Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - December 6, 2000, Winnipeg, Manitoba A12 Winni Pir Fri Dfcia armr 2000 editorials Freedom of Trade Liberty of religion Equality of civil rights ideological Barrier Premier Gary doer will throw a referendum Barrier in the path of any future Manitoba government that thinks of privatizing a major Crown he will impede creation of new Crown doer prides himself on the balanced program of his gov but his program on Crown corporations shows a pronounced tilt toward growth of state in requiring a referendum to privatize a Crown doer is taking a Leaf from the Book that the former conservative government wrote in its balanced budget which demands referendums on tax the tories created a referendum Ratchet mechanism that tends to move Manitoba toward lower taxes and reduced ser which suited the tories doer is replying with his own Ratchet tending to expand state enter in an Era when tax increases Are not Crown corporations provide the alternative Way of expanding governments economic the government should be free to sell or wind up Crown corporations Accord ing to the merits of the Hydro or the lotteries corporation or the liquor monopoly might be better run by a private owner aiming for profit than they now Are in the hands of the new Crown agencies May be needed for enterprises that have not yet been thought if a particular Case Ever comes should be treated As a balance of costs and benefits which rational people can it should not be treated As an article of religious by adding a no privatizations Law on top of the no tax increases doer will create a dynamic that leads toward increasing Reliance on Crown corporations to finance improvement in the Public ser doer saw that the Manitoba Public did not agree with use of Manitoba Public insurance surpluses to finance that is clearly not the path Manitoban want to doer should heed the message of that he should recognize that the state Enterprise sector in Manitoba should grow or shrink according to the tasks that need doing and the capacity of private Enterprise to carry out those it should not be Frozen at a size that one transitory government Hap pens to set a deadline the doer government in the speech from the throne yesterday pledged to heed the advice of the International joint commission and make significant new investments to improve flood Protection in the red River the government will have to do better than As Leonard chairman of the Canadian Section of the made Clear our nerve failed us when the Opportunity arose to set a dead line by which improved flood Protection must be it left the Issue of timing urging governments to focus immediate attention on the design and implementation of either a larger flood Way or a water detention Structure at structures estimated to Cost million and million doer should set the timetable that the inc did decide which project will be what it will How it will be financed and the Date on which it must be the near thing that was the 1997 flood made obvious the need for greater every Spring As is Clear every summer and brings risks of catastrophic flooding to the City should not experience a single season of peril Premier Gary doer should steel his hanging in Betty the Winnipeg school trustee and former Canadian Alliance candidate in Winnipeg South has apologized Over and Over again sometimes in tears for ill advised remarks she made about Canadian immigration pol icy and the asian invasion during the recent fed eral election most she apologized at a meeting of the school Board where most trustees demanded her Granger along with the other to censure herself for her com but she rightly refused to she has a duty to serve out the term for which she was elect if she chooses to run again in the next voters can then pass their own Granger was forced out of the Federal elec Tion race she has been the subject of harsh criticism from Many she has indicated she did not mean to be Contro but in the question of her that is really beside the individuals and groups who Are legitimately offended by the things she said have every right to protest Granger has a right to continue to sit As a school in a free tolerance is two Way Street crowd sometimes but better than a one Way Public anguish of the habs picture this a Silicon Valley professional is fired from his Job and holds a press Confer ence where he subsequently Breaks Down and cries into the in the rapid fire world of its highly How is it then that whenever a figure in the Macho world of sports retires or is there allowed to cry like babies in pub Lic Montreal canadians coach Alain along with general Man Ager Rejean was fired in a Montreal morning the action came because Les canadians have seen their once proud tradition trampled underfoot they Are last place in a 30team with no Bottom in i didst see this Vigneault said when he regained control of his i thought we could turn this i had to struggle to understand How our Sci which still encourages boys to perpetuate the myth of the unfazed Only allows Emo Tion from sports figures who lose their perhaps Montreal Case is i after playing in the cellar must be painful for the just look at their they have won 24 Stanley cups since their inception the last time they missed the Post season playoffs two years in a a Guy named Charlie Chaplin had just released his first feature film the last time they lost seven games in a Adolf Hitler was invading but judging by the Montreal medias read nobody seems to be crying with Montreal Gazette columnist Jack Todd trans lated the executives pronouncement As we suck rocks and somebody had to take the could it be the political aspect its a consideration that has to be taken into account with everything in the habs five year losing Streak is not Only an affront to the its also an affront to the culture and Pride of Quebe cers especially when longtime rivals and evil Anglo representatives the Maple Leafs finally trounced them 61 on hockey night in it was also Only a few years ago that Mon Treal traded que Becer Patrick Roy to whose team then went on to win the Stanley cup that he also recently claimed the title As the winning est goalie in nil the habs no longer have a a rocket Richard or a Lafleur to represent their distinct who cry and yet i saw no tears in Gilles Duc Eppes eyes the morning after the election when the bloc quebecois lost even More seats to the lib nor lumps in the Throat of Bouchard when the separatists lost their last perhaps its the fact that both the Brand new Molson Centre and the team itself Are up for that gotta the Molson Centre replaced the hallowed which is now in the process of becoming another soulless shop Ping the Molson Centre does sell out from time to but mostly for the backstreet boys or for a Reading by the author of the Harry Potter canadians fans have taken to wearing paper bags Over their Heads in if the journal de Montreal equated the firing of the habs coach and pm to reshuffling the deck chairs on the they May have been More accurate than they one of the rumoured buyers of the canadians is said to be Celine Well known for supplying the requiem to that sinking my heart will go perhaps Vigneault was getting emotional at the thought of the diva eventually taking his he be alone Many Montre Alers cry when they hear for a multitude of perhaps it is All of these explanations per haps All we know for sure is that in the nil of coaches come and go with the regularity of pucks in the canadians of 10 new coaches in the 9798 Only three Are still on the the habs new coach ther Rien has no nil experience according to the Montreal that gives him an 80 per cent Chance of being fired within a few the struggle to climb Back up in a league with 30 teams can be a painful process something like trying to reassert a French culture in an English nip boat adrift without a life raft were building on our were committed to governing in a balanced these two comments from Premier Gary doer Mirror the cautious and incremental tone of the throne speech opening the second ses Sion of Manitoba 37th so cautious and incremental was the nip governments legislative blueprint that its most noteworthy announcement a sin Gle Hydro rate for All parts of Manitoba had also been promised by the previous tory the bulk of the speech consisted of self con grate Latorya phrases Cov ering virtually All areas of the nip praised itself among other beginning to rebuild University presiding Over the lowest Overall and youth unemployment in the launching the repair of the healthcare training new reducing the number of patients in Hall ways from a 20aday average in november 1998 to a Day last reducing lowering University tuition increasing the after hours use of schools and inaugurating a healthy child initiative to assist vulnerable it also promised to make Manitoba Hydro the Centrepiece of the provinces Industrial using the lowest electricity rates in North America to attract new business and investment million to make Mani Toba a Centre for Energy research and promote conservation through Homeowner Loans and the retrofit of Public the doer government is different in tone and presentation from both of its nip Pride de schreyers Between 1969 and 1973 and Howard Hawleys from 1981 to these governments were engaged in almost constant Handt hand combat with their political opposition and the provinces business and professional this government wants to be seen As managerial rather than in it seems to cherish a political strata Gem used to great effect by Premier Gary Fil Mon during his first two the Dps invisibility Bubble has already been punctured by three Messy imbroglio from which the government beat Hasty and disorganized retreats on aboriginal on re balancing the provinces labour Law and on the use of Crown corporation the governments desire to avoid rocking the boat ends up dumping it in a Stormy sea without a life it Doest do the proper Public groundwork for its few but notable policy Ren Dering it More than Ever Vulner Able to its opposition and special interest t the no with drawn plan to use the lion aut Opac sur plus to repair the provinces crumbling universities is a text Book Case of How poor Public relations can torpedo a highly defensible Public policy Ini not Only is the govern ment now left scrambling to find the Money elsewhere in an increasingly tight but it has put itself in the position of having to raise aut Opac premiums next year when the onetime average saving runs even worse was the damage done to the governments at the Public was led to believe the idea was the aut Opac boards the Board and aut Opac senior manage ment were left on their own to face Public Only at the moment of full Retreat did the minister admit the Cabinet had approved the the embarrassment int about to go the conservatives intend to press their advantage by introducing a private members Bill to prevent government from Ever again steal ing Crown corporation asked yester Day what position his government will take in the the Premier instead blasting the conservatives for hypocrisy because for years they diverted Crown corporation profits into various government departments and even into hockey All not just Hydro and aut Opac Are investors in the provinces Crown corporations and so deserve a return on their Money in the form of vital and needed Public Infra the nip should have issued a White held a wide ranging Public discussion to deter mine the acceptable amounts and accountability mechanisms governing the use of Crown surpluses and then drafted the necessary Legisla this legislation does not exist a fact that makes All the tories draw Downs of the past p e r haps the i tories Bill could begin the Winnipeg free press Winnipeg Iree press est 1872 Winnipeg Tribune est 1890 t vol 129 no 5 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 Rudy email 4 Nicholas Patrick editor ;