Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - June 20, 2001, Winnipeg, Manitoba A14 Winnipeg free june 2001 comment editor Terence Moore 6977044 editorials Freedom Offrane Liberty of religion Equality of civil rights the Way Forward with the appointment of Brian Pallister As reign affairs Canadian Alliance Jeader Stockwell Day has now brought All four of his Manitoba maps into his Shadow the four maps should use that Opportunity to hasten a solution to the internal strife that has paralysed the the immediate cause of the alliances woes is its inept who has banished nine maps from his caucus for publicly seeking his Resigna displayed his ineptitude again last week when he announced a grand plan for unifying his party with the progressive conservatives Only to see the plan promptly shot Down by conservative Leader Joe Clark and by some Alliance Day shows an instinct for pick ing fights he cannot a Knack for offending peo ple whose support he needs and an inability to learn from past Day has been using his Power to appoint a Shadow Cabinet As a Way of rewarding the Loyal and punishing the disloyal in his Alliance maps should see themselves As members of a Stockwell Day Palace guard who must stand or fall with the if they believe Day is an obstacle to the growth of the they should be trying to remove that the four earned their appointments by knowledge and Vic Toews built a solid record As attorney general of Brian Pallister came to National prominence As a candidate for the conservative inky Mark and Howard Hilstrom have been elected both As Reform Candi dates for the previous parliament and As Alliance candidates for this the underlying cause of the alliances difficulties is that the party does not know where it is the party was founded one year ago As a Way of inviting Ontario conservatives to unite with reformers from the Western but the invitation Drew Little response in the november Days latest advanced june was that his party and the tories should hold inter Nal votes to empower a Unity committee to negotiate a Deal Between the two parties for either creation of a new party or an electoral coalition based on Alliance this idea has aroused Little the Manitoba Alliance maps should review their leaders june 14 Empire club speech to see what might be salvaged from they should look for the few simple ideas that canadians accept and Liber als reject and that might move their party and the country they should keep their lines open to Day dump Day campaigners and disaffected they should make the Manitoba Alliance caucus a Haven of Calm and reason in the turbulence of party the four like Many of their will not be taken seriously if they change parties once they must make the Alliance re Brand ing is not an in order to the Alliance must have some interesting ideas and a presentable the Manitoba Alliance maps should use the summer to look for foreign honours the government of Canada objects to the fact that the government of the United kingdom chose to honour two canadians recently by giving them prime minister Jean Chretien was personally out in a letter to British prime minister Tony Blair he wrote express in the strongest Possi ble terms the objections of the government of Canada and my personal objections to the Way in which your government has dealt with the question of Hon ours bestowed on Canadian most canadians will be wondering at Issue was the inclusion of the names of two men with dual Britis Canadian citizenship on the Queens honours Chretien went on to say that it is the longstanding principle of Canadian governments that foreign governments ask Ottawa before bestowing honours on coming on the heels of Chretien decision to Grant honorary Canadian citizenship to South african icon Nelson the letter raises the question whether Chretien stands on As he or As his critics the principle Chretien the Nickle Reso Lution of has been honoured As much in the breach As in the in the several canadians received Knighthood at least two others have been so honoured the latest in among the other recipients of foreign honours since 1919 is the Winnipeg based second Princess Patricia Canadian Light who Wear on their dress uniforms a presidential citation for heroism in the korean War Battle of under Chretien the government could deny such a hard earned honour to another Canadian it would also restrict Canada from honouring someone unpopular with his own As Mandela was before Chretien needs a new when a Cana Dian citizen is honoured by a foreign it in no Way impinges on the sovereignty of it reflect the prejudices of the govern ment of the Chretien should either admit to or put Forward a policy based on a principle that canadians can flush with bathroom analogies Morris there Are two washrooms for women but Only one for men in the multipurpose room at the big m Centre in where about 100 people gathered yesterday to listen to Progress reports on flood Protection initiatives in the red River that i would observe this disparity does not reflect badly on the As it that the proceed Ings were so tedious that attention not Only wan but quite the the meet ing was and for reasons that seemed paralleled by the three Bear with me is it fair that women get two washrooms at the big m Centre but men get Only one that depends on what is meant by if fair Means that equal amounts of Money Are spent to provide plumbing for both men and then clearly it is not women get twice what men fair Means equal and Given the needs of women Are different than the needs of then two washrooms to one very Likely is More on women washrooms than mens washrooms results in More equal Levels of Comfort and All Day issues raised or confided were like that what is fair is it fair to raise a Dike at Agathe with the probable result that people living South of the Structure will experience greater flooding so that people North of it will experience lesser flooding is it fair should a Dike be Morriss development opportunities might dry up while opportunities increase at which has opened a new Industrial Park and which benefits whether a Dike or an enlarged flood Way is raised is it fair that Valley Farmers appear More interested in getting fair compensation for storing floodwaters on their lands than they appear interested in the future of Winnipeg was the compensation program cobbled together post1997 flood fair to whom was it fair to people whose property values Plum meted but who sustained Little damage and therefore collected Little compensation was it fair to people who were compensated for repairing their Homes while others were compensated to build new was it it even make sense to refuse to buy out homeowners but to then approve repairs that Cost twice As much As a buyout would have Cost is it fair that most of Winni Eggers pay Little attention to flooding issues because they for the most rarely affected by flooding while Valley of whom were evacuated in must study and concentrate on the issues As a matter of survival Given this disparity in attention is it fair that most Money to be spent is to protect Winnipeg and its fancy Shancy River walk is it fair that the operation of the flood Way Gates causes upstream Levels to Rise above Nat ural if that is then Why is it not unfair that the construction since 1997 of some 11 ring dikes around Valley communities and about smaller structures for Valley Homes disturbs natural flood flows with the result that water Levels at Winnipeg will in the future be higher than they would otherwise be is it fair that the Cost of raising the 11 ring dikes varied from million in one Community to in another which is not that much More than the average spent protecting the individual houses is it fair that the ring dikes mean More Safe development can occur in the Valley with the result that a future disaster will Cost that much More to address is it fair that so much attention is focused on Winnipeg that Southern Manitoba is not heard is it fair that so much attention is focused on Southern Manitoba that Andrews and Selkirk Are not heard is it fair that Spring floodwater is forced into Lake Winnipeg with negative impacts on peo ple living there what about he this list could go and and As i it was a fascinating but More fascinating than narrow fairness issues was the More general after the gripes were aired or most people without that we for the most familiar with All the com Peting interests in the Valley and we have come to that the answer is to Pur sue not what is fair for this or that but what is fairer for All a common refrain yesterday was lets do it do it right once and for All As quickly As is lets put an end to division and concentrate on by which it usually was meant that we should enlarge the flood Way and related structures so that they serve both upstream and downstream including fair compensation As part of a package the Cost of which will be in the not if two washrooms for women and one Wash room for men is the then spend the end the dispute and improve All com fort 3 pettiness infects our Public life Halifax Canada is no longer As internationally competitive As it once was at the building mining making Selling Nick peddling or keeping publisher Conrad Black Content with the citizenship Hes enjoyed for 56 Hes renouncing for a wide Range of Black citizenship is not now for me competitive with that of the United kingdom and the european already a loser in so Many ways in this competitive is not now for Black a loser of the country Ive loved All my life is just not up to Blacks compete but what has love of country got to do with citizenship and my fellow canadians ask not what you can do for your coun try ask How hard your country competes to gratify among reasons for Blacks decision lies a court rejection of his Challenge to prime min ister Jean Chretien having used an obscure Canadian Resolution to bar him from being both a British peer and a Canadian i cant fathom Why any North in the third would crave something As Musty As a seat in the House of think Silver snuff colonel Blimp and the Colour Pink dominating maps of the yet Britain prime minister recommended Black for a and the tycoons hav ing Forelock sluggers Call him my lord cant possibly Hurt or any other Chretien looks like cheap revenge for the attacks on him by the newspaper that Black the nation Al As we Roll toward Canadas 134th this fiasco seems symbolic of the pettiness that so overwhelming in our Public life that politicians no longer bother even to pay up ser vice to the notion of National most canadians believe no one in sight would make a better prime minister than Paul Martin if you believe Chretien never stops scheming to make sure one or another of his lesser Cabinet ministers succeeds himself As Federal Liberal Why is he jealous of Martins budgetary achievements does he resent the finance ministers popularity did Martin beat him at Golf who knows All we know is with respect to influencing the Choice of our next prime Chretien is less interested in the Well being of Canada than in derailing his most talented that How gang lords Are supposed to not prime but by comparison to the Groin seeing and Eye gouging to which the Canadian Alliance has degenerated under its once Darling and now widely reviled Leader Stock Well Day Chretien ant Martin thuggish Ness looks positively the collapse of the Canadian Alliance is like the deliberate implosion of an unwanted hos in which the whole Structure just settles As a pile of neatly in Days downfall and the Alliance Cavern have been so dramatic Treyve unbalanced Joe he hints he May remain the tory Leader for longer than he had As though he actually thinks he suddenly has a better Chance Don of becoming the next prime the Liberal tent is so Broad says tory House Leader Peter lament ing the mess on Canadas so called that its like that old horror the it keeps spreading the Petter and More ineffectual Federal politics the nerdier the provinces with no thought for the Well being of All Cana the Premier of Newfoundland threatens to flog bulk supplies of fresh water to foreign the Premier of Energy Rich Alberta sucks up to the Vic president of the Energy hungry in a new Loyal no More Ontario struggle for a separate John Ibbitson says the biggest and most powerful Region is becoming so estranged from confederation that it May soon go one and the rest of Canada the habitually outrageous pre Mier Bernard Landry has become uncharacteristically one suspects Hes taken a hard look at the Quality of Federal politics these and decided to achieve Quebec he can just watch the Blob spread until Canada Falls Conrad Black will not have Given up Harry Bruce is an editor with Winnipeg Iree press Winnipeg free press est 1872 Winnipeg Tribune est 1890 voiwnq1w 2001 Winnipeg free a division of newspapers division of Thomson Canada limited published seven Days a week at 1355 Mountain Manitoba r2x pm 6877000 a member of Ike Lue Tabi Nicholas Patrick editor 1 ;