Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - May 12, 1998, Winnipeg, Manitoba A10 Winnipeg free May Brian Cole 6977044 editorials Freedom of Trade Liberty of religion Equality of civil rights Devilish dilemma Gary Filmon has taken the Correct by refusing to cooperate with North Al Dakotas plan to divert water into the red River from devils where rising Levels Over the past four years have flooded 300 properties and threaten a Community of it cannot be easy to say no to our Neighbours to the particularly one year after the flood of the Century gave us common cause and deepened the links Between our nor can it be easy to deny cooperation on the devils Lake Issue knowing full Well that we will need North Dakotas cooperation to develop new flood forecasting and flood Protection schemes to spare Manitoba future floods along the red some might con clude the Premier is being shortsighted and heartless again but they would be devils Lake is not what we would commonly understand a Lake to it is depressed land in North Dakota to which water and then is trapped due to a Lack of an in wet the Chain of depressed lands that constitute the Lake fills with and in drought years it dries because the water that drains into devils Lake carries with it Small amounts of and because the water in the Lake does not circulate and the Salt accumulates so that the lakes salinity varies from year to year and area to the Levels of the Lake Are Abnor Mally High and the Lake has grown to four times its typical which has had the effect of flooding Homes and but also lowering Saline Levels to a Point where transferring devils Lake water into the red River should not have a great negative Impact on water at the same there Are no known organisms in devils Lake that cannot be found in our water of which devils Lake is a for these some North and some Manitoban for that cannot understand Why we will not accept their water in the red River and relieve the flooding problem that has created million of damage to devils Lake properties and which threatens to cause million More damage and even puts in doubt the future of the the lies with North devils Lake May not be the greatest recreational spot on but it does attract visitors seeking recreational opportunities anglers and boaters who make a considerable contribution to the local the contribution would be greater if Lake Levels could be raised in dry years and the destruction would be lessened in wet years if Levels could be lowered by draining water into the red by Way of the Sheyenne the Only source of water to raise devils Lake in dry years is the Missouri Mississippi water which is sep Arate from our Basin and does contain known foreign if Premier Filmon were to say yes to the devils Lake drainage he might be popular with North but he would be placing Manitoba Waters at some risk from potential increased salinity problems and the however that foreign Organ isms exist in devils Lake that would end up in Manitoba where they could pose an environmental More once the million Drain is what is to Stop North Dakota from taking the next step in controlling devils Lake Levels by opening an Inlet from the Missouri missis Sippi an Inlet that would certainly allow the Transfer of Missouri Mississippi biota into the Hud son Bay Basin draining devils Lake is not the Only Avenue open to North Dakota to solve its flooding the state has a program to store Runoff upstream from devils but so far it has been unsuccessful because North Dakotas refuse to cooperate and store excess water on their in the final Means North Dakotas Are asking Manitoba to help them out with a problem they Are unwilling to help themselves that is not a solid basis on which to accept risks to Manitoba it certainly cannot be construed As a reasonable request from a Good Only an expedient Premier Filmon is Correct to reject Winnipeg free press Winnipeg free press est 1872 Winnipeg Tribune est 1880 Rudy email ,Ca Nicholas editor Brian Cole editorial Page editor directors Harry Brown circulation sales and marketing Laurie advertising Verne Kalichuk human resources Perry Nixdorf technology Glenn Williams finance and administration 1998 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 no 157 Vriend Case a watershed q quote of the year i the Man of the hour of Delwin the albertan whose supreme court Case pushed the envelope of human rights in Alberta to contain sexual Orien understand that Vriends Pithy comment came after six Long years of waiting for the Klein government to do the right to add sexual orientation into the human rights code instead of spending Public Money to fight Vriend in having been treated As some thing less than fully human by his and then by his provincial the Cheeky Gay advocate scolded the Alberta shame on he said to the Klein government for wait ing to be told by the supreme court to do the right Vriend didst Start out to be a poster boy for Gay nobody Ever a chemistry teacher at Kings College in Vriend told the religious school he was Gay when he was apparently they Only fired him when they Learned he had a the colleges apparent Toler Ance of Vriend As a celibate Gay Man and its intolerance of him As a Gay Man in an intimate relationship looked an awful lot like the hypocrisy Vriend had been taught was Penni Mitchell what do you do when the moral authorities at an institution of higher learning and a human rights body Tell you that your rights dont exist take it to a higher this Case the supreme court of which backed Victory followed a string of Gay rights Legal rulings across Canada in the last six but the Early april ruling want the end of the Alberta tories then wrung their hands trying to decide whether doing the right thing in the Vriend Case would mean invoking the notwithstanding clause to keep Gay rights out of it was during this time that displaying his own Brand of Spunky showed that he also had becoming an unlikely hero in a town that was it known for its Gay rights ral by the time he kissed his Boyfriend at a Victory rally and the embrace appeared in the Globe and Vriend Actu ally seemed to be having some at first he simply refused to be then he turned the Legal tables on those who judged when it was All Vriends Victory seemed to have made the world at least Alberta a better even conservative Premier Ralph Klein is in a better place because of one of the most touching moments in the tense Lead up to Albertas Deci Sion not to invoke the notwithstanding clause was Premier kleins telling of How he Felt to find himself on the receiving end of hate mail and threatening homophobic Calls that came into his this Point where we gain insight into the experience of another suffering is where conversion Klein May not have known what Side he would come Down on until he was Able to feel if Only briefly the same Wrath of hatred that Vriend was fight the Issue was a watershed spilling out into the commune from the pulpits of the churches Taftt took Vriends into to the predominantly Rural flood of opposition that leaked into the tory caucus and while some believe their shroud of intolerance was the United Church supported Vriends Case and the Catholic Church sem supported say ing his sexuality didst appear to have a bearing on Vriends ability to do his Vriends Point the self proclaimed head of Canadas civilized Ken was among those who didst get Campbell and a group of others spent on a Creepy full Page Globe and mail notice that demonized the militant Homo sexual fringe As culturally subversive and Akin to Barbar ians and the and seems to have anyone still wondering Why it was necessary to protect Gays and lesbians from discrimination Only had to replace the word homosexuals with jews or indians to get the underlying the Gay newspaper extra reported that kleins office haunt receive a single Call from the and two Days the fact that the and boasted a charitable tax number raised concerns at Revenue for every action there is a a number of Success Ful cases across the country Are slowly but surely creating More favourable conditions for Par pensioned Church armed forces even mayoral candidates who happen to be by saying he was Comfort Able with the decision of the supreme court and that he didst want to invoke the notwithstanding Klein finally stood up As a it is a shame he have done so Penni Mitchell is coordinating editor of her zoos her column appears on holds key to Mideast peace by Gideon Rafael Washington Post Jerusalem the failure of the Middle East meetings in London is Likely to deter mine not Only the development of relations Between Israel and its neighbors but the fortunes of the whole Middle the parties to the conflict Are at a which Way they choose to go depends to a Large degree upon How firm is the grip of the american presidents guid ing there is no doubt the Clinton administration is committed to establishment of Arab israeli in the the United states has exerted a Deci Sive influence on the attainment of peace Between Israel and Egypt and Jordan but Washington present diplomatic stance adheres to a somewhat simplistic axiom that Only the parties to the conflict can make provided their leaders Are prepared to make hard whenever the peace talks run into a Roadblock american diplomatic rhetoric reverts to this regardless of the fact that it can not stand the test of historical the fact is that not a single Ara israeli agreement has Ever been arrived at without third party be it Media Tion or determined diplomatic persuasion a code word for the application of coercive political and economic All Ara israeli wars were ended by the imposition of ceasefire Reso no Ara israeli peace treaty was achieved without for eign in the majority of cases extended by the United the peace conference held in Madrid in november gathering All the parties to the conflict around the same was convened because of the tireless efforts of Secretary of state James who succeeded in overcoming the obstinate objections of pres ident Hafez Assad of Syria and prime minister Yitzhak Shamir of the Madrid negotiations petered out for a variety of mainly because the Par ties were not ready to make the indispensable concessions and also because the successors to Baker believed in the Doit your self peace one May we rent the Oslo agreement and the Jordan peace treaty negotiated directly Between Israel and the palestinians in the first Case and Israel and Jordan in the out third party assistance do they not thus constitute an exception to the Rule not at diplomacy was decisively involved in the draft ing of the so called Oslo ii agree ment signed in Cairo under the auspices of egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and Secretary of state Warren it detailed the timing and modalities of the implementation of the Oslo declaration of Prin opinion is divided As to whether Jordans King Hussein would have signed the peace treaty with Israel before having reached a final settlement with the King Hussein Clinton must Force Deal on Middle East was anxious to retain the Benev Olence of the United states after he had disappointed Washington by his Adverse attitude during the Gulf the Kings decision to conclude peace with Israel facilitated his reconciliation with which encouraged him in his decision to conclude peace with Israel perhaps less agreed to forgive several Hundred million dollars in debts that Jordan owed the United be that As it the reason for third party participation in Ara israeli peace negotiations is not just an act of technical assistance but an inescapable necessity in order to Bridge the Gap Between the contending which Are not capable of lifting the heavy Load there Are concessions they can not Grant each other without third party Security guarantees and economic whoever studies the Side letters attached to the Camp David agreement will be awed by the magnitude of the United states faithfully adhered to in word and deed to this very the advice to the leaders to make hard decisions is not sufficient to push the peace train Over the the parties made the hard decisions when they signed the peace treaties and the Oslo it is up to washing ton to take the hard decision to put its foot Israel and the palestinians will stumble Over their own feet into the abyss of a new Gideon Rafael is a former director general of the Israel for eign ministry and former israeli ambassador to the duped 1 ;