ANGUS RHP POLL
£| Canadians back Gulf presence but defensive role is preferred
Q Do you support or oppose the Q Do you support or oppose the governmentr* s decision to place a U.S. decision to take military military force in the Persian Gulf? action against Iraq?
Support 75% □ Support 10ppose
6 - —^1 17398 Canada EHsi^
bZ WKfiF
ZZ& Prairies IHjF
ZZ& QDtarlo
Oppose
37%
27%
61 % Quebec
Atlantic
Sept. ’90 Dec. ’90 Jan. ’91
Q Which of the following courses of action should Canada take?
■ Forces in H Forces in □ Remove
defensive role only offensive role forces from Gulf
UW/wr importance do you place on the Palestinian issue?
□ Critical for peace, ■ Major issue, QOne of □ Unsure or
should be resolved needs more many Middle unimportant
Immediately attention East issues
The telephone poB of 1,500 adutt Canadians was conducted January 16-21 and Is considered accurate witNn 2.5 percentage points 19 times out of 20.
We’d prefer a defensive role
by IAN AUSTEN Copyright Southam News 1991
OTTAWA — Canadians overwhelmingly support the U.S. attack on Iraq, but they don't want Canadian troops actively fighting in the Gulf, says the first national poll taken since the outbreak of war.
The Angus Reid-Southam News poll, released today, indicates 73 per cent of Canadians back the U.S. decision to use force to drive Iraq from Kuwait.
The telephone survey of 1,501 adults began shortly after the first attack on Jan. 16 and ended Monday night A sample of this size is considered accurate within 2.5 percentage points 19 times in 20. The margin of error is higher for regional figures.
The poll shows that Canadians largely favor the presence of Canadian troops in the Gulf, but they have little enthusiasm for
their direct involvement in the fighting.
Nationwide, only 36 per cent of respondents agreed that Canada should “actively participate in military action and send our troops into battle against Iraq."
By contrast, 53 per cent said Canadian troops should stay in the Gulf region provided “they are used for defensive purposes only — not to attack Iraq."
Only nine per cent of respondents favored a withdrawal of Canadian troops from the region
Although Canadians seem to want a restricted defensive role for Canadian troops, the Mulroney government gave the armed forces permission to participate in offensive air missions against Iraq within hours of the start of the war. So far, bad weather has cancelled offensive missions for Canadian CF-18s based in Qatar.
Since the start of war, public
support for Canada's presence in the Gulf has increased.
Three-quarters of those questioned said they backed the federal government's decision to place a military force in the Gulf region in response to Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in August When the same question was asked last month, 60 per cent of respondents liked the idea.
A majority in all parts of the country now favor Canada’s presence in the Gulf with the lowest support in Quebec.
In the latest poll, 64 per cent of Quebec favored Canadian presence in the Gulf while 34 per cent opposed. December’s poll showed Quebec equally divided, with 48 per cent of people with an opinion in favor and 48 per cent opposed.
Overall support for the war and an offensive role for Canada is the weakest in Quebec.
Only 61 per cent of Quebecers
favor last week’s U.S. attack compared to a 82 per cent approval rating in Atlantic Canada — the most supportive region.
Quebecers were mostly in favor of limiting Canadian troops to a defensive role, with 65 per cent of those polled backing the idea.
The Prairies, at 51 per cent, supported a defensive role for Canada, while 47 per cent of respondents in Ontario and B.C. and 48 per cent of Atlantic Canadians favored a limited role for Canadian troops.
On the issue of a homeland for the Palestinians, 72 per cent of Canadians felt a solution to the problem was critical to peace in the Middle East or required greater international attention.
Specifically, 37 per cent agreed the Palestinian question “is critical for peace in the region and should be resolved immediately.”
A terrible scene in Tel Aviv
TEL AVIV (AP) — Men and women ran with stretchers across the chumed-up earth.
An old man in a skullcap was lifted gently into the arms of rescue workers.
Those who could, walked away. Those who couldn’t were carried out
Bathed in the unearthly glow of floodlights, bulldozers roared and
screeched Tuesday as they inched between densely packed apartment blocks to reach the rubble left by an Iraqi missile.
The missile, which flattened a two-storey apartment building and damaged at least 20 others, transformed a tidy, middle-class suburb into a hellish scene.
Some people emerged in pyjamas. A family of Russian immi-
grants, just four days in the country, gathered on a street comer. Bystanders crowded onto a boulevard to watch in frightened silence.
Nearby, people tried to sweep up broken glass by candlelight, the missile having knocked out power.
Into this scene of rumbling machines and wailing ambulances ran a young, bespectacled man in a
sweater. He was howling in anguish, apparently fearing he had lost someone in the ruins. Rescuers, some still wearing plastic anti-chemical warfare masks, tried to calm him down.
Officials said dozens of people were injured and at least three people died, the victims of heart attacks.
TREVOR JOHNSTON/Southam News Graphics
Israel ponders its next action
by MIKE TRICKEY and PETER BAKOGEORGE Southam News JERUSALEM — The Gulf war was on the brink of a new phase today, as Israel considered striking back for Tuesday’s missile attack and Saddam Hussein’s ground troops were in action at the Saudi Arabia-Kuwait border.
ERNA, the Iranian news agency, said in a report monitored in Cyprus that Iraqis launched an attack, won some Saudi territory, and captured allied soldiers.
U.S. military officials in Saudi Arabia later acknowledged an incident occurred, but released no details. In Washington, the Defence Department said it had reports of artillery fire, but also gave no further details.
Iran radio also reported that intense allied bombing on the southern Iraq cities of Basra and Faw continued this morning.
Meanwhile, the third Iraqi missile attack on Israel in five days raised expectations that the Jewish state will resist further U.S. pressure for restraint.
“I think its inconceivable that we won’t take action against this cascade of missiles that is raining down on us," deputy foreign minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. But he added that “we’re going to use our heads and act with cool judgment"
INDEX
Ann Landers .... 20
Bridge.................30
Busina* 12,13
City, B.C. . . . 2,3,6,14 Classified .... 27*30
Comic..................22
Commentary 5
Crossword..............28
Editorial...............4
Entertainment ... 22
Family...............20^1
Horoscope..............30
International .... 11
Movia..................22
National...............10
Sport*..............17*19
Television.............29
Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir met with his Defence Ministry committee. He refused comment on the talks and his spokesman, Avi Pazner, said only that “Israel will do whatever it can to have the murderous and repugnant attacks on innocent civilians by the Iraqi dictator stopped."
Shamir also met briefly with U.S. deputy secretary of state Lawrence Eagleburger, who delivered a message from President George Bush praising Israel’s continued restraint
The Iraqi missile that struck the Tel Aviv suburb of Ramat Gan was the first Scud fired at Israel since Saturday. It eluded two state-of-the-art American Patriot missiles, which had been rushed into service Saturday night to protect Tel Aviv against Scuds.
Three people, all elderly, died of heart attacks, while most of the 98 injured suffered superficial cuts and bruises. One of the dead was buried today. Two people remain in serious condition and 27 are still in hospital.
Rubble was spread over a city block — in a neighborhood populated in large part by Jews who left Iraq in the '50s. One apartment building was destroyed and 20 others badly damaged.
visitors.'
Gift Of life
Citizen photo by Brock Gable
Krista McLelian was among 589 blood donors who turned out Tuesday to help gather 552 units. The goal is 1,626 units at the clinic operating in the Civic Centre from 1:30 to 8 p.m. today and Thursday. Free transpotation is being provided for donors by calling Thrifty Car Rental at 564-3499. Organizer Marg Storey says the first day was a healthy one, not only for blood collection, but because there were fewer than usual rejected donors due to colds and flu.
‘Restraint’ plan criticized
VANCOUVER (CP) — Trade unionists say Premier Bill Vander Zalm is looking for an election issue when he suggests wage controls for public-sector workers.
The results will be loss of consumer confidence, deeper recession and staff shortages across British Columbia, they said Tuesday.
Vander Zalm said Monday he will introduce a “comprehensive package" including wage restraint within two weeks to prepare for economic downturn.
Ken Georgetti, president of the B.C. Federation of Labor, said “every time the premier involves himself in labor matters through legislation, it seems he’s screwed up."
But unions will stay calm until they hear details, said Georgetti.
Federation-affiliated unions whose contracts expire this year
met Tuesday to discuss the premier’s plans.
John Shields, president of the B.C. Government Employees’ Union, said B.C. is experiencing a milder recession than Eastern Canada, but wage restraint erodes consumer confidence and will plunge the province deeper into recession.
"When (former premier Bill) Bennett talked of restraint in 1983, they put such fear in the public that the restraint message drove .. . the consuming sector into collapse because no one would buy in B.C.
“As a result, B.C. was two years longer coming out of the recession."
Bulletin
TORONTO (CP) — Northrop Frye, the internationally renowned critic who hated small talk but dazzled thousands with his words, died Tuesday night, his agent and publisher said today. Frye was 78.
He died after a lengthy battle with cancer.
A teacher, literary critic and ordained minister — “on a sort of
permanent leave of absence from the United Church of Canada" — Frye ministered to generations of university students.
Even a partial list of his former students reads like a Who’s Who of Canadian literature, including poets Margaret Atwood, Dennis Lee, James Reaney, Margaret Avi-son and Jay Macpherson.
Mediation set for teachers
Quesnel and District teachers have agreed to mediation in an effort to resolve their outstanding contract issues with School District 28.
District teacher spokesman Randy Curr said today the first meetings with mediator Don Munro of Vancouver are scheduled for Feb. 9 and 10.
The 300 teachers employed in the district served 72-hour-strike notice last week and Monday they began a series of rotating half-day walkouts to attend study sessions.
Curr said teachers will continue to refuse to supervise students before school opens in the morning, at recess and after school and will decide later whether to escalate the level of job action.
CANADIANS POLLED ON GULF WAR
The Prince George
Citizen
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23 ,1991 51 CENTS
Hawks, doves on march 5
Scrap laws, Baltics told 11
Predators threatened 15
Other McEnroe moves on 17
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