Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - July 28, 2006, Winnipeg, Manitoba V new fro the w est comment editor Gerald flood 697 7269 Gerald. Flood free press. My. Ca a n d b e y o n d a 13 Winnipeg free press Friday july 28, 2006 the economist o nce again the Falkland islands in the South Atlantic Are under assault. In London preparations Are already underway to celebrate the 25th anniversary next year of Bri taints Victory Over Argentina in the falklands War. But if Argentina is president Nestor Kirchner gets his Way Britain will not be celebrating for Long. Backed by his venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez Kirchner has launched a new verbal offensive Over the islands sovereignty claimed by both Argentina and Britain. Although the first Landing on the islands in 1690 was by an englishman the first settlement in 1764 was actually French. Two years later the Colony was handed Over to Spain. In 1833, Britain sought to assert its claim to the islands situated some 480 Kilometres Northeast of Argentina is Southern tip by establishing a naval Garrison there. The islands sovereignty has been in dispute Ever since. In april 1982, Argentina is military dictatorship invaded the falklands holding them for 73 Days until a British expeditionary Force recaptured them at a Cost of 649 Argentine and 255 British lives. When the two countries resumed formal relations in 1989, they set up a sovereignty umbrella under which they agreed to co operate on practical issues while maintaining their separate claims to sole Possession of the islands. This has enabled the establishment of commercial flights Between the falklands and Argentina the construction of a memorial on the islands to the Argentine War dead and collaboration Over fishing licences. But in 2003 Kirchner then the combative governor of Santa Cruz province in Patagonia directly opposite the falklands won Argentina is presidential election. Convinced that the sovereignty umbrella had done Little to improve Argentina is chances of regaining control Over the islands he has been picking away at it Ever since. One of his first foreign policy acts was to Stop charter flights Between the islands and the Mainland. In 2005, he upped the Ante by refusing to Send Argentine scientists to the binational commission that decides fishing policy for the Region in protest against a new falklands Law extending fishing permits for up to 25 years. Last year his foreign ministry sent the British embassy in Buenos Aires 15 letters of protest Over the islands instead of the Normal one or two. In an attempt to rally Neutral nations to its cause Argentina has also been stiffening its criticism of Britain in the organization of american states and at the United nations. Its Congress is now considering a plan to impose sanctions on All companies doing business in the falklands. The islands Are certainly of economic interest. Sales of fishing licences bring in around $ 40 million a year and seismic studies suggest there May be reserves capable of producing up to 500,000 barrels of Oil a Day in the surrounding Waters. The islands estimated Gap per head of $ 25,000, measured by purchasing Power parity is by far the highest in latin America and on a Par with personal incomes in Spain new zealand and Israel. This month Kirchner and Chavez met in Buenos Aires to sign a document calling for urgent talks Between Britain and Argentina to reach a peaceful just and definitive solution to the sovereignty dispute. Including the principle of territorial integrity. Chavez annoyed the British when he claimed earlier this year that the Malvinas As they Are called in Spanish belonged to Argentina and told Britain to hand them Over. The timing of kirchners latest moves suggests that he May be trying to whip up patriotic support ahead of next years presidential Campaign. Dialogue diplomacy and peace do not mean living with our Heads Down he declared on april 2, the anniversary of the invasion. They mean defending our rights Over the islands with dignity. Ironically the president who campaigned on a firm repudiation of Argentina is former military dictatorship now seems to be taking a Page from the generals own Copybook the Junta launched the 1982 War to boost its sagging popularity and remain in Power. But although this May help Kirchner at the polls it will not help him get the falklands. Britain insists that regardless of How Many countries Argentina can line up in support it will never discuss the sovereignty question with the government in Buenos Aires unless the islands 3,000 inhabitants who consider themselves British request it. Tough talk from Kirchner will Only alienate them further. We believe it would be morally unacceptable says a British embassy spokesman to Force them to change their government. Falklands Are under assault once again l ast year our International housing affordability Survey found Winnipeg to be one of the three most affordable housing markets out of 100 in the six nations surveyed Canada the United states the United kingdom Australia Ireland and new zealand. The second annual demographic International housing affordability Survey found that the median House Price in Winnipeg was 2.4 times the median household income. By contrast the median House Price was 6.6 times the median household income in Vancouver and 4.4 times in Toronto. This was Good news and the Winnipeg free press gave the Story frontage coverage. What is not Good news is the recent statistics Canada report that House prices Rose 12 per cent in the last year. The bulk of the Cost increase was in the Price of land which shot up 25 per cent. Mary Agnes Welch reported in the free press that delays in project approvals have created a land shortage. Under Normal circumstances there is no reason for the Price of land to Rise inordinately. The Winnipeg area has plenty of land. The problem is that the Public approval process has slowed Down and is not allowing construction to keep up with demand. The City of Winnipeg has Long claimed to have a policy that encourages development within the perimeter Highway and within the Cit yes Borders rather than in the outer suburbs. Regrettably this policy seems to be Mere lip service. The message from the City to developers seems to be that they should take their projects and build outside the City. Indeed if the City cannot get its House in order they should. Home ownership is a critical element of economic growth and wealth creation. Statistics Canada data indicate that the median net Worth of a Homeowner is approximately 20 times that of a renter. A recent study in the United states indicates that this is not just a matter of Low income. The joint Center for housing studies of Harvard University reports that Homeowner with incomes above $ 50,000 annually have an average net Worth nearly 10 times that of renting households making the same income. The crucial role Home ownership has played in the democratization of Prosperity is not Well understood especially in City planning departments around the nation. As late As 1940, the average household income was approximately the same As the present Low income cutoff for a household of three. In the intervening 66 years household incomes have risen 2.5 times adjusted for inflation. This unprecedented increase in incomes is driven by the Home ownership that suburbanization has permitted and by labour Market efficiencies that Are attributed to the automobile. Failure to recognize this fact has led to the adoption of disastrous Urban planning policies in Many of the High income worlds Large Urban areas. Vancouver is one of the worlds most unaffordable Urban areas principally because its Urban planning policies have created a shortage of land for development. Toronto has blindly followed the example of Vancouver and other housing affordability disaster stories such As Portland Oregon Sydney Australia and san Francisco. This is More than a theoretical problem. Each year the u. S. Census Bureau reports Domestic migration data information on movements by people within the nation. Over the past five years As land prices have skyrocketed in the Urban areas with More stringent land regulation people have begun moving from West to East for perhaps the first time in u. S. History. In those five years More than 2.5 million people have moved from the highly unaffordable regulated markets that Are principally in the West and in Washington d. C. New York new York and Boston mass., to More affordable Urban areas. It would not be surprising to find that Young Vancouver households Are increasingly opting for the lower Cost markets of the Prairies where although they do not have Cool Ocean breezes they can own their own houses rather than spend their lives in crowded rentals. The pity is that Winnipeg seems mindlessly headed toward the same disaster without realizing it. Winnipeg has not been among the nations faster growing Urban areas in decades. However Winnipeg could see far stronger growth in the future As Vancouver and Toronto repel households and businesses with policies that place the aesthetics of the elite above the Quality of life. Winnipeg would do Well to streamline its bureaucracy and not Fumble away its improving competitiveness. Wendell Cox is principal of Wendell Cox consultancy demographic in the St. Louis Missouri Illinois metropolitan area. He is a senior fellow at the Frontier Centre for Public policy and a visiting professor at the conservatoire National Des arts it meters a French National University in Paris. Wendell Cox r Egina the talk on the Street is that Saskatchewan is nip Premier Lorne Calvert is going Down in the next election. You hear this from the usual suspects like can West political columnists Murray Mandryk of the Regina Leader Post and James Wood of the Saskatoon Star Phoenix. And you hear it from the Wise Guys in the business lobby. And of course Saskatchewan party Leader Brad Wall and his gang of reconstructed right Wing yahoos say it All the time. But the usual suspects would be saying it even if Calvert were Strong they dearly want Calvert to go Down. But you Are now hearing it from Long time nip supporters partisans and loyalists. Mind you it is uttered in whispers and with a sigh overlaid with a sense of defeatism and despair. Remembering the Devine tory years 1982 1991, Napers anticipating defeat Are dreading the wars to come with a Wall government. The disaster of the june 19 Weyburn big Muddy by election seemed to confirm this scenario the nip was Defeated two to one by the Saskatchewan party and came in dead last after the liberals in 2003 the nip lost by fewer than 500 votes. The utterly stupid last minute gift of the old mental Hospital and $ 4.5 million to Weyburn left intelligent political strategists speechless. Surely no one in the natural governing party of Saskatchewan can be that brain dead. This kind of old pork barrel stuff does More damage than Good and it Hurt the party badly leaving even the strongest of loyalists shaking their Heads in disbelief. Who was the key strategist for the by election anyway a secret sask party agent or an insider still miffed that Calvert took the leadership and then won in 2003, hoping Calvert will go Down so he can be replaced by Industry minister Eric Cline the Darling of the part yes right and of the business lobby the anti government time for a change mood among voters is palpable everywhere you go. The nip government is viewed As tired old out of touch increasingly bereft of new ideas and ridiculously incompetent. Calvert and his government deserve to be consigned to the Ash can of history. The roots of this mood can be significantly attributed to the blatant anti nip pro Saskatchewan party Bias of the Media. The Calvert government is blamed with a lot of Ink and air time for every Bumble and stumble potholes in the highways population loss dismal Job creation numbers Crooks and fraud artists in the ranks of the civil service Hospital waiting lists the Lack of medical specialists and on and on. The mood of Finger pointing and blame laying is so knee Jerk and general you begin to think the Calvert government is to blame for too much rain too Little rain Forest fires in the North the heat wave the hordes of mosquitoes. Got a Back ache blame Calvert. Just two recent examples of this Media Bias Spring to mind. The Saskatchewan part yes contest for the worst Highway in Saskatchewan got an incredible amount of attention from the Media. And news reports on the local ctr station in Regina repeatedly presented the Saskatchewan part yes website address and encouraged viewers to enter the contest. This is news then there were the jobs and population loss issues. Saskatchewan is Economy is booming thanks to High resource revenues one of the Best performers in Canada. Yet the record of Job creation was terrible with seven months of Job losses up to april. This was linked to the loss of population. Saskatchewan party Leader Brad Wall gnashed his Teeth political columnists had a Field Day savaging the governments poor economic leadership. Much was made of the contradiction of a booming Economy with Job and population losses. This apparent contradiction derives from the structural problems of the Saskatchewan Economy the economic growth in the booming resource sector is capital intensive and generates few jobs relative to investment and value of output while the labour intensive agricultural sector has been in decline since the great depression and the Small Export oriented manufacturing sector faces the same problems across Canada due to the rising Dollar. But the Media ignore All that. Then in april things began to turn around leading to three months of Job gains from May to june. Saskatchewan had Over 5,000 More jobs in june 2006 compared to june 2005. Saskatchewan is Job creation record hit 1.9 per cent Over six months second Only to Albertas. Did you hear much about this from the Media just the Odd Little Story and editorial buried deep in the paper or at the Tail end of the newscast. But this anti government mood can Only be partly attributed to the Media. The largest share of the blame must be shouldered by the Calvert government which has failed to articulate a social democratic vision for the future and to begin to act on that vision. It is not a Lack of ideas. It is a Lack of political vision and courage. This is Why even among Napers a sense of defeatism has grown to dangerous Levels. And the Weyburn big Muddy disaster has reinforced that mood. Its not too late for Calvert. Dont count him out yet. At the Start of the 2003 Campaign it was widely expected Calvert was going Down to defeat. But he won on nov. 5, 2003, and he can win again. But to win Calvert has to polarize the province around a left of Centre program. So far Calvert and his advisers appear afraid to do so. Down that Road lies certain defeat. John f. Conway is a University of Regina political sociologist and the author of the West the history of a Region in confederation. Is Calvert Toast stupid mistakes cause new democrats to despair John f. Conway Regina Leader Post Saskatchewan party Leader Brad Wall holds voters e mail critical of the nip government. Winnipeg toys with planning disaster ;