Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - September 26, 2000, Winnipeg, Manitoba A12 Winniw september 2000 editorials Freedom of Trade Liberty of religion Equality of civil rights Romanow gets out r of Romanow announced yesterday that he was quitting As Premier of Saskatchewan and Leader of that provinces new democratic Romanow has had a distinguished career in Saskatchewan politics spanning More than three he says he is looking for personal free Dom and towards new cynics might Sug Gest that he is getting out while the getting is still the last while has been anything but distinguished for him and his in a provincial election last his majority government was reduced to holding Only 29 out of 58 seats and forced into a coalition with Saskatchewan Raga muffin Liberal it was not yet the party Low that came this summer when the nip was humiliated in a by election and Romanowsk heir apparent resigned to pursue a corporate career in Cal Romanow is Leav ing at an opportune time for both himself and his he spares him self the Prospect of an embarrassing defeat in the next election and he gives his party a Chance to refashion the no longer has a real and that election should come As soon As a new Leader can Settle As for Romanowsk there is much speculation that he is being wooed by Federal liberals with the Promise of a Senate seat and a place in the Federal but that remains there is no seat available in the the most Likely to become available would be that held by Eric a Saskatchewan conservative Sena Tor and convicted criminal who is hanging on until his Appeal is that might also seem a bit of an unholy but it would further Chretien desire to unite the left against the Canadian Alliance and it would make an easy Entrance into Federal politics for a former Premier who appears to have lost his local political it would avoid the unpleasantness of having to face a disgruntled electorate that has for years had Little use for liberals federally and which seems to be leaning provincially now towards the Saskatchewan which is made up mostly of those remaining former provincial tories who have never been sent to and which is looking Good to form the next government in a pos Romanow who Ever said the Prairies Are Bor ing one alternative a property development project in Winkler has shown an interesting Avenue toward Reform of health the project brings together apart ments catering to seniors with a mall containing a medical clinic and other health related finance was raised from a variety of a Community Board will eventually own the health the system May offer one kind of answer to the conundrum of rising health governments Are unwilling to raise the taxes fast enough to pay through Public health insurance for the steadily Ris ing costs of treating patients in treat ments outside the Hospital and services not covered by medicare Are an important and growing Field of health Winkler established its own Board of health apart from the official regional health authority and asked the local Board to take an interest in services not provided by the government health which had picked a location outside Winkler for the new the result is a health services mall with a a a a health food store and a medical All supported by the presence of the seniors Winkler Doest get the Hospital but it May be getting some thing of More use to its the Winkler solution May not work the Case seems to that a first rate health Complex can be organized without a Hospital at its it May also show that the strict limits of the Public health insurance plan and provincial health policy need not prevent a progressive Community from creating something learning to lend finance minister Paul Martin waxed eloquent in Prague this week about the need for Rich countries to Grant Early debt Relief to the poorest debtor Lender he complained at meetings of the International monetary Are demanding elaborate economic reforms and poverty reduction strategies from tiny countries and delaying debt Relief until they Martins interim solution was a moratorium on debt while poor countries Are jumping through the hoops set up by they could at least get a break on their current loan pay the suggestion made sense As a the half Martin was a moratorium on making bad while poor countries Are learning How to borrow More Canada should also be learning How to lend in his next announcement of a Canadian Export finance loan to a poor Martin should say Why he believes that the loan will not prove burdensome for the r wrong time for election go now or wait until Spring that is the big question facing Jean Chretien and the Federal by some the prime minister is hot to go any Day by Mem Bers of his caucus Are pulling on his coattails and urging him to the arguments on both sides tend to be the ones trotted out at this Point in a governments on both sides they tend to be based on issues of political electoral guile and games liberals who favour an Early election argue that it would offer them their Best Chance to return with a Clear majority in the House of a fall they would take advantage of Canadas Boom ing Economy and avoid the danger that High Oil prices or other unexpected factors could put an end to eco nomic Good a fall election would catch the opposition Alliance without an organization in place across Canada and without its finances fully it would catch Joe Clark and the progressive conservative party in a state of weakness and disarray and permit the liberals to pick up some tory seats in Atlantic it would deprive Stockwell Day of the Opportunity to establish himself As an effective Leader and his Alliance party of the Opportunity to establish itself in the Public mind As a desirable alternative to the most an election right now would exploit the comfortable Lead the liberals enjoy in the those who oppose a snap election warn that they John Dafoe can offer the voters no plausible apart from blatant for calling an election so they note that voters often punish parties that Call elections too Early and Point to cautionary tales in our history to prove their they argue that calling a Quick election would deprive them of the Opportunity in parliament to expose Stockwell Day As a hollow Man and a Nar Row ideologue and the Alliance As just the Reform party warmed the argument that is if indeed the argument that would inspire derisive snickers from seasoned political is that calling an election at this particular Point in the mandate of this particular party would simply be it would be wrong because it would be unhealthy for Canadian some important things ought to happen before canadians Are faced with a general we have a government which finds itself sitting on an unplanned and unanticipated budgetary surplus with no Clear idea of what to do with that government owes the voters a budget and a full budget debate before it asks them for a renewed we have an opposition party which has a new name and a new Leader and which professes to have a new voters have the right to observe that party and its Leader debating in the House of commons before they judge it in an democracy functions Best when Clear choices Are offered to an informed the Best Way that Canadian voters can inform themselves about the choices is to watch the competing Par ties in action for the six months or so that will take the Chretien government to the end of its custom Ary John Dafoe is a former editorial Page editor of the free his column appears on Hitman is one killer of a Guy i am obsessed with Tony Hes a Philan dissembling mobster who thinks nothing of making a Point by using a Telephone to clock a brain challenged if you can Overlook that part and who among us Hast had the occasional anger management problem Hes an Ordi nary Guy who is trying to do the right thing by his his Mother and his two teenage Hes just like the rest of us except he kills people for a hey at least he feeds his i love the As with most i came to the sopranos More than a year behind Long after the Hob pro Gram had won garnered acclaim and made unlikely celebrities out of its frumpy sky decided to air the because i am one of those people who smugly claim they never watch i figured id catch one episode and be ten Days in Cranky and totally immersed in the world of the the show is on every night except in a time Slot that contradicts my need to go to bed Early and sleep my eyes Are Gritty and my caffeine intake is dangerously in already wondering what in going to do with my life when the two week run is the show is vulgar and violent and crass in every Way in Case you forget and think youre watching the Power puff a Large warning appears before and during each Cau it tells show contains scenes of Nasty language and gratuitous scenes of a Catholic priest eating too much baked this is usually followed by a shot of the three bar breasted strippers who serve As a visual White noise to Tony and his nest of youd have to be a dimwit not to realize that the sopranos is not a show for if there Are children in your they should be sound asleep before you turn the program and even then you should be ashamed of but its hopelessly Tony is an every if every Man was in the euphemistic waste management he lives in a vicious killer with a regular therapy Tony is a regular Captain of beleaguered at misunderstood at Home and still under the thumb of his a toxic woman with acid run Ning through her tonys undeniably Hes got the smug Sel Assurance that certain men a Confidence far out of proportion to their appearance or a Serene inner belief that All women want their knowing smiles Are enough to make almost anything sometimes he cheats regularly on his he receives the sort of Justice that should be meted out to All men who unzip their trousers in the wrong his Chippy belittles him and stuns him with the realization his wealth is a lot More interesting than his sparkling banal tied up with a harlot who Doest have a heart of everywhere he someones got a hand All hed like is a Little peace and happiness in his Home and a few Days at work without the need to whack i dont know How Many fridays Ive come poured a tall Glass of milk and had the same the sopranos works because theres a rigid sense of right and mixed in with the necessary compromises that make life in the Middle years Tony feels guilty about his a har Redan who once threatened to take out his eyes with a carving he pays homage to his Uncle the hopelessly insecure head of the mob he tries to keep his As Happy As you can keep a shopping addict who feels certain urges toward the Parish his kids drive him his Nephew is a violence Happy and Tony a Man whose Job just happens to involve murder and mayhem does his Best to keep everyone i want to live next door to the sopranos at least Tony would keep the Riffraff under Reynolds is a free press her column appears on eur gives its head a shake the Providence journal said in an editorial on saturday the decision of the european Union to end seven months of diplomatic sanctions against Austria was the right although it came about seven months too were not admirers of Austria far righting Freedom which is stridently and headed in effect by Jorg a Politi Cian who has had some Nice things to say about another famous Adolf but the Freedom party won enough votes in Austria parliamentary elections last freely and to claim a place in the country governing at that the eur went seeming to suggest that Neo nazis were on the verge of seizing Power in the eur swiftly decided to Boycott Austria to teach it a diplomats were the austrians were excluded from joint Mil itary exercises and cultural Exchange programs were those measures had Little appreciable effect on but they did have one predictable outcome they considerably irritated the austrian who reacted by increasing their support for the Freedom and in throughout mis Givings were expressed about the us while everybody agreed that the Rise of the Freedom party was significant and cause for sans amount de to an unwarw3s ranted intrusion into the internal affairs of a demo hypocritical cratic that the sanctions charge was led by France which not so Long ago harboured communists in its government made the us overreaction particularly Hyp by even eur bureaucrats were looking for a face saving Way to end the this was accomplished through the appointment of an academic whose members examined human rights and politics in not they found that democracy is alive Well and that the presence of the Freedom party in the coalition has had no effect whatsoever on human rights in aus they even commended the government for its efforts to combat racism and antisemitism that does not prove that the sanctions but that democracy has taken Root in members of the eur can scarcely expect their member states to prac Tise something like political Confor mity there Are numerous parties and wide diversions of opinion in All countries at All the Point of the european Union is to draw the democratic european states closer together in Mutual respect not to single out individual nations for punishment for the crime of allowing unfashionable Points of Winnipeg free press Winnipeg free presses 1872 Winnipeg Tribune est 1890 vol 128 to 279 2000 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 mail tabs Council Rudy email Nicholas Patrick editor ;