Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - August 22, 2006, Winnipeg, Manitoba A10 Winnipeg free press Freedom of Trade tuesday August 22, 2006 Liberty of religion comment editor Equality of civil rights Gerald flood 697-7269 editorials pre trials on trial f ederal Justice minister Vic Toews says the use of preliminary inquiries should be reduced or eliminated entirely from the court process As a Way to reduce the backlog of criminal cases in Canadas courts. Preliminary inquiries were envisioned As a Means to make courts and Tri als run More efficiently but they have come to have the opposite effect. That is Why the criminal code was changed some three years ago to restrict their use. The Federal Justice department is reviewing the effects of those changes. At one time a prelim As they Are called was automatically called for serious charges As a Means of testing the evidence to ensure it could withstand scrutiny at trial. Pre trials stood in for what should have been upfront and wide disclosure to the defence counsel of the evidence held by the Crown against the accused. Over time both sides found that a preliminary could be used to put off a trials Start Date if a delay worked to their advantage ? eroding a witness a recall of events for example or allowing More time to collect evidence. And so prelims became a part of a growing problem of backlogged courts rather than a Way to keep fragile cases from collapsing after a judges schedule is set. The criminal code changes mean that a preliminary trial is no longer automatic but must be requested by the Crown or the defence for a specific Issue. The departmental review of the Impact of those changes might show that there has been a reduction in the number of prelims or that the new rules have also been manipulated for the interests of either Side. Or. Toews should study the findings before he implements further changes. The use of a preliminary inquiry ought to be a Rar Ity even for serious charges. The crowns office is tasked with reviewing the evidence collected by the police to ensure it is sufficient to support a charge. The Quality of the crowns Case ought then to be tested at trial by the judge and the jury. Some defence lawyers insist a prelim is critical to per forming their jobs because it allows them to exam Ine the Case against their clients. That should not be necessary with full disclosure of the evidence by the Crown. Spectacular examples of wrongful convictions resulting from a Lack of disclosure by the Crown As in the James Driskell murder conviction have been widely examined there is no Refuge now for prosecutors who would claim ignorance of their obligations. There will be however the extraordinary Case that warrants a pre trial. Counsel May dispute a Laws applicability or Challenge the constitutionality of a piece of evidence. Those conflicts can Lead to Long interruptions of trials taxing jurors memories about the facts Laid before them. Rather than eliminating preliminaries or. Toews should focus on restricting their use further so they Are the rare exception rather than the Rule. Fresh air on Kyoto Michael Ignatieff made a valuable contribution to the climate change debate yesterday just not the one he intended. In Vancouver where he was stumping for support in his bid for the Liberal leadership while also attending a caucus meeting or. Ignatieff unveiled a proposal to shift gasoline taxes. The plan is to increase get and Federal excise taxes on Environ mentally unfriendly gasoline and to offset the increases with cuts of the same taxes on Friendly fuels such As ethanol made from agricultural products. The tax shift will drive a consumer shift to clean fuels he says. He also proposed that Carbon emission Caps be imposed on Canadian industries. Or. Ignatieff said the measures would Cut Green House Gas production in Canada by 50 per cent by 2050. Now it might make for Good politics to Promise something that can to be delivered until Long after most of today a voters Are Likely to have shed their mortal coils. It might be that emission Caps will not cripple Canadian industries competing in a global Economy. It might be that creating clean fuels actually produces More Energy than is consumed in its production something critics doubt. It might even be that or. Ignatieff can first convince Liber als and then most canadians that these measures Are the right mix and should become Law in Canada. Until then however they Are simply a few ideas among a great Many ideas some of which have shelf lives As Short As or. Ignatieff a last proposal ? a Carbon tax plan that he floated two months ago and which he allowed to sink out of sight when it was roundly criticized. Which is not to say that or. Ignatieff a ideas Are without Merit. But it is to say that what is More important is that in raising them or. Ignatieff admitted that the previous Liberal governments Kyoto plan to Cut greenhouse Gas Levels to six per cent less than 1990 Levels by 2012 was Little More than hot air. Canada cannot meet the Kyoto target without spending billions of dollars buying emis Sions credits from other countries his eight Page position paper declares. Or. Ignatieff a Candour about past Liberal policy might not sit Well with some party members but canadians generally should Welcome it. It Means that a real debate about what to do about climate change will Likely take place after the conservative government unveils its plans next month. Have your say the free press welcomes letters from readers. They must include the authors name address and Telephone number. Letters May be edited. Letters to the editor 1355 Mountain Avenue Winnipeg r2x 3b6. Fax 697-7412. Email careful on . Highways i just came Back from North Dakota where i visited my daughter. I had an experience i would like to share so no one else gets nailed. I passed a vehicle on Highway 29 going South that was pulled Over on the shoulder by the sheriff. As soon As i did this the sheriff got in his car and chased me. When i stopped he proceeded to give me the riot act. Madam North Dakota Law states that when you Are passing any vehicle on the shoulder you must change lanes. I got a $50 ticket. No polite warning or reminder or anything. I think it should be posted at the Border so that canadians Don to get to pay this Fine. Jean Green Winnipeg obscene gestures Are rare re Road rage tale with a twist aug. 19. I find it ironic that Kirsten Andersson states returned the obscene gesture and ? since this is a fairly common occurrence when one drives in Winnipeg ? we thought that was the end of i have been driving in Winnipeg for Over 30 years and i can Tell you that this Finger Ges Ture is not a fairly common occurrence in Winnipeg unless you Are a bad Driver. What i see More often is Drivers blindly doing their thing with no consideration of others. What is even worse is that she does not even know that she probably is a bad Driver. It is unfortunate that it will take a year for her to find this out. Robert Newman Winnipeg system failed the teen re system failed teen s attacker aug. 15. At the risk of stating the brutally obvious in the context of the alleged incident that allegedly occurred and with All due respect to the accused individual and his family who Are dealing with a horrific illness the system failed the teen ? the actual victim far More egregiously than it failed Chris Jude rat Neriya. Kent Brown East St. Paul leave nature alone re what about the wasps aug. 18. Matt Diubaldo and i am sure Many oth ers would like mayor Sam Katz to get More aggressive in Wasp control. Many years ago i Learned an important Les son about nature. I had a red Squirrel prob Lem so i shot them All. Once they were gone i soon Learned that it was the Small but aggressive red squirrels that kept away the larger More destructive and smarter Grey squirrels. See where i a going with this it is time we tapped into the Wisdom of our native Brothers life is a never ending Circle and All life is interconnected. Spraying the mosquitoes for example kills not Only them but Many other insects. Less insects Means less food for Birds. This in turn Means less Birds. Less Birds Means some previously letter of the Day use zoo to attract tourists i would like to describe a couple of stops on our recent . Vacation. I Hope it will rekindle thoughtful debate on a subject that was quickly beaten Down by naysayers a few years Back enhancing our zoo. Our travels took us through Omaha and St. Louis. Both cities have highly regarded zoos with Omaha a Henry Doorly zoo being rated the top zoo in the . By readers digest in 2004. These zoos were major factors in our decision to visit both cities. We were not disappointed. Omaha a zoo had a desert dome indoor rain Forest Bat Cave aviary Gorilla exhibit insect reptile exhibit walk through aquarium and an above and below water Penguin display. Omaha a zoo was spectacular and St. Louis a was not far behind. We spent a whole Day at each and left wishing we had More time. The Omaha zoo had an admission fee and it was Worth every Penny. The St. Louis zoo was free with a Small charge for some attractions rides shows movies Etc. Both zoos relied on corporate sponsorship of areas and individual sponsorships of animals. The zoos Are a big attraction for tourists. One of my daughters took Pic Tures of All the different licence plates she saw on the trip. These two zoos proved to be excellent places for doing so with vehicles from most states and several provinces in the parking lots. Our government has re branded our insignificant insect has a Chance to become significant. What then another new Chemi Cal it really is quite simple what goes around comes around. So sit Back this summer relax with a tall Cool one and Marvel at the Beauty and complexity of nature instead of trying to dominate it. Let me assure you Mother nature will have her Way with or without Mankind a interference. James r. Pringle heading Ley editorial cleared the air re lets Clear the air aug. 17. Your editorial is one of the most Lucid i have Ever read in the mainstream Media about the smoking Issue. Indeed not Only the Manitoba government but All provincial governments have imposed their respective anti tobacco legislation to appease the noisy anti smoking lobbies. This has nothing to do with health and everything to do with poli tics pharmaceutical companies interests and greedy voracious anti tobacco lobbies. As you so Well stated every cancer Genic substance has permissible exposure Levels and second hand smoke is no exception. It is a pity that the governments have artificially created such a deplorable situation where one segment of the population has to turn against the other in order to defend its Liveli Hood and civil rights. Iro Cyr Blainville Winnipeg free press. Today a question previous question should the Manitoba government scrap the Long weekend ban on liquor in provincial campgrounds should Drivers of vehicles that use cleaner fuels get a tax break yes 28% / no 70% / undecided 2% / total 1159 vote online at poll ? 2006 Winnipeg free press a division of up Canadian Andrew s. Ritchie / publisher newspapers limited partnership Bob Cox / editor published seven Days a week at 1355 Mountain Avenue Patrick Flynn / Deputy editor Winnipeg free press est 1872 / Winnipeg Tribune est 1890 Winnipeg Manitoba r2x 3b6, pm 697-7000 province with spirited Energy. Tourists Don to visit and residents Don to stay because of words. It takes something far More tangible. Our deteriorating zoo would be a great place to show some spirited Energy along with vision and a can do attitude. Don Gillespie Winnipeg vandalism a Scourge As residents of the Linden Ridge we Are growing increasingly concerned with the amount of vandalism that has been happen ing in our surrounding area. My husband and i take morning walks through Linden Ridge and into the Linden Woods East area by the retention Ponds and walking trails near Lin Den Meadows school. We have found Bridges fences and walkways sprayed with Graffiti Beer cans and broken Beer bottles strewn about and lighter fluid containers discarded along the walkways. We have also found injured wildlife dying on the Parks grounds. Could this All be connected we have contacted the Public works and the councillor Donald Benham for our Ward who quickly did their part to have the Graffiti removed. We be also contacted the police to Check into these acts of vandalism and we know they Are trying to patrol the area More frequently. However the police have Only limited resources and manpower so we re asking if the immediate residents of this area surrounding the walkways and retention Ponds near Linden Meadows school would be extra vigilant to report activities that look suspicious and serve As a Heads up for this area. Possibly if we All work together now we can succeed in making this area cleaner and safer and discourage the kind of destructive and damaging elements that have ruined other areas of this City. Donna Penner Winnipeg ;