Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - November 30, 1998, Winnipeg, Manitoba Editor Brian. Cote / 697-7044Focus Winnipeg Free Press jft -4 -4 M'onday. November 30. 1998' & & & I I Tory leader given message from party �?~tourist�?TClark�?Ts party shadow of former self OTTAWA �?" NOVEMBER marked Jo.e Clark�?Ts re-emer-gen,ce on the oatiO':n,al stage as a political leader, albeit a minor player in end-of-millennium, federal politics. Fifteen years after a m,essy Tory palace coup worthy of a Shakespearean play �?" fifth colum,nists working against him from within., betrayal, bloody hands, out, out damned spot and a m,issed date with destiny �?" Clark returns as leader of a party that is a shado'w of what he turned over to Brian M,ulroney. Instant opinion polls say he is No.. ,2.-,Perhaps, but only if we still believe the spring polls which, showed a, phantom, Jean Charest certain to become premier of Quebec, if only he, would run. .Actually, Clark would do well to remem,ber the, sum,m,er 1993 newspaper story that explained how', based on a poll, Kira Cam,pbell appealed to Canadians of all ages, genders, regions and ideologies. She w'as a shoo-in. In the breach, she appealed, to enough Canadians to take her party from, governraent to tw'o seats. Voters have a way of sayin,g one thing to theoretical poll questions and another to a secret ballot when it m,atters. So forget about the "Clark for prim,e minister�?� .foolishness. His first priority must be to return the Conservatives to relevance frora fifth party irrelevance. TU'o w'eeks ago, he began by play- Oh Canada Bany Wilson ing to a traditional Tory constituency �?" Prairie farraers. Three days after being con fir raed as the new Tory leader in mid-November, Clark held a news conference to call for federal aid to grain and hog farmers. He appeared with Brandon MP and Tory agriculture critic Rick Borotsik and Saskatchewan Tory Senator and Senate.agriculture comm,ittee ch,airm,an. Ten Gustafson. Any reporter long enough, in the tooth, to have covered Clark�?Ts first stint as Tbry leader could only marvel at the ironies inherent in the new's conference and, sideshow's to his first wi'eek back. It could be called the tale of four Tories �?" one old, one new', one recycled, and one �?" well, touristy. One old: Len Gustafson, Saskatchewan, far,ra,er'and former M.P, was one of the main fifth, columnists who used his position in Clark�?Ts post-1980 caucus to prom,ote M,ul,ron,ey and to underm,in,e Clark. He nominated Mulroney at the 1983 convention, acted, as his loyal parliam,en,ta,ry secretary from, 1984-93 and. w'as rewarded, at age 59, wdth a Senate appointment and, a job guarantee for m,ore than 15 years. So there w'as Gustafson, sitting beside Clark last wi'eek and pro-claim,ing: �?oThank you. Mr. Leader. It is a privilege to appear w'ith, you. here today.�?� Clark, smiled, the thin smile of someone who remembers 1983 well. .And, he soldiered, on. One new; Rick Burotsik, form,er Birandofi m,a,yor and rookie Tbry MP w'ho is the only elected .federal Conservative west of Toronto, has hit the ground running in Ottawa. As agriculture critic, he has acquitted h,i,rasel,f ivell. He is an enthusiastic recruit to the federal political system w'ho handles him,-self w'ell in co,mm.ittee, question period and debate. He supported Clark for leader and is the core of new recruits who will have to mature and grow into wily and, loyal stalw'arts if the party is to survive. One recycled: Clark cuts an amazing .figure, a respected has-been intent on, resui'recting the party w'hich once gave m,eaning to his life. His capacity to forgive'form,er traitors to his cause seems limitless. His desire to forgo honourable retirem,ent for the unforgiving rigours of leading a fi,fth-place party heavily in, debt and without an obvious political niche to fill (save a,ppea,sera,ent to the provincial w'ar-lords and soft Q'uebec nationalists)^ is as close as modern Canadian, politics comes to selfless ness. .He is an, inspiration to all those W'ho aspire to political survival. F Clark: tourist trap One tourist: Clark, for the most part, has been publicly contemptuous of those who joined the party during the leadership race to support Saskatchewan farmer, anti-free trade zealot, centralist and environmentalist David Orchard. He called O'rchard, and, his .followers �?otourists�?� in the Tbry party, by w'hich he meant to suggest they were visiting from other allegiances and would leave once their hero was defeated. Enter Anton Kuerti, a Toronto pianist, world-renowned interpreter of Beethoven�?Ts music and political activi.st. In the 1980s, he ran in Toronto as a New Democrat candidate. In 1998, he joined the Conservative Party to support Orchard. To most, it would be considered a catch for the Tories. Kuerti clearly was stung by Clark�?Ts �?otourist�?� jibe. He struck back with a newspaper letter to the editor in which he suggested modern Tory leaders have abandoned the anti-free trade policies of their inspired ancestors. �?oYes, some of us supporting Mr. Orchard are �?~tourists�?T in the PC party, as Joe Clark has derogatorily termed us,�?� he wrote in a letter published the day Clark defeated Orchard. �?oBut tourists have been known to stick around, if they like what they see." Does Clark, who needs every vote he can round up, get the message? The Tories will have to do more than win back a few disgruntled Reformers and conservative Liberals (why would they be disgruntled?) to form a credible alternative political party. John Diefenbaker, leader when Clark first became a Tory, understood that. Barry IFiisofl' is the Ottawa correspondent for the IFesfern Producer.Letters to the Editor Political leaders duck responsibility IHAYE been reading with interest the various columns on your editorial page dealing with our political leaders being guided and, indeed, protected by their "spin doctors.�?� John Dafoe�?Ts column (PYee Press, Nov 24) is a thoughtful, disturbing and accurate reflection on the state of the sadly deteriorated relationship between our political leadership and the electorate. The worst aspect of the spin-doctor manipulations is the fact that the political leaders do everything they can to avoid the fact that, íike the captain of a ship or aircraft, they are ultimately and irrevocably responsible for the conduct of all those who serve them Equally, they are required to know and to evaluate the performance of their crew, especially the senior officers�?T We, the electorate, for whom the political leaders captain the ship of state, have every right to expect a clear and plain explanation of how they and their senior officers conduct themselves This brings me to the fact that Mr Phimon�?Ts appearance before the inquiry on vote-spiitting has been cleverly, if not deviously, timed. We would not expect him to know in any detail of their actions and conduct I am sure that he and his handlers will quite comfortably dismiss any suggestion that he should be held accountable for them At the same time, we have not heard from any of the people right next to him in his chain of command Neither Mr Sokolyk nor Mr Benson nor anyone else at that level has accounted for their part in the vote-splitting scheme. Since their evidence is yet to come, obviously Mr PTlmon, in his appearance before the inquiry, cannot be expected to answer for their behaviour. He will have to face questions about his own conduct in the affair. In other words, he gets off scot-free He w'ill not have to face questions in cross examination about whatever testimony these senior people wall have to give; some of which might stick to him Thus, they are left to suffer the consequences on their own and Mr. Fil-mon will have avoided having to accept what aie rightfully his responsibilities and consequences His proper place in the order of witnesses is to be the last He should be in the ultimate position because his is the ultimate responsibility Plnally, if there is any �?ojustice�?� or to be any value to this inquiry, it is my sincere hope that Mr.Filmon will or can be recalled as a witness whenever it has heard from the last on the present list. Not to do so indicates foreknowd-edge if not co,m,plicity. To appear just this one time w,iil prove integrity only in the Te,flo,n layer with w'hich the premier is layered,.. BERNIE BEARE Winnipeg Airport noise reason to depart We now' have another reason to leave Winnipeg. Life in this city is becom,ing downright uiicom,for table. 'The reality of Winn,po,rt is .now nr^king its unfoi*-tuffate i,mpact,. and its operation is still How to reach us The Free Press welcomes letters from readers Letters must be signed and should include a clearly printed name address and telephone number Names will be published but not addresses All letters may be edited for style and length Short letters are less likely to be condensed Please address letters to Letters to the Editor, Winnipeg Free Press. 1355 Mountain Avenue Winnipeg R2X 3B6 Letters can be sent to our Fax number 697-7412 Letteis may be submitted through the Internet at Letters @FreePress Mb Ca Letters sent via the Internet obviously cannot be signed, but must include home address and telephone number in the starting stages flight paths have been re-routed over southeast Winnipeg and the surge and drone of air traffic is continuous over a well-populated area 20 kilometres from the airport The air traffic route now covers both arrivals and departures It would appear that our now-pri\a-tized airport, in spite of the noise report hot line, gives only the appearance of showing consideration fl>r the citizenry The reality is liberties are being taken in order to make a buck and to discount the noise and environmental pollution foisted upon an unsuspecting population. The level of discomfort simply cannot be ignored Did Mr Kleysen really think about the citizens of Winnipeg when he and others pushed their proposal to make Winnipeg a 24-hour airport delivering non-essential goods'^ Shouldn�?Tt there be limits placed on the number of flights allowed over highly populated areas"'�?T I am concerned that we have been hoodwinked into thinking that a 24-hour Wmnport is good for Winnipeg when in fact it drastically reduces our quality of life. If Mr Kleysen and his supporters want a noisy and polluted environment, they should take responsibility for building or using an airfield in an area where population will not be affected b> the noise and air pollution What an unfortunate legacy to leave our children' I urge our citizens to lobby their councillors, MLAs and MPs to stop this misguided venture, or, at the very least, to re-route flights in and out of Winnipeg over unpopulated areas. M. AND'ERSO,N IWn.n.ipeg' Let�?Ts be better, bigger tban Fargo Here is another glaring exam,ple of the competitive edge that .must be given to Fargo,, ,N,.D. over Winnipeg with .respect to public assem,bl,y facilities and. de.monstratin�?zg a visionary belief in their future being better. The 26,000-seat concert venue at the Fa,r-go,Dome is the location of an upcom,-ing Shania 'Wain presentation, booked, by .American promoters for just a few' weeks from now'., Canadian promoters also hav|f?, Reader convinced Winnipeggers have been hoodw'inked into thinking 24-hour Winnport a good thing. bought some bhania �?Tfwain dates including a Winnipeg date booked at the aging Winnipeg Arena for some time in March of 1999, more than four-and-a-half months away. Tickets are not on sale yet so why have they announced the Winnipeg concert date at the same time the FargoDome date tickets go on sale�?T It appears the promoters of the Canadian dates, including Winnipeg, are genuinely concerned about slippage in ticket sales. That is, they are worried that concei t-goers may prefer to drive three hours south, pay the cosily exchange rates, and incur meal, miscellaneous and perhaps even overnight costs to see Shania Twain in the modern, more comfortable, fan-friendly environment of the multi-use FargoDome rather than the much smaller, much older Winnipeg Arena Doesn�?Tt that tell us something? Industry experts, the risk-takers, based in Alberta and British Columbia recognize the dollar exodus impact of the FargoDome in the local marketplace' Shouldn�?Tt our own business and civic leaders be able to do the same Let�?Ts get back into the competitive w'orld and make Winnipeg bigger, better, more exciting and attractive than Fargo for our next generation of citizens and taxpayers. Fifty years ago Winnipeggers believed and built the arena and stadium, naysayers be damned Those outdated facilities now need to be replaced by bigger, better mousetraps, with a vision and belief in Winnipeg�?Ts future. Small minds and their red flags need not apply! MS. D. ULRICH Winnipeg Test on doctors needs surgery This is a response to the controversy elicited by the administration of a tnree-hour multiple-choice test to medical doctors in deciding their competence to continue working m intensive-care units, While we can argue that we have come a long way in our teaching practices in general, our assessment procedures have not Unfortunately, tests, often poorly designed multiple-choice tests, decide the academic and professional future of students Test-driven teaching and politically-driven testing procedures dictate and nurture algo-nthm-recitatioii by students and con tent-driven teaching by teachers. In some parts of the U.S.,,, students�?T per-form,a,nce on centrally-designed tests have been, occasionally used, to fire teachers. Tests s,hould serve only tw'o functions, to m,otivate students to study and to identi,fy pi�?Toblem, areas. I do not know' ho'W' 'well the multiple-choice test items 'W'ere designed, by Dr. Daniel Roberts. M,uitipie-choice test item,s are notoriously difficuit to 'write if they are to be part of a, valid instrument. .According to the Free Press the test 'was tried on. Dr.. Roberts�?T re side nts-in training,.. This kind of statistical validation may be a, dubious practice. It would have been less draconian if the test had been .ad,m,in,iste,red, to moti-V ate doctors to improve their skills .an,d know'ledge and. to identify w'eakness-es and, then .follo'wed up by a, comprehensive in-service training, wit,hout imposing the stigma of '�?o'in,com,pe-tence�?� and, the inconvenience of �?olosing their Job.�?� DR. .ARTHUR, STINNER., Professor" ,Math,e,ma,'tics an,d Natiu*al Sciences ,Fa,cul'ty' of Ed,uca,tion UofM Winnipeg Doooesbury BY GARRY TRUDEAU TNiflifCMK. smAimm- jmr amK£sS' i?/o®v5 ,«7Z^ /A/' 5S5WY /Í3W �?" /mP0Aí9 ¿mpmrpp /ix/r' \ 17üLPW/M/m/om/£^ím^ w áajmT? AT mi/ mx. m/vm fm mi/ /jvpmip-.Am/pf TN&ypmM- to rm ANPmAT 'ePTAHFP 0FTAUFPf* SAOJT A4FN7/ON ;