Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - October 30, 2008, Winnipeg, Manitoba C m y k Page a12 another Elmwood c Oun. Russ Wyatt says he favours putting liens on 70,000 burial plots in City owned cemeteries because he does not want another Elmwood. By that he Means he wants revenues the liens generate to accumulate in a fund that will finance cemetery maintenance and so avoid what happened when Elmwood cemetery went broke and fell into disrepair in 1999. Coun. Wyatt is Correct on the motherhood aspect of his position it is difficult to imagine an argument that nothing be done and that City cemeteries be allowed to fall into disrepair. But he is dead wrong on the substantive part using liens As a Means to avoid disrepair. That is simply bad Public policy arbitrary unprincipled and ineffective. At Issue is the fact that since 1978, anyone purchasing a burial plot at the three civic cemeteries Brookside St. Vital and Transcona is required to pay into a fund designed to produce sufficient annual Revenue to cover the Cost of maintaining the cemeteries in perpetuity. Anyone who purchased a plot prior to 1978 did not pay into the fund. The one time fee is currently about $ 300. A review of the perpetual maintenance fund found that it is about $ 12 million Short of $ 28 million needed. To make up some of that Money it is recommended that liens be placed on 70,000 plots for which fees were never collected. The fees would not be collected from All 70,000 owners Only from those who apply to make improvements to plots or seek to have them opened for other reasons. That is an arbitrary measure. It is unprincipled because those who purchased plots prior to 1978 bought them in Good Faith and assuming they would be maintained in perpetuity. There is no reason Why they should accept otherwise today simply because City Council failed to maintain an adequate fund. It also is unprincipled because opening or repairing a plot does not increase the Cost of maintaining the cemetery Overall and in any Case plot owners Are charged for these services. If the policy were effective then perhaps the ethical issues it ignores might seem less significant but it is not. There Are Only 10 to 15 requests to open plots each year. That Means the arbitrary and unprincipled measure would raise at most $ 7,000 a year to address a $ 12 million problem. The better Way to go would be to stand coun. Wyatts position on its head and Welcome another Elmwood. Or. Wyatt seems to forget that once the problem at Elmwood was identified friends of the cemetery mounted a successful Campaign and restored its historic and sacred grounds. Already plot owners Are coming Forward and offering to donate $ 300 toward the maintenance fund. Instead of punishing a few the City should be creating a friends movement that would raise far More than $ 7,000 in a year. The City policy should be to inspire plot owners and others to ensure civic cemeteries such As Brookside Are the Public Parks they were considered to be when they were established More than a Century ago. Coun. Dan Vandal is opposed to liens and wants the City to study More creative options. Another Elmwood can accomplish that in a Way that inspires citizens. Editorials Winnipeg free press thursday october 30, 2008 Freedom of Trade Liberty of religion Equality of civil rights a 12 comment editor Gerald flood 697 7269 Gerald. Flood free press. My. Ca Winnipeg repress. Com 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. E mail letters free press. My. Ca letters represent the opinions of their writers and do not reflect the opinions of the Winnipeg free press or its staff. Poll vote online at wow. Winnipeg repress. Com taxpayers hammered re vicarious vacation oct. 12. Lets see if Ive got this right the Canada Council for the arts provides Richard Hines with a $ 20,000 Grant so he can tag along to take pictures of Peoples vacations Well i dont know about the average hard working taxpaying Canadian citizen but i am one and this in my opinion is an absolute farce this is considered Good use of tax papers dollars and people wonder Why the tories want to Cut funding to the arts if All this ridiculous government spending were eliminated personal income taxes could probably be reduced by 20 per cent and if All workers had 20 per cent More disposable income to spend on products and services jobs would be created in the manufacturing and service sectors which would Spur the Economy in a non artificial manner unlike government handouts and bailouts. Barb Andrews Lac Dubonnet system generates poverty Little importance was Given to poverty issues by the conservative government before and after the recent election. It seems like each time we address such issues Stephen harpers government is on defence or uncomfortable. I believe conservative governments like harpers but also organizations like the world Bank and the if tend to minimize the extent of poverty. It is naturally a question of also minimizing the damages resulting from our economic system to prove instead its efficiency even if facts and poverty data prove How this system truly generates poverty and inequalities around the world. The goal is to convince Rich countries citizens that the measures in place gradually eliminate poverty at Home or elsewhere in the world. With their consciousness Well asleep How easy it becomes to exclude the fight against poverty from priorities and to slowly focus on military issues and assistance to Large companies. Its easy As Long As citizens like you and me dont speak up. Bruno Marquis Gatineau que. Public Confidence eroded i would like to express my outrage at the recent announcement to Shelve debate on ethics and accountability at City Hall. While i am admittedly not a fan of Sam Katz i am not of the opinion that he is a terrible mayor Many of his policies have benefited the City and i am especially proud of the recent accomplishments made by our City Council. However there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that he has had a major conflict of interest while sitting As mayor and this is something that must be addressed. The continued stalling and avoidance of most members of our City Council to address this is doing More to erode the Public Confidence in our leadership and respect for City Hall than anything i can remember. Whatever May come of this debate will Likely not harm katzes chances of gaining re election As there Are no other people on the local scene who could possibly compete with him in a popularity contest. The outcome though May further harm his ego and Public perception of him. This is a sacrifice he must make. If he claims to be a Strong individual and representative politician then he must face the music and let his legacy be tarnished. Without immediate discussion about this and some sort of action the number of voters in the next election will slide drastically and the effectiveness of our municipal democracy will be greatly eroded. Please dont do this to my City. Kevin Freedman Winnipeg Afghanistan oversimplified i think the recent letter from Lisa Martens is an oversimplification of Afghanistan. I believe that her analogy is inaccurate and very misleading. The Long standing bloody civil War to which she refers is actually the remnants of the Taliban kicking the invading russian forces out of their country. Lets remember that the u. S. Created the Taliban. When the former u. S. S. R. Invaded Afghanistan the Taliban were Mountain fighters. The u. S. Deemed it advisable to train and Arm them and then let them beat the russians from the mountains. Eventually the Taliban did that. The problem was the u. S. A snot interested in assisting with reconstruction. Had the u. S. Or the in embarked on a Mission of reconstruction we May not have the mess that were in. At the time the Taliban thought Well since we freed our country i guess we get to Rule it. Unfortunately they did that with a single minded and very bloody islamic fundamentalism. Now there is no doubt that there have been forces acting against the Taliban for years. Whether that constitutes a civil War is arguable. Its really More a Case of futile uprisings from a vastly underpowered and greatly trod upon minority. Nonetheless had it remained a simple civil matter most people still be Able to find Afghanistan on a map. However the Taliban decided to take their quest for islamic fundamentalism to a global scale. Clearly the Taliban were largely responsible for 9 11, regardless of what the conspiracy Cranks believe. That put Afghanistan on the u. S. Public cos and then the Unis radar. For the non Taliban in Afghanistan this probably seemed like too Little too late. The moderates have been suffering for years. That is Why this is not a civil War. Unfortunately it took two buildings coming Down to turn the worlds attention to the thelcide going on in Afghanistan. When Canada got the Call from the in Canada did what weave always done stand up for people who cant defend themselves. That is our proud military history. We Are not an aggressive country but we hate bullies. The Only Way to Deal with bullies is to Knock them Down. Inherently bullies dont listen to reason and they dont easily give up their position of Power Over the people they bully. Canada the u. S. And the in could pull out of Afghanistan tomorrow. All that would do is empower the bully further and Foster a hatred towards Canada in the ones being bullied. Why because we left when they needed us. Dave Ferguson Winnipeg Winnipeg free press est 1872 / Winnipeg Tribune est 1890 vol 136 no 332 2008 Winnipeg free press a division of up Canadian newspapers limited partnership published seven Days a week at 1355 Mountain Avenue Winnipeg Manitoba r2x 3b6, pm 697 7000 a member of the Manitoba press Council Bob Cox / publisher Margo Goodhand / editor to Days question should the los Angeles times release a videotape of Barack Obama attending a 2003 party with an palestinian american professor and a critic of Israel previous question has the economic crisis affected your charitable giving plans yes 47% no 38% not sure yet 15% total 4,203 letter of the Day Canada being weakened its official Stephen no recession Harper and Jim no deficit Flaherty Post a whopping $ 1.7 billion deficit As recorded in the the August fiscal Monitor what will september record wow. Fin. Go. Ca fisc on 2008 08e. Huml i noted during the election Canadas growing Cash flow deficit. Only Post election has the subject of debt deficit and recession gained traction in the popular Media. From april to the end of August the conservative government has racked up $ 17.6 billion in new debt and reduced Canadas Cash balance by $ 2 billion. It has run deficits in two of five months already this year and the borrowing rate of this government has outpaced All governments this decade. There is every expectation this fiscal year will be the worst Canada has faced in decades. Previous governments have retained sufficient reserves to Deal with economic turmoil but the Harper government is not so prepared. It will be tempting for the opposition to merely claim the Harper government is a bad manager. Dont make that mistake. Focusing on the amount of red Ink alone will cause Many to miss the More important Point which is the Harper government in the final analysis does not care if it runs some red Ink. Why harpers primary Mission is to keep shovelling out tax cuts and transfers to provinces in order to reach its final objective a permanent weakening of the Power of the Federal government. Surpluses and deficits Are ephemeral. Whatever fleeting angst one feels on review of the latest Federal government balance Sheet will not compare to the pain we shall experience in the future thanks to a weakened Canada and its dismantled Federal government one Harper wishes to design using the 1867 Era As his pattern. Was Canada better off in 1867 than it is today Michael Watkins Vancouver Jim no deficit Flaherty report All assaults the decision by the Winnipeg police service to change its weekly reporting of sexual assaults to Only those that occur Between strangers is understandable from a police operations Point of View. But the Public View was better served when the department reported All incidents whether they were Between strangers or those in relationships. The departments crime stat web Page is the Public cos Portal to crime incidents and trends across the City. Crime stat was devised to help police track the ebb and flow of crime types allowing them to throw officers at areas in need of increased policing. The crime stat web Page gives Winni Eggers a weekly tabulation of the crimes reported by City area allowing them to measure their own risk on the streets. This year the Winnipeg police service decided to Post on crime stat Only the sexual assaults that occurred Between strangers assaults other than those committed Between individuals in a relationship. That has resulted in a drop in the numbers in some districts. This reflects the fact that Many sexual assaults happen within families or relationships. The decision was not intended to diminish the Gravity of the crime but to reflect the fact that a Rise in familial assaults would not trigger an immediate influx of cruisers into a District and that reporting All sexual assaults is not an accurate reflection of the risk to a residents personal safety on the streets. All of that is understandable. It is also True that the difficulty of battling sexual abuse and assault has always been its secretive nature. Statistics Canada in 2006 reported that fewer than 10 per cent of sexual assaults Are reported to police. The victim is intimidated by the process fears being disbelieved and fears stigmatization. The decision to remove reports of sexual assaults Between individuals in relationships diminishes the magnitude of the crime in the Community. It removes from the Public Eye the fact that perpetrators Are not just lurking in bars dark parking lots or alleys. It was a mistake to pare Down the number of sexual assault reports from the Community accounts of crime reports. There is a relatively simple fix. Crime stat should report the total number of sexual assaults with subcategories that indicate incidents Between strangers and those in relationships. This allows residents to see their own risk in a Community while recognizing that the crime takes place in the privacy of a Neighbours Home too. A 12_ oct 30 08. Ind a12 10/ 29/ 08 8 47 33 pm ;