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Page 14 THE HERALD Wednesday June a IMS Wild sessions erupt on Canada Post debate On The Hill Garth Turner do you think about the post office Last the president of Canada Post along with a crew of his officials came before the com mittee of the House of Commons which I chair We had two pretty wild sessions and at the end of the hearings there was a motion made to conduct a fullscale enquiry into the operations of the post office This week the committee should decide whether or not thats going to happen As I sat there watching the grill ing take place I couldnt help but think of and Terra Cot- ta and and the other rural post offices here in the riding ofHaltonPeel I think it was just a day or two after the federal election last November that Canada Post let me know the post office in was going to close A month or two later they told me about a scheme for reduced hours at four other locations including Inglewood And just over the last while there was real concern that postal ser vice in Terra Cotta would be disrupted As a lot of people know I was bothered by all those incidents and I found myself more than a few times on the phone saying loud things to the boys at Canada Post On the one hand are people like Liz Armstrong who speaks eloquently for the lobby group Rural Dignity saying Canada Post is gutting ser vice in our community On the other is the post office itself brag ging of increased hours and in creased locations and now a million profit for the crown cor poration The stories are so different that its tough to know whos really giv ing you the straight goods So being a Member of Parlia ment and how chairman of that Commons committee to which the post office reports have a better chance of finding out What Ive learned is that Canada Post to operate like a privatesector company It plans on making a lot of money bringing out new products and investing a ton of cash in new trucks and equipment The president Don Lander Is an aggressive executive who is running the place like a boot camp Ive been to the head office in Ot tawa and into the hightech com mand centre there It feels like a war room but Im not sure exactly who the enemy is I sure hope its not rural Canada Last week one of the newspapers here carried a story with the headline Political influence saves Post Office Canada Post denies Turner had a role It was about Terra Cotta The post office there is in the general store and a dispute had erupted between Canada Post and the owner Ted Rombough Ted thought he was being offered too little for the postal franchise there and the Ottawa guys were digging in their heels In the end however Ted ap parently got the terms he wanted I gather everybody compromised a bit and the mail flowed as usual I get involved Youre damn right I did Thats my job I talked to Ted and- regional postal officials I talked to the national director of rural ser vices and I talked to the president himself I dont know if any of this played a role or if saner heads just prevailed on both sides All care is that nobodys letters went undelivered To be honest with you my ex periences here our communities with the post office leaves me with a few questions I had a chance to ask some of them last week Are profits being generated through higher stamp prices and decreased service Or is it really a case of more efficiencies and smarter management I dont know yet The enquiries in Ottawa are not yet over Along With other MPs I am not yet satisfied with the answers Its my hunch postal authorities have not seen the end of the committee room And its my commitment to you that above all nobody lays a finger on the post offices in this area without a hell of a fight from me Well Just a couple of more weeks are left in the current ses sion of Parliament before an ex pected summer break On one hand it will be great to get back to the farm for a few weeks On the other it means the final days here are literally jamm ed with events Last week the House of Com mons committee which I chair held hearings into credit cards asking questions about whether con sumers pay too much for credit or get sufficient information about the cards themselves Not everjbody came away happy with what they heard including me At this point arid we have three more hearings to hold it seems like the way interest Is calculated has become so complex the average card user has no way of knowing if he or she has been fairly charged And we found that the grace period on Visa and MasterCard that time when interest is not charged Is largely a myth It only applies you pay your card balance off in full every month A partial payment doesnt save you any interest charges something most people are completely unaware of After the week theres reason to believe the committee may recom mend changes which should put- some bankers into orbit Whatever happens the bottom line will be to do all e can to protect consumers You may be aware that our hear ings got offtrack on the very day they started The Consumers Association of Canada came to appear as a witness and some MPs objected to the fact notes given to the commit tee were in English only with no French translation What happened that night was quite extraordinary For over minutes I listened to speech after speech denouncing the Consumers Association for insulting French- speaking MPs the committee and Parliament itself As chairman I tried to ride herd on an increasing ly emotional group of people Finally a motion was put not to even hear the witnesses I had to call a vote and the motion carried Canada Day parade setforBallinafad By BETTY SO JK A BaUhufad Correspondent The place to be on Saturday July 1 is Come join in the fun to celebrate Canadas Birth day The day starts with a parade at am Kids and adults are be ing asked to participate in the parade Come dressed in a costume decorate your bike drive your old vintage car put together a float or dress up your pet All are welcome and more the merrier for a successful parade There will be prizes for the best participants Please come to the east of Shottill Road at 10 am if you would like to be in the parade Judging will be at 1020 am After the parade there will be a lunch which will Include hot dogs and pop The park will be officially opened At l pm the Ladies will be taking on local dignitaries in a game of three pitch Also at pm there will be a variety of games and races for the children After the ball game there will be tea and dessert served to end the day For more Information on the great Canada Day celebra- uVras please call Doug Tuesday June was the last UCW meeting until after the summer There was a good atten dance of about 30 as the ladles were joined by their husbands Grace McEnery read scripture and prayers for the Devotion which had the topic of caring What A Friend We Have In Jesus was the hymn chosen for the evening Doris Lindsay was the guest speaker She showed slides of Russia which were taken when on tour with a farm group last fall All attending found the slides very in teresting as so little is known about the day to day lives of the people living in Russia Ballinafad Ladies had a rough time this week when they couldnt get their bats going They lost to Black Brigade 86 on Tuesday and then to the Mauraders 74 on Thursday June 22 Good defence kept the score difference small Lisa made a terrific running catch grasping the ball at the last second at her knees when playing centrefield against Black Brigade The Ladies play again on Wednesday June at Prospect Parkin Acton at pm without a- dissenter As chairman I cant vote In rejecting my compromise that the notes simply be withdrawn the committee has raised a few eyebrows around this place Why some ask cant witnesses come and testify in English if they want to The issue is more complex in its detail but the fact remains that MPs that night sent out a troubling signal The whole incident just shows me again that politics can be the quicksand of life Needless to say Ive invited the Consumers Association back to the committee Last time I looked this was still a free country I had a chance in the House of Commons last week to talk about garbage landfill sites and some of the things which happen when governments get paralyzed on an issue Every bag of garbage I put out at the end of my now ends up in an incinerator in New York state Thats because the Region of Halton has no more landfill capaci ty available That American incinerator bv the way is a polluting one with a portion of the emissions certainly finding their way back across the border into Canada Meanwhile the search for a new landfill site in the region has pitted municipalities against each other Millions of taxpayer dollars have been flushed away as communities sued one another and hired con sultants to prove the next dump should be in the other guys backyard This bothers me Its wasteful in both an environmental and economic sense All that money and not an inch closer to a solution So I told the House that maybe its time for politicians at all levels to come together and form a super- agency for waste management The feds should work with the pro vince the regions around Toronto and the municipalities themselves to get serious about the problem This of course doesnt mean just digging holes and pushing our garbage in Instead it means senous and effective recycling ef forts We need to recover and reuse and rethink The waste stream has to be reduced not just channelled into a new landfill How To Kill A Business In Ten Easy Steps Dont advertise Just pretend everybody knows what you have to offer Dont advertise Tell yourself you just dont have time to spend thinking about promoting your business Dont advertise Just assume everybody knows what you self Dont advertise Convince yourself that youve been in business so long customers wilt automatically come to you Dont advertise Forget that there are new potential customers who would do business with you if they were urged to do so Dont advertise Forget that you have competition trying to attract your customers away from you advertise Tell yourself it costs too much to advertise and that you dont get enough out of it 8 Dont advertise Overlook the fact that advertising is an investment in selling not an expense Dont advertise Be sure not to provide an adequate advertising budget for business 10 Dont advertise Forget that you have to keep reminding your established customers that you appreciate their business If you want your business to grow and prosper contact our display advertising department for professional advicd the HERALD Horns Hills Established I860 J