Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - June 2, 2000, Winnipeg, Manitoba A11 Forf junk 2000 its a Good Retzky great one can save your neck sky by month no great Onesky Phoenix Republican presidential candidate George Bush and drug Czar Barry Mccaffrey were in town wednesday for what i can Only presume to be the obvious reason meeting Wayne for weeks Gretzky has been on the front Page of the local papers and on the to news always presented As if All of the politicians and businessmen in town were auditioning to play Romeo to Waynes it the great one As Hes known to hockey fans and to anchors saved Phoenix and perhaps the world by agree ing to join in the ownership of the Phoenix formerly the Winnipeg its unbelief this is the Best thing in the entire coyotes Captain Keith Tkachuk Wayne is just absolutely a Fine said Phoenix Developer Steve whose company owns properties in Winnipeg and is considering a number of developments Heads the group purchasing the coyotes and redeveloping los Arcos mall into a hockey i Hope people understand the magnitude of what this Means for All Ellman like so Many others in i didst completely understand the magnitude of the for which i am full of i understand within minutes after Ellman announced that Gretzky would join the coyotes ownership Ellman began receiving million offers from potential big boost the organization has also seen a big boost in season ticket before you know the struggling coyotes will be out of All because of for this i figure Bush jetted into Arizona to interview Gretzky As a possible Vic presidential candidate figuring republicans in Congress except John of course will Overlook the Rule prohibiting canadians from holding office in the United at least until the great one draws More of those million Dollar As for maybe Hes trying to find out if Wayne would be willing to lend the magic of his name in support of our unending War on its a terrible Mccaffrey might unfortunately for Gretzky want there he changed his plans and wont be in town until by Arizona Jane Hull will have convinced Gretzky that his talents can serve higher Pur poses than professional hockey or presidential for for which Arizona consistently ranks at the Bot Tom of the funding causing local parents to or perhaps Gretzky can solve the growing problem of illegal i Migra Worth it or advise the legislature on How to spend the billions of dollars in lawsuit settlement its receiving from Compa Nies that produce the healthcare crisis arizonans Chil Dren face could certainly use a great and what about the drought and the ensuing fires would Wayne have ways to make us All Wentzky Well make it Worth his Well feed him crepes sculpt a do a even Hes Worth youll see when he is mobbed by the press and the temperature is for the great one its no Mutini is a Cohen Istik with the Arizona t Manitoba conservative party leadership tory support of Alliance May be Albatross for Leader this time last planning was underway at the University of Manitoba for an autumn symposium that would bring together the four living former premiers of at the a question arose involving the possibility that by there might a fifth former Premier that is Gary Filmon if that whether efforts be made to include apart from the question being quite there was consensus among those planning the symposium that it in any be far too Early to ask or expect Filmon to attempt a detached or dispassionate account of his own political career and in november after the most recent of the former premiers had been out of office for eleven there something to be said for the perspective that the passage of time pro Vides and if it is True for it is also True for those who attempt to Analyse and assess political Leader though Filmon was Defeated in it was not a crushing defeat and As he departs the party it seems Clear he retains a significant measure of Public How his contribution and Overall Impact will be judged in the Long run is for the Long run to All that being there Are two immediate aspects of Hilmons departure that May have Lon term implications for his legacy the leadership succession and the Gen eral orientation of the party he leaves it was sometimes said of Jawaharlal inde pendent India first prime that he was like a Banyan tree under which no others that no other leaders could the truth of the metaphor was after Nehru by the fact that his party generally lacked Strong leadership except when others in the Nehru family provided at first Hilmons tenure seems to have had a similar there is considerable irony in this during much of his time As there seemed to be other would be leaders waiting for or hoping for the misstep that would allow them to seize the not Only did Filmon prove adept at keeping challengers at he outlasted groomed after the retirements and defeats left Only former finance minister Eric Ste Fanson As the self evident groomed by Filmon when Stefanson no longer in but in opposition bowed there was no one the party establishment then Laid hands on Stuart a prominent businessman with no elected political or government and no known political the sole caucus can former health minister Darren ultimately withdrew because Campaign Money had dried up most of it apparently going to for a recently governing tory party to elect by acclamation a Leader largely unknown to the Public and probably to Many party is unprecedented in modern Manitoba Mur rays strongest ties to the corporate world Are in probably the Only constituency where the party Jeff oe100 v win Hippo free Hatm Stuart with his wife will have to Deal with tory shift to does not need Murray May succeed brilliantly or Flop but the on its is no overwhelming testimony to the diversity or Talent of the provincial the other immediately interesting question about the Post Filmon conservative party is whether it or will a conservative party in the Canad an and Manitoba or whether it will continue to metamorphose into a Manitoba variant of the Reform party in one of its As Filmon was skilful in avoiding being though his caucus and Many senior colleagues were highly Filmon was Given to invoking Duff Roblin As the Leader he most the similarities Between them to say the in Over the Filmon government increasingly came to resemble Mike Harriss hard right Ontario govern though Filmon usually sought to put a sunnier face on its not one political operatives from the Ontario conservative party assisted in Hilmons unsuccessful elec Tion it is not altogether that unfettered by the constraints or prudence that goes with holding a number of Hilmons former ministers and caucus colleagues have recently climbed aboard either the Tom Long or Stockwell Day campaigns for the leadership of the Canadian whether All will remain if their preferred candidate fails is unclear but it in some beside the with Long or or indeed with Reform ii they Are hitching their wagons and that of the provincial conservative party to a National party that is far More right in both economic and social than modern Provin Cial conservatives have Ever been at least when they have been saddled the new whether Stuart Murray or some other May find himself saddled with a Many of whose most prominent and elected members have now associated themselves and the provincial party with a decidedly righting nation Al there Are no guarantees that the future will be like the but since the Advent of Duff political Success in this province has gone to whichever whether conservative or could marry its Core support with that of centrist voters of moderate perhaps conservative Las joining the Alliance will prove a winning it May prove an Albatross they will carry into the next election and William Neville is Winnipeg his column appears on letters to the editor 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 . Let Kipling matter drop further to the court martial of Mike Kipling i recall that the chief of the defence staff at that time made a visit to Kuwait for a period of about four i would like to know if he and his entourage were required to take All the including the anthrax i know that when i went to Yugoslavia with the Royal 22nd regi ment in had to have Many injections but each one was tested and acceptable in All i think that the military Justice sys tem should let this whole matter drop and instead of trying to crucify one person it should look at the rights of All members of the Canadian forces instead of trying to be heavy handed in this Type of the forces could very Well have had Kipling sign a waiver they would have in this matter been Able to cover themselves nicely with fight Thomas Searles Ward allowance increase unneeded i feel compelled to write to express my anger and disbelief with the move by City Council to sneak in an increase in their Ward communications allowance raising it from to a whop Ping 49 per cent increase As a former executive assistant to a City i helped to manage the expenditure of a wac fund and at that time the budget was per Ward mid it was an adequate amount to meet All communication shortly after i councillors raised the limit to which is More than adequate to get their Job the wac is about As inflated As City councillors egos and it proves with out a doubt that they Are out of con councillors will argue that the total extra Cost to taxpayers is Only per but is that really a valid argument for we know such Money would go a Long Way in adding another badly needed ambulance to our City clearly this Council has its priorities the fact of the matter is the wac has ceased to be a simple communication with All the extra it has evolved into a political propaganda in other by using any Means of expect our elected officials to spend the wac liberally prior to the next civic As they try to buy us i try to convince us that they deserve to be Russ Wyatt Winnipeg let users pay for child care i will support the Call for subsidized for everyone who chooses to use it the moment that our family Choice of having one Parent at Home is also until funding should Only be provided for those who absolutely require child care and do not have a i applaud the increase in wages for childcare work but the system should be based on users paying for the unless the user is unable to those who choose to use it should not be subs Chuck Penner Winnipeg Napster wont end cd sales i am writing in response to the recent inundation of articles discussing web the music Industry More Napster anyone who has Ever accessed the Napster pro Gram knows that the web piracy allegations brought Forth by music record producers and cer Tain musicians Are the result of greed and the need for these people believe that the unregulated mp3 format deters potential customers from buying their product because they can easily log on to Napster and get it for what they do not is that the mp3 format alone will not replace modern cd with out a cd which can convert mp3formatted songs into cd format Ted mp3 songs cannot be played in cd the majority of users do not have cd thus the mp3 music that Napster makes accessible to internet users is nothing More than digital Media destined for hard drives and expensive min disc in a music Industry that relies on advertising and Napster is an outlet for users to listen to new artists and possibly be compelled to buy their cd at music executive approved record unless Napster users have Access to a cd they will buy the same amount of cd As if not while i realize that these Rich Indus try bullies need something to com Plain they should know that no amount of technology is going to destroy their Bottom line the music Sells Jen Sharpe Stonewall doonesbury by Garry Trudeau Pom i ;