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the HERALD MPPs play financial games Home Newspaper of Halton Hills Established A Division of Canadian Newspapers Company Limited Guelph Street Georgetown Ontario DAVID A BEATTIE Publisher and General Manager BRIAN MacLFOD Editor Phone DAN LOR Advertising Manager Thursda Decembers Get to know 1989 Every year there are always a number of fascinating stones and events that create the fabric of towns like Halton Hills This year although there was no one dominating stor that grabbed the headlines more than any other there were a series of stones and events organized by a local group which strung together generated interesting portant and relevant news crucial to the future of Halton Hills It is for those stories that we have chosen the citizens group POWER Protect Our Water and Environmental Resources the Herald s Newsmaker Of The group that started out as people organizing in a living room to fight the proposed Acton landfill site three years ago has org a thorough ambitious and focused campaign that has included bringing knowledgeable people to talk about recycling and demonstrations on the steps of Queen s Park But there were other people and events that grabbed headlines in There are many people who could qualify as our Per sonahty of the Year in 1989 Milton s irrepressible Bill Johnson is a perennial candidate for this award especial ly in his role as the environmental conscience of Halton Region POWER s John Minns seemed to be everywhere always ready for a debate and anxious to get involved Business Improvement Area Coordinator Margaret Vint a colorful personality to sa the least is always at tion to keep downtown Georgetown vibrant The former Halton Hills Chamber of Commerce general manager Doug kept us informed with his Chamber Made columns which actually took a stand on issuer For that virtue alone we suspect Mr won t be a future politician And one can t overlook our Mayor Russ Miller whose political future is a hot topic of discussion among local councillors They re all good candidates but we have chosen as oui Personality Of The Year for Halton Peel MP Garth Turner His columns appearing weekly the local media have given new meaning to the words political propagan da Never one to be seen constantly towing the party line Mr Turner has consistantly walked the edge of politics never outright offending his constituents rarely complete at odds with his own party For our Surprise of the Year our new civic centre once again takes the spotlight Although delayed by strikes the centre came in relatively on time and on budget and the actual building is pleasant but not overdone Could they have learned from s obnoxious new building From the What Ever Happened To Department we wonder about energy from waste Highly touted as a grand solution to the Regions waste disposal problems in the past years Energy From Waste was allowed to die on Haltons council table with a report that said merejy that it isnt yet acceptable by the public Humbug From the Holy Cow When Is This Going To End depart we reported endless stories of the plight of people who live near the unlit then lit toomuch walkwav between Irwin and Dawson Crescents Finally both sides saw the light and solved the problem And from the Oh Stop Whining Department we wish Regional politicians would simply make their point then get on with it when it comes to the provincial government Always an easy target the province likes to shoot itself in the foot but Regional politicians are usually in line to get a squeeze at the trigger Finally the Bluff Of The Year award goes to the Halton Board of Education for threatening early in the year to close down and drain all its school run pools including two Hills When town politicians muttered under their breath that a lawsuit could keep the pools open the issue simply pack Nice going It pay increase time at Queen s Park again And once more the eminent has taken the Premier David Peterson inflation line cent increase for members and cabinet ministers This is the standard public rela tions approich to increases here and has been since the mid 1970s under then premier Bill Davis It looks like the government is holding the line In reality it con to bump salanes in other ways This year for the first time an additional wage increase goes to those who have the right connections to be made committee vice chairmen or caucus chairmen It amounts to 300 more for each of the halfdozen the number vanes over time or so committee vicechairmen and 300 for each of the three caucus chairmen To understand the financial game that is being played here by Peterson and which was b Davis before him it is to realize there are two classes of people who sit as in the legislature Till One group usually about of the members sit cabinet They ire paid 200 a year plus anotler jOO tixfrte illi supposedly foi pi uses which v be the equivalent of an ordinary intome of more than 9a per year Peterson is perhaps higher Cabinet ton tenl with their incomes the rest of the legislative menagerie feel they art the team when it comes to in come This includes all opposition members except party whips and leaders as well as most govern ment backbenchers Adding in their latest raise make just although they also get the tax free allowance which brings the value of their income close to But this really ex much they make Back in the 1970s when the Con were struggling to hold back inflationary wage demands by civil servants the idea that politicians might get wage in creases beyond inflation t sit well with Davis On the other hand politicians from all three old line parties and in particular the NDP were cry ing poverty So what Davis did was take the tax free allowance which was supposed to go for expenses like constituent officer telephones driving around the and tat not and free it from those cial burdens The government started to pick up the tab for constituency off its mileage assistants an so n meaning the tax free became for the member At the same lime Davis ncrei ed the amount paid for ill the tra jobs do These include sitting on tees during the seven months average the legislature t in session when they can mike 71 day tax free plus 27 duly for meals There are famous stories about backbenchers who d sit on two committees simultineously so they d be paid for both Since parliamentary tradition members are ill honorable gentlemen there is no check on whether one is present after initial signing in Davis also expanded the number of jobs that received bonus money as Peterson has done again The result now by Conservative deputy house leader Norm Sterl estimate is that as many as of the Liberals of the 19 New Democrats and 11 of the 17 Tones make more than the basic salary Rut it is all slightly dishonest Without research no one knows what an is really paid an nually Better to do what Sterling and others have suggested boost the base salary in exchange for an end to all the special payments more piece work Costcutting attempts feeble Vic Parsons Ottawa Bureau homwn ttfl Canadians who witnessed the federal government feeble at tempt at cost cutting are entitled to ask a question What s going on here Treasury Board President Robert Cotret tallied up the money saving operation at billion over three years Excuse me but even with the lashing that the government is your beloved capital these days known as Fat City that a pretty piddling amount Compare the size of the cost cutting package with the billion Ottawa is spending this fiscal year and the 145 odd billion it fork out next the eqfllVuleM of cents on a purchase and bragg about the great bargain you made Next fiscal year the saving is even less The cuts are said to be part of the deal to reduce the proposed goods and services tax More slashing is expected in next year budget The Commons finance committee is promising to offer advice early in 1990 But surely If the government was serious it could have made deeper cuts to the deficit It could save a great deal more money by easing up on interest rates MA JOB FACTOR Interest charges on the national debt are the chief factor today in the ballooning of the deficit Estimates by Finance Minister Michael Wilson in last April budget have been cast to the winds because of higher than anticipated interest rates Here what the Finance Depart ment has to say in its latest Fiscal Monitor covering the first six months of the current budgetary year The increase in the year overyear deficit billion was more than accounted for by the im pict of higher rates on Economists estimate that percentage point rise in interest rates adds between billion to billion to the deficit Today Canada s short term in terest rates are about four points higher than those in the United States The gap in the past has hovered around one percen tage point Moreover while Americans now pondering a reduction in rates to help offset a possible recession John Bank Canada governor is continuing a tough line His argument is that a relaxa of rates will increase borrow ing and spending thereby increas ing prices His pie in the dream is zero inflation But Crow fixation with tion more and more economists are arguing is driving the economy toward perdition HURTS BUSINESS Not only is it pushing the deficit up far faster than Cotret s spending reductions but it hurling our ability to do business That was brought home with a when October trade figures showed for the time years Canadians bought more goods fr i foreigners than thev from us