Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - September 21, 1998, Winnipeg, Manitoba A"10 Nipe editor i free press monday september 21, Rian Cole / 697-7044 1998 editorials Freedom of Trade Liberty of religion Equality of civil rights Chretien s Pepper Gate Pepper said prime minister Jean Chretien last november is something i put on my plate. Salt is something that today canadians might want to rub into wounds the Federal government is getting at the inquiry into the violence that surrounded last year s spec Summit in Vancouver. Or. Chretien s glib comment was in response to a nation s outrage Over the Way that ramp Security officers manhandled and used Pepper Spray on peaceful demonstrators at the asian Pacific economic co operation conference. Or. Chretien s government had attempted to insulate the asian leaders some of whom show scant respect for democratic principles and even less for human rights from protesters who thought that perhaps democracy and human rights in Asia were at least As important to canadians As profitable business deals. The Federal government was Able to protect the asian autocrats from the unpleasant spectacle of honest protest but it was not Able to hide from canadians the suppression of that protest by the ramp. That was captured on television the images of violence indelibly engraved on the minds of the nation. Of particular concern to the Federal government and the ramp in the Days leading up to the spec Summit were the sensibilities of two of Asia s most brutal dictators then indonesian president Suharto and chinese president Jiang Zemin both of whose nations coincidentally Are major trading targets of the Chretien government. Ramp officers declined to give or. Suharto s bodyguards permission to shoot Canadian demonstrators we order things More discreetly in this country but it is now Clear that there was an intent to shield the asian leaders from the opinion of the Canadian people and that the attack on the demonstrators by the ramp resulted from that. The ramp Public complaints commission is conducting an inquiry into the affair. There has been some speculation that prime minister Chretien himself might be subpoenaed to testify about his involvement in the co ordination of the Security for the conference protesters allege that police received direct instructions from the prime minis. Ter s office. Or. Chretien denies this and says he has nothing to Tell the inquiry. Slowly but surely this Issue is turning into some sort of Pepper Gate. The questions that need to be answered Are Clear enough. Did the ramp use excessive Force did they do so with the Sanction or under the direction of the Federal government it has Long been Clear than in International relations it is the government s policy to let economic relations run roughshod Over human rights issues. The fundamental question that this inquiry must answer is whether that is also this government s policy at Home. Or. Chretien May have nothing to Tell the inquiry but he does have something to Tell the nation. A Golden dilemma six weeks after they re elected him to City Council St. Vital voters Learned in december 1995 that the government believed Al Golden was guilty of tax evasion. The charge had been Laid and immediately sealed so that it did not impair his chances of re election. Or. Golden pleaded not guilty. A preliminary hearing dragged on through the current Council term. This week six weeks before the civic election a judge concluded that the government s Case was Strong enough to justify a criminal trial. Should or. Golden seek re election voters would have to decide whether the facts against or. Golden should Rule him out As a City councillor. That May be a Tough Call to make since the Case against him and his reply will Only come out when the court Geis around to conducting the trial. In december 1995, the challengers or. Golden Defeated complained that the Crown should have announced the charges As soon As they were ready not waited until after the election. In the present circumstance it would be unfair to or. Golden to tie him up with a criminal trial when he May need to Campaign for re election. It would also be unfair to the voters to delay the trial until after the election. Since the matter has been delayed this Long there is no Good solution. Admirers of or. Golden who find his business arrangements Complex will not be surprised that the tax evasion Case against him was found Strong enough to justify a trial. Whether a Man who is accused of evading taxes should be helping impose taxes on others is a purely political judgment that St. Vital voters May have to make in an information vacuum. Winnipeg free press Winnipeg free press est 1s72 a Winnipeg Tribune est 1890 Rudy Redekop publisher email Rudy Redekop Lre press. My. Ca Nicholas Hirst / editor Brian Cole / editorial Page editor a i directors Harry Brown / circulation sales and marketing Laurie Finley advertising Perry Nixdorf / technology Glenn Williams / finance and administration c 1998 Winnipeg free press a division of . Newspapers division of Thomson Canada limited published seven Days a week at 1355 Mountain Avenue Winnipeg Manitoba r2x 3b6, pm 697-7000 n f a member of the Manitoba press Council vol mm2i4.r. Sex change for a Soldier As a taxpayer i wish that defence minister Art Eggleton would explain exactly How the defence of Canada is strengthened by spending $60,000 defence dollars so that a Soldier can get a sex change operation. At a time when the defence budget has been squeezed so tight that it squeals when our troops do not have enough gasoline or ammunition for adequate training surely or. Eggleton should Tell us preferably in simple terms what defence value we Are getting out of paying for a sex change. It is not enough to refer to the procedure by its technical and military term gender reassignment and to Tell us of the psychiatric benefits accruing to the individual involved. Or. Eggleton is not in the business of providing such Comfort for individuals. His responsibility for the health of those under his command should be limited to insuring that they Are fit to fight. Or. Eggleton is in the business of providing Security for Canada. This is the Only business that should justify his spending of defence dollars. Many canadians will find it difficult As i do to understand or appreciate their military value of turning a male Soldier into a female soldiers Fred Cleverley one office wag suggested that it could be a complicated Experiment in camouflage. Another Tongue in Cheek suggested that it was a solution to one of the major problems facing the Canadian army which is to find enough women who want to be combat soldiers and who Are capable of filling combat roles. Perhaps the new approach will be to recruit men and change them into women. If the head doctors do their work correctly perhaps we can Hope that the resultant soldiers will retain the male killer instinct. At the very least this approach would provide an instant solution to the unfilled recruiting quotas or As the army prefers to Call them targets for women. The army claims the operation will turn a Soldier unfit for duty into one fit for duty. The army claims it is doing no More than a province would for a civilian. Most provinces including Manitoba pay for sex change operations from the Public purse. In Manitoba where the department of health says we fund one or two such operations each year applicants must meet the criteria set Down by the Clark Institute to determine whether a sex change is considered a medical necessity. In addition Manitoban who want to change their sex must have the support of a Manitoba psychiatrist. Those applicants who meet the criteria Are shipped off to new Brunswick where such operations Are available. Manitoba health reimburses its new Brunswick counterpart at the rates set in that province. This arrangement according to Manitoba health is considerably cheaper than having the operations performed in the . British Columbia uses facilities in Spokane wash., for its sex change requirements and pays the $60,000 in . Dollars the operation costs there. British Columbia incidentally has a current waiting list for the operation of 540 applicants. Manitoba s purse strings Are held considerably tighter than those in British Columbia. Manitoba health has a list of procedures including the use of blood sucking leeches sometimes used in a sex change operation for which it will not pay. t pay for leeches a Manitoba health spokesperson told me even though i had not asked. Whether tax dollars should be going to support such procedures is certainly a matter for debate. Do dialysis machines have the same priority Manitoba health makes some arbitrary decisions. Circumcision is not considered a medical necessity in this province. Parents wanting it have to pay $50. While the use of taxpayer health dollars for sex change operations can be debated there should be no debate whatsoever about the use of defence department dollars. Sex change at Best is a matter of mental health not defence. The Only purpose served by using defence dollars is to appear politically Correct. Surely our military deserves better. Think about that character in the movie Mash who paraded around in women s clothing. He was not asking for a sex change operation he just wanted out of the army. There is a limit to what people will believe As reasonable even in the movies. A free sex change operation should not be part of military benefits in Canada. Fred Cleverley is a Winnipeg writer. His column appears on mondays. Starr puts smut paper to shame by Al Goldstein special to new Day for the past 30 years i be published what is generally considered the dirtiest newspaper in the world screw Magazine. To my credit or discredit depending on How you look at Iti be succeeded in enraging alike politicians feminists and the politically Correct while enduring 19 obscenity busts. But i be finally met my match and i Don t think i la be Able to continue publishing screw As you know it today. My reason for deciding to change the scope of screw s reportage can be summed up in four words the Kenneth Starr report and its approximately 450 pages concerned with president Clinton s ongoing relationship with Monica Lewinsky. Screw has always been an underground publication it s never been As High profile As Playboy or Penthouse but it s always managed to hold its own in the adult marketplace. It s survived where other lesser smut magazines have failed miserably. But How can i go up against what is basically a $40jmillion porn Story and it s a Good one too. Even with my creative mind and the staff of Sleazy satirists i maintain there s no Way that we could have written what the Starr report contains without being laughed at. Clandestine rendezvous in the presidential bathroom fellatio being performed on the Leader of the Western world while he spoke on the phone with political operatives consensual vaginal penetration with a Cigar he takes a Long time to get his act together but Kenneth Starr does Good work if he s looking for a Job when the investigation is Over maybe he d like to flex he chops at a real aside from the smut Factor the Starr report has All the makings of great drama As Well the Story of Bill and Monica s burgeoning relationship from introduction to consummation the pathos of Monica wondering does he really want to get to know me or is this just about sex the melodrama of or. Clinton trying to be faithful to his wife Only to fail miserably. Or. Clinton comes across As a True byronic hero one part Rock Star one part Power Junkie and one part ail american Horn dog. The Starr report is one of the greatest pieces of pornography i be Ever seen second Only to the premiere Issue of screw. One of the most shocking things about the Starr report is the manner in which the majority of americans got their first glimpse at it via the internet. At first i thought posting the document on line was just a Means of getting the details to the porn mag. Kenneth Starr s report is a $40-million porn Story. American Public in the quickest most efficient Way possible. Then As More and More politicians the overwhelming majority of them republicans called for it to be put on the information superhighway a thought crossed my mind is this Congress which is so desperate for the american people to finally get the whole Story the same one that a few years ago was so hell Bent on Banning pornography from the internet the answer yes it is. But in its Zeal to get the Starr report out to the american Public Congress has done a Complete about face and embraced the very medium that it once sought to suppress. Maybe they just want a piece of the lucrative internet pie to themselves. Porn is a $5-billion-a-year Industry turning Over More Cash than the motion picture and music industries combined and by tapping into it they could do a lot of Good like cleaning up that Nasty Little budget deficit. Of that s right in Between bouts of fellatio and tracking Down a collector s edition of leaves of grass for his lady love or. Clinton already took care of the budget deficit years earlier than he predicted. So thanks to president Clinton and by default Monica Lewinsky and Kenneth Starr screw Magazine As we know it will be no More. From now on the world s greatest newspaper will engage in other editorial pursuits currently we Are taking a look at the Mark Mcgwire Sammy Sosa Home run race and its effects on the International monetary fund crisis. It should be quite a read not As interesting As consensual vaginal penetration with a Cigar but quite a read nonetheless. Al Goldstein is publisher of screw Magazine which has just issued the illustrated official Starr rept to ;