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Page 8. Whltby Free Preas, Wednesday, May 22, 1996 A A tTUT sies More charges against roadside floweIlr v.endor By Mike Kowalski Whitbys annuel crackdown on roadoide flower vendors is under- wa.- Seven people were charged with selling flowers wthout a licence during the. Mother'.- Day weekend. The seven will* appear inpo vincial court June 3 ta fac chargea laid under Town and Durhiar Region bylews. Non, of the. accused reside i Whitby. Pive peole were cherged under Whibys atreet vendor bylaw whicii camres a maximum fine of $5,000 upon conviction. Tii. other two charges were laid under tii. Ragions traffic bylew which only has a $50 maximum fine et the moment. However, Durham officiaIs are awaiting approvel from the. Ontario government ta also ncrease the. penalty to $5,000. In announcng the charges at last week's Town- council meet- ing, clerk Don McKay said muni- cipal.-staff are inveatigeting the. ossibilit of seeking court in- junctions againat repeat offen- ders. Tuas could prove more effective i curbig unlicenced vendors in t oe uilty parties would no longer bein violation of a muni- New home sales stilluHp Grater ronto Area new home continu.d strengtii of tue new mles -continue to outpace 1995 housingmarket to low interest rosulte by leapoe and oundssays rates, competitive prices and Greater Toron0 taHm Buliders consumer confidence as tue Association president Tom econonnc outlook in general Stricker. Improves. Tflere was a total of 1,686 new home sales in April, up 82 per cent over ,April 1995 when 927 new homes were sold. Tue sales were split 70 per cent freeiiold,, 30 condomirnum. Tuere were 56 new homes sold in Whitby in April. Stricker attrluted tue Safles slipped 9.5 per cent from March. Stricker notes, however, that a slower April ha been tue norrn ln the. new home idustry, posting lower sales in eigiit ofthie lesnt 10 years cornpared ta Marcii. "I believe we are i for a strong summer season," he says. *Monday - Wednesday 8am - 9pm - Thursday & Fiiday 8am - 6pm *Saturday 9am - 5pm, Suniday lO0am - 3pm MORNING, EVI)/NING & WEEKEND WALK-IN HOURS -No annoohinment necessary - cipai b>ylaw, but a direct order from the. court. Penalties would b. much more severe and could include impri- sonment i addition ta a fine. If the. Town i. succesaful in obtaining ijunctions, it might flnally put an end to its annuel battle with the. illegal vendors. Iii Whitby and other Durhaom municipalities tiie weekend «entrepreneurs; draw the wrath of not only government officiaIs, but-legitimate florists. Three yeers ago, on. Whitby merchant chose ta demonstrate his displeasure with tii. Town's supposed inaction on this matter in e rather unortiiodox fashion. Afteryear f compleinig about unlicense street -vendors sellingflowers eat wilL, former flonist Bill Brant opted ta do the. saine. Brant wa charged with selling flowers from a Dundas Street corner only a short distance from aisBrn Street -South shop. r But since h. paid business taxes ta tii. municipality on exemption ithe. Municipal Act did not require Brant ta pur- chas. thesépeciel «hewkers'-and peddlers" licence and the. charge was withdrawn. Wanted: Best young entrepreneurs Tue Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) is seeking Canada'. best young entrepreneurs. Tue ninth annuel BDC Young Entrepreneur Awards recognize tue achievernents of entrpreeur aged 29 or younger. The awards are given ta 12 entrepreeurs, one from eacii province and territory. Eacii wlnner will receiveiielp with the growtii of tueir business by being matciied with a business leader for a year-long rnentoring relationship, sponsored by Scotiabank. Winners also receive a tropiiy and on ail-expense paid trip ta the award ceremony in Vancouver. For application forma, caIl 1-888 463-6232. Deadline is June 21. Greedy practices WIW m bnkscontinuing to charge exrbitant interest on credit carda when real Interest rates are decllning? People wlth deposits i the big banka muet be wonderlng how ta rec"i the meagmlintereut they recelve wlth the. huge 18 per cent intereat the banks are charging them for uslng a credit card.. The. banks seem ta delight in attaclclng me for bringing tuis ta your attention. But 1 arn no different thon you. I juat want ta understand their induàtry. Local bank staff - those that still have a Job - are no different tomn you or, L They work very bard contributlng ta their commumuties. After ail, tiiey'are port of the commurnty. It'. the banka' executive officers in Toronto that ar.n't worrying about us. Bank employees are losing their jobs every day and getting their hours cut while their corporate headai Toronto pull down, hI orne oa.., salaries in excesa of $1 million. .Now the. banks want ta, get into car leasing. This is nothing but greed and a way for banka ta literally force average Canadiana furtiier inta debt. It doesn't take a lot of brain power ta understand the difference between an intoreet recovery rate in lesn of 15 per cent au opposed ta financing capital acquisitions wre the purchaser puts up capital and i. flnanced at eigiit per cent. Right now Canadians cant afford new car becauae of the tremendous growth in credit over the last few years. Higii taxation' is also a factor but loolk at disposa icornes. Currently Canadians are spending 92 per cent of disposable income (after taxs) on debt serving. is level of personal debt has neyer occurred before in Canada. I think it is odd that economists, sociologisas and policy-makera have faied to, look at this. Banks commonly sendoeredit cards to, universlty student wiio are people without an incorne ta sustain credit. They are ind.bted at on early age and it lookoaua though they wil stay that way througiiout their life. ltes hard to, buy a new car wiien ail of your disposable bIcorne is tied upin aredit. Banka argue higii intereat rates are related ta personal bonkruptsaes. Y«. bonkruptces« are at an alI-tirne hi- tiiey're an exIension ofpreedy lending practices by banka creating credit ithe~ firut place. This bringu us ta the. debate over allowing banks acems ta autarnbie leasing. Tii. banka are right when they argue about the. need for competition, but that isn't the. whole argument. As the industry committees point person on banka and l.nding ta amall and meium-sized, business, I con tell you ?Mwwat ta se a sil away from conventional lending. Government wants ta Mee banka investing I new ideas, ingenuity and the gray matter Canadians are using the. marketplaoe. Banka financing consumption, such àas redit carda and automobiles, i. not going ta, genera'te new wealth for Canadians. 1 guess w. will have to drag the. banka,kicidng and screarning if necessary, into the 2 lot century. Alex Shepherd is MP for Durham iding whid& includea Whitby, noth of Taunton RoacL lb ,wckhàeoenattuenoy offimc eil721- 7570 (Oshawa). 1,0 tes obepane About 1,000 trees will b. plan- ted et Heber Down Conservation Area in Whitby under an initia- Our Lowest Price Ever On A Pentium Powered Comue ytn ______________________________Standard_____ConfIi.gur'[a'1 '] 'ti oni[' ~4ePERSONAL es~'~: o-COMPUTERS. * 75 MHz Intel Pentium Processor * 8 MB RAM e Intel 82430FX chlp set 9 1.0GB hard drive - 1.44 floppy * MP~EG full motion video * 1 MB POI SVGA video *14,400 bps fax. data modem *Windows 95 keyboard *Windows 95 pre-Ioaded - includes manuals & 2-CD tutorial Eight Microsoft software titlest Mcmoft Encart 96- CD. - Worcs 95 - CD. Money - CD. M. 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