Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - June 1, 2000, Winnipeg, Manitoba Focus a11 Winnitoy 2000 Hydro contributes to health of Globe i get fed up with All this carping about How badly off we How we Are taxed to the brain Drain we keep hearing about invites the conclusion that we must be a nation of dolts now that All the smart people have in some ways Manitoba Star shines brightest on the in contrast to states to the which obtain their Power from burning Manitoba gets 98 per cent of its electricity from the flow of a clean and sustainable source of Mani Toba indeed is fortunate to be blessed with such natural Only Quebec obtains about the same proportion of Energy from comes next with 85 per considering the whole rate has the lowest rates for electricity on the says Glenn manager of Public affairs with Manitoba rewarding even More in my is Manitoba contribution to the health of the Manitoba started Export ing Power to the in a serious Way in 1971 and since that time it is Esti mated it has reduced emissions of car Bon dioxide in the by 157 million tons the emissions Are reduced by displacing Coal with hydroelectric As a we Are cutting Down on greenhouse which contribute to the grave problem of global by substituting our Hydro Power for Coa burning utilities in the Hydro now exports to 13 As far South As Texas through a Power Minnesota and North Dakota Are the big the Impact is strik the amount of Power exported to these two states is equivalent to reducing their consumption of Coal by 85 million tons since in the year ending March Manitoba exported million Worth of Power to the Manitoba can pro Duce about megawatts of Power with a Peak consumption of emissions Manitoba Hydro proudly asserts that it leads All Canadian electrical utilities in its commitment to reduce a claim backed by the Pembina inst a leading environmental think tank in Only two per cent of electricity produced in Manitoba is not generated by even Here Hydro has been Dili gent in reducing at bran four of the five standby Coa burning units were shut Down in natural Gas combustion which produce half of the will be installed in As nine Remote formerly supplied by local diesel fuelled were connected to the provincial Power system in the there Are still four Remote centres served by diesel Hydro plans to build More water generated plants to reduce Reliance on Fossil this would also allow a Rise in exports and reduction of Green House Gas we should count our most electrical utilities rely on Fossil fuels and Are a major source of the atmosphere enveloping the Earth is a wondrous so protective and delicately Green House particularly Carbon Are warming this envelope with potentially drastic the Impact is already evident in Manitoba in the life patterns of Polar due to warming temperatures and its effect on reduce the answer is to reduce consumption of Fossil fuels and increase Effi particularly with cars that Are the chief producers of greenhouse North americans biggest Consumers of Energy Are not too a move to Cut consumption under Hydro Power smart program has reduced the demand for electricity in Manitoba by 135 megawatts since that is the equivalent to the out put of the great Falls Plant on the Winnipeg River that would Cost about million to this amount of Power available for Export to the represents savings equal to the consumption of one million tons of the target is to reduce consumption in Manitoba by a further 180 megawatts by the year we in Manitoba can play a special role in reducing greenhouse gases not Only in our province but abroad a philosophy that we All share this Val Werier is a Winnipeg his col i urn appears species at risk act Ottawa wants Farmers to pay a j j j 1 i 1 or species by Peter Schroeder several Days ago i took some time to go Over the Federal governments Bill the species at risk act As i look at our land and the sheep on i wonder if Ive been mistaken for the last 25 for As Long As Ive managed our Ive tried to work with nature to create a ranching sys tem that improved the which in turn would improve the land for our Stock and the a Strong wildlife population feeds Preda tors who in turn have one less reason to kill our and knowing that a healthy ecosystem provides the Best Low Cost was a very Strong every morning for the last three another 30 or 40 ewes stand guard Over their Newborn lambs waiting for them to our livestock Protection dogs patrol the pastures to hold Back Preda tors looking for Spring Lamb scavenger Birds patrol the pastures looking for Carrion to clean but its been a decent on most there is nothing i like better than getting to the lambing with just a Little imagine its like strolling Over the african the Newborn lambs still steaming from their ewes hovering Over standing out White against the Lush Green Spring Clear Bush now i think maybe i should have cleared All the Bush and slowed the land from Fence line to Fence that would have destroyed the native plants and banished wildlife to the Public it would have been costly but it would have kept us Clear of which has the potential to dramatically alter How we make our living if one of the wild critters living Here makes the Sara in the worst Case it May make it impossible for us to go our land is a mix of open pasture land and native the improved and native pastures provide the feed to keep our Stock Strong and Bush shelters the flock from bad the Bush and pastureland Are also Home to a wide Range of native plants and wildlife the land has sustained the sheep that provided for our family and a Host of natural plants and wildlife for As Long As weve been we cleared most of the leaving enough to create a Park land this made it possible for new wildlife species to move into the area and allowed other species to Sara is a Well intentioned piece of at first i would probably support it without reservation if i were not a Farmland but in its current Sara creates situations that will cause serious problems Down on the it will also Foster an atmosphere of uncertainty that can work against Good conservation farming environmental stewardship has to be rewarded with Sara makes vague promises about compensation but guarantees massive fines and prison terms for the Way Sara now there is the Promise the government May pay compensation for losses suffered As a result of extraordinary Impact resulting from actions to protect threatened species and their the proposed act gives any Cana Dian 18 years and the right to Call for an investigation to establish if a Sara offence has the through its will decide if the request is frivolous or i can already see the Young eco Shock troops press a sheep Farmer has begun to wonder whether his Protection of the ecosystem was a sound scouring the Countryside looking for situations that need in its current Sara is a Iron listed act that wanders away from our private prop erty conventions and Sara would give the government the right to Stop a landowner from using a native Plant without compensation if the Plant is listed As endangered or the Plant and wildlife list is currently 28 pages As an agriculturalists and the Only reason i own land is so i can use the native and cultivated plants that grow on the land to which we hold Legal i accept that wildlife belongs to the that How it was when we bought the but the plants have always been the property of the landowner to do with As he or she sees then just to give the lawyers More income tax the act states no one is allowed to pos sess a listed on what Side of the Law would that put the landowner who owns the land the listed Plant is growing i wonder what Sara would look like if the Concrete Jungle were still seen As an ecosystem to what ends will Urban peo ple go to make their neighbourhoods a better place for wildlife such As raccoons and foxes would the government expropriate posh Riverbank properties to create half Ileide corridors for wildlife travel through the Urban environment Are City people ready to give up their chemical War fare against dandelions to protect slugs and snails will Sara Stop subdivision expansion into the Countryside while the cites Core deteriorates into a slum will office Tower Heights be restricted to Clear flight paths for migrating songbirds i dont think pay the Price we need an act like Sara but it has to be an even handed we need an act that rewards land stewardship and compensates citizens who give up something for society the Way it stands the farming population will pay the Price to make the Urban people feel that something Good is happening for endangered the danger is that it will create an Usan them if the close knit Rural Community closes ranks against what they May see As hostile it will do More harm than As it is heavy on the penalty end and very Light on the farm commodity group leaders have Given Sara lukewarm approval because its not nearly As bad As legislation pro posed this act needs a budget big enough to make conservationists out of even the most hard ened farm its up to farm organization leaders and Urban conservationists to convince politicians that Cash incentives will move the cause Forward faster than fines and prison Peter Schroedter raises sheep at Fol of Al Flifle the free press welcomes letters from they must include the authors address and Telephone letters May be letters to the 1355 Mountain r2x fax email . Will nip help hepatitis c victims on May the Ontario government once again showed its province that it does care by compensating an extra above the to those individuals infected with hepatitis c and who Are not eligible for the 1986 1990 compensation for six years the Manitoba nip made promises and supported compensation for All victims of tainted for six years the nip voiced concerns for people with hepatitis since the nip government took we have not heard a thing on this these individuals have to fight to continue every to make it to their to receive their blood and med ical and to receive the proper Standard of Manitoba has Only one he pathologist specialist in liver diseases and he has a waiting list of Over 12 months for an initial a patient then has to wait another 12 to 18 months to have a liver Biopsy per formed and then about 12 months to Start if this was a cancer it would be too the longer hepatitis c infected people have to wait for treat the longer this virus has to attack and destroy the it is now time for the nip govern ment to follow the Ontario and que Bec governments it is time to follow the Krever report and treat these victims in a fair and just they deserve to be compensated for the suffering and they deserve to receive a proper Standard of care and treatment within a reasonable period of victims of this tragedy did not ask to be infected through a healthcare system that they will the Manitoba nip government do the right thing Pam Gunnlaugson dont stand on Western morals Tom Ole sons column of May 13 strongly opposes mayor Glen Mur rays proposal to give formal recognition to Jacob Penner for his in past As a dedicated Winnipeg Oleson is opposed to the even though the service provided by Penner by some one of honour and decency and civic the reason for Ole sons opposition is that such recognition would Lack moral integrity because late Penner after a com and communism represents great but Oleson forgets that our Western capitalistic system carries even greater for it was Western trading vessels that insist of All on trading opium into resulting in the opium these same Western trading ships tried to colonize most of the resulting in hundreds of wars killing also there have been the where westerners killed in the holy there Are the Induisi and the american slave it is estimated that during the slave Trade Between 30 million and 60 Mil lion africans even before they became chattel in in its documented that our Canadian government offered bounties for human scalps in order to annihilate the As it pertains to Ole sons col it was the great thinker Martin Buber who once said the atheist the communist staring from his attic window May be nearer to god More in tune with moral integrity than a Western believer caught in a false image of Richy Thiessen Winnipeg dont cringe Over communism in response to Robert a Ladzinski Smiths dont name Park after communist free id like to clarify what the Ideal of communism actually stands the original idea behind communism was to achieve social peace and Utopia by closing the Rich poor putting Power Back into the working class and creating a society were All citizens Are it is a terrible travesty that those who have tried to make this system work on a National scale have failed and have actually done the opposite in the creating a dystopia it is these rulers who abused their Power and ruined the name of communism for those who know what it actually stands from what i Jacob pen Ner worked for the social betterment of one Community in the North he used the Ideal of communism remember that Power to the work ing class bit to help that one Community and look How close those two words Are to each other my is certainly not a communism stands for the bettering of All communities big and people need to get their Heads out of the Sand and realize that the Iron curtain has the and the cold War no longer and we dont have to cringe every time we hear the word com Stoesz Winnipeg doonesbury by Garry Trudeau an import sir piece in ;