By PAUL RUTHERFORD
For Winnipeggers who have never received a photo radar ticket and are praying each night this hot debate might cool down or disappear altogether, it's just not going to happen.
People who paid the fines are too mad. They want their money back, no matter how paltry the refund might be. The debate is sticking around due to the lack of any kind of concrete action on the part of the governing New Democrats. Justice minister Dave Chomiak has done nothing to extinguish it.
Not only is he not paying back the fines, he's acting like photo radar is the greatest thing since sliced bread.
He doesn't have the money to issue refunds but he could do the next best thing which is end photo radar when the current contract expires. His party could then create a better solution for tackling speeders -- one that's not a blatant cash grab. Manitoba's Progressive Conservatives meanwhile are fixated, or perhaps a better word is obsessed, with getting the NDP to cave in and flip flip on the refund decision, and pay back those who got "illegal" tickets in unmanned construction zones.
A group of Winnipeg-area drivers have joined Tory leader Hugh McFadyen in his push to pressure Premier Gary Doer to allow a free vote on a Conservative motion -- to be introduced Monday -- calling on some 60,000 paid photo radar fines to be refunded.
"We're hoping all MLAs will side with their constituents and vote for fairness. This non-partisan motion will give them the opportunity to do just that," McFadyen said Friday.
Of course this is all about politics. It's a nifty attempt to try to divide the NDP and thereby gain political strength -- in time for the next election -- from a split NDP party.
McFadyen claims the motion will need only eight NDP MLAs to join all the Conservatives to pass it in the provincial legislature.
He's urging NDP MLAs to listen to their constituients (sic) and vote against party lines, or as he puts it "Yes to fairness."
The Conservative's motion is an excellent ploy. Just because the NDP is enjoying uninterrupted popularity with Manitobans doesn't mean there isn't a few MLAs disgusted with Chomiak's decision on this. As sure as photo radar is snapping pictures right now, there's a handful of NDPers who think the party has risked too much with this program.
Will they have the guts to step up to the plate and break with the team? Who in the government benches will end up smelling like a rose by distancing themselves from Chomiak and his government's stubborn strategy on using photo radar? It will take a miracle, you say?
Not if MLAS do what they promised to do when elected. Listen to the voters.
paul.rutherford@sunmedia.ca [/quote]
For Winnipeggers who have never received a photo radar ticket and are praying each night this hot debate might cool down or disappear altogether, it's just not going to happen.
People who paid the fines are too mad. They want their money back, no matter how paltry the refund might be. The debate is sticking around due to the lack of any kind of concrete action on the part of the governing New Democrats. Justice minister Dave Chomiak has done nothing to extinguish it.
Not only is he not paying back the fines, he's acting like photo radar is the greatest thing since sliced bread.
He doesn't have the money to issue refunds but he could do the next best thing which is end photo radar when the current contract expires. His party could then create a better solution for tackling speeders -- one that's not a blatant cash grab. Manitoba's Progressive Conservatives meanwhile are fixated, or perhaps a better word is obsessed, with getting the NDP to cave in and flip flip on the refund decision, and pay back those who got "illegal" tickets in unmanned construction zones.
A group of Winnipeg-area drivers have joined Tory leader Hugh McFadyen in his push to pressure Premier Gary Doer to allow a free vote on a Conservative motion -- to be introduced Monday -- calling on some 60,000 paid photo radar fines to be refunded.
"We're hoping all MLAs will side with their constituents and vote for fairness. This non-partisan motion will give them the opportunity to do just that," McFadyen said Friday.
Of course this is all about politics. It's a nifty attempt to try to divide the NDP and thereby gain political strength -- in time for the next election -- from a split NDP party.
McFadyen claims the motion will need only eight NDP MLAs to join all the Conservatives to pass it in the provincial legislature.
He's urging NDP MLAs to listen to their constituients (sic) and vote against party lines, or as he puts it "Yes to fairness."
The Conservative's motion is an excellent ploy. Just because the NDP is enjoying uninterrupted popularity with Manitobans doesn't mean there isn't a few MLAs disgusted with Chomiak's decision on this. As sure as photo radar is snapping pictures right now, there's a handful of NDPers who think the party has risked too much with this program.
Will they have the guts to step up to the plate and break with the team? Who in the government benches will end up smelling like a rose by distancing themselves from Chomiak and his government's stubborn strategy on using photo radar? It will take a miracle, you say?
Not if MLAS do what they promised to do when elected. Listen to the voters.
paul.rutherford@sunmedia.ca [/quote]
