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IPage THE HERALD OUTLOOK Saturday February 1989 the HERALD Outlook OUTLOOK is published each Saturday by the HALTON HILLS HERALD Home Newspaper of Hills A Division of Canadian Newspapers Company Limited at 45 Guelph Street Georgetown Ontario L7G Second Class Mail 8772201 Registered Number PUBLISHER David A Beattie EDITOR Mike Turner AD MANAGER Dan Taylor Donna Kell STAFF WRITERS Brian MacLeod SPORTS WRITER Paul Svoboda ACCOUNTING JuneGlendenning Tammy Leitch CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING Joan Mannall A pointed SUggeStiOn SNAFU by Bruce Beattie About the last thing Prime Minister Brian needs is more advice on what his priorities should be when the new Parlia ment meets If he follows all the Ottawa Stewart MacLeod Thornton News suggestions already offered the Commons will be sitting nonstop into the next century Still that does not prevent us from trying to stuff another ballot into the overflowing suggestion box Its this as soon as Parlia ment meets the government should do something drastic about the Canadian Aviation Safety Board Scrapping it comes Immediately to mind Completely overhauling it comes more slowly to mind There has never been a time when it was so important that we have a confidenceinspiring avia tion investigative agency Never has there been such a preoccupa tion with flying safety never has there been so much open concern about airtraffic control never have we heard so much about near misses and overcrowded airports and skies And our Canadian Aviation Safe ty Board the agency that should be looking into all these problems not to mention all accidents gives the impression of being in a shambles More than a year has passed since a private consulting group studied the CASB and told then transport minister John that divisions are so entrenched that if allowed to continue the boards effectiveness could be seriously impaired It has been allowed to continue The minister commissioned a se cond study of the agency and while it has never been made public its title tells all Divided Divisive Disruptive TWO EXAMPLES There are two distinct groups within the ninemember board Five members including chair man Kenneth Thorneycroft are said to feel that the 83 accredited investigators should be allowed to reach conclusions and its up to the board to act on these conclusions The other four board members apparently feel they should in ef fect investigate the findings of the investigators may be a bit of an over simplification says a board source but thats the nub of the problem Some of the board members all politically appointed have avia tion backgrounds such as aeronautical engineering or flying- and others do not The most publicized division the board concerned the worst air craft disaster in Canadian history the crash of an American airliner at Gander in 1965 with the loss of 2S6 lives The final result of the investiga tion was a majority report signed by five board members which pointed to ice on the wings as the probable cause But the minority report from the four other members pointed at a possible in ternal explosion More recently the board split again over problems at Torontos Pearson International Airport Now with increasing public demands for an inquiry into the state of airtraffic control in Canada the government is reluc tant to let the CASB tackle the job Whats not wanted are more ma jority and minority reports After assuming responsibility last year Transport Minister Benoit Bouchard wrote to all board members asking that they show loyalty to Mr But from all reports the letter did little NOT ACHIEVED Ironically when the safety board was created back in the whole idea was to put an end to perceived conflicts Prior to this all aircraft accidents were investigated by the Department of Transport But since the departments own facilities were often a major part of the investigation it was fre quently alleged that investigators were in conflict with their own employers The board was created to eliminate these perceptions Now its back to square one The government does hsvej legislation to create a new Transport Accident Investigation Board whose jurisdiction would go beyond aviation It would in vestigate all types of acddents under federal jurisdiction In cluding aviation What the legislation would do Is provide dear guidelines for avia tion investigations settling the disputed areas of responsibility and ensuring the board chairman would have dear authority over all activities The legislation was actually in troduced before Parliament was dissolved for the Nov 21 election but it died with dissolution It should be one of the first Mite to be reintroduced This is no time to be without an aviation safety agency that has the confidence of government and credibility with the public Obviously the remedy is beyond mere tampering Its a job for Parliament and no time should be lost when the new session begins Sir Galahad had to slay the flrebreathlng dragon His smoke was causing acid rain Mandatory retirement The dream of many a working man or woman is to one day tell the boss goodbye to leave the grind behind and retire to sunny Arizona the sooner the better Your Business Diane Thornton News Strvlce As the pension benefits roll in the worker bee will be free at last Free to write that novel that has been taking shape in his mind for the past two decades Free to travel to read to study Free to set up that little business hes been dreaming of for so long The fact is most people retire as soon as they can Why then are a growing number of thoughtful peo ple opposed to mandatory retire ment at age 65 Arguments in favor of forced retirement are persuasive We all know the guy who has been coasting into retirement for the past decade He hates his job he works as little as possible but hes hanging in for the pension Usual ly he has more than earned it in his younger days when the pay was low and people worked long and hard Knowing the guy will have to go when he hits calms his bosss nerves the boss wont feel he has to fire Mm and the employees dignity will have been spared SLIDING SCALE Higher up the employment scale the situation is a Utile different Many executives are hitting their stride at age not all of them are willing to step aside gracefully One might well wonder whether they should have to Among university professors forced retirement insures an in flow of fresh ideas keeping the already musty halls of Academe from becoming staler yet But the greatest teachers never really stop teaching Forced retirement if it is sanc tioned by the government cuts across all these It does not discriminate between the great teacher and the tired old widget- maker The strongest argument against mandatory retirement is that without it employers would have to offer appealing inducements to people to quit working There would be big and extended benefit plans Arguments in favor of forced retirement are legion it opens up jobs for younger workers cuts the employers costs and so on It also forces lowpaid workers par ticularly women into a retirement life of near poverty and low pen sion benefits HELP YOURSELF The poor need the options they can get But for those who can afford a Tittle freedom retirement should not catch one by surprise It Is the opportunity of a lifetime plain and simple If you plan well in advance retirement at whatever age can serve as a springboard to a new career job or hobby Over the years money can be tucked away skills learned Many successful writers began their career in their 60s Many people earn graduate degrees in their middle years Yes age and over is now con sidered middle years People in their forties which used to be con sidered the middleaged years are considered to be young now that the postwar babyboom genera tion is turning With our blue- jeans running shoes and rock music we have changed what it means to be 40 In a few more years with luck and good planning we will change what it means to be retired No more will a man or woman suffer a loss of status when he or she retires A loss of income perhaps but a loss of respect no Few baby- boomers I suspect will be pun ching the dock much past age ADVERTISING SALES Jeannine Vaiois Craig Teeter Sharon Hoi lings worth PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT Dave Hastings Supt Annie Olsen Susanne Wilson CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT Marie Shad bolt PRESSROOM FOREMAN Brian PRESS ASSISTANT Lee BIttner Color us rustic Staff Comment After reading a 14page com munity research profile of that was issued by Halton Region recently a wouldbe business owner might conclude that Oakville would be the best place to set up shop The pamphlet is brimming with interesting and not so interesting facts and relevant and not so rele vant figures In the last 25 years most of growth occurred in Burl ington and Oakville the document says Both municipalities are noted for their affluence due to the fine quality of their homes and the high percentage of wealthy families that live there In addition and Burl ington rank third and fifth on the basis of average household in come They are per cent and per cent respectively higher than the average household income in Canada Here in Hills we only make 15 per cent more than theaverage Canadian household And Haltons industrial develop ment seems to be switching from the dominant auto industry to other manufacturing businesses and the service sector the pam phlet says Of the more than industrial concerns one assumes they mean businesses twothirds are located in Haltons two southern municipalities However all that money they make down there seems to be spent on mortgages Seventyfive per cent of the houses in Halton most new growth has been concentrated in the south has occurred in the last 25 years And the average price of a house in Oakville is 50 per cent higher than the Canadian mean per cent higher in Burl ington 21 per cent higher in Milton and only per cent higher in Hills Retail sales in are about 14 per cent higher than the rest of Canada the pamphlet says It then goes on to list a myriad of shopping and service facilities in- the south All it says about the north is that growth is creating a demand for hotel and dining facilities and that we cater to several small sized In the culture and recreation department we here in the north are also junior cousins Once again the pamphlet lists a host of parks and facilities located in the south Here in Halton Hills the countryside is rustic and is characterized by scenic country trails including the wellknown Niagara Escarpment and Bruce Trail One would think they might have at least listed Actons scenic Fairy Lake and even Cedarvale Park in Georgetown But the pamphlet Inadvertently tries to make up for our backward ways here in the north It gave us a brand new recycling facility in Hills Funny I thought the South Service Road was in Ah but never mind we still have the rustic countryside