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THE HERALD OUTLOOK Saturday January a the HERALD Outlook A special package 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 L7G Second Class Registered Number Ottawa Stewart MacLeod Thomson News Service One of Prime Minister Brian priorities in the next Parliament should be the rein- ethics package governing the behavior of MPs and senators The legislation was on the order paper when Parliament was dissolved for the Nov 21 election so it died at dissolution But events of the past few months strongly suggest it is needed What we learned through court documents was that Senator Michel Cogger a close friend of Mr received last year from a Montreal high- tech company for representations be made to aides of the prime minister The company GigaMos Corp was leaking for federal help in establishing a project in Quebec efforts of Senator Cog ger the help was not forthcoming But his intervention does raise questions about the ethics of parliamentarians being paid by private firms to make representa tions on their behalf Its one thing for outside consultants ie lob byists to get paid for making a case for any company but its quite another when the paid lob- byist is an MP or senator And while Mr Mulroneys ethics package may be far from perfect it would go some distance toward eliminating conflicts of interest There will never be unanimity on such legislation MORE DISCLOSURE What it would do among other things is require MPs and senators to reveal corporate direc torships shareholdings family financial arrangements and fees charged for private consulting The disclosure would be made to an independent ethics commission that could if the situation war ranted make the information public It would make parliamentarians think twice before taking on anything that smacks of a conflict For every MP and senator who is asked about the legislation there is usually a different opinion SNAFU by Bruce PUBLISHER David A EDITOR Mike Turner AD MANAGER Dan Taylor STAFF WRITERS Brian MacLeod Donna Kelt SPORTS WRITER Paul Svoboda ACCOUNTING June Glendenning Tammy Leitch CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING Joan While Liberal MP Don has said it is totally inap propriate for any parliamen tarian to act as a paid lobbyist Senator Ian Sinclair sees nothing wrong with a senator carrying on his normal business whether it be in medicine teaching or law Senator Cogger was acting as a lawyer for GigaMos Corp The Senate is not a fulltime oc cupation said Senator Sinclair And my God its getting a little silly if a person whos in the law business cant conduct his business He says that senators who per form outside services are not in conflict so long as they do not par ticipate in committee work or votes relating to these services Under existing rules senators are prohibited only from voting on any matter in which they have a pecuniary interest not available to the general public NOT EASY Admittedly it can be a very grey area Even the governments relative ly mild ethics package is seen by some parliamentarians to be going too far After it was introduced Tory MP Vincent Delia remarked that its got to the point where well have to make a statement every time we go to the toilet so that we arent taken for homosexuals Senator Cogger is adamant that he did nothing improper and that he no trouble looking at himself in the mirror Still the senator is not a lawyer like any other Nor if he were lob bying would he be a lobbyist like any other Apart from being co- chairman of the Tory election cam paign he has extremely close con nections to the prime ministers of fice and to most other offices on Parliament Hill Regardless V what anyone says about the right of senators to con duct their own business there is difference between say law and dentistry Or welfare work and lob bying There is also something in herently wrong it seems to me with a senator also being paid for making representa tions on behalf of private interests Senator Cogger now must be privately rejoicing that Corp didnt get the federal assistance he sought Pram a pure ly political standpoint that failure might have been his greatest sue- Berrys World by Were hot going to ask but if you want to send some youknowwhat to youknowwho its OK with us Canadians see red Your Business ml Diane Matey Thomson Nam Scrvict I guess Ill wait till he decides whether or not tb Jump When it comes to social security payments nothing is sacred economists and business leaders are saying more loudly have dared for some time Soon politicians too will join in the refrain Government spending must be cut to wipe out the burgeoning budget deficit business leaders argue Only then can we begin chip away at the federal govern ments billion in accumulatec debt The mere suggestion of tamper ing with pensions unemployment insurance or familyallowance payments tends to make Cana dians see red A few years back when Finance Minister Michael Wilson tried to rein in pension payments be was brought to heel quickly by the Grey Power move ment Pensioners understan dably did not want to lose their in flation protection What makes business people and politicians seriously believe they can fiddle with social entitlements bow Times have changes A Gallup poll conducted last fall revealed that 78 per cent of Cana dians favor raising family- allowance payments and giving mem only to those who need them Sixtyseven per cent approve of doing the same with oldage pen sions Most Canadians it seems no longer believe that social payments should be universal for the rich and poor alike On the other hand many say they need the monthly cheques NOT MANY RICH the rich from univer sal familyallowance payments would not save much money because there are not that Many rich people in Canada Ottawa will spend roughly billion this year on familyallowance payments By comparison it will pay billion or so to pensioners and spend billion on unemploymentinsurance benefits Savings in this area could make a difference in the annual deficit currently running at about billion But there are real problems with trying to cut peoples pensions Even if the government could do it one has to wonder whether it should At what income level would people be excluded What would happen when a persons savings began to diminish Changes in government spen ding and taxing historically have hit middleincome people hardest because they form the largest population group To be wor thwhile any reduction in social payments would fall most heavily on these same people The unemploymentinsurance program is a different kettle of fish clearly there is room for im provement in this area Whether there is also room for saving is not so clear Presumably cuts in payments would have to be offset by more spending on job training TRIAL BALLOON All in all what business and government leaders argue must be done likely will not be done It rare ly has been in the past Even so one cant help but notice the new found confidence with which critics are speaking out against universal social programs Yves Guerard chairman of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce a business lobby group says if spending is not curtailed the safe ty net could crumble under its own weight We are not proposing or sug gesting that we should sabotage the existing system Mr Guerard says On the contrary if we are to preserve It the best way may be to prune it to a size that we can sup port Otherwise it will tumble under its own weight I dont agree As long as the economy keeps growing however slowly the nations financial posi tion should improve ADVERTISING SALES Jeannine Valois Craig Teeter Sharon PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT Dave Hastings Supt Annie Wilson CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT Marie PRESSROOM FOREMAN Brian Aikman PRESS ASSISTANT Todd Burning issue Staff Comment The successful application by a private firm to build an energy from waste plant in Brampton may have some interesting ramifications for projects here in A Consolidated Hearings Board gave SNC Inc permission to build an plant capable of burning tonnes of waste a day at the Bramp ton plant Originally had applied jointly with SNC for the plant but went bankrupt before the hearings were complete The decision on the Brampton EFW plant is groundbreaking because it is the first private plant to be approved under the tight restrictions of the Environmental Assessment Act Here in Hills Reclamation Systems Inc is attempting to be the first private firm to have a landfill site approved under that same process so theyll likely run up against some of the same problems that SNC did The board forced SNC to study possible alternatives to energy from waste While the board acknowledg ed that alternative sites may be dif ficult to study because doesnt have the power of expropriation they could study alternatives to energy from waste SNCs en vironmental assessment documents were declared inadequate by the board because they didnt study alternatives to energy from waste But the firm was able to make up for missing information by providing oral and written evidence at the RSI has always been hesitant to study alternatives but if theyve been watching this hearing and no doubt they have they sure have a clear path to follow now The decision may also have some impact on Halton Regions quest for energy from waste The board con cluded that the potential risk to human health from the facility is very low It also considered nuisance factors such as odors and reduction in visibility If SNC was able to convince the board that an plant is safe in the middle of a densely populated area such as Brampton which has a commitment to building an plant by 1996 shouldnt have any problem convincing a similar bearing of its safety in the early 1990s when technology will have improved further yet There have been fears expressed by members of the public in Halton that an energy from waste plant will reduce the intensity of Haltons recycling efforts After all if you can bum it cheaply and get a payback through selling energy why bother recycling Helton is at tempting to avoid that reasoning by Introducing mandatory recycling of all residential homes by January 1990 The hearings board agreed with SNCs assertion that burning waste wouldnt affect high recycling levels In fact by recycling glass newspapers tin and plastic pop bot tles the plant In Brampton will be able to burn at a higher temperature which allows for a cleaner and safer bum Until now has been waiting for the province to take the lead in energy from waste But theyre tired of waiting The SNC decision might just mean residents will be burning their gar bage sooner than they thought