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Page THE HERALD OUTLOOK Satantay February II IMS the HERALD Outlook Team Quebec to take on Team Canada OUTLOOK is published each Saturday by the HALTON HILLS HERALD Home Newspaper of Halton Hills A Division Canadian Newspapers Company Limited at Guelph Street Georgetown Ontario L7G Second Class Mall Registered Number 8772201 STAFF WRITERS Brian MacLeod Donna Kelt ESSES ACCOUNTING June Glendenning Tammy Leitch CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING Joan Ottawa MacLeod TMntstn News Ssrnce Back in 1906 Prime Minister Brien Mulroney proudly ushered in a new era in federalprovincial relations when be allowed Quebec and New Brunswick to participate in a francophone summit in Paris the inflexibility of the Pierre Trudeau years had ended Now there would be this marvellous new spirit of cooperation between Ottawa and the provinces a new understanding of certain provin cial aspirations Not even when Quebec Premier Robert Bourassa embarrassed the prime minister with a proposal for food aid to Africa were there any complaints So where has this led us Well believe it or not for the last month or so Ottawa and Quebec City have been feuding like mad over whether Quebec should be allowed to send its own team to the first francophone games this July Imagine that spectacle Team Quebec competing against Team Canada In another country The mind boggles Now it may not happen But the mere fact that Ottawa is even negotiating with the Quebec government over this ludicrous idea is enough to shiver your timbers We want our own team in each of the sports says Quebec Minister of Leisure Yvon I guess he cant be faulted for saying this A province can aspire to anything But Ottawa certainly can be faulted for even entertain ing discussions The only appropriate federal response would be Youve got to be kidding STILL TALKING The discussions are continu ing a federal spokesman said a few days ago And be didnt even toe ad- Berrys World WORRY J There is even a frightening rumor making the rounds that a compromise is in the offing that Quebec athletes can compete as in dividuals with something like QuebecCanada written on their jerseys but teams must compete under Canadas name Fortyfour countries are ex pected to enter thuv rough copy of the Commonwealth being held in Morocco There should be absolutely no compromise on this And if the Mulroney government is misguid ed enough to allow any athletes to represent Quebec the games organizers should have the good sense to kick us out Next year thanks to the Cana dian example we might have separate Flemish and French teams from Belgium or French and German teams from par ticular regions of Switzerland And by the time the next Com monwealth Games are held perhaps some athletes will want to wear jerseys Why the federal minister for sport Jean Charest would allow bis officials to waste a month of work on this Quebec request is one of the great mysteries of our time I mean national reconciliation is fine and the govern ment has made great efforts in this field but there comes a time when enough is enough TRUDEAU FIRM I wonder how long these discus sions would have continued had the Quebec request been made to a government The answer I think would be closer to seconds than weeks Well perhaps if they caught Mr in a good mood the laughter would last for a minute or two But there is no doubt what his answer would be Perhaps as his critics often said Mr was too when it came to Quebecs international aspira tions But be was at least consis tent consistent In saying that if the province was allowed to get just one toe onto the international stage It would never again be satisfied with anything less than a starring role Although it was hailed as a great and constructive at the time I think Mr was wrong to let Quebec and New Brunswick be active participants in that francophone summit and the subsequent one in Quebec City The federal government has ministers from those provinces who are quite capable of saying everything that needs to be said And ttus childish about eating the posi tioning of flags and other petty pieces of protocol wouldnt even be talented at a boy scout jamboree Just imagine the spectacle of QuebecCanadian and other Cana dian athletes on the winners podium as bewildered Moroccans se eh for a suitable anthem for the occasion Come to think of It lets not even imagine it Why suf fer iieedVsslv EDITOR Mike Turner AD MANAGER Dan Taylor SNAFU by Bruce ADVERTISING SALES Jeannine Valois Craig Teeter Sharon worth PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT Dave Hastings Annie Myles Gllson Wilson CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT Marie Shadbolt PRESSROOM FOREMAN Brian PRESS ASSISTANT Whos to go The only luck Ive had all night was when I got 15 extra change from this Canada Savings Bonds arent so appealing Your Business Diane Maley Thornton Nmrt Swvice People who bought Canada Sav ings Bonds paying in terest last fall are beginning to have second thoughts If CSBs were only mildly attractive last November they are even less so now Beginning Feb people have been able to cash in their without Joeing interest To collect full interest CSBs must be held for at least three months In the meantime interest rates have been climbing higher on financial markets Oneyear in vestments are offering 1075 to it percent Sophisticated investors who have hundreds of thousands of dollars in CSBs have begun swit ching to government treasury bills which they buy from banks and investment dealers Treasury bills are auctioned every Thursday by the Bank of Canada to raise money for the federal From the governments point of view the switch matters little the money is simply flowing from one government pocket to another What to not so pleasing to it is when people cash in their CSBs and hand the money over to banks and trust companies to buy term deposits or guaranteed investment HARDTOFIND The problem with Tbills for the small investor is that they may be bard to find Stockbrokers sometimes sell them to retail clients in amounts ranging from upward but the yield is less than what dealers pay big in vestors Banks offer in amounts ranging upward from at some at others If you have that much money sitting in CSBs you may want to call your banker and ask about Tbills Both CSBs and are direct obliga tions of the federal government so your money will be safe Bank and trust company deposits by comparison are guaranteed up to by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp after that youre on your own The only way to get around the 60000 limit to keep your money in dif ferent financial institutions If you have a smaller amount of money in CSBs and are looking for a higher return you can call a stockbroker to see if she can sell you in small denominations For an even better return you can lock your money up in term deposits or GICs at your bank credit union or trust company Because CSB rates are set for one year a comparable invest- would be a oneyear deposit currently yielding to per cent If you believe interest rates are near their peak and you dont need cash you may think about buying a fiveyear GIC OTHER Those who feel more com fortable with CSBs may be booing that the government will step in and raise the coupon midyear as it has done in the past Dont hold your breath Market watchers say the government prefers to raise money by selling Tbills CSBs have become an administrative headache There may still be good reasons to hang on to your CSBs Unlike other Investments they can be redeemed at any tune for cash As such they are a good alternative to a savings account It is always a good idea to have a few thousand dollars in cash or its equivalent on hand But with interest rates higher than they were last fall anything beyond a few thousand dollars would be better used elsewhere Why settle for per cent when you can earn per cent The big unknown of course is whether rateswill climb even higher Staff Comment Brian MacLeod Councillors from all over Halton are lining up to go to the fourday Federation of Canadian Municipalities conference in Van couver in June but the flurry of re quests to go at taxpayers expense is creating a bit of a problem Both here in town and at Halton Region awkward discussions last week couldnt really settle who will go and who will pay Halton or the local municipality On Monday Norm Elliott raised what he called an un popular question of how much the conference will cost It seems two councillors Johnston and Rick Bonnette put in to go to the conference a while ago On Mon day Mayor Miller and veteran Councillor Marilyn Ser- jeantson asked for permission to go to the conference at the towns expense if necessary That last part means if the pair couldnt get their expenses put through Halton Region a popular move among councUlors because the Region has a much bigger budget to play with then they would go representing the town of Hills and the town picks up the tab A quick check by treasurer Ray King Monday showed that Halton HLUs budget for conferences last year was set at But nothing is carved in on how many councillors may go to conferences and bow much money may be spent over the year said Mr King But there are several other con ferences coming up which the four new councillors may want to at tend said Coun Elliott What ban- pens if the town blows its entire budget on the conference Silence When councillors attend such a conference the town or the Region pays the airfare registra tion the hotel bill and an expense account of a day Thats certainly not ex travagant And every councillor agreed that the FCM conference is a good one The idea is to simply keep in focus that theres a budget limita tion said Coun Elliott But if the town books the con ference now it can save about 900 said Serjeantson So the Mayor and Coun were given permission to go as representatives of the town if necessary At Halton on Wednesday Chair man Pete had his name down to go gets two voting members at the conference as does Halton Hills That left one blank space on the agenda Miltons Brad Clements and Burlingtons Walter quickly entered their names into the blank apace Oops now what do we do seemed to be the prevailing question And to complicate things Serjeant- son had said before the other two mat she wanted to go as a representative of the Region Another long awkward discussion followed Municipalities can send obser who dont actually vote but do gain from the ex perience of the conference The whole thing was turned over to the Regions budget committee to settle As one councillor put it Its the distance involved If the conference was in Hamilton wed be encouraging them all to go Whispered a colleague No one In would want logo