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Page THE HERALD OUTLOOK Jly 1 1W9 the HERALD Outlook Soviets sold us more than we sold them OUTLOOK published each Saturday by the HA I TON 1II1JS HERALD Home Newspaper of Halton Hills A Division of Canadian Newspapers Company Limited at Gurlph Street Georgetown Ontario Second Class Mall Registered Number 0M3 8772201 8778822 STAFF WRITERS Ken Donna Kelt PUBLISHER Your Business Diane Thomson Sarvkt In 1987 the Soviet Union sold us million worth of goods we sold it million worth The glaring trade imbalance gave Chuck Loewen a good Idea The Soviet Union needs foreign currency to buy our goods Thejm- way they can earn it is by expor ting Enter the Winchester Group a by Mr and his partner Bruce Emonson The companys purpose is to im port goods from the- Soviet Union for sale in Canada- Mr is chairman of Ondaatje McCutcheon a Toronto stockbroker Mr Emon son is one of the founders of the CTV Network On the board of the Winchester Group are some other well known people Barney Dan- son the affable former federal cabinet minister Chan of Etac Sales which im ports goods from China and Andy Sarlos a Toronto investment counsellor Among the goods the company imports are heavy industrial equipment escalators pianos telescopes binoculars clothing crystal and porcelain Winchester also is among the founding members of the CanadaUSSR Business Council a new group set up to promote trade between the two countries OLD HANDS Winchester has been in business only two years Already Mr and his associates have become experts at doing business in the Soviet Union You see they started before t openness and perestroika restructuring really took hold before Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev threw the doors open to Western business in January They learned the hard way Finding buyers for Soviet goods is not the problem Mr Loewen said in an interview in his posh downtown Toronto office Getting the factory operators to sell is the tough part You say We can sell this if you price it right They say Wait a minute This is good stuff We can use it ourselves there are people lined up to buy it And thats that As well production schedules are rigid Wouldbe buyers have to place their orders at the right time for the factory or not at all But the real problem is delivery Prompt delivery is not an idea the Soviets are familiar with As a result Winchester had the unhap py experience of finally getting a shipment of Sovietmade pianos long after a fall trade show design ed to spur Christmas sales BETTER NOW Perestroika is expected to put a gradual end to the problems because Soviet and foreign businesses will be allowed to deal directly with each other Mr Loewen says The opportunities for a company like the Winchester Group are tremendous The company has spun off its original subsidiaries into separate operating divisions for each pro duct line Once the parent com pany has spotted something it wants to import it looks around for an expert in the field to run the sub sidiary Berrys World ighl of you as a fun campy kind of guy until I saw your new movie What v VsIav SPORTS WRITER David A Beattie Svoboda EDITOR Brian MacLeod AD MANAGER Dan Taylor June Joan IASSIKIK1AIVKITISIN Tummy Sail SNAFU by Brace Beattie He must have been eating just before I got him Candas research effort fails miserably Theres a wealth of words to describe Canadas research and development effort Deplorable disgraceful dismal and abysmal are some that spring to mind Unfortunately while theres much ado about our inertia on the and front much of it consists of fingerpointing The differences were apparent when government industry and academic experts met recently in Halifax for a session of the Na tional Forum of Science and Technology advisory Councils What occurred was a free wheeling discussion about the state of Canadian technology But much of that talk focused on the same tired refrain Industry demanding more tax breaks to do research with government responding that its up to business to take the lead Its frustrating that while this impasse continues the country falls further behind in the and competition with other industrial nations What are the facts Of eight ma jor industrial powers Canada funds the least research We spend 136 per cent of our gross domestic product on it Were not even close to our nearest rival The other seven all spend at least two per cent Moreover the share of and funding paid by Canadian industry is barely more than half the total at 508 per cent Compare that to the United States Germany and Japan or even socialist Sweden where Industry pays about 70 per cent POOR PERFORMANCE We also rank lowest in interna tional patents per persons scientists and engineers in the labor force and the number of technology intensive industries with a positive trade balance Canada is secondlowest in and academic research and in domestic patents per 100000 population We place in the middle of the pack In governmentperformed R and D and advanced degrees awarded per 100000 We lead in none of the indicators Only about three per cent of Canadian manufacturers do any and D Yet homegrown research- intensive manufacturers do substantially more than foreign- controlled companies an Ontario study shows This is especially significant because per cent of our manufacturers have foreign head offices These facts provoked Ontario Premier David Peterson to call for screening of foreign takeovers of successful Canadian hightech lirms Several have fallen into foreign hands recently including Inc the worlds third- largest laser firm Mitel Corp and Leigh Instruments Ltd All are located in Kanata Ont Some business leaders have criticized Peterson for reviving the idea of an effective screening agency and theyve pumped life into the old argument that Cana dians dont have the money to in vest in such ventures Interesting ly Investment Canada just releas ed figures showing that Canadian firms invested billion in foreign firms last year while only billion of foreign cash came this way The money must be there DEBT PROBLEMS Prime Minister Brian Mulroneys Halifax contribution was to say that the deficit does not allow the government to invest in science and technology He was backed up by junior science minister William Winegard who blamed the private sector for not doing its job and who added government spending- is not the way to attack the problem This is a long way from Mulroneys promise to double R and spending But more than that it Is shortsighted because money spent on science and technology is an investment in the future ADVERTISING SALES Valois Craig Teeter Roberts PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT Dave Hastings Annie Myles Gllson Wilson CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT Marie Shadbolt PRESSROOM FOREMAN Brian Aikman PRESS ASSISTANT Todd Aikman Egos up their sleeves Queens Park Derek Nelson Thomson Nwrt Smict The wild card hidden up every pol sleeve is ego It Is easy enough to carefully weigh all the factors involved in a decision in the most thoughtful and rational manner to reach an ob vious conclusion And then do the opposite It is the political equivalent of drawing to an inside straight in poker It is a wild gamble driven by the ego saying lean do it Premier David Peterson knows all the arguments against him run ning for leader of the federal Liberal Party He is from Ontario and a provin cial premier to boot who has already made enemies in western Canada for his Torontocentred thinking His French is described by those who know the language as only passable and on the usual tradi tional Liberal leadership rotation basis it is a francophones turn He is one of the craftsmen who created that widely detested docu ment the Meech Lake accord He probably cant beat Jean Chretien anyway But still there is ego In the months between now and the federal Liberal leadership vote in Calgary next June we are going to see Petersons ego stroked in incredible ways Its already happening Quebec Premier Robert touts him the best can didate for the job The premiers of Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island have only nice things to say about him Flattering stories appear in the media about Petersons voter ap peal and his success at turning around a bankrupt and going nowhere provincial Liberal party It is all very heady Peterson as Grit savior And now the premier has ap parently taken the first step Where before he adamantly rul ed out running federally he now hedges the bet slightly After one recent hourlong inter view the reporter noted that not once did he say Look Im not go ing to run NOT LIKELY Its not likely A lot of people have come to me and I have told them dont hold up your plans waiting for me I am very happy where I am she quoted him as saying Ah yes but would he be even happier as prime minister It is intriguing that Petersons recent speech in Halifax dealt almost exclusively with the federal scene with the need to create a national science and technology strategy for Canada It is equally interesting that Peterson seems to think himself better able to in the reporters word articulate the strong na tional leadership the vision of what Canada means than Brian Mulroney And does it go without Baying Jean Chretien What a boost for Petersons ego to be told and perhaps to believe that only he has the talent to keep the country together