Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - December 12, 2007, Winnipeg, Manitoba A12 Winnipeg free press Freedom of Trade wednesday december 12, 2007 Liberty of religion comment editor Equality of civil rights Gerald flood 697-7269 editorials false sense of history m r. Justice Alan Macinnes of court of Queens Bench has rejected a a tis land claims Case with a Clear and convincing judgment although it is unlikely to be the last word on the Long simmering controversy. The Manitoba a tis federation says it plans to Appeal last weeks decision but it should take More time to study the judges ruling before burdening the courts with More claims of corruption and theft. Having failed to convince governments the courts or anyone else that its people Are entitled to a land base like other aboriginals them tis federa Tion seems to feel it has no Choice but to keep Chas ing a losing cause through the clogged arteries of the court system. Following the rebel lion led by a tis Leader Louis Riel in 1869, the Canadian government agreed to make Manitoba a province and to Grant other concessions including the distribution of 1.4 million acres of land to the children of them tis residents. Over time some decided to sell their land and the land of their Chil Dren to speculators. Them tis federation says thousands of a tis were swindled out of their land and the provincial and Federal governments should have stepped in to prevent the abuse. But judge Macinnes ruled that the evidence shows the system was largely fair and honourable. He said there was Only one example of a Federal civil servant who behaved dishonestly with regard to a tis lands. While clearly less than perfect the evidence does establish that Canada distributed More than 1.4 million acres to the children of the half Breed Heads of families As required. Taking care to consult them tis As to the location of the reserves the judge said. Them tis federation believes parliament intended to create a land base for them tis people even though there a no evidence to support that position judge Macinnes said. Unlike aboriginals who signed treaties for the establishment of reserves them tis have never owned reserves of land in common. Them tis did not live in a communal or collective setting the judge wrote in his decision. True they lived More or less together in parishes the common connection being religion language and culture. But they held land on an individual basis and were Able to and did sell buy and other Wise Deal with their land As did any other individual but a tis membership has soared in recent years As Pride in the past replaces a sense of shame so it is unfortunate that them tis federation has used its position of Trust to create unrealistic expectations among its people. As judge Macinnes wrote in his judgment them tis have been important actors in Manitoba a past and present and he encouraged them to Settle their grievances through negotiations with Canada and Manitoba. Indeed the courts Are a poor place to resolve political problems and ancient feelings of betrayal. Putin in the Saddle the succession to russian president Vladimir Putin became a bit clearer this week with the announce ment monday that or. Putin a designated heir will be Dmitri Medvedev a first Deputy prime minister who is a close disciple of the president and head of Russia a huge Gaz prom Energy company. That endorsement virtually assures or. Medvedevs elec Tion when russians go to the polls March 2. In his turn or. Medvedev announced that As pres ident he hoped to name or. Putin As his prime min ister. There is not much standing in the Way of that ? or. Putin a party United Russia won a Large majority in the recent parliamentary election and he Heads the party a list meaning that he would be its candidate for prime minister if he wants to be. Or. Putin has served two terms As president and under Russia a Constitution cannot serve a third consecutively. Since hardly anyone believed the increasingly dictatorial Leader would vanish after the March election there has been intense Specula Tion As to How he would maintain his grip on Power. The scenario seems Clear now. Or. Medvedev will serve As or. Putin scat a Paw in the presidency ensuring As the president suggested monday an administration that will carry on the same policies that have brought us results for the past eight the Powers of the prime minister Are Likely to be enhanced and it is widely believed that or. Medvedev May resign the presidency Early to let or. Putin run again. These developments have been widely welcomed both by Western governments and by russians themselves although there is no Good reason Why they should be except that the alternatives Are probably worse for everybody. Western governments Are usually a sedulously naive in dealing russians. They look on or. Medvedev As a moderate and a pragmatist with whom they can Deal forgetting that this is not Paris or Berlin it is Moscow and the new president will be the old presidents puppet. As for russians ? a majority of whom told a poll recently that or. Putin could run roughshod Over the Constitution ? they simply Don to know any better. A nation with no experience of democracy cannot be expected to understand How it works stability Trumps Freedom. In his second term or. Putin has behaved with increasing belligerence to Western governments and Russia a Neighbours. We should expect no change under or. Medvedev. Yes it could have been worse ? but it also almost certainly will be As or. Putin continues to Chart Russia a course. 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. Segev should be relieved Samuel Segev a dec. 11th column israeli Confidence in Bush a policy shaken is illuminating. In Light of the news that Iran has not in fact been working on nuclear weapons Segev bemoans the fact that this has left Israel with no justification for ? and no practical Way to accomplish ? a unilateral attack on Iran. Should this response be Relief that Iran does to have the ability to destroy Israel after All instead he seems disappointed the israeli government can to attack another nation without provocation ? an attack that would not incidentally leave much of the Middle East a radioactive waste land. Segev unwittingly reveals that where Israel is concerned much of what passes for informed commentary Borders on sheer madness. Michael Dudley Winnipeg where Are the lights what has happened to the Christmas lights on Broadway this was always one of the most attractively decorated streets in the City at Christmas time but the other night there was not a Christmas Light or decoration to be seen not even on the businesses that line Broadway. Is Christmas out of fashion at City Hall Peggy Halstead Winnipeg a tis suit hurts Harmony re judge rejects a tis land claim dec. 8. This suit does nothing to promote Harmony and a spirit of co operation Between them tis and people of european origin in our province. If the suit were to be successful and them tis compensated for the current Market value of the City of Winnipeg the province would clearly be instantly bankrupted and a precedent set for further nonsensical lawsuits across the continent. Lets not add comments from professionals in the Field of litigation such As Karen Busby at the University of Manitoba Law school billions hang in the balance dec. 7 in apparent support of such frivolous suits. An equally frivolous proposal to seek compensation for the costs that continue to be borne by each and every Manitoban to sustain the Northern communities and maintain the health and welfare of their members would perhaps help diminish the widely Felt antagonism in the Southern communities toward government sponsorship of aboriginal claims and related subsidies. Paul Gilbert Winnipeg steel prices could drop re repairs hit costly Road Block oct. 27. The oct. 27 free press front Page stated that steel is expected to double in Price in 2008, thanks to an increase in worldwide As an organization that prides itself on providing factual and reliable information to its members design and construction industries and the Public when called upon this information was news to us. We have done our Best to source such information and have not been Able to replicate such Winnipeg free press. Today a question Able to improve the Winnipeg police service who should have the final say on taking a terminally ill patient off life support systems yes 52% / no 48% / total 1179 vote online at poll ? 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 33 a member of the Manitoba press Council letter of the Day a new zealand creation re Pavlova so much More than dessert to aussies dec. 7. australian correspondent Michael Madigan misleads by omission in Sug Gesting the fabulous Pavlova meringue cake was conjured up in Australia sometime in the 1930s. The Pavlova named for russian bal let dancer Anna Pavlova has been claimed by Australia and new zealand As a National dessert. But it is a new zealand creation not australian. Recipes for the delectable meringue cake appeared in new zealand Cook books in the 1920s. It was first served to Pavlova in Wellington during her 1926 world tour and renamed in her honour. The dessert soon became a Symbol of National Pride especially after the australians began to claim it As their own. But there is one Point on which kiwis and aussies agree the incomparable Pavlova is truly a Symbol of summer. There is nothing More divine than a Pav topped with freshly whipped Cream and delicious summer fruit. Nona Pelletier Winnipeg projections from numerous steel Industry specialists. We believed your information to be erroneous. We feel it is important for your readership to understand the economic Impact of base material Cost with respect to total project Cost. Depending on the complexity of a project the structural steel component of a project May be 15-20 per cent of the total Cost of construction for building projects and per haps 25-40 per cent for Bridge projects infrastructure. Simplistically total steel construction costs Are approximately broken Down for both building and infrastructure projects As one third for material Supply one third for Fabri cation and one third for erection. The Fabri cation and erection component costs have been relatively stable and the Only real Vari Able has been base material costs due to glob Al demands. Therefore it needs to be understood that any increase in base Materi Al Cost Mill source would Only marginally affect the total Cost of construction for a project. We conclude the free press did not fully research this aspect of the article for acc lateness. Is there a possibility that steel prices May be higher a year from now certainly however there is also a Strong possibility that it May be lower As Well especially since All rolled structural shapes Are imported and the Canadian Dollar is currently stronger than it used to be compared to the . Dollar thus allowing better buying lever age for Canadian based projects. The Point is there is no True Way of making reliable predictions of such sensational magnitude and current Price trends do not allow reason Able and knowledgeable experts to forecast to such extents. Peter Timler Western regional executive director Canadian Institute of steel construction Surrey . Gore also profiting re global warming happening dec. 8. John Wishnowski accuses s. Fred Singer of being employed by the Fossil fuel Industry to deny the phenomenon of human induced Cli mate change. That May be the Case but is it not also possible that the proponents of the theory Are being employed by or Are heavily invested in alternate Energy companies hop ing to Benefit from wind solar and biomass production or would such people never stoop so Low just ask Al Gore who has recently become a partner in a venture capital firm investing in businesses specializing in technologies that reduce co2 emissions. Now that he a created a need for the makeover of the worlds $6 trillion global Industry Why not Cash in on it As for the assertions that global warming is occurring mainly because of human activity what was the nature of this activity during the medieval warm period that lasted More than three centuries and saw agricultural settlements flourishing in Greenland or what other than natural causes was responsible for above Normal temperatures during the heyday of the roman Empire when Vine Yards could be found 100 Kilometres North of London Singer Points out that despite steady increases of co2 during the past Century the planets temperature has stabilized since 1998. In addition it actually dropped Between 1940 and 1975 and also during the 1920s when the new York times ran a series of articles warning of a new ice age. So As we experience two weeks of below Normal temperatures we should remember that when Mark Twain said that everyone talks about the weather but no one does anything about it he might have been forecasting the failure of the Kyoto protocol and whatever succeeds it. Its easy to ratify such treaties meeting their targets in to. Edward Katz Winnipeg prepare for inevitable i am not sure whether or not global warm ing is caused by human activity. I Don to think the worlds scientists politicians or others Are sure either. On the other hand i do know that if the Effort spent by politicians taking credit for their Green Ness were spent solv ing problems such As starvation or malaria a lot More lives would be saved. I also think that if global warming is inevitable As so Many do goobers Tell me then Why Arent we preparing for the inevitable rather than explaining that someone else was to blame. David Shefford Winnipeg previous question will new police chief Keith Mccaskill be ;