Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - September 21, 1999, Winnipeg, Manitoba A12 Winnipeg free september 1999 editorials Freedom of Trade Liberty of religion Equality of civil rights aussies up front the arrival of the first peacekeepers in East timor was met with Little the Vio Lence that had beset the province since the Independence referendum earlier this month dissipated As heavily armed new British and French soldiers arrived in the capital City of the pro indonesian militias that had attempted to thwart East timers bid for Independence in an orgy of bloodshed and destruction had and the indonesian which had abet Ted was suddenly handing out emergency food supplies to the few East Tim Orese still left alive in the that Tranquillity May be this May be the Dawn of a new Day in East but it May also be a Dawn that is slow in the International led by Australia under a in May soon find itself in heavy it is to be joined by Small contingents from other including 600 and will face the continued opposition of the militias As Well As a growing nationalist resentment in other parts of the rapid deployment of the International Force May also Herald another Dawn that has been a Long time coming to Southeast Asia and the end of the cold War and the coinciding distaste of America for foreign military commitments has left a vacuum in the Australia Quick reaction to the East timor crisis however motivated it have been by its own strategic and economic inter ests is a hopeful sign that it is now ready to step Forward and take its place As a major player in South asian to serve As a counterbalance to the Only other regional Power that can fill the China is the Only other regional military Japan could play a much larger role than it does if it could come to grips with its wartime East timor offers it that As Germany took its first postwar military Steps internationally under the umbrella of nato in the so Japan could test itself by contributing to the East timor Force under a United nations the defence debate in Japan is still Howe Tokyo is unlikely to Send soldiers to East although it May offer some More contributions from other asian nations to the peacekeeping Force would be Welcome and would help not Only to Calm indonesian fears of Western coercion but also to protect vital shipping in the it is the australians who have taken the Lead in attempting to restore peace and order to the it is a precedent that every nation that has a stake in asian Security including Canada should encourage them to Fol Road to hell the Road to according to one school of is lined with Cigar ets and whiskey and wild a slightly variant version of this More politically Correct because it is has it that it in Cigar ets and Beer and gambling that constitute a one Way ticket to the fiery whatever the truth of the the common denominator in these theological differences is Cigar or cigarettes As we More commonly Call them and modern society seems to enacting All sorts of coercive and punitive measures designed to save our souls by forcing us to quit Beer and gambling and even wild if they have signed consent forms still Bear the Seal of government the churches take a slightly different tack but Are United in their disapproval of smoking on Earth at the Catholic Church announced that sinners could earn indulgences that would give them time off from Purgatory a Between heaven and hell by giving up smoking or even just foregoing the occasional this May conjure up images of the Sale of indulgences in the Middle Ages that led to the protestant with the notorious Monk Johan Tetzel employing history first advertising Jingle As soon As a Coin in the coffer the soul from Purgatory to milk Money from the but it is not quite the same indulgences Are earned by Good works rather than protestants and catholics May still disagree about but it is difficult to Dis Pute that i makes one hell of an incentive to quit Winnipeg free press Winnipeg free press est 1872 Winnipeg Tribune est 1890 Rudy Redekop publisher email Rudy Redekop Ca Nicholas editor directors Harry Brown circulation sales and marketing Donald Dufort human resources Laurie advertising Perry Nixdorf technology Glenn Williams finance and operations 1999 Winnipeg free a division of newspapers division of Thomson Canada limited published seven Days a week at 1355 Mountain Manitoba r2x pm 6977000 a member of the Manitoba press Council Vul w 110 Isi spliced genes for supper it May not have cropped up during the provincial election but the debate Over genetically altered foods int Likely to stay underground much Ever since Manitoba first genetically modified crops were harvested in the provincial government has kept its political neck Well away from the Swath of the Filmon governments line has simply been that agriculture is a Federal Juris a response repeated by outgoing Deputy Premier Jim Downey last week in this a cautionary View is taking Root with a recent poll found that 92 per cent of Manitoban believe pm food should be Little since the Federal government approved soy and canola seed that has been genetically altered by biotech companies usually to withstand spraying of the companies herbicides without requiring any Lon term environmental or health testing Manitoban Arent the Only ones who Are the Cana Dian environmental Law association fears that Bio engineered organisms May cause damage to other that genetic information May be transferred Between a genetically engineered organism and a related species and that natural systems Penni Mitchell May be the global seeds of discontent cropped up again last week at Bio safety talks in where Canada argued that countries should not have the right to pro Hibit genetically altered Canada has taken one of the most anti Environ mental positions of All the coun tries says Greenpeace campaigner Michael while Canadas rigid View was ostensibly served up to protect economic pm food is leaving a bad taste in the Mouths of some of our trading in japans ministry of Agri forestry and fisheries announced that it plans to Label genetically modified food and food containing traces of Modi fied foods to provide Consumers with a greater canola imports May not be affected in the Short term because the technology to detect altered proteins int advanced enough to detect All modified genes however european countries have already stopped buying our 40 per cent of which is grown from pm Labelling pm food has been suggested As a however segregating crops could pose hardships on Farmers and on Canadas Grain transportation so pm canola is get Ting mixed results in Manitoba some Farmers report that pm seed varieties perform Well under some while oth ers obtain better results with natural a recent Arti Cle in the new scientist suggests that the added costs to segregate pm products would be borne by the biotech others Arent so saying Labelling is no solution if biodiversity or human health Are at maybe we should find at the Behest of eur countries at a june meet ing in g8 countries decided to ask the Recd to study the effects of consuming but not growing pm in the the european Union raised its threshold on pm organisms and in effect placing a moratorium on pm a Silver lining in the Cloud hanging Over biotechnology is that Europe is seeing a 20 per cent annual increase in organic food As food grocery stores and even restaurants Are demanding locally grown food Unladen with altered hormones or the Chretien government first it ignored a parliamentary committee on sustain Able development recommendation that environment Canada strictly Monitor the biotech then it tried to slip the equivalent of a legislative Gene for capitalism into the precautionary principle in its revamped environmental Protection the proposed before the states that government must weigh economic As Well As environmental factors when deciding environmental senators trying to scuttle the Bill say it is inadequate to Deal with biotechnology even Liberal senators agree it is last a United nations report declared that the biggest contributing Factor to the global environmental crisis is a Lack of political it is ironic that some of the strongest political leadership on the environment has taken Root in the where political allegiances Are at times shelved to protect Public theres plenty the province should be doing to protect farm ers and Penni Mitchell is coordinating editor of horizons her column appears on voters can confound the polls time to the Vot h ers of Saskatchewan con found the pundits and the pollsters and turn upon political leaders who have been basking in the glow of National they did it again in last weeks provincial leaving their Roy and his nip government clinging to Power with a minority of seats in the provincial outside of his own Romanow was just about everybody Favourite Saskatchewan he led an Hon est and generally capable he displayed a moderate degree of fiscal Pru on the National he was forever playing a prominent role in efforts to Reform confederation and preserve Canadian compared to what had gone on before with Premier Grant Devines Brand of Romanow looked like a Premier the people of Saskatchewan could be proud Public opinion polls seemed to Bear out that they appeared to predict an easy win for the new democrats Over the ragtag Saskatchewan party which had been cobbled together from the remnants of the disgraced conservatives and some members of the disappearing Liberal the Assumption of an easy nip win was so profound on All sides that even after the real result had become the Csc news continued reporting As if Romanow was Tia Fely re elected with a majority of Romanow was not the first notable nip Premier of Saskatchewan to get that sort of treatment from his Allan Romanowsk men Tor and predecessor As Leader of the Saskatchewan nip enjoyed an even greater National esteem than does present John Dafoe Premier for 11 he was widely admired both within and outside the after 11 the voters had had they kicked out the Blakeney govern ment and voted in Grant Devines to the subsequent regret of the Knock against Blakeney was that he had begun to concern himself too much with efficient administration and National issues and was paying too Little attention to grassroots that same complaint appears to have led to Saskatchewan Premier Roy Romanow lost his majority despite favourable opinion Romanowsk near even before Roy Romanow and Allan voters in Saskatchewan once rejected another nip Saint Tommy Douglas had been Premier of the province for 17 years when he quit to become Leader of the newly created nip and contested a Regina seat in the 1962 general i Cov ered some of that election Campaign in Saskatchewan and i can still remember the gloom that pervaded the Campaign rooms As the voting Day they knew that Douglas was going to it was a Surprise then to read the Toronto press and find stories and columns written by members of the parliamentary press who had flown Over in the Campaign declaring that Tommy Douglas was a surefire All of which goes to once that it is not Wise to place too much Faith in opinion polls and that it is Wise to remember the old adage that All politics is Preston Manning sees the Saskatchewan result As proof that a unified righting such As the United alternative he is promoting at the could March to Victory in the next he May be right if it is True that All politics is he will have a hard time replicating the local conditions that Lead to last thursdays result in sask at the Saskatchewan party stepped into the huge political vacuum that was created by the implosion of the scandal Ridden Saskatchewan there is no such vacuum on the Federal scene and the party National Joe will be working to make sure there never John Dafoe is a former editorial Page editor of the free his column appears on ;