Winnipeg Free Press

Winninpeg Free Press (Newspaper) - June 25, 2004, Winnipeg, Manitoba A14 Winnipeg june 2004 comment editor Terence Moore 6977044 editorials Freedom of Trade Liberty of religion Equality of civil rights biker Case collapses the collapse yesterday of the criminal consisting of 36 serious charges against five biker gang demands a sweeping review of the Many dubious decisions made by Manitoba prosecutions the five men have been held in jail for More than two accused of a string of heinous included among them Are the firebombing of a police offi cers drive by conspiracy to commit murder and forcible the handling of the Case is an outrage and Manitoban need an Independent review to answer Many disturbing questions about its the crowns office told the court the Case has collapsed because a former biker who turned informant has recently become difficult to Deal and is making unreasonable this Man and another former biker Asso also an earlier told ramp that Winnipeg police officers intimidated them into co the Crown said the whole Case rests upon the first but he is no longer reliable and so they were forced to stay All 36 there is reason to distrust this this Case was unnecessarily complicated by the crowns decision to bring five separate cases under one joint a so called its integrity was further weakened when the head of prosecutions revealed to defence lawyers earlier this year that police May have committed criminal acts when dealing with a third prosecutors refused to say citing the need to keep that informants identity when they lost a bid to hold a secret under Federal antiterrorism they warned they might let the Case fail rather than jeopardize their yester at a hearing in which some of those details could have been the charges were police chief Jack Swatski noted the Crown stressed that police conduct played no role in the collapse of the Manitoban cannot rely upon that an Independent Legal authority must be called in to comb through the to answer the Many troubling Strong cases Are built upon Good police Reli Able evidence and a healthy respect by authorities for the processes built into Law to protect against wrongful but Justice minister Gord Mackintosh has made it Clear to prosecutors and the general Public that he is on a personal Cru Sade to Battle biker crafting and tweaking provincial Law to target in he repeatedly has shaved too close to the rights of accused and to due process in Manitoban have seen Little pay Back for All of this and now five presumed have sat behind bars for More than two years for no in Mackintosh has much to reflect line softens faced with almost certain defeat at the United nations Security the United states on wednesday withdrew its request for an Extension of immunity from prosecution for events that occur in the request for extended immunity for the United states and its soldiers from the authority of the International criminal court the american ambassador be the last As far As Iraq is con even following the publicity surround ing the mistreatment of iraqi prisoners by the military at the Abu Gharib it was More than the Security Council which has never much liked the exemption anyway could Abu Gharib offered ample justification for denying to obtain an Extension beyond the june 30 expiry the needed nine votes and no of the veto Only Britain was support even like the is not a Mem Ber of the inc and refuses to recognize its was not on Side citing the events at Abu Beijing in ambassador said my govern ment is under particular pressure not to give a Blank Cheque to the United states for the behaviour of its one of ices most fervent also opposed extending the immunity and had called for an open debate which almost certainly would be rancorous in its ant american senti withdrew the request to avoid confrontation at a time when it seeks support from the in and nato to mop up the mess in in the Long it will make Little sup porters of the court Hail this As a but in fact the ices authority on july 1 will run no further than it does neither the nor Iraq recognizes the Only american authorities can prosecute any crimes that might have been commit Ted before june 30 Washington will not submit to the court on july 1 and is unlikely to be persuaded otherwise it continues to with continuing Suc individual agreements with other nations to bypass the ices authority if there is a Bright spot in these political Machina it is what May be a new american inclination to cooperate with rather than dictate to the Security if that the May fare bet Ter in its negotiations it is seen to have suffered a setback on the but from the jaws of that defeat it May be Able to snatches own Ottaw Tizen org just a bad needs an Alibi needs an Oil change by go needy tories pose threat to charter for the charter of rights and freedoms is a National icon like for the liberals this it was the bet Ter the conservatives have been successful in obscuring the medicare debate by equating private for profit investors demanding share Holder dividends with private practice on the How the conservatives eagerly put As much Dis Tance As possible Between themselves and the the charter is the Ark of the Liberal so sacrosanct it gave prime minister Paul Martin his most convincing performance in a bad he came alive in a confrontation with conservative Leader Stephen Harper during the leaders i brought Forward these rights issues because these Are fundamental to our demo in a nation of immigrants such As we if we Are not prepared to protect minorities then what we Are saying is that our values As a nation dont he staring straight into the what you Are saying is that you will allow fundamental rights to be determined by the whim of a political i would never use the notwithstanding clause to take away a right that had been enshrined in the i believe that rights Are rights and the supreme court is there to protect to the the charter is social elevating individual rights Over personal responsibility and undeserving minorities Over the taxpaying it symbolizes Canadas descent into moral constitutional experts have warned that the conservative platform is so ant charter it is a Legal a lot of this stuff raises Seri Ous constitutional the University of Ottawa de Ratushny told can West global news the experts have identified at least 12 positions that either violate the Are Ripe for serious court challenges or would require amendments to the conservative Justice critic and Likely Justice minister Vic Toews has said a conservative government might Amend the Constitution to take away the right to vote from prisoner voting rights were granted by the supreme court in 2002 under the charter Sec Tion that guarantees the franchise to All canadians Over reopening the Constitution could set Canada Down the path of the constitutional debacles of the Brian Mulroney years and Force the country to revisit the gordian knots of Senate More Power for the provinces and special status for in an interview with the Globe and Toews revealed he was so determined to appoint Only parliamentary supremacists to the top court he would override the wishes of the province involved startling from the party of provincial both current supreme court vacancies Are in Ontario and Ontario attorney general Michael Bryant has publicly denounced what he Calls righting Legal populists rambling at the Gates of our Toews said a Harper government would ignore could be a fairly informal he while Harper insists he would not use the notwithstanding clause to take away Abor Tion he defends the clause and indicates he would use it to override Gay marriage and the artistic Merit defence for Possession of child As prime he will face enormous pres sure from his Many social conservative maps to use the charter nullification Ontario conservative hopeful Barry Devolin told the Toronto Star that my position is that in a parliamentary parliament is another Ontario candidate hints at even More Radical ambitions within the social conservative David the former president and ceo of Promise keepers Cana a male directed Christian fundamentalist told Christia week that male Leader ship is important in ministry because men Are natural theres a particular reason Why Jesus called men Sweet its not that women Arent copay its because Jesus knew women would naturally on the other had to be Harper denounces judicial activism non on tuesdays cd ctr town the conservative Leader said it was important for judges to bring what i Call a judicial temperament to the there to act upon the Laws that Are passed by sometimes they have to interpret but there there to apply there not there to make it or remake retiring supreme court Justice Frank Yacobucci warns the notwithstanding clause should be used with extreme he acknowledges its legality but questions its if one invokes the notwithstanding at least on a regular then youre Back to the old i find it difficult to believe in our democracy that we would want to Amend the Constitution to deny the charter was a Clear Winner for the lib it should have trumped corporate welfare keep it coming one Issue unites left and righting thinkers in Canada they both hate corporate left wingers say governments should not give subsidies to what David the for Mer National nip called corporate Wel fare the hard earned Money of the working class should never find its Way into the pockets of fat cat right wingers rail against business subsidies they governments cant pick winners and much of the Money is they governments should lower business taxes and let the Market decide who succeeds and who and i say they Are both the reason our governments have to give businesses some incentives and subsidies to counter the efforts of some states to the South of us and who Shower companies with Money in an Effort to attract the Auto Industry is an excellent it is Canadas most important manufacturing sector and our biggest Export it is a rare example of a High value Indus try in which Canada is a world not a Fol says Buzz president of the Canadian Auto workers Auto manufacturing supports directly High wage jobs and hundreds of thousands of others Indi but the Industry faces it peaked in when we assembled More than 3 million vehicles and ranked As the worlds fourth largest Canada is in eighth spot in global the most recent coun try to zip by us is a future automating since weve lost units of Market share and some jobs have mostly because of major Assembly Plant clo the Canadian Industry has to compete with fat subsidies in Southern very cheap wages in Mexico and the appreciation of the Canadian Dollar which has gone up 20 per cent in about a but we have substantial strengths our plants Are super efficient and produce Quality products our workers Are skilled and hard working and their the is Well Orga sized and not afraid to accept necessary workplace the Canadian automotive partnership coun cil made up of representatives from the fed Ontario and Quebec the the Auto Industry and academics has spent nearly two years studying the this because of this study and part because of the Federal election Ottawa announced a five year fund to Foster development and innovation in Canadian half the Money will go to the Auto the province of Ontario has already set aside million for the the funding has meant that Ford May upgrade its Oakville Plant West of Toronto and make it into a flex Plant capable of producing More than one Model at a As Gen eral motors May want some of the government funding to improve its paint shop and research and development More government is the Ontario chamber of Commerce said this month that chronic delays at Border Crossings mostly at Windsor Are costing the Canadian Economy billion a that figure will double to nearly billion Over the next 25 years if the problem is not taken Border Crossings Are the choke Point of our says chamber president Len the takes More than 93 per cent of Ontario exports and nearly three quarters of All Canadas annual More than 70 per cent of that is moved by the Detroit Windsor corridor alone moves nearly half of the More than billion in Trade that crosses the Border each theres a temptation for Western canadians to ask what All of this Means to simply put booming exports Benefit All statistics Canada reported this month that Canadas Trade surplus surged to its second highest level Ever in that about billion less than the record surplus reached in january higher exports of passenger automobiles was one of the sectors fuelling the Export lets keep the corporate welfare coming to the Auto Industry and relish the fact that it helps our Northern population compete with the worlds automotive Tom Ford is managing editor the issues network Winnipeg free press Winnipeg free presses 1872 Winnipeg Tribune est 1890 vol 132 no 203 2004 Winnipeg free a division of up Canadian newspapers limited partnership published seven Days a week at 1355 Mountain Manitoba r2x pm 6977000 a member of the Manitoba press Council Rudy Redekop president up Canadian newspapers limited partnership Murdoch Nicholas Patrick Flynn Deputy editor ;