The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Page THE HERALD OUTLOOK Saturday February 25 1989 the HERALD Outlook Chretien sits back and enjoys a moment OUTLOOK Is published each Saturday by the HALTON HILLS HERALD Home Newspaper of Halton Hills A Division of Canadian Newspapers Company Limited at Guelph Street Georgetown Ontario 3Z6 Second Class Mail Registered Number 8778822 PUBLISHER Ottawa Stewart MacLeod Thomson News Sendee It must have been a marvellous morning for Jean Chretien as he read the newspapers over breakfast Mind you one day does not a Liberal leader make and nobody knows this better than the above- mentioned Mr Chretien Still when a day like this comes along its just as well to sit back and en joy it If nothing else it will help make up for the inevitable bad ones There on the front page were the results of the latest Gallup Poll on Liberal leadership a position still much coveted by Mr Chre tien who ran second to John Turner in 1964 Not only do a grow ing number of Canadians support the Liberal Party but there seems to be an overwhelming opinion that Mr Turner should step down as leader And guess who is the favorite to succeed him Yes according to the Gallup organization Mr Chre tien the little Shawinigan lawyer is far and away the most popular choice The surveyors presented Cana dians with a field of seven hypothetical candiates some of whom will be more than hypothetical when the time comes and per cent of respondents zeroed in on Mr Chretien as the favorite The second most popular was Ontario Premier David Peterson But he wasnt a dose second With only support his name didnt even interrupt Mr Chre tiens breakfast Anyway Mr Peterson has never proclaimed any Interest in the Job FAR BACK But the person widely believed to pose the greatest challenge to Mr Chretien is Paul Martin Jr and it was his name that made Mr Chre tiens breakfast so enjoyable Not only did Mr Martin get leadership support from only eight per cent of Dr Gallups respondents but there were several other stories- about him that may not do much for his cam Berrys World Mr Chretien is a fairly avid reader of newspapers and I suspect this was one of those days Here was a prominent story about Mr Martin who claims to be a strong Canadian nationalist allowing his Canada Steamship Lines to reflag some ships so lower salaries can be paid to foreign crewmen By registering the ships in another country the company does not have to worry about Canadian wage scales or taxes Its a common practice but ob viously its not the best type of campaign material for a self- proclaimed Canadian nationalist in search of a party leadership Bet Mr Chretien took note of that And over a fourth cup of coffee he probably paid very close atten tion to Mr Martins speech in Toronto which although full of spirational phrases was somewhat short on specifics Again this is common with politicians but those in search of a leaders mantle must be more careful than others For instance it was not prudent of Mr Martin to use phrases that have been identified with Prime Minister Brian Mulroney Its much better to come up with new SAME TERMS How Canada emerges from the next decade depends on how well we manage change said the rookie MP from Montreal Well if there is one expression thats synonymous with Mr Mulroney its managing change It was the main theme of his last election campaign Mr Martins generous use of the word vision also smacked somewhat of the prime minister Generally speaking he did not get rave media reviews for a speech that suggested help for every disadvantaged segment of society without once saying specifically how it should be done But he said the Liberal party should be providing Canadians with the vision and the clear direc tion they require as the world opens to a new century These are exactly the kind of generalities Mr Chretien likes to chew up However many moons might pass before he gets the opportuni ty Mr Turner is not saying much about any retirement plans although its more than likely he has fought his last election as leader This latest Gallup poll in dicating that 63 per cent of Cana dians think Mr Turner should step down wont offer him any en couragement to stay Incidentally among other hypothetical candidates in the poll MPs Sheila Copps and Lloyd Ax- worthy each were picked by five per cent of respondents Prince Edward Island Premier Joe Ghlz and Newfoundland MP Brian Tobln each received one per cent By the time Liberals choose a new leader Lord knows who will be in the running or how many bad breakfasts will be had by Mr Chre tien Meanwhile hes entitled to enjoy David A Beattie EDITOR Mike Turner AD MANAGER Dan Taylor STAFF WRITERS Brian MacLeod Donna Kelt SPORTS WRITER Paul ACCOUNTING June Glendennlng Tammy Leltch CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING Joan SNAFU by Bruce Beattie The good news is somebody mailed back our lost credit cards The bad news is from Tahiti Bankers show restraint Your Business Diane Thornton New Service amiaaaMMMamHiaaam A while back we explored the popular notion that bankers are fast to raise interest rates but slow to lower them As it turned out the evidence does not support this no tion Sometimes bankers show remarkable restraint in raising rates That has certainly been the case the past few weeks Interest rates on the wholesale money market where bankers go when they need to borrow money have been a nb- relentlessly Yet bankers held thejr benchmark prime business lending rate steady at 12 per cent By Thursday though the pressure on financial markets had become too great to resist Even before the bellwether central bank rate was set bankers raised the prime by half a percentage point to 1275 per cent the highest it has been since early in 1986 The Bank of Canada rate came in at per cent a threeyear high reflecting strong growth and rising Inflation in major markets around the world The bank rate is set a quarter of a percentage point above the yield on threemonth government of Canada treasury bills auctioned each Thursday by the Bank of Canada to raise for the federal government It is the rate at which the central bank makes infrequent loans to chartered banks that may be strapped for cash BANKERS RESTRAINED Historically bankers have kept the difference between the bank rate and the prime at three- quarters of a percentage point at the very least more if they can get iway with it Thursdays bank rate letting it was raised surprising only 07 per cent would have fur ther squeezed their once com- fortablecushUn So they anticipated the bank rate rise by pushing up the prime Thursday morning Rates for con sumer credit card and mortgage loans can be expected to rise pro portionally Fortunately for many Canadians there are two sides to the interest rate coin The increase is coming at a good time for people planning to roll over term deposits and guaranteed investment certificates in their registered retirement savings plans It is also good news for peo ple planning to invest in a plan before the March 1 deadline DOLLAR PROBLEM The last time the prime lending rate was this high was in February 1966 when the Canadian dollar was taking a beating on in ternational currency markets The differences between then and now are striking In the prune averaged 13 per cent in February while the US prime languished at a comfortable per cent Canadian interest rates were being driven by the weak dollar This time the CanadianUS dollar exchange rate is the highest it has been since December 1981 The dollar is hovering around 85 cents in US funds The gap between Canadian and US rates is smaller than it was in 1986 with the American prime at per cent For the next while our interes rates will be made in America Because our financial markets are so integrated our central bank will have no choice but to respond to market pressures Not all economists agree what the next move in rates will be most believe they will rise further although not by much Others believe we are at or near the peak after which rates will fall again as the economy slows John Grant chief economist at investment dealer Wood Gundy Ltd in Toronto predicts the prime will fall back to 12 per cent by year end It will continue to fall throughout ending the year at 9 25 per cent Mr Grant believes If hes right people who have to borrow money at these rates should consider relatively short terms while those who have money to invest might want to lock in for five years or so ADVERTISING SALES Valols Craig Teeter Sharon Holllngsworth PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT Dave Hastings Supt Annie Gllson Susanne Wilson CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT Marie PRESSROOM FOREMAN Brian PRESS ASSISTANT Lee Blttner No pity shed here Staff Comment Brian MacLeod If you didnt catch this weeks Regional council meeting on Helton cable television on Friday flip the tube on during supper March at pm to catch the repeat performance Theres a 10- minute scathing attack on developers crying by Burlington Mayor Bird thats worth charging admission to see With construction magnates Rudy of Construc tion and Mitchell Fasken of Cooper Construction sitting uncomfor tably in the gallery Mayor Bird called developers who want a break on Regional lot levies greedy cry babies Mayor Birds attack was spawn ed by requests from the two con struction firms asking the Region to release several industrial sub divisions they are In the middle of developing from the proposed per acre commercial- industrial lot levies decid ed Wednesday to implement lot levies but they hadnt yet decided what to do about those industrial subdivisions Halton put all developers on notice Oct 19 of last year that lot levies were coming and that Oct was the possible implementation date The developers called that im plementation retroactive lot levies Mr said that might force him to cancel some business contracts and that the Region was changing the rules in the middle of the game At one point Mr Reimer actually said Were more in terested in attracting business to Burlington than making a lot of money on these lots Mr claimed that he had virtually given away most of bis profits to attract business with cheap land But Mayor Bird wasnt swallow ing that He claimed Mr would pull in a healthy 7 million profit from the land Am I supposed to stand here and feel sorry for developers who make that kind of money Anybody thats making the kind of profit out of the land that I see being made I would call them greedy cry babies if they expect me to swallow it said Mayor Bird During the outburst it became apparent that Mayor Bird had done his homework Producing a real estate report he said the price of land ranks and on the list of priorities for business when choosing where to locate Proximi ty to major highways the level of union activity the industrial climate and the availability of skilled and unskilled labor were among more important factors listed by business he said Businesses that locate in dont say we came here because we got the land cheap said Mayor Bird Mayor Bird has always been known for his outspokenness But this outburst was particularly entertaining even for us regulars in the press gallery who are used to hearing political speeches of this type Oh yes the discussion on lot levies comes near the end of a hour meeting Tune out until then unless you want to catch some fruitless discussion on the state of Haltons land division committee