Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - December 14, 2000, Winnipeg, Manitoba A14 Winn Pic fikh do Simbir 2000 editorials Freedom of Trade Liberty of religion Equality of civil rights a result the drama of the photo finish in the race for the presidency petered out this it became Clear that the recount of votes in Florida could not be carried out quickly enough to meet constitutional deadlines and carefully enough to meet the standards of the supreme there was no Roll of Drums or clash or cymbals but just the gradual recognition that the democrats Effort to snatch Victory from the jaws of defeat faced insuperable America and the world prepared for a Republican administration under George for who enjoyed the fruits of office during the eight year Rule of president Bill it was time to learn once again the arts of opposition and the Means of holding the party together in Prepa ration for future for republicans who waged eight years of Usu ally futile political War fare against Clinton and vice president Al it was time to Chase the Clinto nites from the seats of Power and Start filling in the details of the George Bush pro Gram for the very Public five week struggle Between the Bush and Gore Camps Over the close race in Florida must leave a sour taste in the Mouths of the most committed partisans on the democratic like hockey players who believe they lost a championship through a referees they will go to their Graves feeling they were robbed of the Victory they for the rest of the there is Only one president and the tangled series of manoeuvres in Florida and Federal courts is merely a historical footnote yesterdays because of the struggle Over the Florida electoral College the Public is probably better informed now about presidential elections than electorates usually if someone wants to pro pose an overhaul of the this is probably the time for americans Are now keenly aware that their votes May be discarded if a machine cannot read that election methods and rules vary widely among states and within each that a presidential candidate can win the election even when More americans voted for the other Candi the prospects for a sweeping Reform Are not Bright since the winners believe the system produced a Good but they Are less dim than usual just at this the news of Bush Success coincided with news that general motors had abandoned production of its Oldsmobile models and will Lay off automakers have been losing Market share to asian slowdown in the automobile sector matched signs than the entire Economy was slowing the democrats had the Good Fortune to Lead the during a period of steady economic growth under the management of chairman Alan Greenspan and the Federal Reserve who have been trying to rein in rapid economic growth without triggering a recession the Long awaited soft declining growth suggested a Landing was about to the republicans will anxiously watch Greenspan Complete the Landing As they take hoping for a soft managing two tiers the billion that canadians Are spending on their health care this year reflects growth of per cent Over the preceding Well ahead of the whole Canadian according to the Canad an Institute for health a joint Federal provincial health has been claiming a growing share of government Revenue and of the National wealth for Many years and the trend shows no sign of the Institute also found that drugs account for a growing part of health care expense while Hospital costs and doctors services account for a declining Canadas provincial government imposed a drop in spending on doctors and hospitals during the 1990s by curbing the number of doctors and closing hospitals and parts of drug inno has continued at a rapid Pace and drug manufacturing firms have continued to show handsome drugs Are paid for outside Canadas publicly funded health insurance either by the patients themselves or by provincial Pha Macare plans for Low income patients or by employers on sorted drug plans for by shifting patients out of hospitals and into drug ther Canadas provincial governments have indirectly expanded the private sector part of Canadian health care and shrunk the Public the Institute found that the Public sector share increased faster in the last two when the governments quit closing hospitals and the Federal government restored its payments to the provinces for health the Institute estimated that private spending covers 29 per cent of health service in Canada this in this the angry election Campaign talk about a two tier health care system was about on third of Canadas health spending lies outside the private but that is not a problem so Long As Pha Macare and employer sponsored plans Are the problem is not whether to have two we have the problem is How to manage dont Call me alienated i subscribe to the View that the cup is half not half it is a reasonable positive and optimistic and Why not we Are a favoured country with Good in the course of the bad news makes the head lines to balance the appraisal of what it would be rewarding to adopt the Hal full so i look at the Federal election results and find them less alarming than the Mournful utterances of pundits that Western dissatisfaction has sunk to a new Low and that the political future is to be the vote for the Canadian Alliance representing the strongest voice of Dis dominated the returns in the it won this percentage of votes Manitoba 30 Saskatchewan 48 Alberta 59 British Columbia the other Side of the picture is that about 45 per cent did not support the Alliance and presumably did not share this so called feeling of Manitoba turns out to be the most diverse and in my the most with Alliance and conservatives All showing some our geographical Posi Tion is also one of we Are generally regarded As being in Western Canada but in reality we Are in the Middle of the i have no problem identifying i am a if i am to be counted As a so be but i want to make it i do not have any sense of an attribute loosely applied to i think the alleged displeasure with the East is As an economist Friend reminds by the nature of East Ern Canada assumed a Superior position in pop Industry and Commerce and the seat of so it has been in the but the Pic Ture is changing with the torrent of Oil Money pouring into i have spoken to people in every province and feel a sense of belonging everywhere for we share the pleasure of being i am not aware of any poll questioning Alber tans whether they Are albertan or i am sure such a poll would find them instinctively saying they Are the proof comes in a recent poll in Quebec in which peo ple were asked whether they first considered themselves Quebe cers or the pre dominant response was canadians take Stock of themselves in a com Parison with our guns and Cine Are two subjects immediately raised that set us carried by millions of Are banned in Canada with very few in health facing severe we still insist on a Universal system in contrast to hospitals run for profit in the in the Money counts about 40 million americans Are not covered by any med ical insurance while in Canada everyone is covered by the i say this at the risk of sounding self right eos and a criticism voiced by americans sometimes with but it is not being As some say when we oppose i think we will miss the departure of Lloyd foreign minis who for has opposed the Pentagon plan to embark on a billion anti ballistic missile program that will threaten existing arms control in his Farewell speech in As president of the Dwight Eisenhower warned of the Power vested in the military Industrial his warning is relevant but we canadians can learn a lot from americans in their openness and insistence that deliberations of government Are made known to the in the government Docu ments Are More accessible to Public and congressional committees Force More accountability in in there is in Canada a tendency to keep matters of a controversial nature under this applies to All Levels of an example is the refusal of the tory govern ment a few years ago to release an agreement with a pulp and paper but it was easily obtainable in the i suggest it should be incumbent on every government taking office to declare its adherence to Freedom of information and so advise the making the conduct of government More transparent would Likely ease dissatisfaction of a number of i do not say All West Erners because they Are not a monolithic some think the cup half others half Dawn of a new millennium debate there Are always Small things for which to be for the hackneyed term y2k faded mercifully from the lexicon in the Early Days of this it was meant to be shorthand for year but y2k became almost synonymous with fears about a meltdown of computers and Public and the end of civilization As we know through diligent or maybe due to false we managed to head off Dis Aster at the per haps a bit embarrassed by All the we ditched All evidence of the matter y2k Moniker and but while computer experts and survivalists were musing last year about the real or imag ined threat of the y2k another fierce debate was the year 2000 is the first year of the third no it yes it and so it on the letters pages of news on television and in even Winnipeg City Council argued about those who maintain that the new millennium begins in 2001 considered the other Side to be victims of marketing and or just mathematically the people ready for a meaningful Bash at the end of 1999 wrote off the 2001believers As tiresome wet blankets and still others argued that both groups Are in terms of significance to that Camp insists Jesus Christ was actually born in the somewhere Between four and seven years before the generally accepted that Means the third millennium actually began several years when we we rent no the year 2000 and All the machinery and spectacle that went with after its hard to dispute the sym Metry of 2000 2001 int nearly As neat and orderly a number and the drama of seeing All four numbers flip its a simple but simple is often it Felt any whenever the millennium really begins or began please dont Call or Send schol arly this year will be decidedly Anticlimactic compared to the breathless celebrations of last this one devoted Spe Cial sections to the recounting of achievements and events of the previous 1999 retailers and even planners had their to channels were clogged with Century end and millennium end pro All to the Chagrin of the 2001 being right has its own but they can be solitary presidential candidate Al Gore May still believe he is but after a it Doest do much Good to bleat about so it goes for the people who will Mark the Dawn of the new millennium on there wont be much fanfare for no mat Ter How right they May Dearent Likely to see fireworks exploding from the Eiffel Tower or embroidered souvenir cocktail suits Ive never been a big fan of new years millennium or it always seemed a bit too Earnest and forced hardly a real Holiday at were going to have fun whether we have fun or a Friend and i used to joke not necessarily about new but the sentiment does Long before full blown scepticism set my distaste for new years eve was cemented the year i had Strep Throat and had to stay Home with magazines and a sullen Martyr to a sore Throat and aching on the Best new years Eves Ive Ever spent have been Cowkey one i took the train from Toronto to where a childhood Friend and another High school mate were attending a group of us went out for then walked Back to the House to play Board drink Beer and sparkling wine and watch in not sure if we even observed the countdown although we must have but for the casual closeness captured the Spir it of the i remember when i first grappled with the passage of time and the idea of a new in the dying december Days of my fifth my dad told me we would never see 1971 to my dramatic it seemed like something was about to be that great change was i asked How things would be differ and what would my father tomorrow will be just like Only it wont be 1971 any or Ever Twenty nine years that still makes sense to commemorative millennium Champagne flutes whether embossed with 2000 or 2001 never Winnipeg free press Winnipeg free presses 1872 Winnipeg Tribune est 1890 vol 129 n013 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 Dythe Manitoba press Council Rudy publisher email Nicholas Patrick editor ;