Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - March 13, 2001, Winnipeg, Manitoba As Winnith fit ii Macii 2001 editorials Freedom of tirade Liberty of religion Equality of civil rights Media Back in headlines the Federal government has decided to take official interest in the owners of newspapers in the study on Media concentration announced yesterday by Sarmite parliamentary Secretary to heritage minister Sheila will have to consider whether Canada is Well served by Media conglomerates with numerous outlets and Well defined political this question has been on the National Agenda since the announcement last july that can West global a television network was buying the largest daily newspapers of Hollinger the Purchase put win Nipges Asper family in command of More Media Power than Canada had previously seen under one corporate since can West global newspapers continued to operate much As they had done under the Early fears of a uniform political slant to the news began to seem last when can West global news paper chairman David Asper denounced his papers reporting on prime minister Jean owners Power to slant the news came sharply into the Federal governments policy review is Likely to face the same difficulties that confronted the Tom Kent Royal commission 20 years ago and the Keith Davey Senate committee 30 years ago if the government selectively Breaks up Media it will come very close to choosing who May publish newspapers and who May not at great Cost to Freedom of the press and to canadians reasons for believing what they read in the concentration of ownership is one of the ways in which news Media can be debased into organs of but a government role in regulating requiring All newspaper owners please the government in order to keep their business could be another route to the same unworthy the study should determine if restrictions on foreign ownership of Canadian newspapers Are still useful in the age of email and the the greater threat paint household cleansers and solvents As Well As items stored in the garage should not be tossed into garbage bags and but overwhelmingly they one estimate suggested Only 12 per cent of household hazardous wastes make it to the provincial program established to sort through and properly dispose of these this compares with used tire and used Oil pro Grams that achieve recycling Levels of 100 per cent and 50 per those programs have convenient depots tire stores and service stations for dedicated levies Are collected to fund the by the hazardous wastes program has there has to be a better Way of collecting this which arguably presents a greater environmental threat than pop bottles and cardboard that is precisely what John Angus is proposing with a plan to have hazardous materials collected at fire Halls and what the doer govern ment has begun to look at in Advance of Public discussions on hazardous wastes expected this firefighters Are one logical Community resource to Call upon to handle collection of materials that Are combustible or people living nearby or using the depots established at selected fire Halls would need to know the rules and also know that materials can be safely stored until sent for but that is just one of Many items to be including How Best to fund such a program that might Well involve yet More levies passed on to the interest is there and discussion has begun All governments in Manitoba should capitalize on fair tax the Issue exemptions for legions from school first introduced in continue to this but How they have applied has depended on other including whether the legion was licensed to sell court perceptions As to what constitutes a nonprofit and an anomaly that has existed since 1947 in where legions Are exempt from All property what All these amount to is a confusion As to whether legions have paid fair Levels of taxation for the past 30 this and the understandable interest legions have in determining whether they have been has led 31 organizations to sue 13 municipal claim ing they Are owed the suits have caused division within the organizations As to the appropriateness of the and the Impact they might have on tax Levels should the courts award the legions that division is of general the Public is not Well served by a debate among legion members and other the Public interest is Best served by having the courts deter mine the merits of the claims and clarifying what constitutes appropriate Means of assessing the value of legions for property taxation the mops of March Zimbabwe never mind the we must beware the mops of this is a desperate one in which normally right minded people take quickie flights to can buy floppy Straw hats and imagine themselves wearing polka Dot Capri madness is in the we will do anything Short of lighting Black candles and sacrificing chickens to has ten the first warm breath of some of us will even attend a Large scale Home an Garden thousands of people flocked to Home expressions this All of them slapping Down eight Bucks for the Opportunity to Ogle Lawn furniture and watch women in chefs hats Grill fat free this is where win nip Eggers gather when there so tired of Winter they could there is Hope within the Walls of the convention Centre during the Home and Garden the explicit Promise that sprouting bulbs and thirsty Birds Are right around the in not normally a Homeland Garden in More of a i like manicures More than dirt under my swinging in a Hammock More than swinging a Weed i like nature Best when someone has tamed it but in Early when the North wind whistles and in ready to move to Florida to live in a ram shackle trailer i can develop an ardent inter est in ornamental Stone Craft and Darling Little outdoor my attention int entirely we have a newtons House with a sprawling Yard that Calls for shrubs and Flowers and Stone walkways and maybe a gnome or i want to have a Yard that will inspire strangers to slip around the Side of the gape at my Flowers in amazement and loiter until i finally turn the dog on id like to grow a Flower that want a Marigold or a Geranium would enjoy having an interesting item in my Yard that want something the neighbourhood cats had and off to the Home expressions show in search of gardening gloves and roman stack stones for the ancient ruins display one of us thinks Hes building in the Corner near the Edge of the i was looking for inspiration and per haps someone who drop Over and Plant the Gar Den for heres what i Learned Concrete can be very everyone else can Plant a Daffodil bulb in a pot and make something fountains Are All the Best people have front Load my clothes would look better and id be happier if i bought a closet that hot tub fantasy lives what i Call drapes other better dressed people Call window some people buy Lawn furniture that int White and the biggest revelation was the glut of fancy expensive mops that can clean your eliminate pet Shine the linoleum and make you look 10 pounds these Are mops that can straighten out your bal Ance your Cheque Book and impress your Mother these mops have previously been seen on to quote one of the energetic crowds gathered to watch these fabulous floor cleaners Cereal was poured on the pet hair bread crumbs tossed and filthy boots marched across the tile in an Effort to illustrate the calibre of mops available for More people ringed these demos than had previously gathered to watch Zucchini sizzle on a this was compelling human drama this was the Chance to Start Spring toss out the old and Wash that Man right out of my hair hundreds of people bought Slung them Over their shoulders and strode about with the proud smiles of new people of Faith bought folks whose March madness convinced them the Way to happiness and Spring Lay in a Blue mop i recognizing the Folly in buying any household object that int in sticking with roman stacking stones and Daffodil beware the mops of March some thing tells me just Lead to vigorous cleaning with no Promise of culture of exclusivity now that Bernard Landry has taken the Helm of Quebec parti quebecois those of us in the rest of Canada can expect to face an increased flow of contemptuous and insulting comments from the new Premier and those around Landry has demonstrated More than once his capacity for getting our backs up in the rest of Canada and members of his Cabi net seem prepared to follow his if we Are to Cope with this flow of inter provincial Den we had better make an Effort to understand what we Are getting our backs up More often than our instant reactions of indignation miss the Point of what the pm politicians Are saying about looked at the Point they Are making is much More profound and much More troublesome than Mere take for last weeks flurry Over the comment of Quebec culture Diane that there is no real Ontario the instant response from Ontario was what one might expect there is much of the Ontario reaction assumed that what the Quebec minister was saying was that the peo ple of Ontario were a Bunch of ignorant uncultured especially when compared to the cultured and sophisticated people of Ontario Deputy Premier Jim Flaherty pointed to the Strat Ford and Shaw theatre the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey club and the wineries of the Niagara Peninsula As evidence of Ontario thriving Cuk All of those impressive As they missed the is Lemieux was not saying that people in Ontario were she was say ing that there was no Ontario which is quite a different thing and which brings into question the whole Issue of what makes a to Landry and members of his party and to other Quebec nationalists As Well a to be a True must be fenced in by boundaries of or religion or by that Quebec has a culture because it has been protected from outside cultural influences by the French or any other part of cannot claim to have a culture because it is open to cultural influences from All the Stratford festival is regarded in Ontario As a part of the provinces cultural identity in que Bec it would be regarded As a cultural the notion of an exclusive Quebec culture is As much political As it was echoed in Lucien Bouchard comment that Canada is not a real in Jacques Parizeau attack on Money and the ethnic vote As the cause of the failure of the last referendum on sovereignty and in Yves Michaud dismissive comments about the notion of an exclusive culture leads to the ultimate political question if Quebec has an exclusive and if that culture is confined to a specific then that makes Quebec a nation if Quebec is a it must also be a nation that argument creates some prob lems for moderate Quebec nationalists because it writes off the significant minority of Quebe cers who do not share the exclusive culture which is presumed to define the Quebec they attempt to get around the with its implication of by claiming that the Quebec nation today is defined by geography rather than by language or that reassurance is unlikely to be very encouraging to members of Quebec linguistic and Cul Tural minorities who can see themselves sacrificed on the altar of cultural oppressor finds a few supporters the following editorial appeared in yesterdays Washington Post Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe has harassed political oppo wrecked a once sturdy Economy and recently trampled on the Rule of Law by pushing the chief Justice into Early but when Mugabe travelled to Europe last he was received with remark Able he had meetings with the belgian prime with the european unions minister for development Aid and with Jacques the French Back Mugabe diplomacy was presented by the bullied press As a National meanwhile Mugabe Justice minister visited South which is not Only the regional superpower but a the minister Dis missed reports that zimbabwean judges there is no had been intimidated As pure 6xcusb for condoning even More Odri South Africa Mugabe had to oppression say that he believed adding that he had seen enough of the Media to know not to Trust their and never mind that South Africa senior judges recently condemned it is hard to know what More Mugabe must do to persuade Feck less outsiders to Send him the right the hounding of the chief Anthony involved vilification in parliament and a refusal to protect him following death this because Gubbay had bravely condemned the presidents bending of election rules and the stat sponsored invasions of White owned Mugabe since has followed up with a Promise to remove All remain ing members of the supreme meanwhile he prepares to prosecute his principal Morgan on charges of inciting political even though nearly All the violence that attended last years election was directed at Tsyva Girais Given Mugabe treatment of this trial is unlikely to involve the europeans like to talk about the importance of building institutions in developing yet some also talk of a Man who is deter mined to dismantle the South africans Are promoting a new millennium african Renaissance pro which is supposed to rejuvenate the continents Leader yet the country Justice minis Ter seems never to have heard of outside condemnation would be no guarantee that Mugabe would change his but there is also no excuse for appearing to condone Winnipeg free press Winnipeg free press est 1872 Winnipeg Tribune est 1890 vol 129 no 97 2001 Winnipeg free a division of newspapers division of Thomson Canada limited published seven Days a week at 1355 Mountain Manitoba 6977000 a the Manitoba press Council Rudy publisher email Nicholas Patrick Flynn Deputy editor ;