Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - April 14, 2005, Winnipeg, Manitoba A12 Winnipeg free press thursday april 14, 2005 Freedom of Trade comment editor Terence Moore 697-7044 Liberty of religion Equality of civil rights editorials More Kyoto hot air t he industries that Emit half of Canadas greenhouse Gas volumes cannot Cut Back their emissions As much As the government was hoping. The new climate change plan announced yesterday directs those industries ? about 700 companies ? to come up with 36 Mega tonnes of greenhouse Gas emission reductions by 2010 in place of the 55 Mega tonnes the government was asking them for in the 2002 version of its plan. The permitted volumes of emissions will however be written into regulations under the Canadian environmental Protection act the government announced. Companies that Cut their emissions beyond the specified tar gets will be Able to sell pollution rights to companies that Are unable to achieve their targets. Under the earlier plan the government was going to negotiate Volun tary targets. The basis for the government a belief that the largest emitters can achieve 36 Mega tonnes of emission reductions was not disclosed in the plan published yesterday. These companies include Thermal Power stations mines and refineries Oil and Gas producers and Large scale manufacturers. The plan similarly lists other Means of cutting greenhouse Gas emissions and assigns each listed item a target for emission reductions though reasons for thinking that the tar gets can be reached Are generally not provided. In the absence of such reasons it seems unlikely that they will be reached. The Federal government has been announcing programs for the last six years to reduce the country a greenhouse Gas emis Sions. Population growth and economic expansion have overwhelmed the advances in fuel efficiency that have been achieved. The government believes that Canada emitted 596 Mega tonnes of greenhouse gases in 1990. By the Kyoto protocol the country has promised to Emit six per cent less than that in 2010. Because of increased economic activity the country semis Sions in 2003 were about 24 per cent greater than the 1990 level and will be More again this year. Canada uses fuel More efficiently than it did in 1990, but it also uses More. Ingenious measures May further improve fuel efficiency but while eco nomic growth continues fuel consumption and greenhouse Gas emissions seem Likely to keep grow ing. For these reasons the climate change action plan published yesterday feels even More fanciful than earlier versions published in 2000 and 2002. The tar get year is just five years off no reduction in Green House Gas emissions has been achieved since the government started trying six years ago and yet the plan proposes with no stated basis in fact or in engineering opinion that dramatic reductions can be achieved in five years. The Kyoto Gap ? the difference Between Canada a 2010 emissions target and the 2010 emissions volume if no cuts Are made ? was estimated at 240 Mega tonnes three years ago. Because of economic growth that has now widened to 270 Mega tonnes in the plan published yesterday. Efforts to reduce greenhouse Gas emissions should be vigorously pursued but Canada functions in a world where several of the economic giants ? the United states China Australia India All of latin America ? have exempted themselves from the Kyoto system and the Promise to Cut emissions. Rather than dreaming up numerical goals that Are not going to be achieved Canada should turn its attention to a practical plan that China and the United states might join. Pm flails away prime minister Paul Martin and his government were trying hard yesterday to change the subject. With a great flourish they produced their plan for implementing the Kyoto protocol. It turned out to be a revised version of the plan they produced in 2000 and again in 2002, but it is a subject dear to the hearts of All those canadians who wish this country and its industries would Stop polluting the Atmos phere so much. With another flourish they pounced on a study of health care finance by former Reform Leader pre Ston Manning and former Ontario Premier Mike Harris. The study or. Martin told parliament revealed the conservative party a secret plan to destroy medicare. Meeting with his caucus earlier in the Day he announced that the conservatives were in league with the separatist bloc quebecois to destroy Canada. Let them get close to Power and who knows what they will do to the Strong Central government that liberals built. The subject most on the minds of canadians inter ested in Federal politics is the system the liberals organized by which Over several years they used the sponsorship program to give inflated govern ment contracts to advertising firms and then skimmed the excess Back to finance the Liberal party. Or. Martin has told the country Many times that he knew nothing about this though it was going on while he was finance minister that he has organized the inquiry that is getting to the Bottom of the scandal and that he is taking care of it. His reassurances have Little effect. Its an argument he cannot win. It seems like a Good moment to change the subject. Save the planet. Save medicare. Save Canada. Almost any subject will do As Long As it is not that Pesky sponsorship program and the Liberal party kickbacks. Lets face it its time to vote its Nice to hear Paul Martin nervously titter ing about his outrage his condemnation of the parallel liberals ? As Denis Coderre dubbed the rogue few bad Guys in his party ? and How corruption is unforgivable. But coddling tittering liberals in the seat of Power if not unforgivable itself is intolerable. Canada needs an election and it should happen sooner than later. Sooner certainly than John Gomery needs to wrap up his inquiry. We be heard ample Evi Dence some backed by documents of certifiable corruption from a num Ber of witnesses under oath. At least three of them have described kickbacks to the liberals from the $250-Mil?Lion sponsorship fund. Jean Brault whose Sto Ries were salacious and damning was just one of those intimate with the program its Over lords and the rot that pumped millions ? per haps As much As $100 million ? into the pockets of lackeys cronies and party officials. Those same people have sworn Federal funds went to Quebec and agencies stamped return to sender albeit in code. We need an election before we learn the out come of the court cases for four of the hand Ful of wheelers and dealers including or. Brault. I like judge John Gomery. He combines a Sharp judicial mind with a common touch. He cuts through Obs cation and uses language the rest of us can understand. I await his report but am Content to walk thoroughly with the commission through the necessary Steps to the Core of the scam played out on the backs of Ordinary taxpayers Over Jean Chr Tien a time in Power. And yet thank you judge Gomery i am Well informed now on the nuts and bolts that held the scam together for those seven Odd years. It is Clear former Public works minister Alfonso Gagliano ? not incidentally the liberals Quebec lieutenant at the time ? helped to decide where the Money would go. He demanded regular reports on which and Agen cies and which organizations received Money and How much was paid in commissions. His unelected friends have been named by at least two witnesses As spigots on the trough that fed Money Back to the party. The modes Operand was straightforward and elegant set up a slush fund for advertising primarily in Quebec ostensibly to raise the Federal profile there. Encourage and agents to write Overly Rich contracts for a Little footwork and Pencil pushing or As it was heard this week a couple of keystrokes in a computer search allow an excessive Cut for fees and commissions which would then be skimmed off to key Liberal associates who helped and agencies to keep the contracts coming. The incestuous dance involved multiple characters cosy with the party some of whom double charged for their parts. Invoices were fudged or forgotten since a paper Trail would imply to auditors there was a contractual arrange ment when often no such thing existed. Chuck Guit the programs director boasted he kept his files in his head. So when the auditor general noses around the Best she can surmise is the government got Little in return for $250 million $100 million of which went to and agencies in commissions and fees for Little or no work. Scandalous but not indisputably criminal. The criminal line has become Clear Only since or. Gomery and his researchers settled into the inquiry a Montreal phase. Many of those whose names have been tainted in the proceedings Are rising to their defence and demanding to be heard. And so they should. I doubt they la be met by an Iron Clad Case. Canadians know bribes were paid and corruption committed. There a Only one party to hold to account for the crime and one Way to do it at the ballot Box. Those people reportedly Are not quaking in their boots which is no Surprise. By rights the bums ought to have been tossed from office 10 months ago. Canadians today Are not demonstrably More comfortable or confident with the conservatives realistically the Only nation Al alternative. But More than any of this the fact is the liberals still have their hot Little hands on the pub Lic purse. They have months anyway to Sprinkle Cash and favour about the country. Think the museum of human rights the first shovel in an expanded flood Way a couple of overpasses. And the same sex marriage Law remains a Good intention ? for which i blame the Liber als ? so charter scaremongering is a card in hand. As bad As it is who would argue the liberals cannot win again odious indeed. But the longer we leave the crime unan swered the More Likely we will be bought again with our own Money. So the sooner the better. Maybe that Way we at least can save a Sou or two. weary Winnipeg embraces Spring the world has changed overnight it seems and the people of Winnipeg Are liberated and free. At no other time besides Spring is there such a manifestation of Joy and a transformation of the populace. What a difference a Glo rious weekend in Spring makes the temperature soared into the 20s. With High temperatures and drying winds the piles of Snow vanished Yards and Side walks emerged from Winters grasp and a strange thing happened. Out of their houses streamed residents unseen for months from what must be described As a period of hibernation. What have they been doing All Winter i saw few on the Street. They parked their cars in rear garages and disappeared into their Homes. Now everyone is out and i bump into neigh Bours i Haven to seen for months. They Are Smil ing and Friendly for this is the Celebration of Spring and the Awakening of the Earth after a Long Winters sleep. Around the House the amur Maple is stir ring. The tulips by the foundation Rise with Rich Green foliage. And on the lawns in my neighbourhood a sprinkling of Bright Flowers appear in vivid colours of red purple and Green. These Are tots who have gathered on lawns to play a Blos soming of kids i had never seen before. On the sidewalks they Mark with Chalk their territory for hopscotch and other games. Everyone is doing something a release of Energy from hibernation. Bicycles and skate boards Rise from slumber propelled by Young sters and adults. Winter has its merits. It shows How salubrious is our Spring. It is so easy to get around the sidewalks freed of treacherous ice and Snow the ability to walk without mitts parkas and boots. We have shed our Winter skins and we Are unconfined. The disposition of people flocking outdoors is of a Friendly nature. The Sun smiles and they smile too. A Young woman jogs by quickly but in that instant she has time to shout a cheery hello. A woman rakes the Long Side Boulevard of her House. We Exchange greetings and i ask what she has found. The remains of a hat pieces of a car Grille a Long piece of cardboard and lots of dog but she is not angry and pursues her cleanup As a rite of Spring. I do not see one of the Reg ulars of Winter a retired Man who lost his wife in March. I Felt his intense grief when he told me of her terminal can cer and finally of her death. I patted him on the shoulder offering my condolences but later i thought i should have expressed my feelings More strongly and Given him a hug in his grievous loss. He tells me he is going to try to continue the Lovely Flower Garden Eva raised a Delight to passersby. I went for a walk in Assiniboine Park with daughter Judy a Lovely walk by the River among the Trees enclosing the warmth of the Sun and blocking the wind. It is an appealing place indeed. We come closer to nature at this time of year and we must give thanks to the visionaries who gave us the splendid Parks. The Alderman who led the Campaign to buy 290 acres on the out skirts of the City was strongly criticized for wanting to acquire this this was to be Assiniboine Park on the Banks of the Assini Boine purchased in 1904 for $39,903. In the end it became a subject of civic Pride and As the City manual says it was Only five Miles from City the City declared that the Pavilion was equipped with the most modern facilities for refresh ment services for any number of Kildonan Park on the Banks of the red River three and one half Miles due North of City Hall constituted 98 acres and was purchased in 1910 for $164,000. The City was ecstatic. As a natural Beauty spot it stated this Park com pares very favourably with any in Winni Eggers obviously agree for they throng to the Parks to observe the Advent of Spring. Even though there is an increasing concern about the environment Manitoban Are far removed from nature compared to a Century ago when the population was largely agrarian. School books exposed students to a wide variety of plants and Flowers How to identify and nurture them. An 1895 text our Canadian Prairies urged More planting of Trees. It stated no object in nature is More Beautiful than a thriving tree. It is the Type of most heavenly organization that a a Nice thought for Arbour Day coming up on May 1, a signpost of a new season. ? 2005 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 Patrick Flynn / Deputy editor ;