Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - July 7, 2004, Winnipeg, Manitoba A12 Winnipeg free press wednesday july 7, 2004 Freedom of Trade comment editor Terence Moore 697-7044 Liberty of religion Equality of civil rights editorials paying for whatever t he provincial auditors damning report released yesterday about the for profit Hydra House which housed and cared for mentally disabled adults and children shows that some Busi Nesses Are profitable indeed. Hydra House regularly ran excessive surpluses on its residences for a total operating surplus of $479,500 Between 1998 and 2002. Salaries to five executives were similarly extraordinary with the auditor estimating that Over six years its managers the owner and his personal assistant earned As much As $1.4 million More than counter parts in non profit agencies. Another $98,000 was spent for the personal use and Benefit of the execs. The department of family services which paid Hydra House the bulk of its $5.8 million operating budget in 2002, knew none of this because it did not ask. While depart mental financial account ability rules insist service agreements be signed with outside Agen cies family services has a deplorable track record for this. In fact the departments Lack of financial control Over external agencies was pointed out by the Provin Cial auditor in 1999. Fully 70 per cent of its funded agencies did not have such agreements. The Hydra investigation showed that As of 2002, 60 per cent of the 52 agencies that got More than $54 million from family services still had not signed an agreement. No one has complained about the care per be Given to the 90 individuals receiving service from Hydra House. Outside the fact Hydra House did not report some taxable benefits and bonuses to Rev Enue Canada it is unlikely there Are grounds to Pur sue charges. Auditor Jon Singleton Points out that without a service agreement there is too much Lati tude for misunderstanding. Hydra House like Many other agencies used by the department provided audited statements annually but they merely showed Broad categories of expenditures. One year Hydra House threatened to close Down a program for men tally ill adults but received More Money from the department and the Winnipeg regional health authority that same year it was running an Overall surplus. The Hydra House affair echoes an auditors report two years ago into $42 million the education depart ment funnelled through school divisions to agencies running literacy programs. Millions were lost fund ing students for example who never enrolled or quit Early. The family services department says now 90 per cent of agencies have signed service agree ments but it took two reports by the auditor to achieve that. Premier Gary doer should Tell his ministers that the government cannot rely on after the fact auditors reports to catch waste and mismanagement. He should order All departments to review funding to external agencies and consultants to ensure everyone knows exactly what Public funds will buy. Silence deafen William Sampson the British born Canadian who was convicted of murder and a series of car bombings in saudi Arabia and sentenced to death claims that during his imprisonment the Canadian government did nothing for him. Although foreign minister Bill Graham claimed that Canadas policy of quiet diplomacy was instrumental in securing or. Sampson a eventual release or. Sampson him self says that Canadian policy Only facilitated the torture he underwent and made his situation worse. Maher Arar the syrian born Canadian citizen who was arrested in the United states and deported to Syria where he was allegedly tortured claims on the other hand that Canadian authorities did far too much to facilitate his misfortune that information passed by Canadian Security forces to the americans was used to justify his deportation to Syria. Both cases Are in the news again. Or. Sampson is making headlines because of a British newspaper report that his release and the release of several others detained along with him was the result of a hostage Exchange brokered by the americans with the saudis which had nothing at All to do with Canad an diplomacy however quiet it May have been. Or. Arar is in the news because the Federal govern ment and its Security agencies Are quiet Resolute in fact in their refusal to release to the Public any information at All about any role they May have played in his horrible predicament. The two cases Are not directly connected. What brings them together is the Complete absence of information that could allow canadians to form some sort of opinion about their governments behaviour. In the Arar Case authorities attempt to justify their silence on the grounds that revealing information would Compromise National Security and Security relations with the . That May or May not be True canadians have no Way of knowing in the absence of information. It defies belief however that there Are no facts that can be safely released particularly in regard to what role this country played in or. Arar a apprehension in the United states. In the Sampson Case there would not appear to be any such concern. A simple account by or. Graham of what his department did to secure or. Sampson a release and what role if any americans played in it would suffice. In the absence of information in either Case canadians can have no Confidence that their government will defend them against accusations of which they May be innocent or even that their government will not actively persecute them simply because of who and what they Chance to be. Kyoto to alter political climate i can to believe what i a doing. I a writing a column on Kyoto. Actually i be Only written two sentences. Now i a stuck. Climate change is one area where i can to apply personal experience to help me make a decision. Its Tough to think about global warming when Winnipeg has just had its coldest june on record. So i have to rely on experts. Unfortunately the Learned ones Are split on the Issue and As entrenched in their positions As soldiers in the first world War. One army funded in part by the Oil Industry says temperature changes Are due to natural causes any claims to the contrary Are junk science. The other army says human pollution is heat ing up the world and that will cause flooding in some port cities and big problems in endeavours such As farming and tourism. Our politicians Are also split on the Issue. Conservative Leader Stephen Harper says he would scrap the Kyoto treaty. Instead he wants a new clean air Bill that would put mandatory limits on emissions with targeted Levels to be achieved by 2010. All the other major Canad an parties support the treaty. The Accord has already been endorsed by almost 100 countries including Canada which signed on in 2002. Kyoto requires developed countries to reduce their output of greenhouse gases such As Carbon dioxide by 5.2 per cent from 1990 Levels by 2012. Greenhouse gases Are mostly produced by burning fuels in Indus tries Thermal Power stations and automobiles. Kyoto will take effect after Russia signs it. Russian president Vladimir Putin said in May his nation will Speed up its approval process if the european Union backs Russia for membership in the world Trade organization. The United states has already rejected the Accord. Now a Blue ribbon panel of Canadian experts says in a report that has not been officially released by Ottawa that global warming is a reality but that Canadas contribution to Kyoto will have Only a minimal Impact on climate change. In fact the protocol will have such a negligible Impact on greenhouse Gas emissions globally its not Worth running costly and com plex studies to try to determine More precisely what the Impact will be. The report was done by the Canadian Cli mate impacts and scenarios project and was funded by environment Canada. The Impact of global warming is Clear says the report by 2050 the temperatures in South Ern Canada will have risen 3 to 5 degrees com pared with the 0.6 degrees Over the last 100 years. As a result Summers will be hotter and Winter will be warmer. Our weather will become More violent and extreme. Spiking temperatures will bring Peri ods of drought and increase the frequency of massive Forest fires in Western Canada. Unpredictable bouts of heavy precipitation will heighten the risk of flooding in parts of que Bec. Another recent report ? climate change and shareholder value state of the world 2004 ? outlines the plans the 500 largest companies in the world have to manage the risks of Cli mate change. These companies Are gearing up because the financial risks of climate change have swiftly become a matter of primary con Cern among members of the global investment Canada faces some real problems in fight ing climate change. First minority parliaments tend to think Day to Day and will have trouble dealing with Kyoto a Long term Challenge. Secondly a report by the Naftal Environ mental Agency taking Stock released last month shows Canada is lagging the . In curbing toxic pollution. If we can to control Poi son in the air How Are we Gong to control Green House gases total North american emissions of Chemi cals linked to cancer birth defects and other reproductive harm declined by 18 per cent from 1998 to 2001. Canadian emissions Rose three per cent. Ontario was the continents third biggest polluter after North Carolina and Ohio. Finally the Royal geographical society says Canada will have to work harder at curbing greenhouse gases because countries with cold climates and widely dispersed populations pro Duce significantly higher Carbon dioxide this Factor says the society should have been taken into account in negotiating emission reductions for countries. Meanwhile the old Liberal party spent or allocated $5 billion on climate change related activities. A Toronto Star report on a leaked document says the first $500 million spent on Kyoto was largely wasted. We seriously underestimated the difficulty of getting reductions and Over estimated the payoff from new technologies the Star quotes an Anonymous source. What does this All boil Down to just this the conservatives who dislike Kyoto and know voters hate waste will press the mismanage ment Issue. But the nip members who like Kyoto and Are the liberals key support will push for Progress on the Accord. Kyoto which was scarcely discussed during the election Campaign May be the new Parlia ments most troublesome Issue. Tom Ford is the managing editor of the issues network double Johns ? that a the ticket Marianne Means Washington ? in the end there was no sur prise. Despite the most intense and far reaching vetting process in vice presidential history sen. John Kerry wound up selecting As his run Ning mate the Man who was the most obvious Choice All along sen. John Edwards. This says several important things about a future Kerry presidency should there be one. The first is that Kerry is very cautious and careful. He a not a reckless risk taker. Edwards 51, was a Safe Choice a seasoned campaigner whose moderate views Are Well known in the democratic party and who was Kerry a closest rival in the primaries earlier this year. Picking sen. Hillary Clinton by con Trast would have been an exciting but predictably polarizing move. Nor is this a sad repeat of former president George Bush a selection of another younger Man sen. Dan Quayle who turned out to be an intellectual lightweight and poor speller. Majority of voters. The White House attack machine is already claiming that Kerry is too Liberal and outside the mainstream but that mud is so off target it is unlikely to stick. Putting a Southern Moder ate on the ticket sends a signal that Kerry plans to Campaign in every Region of the country including the Republican leaning South. He envisions himself As a uniter not a divider ? a Mantle president George w. Bush falsely claimed for himself during the 2000 Campaign. Fourth Kerry is a practical Guy who is will ing to do whatever is politically necessary to achieve his ultimate goal even if it might not be his personal preference. He is a professional politician and that a what the Best of them do. His private relationship with Edwards was tense at times when they were rivals for the presidential nomination. And Kerry is known to feel that rep. Dick Gephardt the distinguished former House minority Leader was the Best qualified Man to assume the presidency if Nec Essary. But Gephardt is Dull and Kerry does to need since March when Kerry sewed up the democratic nomination Edwards has tirelessly stumped across the country for the party Rais ing pots of Money As Well As his own profile. Friends in Congress petitioned Kerry on his behalf contending that he could help them in their own races. Edwards brings a fresh Youthful face to the contest where he will eventually debate a familiar old face ? vice president Dick Cheney. And Edwards has a major advantage Over the hapless Quayle he a smart and articulate. The contrast of his cheerful Energy and soft spoken Southern Charm with that Grouchy secretive warmonger Cheney could not be greater. Cheney could underestimate Edwards at his peril. The concept of a double John double Sena Tor ticket is novel. But Don to scoff. Its not As heavily Washington As it sounds since Edwards has been in town less than six years. Judging by the enthusiastic democratic reaction to Edwards ? and Bush a downhill sliding ? 2004 Winnipeg free press a division of up Canadian newspapers limited partnership published seven Days a week at 1355 Mountain Avenue Winnipeg Manitoba r2x 3b6, pm 697-7000 ;