Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - November 28, 2000, Winnipeg, Manitoba A14 Winnipeg free november 2000 editorials Freedom of Trade Liberty of religion Equality of civil rights Canada chooses canadians voted yesterday for the Liberal party program of tax debt reduction and perhaps new spending programs if the Money turns they showed Little interest in either soak ing the Rich As the new democrats proposed or in rapidly shrinking government As the Canadian Alliance opposition parties that sought to harness Public anger against the ruling liberals found Little anger to Strong economic steady Job creation and Low inflation showed the Public that finance minister Paul Martins policy had produced the results the people complaints that Martin could have Cut the taxes faster and should have kept the Canadian Lar stronger found Little Echo among workers and the new democrats won Little interest with their claims that the liberals were destroy ing canadians cherished National health insurance prime minister Jean Chretien and his government took that Issue off the National Agenda when he reached an agreement with provincial pre Miers in september on future funding of health in the Atlantic the liberals gained sup port by restoring in part the employment insurance cuts they had inflicted on the in the collapse of progressive conservative support benefited the liberals More than it helped the separatist bloc the bloc was Hurt by waning inter est in Quebec sovereignty and by the parti Quebe Cois governments contentious policy of forced municipal in the Canadian Alliance attracted about the same support that the old Reform party had attracted three years the party Complex Agenda that hinted at Radical changes in Canada aroused As much apprehension As in Manitoba and the the shifts from 1997 were the Alliance held the regional fortress that Reform had built in previous other parties Clung to their enclaves in the Alliance conservative Leader Joe Clarks personal Success in Calgary South showed the High regard i which he is held even when his party shows Little Prospect of playing a Large part in the country has chosen a direction for Public poli the weight of government in the Canadian econ omy should continue to the Public debt of Canada should continue to modest new spending programs can be considered but Only when economic growth generates government Rev Enue to pay for them As tax rates Canada has work to do to turn from the extractive industries and resource from the hewing of Wood and drawing of to the information technology work that creates the valued commodities of the 21st the Liberal having secured its hold on Federal must now bring Forward the new faces and the new vocabulary to show that it can fulfil the Hopes it has the Liberal win shows that Chretien is a Supe rior political adept at outsmarting his that tactical skill now needs to be put at the service of an a direction and a purpose that have often been hard to discern in the policy of his no contest Canada still has no party Able to beat the prime minister Jean Chretien will hand to his Suc Cessor a party that dominates Canadian far ahead of All the opposition yesterdays election offered a few of a realign ment that May Point to the Way in which a party might yet be built that can eventually beat the lib the new democrats and the progressive conservatives dwindled a Little neither of those parties has the wind in its the ephemeral sup port they found in Atlantic Canada melted away in the face of Liberal restoration of employment insurance the Canadian Alliance grew a Little but at a Pace that would not bring it to Power for Many this election made it Clear that the change from Reform to Alliance was not change the party must continue to evolve into something truly something that can be taken seriously in Quebec and the Atlantic neither the Alliance nor the progressive conservatives can do it the Alliance May have to let go of some of the supporters and the principles that brought it this far in order to achieve the next stage of its when the conservative vote in Quebec collapsed the liberals the Alliance was not a Alliance Leader Stockwell Day found scattered support in the province among disillusioned conservatives but no commanding presence who would persuade Quebe cers that the Alliance deserves their once the Alliance is a player in it will earn attention in while it remains an alien presence in it will Lack credibility on the National v election of broken dreams theres no denying the fact that yesterdays election Victory was a huge personal Triumph for Jean battered by the derided in the belittled As yesterdays Man and the dead weight who would drag his party Down to defeat in he fooled us he won a Clear majority of the seats in the House of commons and he did it by winning seats in Quebec Accord ing to All the pundits he was a As vital As the prime ministers Victory the real Impact of the election May be what it has done for the for it was a Campaign of unrequited dreams and the result May inspire new dramas and create new strains in Canadas political the election dealt a cruel blow to Preston Manning and those who gathered around him to create a new political the West wants in was the rallying cry of the Reform the West still wants in but it is farther than Ever from being the failure of mannings dream is going to reverberate across Western Preston mannings next dream was to take the Reform message beyond the Eastern Bor Der of Manitoba and to build a United alternative to the Liberal unite the right was the rallying cry of that the right is even less United than it has Ever those elusive conserva Tive voters in Ontario Are mostly immune to the Appeal of the Canadian the failure of the Reform party arid the Canadian Alliance to reach voters in Eastern Canada were the big broken but there were smaller ones As yesterdays result May turn out to be the end of Paul Martins dream of becoming prime min ister of Chretien solid Victory will remove any pressure on him to resign before he is Good and if his recent com ments Are any he wont be Good and ready for two or three if by then Martin May have lost his a victim of age and As was his father before for Joe yesterdays result May or May not have been a broken he can certainly find satisfaction in the fact against All he won his own seat in that satisfaction May be tempered by the fact that that Victory has condemned him to spend the next four years or so leading a Rump if yesterdays result was a blow to the United alternative it was less of a blow to the Alliance party Stockwell he did not win As some once but he did increase his party vote and he did help establish the Alliance As the in the process he has managed to Advance his Campaign to destroy Joe Clark and the the most important dream that was tired yesterday was the dream of Many canadians of All political stripes for a political system that bridged the Gulf which divides Canada somewhere in the Middle of to the All is to the All the of is not As dramatic As the electoral results would there Are plenty of liberals in the West and plenty of voters in the the trick is to find a party and a Leader who can bring them stronghold reduced to True grits when Betty Granger joined the race in Winnipeg South the Riding that had been Lloyd Axworthy territory for so Long became a constituency might not be sewn up before the polls actually when is who carried the Flag for the Canadian made her imprudent comments about British columbian asian invasion just Over a week first thoughts might have fallen to the collapse of real com petition that the far right might have in it became All the More with is Granger gone from the Public if not from the ballot her resignation from the Campaign came too late for her to be erased As a voter it appeared the most Likely to gain would be David progressive conservative candidate and a former provincial Cabinet minister in Gary Hilmons certainly that what David Newman believed and often said to anyone who was a Challenge from the right was not Incon even though the 1997 Federal elec Tion results made it look like this relatively affluent piece of Winnipeg was foursquare the most that could be said for the also rans three years ago is that they shared the crumbs that slipped Between Lloyds the Liberal juggernaut and Lead minister in garnered More than 55 per cent of the gobbling up of the the Alliance in an earlier Day was competitive among the als Orans of gathering votes per cent of the votes this with the Liberal fortunes seemingly falling after the lacklustre performance of Jean Chretien during the Leader debates and tory numbers rising from an equally Good performance by Joe successor Neville would be in for a and As late As after the country was painted solidly predicting that Chretien the Leader who had never lost an election would be Back in the commons with More seats than his majority carried in 1997 the results in Winnipeg South Centre Wayne Glowski Winnipeg free pbe88 Anita Neville right saw the end of landslide Liberal victories in Winnipeg South were too close to the loss of an Alliance would appear to give Newman More of an Edge As those from the right went looking for a meaningful joining the soft Liberal support disenchanted with the scandal dogged Feder Al his Campaign reflected that of Joe it picked up steam Midway and we can Only wonder what might have happened if there had been another week to wage theres no question when the Alliance with Drew support for it changed the dynamics of the said is like is has sharpened her political skills As a trustee with the Winnipeg school As the clock ticked closer to 10 Nevilles Lead became her votes at that time gave her a comfortable Lead Over what happened was Axworthy was a successful politician in part because of his profile and years of ser in a Riding where he walked away with Victory without breaking a sweat election after it was a formidable election team that allowed him to take his wins for and it was that election machinery established with the help of Liberal my Reg Alcock decades ago that began working Over time to push Neville Over the when the split in the conservative vote was threatening to go solidly is Nevilles signs started popping up around the Core of the Riding like tulips in a Little it focussed the Liberal Cam luckily forms All stops were pulled out from tentative the tories had grabbed votes and Betty Granger still managed to Garner More than with a few More Days of conservative hard work or a Little less Liberal a Complete Alliance collapse could have produced a real but the lessons forms Neville and the liberals Are still the Days of taking Winnipeg South Centre for granted May be if not while the Federal party has another four years to Rule As though it is i Dom the experience in this once solid Liberal hold has shown the party How dangerous complacency can the fractured right has Given the liberals a third but How Long can the right remain so divided four years gives voters a lot of time to wonder whether the Alliance can become a truly National and the conservatives More time to Winnipeg free press Winnipeg free presses 1872 Winnipeg Tribune est 1890 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 Manitoba press Council w Rudy email Nicholas Hirst Flynn Peputo ;