both in Charleswood and in recent Public opinion remains As High or higher than in so Long As the liberals retain 25 per cent plus of the the nip will be unable to replace the conserva Tives in that message was doubly rein forced by tuesdays outcome because that like the ones in occurred at die Peak of the governments midterm when it was being pummelled daily in the legislature on health education and crony health was the Issue in the nip is sup posed to own health care like the tories own fiscal although the party vote percentage did go from 12 per cent to 18 per voters at the door confirmed the new democrats worst people Are angry about health but they Arent necessarily blaming the conservatives or looking to the the reason May be that governments of All Politi Cal stripes across Canada Are facing similar Public Discon tent Over if the continuing High Liberal vote 28 per Down just one percentage Point from 1995 want sufficient to worry the the Low voter turnout certainly should it takes an aroused electorate to turf out a Only about 40 per cent bothered to go to the polls in Sig about the same percentage As in those five by elections in University of Winnipeg Politi Cal scientist Allen Mills says that if anyone has cause for satisfaction from the Charleswood it is the they the tories won it handily and a Low turnout is a sign that people Arent mad As Mills says another probe Lem for the new democrats is the Filmon government has been very adept at reducing the visibility of provincial politics and lowering not Only its own Tilhou but that of All the other Par government has been reduced to a generic and the electorates focus is the nip has to put together an economic policy that Doest scare the Middle the nip has on third of the vote sewn up based on health care and Public sector Mills to push themselves up Over 40 per their economic poli cies have to signal that they Are a Safe party to commit the eco nomic and financial affairs of the province while Mills agrees Charleswood is very Middle very upwardly he notes those Are the people the nip has to get the nip has the poor and mar Charleswood Demon Strates they still share the progressives with the Frances Russell covers politics for the free her column appears wednesdays and preparing for the next vote the old saying out of out of mind certainly rings True these Days on the subject of Quebec just two Short years ago we were preoccupied with plans to avoid another close Call with Sepa we faced what appeared to be the inevitable breakup of our country and we wanted someone to Tell us what to do about today the word separation is Seldom Jean Charest is working hard to become Premier of Quebec and if he he tells we wont hear of a referendum during his he might persuade Lucien Bouchard that another referendum should be mainly because today mood in and out Side of Quebec All but guarantees that it would the Only people continuing to dream of a referendum and of Quebec sovereignty Are the diehard the rest of we Are being can forget about that we will forget at our the threat of separation has worked too Well for Quebec in the past to be abandoned plans for another referendum will be conveniently parked in the Back pocket of the parti to be resurrected when the time is the Only question is whether we will permit that resurrection to catch us As unprepared As we were when we came within less than a percentage Point of losing the last we could and unless we prepare our selves As Well As the separatists for the next since we participated in the last two Yotes we Are committed to participate in the next by accepting the narrow mar Gin last time As a we have committed ourselves to accept a similar slim margin As a defeat if the results Are reversed next Fred cute verify lets not get into the next whenever it wearing the same Blindfold we have in the past before that fight lets examine exactly what it is the separatists want and Well in How we Are prepared to Deal with their when bloc quebecois Leader Gilles Dueppe visited Manitoba his staff came carrying Quebec on the Road to recited the history of Quebec and Canada through separatist the Sec a new Quebe Canada part detailed How an Independent Quebec was pre pared to work with Canada after everyone who wants to keep Canada As one country should take the time to read these two booklets from cover to the with Good Rea expect to negotiate a partnership with Canada after a yes vote in a prime min ister Jean Chretien said in december 1997 there will be negotiations with the Federal gov theres no question about while the rest of us have yet to hear what position our govern ment will the separatists Are ready to Start bargaining their proposed partner Gilles Dueppe is ready to negotiate Independence ship agreement covers a customs the free movement of services and a joint monetary labour mobility and in just about everything it takes to run a the separatists assume that decisions on these matters will be taken jointly by Canada and an Independent they propose a new parliamentary Assembly in which Quebec holds 25 per cent of the this May sound like our present Parlia ment but under their partnership proposal it would be it would have Only the authority to pass resolutions on decisions made by the partnership the partnership which will become the real will have an equal number of minis ters from Quebec and from the rest of its decisions concerning monetary dual citizenship and the free movement of labour Between the two states will have to be unania and each member will have a that such a Council would be perpetually deadlocked is the settlement of the inevitable deadlocks will be left to a whose decisions will be in the future of Canada and Quebec As inde pendent nations will be decided on the basis of one vote for que one vote for the rest of Canada and one vote for an Arbi it is Clear that such an arrangement would be unacceptable to the majority of Cana what we need to in this Lull Between Unity is to state our ideas As clearly As the separatists have stated perhaps we could Start by Refus ing to accept the breakup of Canada on the basis of a vote held Only in Fred Cleverley is a Winnipeg his column appears on ;