News

Friday May 8, 1998


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MANITOBA FIGHTS PROSTITUTION – PUSHERS AND USERS TO LOSE CARS

WINNIPEG, May 8 (LSN) – Manitoba’s Justice Minister Vic Toews announced Thursday that the provincial government is putting forward legislation to allow police to seize a vehicle used in connection with prostitution. First-time offending “johns” will have a chance to attend a “john school” rather than lose their cars.

Vehicles seized under the legislation will be sold, and the proceeds used to help people avoid falling into a life of prostitution. Mr Toews predicts the law will take effect by year’s end.


TAXPAYERS FOOT THE BILL FOR GAY SURVEY

OTTAWA, May 8 (LSN) – A prominent gay activist group, Equality for Gays and Lesbians Everywhere (EGALE), announced yesterday the commencement of a government-funded survey of Canada’s “gays, lesbians and bisexuals,” in order to find evidence of “discrimination.” The survey will be sent to 40,000 people of EGALE’s choosing, and is expected to cost Canadian taxpayers almost $400,000.

At a press conference to launch the project, Secretary of State for Multiculturalism and the Status of Women Hedy Fry explained the government’s interest in the study. “If we’re going to look where there are barriers to equality, where there is discrimination, where there is hate or any of those issues, we need to have good demographics,” she said. Ms Fry also said that the study “will give [the government] the kind of information we needed to form good public policy or amend legislation or to do whatever is necessary to create…equity.”

The Reform Party has criticized the Liberal government’s choice of EGALE to carry out the survey. “Why is this government allowing EGALE, an interest group that has a direct stake in the outcome of the census, to conduct the survey?” asked Reform MP Deepak Obhrai.

Ms Fry’s comments and the study’s bias have led some observers to wonder whether the results of the survey will be used to silence opposition to homosexual activity.


KEVORKIAN ARRESTED AFTER LATEST ASSISTED SUICIDE

ROYAL OAK, Mich., May 8 (LSN) – Assisted-suicide activist Jack Kevorkian and his accomplice Georges Reding were arrested Thursday after attempting to drop off the body of their latest victim at William Beaumont Hospital. Police officers who were at the hospital on other business saw a “motionless person” in the back seat of Kevorkian’s car. Police reports indicate that when questioned, Kevorkian “charged at one of the officers and pushed him several times” in trying to escape, whereupon he was arrested and taken to jail. Reding was also arrested for physical interference, and both men refused bail as a gesture of protest.


CRTC ASKS FOR COMMENTS ON TV PROGRAMMING

OTTAWA, May 8 (LSN) – On Wednesday the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) called on Canadians for “comments on a broad and fundamental review of all of its policies affecting Canadian television programming,” according to a CRTC press release. The government’s media control agency is holding public hearings beginning September 23 to “examine how all the elements of the Canadian broadcasting system can cooperate to produce more high-quality programming that attracts Canadian audiences and is exportable to world markets.”

Pro-family Canadians have long argued that there is a demand for more wholesome programming on Canadian airwaves; and it appears the CRTC initiative provides an opportunity to make the case once more. Written comments on Public Notice CRTC 1998-44, Canadian Television Policy Review, may be mailed to CRTC Communications Branch/Ottawa, ON K1A 0N2. The deadline is June 30, 1998.


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