Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - June 3, 2001, Winnipeg, Manitoba B4 Winnipeg free june 2001 f is Linsday forum Freedom of Trade Liberty of religion Equality of civil rights editorial linking their Way into scorn Canadas members of parliament Are set to vote themselves a Nice increase in before they vote that raise into they should offer canadians a better idea of what they can do to earn As seems always to happen when this Issue comes and it does with some we hear the same from one Side we hear that maps work deserve the raise and that it is Nec Essary to attract a better sort of person into politics than the people who Are already on the other comes the sentiment that if maps Are not already paid too they Are certainly paid Well enough for what they actually the average who makes far less Money than an my and receives nothing like the Perks or pensions that Federal politicians get above and beyond their May feel that she works harder than the average my for less Money and that her representative in parliament is overpaid that this perception May not be True does not make it any less that is not to say that members of parliament never deserve a raise in there May be times when they clearly do although it is not obvious that this is one of neither the committee that issued the report recommending the nor prime min ister Jean who seems set to ram them through the House of com has been Able to offer a single convincing reason Why these increases Are necessary members of parliament today receive the equivalent of a year As salary and in tax free expense the new regime would give them in straight salary and remove the expense a 20percent the prime minister would earn a a 42percent raise from the cur rent there would still be Perks and privileges a Annu Al living for example and the Deal is made All the sweeter by the fact that it further fatten an already Rich pension a gift to themselves that will keep on giving Long after today maps have left that they work hard for their Money is not reason in itself to give this group of maps a generous they knew when they ran for election that they would be expected to and they knew what they would be paid for that As for Chretien other argue that higher wages will attract a better class of canadians have already got what will buy them and even if these maps Are in the prime ministers to draw it seems a dubious proposition that paying them More Money will improve it is also dubious that a larger emolument would produce a better Batch of members of parliament after the next canadians really have Only the prime ministers word that the current crop is not quite up to snuff because the manner in which Chretien runs parliament and government gives very few of them any Chance at All to when almost the Only work that an my has to do is remain Alert enough to stand up and vote when his party Leader stands up when a vote is called in the a year does not seem too Many maps work but they Are not encouraged to by the Way Parlia ment works because of the pub Lic perception and certainly for the the reality that maps Are there simply to vote the party increasing their salaries dramatically will be a hard thing to sell to the but then Chretien does not have to sell he has a majority that is supine in its adherence to party the Way that parliament works under the liberals has caused consid Erable not Only among opposition maps and the but even among Rankan file liberals who feel themselves Cut out of the policymaking and decision making simply expected to show up and vote As they Are told when they Are this has prompted widespread Calls for parliamentary reforms that would give individual maps a greater a larger responsibility As individuals elected by voters because of their Opin ions and for their Early in prime minister Chretien promised that there would be changes in the legislative process after a com Mittee had reported on ways to modernize and improve that committee reported on it offered interesting innovations in time allocation and speaker selection but not the Reform of committees that would give backbench ers a larger the proposal for a raise would have More credibility if it were linked to parliamentary Reform and set to come into effect after the next As has been suggested by some members of the opposition and one Lone but the prime minister will not that idea was hooted Down in closed door meeting last with the prime min ister linking like a pig not very but appropriate in a Way that probably did not occur to Chretien at the concerns expressed by some it seems Likely that maps will vote them selves a raise sometime this with out much in doing they will further undermine their already fragile credibility in the Public thatchers formula Doest work now the labour Campaign poster for the final week of the British general elec Tion shows opposition Leader William Hague who is totally Bald wearing mar Garet thatchers inimitable with the legend be be very but who could be afraid of Little Willy Margaret Thatcher devised the elec toral strategy that showed conserva Tive leaders All Over the West How to win and keep but on her own Home turf its not working any or at least her successor As Leader of the conservative William is not making it Only one opinion poll was published in Britain last because prime min ister Tony Blairs reelection is such a foregone conclusion that most Media organizations dont want to waste their Money on further that poll showed that labours Lead has widened to a stunning 19 Points 47 per cent for labour and Only 28 per cent for the con if nothing changes before the vote on june Blair will have a majority of 267 seats in the new parliament nearly 100 More than in labours 1997 Victory that ended almost two decades of conservative something has gone wrong with the old Thatcher this is not Only of interest to the for the same strategy was adopted by other righting parties throughout the English speaking world in the 80s and Early its How Brian Mulroney conservatives ended 16 years of Liberal government in and How the republicans under Reagan and Bush the elder held Power for 12 years in the United it depended in one key insight that the poor no longer count they used to matter a when or 50 per cent of the citizens of the Industrial democracies lived in Pover they could not be the lib eral democracies would not have survived if their major political both left and had not shaped their policies to lift this huge mass of citizens out of misery but As time passed and economies the poor dwindled to As Little As 20 per cent of the that Laid the ground work for the Thatcher Margaret thatchers brilliance Lay in real izing that when Only a fifth of the voters Are you can Stop worrying about them especially since relatively few of them you can win an election Sim ply by getting the votes of a majority of the you win their votes by promising to Cut their taxes which you do mainly by cutting government ser vices to the there is no such thing As As Thatcher once the strategy Means you have to go on cutting taxes to continue to win no matter what the budget numbers read my no new As George Bush the first once since a lot of government spend ing cant be Cut quickly or How the Only solution is to let the deficits grow until eventually they sabotage growth in the real and the prosperous Start to Hurt at this Point a new coalition of voters emerges disillusioned fiscal conserva Tives who once believed in the that significant part of the Middle class who never Felt comfortable about screw ing the and of course the poor they turn out to be a major Ity and so in the 90s George Bush lost to Bill and the conservatives in Canada were routed by Jean Chretien and Tony Blair won by a land slide in All these though left of their predecessors turned out to be More responsible they had to because their political support base demanded they All spent their first years in office rebuilding the National finances and getting the debt under Only then and Only very cautiously could they Start to repair the damage done to the social safety net and Reward the poorer part of their but it is a patient and a durable Coli in the Bill Clinton never really got much past dealing with the deficit in eight years of and yet a Nar Row majority of american voters still voted for the democrats in 2000 though Al Gore lost the presidency through the vagaries of the electoral in Jean Chretien strolled Back into a third term last though he too has hardly begun to repair the services that the poor depended and in Tony Blair will Waltz Back into office with the Promise that this hell really Start to spend Money on mending the fabric of what used be called the welfare not that hed Ever be caught calling it what was said the red Deer advocate said in an editorial thursday a very Wise the storied col lege basketball coach John always taught his Young players to never confuse activity with running around feverishly but aimlessly putting in energetic but unfocused Effort is not whats wooden told to be they had to be goal prime minister Jean Chretien is making the same mistake As Woodens Young basketball play ers a generation he thinks his the Liberal and the opposition teams of maps deserve More not because they Are productive or but because they Are very they work Long hours in the House of in commit in their they Are away from their families a Chretien unless they get a lot More Canada runs the risk of not being Able to attract the very Best people to become the argument so Chretien Cre ated a task which recommended 20percent pay raises for maps and and the biggest raise of All 42 per cent for the prime minister this Chretien team of maps dutifully fell in sup porting the committee recommendations and their Boss to a before they shut Down the House of commons later this month the Liberal maps will stand up and do what they always do the expressed bidding of their this is not and it goes to the heart of the you dont need the Best and the brightest if All you expect is for them to act like trained if Canada is not attracting the top candidates to be its not because of the its because of the maps Are Given almost no scope for developing policy or having a real effect on the Laws of the land that they Are tasked to the National Agenda to a shockingly High from the office of the prime change by giving maps More and you will restore the notion of Public ser vice and change the Quality of candidates seeking office far More than a pay raise Ever a weeks diet pity leaves from a curmudgeons journal monday while sinking my Teeth into a Caesar salad i hear a loud such Crisp lettuce but it is the Cap on one of my front Teeth snapping off after 25 years of faithful As i Rescue the severed incisor i recall with a Pang that i am no longer a member of any dental my grand daughter aged who is Over for dinner is also missing an when she grins her appear Ance is charming and we Rush for the on the other hand i look like a fool who has been in a bar i am urged not to smile undo what is there to smile about no tooth fairy for the tip of my Tongue keeps wandering to the Gap and i wonder if i should have settled for a set of dentures 25 years tuesday two hours of Root canal with our new dentist who turns out to be writ ing a Book on a pal held computer Between when he learns that i have done a bit of writing in my time he wants to compare writer to unfortunately i am tilted backwards on his dental which is More like a bed than a with my feet higher than my my jaw is my Mouth contains a wedge of Cotton pads and a suction device and there is a rubber Sheet stretched and clamped Over the lower part of my the dentist leans Over and asks me questions about the literary do i use an old fashioned typewriter or a com Puter have i written a Book do i have an agent have i seen that movie about a reclusive novelist played by the Man who used to be in the James Bond films have i Ever met Alice Munro i do my Best to answer with a the rubber Sheet snaps eventually the dental work is finished and there is a temporary Cap in although i am warned that it is Only for no i Brace myself for a diet of Macaroni and wednesday lunch with although we Are an hour and a half late getting there because every taxi in Van c o u v e r seems to be thanks to the transit strike which is entering its seventh the dispatcher keeps assuring us that our cab will be with us in we finally have to go out into Robson Street and place our bodies in the path of an oncoming cab which stops at the last possible second and takes us our Host is a noted Cook who is not entirely amused to see me picking away like a Bird at the delicious food he has carefully i probably drink More than my fair share of the wine in order to conceal the fact that i am not actually the temporary Cap sur Vives the but there is More cab trouble on the Way thursday to lord Roberts Elemen tary school for the Spring Noth ing much has some of the kiddies Are rigid with fear As they Are pushed out onto the stage while one or two strut out with a degree of Assurance that suggests that they May have been born in a trunk at the Princess theatre in the parents Are like All parents at such leaping up to snap blocking the View of those behind As they climb on chairs to focus their video shouting baby and generally playing the my i note smugly As she dances lightly across the is ready for most of the smaller Chil i see with a surge of fellow feel Are without their two front Friday at Home All Day nursing the aftereffects of Root canal with advil and cheering myself up by Reading a Book about the Fate of the Franklin expedit the Book seems to imply that sir John and his men ran afoul of visitors from Why not saturday to fort Langley in summer heat for a nieces As we Inch along a crowded Highway i contemplate the Folly of wearing a flannels and a tie on a hot but thank god that i want asked to Wear a top hat and tails and the wedding Chapel like a steam Bath for the but everyone in Good spirits and the Bride during the hour and a half break Between the ceremony and the recep while the wedding party is being Pho we walk to an outdoor cafe by the River for a a body of Large men in motorcycle gear sit at the next the tiny Black crash helmets suggest that it May be a jewish they leave gunning their engines and roaring leaving behind an embarrassed colleague who cannot get his machine he finally leaves on pushing his and we hurry Back to the ;