The record, 19 octobre 1983, mercredi 19 octobre 1983

Wednesday Births, deaths .7 Business.5 Classified .12 Comics .13 Editorial .4 Living .6 Sports .8-9 I i Weather, page 2 SUNNY DI ANNA SHAUCiMNI SSY.At il 7 SAWYERVII.U: PRIMARY SCHOOI Sherbrooke Wednesday, October 19, 1983 30 cents s—¦ “I hear tell that they’re an endangered species.” Increasingly bad weather could doom ice-stranded ships MOSCOW (Reuter)—Four convoys of Soviet freighters stranded in pack-ice north of eastern Siberia faced worsening conditions Tuesday, and a special commission has been set up to co-ordinate rescue action, latest press reports said.An easterly wind which only a few days ago was blowing warm air from the Pacific, giving hope for an early end to the crisis, has given way to a northwesterly gale and new thick ice is building up, the trade union daily Trud reported.About 40 ships, on the arctic freight line which supplies the isolated cities of north Siberia, are held fast by the worst ice conditions reported in more than 40 years.“It appears that the situation will become even more tense by tomorrow,” a correspondent reported from Monday’s meeting of the rescue committee at Pevek, the tiny nor- theast Siberian port which is the closest inhabited point to the convoys.The sailors on board the freight ships and icebreakers, supposedly leading the convoys but now also hemmed in, were enduring fierce winds and bitter temperatures, he said.Aircraft carrying scientists and ships’ captains have been circling the area daily searching for gaps or fissures in the ice indicating a line of least resistance for the icebrea kers to attempt to open up."A definite decision as to how’ to attack the ice mass will be taken after thorough reconnaissance by helicopter from the atomic ice breakers and by plane,” the official news agency Tass reported.In a dispatch from Pevek, Tass said officials now are considering using the ice-breakers all together “like a fist” to smash a path through the ice.In the clearest report yet on the numbers of ships involved, Trud said 08 ships were in the region on Oct.7.By Oct.16, when the weather turned bad again, this had been reduced to 43.One ship has already sunk, after its crew was flown to safety by helicopter as the pressure of the ice crushed the ship’s hull.Another was seriously damaged but was extricated by the ato mic-powered icebreaker Leonid Brezhnev.% I RECORD/PERRY BEATON Ifs Great Pumpkin time at last Pumpkins throughout the Townships have reportedly been gathering at selected spots in anticipation of the arrival of their leader the Great Pumpkin expected sometime later this month.Canadair announces purge of upper execs Government miscue stops adjournment of National Assembly MONTREAL (CP) — Financially-strapped Canadair tightened its belt another few notches Tuesday amid predictions of further losses and embarrassing disclosures of questionable management practices.Six of the Crown-owned company’s 22 vice-presidents are being demoted and four others are leaving in a corporate purge ordered by Joel Bell, president of Canada Development Investment Corp., which oversees Montreal-based Canadair.The shakeup in the executive suite came only hours before two questionable leaseback schemes were detailed on CBC-TV’s public affairs program The Fifth Estate.It was not immediately clear whether any of the executives involved in the schemes were among those laid off by the company, although one was promoted.Another 338 employees are to be laid off by year-end in a bid to save the Montreal-based aircraft maker $28 million this year.The cuts bring total layoffs this year to 1,363, about one-quarter of the workforce at Canadair and its subsidiaries.Canadair’s losses were $1.4 billion in 1982, the largest in Canadian corporate history.The federal government came to the rescue with $1.35 billion in loan guarantees and $200 million in new capital.Most of the loss came from a $1-billion writeoff of development costs for the company’s twin-engined, wide-bodied Challenger business jet after the recession dried up demand.The Fifth Estate said in Tuesday night’s telecast that the Challenger program is still losing money and that projected losses are a further $400 million through the end of 1984.The program also said that four executives rented their own plane — a commuter jet made by Cessna, a competitor — to Canadair for business travel, an arrangement that amounted to using taxpayers’ money to do business with themselves.The Fifth Estate also questioned a deal in which three executives of the PepsiCo soft drink giant were given a cut-rate price on a Challenger in a private deal after their company bought two of the planes.The PepsiCo trio then leased the plane back to Canadair for $245,000 a month plus another $42,000 monthly for interior furnishings such as seats.VIOLATED RULES Bell said the arrangement that saw the employees lease the company their own plane was “in violation of our corporate conflict rules.” “What we have done is we have taken steps to ensure that there will be no gain to the employees under the agreement,” he said.But the arrangement is in the form of an enforceable contract and the company cannot back out without penalty.Canadair said in a statement that the executive shuffle is aimed at pro- LONDON (AP) — The BBC says the Soviet Salyut 7 space station is crippled by a leak of propellant and the two cosmonauts aboard are stranded in orbit, but a Soviet official today denied the report.BBC science correspondent James Wilkinson reported Tuesday night that a leak of propellant last month had left Salyut 7 virtually unable to be manoeuvred.“The cosmonauts are in effect drifting in orbit,” he said, without indicating the sources of his information.However, a spokesman for the Soviet Academy of Sciences, asked about the report, said : “There was no leak on the station.The flight is conti- viding “a leaner management team,” and “strengthening the competitiveness of the company.” Bell said “Canadair s management structure had become large and cumbersome.” Canadair president Gil Bennett said progress has been made in putting the Challenger program in the black.Five new orders have been received in the last six weeks.nuing normally.The state of the cosmonauts is good.” He said western reporters should pay attention to published Soviet reports for information on the mission.The official, who asked that his name not be used, had returned a telephone call by The Associated Press seeking comment on reports the Salyut mission was in trouble.Earlier, a Soviet Foreign Ministry official had said there was no information available on the cosmonauts — Alexander Alexandrov, 41, and Vladimir Lyak hov, 42.SURVIVES BLAST The two space travellers were due QUEBEC (CP) — Efforts by the Parti Québécois government to have the new session of the national assembly adjourned until next month ran aground Tuesday over a decade-old question of who gave how much money to whom and when.Instead of getting the time it says it needs to come up with proposals to revive the economy and ease unem ployment, the government tripped over its own feet and wound up encouraging a procedural filibuster waged by the Liberal opposition.The assembly was to reconvene today with both parties rehashing allegations and denials of questionable campaign contributions dating from the early 1970s.Premier Rene Levesque announced last month that the government would delay the start of the new session so cabinet could ponder solutions to the province’s economic crisis.But Levesque and his strategists apparently forgot that new rules require the fall session to start by the third Tuesday of October.So the assembly had to be called into session for one day to debate a motion of adjournment to Nov.15.The Liberals, vowing to make the maximum political hay from the government’s refusal to sit until next month, proposed motion after motion in the period reserved for new business Tuesday, demanding immediate debate on issues ranging from Quebec independence to the state of the asbestos industry.The motions were tossed out forty times for want of the necessary unanimous consent of the house.But late in the evening, PQ whip Jacques Brassard tried to catch the Liberals in their own trap.He proposed a motion to debate the $750,(KH) that various Olympic Games contractors contributed to the campaign fund of the Liberal government of the early 1970s.As is customary, Speaker Richard Guay called for the consent of the to return a month ago, but the rocket carrying the replacement crew was reported to have exploded as it was taking off.Published western reports at the time said the replacement crew survived the explosion Wilkinson said the cosmonauts were expected to return to Earth soon but that it was not known how their mission control plans to get them back.“The Soyuz space ship they arrived in is still attached to the space station and they could use that,” he reported.“But it has been there for over three months and by their own rules has on ly two days life left in it before it be comes potentially unsafe.” house.The government benches were silent, while Liberal whip Michel Page popped to his feet to say that he and his colleagues would be happy to debate the question.Guay declared the motion carried, prompting PQ House Leader Jean Francois Bertrand to argue for ha'f an hour that the Speaker had failed to poll the members of the government.The Speaker insisted that he had and even suspended the sitting while he listened to the recording of the house proceedings.In the debate that followed, Page proposed an amendment that the motion be expanded to cover the $300,000 that the 1’Q was alleged to have received from French operatives some dozen years ago.The clock ran out on the debate at 10 p.m., with the question being held over until this morning.Last man charged in BC beating PENTICTON, B.C.— Police have arrested the last of four men suspected of savagely beating a family of four French-Canadians, including a seven year old boy slee ping in a tent at a campsite south of here last August Calvin Young, 20, of Merritt B.C., appeared in Provincial Court Tuesday charged with two counts of assault causing bodily harm.His preliminary hearing was set for December 5.Two juveniles await trial in the same incident along with Darren Brown, 18.of Calgary, who will appear in court November 29.The charges were laid by RCMP after a mid-August incident in which Serge Normand, 26, of Gaspé, his wife, their seven year old son and Normand’s brother were beaten by a group of men who approached the tent in which they were sleeping at a makeshift campground near Keremeos, 40 miles south of here.The boy and his mother were struck repeatedly with poles as they lay helpless un der the collapsed tent.The two juveniles were arrested shortly after the incident but Young and Brown allegedly fled and were arrested after an RCMP hunt that spanned B.C.and Alberta .The beating was one of a number of racial incidents this summer in which French-Canadian migrant fruitpickers were attacked.BBC says cosmonauts stranded Chretien boasts backing of 47 MPs as possible leadership race nears OTTAWA (CP) — Energy Minister Jean Chretien has lined up 47 MPs to back his bid for the party’s leadership, says an Ontario MP supporting Chretien.But former Liberal cabinet minister John Turner appears to be at least as strong.Ron Irwin, MP forSaultSte.Marie, says Chretien originally set a figure of 25 MPs committed to his candidacy before seriously entering the undeclared race.“But when We got 30 we said, ‘Why not go for 35?’ and when we got to 40, ‘Why not 45?”’ adds Irwin, a former parliamentary secretary to Chretien.Quebec Liberal Louis Duclos says he will back Prime Minister Trudeau if he remains leader, but will support former finance minister Turner if a race develops.Duclos, MP for Montmorency-Orleans, says Turner can count on 35 to 40 MPs in the 74-member Quebec caucus.Another Quebec Liberal M P says he and many Quebec MPs would back Chretien on the first ballot in a leadership vote out of loyalty, but they wouldn’t stick with him.The MP, who did not wish to be named, said he wants the prime minister to stay on but that Turner would win hands down if the race were on and the Toronto lawyer ran.Turner “is as strong as Chretien” among Quebec MPs.AGREES HE’S STRONG Irwin refuses to say where Chretien has support within the provincial caucuses and admits Turner also has a considerable following.A recent poll of 1,193 Quebec voters conducted by Sorecom Inc.shows Turner is favored by 42 per cent of decided respondents surveyed between Sept.28 and Oct.6.Twenty-five per cent chose Finance Minister Marc Lalonde and Chretien was favored by 21 per cent.Chretien, a lawyer from Shawini- gan, Que., must overcome the Liberal tradition of alternating between French- and English-speaking leaders.Quebec Liberal MP Hal Herbert says Chretien has had considerable success winning support from Quebec and Ontario MPs.Those two provinces provided 55 per cent of the 2,457 delegates to the 1968 convention that elected Trudeau.But Herbert says Chretien “doesn’t have a hope in hell” of winning the leadership because of Trudeau’s low standing in popularity polls and the view that only an anglophone can boost the party's fortunes in Ontario.“The country isn’t going to accept another francophone leader” right after Trudeau, says the MP for Montreal’s Vaudreuil riding.Even Quebec francophones realize ‘that the next leader is going to be an anglophone,” he says.“Their sense of fair play and of the rotation principle corties in here.” Jacques Olivier, former Quebec caucus leader, says Chretien may be the current first choice among the province’s MPs, but that could change dramatically if other Quebec cabinet ministers enter the race or if Turner, former Trudeau finance minister Donald Macdonald or Liberal party president Iona Campagnolo enter the race.One New Brunswick Liberal official who didn’t want to be identified says: “You’ll probably find that New Brunswick francophone delegates will be more apt to support an anglophone Candida* ¦>.They’re very cogni zant they’re a numerical minority and would be in a particularly vulnerable position if alternance stops They feel protected by the tradition." Ontario Liberal president Ross Milne is less sure Chretien or any of the Quebec MPs rumored to be intE-rested in Trudeau’s job.Health Minister Monique Begin, Fisheries Minis- ter Pierre De Bane and others, don’t stand a chance in a leadership race.The principle of alternance “isn’t carved in stone” and if the political circumstances are right "a Quebec candidate could win it fairly easily." “Who can tell what the political context will be at the time?” Milne says.“Will (Progressive Conservative Leader Brian) Mulroney be viewed as a francophone?Will Quebec nationalism re-emerge as a major issue if Premier Rene Levesque gets his act together and runs an election on sovereignty-association?” Herbert and Duclos say Turner would win a leadership convention in a walk, with strong support from Quebec.Duclos says Turner’s arrival would signify “a break with the Trudeau regime,” while Milne notes that Turner’s having lived and practiced law in Montreal before getting into politics would be a strong card in his favor among Quebec delegates.Jean ( 'hrétien is preparing for a run at the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada.t h 2—The RECORD—Wednesday.October 1!).l!W:i Murder search ends up right back where it started KAMLOOPS, B C.(CP) — A mass-murder investigation that took police on a clue hunting trip halfway across Canada and back moved close to where it began Tuesday when RCMP discovered a camper truck in a remote wooded area of the B.C.Interior.The truck had belonged to George and Edith Bentley of Port Coquitlam, both in their 60s, who disappeared in August, 1982 while vacationing with their daughter, Jackie Johnson, her husband and two daughters of Kelowna.The search for the Bentleys and the four members of the Johnson family ended in mid September last year when the charred remains of the six people were found in the burned-out shell of the Johnson car.Because metal fragments were found in some of the remains, police believe some of the members of the two families were shot be fore the car was set ablaze.After police had scoured the area near Clearwater in Wells Grey Provincial Park where the remains of the six were found, they launched a Canada-wide manhunt for two men believed seen in the area at the time driving a camper truck similar to the Bentleys.In May, RCMP travelled across the country in a replica of the camper, hoping to jog the me- mory of anyone who might have seen the suspects.The search for clues took police as far east as Quebec.But on Tuesday, Kamloops RCMP announced they had found the 1981 Ford truck.In a brief statement, Insp.Vic Edwards said the truck was found in a remote area near Clearwater, about 100 kilometres north of Kamloops.He declined to release further information.Ross Gorman, who had employed Jackie Johnson’s husband Bob for 25 years, said he had mixed feelings when police called to tell him they had found the camper.“I was hoping that if they found the camper they’d find the people that did the deed,” he said in a telephone interview.“It was evidently erroneously reported that it was seen all across Canada.” WE SETTLE ESTATES ‘ TAX PLAN YOUR INCOME * FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATION * SPECIALIZE-FARM ROLLOVERS PROFESSIONAL ADVICE W.D.DUKE ASSOCIATES LTD.109 William St., Cowansville J2K 1K9 514-263-4123 President: W.D.Duke.B Comm C A.Vice President: J.R.Boulé B.A.Manitoba’s francophone N@WS-in-brief leader finds going tough Canadair announces restructuring Weinberger wants nukes in space Marcos stands up Assembly WINNIPEG (CP) — Leo Robert, a soft-spoken school teacher who is pre-sident of La Société franco-manitobaine, ran into some tough opposition Tuesday when he defended proposed guarantees of French-language rights in Manitoba.Robert’s opponent on the debating platform was Russell Doern, the NDP member of the legislature who has split with his party over the issue.But many of the crowd of 700 to 800 people who watched the pair argue made it clear that they were Doern’s side.The clash occurred in a gymnasium at Red River Community College, where a lunch-hour audience of mostly students cheered Doern when he accused the federal government of wrongly interfering.The crowd hissed Robert, who had to deal with the few hecklers present, and some people told him they are against bilingualism.The debate was only the latest instalment in a long-running dispute over a proposed agreement reached by the provincial NDP government, the society and the federal government on providing services in Manitoba in French.But it provided a good opportunity for Robert and Doern, who have met on other occasions but not in a head-to-head battle, to state their case and sound out the public.Later, both said they thought they won the debate.Doern, who no longer sits in the NDP caucus, made numerous references to the “Liberal fiefdom” in Ottawa.He said the society gets about $650,000 a year from the federal government as well as grants from the Quebec government.“The German Society receives zero dollars and the Ukrainians peanuts, or should I say perogies,” said Doern.He said other ethnic groups in the province are wrong to hope the benefits of expanding bilingual government services in Manitoba may somehow rub off onto them."Millions will be spent on French-speaking Manitobans and crumbs thrown to the rest,” said Doern, who argued that the province has more Ukrainian and German-speaking people than francophones.‘MAKES NO SENSE’ He said that with French-speaking people comprising only about six per cent of Manitoba’s population, there is no place for the type of bilingualism that would make more sense in Quebec or New Brunswick.The government of Premier Howard Pawley wants to put the guarantees of bilingual services in the Constitution, a move that could head off a court challenge to the legality of English-only laws.The proposal has drawn virulent attacks from Doern and from the Progressive Conservative Opposition in the legislature.But Robert contended the society wants only to restore the rights that French-speaking Manitobans enjoyed for 20 years prior to 1890, when a law made English the only official language of the province’s courts and legislature.The 1890 law was struck down in 1979 by the Supreme Court of Canada as contrary to the 1870 act that brought Manitoba into Confederation and assured French and English equal status in the legislature and courts.“There is no French conspiracy to remake Manitoba into something it is not,” Robert said.“Rather, we are committed to making Manitoba what it really is again.” Robert said the society does not receive any funds from the Quebec government.He added that improving access to Manitoba government services in French won’t mean a big increase in taxes for Manitobans.His organization was accused by one speaker of "spending millions to try to keep a dead language alive so a few of you can live in the past.” Robert said he wants only justice.“We're not asking for special rights, we want equal rights.We are trying to build a province of tolerance and cultural diversity.” Husband and wife team seize power in Grenada BRIDGETOWN, Barbados