Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - December 10, 2007, Winnipeg, Manitoba A12 Winnipeg free press Freedom of Trade monday december 10, 2007 Liberty of religion comment editor Equality of civil rights Gerald flood 697-7269 editorials new course after Kyoto e environment minister John Baird arrived at the United nations climate change Confer ence in Bali on the weekend to find Canada increasingly isolated. This will not have a been sur prise to him. The conservative governments Posi Tion on the Kyoto Accord and the Best Way to move out of the climate change quagmire it has become is Radical by International standards. In fact it is publicly supported Only by two other nations ? the United states and Japan Australia was previously on Side until the election last month of a left Wing government whose delegates arrived in Bali pens poised to sign on to Kyoto oblivious to How Mori bund that Accord actually has become. In that the australian left is like the Canadian left the Liberal new democratic and bloc quebecois parties that stubbornly cling to Kyoto even though they know the goals set by the Accord cannot now be met. Perhaps if for Mer Liberal administrations under prime ministers Jean Chr Tien and Paul Martin ? pre sent Liberal Leader St Phane Dion was environment minister in one of or. Chr Tien a governments ? had made some Effort to implement Kyoto it might be possible but even that was a Long shot and in any Case they did nothing. Being isolated is not the same thing As being wrong. On the eve of his departure for Bali or. Baird took the Opportunity to remind canadians and the conference delegates of the reality of global warming and of the need to Chart in Bali a course that will better guide us in combating it. We must avoid the same mistakes of Kyoto which allowed huge greenhouse Gas emitters such As China and India to take a pass on the commitments made by the industrialized nations because they Are consid ered to be developing that was Washington a justification for refusing to sign Kyoto ? the unworkable unfairness of a sys tem that allows some nations to freely pollute while others such As Canada and the ., Are asked to make tremendous economic sacrifices. The entire architecture of Kyoto needs to be reworked in Bali or. Baird said. Canadas position now demands binding commitments on All major emitters and reductions phased in Over a longer More practical period of time than Kyoto. Canada May be publicly alone with the And Japan in that position but its common sense is sure to win converts As Kyoto continues to collapse. That it will be a hard sell however is Clear. Or. Baird was barely on his Way to Bali before China denounced Canadas position claiming the unrestricted right to pump unlimited pollutants into the atmosphere for decades to come under the Banner of what it Calls perhaps the brightest spot Here is that in the intransigence of nations such As China is the greatest Hope that the world will finally see Kyoto As the catastrophe that it is. African mystery British prime minister Gordon Brown refused to attend the european Union Africa Summit in Lisbon on Friday and saturday because zimbabwean presi Dent Robert Mugabe was in attendance. Czech prime minister Mirek Topolanek joined or. Browns Boycott while several other european leaders attended but were publicly uncomfortable about the company they were keeping. Even the portuguese whose Job it was As hosts to extend the invitations allowed that it would be better All around if the aging dictator had stayed Home. The african Side of the Summit however would have none of that. The 14 members of the South Africa development Community ? of which Zimbabwe is a member and which gave or. Mugabe a standing ovation at its own Summit in Lusaka in july ? had threatened to Boycott the meeting in Masse if he were barred. A frustrated european Union president Jose Manuel Barroso tried to convince both sides that the Lisbon Summit was not about Zimbabwe but about european Union african relations with an ambitious Agenda on issues As important As peace and Security climate change development Aid migration and in theory or. Barroso is Correct but in reality the concept of an eur african Summit has been Only about Zimbabwe since former British prime minis Ter Tony Blair boycotted the first one seven years ago Over the same Issue that kept his successor or. Brown at Home in London this time. In fact every eur Africa Summit since has collapsed under the weight of or. Mugabe a malevolent presence and Southern Africa a unbending support for it. It is difficult perhaps for westerners to believe but the dictator who presided Over the destruction of one of Africa a richest economies and Over the violent uprooting of once thriving democratic institutions remains a hero to Many africans. Or. Barroso obliquely suggested that africans Are paying a Price for that misplaced admiration. All of the important items on the ambitious eur Africa Agenda were there for Africa a Benefit. Or. Mugabe could bring nothing to the Summit ? he is internationally disgraced banned from Europe in fact except for these summits that he continues to frus trate. He does however Cost Africa a great Deal by attending not Only in terms of its reputation but in economic and political Aid. This makes no differ ence to the zimbabwean Leader ? he has already happily ruined his nation ? but Why Southern Africa a leaders would join him on his death March remains one of the continents darkest mysteries. 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 letters represent the opinions of their writers and do not reflect the opinions of the Winnipeg free press or its staff. be Green lose weight re one drive thru Down a gazillion to go dec. 4 i would think people getting a High fat drink or snack would Welcome the Chance to Burn a few calories walking into the building. Besides the obvious environmental Detri ments of idling your vehicle remember Gas is a Buck a litre help your Waistline save the environment and save some Money ? make Coffee at Home for almost nothing and just drive straight to work. Ralph Stemmer Winnipeg eliminate Lazy convenience Larry Todd a letter to the editor dec. 5 Speaks volumes As to Why our planet is in the state it is. He said it lacked perspective to focus on drive thus when general traffic congestion emits much More greenhouse gases. Yes we Are hopefully All aware of the sickening amount of emissions that is produced from the daily commute. That a Why it is so important to do away with such a Lazy and unnecessary convenience As drive thus sorry or. Todd but i find it astounding that you could be aware of How much pollution we create with our so called necessary transportation then oppose the concept to eliminate that which we can easily do without. Maybe a free press reporter can do an article to show what the Impact would be on our environment if drive thus were eliminated. Then perhaps or. Todd and people like him would see the relevance of Dan Lett a article. Kimberlee Van Der Krogst Winnipeg support Canadian business for Many years now the business elite have come up with a Nice Little word called globalization. In Short this Means buy off Shore products for cheap save taxes and sell for High retail prices. This also Means extra profits. Almost everything in stores now come with a made in China Label. I was shocked to find out that made in China was not another Canadian province. For Many years canadians were told prices Are High due to the Low Dollar High taxes and whatever reasons fit for the time. Hundreds of thousands of jobs were lost to offshore manufacturers so i Tell canadians support Canadian manufacturing because retailers sure Don to. Brent Bottiaux Winnipeg balance not achieved re global warning Man made or natural dec. 6 on thursday the free press achieved a new Low in editorial judgment by publishing an opinion piece by notorious climate change be grateful for service this year the City of Winnipeg has already spent Over $26 million on Snow removal and i can to help but wonder Why some people Are still not satisfied. In order to keep up with the snowfall City workers have to work both Day and night to help make our streets Clear of Snow. This causes less accidents makes our City look cleaner and most of All is saving residents from having to get up and go Clear the sidewalk. We need to appreciate what the City is doing for us when it comes to Snow removal. In other cities such As Halifax Resi dents Are forced to clean their Side walks within 24 hours of a snowfall or they Are fined by the City. Calgary enforces the same rules. Winni Eggers just need to take those few extra min utes to Clear the Walkway to our House or business because there is Only so much the City can do. Candace Bowles Winnipeg denier Fred Singer. On the face of it singers credentials sound impressive senior research fellow at the Independent Institute. Well Singer has no background or expertise in climatology and this Institute is a right Wing propaganda Mill that gets its Money from Exxon Mobil and the tobacco company Philip Morris among others. Fred Singer used to put out propaganda denying the link Between second hand smoke and cancer now he has resurfaced As a shill for the Oil companies who Don to want us to address the most pressing problem facing humanity. Why did the free press publish this piece is it for the Sake of balance Don to you know that there is an overwhelming Consen sus among serious scientists that climate change is caused by human activity what might you publish next in the interest of balance some of Fred singers stale old pieces about smoking Chuck Kroeker Winnipeg editorial irresponsible Seldom have we seen such specious reasoning and Lack of balance As in the dec. 7 free press editorial unrepentant killer. Unlike the carefully reasoned work we have come to expect from free press editorialists this Borders on the irresponsible. The parole boards main concern should have been whether Robert Latimer is a threat to kill again. Instead it based its decision on his failure to stand before them and recant. Or. Latimer stuck by his principles despite knowing it could Cost him dearly. The Board was wrong yet it is fiercely defended in this editorial which fails completely to make the distinction As to the rules for refusing Day parole. The concluding paragraph is so overwrought As to make us question the authors objectivity. Its hard to believe this piece was approved by an editorial Board. It presents itself As the emotional diatribe of an individual. Laurie Johnston Winnipeg family tragedy exploited the fact that i have a severely disabled Sis Ter allows me to understand the Circum stances of the Robert Latimer Case. This is not the Case of a father getting rid of a family Burden. This is the Story of a Lov ing father coming to the Aid of his daughter. Tracy a life had become a Nightmare of pain and mutilation. I am deeply saddened this family a person Al tragedy has been made into a National debate on euthanasia and the rights of the handicapped. Most unfortunate Karen Leroux Keewatin ont. Society should to allow this i cannot express my disgust with the parole Board that refused Robert Latimer a Day parole. I thought the parole Board was in place to determine if a person eligible for parole would re offend behave or be a use Ful part of society. Or. Latimer has suffered enough for this crime. How can we As a society allow this travesty to continue to or. Latimer Dave Tyson Winnipeg Bravo to hero officers i was not surprised by the compassion const. Thane Chartrand and his partner const. Lindsay Cancilla showed in their res Cue of 10 people from a horrific fire in Winnipeg this week. I just want to let the Public know they Are just two examples of the Many Fine men and women who serve on the Winnipeg police service. A Job Well done Val Mccaffrey president Manitoba organization of victim assistance Winnipeg previous question was Justice Alan Macinnes wrong to dismiss the land claim made by Manitoba so tis Are you satisfied with Robert Pickton a second degree Mur Der convictions yes 72% / no 27% / unsure 1% / total 9,741 ? 2007 Winnipeg free press a division of up Canadian Bob Cox / publisher newspapers limited partnership Margo Goodhand / 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 vol 136 no 31 a member of the Manitoba press Council ;