Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - December 10, 1998, Winnipeg, Manitoba It a it a free december 1536 Rian editorials tory troubles the abrupt retirement of Mian tary to the Treasury Board and formerly a powerful figure in the government of Premier Gary solves an awkward problem for the it also illustrates a weakness of mans the premiers office announced on 2 that the Premier had reprimanded Benson the previous week and banished him from Cabinet meetings and senior staff the Premier did this when he Learned through a roundabout route that Benson had helped tiaras the premiers chief of to repay into conservative party election funds a sum of secretly used in 1995 in Aid of supposedly inde pendent aboriginal Candi the Premier is disappointed in the judgment used by Hilmons spokesman told reporters on the Premier has basically lost Confidence in his yet the pre Mier kept Benson in the Post of Secretary to the Treasury preparing next Springs provincial last Filmon rejected the suggestion of Liberal Leader Jon Ger Rard that Benson should step me might take further Steps once the Monnin inquiry completed its which would be Early next in the Filmon Benson would stay at his the following Benson Filmon announced his departure the Manitoba Public was left to wonder what had changed from when Benson was to when he the announcement that Filmon had lost Confidence in Bensons judgment left the Treasury Board Secretary without authority in the govern he Clung to the title for a further five but he no longer wielded the Power that was formerly his physical presence was an embarrassment which is now since the election skullduggery scandal crystallized in Filmon has retreated slowly and reluctantly from one indefensible position to Aneth first the charges were groundless and there was to be no then elections Manitoba would repeat its own then former chief Justice Alfred Monnin would conduct an first no one would then Sokolyk then Benson was compromised but remained in now Benson has suddenly left four Days after the Premier said he was a firm Leader would decisively As soon As he found that his closest and most trusted colleagues in government were not worthy of the Trust he placed in he would have made Plain to the Cabinet and the leaders of the government that anyone involved in trying to sabotage an elec Tion could have no place in the conservative party or in the Filmon he would have removed the visibly Rotten Wood from his govern ment to prevent the rot from spreading and awaited the Monnin inquiry report before concluding the settlement terms for the people Filmon looked the other kept unworthy officials around him and blustered at his the entire performance suggested a Premier who was Drifting with the not in command of his own Filmon explained to the Monnin inquiry the Rea sons Why he Felt he should not question Sokolyk and Benson about their roles in the attempt to sabotage the 1995 the result of his Lack of information is that his boat Springs one leak after Filmon is bailing so hard he cannot with firm action Filmon could reassert his authority and win Back Public he would have to establish standards for integrity in government that ensure ministerial he would have to bring into his inner Circle Power Ful people of High he would have to recognize that his actions this summer and fall legitimately troubled Manitoban and Shook their Confidence in he would have to Stop Distant ing himself from the actions of senior officials in his government and Start taking his fair share of the responsibility for what has he would have to make a new Winnipeg free press free pm winning a tune 891 1b8q publisher Nicholas Hirst Brian que editorial Page editor directors Harry circulation sales and Mark Ting Curie advertising Perry Nixdorf technology Glenn Wuu ams finance and administration have mercy on the River the aboriginal name Assiniboine Means those who Cook by placing hot stones in that How the natives boiled their the Assiniboine River rising in Southeastern Saskatchewan Jour Neys for in its path across Manitoba it is joined by the Quappelle and Souris Rivers until it meets the red River at the a controversy is boiling today on the amount of phosphorus to be poured into the Assiniboine River by the Maple Leaf hog processing Plant at environment Canada has been critical of the fact that the waste treatment facility is not being designed to remove phosphorus is generated in the waste from the hog it encourages the growth of Blue Green which consumes oxygen when it this produces an unpleasant odour and taste in the As Well As the potential of being harmful to live Stock and Barry regional Man Ager for environmental Protection of environment says that from his perspective the Lack of phosphorus removal Doest make any it Doest make sense Especial Val Werier by since the present Levels of phosphorus in the Assiniboine exceed provincial guidelines 85 per cent of the time in the stretch from Brandon to Portage la astonishing in this whole Sce Nario is that the provincial government would approve a licence for the waste treatment facility that May Emit so much More phosphorous when the guidelines Are already being the answer from the govern ment is that the system to remove phosphorous May still be included in the the government is being top careless in protecting the Assini Boine it should insist on no pollution and that the liquid waste from the treatment Plant should be of no lower Standard than the water it has withdrawn from the environment a Feder Al is involved in the Issue because it is concerned about the Impact of Marine the fact is that we Are doing a poor Job of looking after the Assiniboine there is not enough Baseline data on the both provincial and Federal governments have Cut Down on monitoring water hog farms Are being built Over an important underground water Supply the Assiniboine Delta there has been no examination of the cumulative Impact of hog operations in the As for the Maple Leaf environmentalists Are concerned that the liquid waste released in Winter would be 15 degrees warmer than the Assiniboine and could effect Marine life Down users of Assiniboine water municipalities and including irrigation of farms get the water they pay a licence fee to withdraw a certain amount of water but there is no monitoring of the amount with Back in 1995 the Assini Boine River management advisory Board stated no Long term sustainable use strategy is currently in place to Monitor and govern the Alloca Tion of a healthy River would demand these says the Board a reasonable maintenance of water Quality and a Buffer zone along the Banks of the a Buffer zone with native plantings would absorb the pollutants leaching off the land and prevent cattle from using the River As an it would Cost Money but it would be worthwhile and most effective in protecting the it would beautify the River and provide habitat for the Assiniboine River is vital to the health of Southern Manito it flows through the most populated and industrialized part of the province terminating in the cites famous it is described As cutting a wide Scenic Valley through the Mani Toba escarpment and draining a Broad Fertile Plain of Canadas prime wheat growing yet the water rights act of which deals with priority users of Doest men Tion the integrity of the there is nothing for the welfare of the River in the Val Werier is a Winnipeg his column appears on the madness of press Barons to 9 it Mif vol i a former a vet eran of Many years in the newspaper once remarked to me that he had never met a newspaper owner who was not at least slightly i cant speak to the truth of that assertion because i have not met Many newspaper Ken on one of his rare vis its to the Winnipeg free once sort of vaguely nodded at but it was such a cursory nod that i have been unable to deduce a psychological profile from it although i of trea sure the one thinks of William Dolph who started wars and built demented As is often the when one thinks of a Fine madness ones thoughts turn to England where there is no shortage of candidates who can be offered up in support of this England had lord a Canadian of eccentric lord Rother and Alfred who became the owner of the times and who in Bis later Days kept 8 revolver under his Pillow that he to shoot at his doctor when the unfortunate physician came by to Check on the ownership of the times later passed to another Canad lord Thomson of whose mild most Tom Oleson electromagnetic impulses or some such thing apparent cause an otherwise dead body to twitch once or a phenomenon put to Good use in Hor ror movies when our heroine is embraced by a but this Corpse is not just twitching it is up and walking around and thrashing wildly All the activity Points to definite signs of it is intelligent life May depend on your Point of View but it is definitely alive and kind of Franken steins journalists go to bed at night thinking they work for one slightly mad owner and Wake up in the morning to find they Are work ing for years of studious Apple polishing gone in a Light Ning corporate newspapers Are hot properties these Conrad has been likened to even to northcliffe by those less admiring of him than i am i need a Job when i Wake up each been buying de Nave teen occasionally but if newspaper owners tend towards some alight it is hardly it Bas ten a difficult Lent in the newspaper Busi is sir this is 8 situation All the More Ren Tawe by the feel am y its own up everything in recently he launched a new National fondly referred to by some As the daily but More properly called the National Post which publishes the Toronto the nations largest news recently tried to take Over Sun which publishes the hugely successful suns in Toron Calgary and Edmonton and owns a Passle of other papers As to Star now appears to have been outflanked by que which among other be journal de Montreal and the Winnipeg and seems to have a lock on the Sun Media that is a lot of activity for an Industry that is supposed to if not already then at least the Dinosaur of the Mun cations perhaps that Why newspaper owners have to be slightly mad to be successful there is always lots of fuss and bother when pers change even people who think newspapers Are dead retain a healthy respect for their ability to influence and concentration of ownership May be a legitimate but at the end of the we have a More competitive newspaper Industry in tip ten years the Best that one might have predicted for Winnipeg was that it might have today two competing it in two ing local dailies and two National dailies that Are going at each other Hammer and tooth and Nail and with All the other Elishes we journalists so like to in this readers Are a Tennis if s been a Long time since newspaper readers have bad it goes and for we can perhaps at pm i sob is s pm Ftp eur Toriaz his Plum Eppars m ;