Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - December 12, 1998, Winnipeg, Manitoba A18 me beesmijsr1 editorials Iff time to Ante up Chretien governments million Aid Elffer for hog and Grain Farmers is Swift and it is now up to the Tilmon govern ment to Ante up its share of the Federal agriculture minister Lyle Vanclief said thursday Ottawa would provide million Over two years for the provinces Are expected to provide an additional 40 per cent of the billion total the Speed of the Chretien governments action seems to have caught some off Manitoba agriculture minister Harry for complained that he commit to picking up its share of the program because he want involved in its ment Enns has a but it is a very Small the minister was one of several provincial culture ministers who attended an emergency meeting on the farm income crunch just Over one month at the they wanted Ottawa to play the Lead role in helping Farmers whose incomes have dropped by Between so and 70 per cent in some Vanclief did just telling ministers that any National program would be have to be Cost shared and that the provinces would have to pick up 40 per cent of the a few weeks the Feder Al Money is on the it is True that things would have been nicer if the provinces were involved in drafting the plan that went to the Federal Cabinet this it is also True that important details still must be worked out to ensure the program is these Are hardly Worth griping Enns can complain about not being involved in developing the detail of the but this much he knows a number of Manitoba Farmers have borrowed heavily to move into hog production Over the last few partly at the Behest of the Filmon government Manitoba Farmers Are among those with the most to gain from any Relief program the support payments will be designed to protect Farmers against catastrophic drops in income while still respecting Market forces Over the longer term and Money will be targeted to those who Are most in Ottawa has Given Enns a Chance to use 40cent dollars to help Farmers get through a very difficult he should jump at the caught in a lie one of the fattest unions in the Mani Toba government employees also is becoming the most an organization As out of touch with reality As it is with its in recent it has taken to pleading poverty on behalf of government ironically by spending gobs of Money on Wease worded and campaigns that purport High principle but which really Are Low politics that discredit civil servants and insult the intelligence of everyone the Union got caught running ads attack ing the Filmon government in the name of four social service but without the knowledge or agreement of the it apologized by Way of an and in this but it didst really fess it for say that the so called coalition for responsible liquor Laws is not a coalition at but rather is an me created and financed fiction cobbled together to give credence to ads attacking private wine stores that the Union fears Are a threat to Well paid Ngeu workers in government liquor it also didst say that it has no idea whether the province will lose a dime As a result of creating More of the stores to meet a Clear demand for them throughout it left in place a Wease worded suggestion that million in Rev Enue from liquor used for schools arid hospitals but for Ngeu pay and at risk if its collected at private the wine store Are no worse than the misleading radio spots the Union is underwriting to attack food services at City the ads Pur port a concern about patient but what they really address Are Ngeu concerns that once Start up problems with centralized food services Are ironed they might be extended to nursing Homes where the Ngeu collects dues from Kitchen that the Ngeu is out of touch with reality is Clear when it attacks wine stores that most Manitoban either want or approve certainly it is in Lala land if it thinks its members will continue to enjoy the respect of All Manitoban when it chooses to portray the civil service As a partisan Union shop intent on milking Public for any advantage it can that the Ngeu is out of touch with its members has been Clear for two Ever since it called a strike vote Only to have it rejected by the rank and understands the Gravy train Long ago left the except perhaps at Ngeu Winnipeg free press publisher night is Hirst ecu to Brian Cole editorial Page editor directors Harry Brown sales and marketing advertising Perby Nixdorf tech Plom Glenn Williams finance and administration open letter to Filmon d ear several times you must have been less than pleased with what we have written about you and your if i were Leader of the government i should not like to have newspapers hit my Doorstep with head lines like scandal claims another nor can it be pleasant to read editorials like the one on thursday that said your handling of the vote rigging allegations being investigated by the Mon Nin inquiry illustrates a weak Ness of your on the this newspaper has been supportive of your gov we have criticized your response to compensation for flood we have not thought that your implementation of healthcare or of the move to centralized Hospital have been effected As Well As they might have we have criticized your governments accounting policies and the finance departments decision to pay Down debt More quickly than we believed you but we have generally sup ported from time to have praised your conduct of the you have brought Fis Cal prudence to your careful nurturing of Indus try has produced whatever the Nicholas Hirst nip might argue increased out put and More Manitoba is As Well placed to expand and to attract new people to the province As it has been in its glory Days at the turn of the Cen Are in your third the longest serving pre Mier in the country its senior provincial in Small we have Dis agreed with there Are poli cies we would like you to adopt which you have we would like you to express More of a con Crete plan for the future than you for a paper that openly espouses Liberal which has tended to support lib eral governments we have been less than grudging in our Overall support for the progressive conservative administration in for your have been proud of a scandal free we have complained about your Justice ministers dealings with appointments to the but that was nothing to set up an inquiry what i do not understand is Why you Are allowing the vote rigging scandal to gradually eat away at that we said in the thursday Edito rial with firm action Filmon could reassert his author Ity and win Back Public conf you May feel you have not lost Public i would Sug Gest that you Are in danger of doing two of your closest aides have now because of their different involvements in a plan for your party to support native candidates in the 1995 election in an Effort to Siphon votes from the nip and allow your candidates to slip through the it you and i know that it should never have been you have said that you will speak after the inquiry is on1 the face of that is a reasonable position to a pre Mier should not prejudge an inquiry he has set for you to hold your counsel until then May damage both yourself and your you Are not accused of the but you Are the politician ultimately responsible for the actions of your civil you Are the politician accountable for the standards of behaviour that the electorate should Why do you not apologize for the wrongdoing of your and underline the standards you expect neither would the Mohning but both would show that you realize it is not just your stewardship of the office of Premier that is under but the off ice i think both of us would agree that there is too much cynicism on the part of the Public about their that cynicism is fuelled when politicians appear to distance themselves from their you May be doing just you have decided the legislature does not need to sit this thereby removing yourself from daily questions and you have not accepted responsibility for others did in the name of your party and against your by not accepting that responsibility you Are making this scandal worse than it need be and hurting the business of the Good judgment you have shown in government generally must Tell you this is not the Best Way to you Are under extreme pressure to speak it would not be weakness to do Nicholas Nicholas Hirst is editor of free his column appears on Manitoba Homegrown Boom every time you turn around it seems there is another statistic showing that Manitoba Economy is out performing those of other earlier this for exam Manitoba recorded the Low est unemployment rate in the land at per there were people working in Mani Toba in the month of the highest number in the provinces the tight Job Market has forced up wages in this province faster than any other according to statistics the average weekly wage in tember was up per cent from a year and four times higher than the National average of per the mar Ket is working As it steady Job creation and rising wages that the Story of the Manitoba Economy As we head into the new not Surpris government officials Are extremely bullish about the provinces quantifying future the acid test for Manitoba Economy is whether it can Gen Erate enough opportunities to staunch the outflow of residents to other parts of the Downey is so confident about Manitoba economic potential that he believes that test will be met by As Early As the year for the this province Hast experienced a net inflow of people excluding International migration since the Early and Only then because recession in Alberta forced Many native Manitoban to return if Downey is Correct in his it would mean that this City will experience Persis tent growth for the first time in recent it is the kind of growth that has the potential to change the nature of the City and the Way it is perceived across the Downey is Quick to credit the growth of the last few years to the provinces renewed entrepreneurship and the ability of business to take advantage of the opportunities afforded by Chang ing trading but the tories have also played an important they of balanced the books and created a competitive tax they have sparked the creation of new capital pools that Are crucial to economic develop More Industry department is also putting More time and Energy into finding new ways to draw on the cites economic diversity As a Means of producing new products and not too Long the economic development strategy revolved around the idea of attracting larger the Industry department and gov Enmen funded such As economic development win Are More interested in developing local Klaus chief executive officer of said recently that his organization now spends about 20 per cent of its time attracting outside the vast major Ity of the Agency resources Are devoted to helping local business take advantage of opportunities Iza Tion has helped unleash the economic potential of Winnipeg and Manitoba economic exports to the United states Lave jumped from about Bil Ian to atut billion m the last Ive As of two years Manitoba Begarif exporting More Joo Sand services toothed noun Ries thaw it did to other part sol Canada believes that even with dra Matic growth that has occurred just begun to scratch the surf Ace optimistic Cut meats Ute that a Kubister Ixia not Zatae a wet is an important element q that strategy is the concept of import the identification of imported goods could be produced Here by drawing on the existing expertise in related product Downey says the diversity of Winnipeg Economy Means that there is no end of new goods and services that can be devel oped Here simply by drawing on existing resources and As a the Industry ment is working on a number of fronts to stimulate awareness of the kinds of products that Are being imported under the right could be made for the department of reverse Trade whereby Large Sueh As hew ducts they import to b the ides to give Hiiri Nafis Nanna a Nunu Watn ;