Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - June 16, 2012, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE A17 F OR the second time in as many weeks, major news stories have featured relatively small budgetary cuts made by the Harper government. First we were told a famous freshwater research facility in northwestern Ontario would be closed as part of a $ 79- million saving in the Fisheries Department. Scientists have deplored the government decision and have praised the facility as being unique. Closer to home is the news of cuts to Parks Canada and the resultant decrease in services that will take place at Riel House. The horror story of this cut is that some historical artifacts will have to be stored in, of all places, the province of Quebec. That these cuts have received such prominent attention proves two things. First, the government knowing it would be subject to criticism, is determined to proceed with its program of reducing spending. Second, it proves government spending is not such a bad thing after all, and the promises made by all political parties to cut spending can do more harm than good. But the politicians who call for reduced spending will protest they are referring to " wasteful spending." One has to have sat around a table, scrutinizing billions of dollars in expenditures to know how difficult it is to come across expenditures that are easily identified as " wasteful." Certainly the auditor general will identify savings that could have been made if abuses of one kind or another had not taken place. But these abuses do not really affect the global expenditures of the government or do so only marginally. In order to materially affect government spending, you really have to get down to the level of actual government programming and, if you do, stories such as Riel House are inevitable. As long as the prevailing philosophy is government spending is bad and the cause of our economic woes there will be no escaping continued efforts by governments wedded to these propositions from doing what they have done and will continue to do. The sad result is some worthwhile activities will be discontinued with no economic benefit. Indeed, the economy will suffer. In order to stop stories like these, we would have to dramatically revise our philosophy of government. We would have to say the greatest loss to our economy occurs not by government spending but rather the lack of employment of able- bodied citizens who are capable of producing useful goods and services but have not found jobs to take advantage of their potential. Second, we must stop downgrading people employed in the public sector and acting as if the only wealth- producing work is in the private sector. We must adopt the maxim anyone who is performing a useful service contributes to the commonweal and this is true for people paid by the public as well as by those privately employed. Making employment available to everybody, even at government expense, can only enhance the economy provided the work is useful. Nobody argues the fisheries and parks programs that are being cut are not useful. They are being discontinued ostensibly because it will save money. It will not save money. If those who are put out of work do not find new jobs it will cost money. We have already proved that when we employ people to do useful things at government expense, we improve the economy. Between 1939 and 1945, we trained, housed, clothed, fed, and transported to Europe hundreds of thousands of Canadians who were put to work, and who didn't produce things consumers could buy. On the contrary, much of their labours were directed at destroying things. Did these efforts result in economic distress? To the contrary, they ended the Great Depression. The late Rubin Bellan, an economist who lectured at the University of Manitoba, wrote a splendid essay entitled Let's declare war on Great Britain. The theme was that given the fact war improved the economy, the solution to our problems was to have a war. But, said Bellan, since war would also help the economies of our enemies, it would make sense to go to war against our friends. Nobody need get hurt. Ninety per cent of our missiles missed their target in the last world war and it would not be hard to up that to 100 per cent. We would need a political party with the courage to make drastic changes. Along with government spending, one would have to be willing to have concomitant taxation. You would need a man like Tommy Douglas. The present political scene does not look promising. Sidney Green is a Winnipeg lawyer and former NDP cabinet minister. Last of its kind Your June 13 story City team finds new Ebola cure is both excellent news and sad news. It is excellent for obvious reasons in that it shows what amazing things Winnipeg's National Microbiology Laboratory can accomplish when given half a chance and adequate funding. A treatment for one of the world's deadliest viruses, which can also be used to treat other diseases, is not something that comes along every day, and even Federal Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq acknowledges that. The fact that it was developed in Winnipeg is most certainly a feather in our collective caps. The sad part of this story is that, given Stephen Harper's ill- conceived and illogical budget cutting, this type of discovery will likely never occur again. As we have seen, his government is not as much concerned with such scientific breakthroughs or environmental protection issues as it is with his concept of what the world should look like and Canada's place in it. LAURIE ETKIN Winnipeg Slap on the wrist Re: Ruff start, but happy ending ( June 13). It's pretty sad to realize that even if the person who tossed the unwanted puppy in the Dumpster is caught, he or she will likely only get a slap on the wrist for that dastardly act. Animal abusers continue to thrive in this province, and our elected officials don't care enough to do anything about it. ANDY CHIASSON Winnipeg �� People are too quick to judge that someone put the puppy in the Dumpster. I can think of two other explanations for what happened. First, depending on the surrounding of the Dumpster, the puppy could have fallen in from climbing on things nearby. Or perhaps due to its small size, it could have crawled into one of the garbage containers and accidently got tossed in the Dumpster without anyone knowing. We must not jump the gun and let our emotion get in the way of determining how something came to be. TREVOR CIELEN Winnipeg Too big to regulate In his June 7 letter, Gas price mystery, Ken McLean asks if anybody polices the oil companies in Canada when they are gouging the consumers. Modern corporations and multinationals have become so huge and powerful that they are above all government regulations. There is no way to police them or control their activities. Corporations are only concerned with making profits, not in public interest or human rights. They are like untouchable, invisible monsters. What can be done to control a super corporation like Shell, for example, that has financial assets equivalent to the combined national budgets of Venezuela, Colombia, Peru and Ecuador? Former U. S. president George W. Bush once commented on Exxon's responsibility for polluting the coastal waters: " Nobody can tell those guys what to do." Economist Adam Smith, the so- called father of capitalism, warned about this two centuries ago. He supported a fair free market, but one under government supervision. FRANCISCO VALENZUELA Winnipeg �� With the June 13 crude oil price of $ US83.22 per barrel and the U. S. dollar at $ 1.03, the price of regular unleaded gasoline in Winnipeg should be 96 cents per litre at normal profit margins. At a price of $ 1.21 per litre, you are paying 25 cents per litre in pure excess profit. Across Canada, an extra margin of 25 cents per litre generates an additional profit of $ 25.42 a day. These calculations are based on Hugh Mackenzie's Gas Price Gouge: The Sequel . I want to know why neither the provincial or federal government departments of consumer affairs are not investigating the oil companies for price gouging and price fixing. KEN WARDELL St. Adolphe Protecting ourselves In his June 7 letter, Denying medication , Richard Goldman complains about reduced health- care benefits for refugees and cites as an example an illegal immigrant. Refugees do not fall from the sky or appear out of the sidewalk in Canada. We have to protect ourselves and our economy from illegal immigrants and medical tourists who come to Canada for free health- care services. The Supreme Court recently upheld a decision by the Federal Appeal Court that illegal immigrants are not entitled to health- care coverage under our Charter of Rights and Freedoms. ( see Nell Toussaint v. Attorney General of Canada). JOHN FELDSTED Winnipeg Jets won't miss it Re: Manitoba politicians seek reprieve from federal government for Riel House ( June 13) . It is my opinion that perhaps a very small portion of the millions of dollars that the province and the city are giving to the Winnipeg Jets in either cash or tax concessions be directed instead to Riel House. The Jets are a very, very successful business entity. They do not require any government handouts. RONNIE OSADCHUK Winnipeg Let's make a deal Re: Research facility price tag? $ 1. I have emailed Joyce Bateman ( with a copy to Pat Martin) offering $ 100 for the Experimental Lakes Area facility. I am prepared to go to $ 1,000. I send this letter to the Free Press editor to make my offer public, certain and clear. I am not joking; I will make that purchase if I am offered it. I look forward to my purchase. Ms. Bateman, please contact me. You have my address and home and work phone numbers. TIM SAYEAU Winnipeg �� At this time, when the federal government intends to close down the research station at the Experimental Lakes Area, we at Tall Grass Bakery recognize how important it is to acknowledge the role environmental education provided by ELA scientists played in the formation of our Winnipeg business. Tall Grass, formed in 1990, currently employs 50 people and supports at least a dozen local and organic farms. These farms provide the bakery with grains, vegetables and fruits, eggs, pasta, meats and cheese. We were inspired by scientists at ELA who taught us how to protect the environment by linking healthy economic activity with the protection of water and health of the soil. Our founding partners included an ELA scientist who brought an awareness of how important clean water and soil is to the production of healthy food, a former ELA head cook who was raised on a Hutterite farm where production and preparation of local food were strongly linked, and other environmentally aware members of the Grain of Wheat Church community. TABITHA LANGEL Winnipeg �� For only $ 1, the NDP can purchase this world- class facility and the $ 2- million yearly operating costs are only half of the $ 4- million subsidy the province has agreed to give to the Winnipeg Jets every year from lottery revenues. Surely, this is at least half as important as subsidizing millionaires for playing a game they love. BILL PARKES Winnipeg HAVE YOUR SAY: The Free Press welcomes letters from readers. Include the author's name, address and telephone number. Letters may be edited. Letters to the Editor, 1355 Mountain Avenue, Winnipeg, R2X 3B6. Fax 697- 7412. Email letters@ freepress. mb. ca Letters represent the opinions of their writers and do not reflect the opinions of the Winnipeg Free Press or its staff. �� LETTER OF THE DAY When I saw your June 13 story Statue sought to honour paddler's life, tenacity . I nearly jumped out of my seat. I live just half a block from Senior Citizen's Park on Kildonan Drive at Bronx Place. I have lived in this area all my life. I have long been an admirer of Don Starkell. I had the honour of meeting him twice at our local grocery store, shaking his hand and wishing him well. I have to speak out and say that I can't believe that anyone would honestly consider any other place to honour Starkell with a statue. People in East Kildonan all know of him and are proud of his connection to Senior Citizen's Park. There is at present a large stone marking his accomplishment there. A statue of him in this park would be more honoured and honouring than any other place in the world. We need to place any statue of Starkell in this park and rename it Don Starkell Park. The park and the statue would belong together. JOS GATIEN Winnipeg 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Winnipeg Free Press Saturday, June 16, 2012 A 17 POLL �� TODAY'S QUESTION Do you think the gap between rich and poor is getting better or worse in Winnipeg? �� Vote online at winnipegfreepress. com �� PREVIOUS QUESTION Do you agree the Montreal high school teacher should be fired for showing the infamous body- parts killing video? YES 66% NO 34% TOTAL RESPONSES 2,748 Winnipeg Free Press est 1872 / Winnipeg Tribune est 1890 VOL 140 NO 213 2012 Winnipeg Free Press, a division of FP Canadian Newspapers Limited Partnership. Published seven days a week at 1355 Mountain Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba R2X 3B6, PH: 697- 7000 BOB COX / Publisher MARGO GOODHAND / Editor JULIE CARL / Deputy Editor WAYNE GLOWACKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS ARCHIVES The late adventurer Don Starkell at home in 2010. Made for each other T HE working world was much cosier in 1980. Only 1.7 billion people were cashing paycheques a generation ago, nearly half on farms. Globalization has since upended labour markets, though. In 2010, the world counted 2.9 billion workers, with the emerging world responsible for most of the increase: It added 900 million new nonfarm workers, of which 400 million live in China or India alone. The meaning of these striking numbers is the subject of a new study by the McKinsey Global Institute, the consultancy's research arm. The integration of China's and India's masses into the world's labour market lifted legions out of poverty. The transition from soil- scratching powered rapid growth. China's non- farm workers are seven times more productive than peasants. India's performance lagged behind China's because it struggled to move workers away from agriculture. Non- farm employment merely kept pace with the overall growth of India's labour force. In rich countries, competition from millions of new, low- skilled workers has acted as a drag on wages for less- skilled ones in advanced economies. At the same time, rich- world firms have invested heavily in new technology, raising demand for skilled workers faster than schools could increase supply. In combination, these two trends have raised inequality in developed countries and strengthened the hand of capital relative to labour. Workers' share of overall income fell seven percentage points between 1980 and 2010. These dynamics will continue, but also change, reckon the authors of the study. Despite great efforts to improve schools and universities, workers in the emerging world are less educated than those elsewhere. Some 35 per cent in China and a stunning 70 per cent in India have no more than a primary education. This will change, however: China and India, Mc- Kinsey predicts, will be the world's main source for skilled workers during the next two decades. The two countries alone will add 184 million college graduates to the global labour market. As a result, the centre of gravity of human capital and innovation is likely to shift toward Asia. Rapid productivity improvements will be necessary to maintain income growth, particularly in the parts of southern Europe that produce and procreate the least. At current labour- force participation rates, Italy, Greece, Portugal and Spain will need productivity growth of 1.4 per cent a year, more than twice what they managed between 1990 and 2010, simply to keep up recent growth rates in output per head. Taken together, these developments will lead to big skills imbalances. McKinsey estimates that during the next decade, rich countries and China will need 40 million more college- educated workers than they will be able to produce. At the same time, employers across the world may find themselves with 90 million more low- skilled workers than they need. This glut will drag down wages, worsening inequality. Governments can mitigate the worst effects, McKinsey argues. Innovation in higher education, such as online teaching, would help raise the supply of skilled workers. Labour- market reforms would increase demand for less- skilled workers, particularly in service industries such as health care. Tax incentives would encourage households to " outsource" household chores to paid workers. Yet, in a global labour market that will be 3.5 billion strong in 2030, competition is bound to be intense and often uncomfortable, for workers and governments alike. SIDNEY GREEN The value of public spending Burgeoning workers of the world unite - or maybe not The Economist A_ 17_ Jun- 16- 12_ FP_ 01. indd A17 6/ 15/ 12 8: 29: 36 PM ;