Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - June 6, 2001, Winnipeg, Manitoba Focus a13 Winnier Fri Vii Jini 2001 Bush must take Strong stance on climate policy by Singer president George Bush finds himself under siege after rejecting the Kyoto a treaty that would impose punitive Energy sanctions on the Economy in response to unjustified global warm ing foreign american Politi Cal opponents and fundraisers for Green groups Are All ganging up on it could get worse once the Sharks smell blood in the but there Are sensible ways to meet the of the critics Are being Oisin Bush announced his opposition to Kyoto during his Campaign and has never his position also reflects the 1997 Senate vote of 950 against any treaty that would cause severe economic damage to the United states but exempt most of the rest of the global warming and while the american Public May express concern about global warm a recent poll indicates that less than half would be willing to pay an additional 25 cents for a gallon of True the presidents sense of or has not been the for he should have Reiter ated his position after the election using the bully pulpit instead of wait ing until he could have stressed the higher Energy costs flow ing from Kyoto and the severe Job losses As Industry moved pointing to the calamitous consequences on Lowe income groups and attacking Green elitists at the same he neglected to inform the pub Lic that Kyoto is not supported by Ade quate science and is ineffective in reducing the Rise in greenhouse in any even environmental certainly the moderate agree that cutting Energy use by 35 per cent in a decade is wildly worst of he has been keeping on the White House staff and in key government departments Gore acolytes who Are actively opposed to his poli the White House has even recruited from environmental organi talk about shooting yourself in the haunt but it is not too late there Are countermeasures that might work and would let his critics take the onus for opposing but while they might conceivably change the specific tar gets or timetables or modalities of they would keep its Structure in and this would almost certainly come Back to haunt the Kyoto expanding bureaucracy and the 180 or so nations that form the conference of the parties to the protocol would get their Hooks into Energy policy and thereby our economic unelected regulators not responsible or even responsive to our citizens would deter mine our economic to avoid paying such a heavy it would be Best to return to the Origi Nal 1992 climate treaty and its Volun tary efforts to control emissions through conservation and higher Energy rising prices slowly rising fuel As Oil and Gas become and advances in technology will surely accelerate the trend toward de carbonization producing More Gnu output with less Fos Sil hybrid electric electricity generation with fuel cells and advanced nuclear More efficient apply and cheaper wind and solar Energy production Are All in the in the advancing climate science could convince the Public that human induced climate change is a minor contributor to the much larger natural changes and in any a slightly warmer climate and higher Carbo dioxide Levels would Benefit agricultural crops and All of the Kyoto protocol is the opening unless the Bush White House takes a firm stance on climate its Energy policy is in one cannot separate the beyond foreign policy and National sovereignty Are at Fred Singer is professor emeritus of environmental sciences at the University of a former director of the weather satellite service and author of hot cold science global warm Ings unfinished Knight information services in melting is fight for Quebec sovereignty Worth it Montreal my Manitoba family came to visit me in Quebec last As we drove from Toronto into the rolling Hills of the my Nephew its sure not like Dri ving to but on the other my family saw that life Here is much like it is anywhere else in Cana despite All they have heard of the strange and belligerent of for the provinces bewildering insistence on communicating in at first the tenacity of the quebecois in defending their culture and language appeared undemocratic to my the draconian Mea sures of Law 101 that forbids English signs is surely the rest of North America seems to get on Fine with whats so different about Quebec when governments talk about Cul Tures within a we often hear about melting pots and the mosaic theory posits that All cultures can and that they will not so much blend together As form a mosaic of diverse and colourful the melting pot theory holds that All cultures will boil Down to a com Mon until the whole is a Monotone the United states is clearly a Gravy Canada is a Gravy with the lumps Are the who refuse to when i tried to explain the Quebe Cois stubbornness to my i stumbled on an example that was at once startling and my family is in the mennonites broke from the then new protestant movement in an attempt to strip Down religion to its Core of they were outsiders from the beginning at such an intolerant period in were persecuted for so they they moved to whatever country would offer them the Freedom to worship As they to keep their to not go to War they were pacifists and to speak their guarding their Dis Ryan Remiorz Canadian press Archive Sam the record Man was among chains whose English Only signs were investigated in Tinct society was so important to them that whole communities moved every 100 years or from Flem and to Prussia to Ukraine to upset with the governments dictates to Fly flags and school their children in Many fled to Paraguay and Mexico and in settlers grouped together and forbade a Host of foreign intrusions that might influence the people they turned Down the offer of a railway passing through town because of its worldly influence they outlawed movies and and insisted that farming was the Only proper vocation business was not their no Mennon Ite Ever held Public it was a losing without a rail men began trucking goods in and the people grew prosperous despite cars became the towns new Symbol of the own it is economics that is setting the this time on a global the language of International business is already ing of which had once been reason enough for the trucking companies grew into nation Al a Steinbach school teacher became the health and welfare minister for there is Only a handful of people in my generation that Speaks Low four Hundred years of persecution and fleeing was nothing next to a couple of decades of economic the mennonites Are Only one example of assimilation in the ancestors of almost everyone read ing this probably went through a similar experience when they moved to Canada or in the Case of when others moved Are the quebecois fighting a Simi Lar losing Battle Are their safeguards of culture As futile As forbidding a railway perhaps its the wrong question to because just As the world was modernizing so swiftly in the Early part of the 20th at the begin Ning of the 21st Century it is again the europeans have United and will use a common monetary unit Canada is debating the pros and cons of adopting the Dollar and the americas Are trying to Hammer out a free Trade Deal that will stretch from Nunavut to Tierra Del it is economics that is setting the this time on a global the language of International business is already in this the struggles of Quebec can have two they Are defending an anachronism while the world boils Down in a melting or they Are ahead of their since the massive scale of globalization will allow diverse Cul Tures to coexist As Long As they can compete the world is and there is nothing we can do about the ques Tion As it was for my family in the is will the gains of economics outweigh the losses of culture letters to the editor the free press welcomes letters from they must include the authors address and Telephone letters May be letters to the 1355 Mountain r2x fax email photo radar simply Cash grab i just cant believe that anyone would buy the logic related tothe police wanting to add photo radar to their Arsenal of Speed enforcement trying to say that a passive device can save lives is absolutely ludicrous How does taking a picture of a Speed ing vehicle and mailing out a ticket influence the safety on our roads at All it is Akin to slapping your dog with a newspaper two weeks after he did something will he really learn from that method of training in when a real live offi cer is conducting radar he or she provides a much More Valu Able Public service than just earning when a car is the officer can thoroughly assess the Situ is this vehicle stolen is the Dri ver drunk is the Driver fleeing a crime this is what Public safety is statistics can be made up to support any claim you the government can come up with All the advertising promotions it but the logic is just not other provinces have realized that photo radar does not save lives or influence Accident rates and have removed the use your Heads photo radar is a Cash Plain and Phillip Redd Winnipeg wrong wrong message re biker mama warns nip teach ers to get Tough in next contract talks May any Confidence in the accuracy of this Story vanished with the Gaffe in the Lead which put the its annual general meeting at the Winnipeg convention Centre instead of the Fairmont hotel More the Story completely missed the Point of my address to my message to teachers across Manitoba was that a Leader does not have to be combative and confrontational to be in my speech was a Complete counterpoint to the lighthearted open ing we staged for am the biker spoof underscored the Absurdity of Tough talk when Chan Nels of communication Between the society and the provincial govern ment Are and Mutual respect is evident in the actions of both the factual errors and the tone of the piece give a false impression of the current state of relations Between the provincial government and the there Are disagreements Between but both sides share a commitment to discussing and work ing on All issues affecting Public school teachers and distorting the essence of my speech casts doubt on the commitment of the free press to provide accurate cover age of news events to its Jan Speelman the Manitoba teachers society Winnipeg Hydro optimistic about generating plans i read the article Hydro plans should include environmental concerns May 7 by chief John Midwagon with inter est and we would like to improve upon our relationship with we acknowledge we have a responsibility to implement any portions of the Northern flood agreement that have not been at the same we look to the future with opt we Are hopeful that Manitoba Hydro will soon be Able to develop further generating capacity in our we Are now in the process of negotiating with communities that will be affected by any such new negotiations include not Only compensation agreements with Hydro As potential investment by these first nations in our generating two of the first nations communities who could potentially be tapas Keyak and have both by approved in principle of the concept of entering into such new investments with both of these communities were not Only to the Northern flood but also to the implementation agreements that had been negotiated in the Early to mid90s and which was rejected by chief Midwagon appears in his Arti Cle to take Issue with the statement that the generating stations being contemplated by Hydro will cause much less flooding and damage than past generating the earlier projects were designed in part to set up the storage that the later projects Are taking advantage of by Defin it was the earlier projects that created a disproportionate percent age of the for the project at grand rapids 1960s flooded 452 Square Miles the project at Jenpeo 1970s flooded 24 Square Miles and the project at Limestone 1980s flooded less than one Square yet at megawatts my is the largest generating station in the by Limestone output alone is approximately 10 times the entire generating capacity of Winnipeg four stations we expect will be built in the wus Khatim 200 Notini 100 Gull 600 my and Conaw Apa my Are if to flood Square Zero Square 17 Square Miles and Square i should that none of these or other new projects being contemplated by Manitoba Hydro will create any flooding or other damage in Pimp Cikamek Territo we assure Manitoban that their Energy Utility is making sincere and responsible efforts to meet its obligations to All communities it has impacted in the past or will Impact in the Victor Board of directors Manitoba Hydro Winnipeg doonesbury by Garry Trudeau ;