Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - June 13, 2001, Winnipeg, Manitoba A10 Winniw pm 2001 comment editor Terence Moore 6977044 editorials Freedom of Trade Liberty of religion Equality of civil rights Bush explains Canada needs president George Bush to have a successful visit in this country is waiting for Europe and America to decide How air defence will be organized and How global warming will be controlled so that Canada can adapt its policy to those of its Neighbours and Canada also needs to keep the firmly anchored to the collective Security system of the North Atlantic Bush says his administration will not implement the 1995 Kyoto protocol limiting greenhouse Gas emissions that contribute to global he Aims to encourage research on global european governments thought the Kyoto protocol was based on scientific is far from convinced that the scientific basis is solid enough to justify damage to the Oil Economy when that damage is not shared by other countries that Are less reliant on since the Kyoto treaty no longer reflects the agreed strategy of the Industrial coun Canada needs to know what strategy will take its place and How that strategy will be arrived Bush says he wants to perfect a defence sys tem that would shoot Down incoming ballistic mis Siles and he wants to develop a new Legal framework to take the place of the 1972 ant Ballis tic missile treaty which forbids deployment of such european governments Are anxious to maintain the abm treaty and have been urging Bush to scrap the National missile defence whose air defence is tied to that of the needs to know which idea will Bush visits in Warsaw and Ljubljana this week Are unlikely to produce eur american agreement on these difficult the president will meet prime minister Jean Chretien and other leaders of the nato countries at Brussels and he will meet the leaders of the euro Pean Union at at in he will meet russian president Vladimir the most severe critic of his National missile defence because his ideas about global warming and mis Sile defence have been poorly explained up to other governments have Little basis for endorsing Success for this series of visits would consist of launching a process of studies and consultations that could eventually produce Canada needs wholehearted participation in this country is condemned by geography to conduct its defence jointly with the nato pro Vides a Well organized joint defence Structure in which the must win the assent of Canada and the governments of Western outside of Canada is just the Junior partner in a two Canadas Best interest will be served if Bush finds in nato advantages that Are not Avail Able to the on its taking charge health minister Dave Chomiak has introduced a Bill to clarify who is Boss of the cites a question that remained unresolved after regional health authorities were set up by the previous tory at regional health authorities take orders from the but in turn can Only Issue what amounts to Strong advice to the Hospi amendments to the regional health authorities act would give those bodies the Power to Issue directives As a last resort if disputes arise Over How health services Are that might make the Job of coordinating health services particularly in it also clarifies lines of account ability for health care is a useful the previous tory administration built a regional system in which All hospitals and centres would work toward the needs of rather than those of individual institutions or the Inte Gration of services was intended to get Hospital pro Grams complementing rather than duplicating each it is a but difficult religious or Community groups who years ago founded Many of the cites hospitals Boniface general Hospi Tal 130 years ago Are justifiably protective of the principles upon which the centres were while the previous government dissolved the boards of Rural it did not do the same within win this created practical problems for the Winnipeg regional health authority As it could announce such As coordinating bed use dependent on citywide the Success of its now rests largely upon the Werhas Power of persuasion if a particular Hospital the Bill would give the health authorities the ability to order the dissenting Hospital to the amendments Are useful As they underscore the regional health authority responsibility to ensure Hospital programs operate and that the Money government collects to fund these services is Well the Bill respects the right of hospitals to operate according to their Faith based offering arbitration when a directive May be seen to contradict in times of enunciating such Powers May simply be Are most use Ful when interests this Bill strikes a Good balance Between the sensitivities of hospitals guided by religious principles and the need for regional health authorities to get their jobs done without undue delay and v hypocrisy Clouds smoking debate i As i write just Back from the smok ing i go Down to the smoking room six or eight times a i am grateful that there exists a smoking which Means that i do not have to stand outside in unpleasant weather in order to although the physical environment is not the the social environment is most everyone in the smoking room is a smok so it is a guilt free but As Welcome As a smoking room it is very i have come to real is its greatest in the old when the free press was downtown where it belongs and newsroom looked like a set from the movie front Page As opposed to this cubicle world of Dilbert car Toons out Here in Industrial it want inconvenient to it was it was so easy and there were so Many that one probably didst have to Light up to get a of was the in the old cigarettes were butted on the floor and the entire newsroom was an Ash there were working on Long or difficult that i would stand Butts on end and let them Burn themselves with the result that rows of dead soldiers would form on whichever desktop i happened to be it was so easy to smoke that i smoked a 25 or 30 cigarettes a More if there was some reason to go out and celebrate the Days production that the imposition Over time of various bans on has Cut my consumption by at first i resented the but today i am grateful for them for the obvious health and tax i am now Back in the smoking room com posing this piece being forced to not smoke in some Public places made and Many realize that the experts Are Correct at least part of the reason for lighting up is it is a rare for who cannot sit through a movie without a smokers simply know they cannot smoke in theatres and so they feel Little need once that initial hurdle is it is easier to accept that you can not smoke for a few hours in a mall or on an air a few years i stopped smoking in the which Means i know my garage More intimately than but so it As expectations change about where one can so too change expectations about when one can with the result that smokers smoke which is Why i support the idea of ratcheting up bans on City Council should Stop dithering and ban smoking in pub Lic places where persons younger than 18 Are i do not think it necessary to try to catch up with other cities and extend the ban to for at not i believe the Market is sorting out the Issue but would agree with Mark Taylor of the Manitoba medical association that an accept Able Compromise is to set targets for extending bans rather than arbitrarily impose the most severe restrictions known in one harsh which might please fanatics but which is excess Given that smoking is Legal and until widely to make the Point another eating badly has negative health effects and but no one would tolerate Laws that Force people to eat even though such Laws might serve the greater As of by peo ple who do not eat which brings me to what i resent about the entire smoking cigarette smokers Are addicts that Are exploited by anyone and everyone who can exploit from tobacco growers to the cig Arette Industry and the people who buy Tobac co futures and in the debate Over the bar and hotel owners fight Over who gets the big Ger share of cigarette their con Cerns Are not about but there Are whole industries that depend on the from the makers of ashtrays to advertising agencies to Stop smoking clinics and governments gouge cigarette smokers for the Benefit of who wrongly claim that cigarette taxes dont cover the costs of As if smokers somehow would live disease free forever if they quit nicotine replacement such As the Cost Little to create but prices for these products Are set at about the Price of Cigar most of which is with the result that huge profits Are made while few people see an advantage in dealing with their nicotine Addic Are relatively if ending the practice of smoking is the perhaps its time to put some of the billions smokers pay to support cessation programs and not simply the healthy profits and taxes that the millions who prey on addicts if it is True that smoking is a Public health it be better to help smokers quit rather than continue to exploit the addicts we could Start boat least underwriting the Cost of nicotine replacement programs so that the at is removed from the d Joe Clark makes room in his party while Gay and lesbian issues have mired Stockwell Day in exposing his vulnerable political Are allowing Joe Clark to this past Joe Clark became the first former prime minister to participate in a Gay Pride not Only did he take part in Calgary annual Pride he accepted organizers invitation to Lead with his wife Maureen Mcteer seated next to him in the Clark greeted thousands of onlookers lining the Calgary Parade in this significant progressive conservative Leader Joe Clark underlined that the p in the pc party is alive and his action also shows just How different he is from his Canadian Alliance counterpart and Why there is Hope for the pc Clark told reporters that he was Happy to be part of the he went on to declare Ive always believed in Equality and encouraging groups to do their Best and make their Community contrast the above with what Stockwell Day has said and in an interview with Mon Treal journalist Matthew Day stated that homosexuality is ultimately a when he refused to discuss a political Leader be willing to Dis cuss his especially when they can have an Impact on policy Day has stated a num Ber of times that he has a problem with Public policy that supports the Gay and lesbian Day has also suggested that aids is a result of engaging in activity that the Bible forbids and that god warns us about the first statement belies an ignorance of science and reams of empirical his Sec Ond demonstrates a selective quoting of the Bible that is debated among scholars and Fol Lowers of Christian does Day also support Public the chopping off of avoiding clothing that mixes different fabrics and abstaining from touching pig skin Day was a member of the Alberta government that fought Gay teacher Delwin Vriends Legal Challenge through two expensive and ultimately unsuccessful this was fiscal prudence his later libellous attack against an Alberta lawyer resulted in a hefty settlement that was borne by Fis Cal restraint obviously plays second fiddle to ill advised use of the court Day once pronounced an Alberta museums exhibition of Gay Art to be a mistake because it spent Money on a project that purports to reflect the sexual choices of maybe one per cent of the not Only is his percentage Likely the idea of a museum using demographics As a basis for deciding what to exhibit shows an utter Lack of the Alliance leaders various statements prompted Gay and lesbian activists to follow him on the election Trail during last years Feder Al election they noisily picketed at several of his Campaign stops to remind voters that Days View of Canadian society was narrow and Dis on the other clearly under stands that homosexual Ity is not an illness and that its not going these issues run deep in Canadian he told journalists in Calgary this past the Best thing to do about that is to recognize them and face it could be argued that we should expect nothing less from our leaders than the willingness to talk about difficult by admit Ting that Gay and lesbian issues Are a sensitive topic and by displaying an openness not to run from Clark is demonstrating a courage that Hast been seen from a prime minister since the Days of Pierre years Clark called Canada a Community of canadians Are a tolerant people who accommodate and even celebrate Clark has shown that he is a National Leader who understands and respects Canadas by participating in Calgary Gay and lesbian Pride Parade last Clark is Tangi Bly expressing that there is room in Canada and in the pc party for the Gay and lesbian Many Gay men and lesbians across Canada have never voted for the pc Clarks bold gesture May give them a reason to con Sider it in the some observers have suggested that Clark partly owes his Victory in his own Calgary Riding to the support of its Gays and lesbians who live in addition to welcoming a particular constituency and perhaps attracting Gay and lesbian Clark has shown compassionate statesmanship and Polit ical when you add these admirable qualities to his experience and his ability to grasp larger the former prime ministers Star shows a very promising 0 gllmarc@0wafw.ca Winnipeg free press Winnipeg free presses 1872 Winnipeg Tribune Esu 890 vol1z9n0183 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 o the Manitoba press Council Rudy publisher email rudy.redekop@freepr6ss.mb.ca Nicholas Hirst editor Patrick Flynn ;