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THE HERALD Wednesday 12 1W Page 11 Dinner was worth it On The Hill With Garth Turner A week or two ago one of the newspapers in the area ran an editorial giving me and the local Tory association hell for putting on a dinner The paper said this was some kind of elitism and Id end up paying a big price for it Well that dinner happened last Tuesday night and about 300 peo ple showed up to hear me and more importantly the finance minister Michael Wilson I was pleased that Wilson made time to come deliver a speech give inter views to the reporters there and to meet privately with the members of my HaltonPeel taxation com mittee The point of the dinner was to raise money Politics may run on the backs of volunteers but stag ing an election campaign takes cash for printing signs advertis ing telephones and office space Now politicians can raise that money by taking donations m brown envelopes from people who want something in return and I guess thats the way things often operated in the past Or the bucks can be raised in the open under the glare of TV cameras at a fundraising event And thats exactly what went down last week Now Michael Wilson and I have worked together in Ottawa but we certainty havent agreed on everything So at the dinner I took the opportunity of saying a few things in public before him The national debt and the annual deficit are too high The feds should spend less before they con sider taxing more Middleclass Canadians are just about at the limit in terms of personal taxation And the government better make sure the coming national sales tax is fair to everybody and is ac companied by income tax cuts For his part Wilson said there are three things that he wants to accomplish To get government more out of the way of free enter prise To tackle the deficit now running at billion a year or about million an hour of new debt And to reform a tax system which is now riddled with ine quities The evening was I think a very worthwhile one Reporters wanted to know how Wilson felt about working with a guy like me who just a few years ago delivered over letters of protest to the finance minister saying his budget was a mess The response was that both of us wanted the same thing less debt for Canada and a stronger economy which would lead to lower taxes Its just that neither of us could take action as fast as we wanted I guess thats the price for work ing in a democracy In many ways Wilson was right After being in Ottawa for a few months realize how slowly things get turned around It is simply frustrating But at the same time I have seen waste and excess on Parliament Hilt And thats led me to take a sw ing at the GovernorGeneral million budget this year the Department of Public Works million for new statues Canada Post untold millions for advertis ing the Senate 4 million and no auditing allowed and the two royal enquiries now in progress over million for the and Crombie reports To be frank with you thats caus ed some people in government to question what Ive done Some peo ple in Ottawa ex to be foot soldiers silently supporting anything their party bosses decide and standing up to vote in the Commons Maybe Im wrong but I think a people voted for me for other reasons Government has to serve the people not the other way around That means my job is to question spending help formulate new initiatives challenge wasteful initiatives lobby for good laws fight for a reduced and fairer tax burden and to prod the political gods into caring for the environ ment the economy and the family That wont always make me friends But I believe Its what you want from the person you send to Ottawa to represent you If it isnt then call or write and let me know Theres been a lot in the news lately about environmentally- friendly products and about en vironmental groups getting into bed with commercial outfits like Finally if people think that by buying green products they can stop worrying about the environ ment theyre wrong What we all have to do is alter our buying and consumption patterns in order to reduce waste stop using hazar dous products and put our every action into an environmental con text GREN MEADOWS NURSERY GARDEN CENTER For All Your Gardefiing Needs 8731200 DENTURE THERAPY CLINIC TRENTON DT 18 CHURCH STREET GEORGETOWN library IS AND CULTURAL CENTRE 8772359 N ELLS DRIVING SCHOOL NEXT COURSE Aug 7 to 30 MonWedMgM for I About Counos or Private LosMon phone 8772671 50th anniversary of soil and crop association By KAY WILSON NORVALThe anniversary of the Halton Soil and Crop Im provement Association was held on July at the farm home of Harry and Judy Brander of Norval The evening took the form of a family barbecue and white the wagon tour of the farm was on the younger members en joyed sports activities During the wagon tour Harry explained how he used large round hay bales in his operation and is do ing a project comparing liquid granular and no preservatives on his bales Following the tour a pork barbecue was enjoyed by 110 peo ple under Rob Merrys watchful eye along with salads and a anniversary cake Bob was assisted on the barbecue by volunteers Bill and Bob Allison Agriculture representative Phyllis showed slides and gave a brief commentary on highlights of the past 50 years mentioning the late Agr Rep JE Ken chaired the program and called on special guest Allen Francis former Halton Rep of years ago to speak and his wife Shirley of Renfrew said they couldnt believe how Milton had expanded let alone the urban sprawl creeping into and Shirley are the fourth generation farming his familys farm at Renfrew AT Wobdley of Milton presi dent of the Halton Soil and Crop in was asked to speak He was followed by the presentation of the year certificates to past presidents secretaries and treasurers by president Ken JahmincG Bulk Food F ALL VOW HEEDS TIM HOWTOW PLAZA 8730442 tlaufer assisted by Richard Sovereign past president of On tario Soil and Crop Association Those receiving certificates 1945 and 1946 Ad Woodley Milton 1951 and Claude Pickett Georgetown 1953 and Fred Nurse Georgetown 1957 and 1958 Maurice Georgetown 1959 Brock Harris Milton 1962 Bell Georgetown 1963 James McKay Milton 1964 Hugh Beaty Milton Russell Hurren Camp bell Sam Harrop Fergus Clarence Ford Jr Milton 1969 Harold Middlebrook Milton 1970 Tom Foster Camp bell vllle Claude Campbellville Colin Mar shall Shakesphere Harold Biggar Oakville 1975 Bob Merry Milton Ed Segs worth Milton 1977 Frank Anthony 1978 Richard Sovereign Milton Norm Big- gar Oakville 1980 Don Sherwood Milton 1981 Pickering Milton Peter Walker Milton Dan Henry Hornby and 1985 David Taylor Georgetown 1986 and Ken Georgetown and 1989 Ken Wettlaufer Family gathering NORVALNeltie Shea of Nor val hosted a family gathering at her home on Sunday June 25 in honor of her son Norm and his wife Judy Shea of Acton on their 25th wedding anniversary Their two sons Philip and Fred along with relatives and friends enjoyed dinner at Fongs Restaurant in Georgetown Bridal shower surprise miscellaneous bridal shower for Cathy Nicholson was held on Tuesday evening July at the home of Mrs Pearl Guthrie of Georgetown Pearl was assisted by her daughters Guthrie and Lisa Browne and her niece Michelle Hedley Thirty relatives and friends enjoyed the social evening Cathy is the daughter of Mr and Mrs Tom Nicholson of Georgetown Her marriage to Derek Hedley will take place on Saturday July 22 m Presbyterian Church Derek is the son of Bob and Evelyn fledley and the grandson of and Eva of Norval Belated birthday NORVALBelated birthday greetings to Chester Early who celebrated his birth day at the Early family reunion on July at the Com munity Centre MM meat shop OPEN DAYS 8732151 Sun 11am 5pm Frt9Mi9am MonWetf 6pm Saturday ARPET RUG CO SALES SERVICE INSTALLATIONS CARPET VINYL TILE 128GuelphSt Georgetown Ont L7G Sussmans Famous SAVE 50 OFF On entire Spring Slimmer stock in our TWO LADIES WEAR STORES Sussmans For Her and Casually Yours Sussmans Too SAVE 10 OFF OPEN Sat 96 Fridays 99