From: golchowy@alchemy.chem.utoronto.ca (Gerald Olchowy)
Subject: Re: Canada apartheid
Organization: University of Toronto Chemistry Department
Date: Sun, 11 Oct 1992 17:03:47 GMT

In article <1992Oct11.052226.17655@bmerh85.bnr.ca> myhui@bnr.ca (Michael Hui) writes:
>In article <1992Oct10.225619.4310@mdivax1.uucp> robinson@mdd.comm.mot.com (Jim Robinson) writes:
>>
>>**************************************************************** 
>>"The surprise was Ms. McLaughlin's competence as a debating opponent to
>>Mr. Manning, who clearly has the best mind among the national party
>>leaders."
>>****************************************************************
>
>Just this morning Preston Manning was asked at the end of an interview
>by a CBC Radio journalist for his comment on just that editorial. He
>declined to say anything.
>
>Manning has directed his fine mind towards reinforcing people's
>grievances and channelling the blame for those grievances towards a
>source of his own choosing, all the while conveniently offering weak or
>even incorrect reasons for linking the two (the grievance vs. the
>source).
>
>Hitler also had that very same magical gift.
>Hitler was a _very_ smart man too.
>

The people in this debate who are arguing for the ideas Hitler's
espoused, of collective rights and a collective soul expressed through
executive power are the YES side...
...thousands of Canadians and Quebeckers died defeating
the evil ideas of tribalism and nationalism espoused by Hitler
and Canadians and Quebeckers can do it again, with a lot less
bloodshed by voting NO on October 26.

Manning is an advocate of a Triple-E Senate, of the ability
of citizens to recall their representatives, of the selective
use of referenda, all which take power away from the executive
political leadership.  Manning's rallying cry is "The West wants
In", and not "The West wants out"...he's not blaming or scapegoating
easterners for western alienation, but arguing in a reasoned manner
that it is because of institutional problems, and if we correct 
the problems in Canadian institutions, the West will be able to
become and feel like full and equal partners in Canada.

Now contrast this to Charlottetown...
Charlottetown entrenches executive federalism, and gives the first
ministers conference the right to make agreements bilaterally or
multilaterally without restriction and have them constitutionally
protected from elected legislatures.  The decentralization in 
Charlottetown is not a decentralization of power to the people, 
but a decentralization which accumulates and builds the power
of premiers, to balkanize the country into their little fiefdoms.

The resistance of the premiers to an economic union, and their
resistance to national standards in things like training, likely
means that be are not going to see internal trade barriers maintained,
but internal mobility barriers to restrict peoples ability to work
in various provinces.  Provinces which now make up excuses to not
allow goods from other provinces to be sold in them, are being given
the power to do the same with people.

The people with Hitler-esque ambitions are the premiers...for
Hitler-esque ideology is written all over Charlottetown in its
collectivist ideology, and the concentration of power by the first
ministers at the expense of the legislatures.

And which side has come up with the slogan "the enemies of Canada",
and promises millenial prosperity with a YES vote, and a hellish
doom with a NO vote...which side has said Canada will become Beirut
or Yugoslavia.   

Manning's rhetoric is calm and reasoned...you need not agree with
all of his arguments or policies, I don't, but there are much better
candidates for demagogues in the country than him.         

Gerald
Newsgroups: can.politics