The Prince George
Citizen
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 12, 1989
50 CENT *
Ann Landers .............. 10
Bridge.—................^ ..26
Business.................l2, 13
City, B.C-------------2, 3, 9
Classified______________.23-26
Comics ................._____8
Commentary ..................5
Crossword ________________„24
Editorial....................4
Entertainment ...............8
Family..................10, 11
Horoscope...................26
International .................7
Movies.......................8
National.....................6
Sports...................15-17
Television...—... .25
Compassion fatigue 5
Refugees forced out 7
High-tech dreams 13
49er comeback 15
time for giving 28
TELEPHONE: 562-2441
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MPs, senators under RCMP eye
OTTAWA (CP) — The RCMP is investigating 15 MPs and senators — 11 for criminal offences and four for breaches of the Canada Elections Act, RCMP Commissioner Norman Inkster said today.
Inkster, appearing before the Commons justice committee, would not give the political affil-
iations of those under investigation.
He also told the committee that 30 MPs and senators have been investigated since 1985. Some investigations resulted in charges.
The commissioner also defended the controversial decision by a subordinate in Montreal to delay an investigation into then To-
ry MP and candidate Richard Grise until after the Nov. 21, 1988 federal election.
The decision by Chief Supt. Brian McConnell, head of criminal investigations in Montreal, to postpone the investigation until Nov. 22, 1988, was an
“appropriate exercise of discretion,” Inkster said.
Grise, the former MP for Chambly riding in Quebec, pleaded guilty to fraud and breach of trust in May and resigned his Commons seat.
Inkster said the execution of search warrants was properly delayed because it could have affected the Chambly vote. And if Grise had been innocent, but had
lost the election, “we could never put things back the way they were.”
Svend Robinson, the New Democrat justice critic, said he is disturbed by the high number of RCMP investigations of MPs.
“The fact that they have seen fit, that there are grounds for conducting some 15 investiga-
tions is a matter of deep, deep concern. ”
Liberal critic John Nunziata said it’s almost as if there’s an RCMP “hit team” gunning for MPs. He suggested the investigations may be due to MPs criticizing the Mounties’ conduct in several recent prominent investigations.
COMMUNIST MONOPOLY
Soviets turn down debate
by JULIET O’NEILL Southam News
MOSCOW — The Soviet parliament has gone against the grain of change sweeping Eastern Europe, voting today to reject a debate on stripping the Communist party’s political monopoly from the constitution.
The vote on whether to put the hot issue on the agenda of the 2,500-mcmber Congress of People’s Deputies was defeated with 1,138 against, 839 for and 56 abstentions. Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev had urged the deputies to free the question of the Communist party’s hold on power “from political speculation.”
The vote was forced by radicals seeking a more democratic multiparty political system and arguing that the Communists should have to prove worthy of power. The amendment to put the debate on the agenda was sponsored by poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko, who said the Communist party “must work’’ for its authority.
The vote came on the opening day of a two-week session of the neophyte legislative body, three days after Gorbachev said current
calls to abolish the Communist party’s constitutionally guaranteed power are meant to demoralize Communists and turn working people against the government.
While Gorbachev said the government is open to constitutional reform in the future, he was against singling out the controversial Article Six of the constitution now, saying the congress must tackle economic reforms for once and for all. Article Six guarantees the party’s "leading role’’ in Soviet society.
“People will judge the second Congress of People’s Deputies by how it considers questions of revitalizing the economy, curbing shortages and improving the life of workers,” Gorbachev told the deputies.
Although the Soviet leader was opposed to the move in his own country, he has encouraged reforms which have led most of the superpower’s East European allies to dump the Communist party’s paramount status from their constitutions. The only other holdout is Romania.
Bulgaria announced Monday that it would strike down the Commu-
HERMAN
[Ensued APPUANCk]
'It woke me up two hours late with a cold cup of coffee."
nist party monopoly. Czechoslovakia and East Germany did so last week. Hungary has initiated a multi-party political system and Poland has the first non-Communist government at the helm in the East Bloc in more than four decades.
During spontaneous debate on the issue, Gorbachev repeatedly asked deputies not to shout and to make their points without emotion.
He was visibly irritated when human rights leader Andre Sakharov handed him a sheaf of telegrams supporting the constitutional debate. “If you come to me, I’ll show you many telegrams,” Gorbachev shot back as Sakharov left the podium.
Sakharov and four other deputies have led a campaign against Article Six for several weeks. They called for a two-hour general strike Monday in support of their cause but little heed was paid to the tactic.
More workers moonlighting
OTTAWA (CP) — More than half a million Canadians held down more than one job at one time last year, a 65-per-cent jump from 1980, Statistics Canada reported Monday.
And moonlighters represented about 4.5 per cent of the paid workforce in 1988 — more than double the proportion who engaged in this controversial practice in 1976.
Employers often frown on moonlighting because they fear it reduces productivity. Governments worry they may get only half a moonlighter’s taxes. And other workers worry that moonlighters take jobs that other people need more.
More than half of moonlighters work in their own farm or business while holding down a salaried job, the agency said in its quarterly publication, Perspectives on Labor and Income.
Prince George’s two MLAs may be competing head to head for the same seat in the next provincial election.
Prince George North MLA Lois Boone of the NDP announced today she will seek the nomination in the new riding of Prince George-Mount Robson in the next provincial election.
Prince George South MLA Socrcd Bruce Strachan, said he hasn’t decided where he’ll seek to run yet, “But generally I think I’ll probably give the nod to Mount Robson as well.
“Our new constituency associations recently elected their executives, and I’ll talk with all of them before making a decision,” Strachan added.
Candidates do not have to be nominated in a specific riding until after an election is called.
The new riding, with boundaries which become official March 1, runs from Central Street in Prince George to the Alberta border, and from the Fraser River in town to a line between South Fort George and Valemount.
Both the Prince George North and Prince George South ridings were split by redistribution last summer.
“With my old Prince George North riding being split I was forced to make a choice about which area I should run in the next election,” Boone said in a press release.
Based on 1986 election returns, Boone told The Citizen, the NDP would have lost the new riding by one per cent of the vote.
“But that was during a Vander Zalm sweep. Today it’s a different story.”
Wilson hints at 7 per cent
v
by JULIAN BELTRAME Southam News
OTTAWA — Finance Minister Michael Wilson said Monday he anticipates interest rates will begin falling, giving further credence to leaked reports the government is planning to shave its unpopular national sales tax to seven per cent.
Wilson told reporters after question period "difficult tradeoffs” were required to lower the rate from the original nine per cent. But he linked high interest rates currently in place to fight inflation to the goods and services tax rate.
Although acknowledging inflation remained a problem, “There are signs that the economy is slowing (and) that some of the inflationary pressures are subsiding,” he said.
Earlier, in response to an opposition question, Wilson said he hoped “we can see lower rates.” Canadian premiers this fall unanimously endorsed a call for lower interest rates to replace the goods and services tax as a deficit-fighting measure. The government saves $1.6 billion in payments to service the national debt v ith every one-per-cent drop in interest rates.
For the second time in three days, Wilson refused to rule out a drop in the national sales tax and termed the recommendations of Conservative members of the finance committee, which included a call for seven-per-cent rate, “useful suggestions.”
After a day-long meeting of the inner cabinet Saturday, the finance minister hinted strongly the lower rate will be included in his official response to the finance committee report.
Prime Minister Brian Mulroney said Saturday the finance minister’s announcement, expected to come next week, will be a
‘ ‘ comprehensive (economic)
package” dealing with the GST and government spending cuts.
During the past few days, the government has tipped several media outlets about the economic package designed to make up the shortfall of $5-$6 billion from dropping the rate to seven per cent.
TTiey include up to $1 billion in program cuts, possibly headed by further cuts in defence and farm subsidies, scrapping the one-percent reduction in the middle-in-come tax rate contained in the GST package, cuts to rebates for low-income Canadians to reflect the lower rate and new taxes on alcohol and tobacco. Lower interest rates may be the final piece in the puzzle enabling the government to make up the shortfall.
But Liberal members said Monday they would continue to fight the sales tax regardless of the rate.
“If you get hit in the head with a baseball bat nine times, its not much of a relief to be hit in the head seven times,” said Liberal MP John Manley. He added once the tax is in place, it will be a simple matter for the government to hike the rate.
Manley, a Liberal member of the finance committee, called on Wilson to withdraw the tax altogether, calling it “the single most complex fiscal measure in Canadian history.”
Liberal finance critic Doug Young disputed the government’s contention that the manufacturers’ sales tax, which is to be replaced by the GST, is the major drag on Canadian exports. He said interests rates running four percentage points above those in the U.S. and pushing the dollar to 86 cents US are a far greater impediment to exporters.
Overhaul pledged to public service
OTTAWA (CP) — The government will take a broom to the federal public service to sweep out outdated work practices so service can be improved, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney said Tuesday.
“Significant change is necessary to the way in which the public service is managed if it is to continue to be as effective as possible in the context of continuing fiscal restraint,” Mulroney said in a written statement announcing the overhaul.
The plan, details of which remain to be worked out, would simplify personnel management, reduce central administrative controls and encourage innovative management.
About 210,000 people work in the federal public service, which has been trimmed by about 3,500 jobs in recent years.
The plan, the first major overhaul of the public service since the 1960s, comes amid concerns that its rigid, hierarchical structure slows decision making and undermines morale.
A senior public official, who spoke on condition he not be identified, said the government has set no target in terms of overall cost savings.
“It’s not a cost-cutting exercise,” he said, emphasizing that the government wants to avoid conveying a message that it wants to axe jobs.
But among the ideas he men-
tioned were cash incentives to managers to reduce their staff levels and lateral transfers for public servants who admit their jobs are redundant.
Working groups within the service will be set up to develop plans in such areas as recruitment, job mobility and budget controls.
"Instead of killing creativity and imagination, we’ve got to change the mentality and make sure we improve the whole quality of the service,” the official said.
Mulroney said public service unions and interested groups outside government will be consulted about changes, which will be implemented in legislation during the current parliamentary session.
"It is essential that the publice service be modernized to meet changing conditions and provide better services to Canadians within an institution that offers the opportunity to build satisfying careers,” Mulroney said.
The effort will be overseen by Mulroney and Treasury Board president Robert de Cotret, who is responsible for the public service.
Paul Tellier, clerk of the Privy Council, and John Edwards, secretary general with the National Museums of Canada, will play key roles in the changes.
The federal public service provides a broad range of services to the public, including food inspection, air traffic control, employment services and weather forecasting.
Low tonight:-7 High Wednesday: 3
The Canadian Brass performed Monday night to treatment of music, both classical and tradition-
Canadian Brass outstanding applause at Vanier Hall, which was al, gave new meaning to the term, “from the
filled to its 796-seat capacity. The musicians’ sublime to the ridiculous." Story, page 3.
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