Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - December 21, 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 21, 2007 Winnipeg repress. Com t he multimillion Dollar implosion of an australian property group this week has the country entering the festive season in a sober mood As the violent winds of the american subprime crisis begin battering our shores. Centro properties group a shopping Centre giant dropped a Bombshell onto the australian Stock Market monday morning by announcing it was unable to finance nearly $ 4 billion can Worth of maturing debt. The reason was a tightening credit Market sparked by the american subprime mortgage crisis a financial whirlwind Many commentators had reassured have a major Impact on australian households. This week they looked like being very wrong. The australian Stock Market went into a minor meltdown As Centro shares dropped 77 per cent to around $ 1.50 can. The drop led to an across the Market mauling which had indicators Down More than four per cent by thursday stripping billions of dollars off retirement funds. Australia has one of the More successful retirement systems in the developed world with All employers required to place nine per cent of workers wages into superannuation schemes. Almost All these super schemes have exposure to the local Market. Workers towards the end of their working lives some with million Dollar funds get extremely anxious when they see $ 20,000 to $ 30,000 disappearing from their retirement nest egg in one week. Centro has been granted an Extension until feb. 15 to secure Long term debt re financing of around $ 3 billion can but australians looking for re Assurance have been hearing More Bleak financial forecasts. One of the nations banking giants Anz advised the country to Batten Down for More Stormy weather with the subprime crisis infecting Europe Asia and Australia in 2008. Anz chief executive Mike Smith said there would be inevitable local casualties As Banks eased the pain of the tightening credit Market by increasing interest rates on Home Loans. Sober Reading of the financial Tea leaves has also been going on All week in economic departments at australians major universities. The optimists predict australians mining Boom May still have enough horsepower to Speed ahead of any american recession coming up behind us. The pessimists say the u. Is far too big an influence on global economic health for a few australian Coal mines to save our financial skins. Head of the University of Queens lands school of economics John Foster told the Brisbane based courier mail that we May have to wait until after Christmas before we know How badly the u. Woes will Impact on the booming australian Economy. I dont think were going to have a Clear idea of whats happening until after Christmas because the last Quarter of the year is always fairly buoyant he said. But prof. Foster also noted the global Economy had changed dramatically in the past Quarter of a Century. Twenty five years ago a world recession actually meant something in the sense that if the u. S., As they say sneezes we All caught a cold. Now in the globalized world its possible for one country to have a recession and another one to be booming. Influential by financial chief economist Chris Caton a snot so sure. He agreed that while prospects remained Strong at Home we should All be wary of what is happening across the Pacific in the land of the free. A u. Recession Isnit Good for anybody Caton said. The idea that the rest of the world will just sail on As if it did not happen Isnit going to happen. Michael Madigan is the free press correspondent in Australia. He writes about politics for the Brisbane based courier mail. He is currently on vacation at a Beach on the Sunshine coast doing nothing but surfing and drinking Beer sometimes at the same time. Michael Madigan w Winnipeg is Richardson International Airport will soon become the first in Canada to sell the naming rights of terminals Gates and parking garages the Winnipeg free press reported on dec. 16. That got me thinking about what that would mean say a year from now. It was 30c on a blustery december morning in 2010, but i Felt the warmth of the City As i stepped off the plane strode Down Wal Mart Walkway and saw a sign that said Ronald Mcdonald welcomes you to Winnipeg. Though i had been gone Only a couple of Days it Felt Good to be Back. I whistled softly As i entered the telus terminal of Richardson International Airport through great West Gate a pausing briefly to Admire the metamucil mural. I suddenly Felt regular and had to make a Stop at the Wellington West washroom. It was a Busy Day at the Airport and there was a Short line at uniroyal urinal. But i was relieved to find a vacancy at Safeway stall. I need to buy safer tires i said to myself As i sat Down on the tos Titos toilet. After washing my hands at Scotia Bank sink and rubbing them under dominoes dryer i walked briskly to the Boston pizza baggage claim area. My two suitcases were already on the Canad inns Carousel and i was pleased to see they Hadnot been damaged by any of the people Bank workers. I put my Luggage on a Clay oven cart and pushed it into the electro Lux elevator suddenly feeling the urge to fill the vacuum in my stomach with East Indian food. I got off at the email ground level pushed the cart Down Chester Fried Chicken concourse and went through the american express automatic doors which reminded me that i needed to Send an e mail to my american Friend Chester. As i approached the plastic surgery associates parking garage i tried to remember where i had parked my car. Was it in the rhinoplasty Section or the hip Poplasky Section i decided to try rhinoplasty and was Lucky enough to spot my car at the end of Tummy tuck Row. After loading my suitcases i drove to the botox exit and paid for the parking at the liposuction pay station. It gave me a receipt and As i drove away i turned it Over and smiled. It said your and Here. Melvin Durai is a Winnipeg writer and humorist. Melvin Durai by Rick Zemanek p perhaps its time to Start throwing away the jail keys on serial drunk Drivers responsible for the Slaughter on our roads. Boost their status from a menace on the highways to dangerous offenders. Indefinite incarceration May be the Only solution for some for the Sake of Public Protection. Many families struggling with the horrors of loved ones killed at the hands of a drunk Driver Are fed up with the same rhetoric that alcoholism is a disease and that Given the proper care the drunks climbing behind the wheel of a vehicle can become productive members of society. That is the Case for Many alcoholics. But there Are instances when the line must be drawn when certain chronic offenders sloshed and blindly screaming Down the highways show no regard for the lives of others and have Little regard for their own lives. That smacks of psychopathic behaviour appreciating the fact he or she is breaking the Law but void of conscience and remorse. Its a dangerous mental illness that qualifies for dangerous offender status. Its a Long held diagnosis that psychopaths Are incurable theress a Case currently before the courts testing the Waters by attempting to declare one chronic drunk Driver a dangerous offender. If Crown prosecutor Johnathan Hak succeeds in his Case it will be a first for Canada. At Issue is a serial drunk Driver Raymond Charles yellow knee 35, of slave Lake alta., who has a 12 year criminal record of violence and stealing and crashing vehicles. Last year yellow knee killed an entire family a Mother and three Young daughters during a High Speed police Chase in a stolen truck. His adult criminal record starts in 1990 with a mischief conviction. In 1991, it was assault with a weapon. A year later common assault. He was jailed a few times once for three years in the Penitentiary Over a High Speed police Chase. In jail he was an unrepentant violent inmate. Over 10 years prior to the fatal crash yellow knee led police on High Speed chases in stolen vehicles at times playing Chicken with oncoming vehicles in an attempt to have police Call off the Pursuit. There were spectacular incidents and crashes which miraculously resulted in no deaths. Yellow knee finally ran out of several second chances on Jan. 20, 2006. After a Day of pounding Back the booze he stole a pickup truck. With police in hot Pursuit on Highway 2 West of slave Lake he fish tailed hit the shoulder shot Over the yellow line and slammed head on into a car killing everyone inside. Misty Chalifoux 28, died instantly along with daughters Trista 9, and Michelle 13. Daughter Larissa 6, was airlifted to Hospital where she died the next Day. Life has been a living Nightmare. One Long continuous Nightmare dad Sheldon wrote in a victim Impact statement. Does anyone even realize he pleaded How devastating it is to hold a child at birth Only to lose three of them in the very same fatal instant. I never thought in my god Given life that would Ever happen to me and Why a corrections officer had earlier picked up on yellow Knees pattern and wrote in a report he does not show any regard for endangering other Peoples lives during these High Speed chases and obviously does not fear harming himself. Defence lawyer Laurie Wood does not blame her client. She blames the Justice system. The real trouble says Wood is that yellow knee was incarcerated for much of his life and the system did remarkably Little to help him prepare for life in the Community. Yellow knee told court i dont Ever want to Hurt anyone like that Ever again. I Pray to god every Day. I believe i can change. What the court must now address is if this chronic offender violent even when sober is mentally capable of changing despite All avenues of treatment. Or does his behaviour reflect that of a psychopath Rick Zemanek wrote this column for the red Deer advocate. U. Subprime crisis Sobers festive season Down under just another Day sitting on the tos Titos toilet dangerous offender status considered in yellow knee Case is drunk driving incurable Lakeside Leader Larissa Chalifoux Lakeside Leader misty Chalifoux Lakeside Leader Trista Chalifoux Patrick Keller / Lakeside Leader Raymond Charles yellow knee killed an entire family a Mother and three Young daughters during a High Speed police Chase in a stolen truck ;