Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - February 23, 2001, Winnipeg, Manitoba Focus a15 2001 Western nation has Little to offer Saskatoon they dont have much else besides a party name and a but the people behind the Western Independent nation Are determined to see Saskatchewan leave Canada and form a separate though this dubious concept seems to find Fertile ground in this province every few the party Hast even been officially formed plans Are to hold a founding convention this sum the groups one Concrete achieve its Flag featuring six stars on a Green and Blue background framed by red and White bands seems unconnected to goal so the goal for Western Independent nation seems to be to form a separatist provincial gov which would take Saskatchewan out of Conedera just How any links might be made with other Western provinces presumably symbolized by the other stars on the Flag has gone although organizers have stated its time for the West to separate from and there has been no men Tion of any separatist interest in either Yukon or the Northwest territories unless they join the four Western those six stars on the Flag dont make much but the people who met recently in near the Manitoba Border on the Yellowhead to discuss Saskatchewan separation mainly complained about the Litany of ills Western Canada must endure at the hands of the people lined up to voice their Dis taste for Revenue the Canad an wheat the prime minister and his minister of intergovernmental Stephane who has blasted the idea of Saskatchewan separa Tion As a fringe the backers of this party Are also vociferously against the new Federal gun control and incensed by what they see As a Lack of Federal financial support for grievances organizer David a Farmer from North of has said that the wests grievances against Ottawa go Back almost to the time of in finished with he told the Yorkton weve fought these Guys forever and a in an earlier Media he we need to separate from Ottawa and get out from under their taxation schemes that they we seem to be always treated like a Colony out our taxes go Down to Ottawa and they never seem to Send anything in Ottawa took in billion in taxes from but returned billion to the province in program Transfer and equalization As a have not Saskatchewan will this year receive million in equalization payments from the Federal govern during the last 10 Saskatchewan has received about billion because of this Revenue sharing although Sawkiw has publicly con ceded that Selling separatism in Saskatchewan is Likely to be difficult because of the provinces dependence on Federal funding for key he has also said people Are nonetheless disillusioned with the Structure of the Canadian if he is referring to the wests share of seats in Given its popu representation leans in favour of the Ontario 12 million people elect 103 members of Western Canadas nine million elect 88 a typical Ontario my must there fore represent More constituents than a typical Western Light a fire Sawkiw is a former provincial tory who ran in the 1995 provincial when the party was completely Dis credited by what was proven in court to be criminal financial management of the he came in last in that in he ran again As an inde pendent and garnered Only 126 at the Yorkton Sawkiw encouraged those attending to return to their Home communities and talk about separation go and Light a Little fire in your in the supporters revisit All the ills supposedly perpetrated upon the West by a historically insensitive Central Canadian mixing fact and perception and hardly the Way to Light a fire in the hearts of Saskatchewan they love a Good political but they need something solid to so the separatists Haven much to will Clarks effective opposition last in face of Public indifference this Joe Clark at least the de Facto Leader of the opposition in the House of leading the smallest party in the his ability to pull this off attests to his skill As a but it also reflects problems facing the official the Canadian and the governing the Alliance is mired in a continuing preoccupation with the fallout from Stockwell Days it was bad enough that Day was so fool ish As to write an unnecessary letter that led to his being sued for in which he lacked the wit to recognize an error and it was worse that the costs of his fruitless defence ended up being paid for by Alberta taxpayers in the amount of much of which went to his worse still was the revelation that someone in the same Law firm donated to the Canadian Alliance in Alliance has hired its own lawyer who has concluded that no Law was broken and is going to seek yet another opinion on the propriety of accepting this they Are presumably not seeking the opinion of Premier Ralph Klein obviously grasps the optics of Alberta Public Money passing to Days lawyer and from Days lawyers to Days National and Klein has suggested that the donation be passed on to the Alberta says to do that might give Rise to questions of Days if one May employ so charitable a has its parallels in the controversy Over prime minis Ter Jean Chretien involvement his direct intervention in the granting of a loan to a Friend and constituent by a Crown the business development Bank of Canada when this Issue first sur faced 1ast the prime minister ultimately acknowledged phoning the Banks but argued that he was Only doing what any member of parliament would do on behalf of any it is certainly True that Jonathan Hayward Canadian press tory Leader Joe Clark questions the Liberal government in the maps do try to influence All sorts of political and administrative decisions on behalf of their but the implication that All maps interventions Are the same or equally effective invites the obvious orwellian observation that though All maps Are some Are considerably More equal than revisited As these matters have been revisit particularly by in the weeks since the new parliament the prime minister sought to end fur ther discussion by claiming that his reelection last november meant that the Issue was several opposition maps and editorialists across the country responded by pointing out that Richard Nixon massive reelection As president in 1972 did not prevent his being forced from office in 1974 Over events that occurred before the there is no plea sure to be taken in such analogies being drawn Between Chretien and Nixon and still less in Brian Tobin accusing Clark of mccarthyism in its demonizing is itself but triumphant governments need to be reminded that if they Settle who will do not necessarily Settle everything Clark has declined to treat the Issue As settled and certainly not settled by the last week the prime minister was asked whether one Jean Carle former director of operations in the prime ministers office pm and subsequently Vic president of the Bank had in any Way been involved in the Bobc Chretien said he had this Clark quoted from internal Docu ments in which Carle advised the president of the Bank on ways in which the president might deflect or evade questions regarding the prime ministers intervention on the loan the whatever else they May provide yet another glimpse of the tentacle like the pm has acquired in the last 20 years the pm not Only renders Deci Sions but advises on How to Camou Flage them As lines of defence in All the government has had two lines of one is to cite the ramps conclusion that this is not a matter requiring a criminal i Vestiga no one unless one counts the hapless Stockwell Day has seriously believed there was evidence criminal wrongdoing As opposed to improper or inappropriate the governments defence rests with its own ethics commission1 or who concluded when it came to relations Between the prime minis Ter and the head of a Crown no guidelines were because no guidelines the logic of this argument which is highly convenient for the government and highly inconvenient for everyone else is As with the perception has been created of a Leader depending on hirelings whose role is to assure the Leader of his own perhaps Chretien behaved appropriately and perhaps Clark is and if Clark is the usual Politi Cal penalties will the smart Money says the Public is but Little interested in matters of Public rectitude or it is so inured to impropriety As to now be if either of these is the two things stand in jeopardy the relatively few Independent Public institutions that Are beyond the direct control of powerful governments and a mini Mally vigilant and effective opposition required to keep our politics minimally Filihi the free press welcomes letters from they must include the authors address and Telephone Ball letters May be letters to the 1355 Mountain r2x fax email get City out of gravel business the decision of City Council to open its gravel operation to the general Public is something i feel deserves closer whats at stake Here is a principle that if not taken serious opens the door to an endless justification of the use of tax subsidized Public departments in an Effort to hold or perhaps reduce the dependency upon property the private Industry has every right to feel slighted by this recent decision and its for reasons i suspect Many people dont fully for have battled this Way of thinking within my own Field of work and have seen first hand the effects it has upon not Only the Means of Small business to survive in this competitive climate we All struggle but also the Impact upon the industries that Supply us and those we hire to assist us in our Ive watched a close Friend Battle to maintain the sol Vency of her family business in the Quarry Industry and then have to wit Ness a Public sector Wade into the fray knowing full Well i1 will have an Impact upon those workers who Are deemed somewhat expendable in Light of the fact they dont carry civil Sec Tor Union lets sell the opera Tion and let the City Purchase from the private sending a message to All that Winnipeg is indeed open for perhaps in the much desired tax Relief can actually be come to think of could buy a lot of Dan Donahue Winnipeg school division ignores autistic Childs needs i am responding to a letter to the Edi education system needs of buds from Harriet Berkal and Larry i agree that we need an of buds have been involved with a school and school division that puts budget ahead of i have a son with he is in a divisional program in vital school division that is not Only but the program does not meet my sons i have unsuccessfully tried to ask Cooper coerce and demand an individual program to meet his but in years have had Little my son needs a therapy called applied behavioural analysis which is proven to he has Learned nothing in years using the pro Gram he is in i have written to Tim Drew Gary Nancy Linda Baxter and Ron none of whom were pre pared to they All refer me Back to the school which admits it is not an expert on Why Are these people in charge of my sons education do we need an ombudsman for our educational system you bet we Ric Hisco Winnipeg give Money directly to charities in the Wake of the recent Shriner the statements Ive heard about this being an isolated experience should be probed a Little deeper to determine the organizations viability As a it appears to be just another boys club that poses As a charitable not to Dis credit the monies it raises for but after partaking in one of its fund i merely doubt this work to be the purpose to its i attended a gentlemen evening As a guest of a Friend this past year no Bare breasts were on the but also missing was any charitable sub the evening opened with a the bar was the crowd was male and the jokes were a wide Range of politically socially offensive and gender Centric trash the crowd Hung on his every before the dinner our table shared in the Many jokes of dinners past they were just As the largest Cost of this evening was paid by the women and the Many eth Nic groups that were used As a Means for a i applaud the female serv ing personnel who had to Cope with the words and the lewd Behaviours that this was an occasion when i was embarrassed to be my question remains do evenings like these do their Best to perpetuate charitable acts or do they simply allow certain men to get together and feel better about themselves when they partake in activities that Are not so worthy of philanthropic Praise please give your Money to the people who need not to the organizations who misuse Ken Mackinnon Winnipeg customer responsible for Bank card safety i want to comment on the assertion in Gordon Sinclair column that the Royal Bank is somehow obliged to refund to Ashley Kilyk because of Bank card fraud for Bank card offers wealth of 17 As a former customer service agent for Royal i can Tell you that Many people Are extremely Cava Lier in safeguarding their Bank cards in general and their personal identification numbers pin in they give them to with no thought As to the when you receive a Bank it comes with a cardholder agreement that clearly states that the customer is responsible for that card including keeping the pin if you give your code to someone or choose an easily decipherable you Are no one Bank cards and automatic Teller machines atm work together to provide excellent Security for customers if someone were to lose their card on the Street and some one else were to pick it up and take it to an he just stand there All Day punching in codes until the Correct one came in the Case of Royal if a code is incorrectly punched in three that card is voided and the customer must attend the Branch in order to get a new there is no Way anyone could have had Access to is Filks account with out first knowing the most arms Are equipped with Cam eras that record the time and Date of each transaction As Well As saving the image of the person using the in most empty envelope fraud if the police Are asked to investigate they will request a copy of this More often than the photo turns out to be of someone known to the victim who was Given the pin at some time or who knows that the victim always uses the same pin for keep your pin secret and use a code that is not obvious or easily Deci you Are if you cant abide by these Basic Security turn in your card and get in line for a Rod Gray Winnipeg doonesbury by Garry Trudeau Interior size of in Coto Rapo is known go in pinup girl of puinpzrjn6 me w to Antloger ;