The Ottawa Citizen from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada • 1

tn nil mm0im RANDALL DENLEY A10 JIM COYLE A10 DAVE BARRY C3 JANE TABER AlO A THE OTTAWA SUNDAY MARCH 24, 1996 WEATHER: Sunny High 4, low -3 Details, Dl 50 CENTS plus GST Outside metro area, 65 plus GST 7J Jiv ABLISHED1845 (Tr, III 1 cz AN SHINES lis Iff Vr Michelle Kwan changed her image and ended up on top of the figure-skating world SILENCE OF THE LAMBS: STARRING YOUR MP As our region spirals down into economic crisis, local Liberals are mostly mute CITYLIFE A7 EYEING THE OSCARS Jay Stone's guide to the annual Hollywood hypefest PREVIEW CI SP0RTSPLUSB1 J.J Def ianft vofters 7 back democracv 'r aft polls in Taiwan China's threats fail to influence presidential race Wayne Cuddington, Citizen Bound for new home Kim Fedor comforts Nan Simmons, 105, one of 200 patients leaving the old Perley Hospital on Aylmer Avenue for the new facility on Russell Road. In a logistical triumph that took a year to orchestrate, 100 patients were moved in eight hours Saturday. The rest go today. Story, page A3 By Jonathan Manthorpe Southam Newspapers TAIPEI, Taiwan Defiant voters Saturday thumbed their noses at Chinese threats to assimilate this island state by giving a resounding victory to autonomy-minded President Lee Teng-hui in Taiwan's first democratic presidential elections. Lee, who has worked to expand international recognition for Taiwan, that Beijing considers a rebel province, won more than 55 per cent of the vote in the four-candidate race.

China sees Lee's policies as a means to independence. Throughout the campaign, Lee promoted an ambiguous policy toward China which voters clearly preferred to the insistence for outright independence advocated by the second-place candidate, Peng Ming-min. Still, Peng won over 22 per cent of the island's 14 million voters. The two candidates that urged early negotiations with China on reunification got just 20 per cent of the vote. Lee says the two states should reunite, but only when China is a democracy and its economy approaches that of Taiwan's.

Until then he says Taiwan should have a full international role, including regaining the seat at the United Nations from which it was ousted at China's insistence in 1979. That more than 75 per cent of voters supported candidates who promote autonomy is a humiliating snub to China which continued its two weeks of aggressive military exercises in the waters around the island even as Tai- i wanese went to the polls. Taiwan was separated politically from the mainland when the Kuom-intang government fled here in 1949 after being ousted by the Communists. Beijing has admitted the aim of the military exercises was to intimidate voters against supporting Lee. But the election results have called Beijing's bluff.

They raise questions about what China will do now that President Jiang, Zemin's policy of trying to bully Tai wan has failed. Jiang's extremism during the Taiwanese elections has been widely interpreted as a sign of a coming power struggle in Beijing as ailing paramount leader Deng Xiaoping approaches his 92nd birthday Many analysts have seen the military exercises as an attempt by Jiang to court support from the People's Liberation Army and to whip up public nationalist sentiments. Some predicted a serious policy review within the Chinese leadership, and a possible reshuffle to remove those responsible for the failed attempt to intimidate Taiwan militarily Others raised the possibility of a further military escalation. "This is very, very difficult for China now," said Andrew Yang of the Chinese Centre for Advanced Policy Studies, a think tank in Taipei. "The setback for China's tactics loses them great face.

The leadership is very humiliated." China tried until the last minute to sway the election's outcome. Earlier Saturday, the official news agency unleashed new invective against Lee, accusing him of taking Taiwan to the "abyss of misery," while Chinese radio broadcasts aimed here called Lee a "puppet" of the United States. Much now will depend on what Lee chooses to do with his mandate, observers and analysts said. Some thought Lee might feel flexible enough to be magnanimous in victory, perhaps making some major conciliatory gesture toward Beijing, such as offering direct transportation links or the first government-to-government contacts. Lee gave no hint of his intentions Saturday night.

In the capital, thousands spilled on to the streets while fireworks burst overhead when the results became known. Voter turnout was more than 70 per cent. Speaking to a crowd of about 20,000 outside his party headquarters, Lee, 73, applauded the conduct of the elections in the face of the threats by China and told supporters the completion of a five-year transition to democracy from military rule would entrench Taiwan's position on the world stage. "There will be no loneliness and solitude any more," he said. Southam News with files from the Washington Post 11 At Itllym'lfm David Chan, Citizen ALL DRESSED UP: Page takes in ambience and aroma at gala opening of Hull Casino It's hard to explain how I ended up in the ladies powder room of the Hull Casino scribbling vital notes, notes that went something like: The most glamorous woman here (split-up dress, sequins) is most likely a man.

Owls and bud-dhas have been carved out of squash for decorations. Man turns to bleached blonde, most likely girlfriend, and says: Hey baby, it's time to spend some money I'd been sent to the Hull Casino's Saturday night gala to blow the lid off the place, expose its inner workings in time for the avalanche of riff-raff expected this morning. But there were so many beefy, square-shouldered men with hardware sticking out of their ears that it was obvious I couldn't be caught taking notes in the gaming area. These security types might think I was-trying to crack the virgin Kenogame. I'd already seen them dress down some statuesque red-haired woman who was wearing a lace bustier.

You see, bustiers won't be tolerated at this casino and she'd amply violat- bronzing powder that gave them that just back from Florida look. It's a fancy-pants place, this casino. It's also a soulless, cliche. And the scratchy toilet paper is single ply Robert Goulet, card counters, grand-a-night hookers. That's Vegas.

Hull, on the other hand, has got a stunning view of a quarry pit that could have been a municipal garbage dump, but was dressed with a marina and fountains. It's also got a whole load of public servants blowing their RSPs at the dol-lar-a-bet table. Outside the stunning casino, the smell of split rock and sludge permeates the air. When it first twists inside your nostrils, you think it's something tasty that's been broiled by the chef in the first class restaurant. Then it becomes a stench, perhaps the smell of the pit the building overlooks which was a cement quarry, and where it was once suggested municipal garbage might be thrown.

IT AIN'T continued on page A2 I 1 I V' Columnist Shelley Page loses $10, but not her sense of adventure ed the rules. (Actually, troubling truth be told, the security guys just leered, which made me wonder who the casino bosses expect to enforce their dress code). Anyway, this story was formed, sadly, inside the cherry-walled women's washroom as women slipped in to adjust their sequins, fluff their feathers, and reapply the AP photo LANDSLIDE: Victorious President Lee Teng-hui won more than 55 per cent of vote INSIDE Canada: The one-party state? DISARRAY: The federalist opposition parties have not been so weak since the glory days of Mackenzie King 50 years ago. Astrology D4 Jumble D3 Births, Deaths D7 Netwatch A8 Books C12 Opinions A11 Bridge D3 Preview C1 Canada A3 Radio C6 Citylife A7 Scoreboard B6 Classified D1 SportsPlus B1 Comics D8 SportsRoots B4 JimCoyle A10 Sunday Best A12 Crossword 1 D5 JaneTaber A10 Crossword 2 D6 Television C7 Randall DenleyAIQ WorldView A5 By Paul Gessell Citizen staff writer There were no greetings, questions or hints of recognition as NDP Leader Alexa McDo-nough encountered a mob of reporters and television crews in a Parliament Hill corridor recently Treating McDonough like some insignificant Commons charwoman, no one moved an inch to allow her to pass as she left her party's weekly caucus meeting. And so, she sharpened her elbows and silently pushed her way to a quieter place.

The mob was only interested in Reform Leader Preston Manning, whose own caucus meeting across the hall had just ended. But like McDonough, Manning got no respect that Wednesday I le faced a barrage of But the experts say that's bad news for democracy and for the very survival of Canada. "I'm very concerned about what is happening to our party system and Canadians should be really concerned about where we're going," says Agar Adamson, a political scientist at Acadia University in Wolfville, N.S. Academics say democracy must be renewed. That means we need powerful opposition parties to keep the government honest, to attract new candidates with innovative ideas and to ensure voters have more than one viable option on election day CANADA continued on page A2 Haiti: Visit of a president, A4 Vote: Byelection preview, A8 embarrassing questions about corporal punishment, Reform extremists and disgruntled MPs.

Elsewhere on Parliament Hill, Conservative Leader Jean Charest and his sole MP, Elsie Wayne, were holding their weekly "caucus." Or maybe they weren't. No one checks any more. The opposition parties In Parliament the federalist ones, anyway have not been so dismissed, weak and in disarray since the glory days of Mackenzie King's Government-for-Life Liberals half a century ago. And little seems about to change. Consider the six federal byelcc- tions to be held Monday.

Normally, governments in the second half of their mandate are unpopular and are expected to lose byelections. This time, the Liberals are expected to win most of the byelections, despite almost fumbling away the country last October, failing so far to replace the GST, and introducing budgets that reduce funding for health care, education and pensions. A Mackenzie King like avoidance of controversial positions and a handful of weak opposition parties have conspired to make Jean Chretien's Liberals seem unbeatable. That's good news for the Liberals. HOW TO REACH US Main Citizen number 829-9100 Newsroom 596-3664 Want ads 829-9321 Home delivery 596-1950 Published by the proprietor, Southam, at 1 101 Baxter Road, Box 5020, Ottawa, 0nt K2C 3M4, Publisher, Russell Mills.

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