Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - June 26, 2004, Winnipeg, Manitoba A14 Winnipeg free press saturday june 26, 2004 Freedom of Trade comment editor Terence Moore 697-7044 Liberty of religion Equality of civil rights editorials re elect liberals w Hen canadians vote on monday they May elect a parliament of fractious minorities so that the resulting government will have to Call a fresh election in Short order. Then again they May elect a government that will find majority support in parliament so As to Complete a Normal term of office and carry out its program. No voter can decide which kind of result will be achieved. Every voter should keep both possibilities in mind in deciding which party a candidate to support. The conservative party which was established seven months ago and chose Stephen Harper As its Leader three months ago is still deciding which principles it will draw from the former progressive conservative party and which from the former Canadian Alliance. Which principles would prevail if or. Harper were bargaining for support in a divided parliament is hard to foresee. Where he would take the country if he won a majority is also unclear from the program he presented in this election. The Liberal party which has ruled Canada about three quarters of the time in the last Cen Tury including the last 11 years asks to continue governing under the leadership of Paul Martin finance minister for 10 of those 11 years and prime minister for the last six months. The budget or. Martins government presented in March showed that he is still using the prudent budgeting method that has served Canada Well while other Industrial countries have fallen Back into deficits. Canadians owe the present sound state of the Public finances to that method and they should keep using it. This is accomplished by re electing the Liberal party to government. The conservative party proposes a different method. They will Start by cutting taxes on Middle class taxpayers by 25 per cent. Then they will give the departments spending authority that leaves no room for unforeseen expenses. They will substantially increase spending on health and defence. The Liberal method allowed the former government to meet mad cow disease costs and sars epidemic costs that arose during the year and to increase health Grants to the provinces during the year. Or. Harpers method provides no such flexibility. In similar circumstances he would either have to slip Back into deficit defer his health and defence spending plans or restore the taxes he Means to Cut. Which Choice he would make his program does not say. The conservatives urge canadians to reject the liberals because of the sponsorship program which or. Martin cancelled As soon As he took Power. He also dismissed Alfonso Gagliano who had been the minister of the department that ran the sponsorship program. He appointed a comptroller general to keep track of spending and prevent abuses. He launched a commons committee inquiry and a judicial inquiry. He made it Plain that he disapproved of the sponsorship abuses. A question remains Why he did nothing As minis Ter of finance to Stop those abuses but he has lately done All that can fairly be asked to make sure his government does not repeat the offence. These were Good remedial measures. Re election of the government would show that the Public approves of the corrective action that was taken. The sponsorship abuses provoked a Strong Public response because they fitted a pattern of irresponsible squandering which had earlier been seen in the local Job creation programs of the human resources development department and in the relentless growth of costs for the National Rifle and Shotgun registry. The government Long in office Felt free to pour the Public a Money into ministers pet projects. Or. Martin has directed his Treasury Board president Winnipeg a Reg Alcock to review All the programs of government. The Public cannot yet Tell whether this has produced a new sense of Economy and responsibility. The liberals say they mean to be careful yet still they lavish Money on the pointless Rifle and Shotgun registry. A Stephen Harper government would bring to Power a movement in which one Large school of thought is hostile to bilingualism hostile to same sex marriage and has grave reservations about the role of the courts in interpreting the charter of rights. What this would mean in practice is far from Clear but the social climate in Canada would be changed. Once the conservative party has matured for another parliamentary term and taken Clear stands on these questions canadians May have a great Deal More Confidence about the social Agenda they Are offered by the conservative party. If canadians could be certain that they were electing a fractious parliament that would soon be dissolved for new elections then it would hardly matter who governed in the Brief interim. But when you invite someone to govern they May in fact do that and then the Public is stuck with the results. The liberals should be returned to Power while the conservatives mature into a party that knows More fully where it stands and where it plans to take the country. The Challenge facing or. Katz it was refreshing to see How nervous Sam Katz was As he read a prepared speech on his inauguration As mayor. Or. Katz can be a witty Man. He a fast on his feet could sell Sand dunes to desert dwellers and is used to attention and the Glare of publicity. But in giving his pre pared speech it was Clear that he was nervous and that was Good. Or. Katz has no train ing or history As a Politi Cian and his nervousness and the fact that he Felt he needed to read a written address spoke Well of How he regards the office he has won and How he needs to learn at least some of the Politi Cal skills that others steeped in the lore of Public life have spent years acquiring. It was Good too to see that once he dispensed with the carefully written words and when Ever he deviated from what was written the spark that Marks the Man was As evident As Ever. What or. Katz brings to the mayoralty is Pizzazz. If the great majority of a mayors work is to be inspirational and encouraging Sam Katz was born for that part of the Job. He and his wife Baillie even bring a touch of Glamour. They present an image of an exciting City. It is hard though to imagine a Katz mayoralty without giving credit to his predecessor Glen Murray. Or. Murray May not have seemed like a glamorous mayor when he was elected. On the contrary. In his first run for the office his chief task was to present a Busi Ness Friendly Bias in contrast to his largely left of Centre nip style Days As a City councillor. That or. Murray could give Strong inspirational speeches was not in doubt but he hardly seemed to be a Man who could project a new image of Winnipeg across the country. In fact he did exactly that and it want just that he was our first Gay mayor although that May have helped nor was it that he invented the Cross Canada movement to get More political autonomy and a greater share of revenues for cities. He did to but he was arguably the causes Best publicist. The committee of the five big City mayors known As ?c5,? with the assistance of the urbanist Jane Jacobs helped make Winnipeg look like a Cradle of new ideas and associated its mayor with new political thinking. Glen Murray helped turn the ideas of the c5 from an almost academic talking shop into a movement that gained the attention of Paul Martin and was at least indirectly responsible for his leaving the Chr Tien Cabinet. It was or. Martins intended Promise of a new Deal for cities that was at least part of the cause of the final rift with the former prime minister. Or. Murray a association with the cause his invitation to address a Liberal convention and his appearance at conferences on cities and City politics helped put Winnipeg on the map for things other than cold Winters and summer bugs. Or. Katz follows the political Glamour that Glen Murray brought to the role with the pro business Glamour of a promoter. If Winnipeg is a More confident City now than it was a decade or so ago and i think it is or. Katz must take part of the credit. If i were to put a Marker Down for the moment that the people in the City began to think that the Corner was being turned from decline and neglect to renewal it was probably the opening of the Gold eyes Ball Park. Can West global Park is a Gem. It is at once Retro and modern Classy and Homey. Its name reflects the resurgence of entrepreneurship in the province. Its location and style reflect the vision and determination of or. Katz. Or. Katz a Challenge now is to bring the determination and vision he gave to the Ball Park and the chutzpah he demonstrates on a daily basis and direct it to the business of get Ting politics and business done at City Hall. His platform As one senior politician told me is like Swiss cheese ? full of holes. No matter. There Are issues he needs to Deal with and Deal with fairly quickly. Centre venture the Agency for downtown renewal is without a chief executive or a Day to Day Deal maker and is in the process of reviewing proposals to develop waterfront drive. Work should have started on waterfront drive this construction season. The mayor needs to get it moving. The mayor needs to Start As Early As possible on developing a budget for next year and open ing negotiations on new ways of developing revenues possibly from user fees and Shar ing revenues with the province. He needs to establish his office and set the tone for his first 100 Days. Above All he needs to show he can bring councillors together to make action Hap pen. Its one thing to talk about renewal and change another to effect it. Or. Katz has the Chance to add to the countrywide political Suc Cess of Glen Murray by developing a new image and reality of one of the Best places to do business. It will be at least As difficult As build ing a Ball Park. Good Luck or. Mayor. the liberals must be punished canadians must not be afraid to defeat the Liberal government on monday. The govern ment deserves to be Defeated. Any other result would have the effect of tainting Canadas democracy ? it should not be that it rewards the government for the corruption and abuse of Power that was underlined in red Ink by a scam and that the liberals continue to demonstrate by making ugly this election Campaign. As lord Acton Long ago said Power tends to corrupt absolute Power corrupts the Liberal govern ment of the past 11 years has never enjoyed absolute Power and it would be wrong to even imply that it has become absolutely corrupt. But it has certainly shown that Power tends to corrupt by which is meant marked by canadians recall that the liberals were first elected in 1993 on promises to scrap the get and to tear up and renegotiate free Trade agree ments. Canadians also know however that the get remains in place and that the liberals in Power signed onto free Trade. Another Promise in that election however was acted on liberals scrapped a contract to Purchase new helicopters for the armed forces to Canadas continuing shame. Begin As you mean to go on the old adage counsels and the liberals have done that. Their greatest achievement slaying the deficit was not Liberal policy rather it was something forced upon them by circumstance and the outrage of canadians who understood that you cannot borrow your Way out of debt. We Are grateful of course that the liberals reversed their Field on the deficit but that was seven years ago and the government has been dining out on that reversal Ever since. That the liberals have stolen planks from other parties and adopted them As their own that they Call snap elections to disadvantage opponents that they seek to demonize rather than debate rivals that they have enjoyed majority governments with minority voter sup port that they have governed from the premise that ends justify Means Are All Well known and have largely been tolerated by canadians. What Choice have canadians had from the beginning of the Liberal reign the party has enjoyed a free ride As a result of the fracturing of the old conservative coalition and the Balka Niza Tion of the country a politics. Canadians in general became resigned to perpetual Liberal governments. Liberals on the other hand came to presume them. That was made Clear when rivals Paul mar tin and Jean Chr Tien put their overweening Pride and ambition ahead of everything else ? the interests of Canada the business of government even the Liberal franchise itself ? in a struggle to be top dog when the next inevitable Liberal Victory came. Most canadians who Are not liberals and most liberals cheered Paul Martin forgetting that he was an integral part of the arrogant and complacent government that or. Chr Tien symbolized. They ignored As jaundiced or. Chr Tien a assessment of or. Martin ? that he lacked the right stuff. But in the six months that or. Mar tin has been prime minister he has shown that or. Chr Tien was not entirely a bad judge of political ability. Then in february the auditor general released a report showing that $100 million had been paid to Liberal Friendly firms for nothing that the disbursement of the Money had the effect of corrupting Crown corporations led by Liberal cronies and that when asked to explain publicly what had happened liberals at the Centre of the scandal were afflicted with memory lapses. Overnight Canadian resignation to Perpetu Al Liberal government turned to rage at lib eral waste and duplicity. A scam became a lighting Rod for every grievance canadians had with the government and the numbers were legion ? rdc the gun registry new executive jets for Cabinet to name but three. Or. Martin called an election anyway Gam bling the conservatives who had just elected a Leader would be unprepared. Despite his avowed determination to erase the democratic deficit and raise the ethical bar in government he forced Star candidates on Riding associations and launched a Campaign of fear mongering and demonization that shame Lessly distorts reality. It presents for exam ple the Long gun registry Issue As being about staring into the barrel of a pistol. Canadians so far have not allowed them selves to be frightened and bullied into abandoning something that they know in their hearts is True ? governments cannot be rewarded for corruption or abuse of Power. It offends the very idea of democracy. Certainly some canadians have Given in to Liberal fear mongering. That is to be expected. As lord Acton also said there is no error so monstrous that it fails to find defenders among the Ablest but just As certainly some Are properly concerned that the new conservatives of Stephen Harper Are untested. In these circumstances canadians Are mov ing toward a Compromise ? properly defeat the liberals properly elect a conservative plurality and preserve the integrity of the democracy for a clean fight next time. ? 2004 Winnipeg free press a division of up Canadian Rudy Redekop newspapers limited partnership president up Canadian newspapers limited partnership published seven Days a week at 1355 Mountain Avenue Murdoch Davis / publisher Winnipeg free press est 1872 / Winnipeg Tribune est 1890 Winnipeg Manitoba r2x 3b6, pm 697-7000 Nicholas Hirst / editor vol 132 no 204 a member of the Manitoba press Council Patrick Flynn / Deputy editor ;