The Ottawa Journal from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada • Page 7

Ottawa Journal Opinion and analysisPage 7 Saturday, January 14, 1078 anada vs France the antagonism is showing By John Best Journal Correspondent The -outlook for relations between Canada and France In the new year is tor more uncertainty and perhaps increasing strain. Quebec, naturally, is at the heart of the problem. i The relations are not likely to be marked by anything as traumatic or dramatic as president de Gaulle's open intervention in support of Quebec separatism 10 years ago. There Is nevertheless a growing testiness and wariness In the Ottawa-Paris relationship that will hot be easily suppressed. External Affairs Minister Don Jamtcson took note of the increasingly complicated situation when he told the Commons last month, In a little-reported passage, that relations with France are going through a "difficult period." Jamieson referred to the "ambiguity" shown by the French government to Canada's internal situationa polite way of saying that France has been more benign in its attitude to Rene Levesque's separatist government than Ottawa would like.

He noted that after Premier Levesque's widely-publicized visit to Paris in November, the Canadian government asked the French government for "more details" of its policy toward Canada and the proposal for annual meetings between the prime ministers of Quebec and France. France in reply had given written assurance that it will not interfere in Canadian political debates and will respect the Canadian constitutional framework. Jamieson therefore considered the issue of the Lcvesque visit closed. The issue is not closed, however, as Jamieson personally proceeded to make clear by saying Canada would continue to remind France of the necessity to consult Ottawa before signing agreements with provincial governments, and by indicating that Canada would expect further discussion of the proposed first ministers' meetings. There are two ways of looking at the Lcvesque visit, with its attendant glamor and fuss.

One is to examine its component parts and try to determine whether there was anything overtly offensive to Canada and the federal prerogative in foreign afairs. The answer, according to some external affairs department officials, Is: nothing. The speeches by President Va-lery Glscard d'Estaing and others were all carefully non-committal. If somewhat full of the flavor of shared ancestry and cultural traditions. No major agreement was signed, and even the award of a French decoration to Levesque In defiance of Canadian regulations is viewed here as hardly more than a whimsical peccadillo.

The other way is to concentrate on the red-carpet treatment given Levesque, and ask yourself why the French government would lay on such a welcome at this time for one who is almost the embodiment of Quebec separatism, unless It -was to signal moral support for the separatist cause. It is the possibility of a decided French swing toward the separatists, in progress now or in the making, that Jamieson and his officials must weigh in developing their own policy toward France and the Paris-Quebec relationship. Until now Canadian authorities have been prepared to believe that France genuinely wants to remain neutral in the deepening struggle between Quebec City and Ottawa. The only safe conclusion one can come to right now, as to the French position, is that Paris is keeping its options open. It is being careful not to provoke an open rift with Canada while surely not rejecting the possibility that at some point it might want to intervene more directly on behalf of the separatists.

It would be foolish not to recognize that, on the surface at least, France's "neutrality" has taken on a more pro-Quebec hue in recent months. The tendency in diplomatic circles here is to link this to the French internal political situation, and the fact that National Assembly elections that could gravely affect the political balance in Paris are coming up in March. Giscard d'Estaing has been under increasing pressure from Gaullists to show a more accommodating attitude The graying of is affecting our The rule of thumb the United Nations uses to classify a country as "old" is a population of which eight per cent is aged 65 or more. We became old, on that basis, in 1971. By the turn of the century, when 12 per cent of Canadians, or one in eight, will be 65 or more (close to one in five will be 60), we'll be one of the oldest countries in the world.

The graying of Canada already is affecting our politics. All the government energy which until a year ago was being poured without result Into the search for a guaranteed Income plan now is being poured into the quest for a guaranteed retirement income plan one, that is, guaranteed to provide enough for those who need it (one In two pensioners are poor) but not In the process, to bankrupt the country. Ottawa has three separate studies on the go. The Toronto firm of Tomcson-Alcxander has Just advised the government, in a 200-page tome, that its indexed scheme for civil servants is too-much for too-little. A joint, health and welfare and finance department task force has Just completed a study of the 15,000 public and private pension schemes, and will hand its findings to cabinet next month.

One unexpected discovery is that those earning more can wind up relatively far worse off than those earning less. A individual would get, from Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Security, a pension of $3,531. A earner, though, would retire on only $3,710. A rung higher, those In the bracket often draw little from their private pension schemes because they Job hop.cight times on the average In their lifetime. Lastly, a committee of federal and provincial officials Is studying how to breath financial life back into the Canada Pension Plan and Its special status twin, (he Quebec Pension Plan, which by 1982 will turn into the red (more paid out in benefits than received In premiums) and which, if nothing is done, will be exhausted by 1995-2000.

There, precisely. Is the problem of pensions. They arc tomorrow's problem. For benefits increased today, like Ottawa's present proposal to give pension "credits" to women who leave the labor force to raise young children, the politicians earn plaudits. For premium rates Increased because needed to avoid bankruptcy tomorrow, they earn abuse.

Could any politician, to illustrate, have gotton away with imposing highway speed limits before the 1973 oil crisis? Enter, a Savaharola in a chalk-stipe suit, Ontario Treasurer Darcy McKtough. His worries are two-fold. The public unhappiness at private pension schemes (they cover, as often as not Inadequately, only 60 per cent of the labor force; few of them protect pensioners against Inflation) will encourage government to take over the entire industry. That politicians happily will Increase the bejflts of public pension scheme but will PRESIDENT GISCARD his options are open toward Quebec separatist aspirations. It is conceivable, therefore, that once the March 12 and 19 elections are out of the way, Giscard d'Estaing will start to put more emphasis on good relations between the two -central governments.

Such an initiative could not come too soon. Recently the relations have been strained by an accumulation of Issues entirely extraneous to the separatism question, though possibly aggravated by It. There was for instance France's decision to prohibit the import of young harp seal skins, on the pretext that the species is in danger, which it is not. Canadian officials believe that France for reasons of its own simply decided to go along with the widespread international campaign against the annual Newfoundland seal hunt a campaign which Canada considers unjustified and pernicious. Canada for its part renounced a long-standing treaty with France which effectively prevented Canadian wine producers from using the word "champagne" on their bottles.

This decision has France's powerful vintner lobby up in arms. Deep differences continue over demarcation of a maritime boundary between Newfoundland and the French islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon. And in recent months the long-simmering disputes over Quebec's place in international Francophonie organizations, pitting France and Quebec against Canada, have been re-kindled. The occasions for strains between Canada and France are indeed numerous, and becoming more so.

But Quebec remains the worst source of friction. Canada politics Richard Gwyn not, since the day of reckoning won't come until tomorrow, increase the premiums needed to cover the costs. The effect, as pension expert Geoffry Calvert has It, would be to "place a galling economic yoke, upon the necks of our children and of our children's children." To keep the books in order, McKeough wants employer-employee contributions to the Canada Pension Plan doubled, from 3.6 per cent of a worker's income to 7.5 per cent. The additional monies would be squirreled away Into an investment fund that would reach, by 2025 $1 trillion. (The sum sounds huge.

By then, though, the average Industrial wages on which pensions would be based would be, inflation continuing, Last but far from least, McKeough Insists that the provinces commit themselves to invest the funds only in private Industry, and not, as the provinces so far have done with Canada Pension Plan revenues, to splurge on roads, schools and civil service salaries. McKeough's vision Is flawed. Who, really, would trust the provinces- to spend the fund on private industry rather than on themselves? The hike in premiums about $2.5 billion worth in 1983 would bring the economy to a shuddering halt by sucking all that money out of consumers' pockets. Yet McKeough, alone among politicians, has fo-cussed on the central Issue: unless we summon up the courage today to take care of tomorrow we'll go the way of New York City, brought to the edge of bankruptcy by pension schemes so extravagant that municipal bus drivers could retire on pensions of $25,000 and up. None of our problems, yet, are anything like as severe.

Nevertheless, Ontario, despite all McKeough" brave talk, this year will pump, New-York style, $144 million out of general revenues Into its teachers pension fund to keep It In balance. By fall, the officials will lay the Canada Pension Plan financial choices before the politicians. All the alternatives will Involve you paying more money, to pay for the benefits of those who've already retired (they got lucky), and, later, of yourself. The real alternatives are -to place an "economic yoke" upon our children, or to Impose highway speed limits before the energy crisis 6 Letters to the Yes, but the float will fall flat- Sirs: It might seem a minor matter to many of your readers, but once again it serves as yet another example of the ad hoc decisions made by Ottawa Board' of Control and, presumably, council will endorse it just as mindlessly. I refer to Controller Ralph Sutherland's proposal at board of control last week that the city discontinue the use of a professional designer, for our Grey Cup float entry, and invite students to do the job subject to yet another committee to assess the theme and prognosticate on the quality.

If they had only taken a little time to examine the problems and implications! I have just enough faith in our elected representatives to believe that if they took a few minutes to think about It, even they would have had reservations about the wisdom of the project. The City of Ottawa Grey Cup float has, for the past 22 years, been designed, constructed and entered into the parade by PM Displays of Ottawa. Letters of congratulation from former mayors, and Indeed our present mayor, festoon the walls of the office of Percy McLean, a native son and a man Internationally recognized as one of Canada's outstanding professionals in the art. He holds a record untouched in the annals of the Grey Cup parade. He has won for Ottawa the Grand Award for the best non-commercial entry or the award for the best CFL city entry every year since 1969, except for 1977.

The parade was held in Montreal last year when, by unusual coincidence, every major award went to entries from the Province of Quebec. The controller has stated, particularly in the course of an interview on CBC, that it has cost the city $10,000 each year for many years to produce the float. I fear he has not done his homework. The cost in 1977 of $10,000 was for both the float in the Grey Cup parade and for the float In the Central Canada Exhibition parade. Indeed, the annual cost for the Grey Cup float over the last six years has averaged less than $6,000.

And since it has taken each year about 1,000 man-hours to design, construct and prepare, I suggest that the city got a real -bargain. and a winner at the same time. Incidentally, that $6,000 Includes transport to the city hosting the parade, all work at the site, the dismantling, all other expenses other than the entry fee, and federal and provincial tax at 12 per cent and seven per cent respectively. What does It mean to design, construct and handle the myriad of details surrounding the entry of a float? If board of control thinks that it is something that can be done in the solitude of a comfortable workshop, then I suggest that they have a little to learn. It is the last five days in particular that that the float comes to life completed in the below-zero temperatures of a prairie city, the driving rain of Vancouver or the snows of Montreal.

The city's float has, traditionally, been finished in fresh flowers and you don't do that in advance! The final hours of the morning preceding the parade are crucial and usually in circumstances of extreme comfort and an absolute demand for innovation. I have no doubt that our students, though inexperienced, have the tenacity to stick with a Job; but it demands competence of another sort. Final touches are made in the midst of a hive of disorganized activity; and, with time a premium, all float-builders contest for the restricted facilities available to them. And yet another complication. Grey Cup takes place the last weekend in November.

Are our students going to be able to spend the necessary time away from their studies on the eve of Christmas examinations? And, indeed, if your readers believe it Is going to cost less, or that a better final product is going to be achieved, then they may have a surprise in store. If you think you can't afford aluxury home, voifrein for a pleasant surprise. I 1 mf --V i For information, call 741-5666 Weekdays 12-9 Saturday 1 0-6 Sundays 12-6 I gage. See editor Our elected representatives, presumably sitting in committee, will assess In advance the artistic merits of the city's entry, and then oversee its construction. I shudder to visualize what will emerge and what the price will be! In summary, here is a man who for the last 22 years has given the city national prestige, and at a cost barely sufficient to -cover the expenses.

He "has charged little because he has been proud to represent Ottawa In national competition, and, no doubt, has used that prestige to encourage commercial contacts. Well done, board of control! You have done It again! It will cost the taxpayer more, and we will receive less in return. DOUG PAYNE. Ottawa. No cause for compassion Sirs: ll is becoming more apparent that Inconsistency is one of the major shortcomings of our present Liberal government.

With little or no compassion or concern for Ottawa's welfare, the government recently saw fit to arbitrarily move large sec. -tions of their operations out of Ottawa to Hull and points elsewhere. The effect on Ottawa's-economy, not only because of the loss of purchasing power but also the increase in vacant almost new office space. Is incalculable. Moreover, I cannot believe that they did not recognize that the uprooting of hundreds of longstanding anglophone residents of Ottawa would be detrimental to their national unity program.

Now, surprisingly, we find this same government showing grave concern about Montreal's serious loss if Sun Life moves to Toronto and the dire effect such a move will have on national unity. Must this always be a one-way -road? EDGAR II. LEE. Ottawa. Mail (0 Picture yourself in the lap of luxury.

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