Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - May 28, 2000, Winnipeg, Manitoba B4 is Winnipeg free May 2000 Freedom of Tradd Liberty of religion Equality of civil rights editorial a Man of great accomplishment Gary Albert Filmon was Premier of Manitoba for More than 11 were you this rhetorical question is not posed to imply that Filmon was somehow better than the other million Mani to bans he was three times elected to govern at the end of the last millennia it is posed simply As a reminder that Filmon is a Man of great something that can be underappreciated As a result of Long it also is posed to under score the fact at the end of his political there is nothing to be made of Filmon other than what he made of there has never been much separa Tion Between Hilmons who and his who he is explains what he and that link explains what he especially about individual initiative and his conviction always seemed to be that his personal path to Success could be should be anyone unfettered and everyone he had As he made Clear in an emotional speech to announce his retirement after More than 16 years As Leader of the progressive conservative party in Manitoba last and the Bonds of Trust and loyalty that Are forged by were key to his so of course he believed in friends and perhaps too his Faith in friends and loyalty to them some times seemed to Divide his world into them and and certainly during the vote rigging scandal it produced the Only stain on his 25 year record of pub Lic he believed in family and by any measure that belief has been richly so of course his values were family of course he promoted those values As Universal values and of course he was fiercely protective of perhaps too the pub Lic generally has not been much aware of the private had Filmon been less had he been More open about his modest polish Ukrain Ian roots in the North Manitoban who saw him Only As representing Tuxedo might have found him to be More like knowing where someone got to often is less inspirational than knowing where they got there on Filmon described himself As one Little Guy from the North that has always been but not always which is Nei ther Good nor but it is perhaps the Little Guy actually understood Little Guys and he under stood what they can accomplish and what they might fear in so of course Filmon saw that reducing Reliance on welfare and other social supports was preferable to improving benefits that might dilute and when he acted arguing that the Best form of welfare was a As his own experience some thought he did not care for Little others saw that As the emphasis was placed on jobs rather than employment grew and welfare not simply the Cost of welfare he went from Jock Star to frat boy to he had the mind for Engi Neering and that discipline of mind never he was always More pragmatic than he was always More of a builder than a dream so of course he was always impressed by of course he always encouraged builders and of course he always railed against any thing from climate to Trade Regula no matter How Well intentioned that impeded Filmon saved a failing business and with it his reputation and the jobs of people he so of course he prize the private and of course he saw that burdening it with tax loads to support a Public sector Only threat ened the both Large and he succeeded on hard work and he obviously saw what happened in Ukraine and Poland after the second world War when hard work was no longer rewarded and when the state was made More important than the Indi so of course he was fiercely partisan and perhaps too of the All of these these characteristics and Many More not examined produced a Premier who Over a decade pursued a vision with convict and a lot More tolerance and com Promise than he was often credited after More than a decade of predictable Manitoba fiscal House is in there is growing some of which can be harnessed to make improvements in the Quality of life generally and without the need to hold some people Back in order for others to get who began his political career saying that he was never inter ested in pursuing Greener pastures out Side of but rather wanted to make them Greener has accomplished his and True to that vision he has declined offers to leave the province he so clearly he said in his speech on wednesday i honestly believe that my colleagues and i did the Best that we could with the knowledge and resources at our disposal and in Happy to let history pass judgement on the he should choosing peace or War after Lebanon i thought of said general Antoine commander of the Israel controlled South lebanese last but i am staying there no matter How bad it just like you jews at we will fight to the not when Israel began pulling out of its Security zone in Southern Lebanon last week after 22 years of occupy the Sla Dis integrated in general la had was last spotted sipping Coke except for a in a cafe in Northern by the Hezbollah guerillas whose attacks finally forced an israeli withdrawal Over 200 israeli troops and 652 Sla men killed since 1985 were firing celebratory bursts into the air a stones throw from israels Northern Border and every body Tensed for the next act in the just As the palestinian Intifada of the Early 90s finally made Israel Start negotiating with Yasser Arafat pales Tine liberation organi so the Haemorrhage of casual ties finally forced Israel to pull out of the question therefore arises naturally in the minds of arabs who still have unfinished business with Israel does the Retreat from Lebanon mean that Israel is now ready to make deals that they can live or does it mean that More Force needs to be applied first israeli prime minister Ehud Barak May be embarrassed at the but he has actually kept his electoral Promise to evacuate Lebanon by his next deadline is when he must conclude the final status agree ment that defines the Borders and pow ers of a palestinian state in the territories that Israel has occupied since the 1967 according to the last opinion 71 per cent of palestinians still support the peace though Only 13 per cent think that Barak can deliver an agree their doubts Are since Baraks popularity has fallen below 40 per but press leaks suggest that the Deal on offer May be More accept Able to palestinians than was previously assumed 90 per cent of the West and not just that could still be sold to israelis f they Are convinced that peace and Security will really be the result but that now depends critically on whether there is peace on israels Northern Borders for the next six to 12 that Choice lies in the hands of Syrias ailing president Hafiz through his control of Hezbollah Supply he has a big say in whether there is peace or War on israels Northern Frontier and it comes in the to two insignificant patches of one is a stretch of Shoreline about 10 Kilometres Long and 100 metres deep at the northeastern Corner of the sea of from which Israel draws almost half of its fresh the other is some 100 Square Kilometres of land at the foot of the Golan Heights known As Sheba now the site of israels Only ski resort and Home to a Large number of resettled ethiopian the Galilee where Assad swam As a was the stumbling Block that killed an Israel syrian peace Deal last it was All syrian land until june and it should have gone Back to Syria with the rest of the Golan Heights As part of the but Barak held it Back because Many israelis feared that Syria might pollute the Lake or steal the water or the Sheba farms Block of land was also captured from Syria in june but both Syria and Lebanon now insist that it belongs to the and must be evacuated As part of israels withdrawal from if according to Hezbollah Leader sheikh Hassan then the guerrillas will be obliged to continue their attacks on israeli that would give Assad leverage against since Only he can Call Hezbollah but it would also kill not Only the Chance of an Israel syrian peace but even the somewhat brighter Prospect of a final settlement Between Israel and the Plo this if the above arguments seem so Petty that they verge on that because they you cannot expect rationality to Rule in a Region that has been at War for Over 50 a comprehensive Ara israeli peace is practically inevitable sooner or because the israelis Are too and the arabs too for any More dramatic outcome to be it would not be a just and everybody involved would hate but it could even be made to it May still be within reach this but it could be War Gwynne Dyer is a Londo based Independent his column appears on the to in toured momentum to ease Wash nomic Isola resume Trade in Jwj this is human Medicine aha subject to j practical Ping uni later tries out of has Beer Congwei the futility of the motive food rather it Ferjo Theca year and rejected and soybean on the world a business is i Farmers it c the Stron Cuba state Sakoi demo Geo i Republic loosening by the Fui sip for exports t another ing of Thi a better has to of the in the Amer appeared As times in Congress longtime eco Cuba and and for food and w have been As a policy of slap on coun Washington cognition of is not lie Sale of in i need for last withered in Consumers of defied Corn prices is but the that la easing the farm As South a in a Boycott action Ijar Mea note last food it a Poten go has this year clout Community Gonzalez ice of Ito by from hockey is a game for the streets i May be one of the few native born canadians alive who has never Actu ally attended a hockey game in an Arena or watched the interminable Stan Ley cup playoffs on television for More than five but i am not unmindful of the fact that in its various has traditionally played an important role in Canadian to Many and they Are probably right hockey stars such As Maurice Richard and Gordie Howe Are More worthy of being remembered than most of our prime min i was reminded of this fact the other Day when i read in our local paper about an attempt to stamp out Street hockey in a Condo development in suburban Van a court Battle is now raging Over whether a group of Chil Dren has the right to use part of a Side Street for the occasional unsupervised using hockey Sticks and an old Ball or opponents of the game claim that the children can be heard emitting the occasional shout or which alarms cats and old and that they Are often an impediment to the free movement of in other cars have to sometimes for 30 seconds or while the kids move the when i was a boy there was always a certain number of grimaced grown ups around who were fond of muttering that children should be seen and not nobody paid the slightest bit of attention to unless it was to make a bit More noise when they were within they invariably got special attention on halloween and when Street hockey was played on Winter nights the nets were usually set up within sight of their Over the it the Grundy brigade has somehow gained the upper some apartment blocks now Post notices that no children can live there and townhouses Are advertised As for adult whatever that and now children find themselves in court defending their right to play hockey in the is this Canada genteel living is All very but those living in a Normal Community must prepared for a certain degree of give and in summer we All have to face the fact that grass must be Cut from time to although we might feel like complaining if a in his Zeal to beautify his Small decided to mow at six in the morning or employ a giant Power Mower better suited to Harvest ing a Field of wheat than a Small Urban Patch of by the same if there Are tots in the we might reasonably expect them to play outdoors occasion they cant spend All their time indoors watching pokemon on to or porn on their they need fresh air and the kind of robust outdoor train ing that led to Canadas Victory at Vimy nothing much changes from Genera Tion to generation when it comes to Street Street hockey today is much As it was when i played it years although i suspect that the kids today use pucks or balls rather than the piece of Frozen Dinosaur excrement my friends and i As Grundy no doubt pointed we could have been playing under adult supervision Down at the Community Cen but Street hockey and the official sort played on skates with parents shouting threats from the stands Are two different supervised hockey on skates was for saturday when you froze Youn face and feet on the open air rink while the coach pointed out that you would never make the nil unless you stopped skating on your Street hockey was our played by the Light of the Moon or a nearby Street you wore moccasins instead of skates and anyone could including sometimes you had real but More often the goals were marked by a tree and somebody parked Dodge or when cars appeared on the nobody was in a great hurry to Clear the let them the games were fairly noisy and sometimes a shoving match would break but Only the Grundy seemed to especially when somebody sat on the fender of Grundy ill say this for he just stuck his head out the front door and get the hell off that car he never took us to court or called the even when we Rode our bikes Over his i nearly descended to Grundy Dom myself years ago when a boy on our Street who dreamed of the nil took to rehearsing his snapshot against the garage door for hours on my pleas for quiet were it All ended one Day when he put his puck through window of his fathers Christopher Dafoe is a Vancouver his column appears on ;