Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - May 21, 2000, Winnipeg, Manitoba B2 Magazine Winnipeg free May 2000 summer vote Good Chance for Manning to get Crown Ottawa this is a weekend for kicking Back and taking it it Doest matter that the Calendar clearly states summer Doest officially begin until june the season that is All too Short has arrived along with its crazy cottages Are now Golf courses Are in full the Beer is the weather and politics is about As far away from our minds As Block Heaters unless you Are a member of the Canadian while the rest of the nation reaches for the those formerly known As Reform will be heading to the ballot Box not once but twice this the first Chance they get to Mark an x for the Leader of her majesty Loyal opposition will be june the first weekend during which most of the schools Are out for the in yet another move seemingly designed to discourage voter the Likely second ballot conies july 8 when the family car vacations Are already Well into their Caa so Why should we care that the alliances voting turnout May be a big belly Flop because those dates May go a Long Way to helping Preston Manning win the top first some background this is not your traditional leadership race with a big splashy convention and a Stampede of whats going on is essentially a huge membership each member gets one if no one gets More than so per cent of the vote on the june 24 the top two finishers go to the second ballot on july most memberships All of which in theory at that the candidate who Sells the most memberships before the june 17 cutoff Date should win the so we now have the spectacle of a populist party ready to turn Over its Crown to whoever has the deepest pockets and Best Salesman this is less a Battle of ideas and More one of sophisticated telemark databases and the latest in Campaign technology and for Tom the common sense revolutionary with Bay streets has reportedly hired telemarketers to Blitz canadians by phone in his bid to sell member ship per Longs target is to have sold memberships before he gets to Calgary for the first prior to this race getting under there were about members of the Alliance inherited from its Reform precursor the it is fair to who would be Manning Back so now let us fast Forward to that last weekend in june when this membership drive comes to a no matter How Many membership Stockwell Day or Keith Martin manage to give away the Only thing that matters is How Many actually bother to and if past exercises involving one one vote Are any far less vote than Are actually in the 1998 tory leadership vote that gave us Joe Clark Only 53 per cent showed up for the first ballot and 40 per cent for the second two weeks now Bear in this vote happened in late october and Early november when a run to the polling station would have been an Ideal excuse to skip out on raking a More recent and perhaps Apt exam ple is the vote in March that approved the Canadian the turnout was 66 per cent a figure aided in Large part by the fact it was a Mailin but this vote will not be As easy As Licking an envelope and dropping it in the this one actually requires Alliance members to find the polling station in their the question that should worry Long is How Many of his new Alliance con verts most from Ontario Are committed enough to vote when the cottage up in Muskoka that Mike Harris tax cuts helped pay for will they be willing to give up their Gin and tonics on the deck for Long Day should have less of a Chance of being burned by poor voter turnout As More of the Alberta treasurers support ers were already diehard i but the one Best suited for a summer vote is this is the Guy who not Only dreamed up the idea of the Canadian but also determined when the votes will be chances Are the original rednecks who have always backed Manning and let him get his Way have already marked the voting Days on the Calen Dar As the highlight of their the Only Bug in the ointment is the Calgary it begins july the Day before the new Alliance Leader is lets Hope the Chuck Wagon races dont distract Paul Samyn is the free press National his email address is Ca Blairs baby arrives is tabloids by Bert London while Hes unwilling to Knock off a few weeks to be a full time British prime minister Tony Blair is expected to Bend his schedule to serve the needs of his new Blairs hard driving attorney wife Cherie gave birth to the couples fourth Early yesterday morn it is the first birth to a sitting prime minister in 150 in addition to its being a novel Advent because of the stature of Leos mom and the birth and pregnancy also have been watched closely because of his parents Ages Blair is and his wife is Cherie Blairs much chronicled pregnancy went without a and the birth was natural and it was the first delivery that the prime minister attended in per talking to reporters in Downing Street yesterday the Blue Jean Clad prime minister was obviously moved by the it was the first time Ive seen the whole thing and it was quite a said Blair after a night that had provided him Little time for i feel like any father who sees their baby it is a very moving he Hes a gorgeous Little Leo was born four Days ahead of schedule at British time Eastern time and weighed 6 pounds 12 in a bit of revenge for Cherie who has vote to by Kevin Ward London its one of those questions with an answer that spans the what is British its the legend of King Lancelot and the knights of the found the ancient big and rolling its standing in often in an annoying waiting for the next Lazy afternoons watching Crick a love for Fried Over boiled vegetables and warm it that the old prime minister Tony Blair and conservative Leader William Hague have locked themselves in a Prelec Tion Battle to redefine the National too familiar a British identity crisis canadians can be excused if this All sounds a Little too Blairs decision to create new parliaments in Wales and Scotland and to a lesser extent Northern Ireland is at the heart of the debate to define the new Colin a history professor at the University of says Blairs modernization of How Britain is governed has launched the United kingdom on an unknown some Canadian federalists look at the situation Over Here and they does Blair knows what he was doing Hes just opening up the que Bec can of Coates i just dont think we can Tell whats going to been displayed in her heavily preg Nant glory without mercy by British the birth came too late for the papers to indulge in their usual headline slipping past reporters staked out overnight at the the Blairs returned to their Downing Street apartment immediately after the the first glimpse of the new baby is not expected until next for britons have been Debat ing whether Blair would follow the leanings of his wife and labour which support paternal or the dictates of his renowned Workaholic diapers who has said he expects to change his share of has ruled out taking a full instead he said he will adopt a vacation work i obviously will try to do As much As possible to Cut Down in that period what in Blair said in a recent but i still have to run the that still has to go bookmakers had been taking bets on what the child might be with Leo installed As 21 Teddy and Rupert were offered at the baby was named after Blairs the Blairs other Are sons 16 and and daughter the couple has worked with Success to keep them out of the Cherie Blair informed her husband of her condition in on the eve of a major party it was not a moment to Blair recalled a few weeks i think i said youre joking and she in i you the usual questions and i did get round to saying above beams after his wife gave birth to their fourth Flowers arrive at 10 Downing Street left to acknowledge the first birth in Iso years for a sitting British that but that was after a few Cox news service England lost identity ambivalence in the if Ndon As politicians debate just i Scotland and Wales May have their of but lne Buri Wib que but More United kingdom and their How they Felt about the possibility of 44 per cent of Liliose English people surveyed they would be unhappy if Scotland and Nineteen per cent said they would be Happy arid 35 per cent we rent both i i Ali Era asked on the of Georges Day on what Date the English celebrated their Patron just 18 per knew it was apr i Pef cent dig How that Georges Flag is ared Cross on a White the other j3 percent described scottish saltire or the Welsh dragon Flag of it was a year ago that scots voted for members of their new 129seat giving Scotland control Over Many of its own affairs for the first time since faced with a general election next Blair and Hague have begun to define the Broad strokes of their plat that meant soul searching Over Britain place in the Blair has wrapped himself in the Union portraying himself As the Man to continue leading a flexible Britain that embraces change to its it necessarily want their own As Well and were quite Happy to be represent by the British Gallup said 40 per cent thought there should be an English but 55 per cent didst think such a National Assembly is i when the polling organization asked to name who was English on a list of 10 famous almost everyone thought Tony Blair was he was born in i american actress Gwyneth who spoke with a flawless English accent in Shakespeare in love and sliding was picked As being English by 21 per cent of those sur another 30 per cent we rent press most fundamental Hague has taken Refuge under the red Cross of the Symbol on England tory support is heavily based in he is proposing that Only English maps should be allowed to vote on Laws affecting the contest for the patriotic vote will be fought on the Powers Given to Scotland and and on Britain place within the european including whether the euro should replace the How can you be a party of Britain when everything you Are doing is creating the United states of Hague said after Blair recently Laid out his vision of the new labour maps accuse Hague of fan Ning the flames of English National English patriotism has historically been uneasily sir Winston Churchill once said there is a for nay almost forbidden which Means More to me than any that word is constitutional changes there can be no argument that Blair has brought astonishing constitutional change to besides creating parliaments in Scotland and he has abolished the 751 peerages in the House of Blair has ridiculed his critics As being out of one of the distinguishing characteristics of the British was their willingness to adapt institutions to changing he told newspaper editors in with devolution of Power to Scot land and Coates has noticed a Subtle Rise in English the English Are starting to identify themselves As English instead of British a Little bit says who teaches in the schools Centre of Canadian i dont want to exaggerate its not but it is coming Canadian press letters continued from Page b1 when his brother was murdered he left a twin boy and Kamara tried for years to bring them sending Back Home from each his Niece and Nephew now live with Kamara in but eight months he discovered the twins older believed was now he sends Money overseas so a Friend May care for the Kamara wants to bring her Dolin said since the refugees have no special status they must get most successful sponsorships Are Nomi Nal a Church or social organization sponsors an individual or but Usu ally a relative on this Side can care for the family when they get who sponsors refugees and places them in Johns anglican cathedrals hospitality said decisions on who gets to leave Are made by Over seas Canadian immigration the process is even deadly one of the men i the rebels went into the Camp and shot she Kartara is working Marks anglican Church to bring Back his oldest but he has heard nothing from immigration Doest have to do any ill buy the she wont be on he said the 300strong Sierra leonean Community Here is frustrated by Canad an inaction and the Lack of worldwide the Western world does not value african lives with the same value As european he Kamara hesitates to Label Canadas policy too Many people Here have shown nothing toward him but he says were nicer than my african Gleason said she can Only do so she has stopped sponsoring families because she is expecting the arrival of families she already has hospitality House is full and she has some families in Gleason cant afford to do any Tamba Yam Basu May never see perhaps his country will find peace and he will return to perhaps hell Settle Down in another 7 am at present looking Forward to resettling in another country where i will not see gun toting men or women in military uniform whose sight does not Only terrify me but also renew my traumatic coups continued from Page b1 Khadijatu left my Home country because i am being personally targeted for death vendetta by both the rebels and the government because of my late husband was a Junta i cannot return Back to Sierra Leone became of the suffering and destruction the Junta which my husband was a member has to caused to some people also the government of today is looking Forward to the arrest of All or the elimination of sup porters and collaborators of the Junta a and Mother of now Wert Julg As a cleaning lady in my who was coerced to fetch water in order to Coo Fth rebels food was shot and beheaded in my pres while my dear Mother was subsequently raped to death after finishing preparing their meal on the verge of escaping with my wife and three the children or Gium in the Safin a social sciences graduate living with his wife and surviving ;