Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - December 6, 1998, Winnipeg, Manitoba In in National report Quebec maritime reap 84 per cent of funding Highway spending shows Little logic Ottawa a the next time the kids Are acting up in the Back seat As your car bumps along the trans Canada Highway try this Little Puzzle first Start off by asking them some Basic Canadian geography questions. For instance ask them whether Manitoba is bigger than new Brunswick. Yes quiz them on whether tiny Prince Edward Island could possibly have More Miles of roads than British Columbia. No see if they know whether the maritime take up As much room on the map As All of Western Canada no again now probably be feeling pretty smug after getting those first three questions right. That a when you throw them for a Loop. Ask who la get More Federal tax dollars for Highway construction a a big province with big roads or a Small province with Small roads. No doubt your children will naively opt for the logical answer that there would have to be a direct relationship Between Ottawa a Highway spending and the size of the Highway. And of course you will then shoot them a sly smile through the rear View Mirror and Tell them they Are dead wrong. The Federal auditor general in his most recent report reviewed $1.1 billion in Federal Highway spending Between 1992 and 1997. Of that spending 28 per cent went to Newfoundland. New Brunswick also received 28 per cent. Nova Scotia got to per cent. Tiny . Had to make do with three per cent. Which is exactly How much Manitoba got for its pothole pocked roadways. Its also what Ottawa decided to spend in Saskatchewan. And in Alberta. And in a move that might Spur the separatist movement in British Columbia that province reaped All of 2.2 per cent. Speaking of separatism Ottawa gave Quebec $161 million More reasons to stay in confederation As la Belle province took 15 per cent of the Federal Highway spending. Ontario the biggest and the most populous province got just four per cent. Now the real Challenge in this car game the vexing question that should keep your kids occupied from Virden to Vulcan is Why Ottawa would tilt its Highway spending so heavily towards the maritime. Bev Desjarlais who As the nip my for Churchill has driven along some of the worst highways in Canada has her own theories of Why three Liberal provinces got 66 per cent of the Federal Highway dollars while All of Western Canada got Only 11.2 per cent. A there is a Clear pattern of favouritism toward provinces with Liberal governments a a Desjarlais said. A this is pork barrel politics at its transport minister David col Lenette denied that politics played any role noting that Many of the Long term commitments to Eastern provinces were made before the Chretien government came to Power. However Collenette did agree that lapses in funding for Western Canadian provinces needed to be addressed. A i think we have to look at the Lon term commitment for Highway funding that will Deal with Western Canadas concerns As Well As other provinces a Collenette said. But those Western canadians wondering whether Federal Highway Aid will save them from forking out for another front end alignment might want to consider what else Collenette said. A unfortunately what has happened in the last few years is that this government has been preoccupied with getting the books in order and dealing with the deficit a he said. A was a result we need new funding but not until the funds Are in the meantime make sure you put those figures from the auditor general in the Glove Box for your family a next bumpy car ride. And just in Case your kids grow tired of trying to solve the Riddle of Ottawa a Highway funding throw them this Bonus question How can Collenette say he does no to have the funds when the Federal government collects fuel taxes every time you filler up to the tune of $5 billion a year 20 times what it spends on highways Paul Samyn is the free press National reporter. His email address is . Y Selling Manitoba / continued from Page by a we just can to afford to outside of Manitoba a Clarke says. A if we try to buy to say in Chicago we re starting to look at a $1 million that would be a Quarter of what travel Manitoba has to spend on All its marketing in a year. Instead they rely on the Etc to show moving pictures of Canada to the rest of the world and Hope the Quick View of Manitoba footage catches someone a Eye. The internet is also beginning to play a role in reaching beyond the provincial boundaries Clarke said. The travel Manitoba site with links to a variety of events in the province had 32,224 hits in october. In november that jumped to 48,368. But while the province As a package makes for a Good Overall destination sell travel Manitoba Breaks it up to spoon feed would be visitors exactly what they want to hear. That Means pushing fishing and Hunting skiing and snowmobiling birding aboriginal tourism Churchill and the Polar bears and whales. Greenfield says bus tour operators want their whole Days Laid out for them so they know their passengers will be Busy. At the same time Manitoba travel has been showing wholesale tour buyers around the province a seven japanese buyers in 1998 led to 15 scheduled to come in 1999. Twenty travel agents from Germany were Here in september. A a we re realizing the reality Here that All the attractions in and around the City and province Are not in Competition with each other. We work together a said Judy Murphy executive director of the Folk arts Council. Fol Lorama alone brings in 200 buses a with 40 to 50 passengers each a during its two week run. And Manitoba lotteries has 600 buses a year rolling into their casinos with Hopes there will be 1,000 buses a year by 2000, spokeswoman Susan Olynik says. That kind of increased traffic a and hotel occupancy rates of 75 per cent a has led to Calls for two new hotels one near the Airport and one adjacent to club Regent. The other Strong Selling Point for t the province say those in the Indus try is the motto on our licence plates. We really Are Friendly Manitoba and few visitors go away with bad memories. A one thing that happens on every vacation a Large degree of Success depends on the service the friendliness of the people the attitude of people delivering the service the experience a Mcmillan said. A the friendliness of Manitoban consistently comes through when we do the marketing strategies a helped by a Low . Dollar a seem to be working. Four per cent More americans visited Manitoba so far this year than in 1997, traffic from Eastern Canada was up 3.6 per cent and visitors from Western Canada increased by fy7 per cent. Y Quebec chooses status quo victorious Bouchard soft pedals separatism Quebec voters returned Premier Lucien Bouchard and the parti quebecois to office monday with a comfortable majority Over Jean Charest a liberals. The pm finished the Day with 75 of the Quebec a National Assembly a 125 seats up one from their total at the beginning of the Campaign. The liberals have 48 seats and la action Democrat ique Leader Mario Dumont held on to his seat the party a Lone Victory. Bouchard a Victory speech was like his Campaign strategy a few references to Quebec separation. The clearest reference to separation in his Victory speech came in a message to Quebec a anglophone Community. A Over the past few weeks i have had the feeling that were it not for sovereignty a great number of English speaking Quebe cers would have supported our program and our candidates a he gun sounds on firearm Law opponents of the new National firearms registry fired away at the controversial legislation As it went into effect tuesday. Three million canadians have until 2001 to obtain firearms licences and 2003 to Register an estimated seven million guns with a National database under provisions in Bill c-68. While victims groups have lobbied for tighter gun controls Hunters say the registry infringes on their taxes for pros parents report the Federal government should provide tax Relief for everyone from millionaire owners of professional sports teams to parents of budding athletes a parliamentary report recommended thursday. Liberal my Dennis Mills the chairman of the subcommittee that wrote the report did no to deny that few like the idea of bailing out teams that Are paying their players Multi million Dollar salaries. But Mills said it would be wrong to simply turn a Blind Eye to the financial woes of Canadas nil teams.28 dead in Manila orphanage Blaze at least 28 people mostly children were killed when a fire Tore through the Catholic run Bahay Walinga orphanage in Manila thursday. Frantic children trapped behind Metal window grates screamed for help As the flames grew closer. A a in a afraid my playmates were burned a said Brian de Mesa 5, who survived along with his twin brother. A i saw their burned bodies. I done to want to go staff members said the fire spread so quickly that they did not have time to Rescue Many children. Investigators said faulty electrical wiring May have triggered the buys Mobil in big Oil takeover Exxon paid $77.2 billion us to buy Petroleum competitor Mobil on tuesday pulling off the richest corporate takeover in history. The new Exxon Mobil corp., surpasses Royal dutch Shell As the worlds largest Energy company and leaps past general motors to be the largest corporation in the world with $203 billion us in Revenue last year. Planned layoffs could affect Canadian workers. Imperial Oil ltd., a photo survivor of the Manila orphanage fire clutches a rooster he saved from the Blaze. 1991 Gulf War. An Ottawa based Veteran who acts As an advocate for Gulf War veterans said she a shocked that the Canadian forces Are going ahead with the court martial. A this Man is already ill. This will just make his family undergo so much More stress a said Louise Richard. Like Kipling Richard said she became sick after being vaccinated during the Gulf songs arrest saddens Murray mayor Glen Murray a former Foster son was charged thursday with breaking into a St. Vital Home and stabbing a Man in his bedroom. Michael James Curtis 25, was arrested in Osborne Village less than an hour after the Home invasion. That night Murray told 400 people who attended his fund raising dinner that it was a the most difficult Day in be had to face in my Murray and Curtis were the subjects of a 1992 National film Board documentary entitled a kind of family. The victim Don Beall underwent life saving surgery at health sciences Centre to repair damage caused by three Stab wounds. He was in serious condition on Friday. Curtis who is his positive has been charged with aggravated assault Possession of a prohibited weapon break enter and theft robbery and wearing a reeling Over pork prices Manitoba a hog Farmers Are losing More than $3 million a week and need to know by Christmas if a Federal bailout is in the works. Farmers Are losing about $60 per hog sold. Prices have fallen from 95 cents a Pound 18 months ago to 27 cents a Pound last week a the sharpest pork Price decline in history Manitoba pork president Gerry Friesen said thursday. Agriculture minister Lyle Vanclief has promised a disaster Relief program will be in place by Christmas. Frustrated hog Farmers also said that Consumers Are overpaying for pork. According to Manitoba pork retailers get 60 cents of every consumer Dollar spent on pork and meat processors Are getting 19 leads child poverty stats the social planning Council named Manitoba As the child poverty capital of Canada wednesday saying that one in four children in the province live below the poverty line. There Are 72,000 children living in poverty in Manitoba up 9,000 from 1995. Ken Gigliotti Winnipeg free press pm Leader Lucien Bouchard gets a hug from aide Bob Dufour. Which Exxon owns 69.9 per cent of has 7,000 employees while Mobil Canada has 950 employees. Court martial set for vaccine refusal sgt. Mike Kipling a Winnipeg based air Force Engineer who refused an anthrax vaccine last March during a troop buildup in the persian Gulf will face a court martial. Kipling a 27-year member of the Canadian armed forces was charged last March with a wilfully and without reasonable excuse disobeying a vaccination order under Section 126 of the National defence act. He refused to be vaccinated last year because he became sick after receiving the anthrax shot during the Kipling a family wife Francine son Russell and daughter Beverly will feel the stress of the court martial an expert says. Up photo ;