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Page IIALTON HILLS OUTLOOK Friday April lo Halton Hills Outlook published each Friday by The Hill llrrald home newspaper Mill a division of Canadian Newspaper Company PUBLISHER Don EDITOR Dave ADVERTISING MANAGER Carl Slnke MARKETING NT Pam Lowes Sharon Marshall CLASSIFIED Terry Colter Anl Pcdenan MacLeod PIUlDUCTIONbUPEKINTfr NDENT Dave Hastings PRODUCTION ASMS ANTS Annie Olsen Mary Joan Brown ACCOUNTING Walker Pauline Miller Tbeir Outlook Parliamentary life surprisingly serene Considering what outside economists are saying these days it seems to me that Finance Minister Michael Wilson Is enjoying a serene parliamentary life It used to be that finance ministers such as Walter Gordon John Turner and John Crosbie hid to escape the confines of the Com mans to find any political Of all the ministers in govenimml was usually the mince minister who Ihe heaviest Nix Perhaps it because of the with scandal or our preociupi lion itli free trade r ihe dominance of Prime Minister Brian Mulroneyor the lack of on the opposition in any event tie finance mm stir 1 certainly longer the govern parliament cannon Mr Wilson is time far more with think tanks than In is with political enemies In fact ho a great deal of difficult with assorted economic experts you would never know this from parhamentarj proceed Transport Minister John who as finance minister ws widely blamed for down Jen Clark government with his proposed IBcents a gallon gasoline tax must wonder about the justice of It all Mr Wilson is being accused of everything from financial to fiscal film flam and he scarcely scorched politically The latest criticism comes from Die prestigious C Howe Institute which says the government deficit reduction strategy is way off track and the minister is hiding the with fiscal trickery A careful alio of budget indicates dearly that the fiscal plan established in ihi February 1980 budget Is seriously track gays Ihe Institute The report written by economist Ted Carmlchael goes on to say that the reduction of billion in this year deficit was not as sizeable as it appears It was mode possible on by the last minute sale if Teleglobe Canada or million and by delaying the payment of million to grain farmers until after March Hut continued the report the government reserved its neatest gimmick for fiscal year 1987 employers of employee unemployment insurance and pen deductions Only by some of these payments to the com yeir rather than tin following one was the mm stir project deficit report government has resorted lo sales and fiscal tricks Cominf from her Is or Democrat this w I out tut its stuff from It only dvys ihi prime minister said his government broken the ivcl deficits mints 1 a Nit only is the method budgetary reduction question but the inference Boird of prestigious out fit is that the deficit v II actually begin to rise this rise even further nix I Furthermore we have the in Development Institule saying flatly thai our federal provincial governments are broke yel lot a penny cut from federal pen ding This damning assessment bears little resemblance to the views of Mr Wilson in his Feb IB budget If I had to choose just one message for Canadians today he said it would be this Our economic renewal pro gram is working He went on to say that since this government assumed office economic growth has averaged per year and there was no reason for the party end He predicted a 1887 growth rate a per cent However at the some time the Conference Board was 1 Media make experts of touring MPPs Toronto It is marvellous how the media make instant experts out of people s mply because of job The to achieve this dubious honor an the six Ontario who made a lying oneweek visit to Nicaragua in mid March It t the MPPs fault of course that they are now Nicaragua ex perls But since they are now quotable on the subject It raises a question Arc Ihe six of them apologists for Marxist dictatorship or perceptive admirers of a new society The answer actually isn as pic as It might appear It Is true New Democrat d Warner who thought had more sense Is claiming he knows Nicaragua inside out as a result of his fleeting visit He has written President Itcagan to that feci But even the other five s Democrats Richard Johnston Karl Morln Strom and David plus Liberals Christine Hart and Joan Smith returned with generally nice things to say about Nicaragua ruling Sandinistas Yet none of the MPPs suggested Nicaragua la a democracy in the Canadian sense of the word While they accept its claim for political pluralism presumably meaning political choice they acknowledge It is flawed But then they make dual ex that the democracy Is both young and hobbled by the war against the S supported rebels known as Contra Most Important all agreed it was in transition moving In the right dure Ion Yet and this is where ItiMrpreta gels tricky Using the same Im presslons they could have formed an alternative view las I do and I was there loo That view would have noted the boundaries of Nicaraguan political plularism ore very narrow that the transition Increasingly looks tike It towards North American style democracy but away from it and that the war Is an excuse for San fact Sandin tyranny caused the war in the first R The MPPs chose tin one favorable lo the Sandinistas But then during their trip they rarely got to hear any message that I contradict the official view Government officials of one sort or another filled most of the agenda and of the three Marxist parties they were to meet one t show up and the second proved to be only a proSand mis la dissident faction within that parly The third was Mnunclo branch of the Social Christians The larger part of that party boycotted the 1964 Nicaraguan Assembly dec lions as being unfair We met none of the abstainers Strom asked Diaz whether those elections were free and democratic although no one asked him about the Sandinista suppres of the Social Christ an oriented labor group I Diaz said he declined to use words like just honest to describe them but added that they were Democracy Is still young In Nicaragua and imperfection is in be expected While there might have been fraud the results probably reflected the true situation In the country that year he added About half the electorate voted for the Sandinistas onequarter for opposition while the remaining one- quarter either dldn vote or official abstained how many did which Is unclear Then Diaz made the point that keeps him trying It is that the Sandinistas say they believe In the principle of political pluralism And since there is now a constitution that guarantees pluralism as of January this year we should take and demand It be applied he said the constitution for all its defects such as Its consecration of San dinista control of the army con be used as a means political struggle Cancer Society Research group Dear Sir Recently local businesses and organizations hive received re quests support from the Cancer Research Society As a result of many phone calls 10 our offices we ire writing you to clear up any con fusion or misunderstanding that The Cancer Society is not affiliated with or connected in r Society which is j Quebec based Prior I 1 Ml incc r Research lie efforts were confined the I of Quebec Bui sum 1 me thu 1 solcittl IJucbee main eonccnt research m an da the tine with their provided v the Cana dan A far as we been able the It has never received any fun ding from the Cancer Research The Society in lJ3a is the national org which provides assislince to cancer patients in mmber of including drugs dress ins portal ion to centres It is also involved in extensive public education pro gram No such arc provided y the Society We of Canadian Cancer Socie ty wish to place this information before you to clear up any confusion between the two organizations Yours sincerely Barbara Johnson Time for life Dear Sir Easier is a time or new life and new beginnings But for the million destitute blind of Third World there ore few new beginnings Poverty has doomed them to darkness and despair There is an all Canadian Hon Operation Eyesight Universal which brings eye treatment and educational programs to the destitute blind of Asia Africa Bangladesh ana many other tries where there Is a need Operation Eyesight Universal started about years ago and I have been an admirer of them for many years I marvel by managing donations so well that so cents out every dollar of Income is used in cur the remedial blind A lax deductible donation of covers the cost of surgery food hospital stay post operative care and glasses It a real miracle Miracles can happen and arc hap We in Canada can help lo make these blind eyes sec again Donations may be sent to Operation Universal Box 123 Stn M Calgary Alberta They issue receipts for Income tax What better way to celebrate Easter than to give so life a new Sincerely Lois Alger Ha St S W Calgary Alberta T3T3Y5