Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - March 12, 2001, Winnipeg, Manitoba A6 Winn pm March 2001 editorials Freedom of Trade Liberty of religion Equality of civil rights protecting the babies a recent report that assessed the health of Manitoba children opened the window on the smoking and drinking habits of pregnant but just by a the report contained information from statistics Canadas 1996 National longitudinal Survey on children and youth showing that women with higher incomes More than were More Likely to drink and poorer women were much More Likely to limited in the information gleaned from the Survey immediately suggests there is much to be done to keep fetuses Safe from the risks posed by exposure to tobacco and alcohol in the the Survey is limited in that it did not ask How much the women drank or almost All of the 20 per cent who smoked did so throughout the preg compared with Only four per cent of the 12 per cent of Mani Toba pregnant women who As no surveying was done on reserves in the some Manitoba reserves have extra ordinarily High rates of children born with fetal alcohol a debilitating condition that can result from exposure to alcohol in the fas and fetal alcohol a less easily identified developmental have lifelong Impact on including learning disabilities and behavioural which has also been identified As widespread on contributes to Low Birthwright so while the Survey under reports the problem of smoking and those women from communities not surveyed might justifiably ask Why they should take interest in the women have been warned for decades now to Stop smoking when for at least the last doctors generally have told the same women to beware of noting there is no known level of exposure considered Safe for the if the warning about tobacco was Ever entirely the Sta scan 1996 Survey indicates 38 per cent of women of Low incomes Are ignoring All pregnant women who smoke and their babies stand to Benefit from More worrisome is the fact numerous surveys show teenage girls Are leading the increasing trend to smoke among Young the surveys numbers Are delivering a similar cautionary tale about there is perhaps a natural inclination to assume since fas is most closely associated with heavy or Binge that drinking socially or sipping wine with dinner is not a threat to the in the absence of better no one can give such assurances and that message certainly deserves to be More widespread than a doctors initial warning or a poster in the liquor there is a need for a dedicated tax on alcohol and tobacco to provide meaningful and sustained fund ing for research and education on smoking and women need to be targeted by such but so must the first nations particularly people living on the reason Able first is to find out fully who is smoking and How much and such surveys Are expensive but the toll is greater on the children who live with the time to pay there is no Good reason for denying Public compensation to the families whose children died after heart surgery at the health sciences Centre in the 30month inquest into the baby deaths produced an ironclad Case that the Hospital and its physicians failed in their duty to give appropriate care for the childrens lawyers might forever argue about How much of the blame extends to the Winnipeg regional health which has direct control Over the and the Manitoba gov which funds hospitals and paid for the establishment of a paediatric heart surgery program at in the the responsible party or parties did not fulfil their obligations and Money paid to Settle claims Over that will come out of the Public it should be paid the Issue of compensation is just one How in a larger debt owed to All immediately after judge Murray Sinclair issued his report in the Manitoba government struck a committee to review the wealth of recommendations he these recommendations looked at How patients Are advised on treatment and care by doctors and and How systems can be improved to ensure health practitioners and hospitals catch errors and weaknesses before they become some of these items were others were practical and More easily the committee is expected to report at the end of this but Manitoban by now could have expected to see the government Issue a handbook helping patients understand the Issue of informed consent to med ical a blueprint for such a handbook is contained on Page 481 of the Sinclair within when the committee completes its Manitoban should be handed at least health minister Dave Chomiak says he is sympathetic to the concerns of the it is his timely response they and Manitoban Are most interested making companies be Nice Penni Mitchell two years de Broadbent led a National panel on governance and accountability in Cana Das voluntary at one of the Toronto someone stood up and this is All Well and but Why dont you pursue this in the corporate sector i thought it was a great Broad Bent this Broadbent Canadian democracy and corporate accountability commission comes to the Radisson hotel in it int de Broadbent in commission ers from the private sector outnumber Well known faces like that of they include the commissions co chair Avie Ben the chair of Mcclelland and John former ceo of Iron Ore company of citizens Bank ceo Linda Crompton and Ken president of the Canadian labour the commissions diversity is a Challenge to a Lazy View that says that the desire to put a human face on corporations is strictly a left Wing con i admit that when i first heard about the i thought it was Hast any one told them about the Trade agree or the world Trade organization suffice it to say that Broadbent is Well versed on in we Are living with Many of the negative effects he predicted a dozen years he knows about the the growing Unac countability of corporate next months Trade Summit in Quebec City and which is to say that if anyone has a right to be its de except he in Broadbent thinks people who say Down with International Trade Are in the same he we cant just carry on with Lavisse Zaire Trade that ignores and is often a contributing negative effect on human rights and the envy around the same time Broadbent was writing his report on voluntary sector account 11 shareholders asked the Board of Tal Isman Energy for Assurance that the company would not materially Aid the Sudan govern ments displacement of citizens to make room for Oil and Gas Talisman replied that under corporate shareholders have the right to hold corporations accountable for the Bottom but not to ask if a third party rights Are trampled along the the Issue of corporate accountability grew from the seeds of protest against economic globalization that began at the end of the 20th while International Trade treaties May be one vehicle for greater corporate account Talisman Drew attention to another the Canada business corporations act Broadbent knows that corporations Arent going to become More responsive to human rights and environmental concerns vol after they Arent How like corporations abide by Federal requirements that spell out the roles and responsibilities of directors and share the commission is looking for ways to give shareholders a greater say in the rules and regulations governing its a ques Tion that affects everyone with retirement Money socked away in Mutual one solution is to give shareholders greater Power to have proposals relating to corporate social responsibility voted upon at company annual general if that sounds like democratizing private maybe it Industry minister Brian to give shareholders More under Amend ments to the coca introduced last the ability of management to refuse a proposal strictly on the grounds that it promoted a social or political cause would be some 30 american states have passed legislation that permits directors to consider the effects of no shareholder interests environmental human working if you want to make a presentation to the Contact Susan Mcmurray at 416 email cottagers get ready to squish n shout theres bad news from Manitoba depart ment of forests about Forest tent those Squishy Worms that took such a toll on Park usage last year will be Back again this Likely there will be More of the news from Mani Toba conservation is Oscar Lathun has decided that the govern ment wont lift a Finger to fight the Caterpillar it looks like again this year Manitoba main summer the White Shell Provin Cial will be effectively closed to campers and others who look to the Park for businesses in the who took it on the Chin last will have to put up with another sea son of silent Cash registers As visitors avoid the the real question is Forest tent Cater which occur in three year cycles every Are easily controlled by Aerial spraying with a nontoxic biological agent that affects Only the fish and humans Are not nor is the Overall population of tent caterpillars threatened by spraying recreational although the government encourages cottagers to Spray their own it wont permit Aerial the lath wont meet with the cottagers the in its february cottagers announced for aesthetic Rea Aerial spraying will not be carried when Overall Forest health is not the newsletter Manitoba conservation does not promote the disruption of this tent Caterpillar natural Cycle by spraying in provincial the bureaucrats say that the leaves will reappear again almost As quickly As they Are no one who experienced the White Shell last summer will believe nor is the absence of leaves the main problem with the in the Caterpillar they drop from the Trees by the they leaving stains that require in the cocoon stage they Are so Sticky that a Power Washer is required to remove again making repainting bureaucrats talk As if Park users Are nearly evenly divided for and against Aerial the newsletter says some Are in some regional Parks manager Bruce Bremner agrees that most of the people who own the cottages in the White Shell would like to have the area but he claims that there Are some cottagers who and they Are joined by special interest groups and he Doest say whether these objectors use the or just want to make life miserable for those who As one cottage who has talked to i would say that the split is not it is More like 500 to one in favor of is Parks really arguing that Clearing a relatively Small area of tent caterpillars is Likely to affect the species what about the depart ments other stated which include the management of natural resources to con serve integrity of optimize eco nomic minimize Impact of natural disasters and enhance the Quality of life for All the government cannot argue that it does not have the Money to Spray because the cottagers association has offered to pick up the this would improve summer life not Only for the cottagers who would pay for the spraying but also for the those Ordinary Manito bans the government says it cares last year the complaints grew until the government finally promised to reconsider its position on spraying for this perhaps consideration was Given Over the Winter but it looks like the government simply walked away when the shouting the shouting is about to Start up the annual meeting of the White Shell cottagers association will take place on thursday it is a Safe bet that members will want an explanation for the decision not to Spray this the bureaucrats Are expected to say what they always that the decision comes from the they can Only Lathlin was also his office said he is too Busy to Winnipeg free press win Peg Frijs fress Winnipeg Tribune est 2001 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 the Manitoba press Council Rudy publisher email Nicholas Hirst Patrick editor ;