Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - December 14, 2007, Winnipeg, Manitoba Comment editor Gerald flood 697 7269 Gerald. Flood free press. My. Ca v new fro the w est a n d b e y o n d a 15 Winnipeg free press Friday december 14, 2007 Winnipeg repress. Com a Australia a country that always prided itself on the rugged individualism of its mainly masculine heroes got the Surprise of its life this week. A Sheila was put in charge. The newly elected labour Deputy prime minister Julia Gillard officially took the reigns of Power while newly elected prime minister Kevin Rudd went to Bali for the United nations climate conference. It was the first time in australians history a woman Sheila is a mildly offensive Slang for women no longer in common use has ruled the nation and the Novelty of a female Leader appeared to Delight a country perceived by the rest of the world As steeped in masculine culture. It was also a scenario that threw into Sharp Relief the former administration of Defeated Liberal prime minister John Howard who weathered frequent criticism for an alleged inability to grasp the 21st Century from women to the worldwide web. To More progressive australians Howard was an Echo from the lost world of the Sheila a world where Khaki Clad men returned from War to Beer and baked dinner prepared by women who knew How to knit. Australian author and feminist Dale spender once described Howard As a Man who wanted Australia to be the Way it was in the 1950s where the wife did not move past the front door. Howard controversially helped with the wording of the draft preamble to the australian Federal Constitution angering some feminists by not referring to the Equality of men and women. He also included a reference to mat ship an australian tradition of male Friendship still seen to exclude women. The attacks were hardly fair on Howard who while socially conservative was hardly retrogressive in his Outlook but the Howard Era did have its figures who reflected the views of generations past and who received widespread Public support. Among them was head of the returned services league Bruce Ruxton who spent much of the 1990s lashing out at left leaning academics feminists multiculturalism and homosexuals. But Australia while widely perceived As a masculine culture has got some historical runs on the Board when it comes to a omens rights. South Australia led the world by not just a franchising women in 1894 but also making them eligible to run in elections and sit in parliament. By 1909, All australian states and the Commonwealth had enfranchised european women. Aboriginal women and men for that matter were not allowed to vote until 1962 and even after winning the vote they faced restrictions applied by enrolment provisions. Gillard a lawyer in her mid 40s, has not been immune from the echoes of a lost Australia. Just a few months ago Liberal senator Bill Heffernan attacked the unmarried and childless Gillard for being wilfully Barren. Heffernan a Plain talking Farmer from Rural new South Wales later apologized but has been on the record saying anyone who does not have children does not really understand what life is All about. The Deputy pm who was born in Wales and migrated to Australia with her family in 1966, already had a successful career behind her before she became a politician More than a decade ago. She was a former president of the australian Union of students As Well As a partner in an Adelaide Law firm. Gillard played Down her first Day As the nations most powerful politician telling the Brisbane based the courier mail she did not feel the need to give a Little speech As Power was officially transferred to her. Nor was she overwhelmed by the duties of office which she described As a regular working Day. But the significance of the Day was not lost on Gillard who also told journalists she hoped her Elevation might serve As an inspiration to younger women around Australia. If one of them thinks to themselves gee i might like to do that when i grow up then i count the Day a Success. Her father John told the National broadcaster Abc that his daughters achievement was something everyone could be proud of in the 21st Century. The Glass ceiling is Well and truly broken he said. Michael Madigan is the free press correspondent in Australia. He writes about politics for the Brisbane based courier mail. Michael Madigan n Northern development policy is attracting increasing attention. The prohibition on a Hydro right of Way Down the East Side of Manitoba has awakened the latent demand for All weather roads to Remote communities. The Road debate has environmental social and economic aspects. Environment has dominated the discussion because of damage to the landscape and negative impacts of roads on wild populations. The social and economic costs of Al weather roads Are complicated and receive less attention. This author posits an indirect link Between the rising medical costs associated with diabetes in the first nations and the transportation Cost to these communities. Spending to treat kidney disease and renal failure is increasing. The province for example is spending $ 20 million on the problem including adding 30 dialysis stations. Two More dialysis stations will go to Norway House and six new ones will go to pegu is first nation. Forty per cent of these dialysis stations Are needed to treat the end stage of diabetes. The 30 new dialysis stations will allow another 132 patients to get treatment. The Manitoba renal program reports that More than 275 new patients Start chronic dialysis therapy every year. More dialysis stations Are the leading Edge of rising diabetes related health care costs. Diabetes is called a silent disease because people succumb gradually after Many years without warning. The incidence of diabetes in the first nations is epidemic. Experts estimate that Type 2 diabetes affects More than two thirds of adults in some first nations of Manitoba. As the first nation population Ages the health authorities will soon be looking for another $ 20 million and another and another. Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes Are due to genes interacting with environmental triggers. However different genes and different triggers cause these two types of diabetes. The environmental triggers for Type 1 diabetes Are ubiquitous and therefore Type 1 diabetes cannot be prevented. Type 2 diabetes is largely preventable. In almost 90 per cent of cases Type 2 diabetes is associated with overweight or obesity which in part results from our Obes Genic environment that is filled with junk food fast food sugar sweetened beverages and items that promote sedentary Behaviours. Or. Francine Kaufman explains the obesity diabetes epidemic that threatens North America in her Book Diabes Ity. Type 2 diabetes that used to be a late life problem is now showing up in kids below the age of 12. Or. Heather Dean of the University of Manitoba is renowned for research on Type 2 diabetes in first nations children. She reports that children with diabetes in the Early 1980s Are now forming families and the next generation is even More at risk but this disease is avoidable. In the words of Deans address at the airships to the Arctic Iii conference heredity loads the Cannon but obesity and other factors pull the trigger. During the 1960s, rampant Type 2 diabetes was identified in the Pima indians of Arizona but it was observed that the identical Pima indians of Mexico had no diabetes. The difference Lay in their diet and lifestyle. The Pima of Arizona had adopted the High sugar High fat american diet. High transportation costs promote bad diets. A litre of milk is three times More expensive in a Remote Community than a Winnipeg store. Welfare incomes stretch furthest at the Cost per calorie of sugar and fat. The most economic diet in the Remote communities leads to obesity and diabetes with its complications of heart disease strokes amputations blindness and finally kidney failure. In sad irony at the same time that the province was announcing new dialysis stations a company owned by the tribal councils investment group Twig received Pepsi cons Canadian bottler of the year award. Twig obtained double digit sales increases providing soft drinks across Northern communities. Now they Are negotiating with frito Lay to distribute potato chips and other processed snack foods to the first nations. Schools Are Banning the Sale of what Kaufman Calls liquid Candy to students because of obesity concerns while the purveyors of sugary soft drinks to the first nations Are receiving National awards. It would be easy to suggest that the tic is in the diabetes business but they did not invent the demand for Pepsi cola to the Remote communities. The junk food Market in Remote communities exists because of poverty. Poverty exists because of unemployment that results from the High Cost of transportation that excludes these communities from Normal Commerce and Access to nutritional food at reasonable prices. Governments Are in the diabetes treatment business because they have not invested enough in Northern transportation to Spur economic development. They can either spend on transportation so the Remote communities can join the Market Economy or watch As the suffering and expenditures on diabetes balloon instead. Barry Prentice is a professor in Supply Chain management at the University of Manitoba. Barry Prentice o Ottawa lib eled blackmailed the subject of journalistic vendettas and attempted extortion Brian Mulroney wanted to Market himself As a victim who suffered his own near death experience from perennial Airbus allegations. But he knew it Wash in a country where Mulroney polls As Canadas most untrustworthy former prime minister. So he went contrite for four hours As a Humble witness on the parliament Hill he ruled As prime minister for nine years. Less than a minute into his opening address Mulroney threw his legacy before the court of Public opinion and sought forgiveness for his wrongdoings. He admitted to having been a Lousy judge of a Shady client character in hanging out with German businessman Karlheinz Schreiber. He never should ave accepted bundles of thousand Dollar Bills and stuffed them into safety Deposit boxes in two countries. And he probably should ave defended himself from slurs and smears years ago. The apology was the right thing to do and eliminated the ugliest lines of attack from ethics committee maps probing his questionable business dealings with Schreiber. Unfortunately his Mea culpa is about 15 years too late to qualify As Heartfelt regret. Mulroney is mostly sorry about the perception of his actions and the fact he got busted for Shady private sector conduct unbecoming a former prime minister. Perhaps his Only True remorse in a judgment error was underestimating Schr Eibers ability to generate to Days feeding frenzy from an ancient scandal everybody assumed was forgotten. But if we assume Mulroney is telling the truth now his greatest error was staying silent for so Long until All this innuendo and allegation swirled into whats shaping up to be a costly Seinfeld an Public inquiry about nothing. True Mulroney now admits to stuffing wads of thousand Dollar Bills into safety Deposit boxes scant weeks after leaving the nations highest office. Yes he delayed the income tax payment until the optics of the Schreiber Deal became dangerously queasy. And Given that he could Only recall one hour of consultation with Schreiber you could argue his $ 225,000 consulting fee was a Tad High even for a double majority prime minister. But its hardly enough ammunition to fire up a $ 30 million Public inquiry. Still he delivered a masterful performance with More entertainment value than his son bends televised fare. It was Vintage Mulroney a baritone blast of Blarney mixed with an indignant defence of his character. Any Sleazy behaviour was Only visible from Hindsight he argued. There were flashes of wit such As How he dealt with a Liberal my who attacked his failure to pay get on his fees How grateful i am to you and the Liberal party for your Strong defence of the get. He unleashed verbal technicolor arguing Schreiber signed an affidavit loaded Down with falsehoods like a Christmas tree on dec. 25. Wife Mila sat in the third Row with her four children her face a mask devoid of emotion while Hubby poured out How the family had been traumatic ally tainted by innuendo and injustice delivered by Schreiber with Giddy help from those Pesky evil doers at the Csc and the Globe and mail. Knowing his Public credibility is in Short support the Only Salvage option for Mulroney was to shred Schreiber. And that he did with surgical precision producing a paper Trail of contradictory testimony and newspaper clippings to Back his Contention that Schreiber will say anything sign anything and do anything to avoid extradition. By the end of Mulroney is testimony the committee found itself facing two incompatible versions of the same Story. Schreiber claims he received no service for his fees. Mulroney insists he travelled the world on his own ticket to schmooze with foreign presidents about Schr Eibers plan to build Light armoured vehicles in Nova Scotia. His accuser paints the picture of a Cash strapped retiring prime minister looking for easy Money to finance a lavishly unaffordable lifestyle. Mulroney says he was doing just Fine financially. They cant even agree on the fees paid. Schreiber insists he forked Over 300 grand Mulroney counters it at 225. Either Way each envelope had enough Cash to buy a loaded porsche bolster and a years Worth of Gas. This Means the truth is still out there somewhere in the credibility void Between lying Brian and Slippery Schreiber. As Mulroney noted when my Mike Wallace wondered How to reconcile Schr Eibers changing versions of the truth you figure that one out you re going to heaven. Yes heaven help us when this ruckus restarts in late january with members firing up top five witness lists amid promises that both the former prime minister and his former business associate will return to the witness stand. Its incredible to think that were on the eve of 2008, and Brian Mulroney haunts us still. Dmartin can West. Com can West news service Don Martin the most economic diet in the Remote communities leads to obesity and diabetes with its complications of heart disease strokes amputations blindness and finally kidney failure the truth is still lost in the void Between Mulroney and Schreiber stories taking it on the Chin aussie Sheila upsets masculine culture transportation rising medical costs linked Rod Macivor / can West news service Brian Mulroney went contrite for four hours As a Humble witness on the parliament Hill he ruled As prime minister for nine years ;