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MM Oi- the HERALD Home Newspaper of Hills Established A Division of Canadian Newspapers Company Limited 45 Street Georgetown 3Z6 Ontario DAVID A BEATTIE Publisher and General Manager BRIAN MacLEOD Editor Phone DAN TAYLOR Manager Brian MacLeod Editor Notebook Ah yes it does indeed pay to do your Christmas shopping early I learned that lesson Sunday at the expense of my better halfs father Several weeks ago Karen and I picked up a fire extinguisher for her father he who works patiently for hours on end around a wood stove in the garage A fitting gift for him right Um well he may have to wait a while You see we borrowed his gift on Sunday Really Only its not exactly something we can rewrap Its like this the wood stove at Karens place an old stone far mhouse can be our best friend on freezing winter nights or our worst enemy when it decides to act up Sunday it acted up Big time As I was otherwise occupied in some far off corner of the house I heard the fire detector spring to life with that familiar and somewhat annoying Naturally I just assumed Karen was cooking supper No really McLaughlins honeymoon over Page THE HERALD Wednesday December Chasing chasers Police officers across Ontario may have to ease up on the gas pedal in the new year A new directive from the province says highspeed police chases are only acceptable if the suspect is believed to ha ve committed a criminal offense In other words if a police officer pulls a driver over for speeding and the driver tries to flee the police officer can only maintain the chase until he or she has obtained the licence plate number and identified the driver While it is the irresponsible actions of the motorists that can bring on death or serious injury such restraint is pro bably for the better Its true we may see more drivers trying to flee but most people stop when the red lights start flashing behind them And it really isnt worth a death to haul someone in for running a stop sign Sergeant Ken Bonham of the Halton Regional Police force said one of the directives in the new regulations means that police must take a special driving conrse before they can become involved in a police chase That directive may mean experienced police officers will have to sit idly by while a criminal flees Obviously police forces across the province will have to step up their driver training programs In Halton Region last year police chased cars times resulting in six injuries Across the province there were 1454 highspeed chases which resulted in eight deaths and more than SI million damage Its important to remember that other innocent motorists lives are put in jeopardy during highspeed chases However police will have to keep a close watch on in cidents of highspeed chases If the number of drivers flee ing increases dramatically then police will have no option but to start chasing them down Firing up Christmas the smoke detector goes off every time she whips up one of her dishes Thats how I know its time to hit the table Anyway a faint highpitched voice yelling Fire Fire follow ed the squealing of the smoke detector Okay so shes making toast again I thought Its hard to believe but Karen not satisfied with merely burning toast has ac tually managed to set fire to toast before Its quite a sight to bet- flames licking at the side of a toaster A quick trip to the dining room proved otherwise The chimney was glowing bright orange in several spots and it was quite apparent that flames were shooting out into places where flames shouldnt be That ac companied by a loud thud set us into action Quickthinking Karen dashed through to the next room sorted through the bundle of Christmas presents and began ripping off the paper huh Never mind the clothes the computer the television the stereo the fridge or the stove just begin opening presents This seemed strange Alas out came what was to have been her fathers fire extinguisher She threw it my way and yelping here I dont know how to use it Gee thanks And the moral of the story is always have a fire extinguisher hanging on the wall Nah just do your Christmas shopping early Audrey McLaughlins honey moon as leader of the New Democratic Party has been well- deserved so far particularly with her moving tribute to victims of the Montreal Massacre but it wont last forever The 53yearold Yukon MP with only two years of parliamentary experience under her belt before she succeeded Ed pro bably wont have to wait too long before the fur starts flying in her direction If she is going to preside over a growing party or even keep the caucus from diminishing she has her work cut out for her The party she inherited in Win nipeg Dec from Mr Broadbent its all yours Audrey is not a neat little unified movement that will flourish without tender loving care It may even require some tempestuous care from time to time What everyone agrees on is that the New Democratic Party is not in the best of health on a national basis Behind the scenes there are divisions and cracks that were not mentioned the lanou leader ship as the sought the honor of building a new Canada through this great social democratic movement SOME OBVIOUS Before this can happen Ms McLaughlin is going to have to patch up some fairly serious rifts in the labor movement split as never before over a leadership race Canadian Auto Workers President Bob White a very in fluential fellow threw all his weight behind the winner while Shirley Carr head of the Canadian Labor Congress was parading around the convention floor with candidate Dave Barrett Union members went in all directions Then there is the partys pro blem with youth or lack of it Not since the NDP was founded back in 1961 has there been such a dearth of young delegates at a national convention Instead of taking over the convention as they sometimes threaten to do young people had to be searched out this time It was for all practical purposes a meeting of the middleaged and the policy debates with their lack of radicalism simply reinforced this Without a new injection of young blood the NDP is becoming another middleoftheroad party sharing many of its objectives with the Tories and Grits Somehow Ms McLaughlin is go ing to have to make the NDP a comfortable political home young And it wont be as as during the height of the Cold War when the pari was in Uie forefront of the disarmament movement delighted to speak out against both American and Soviet nuclear weapons Ban the bomb shouted one elderly delegate in Winnipeg All he attracted were a few snickers and curious stares PROBLEM Apart from devising new policies and ideas to distinguish the NDP from the other parties Ms McLaughlin cant wait too long in coming to terms with the NDPs rather unique problem in Quebec After Ed had endors ed the Meech Lake accord along with a vast majority of his caucus in the last Parliament the Win nipeg delegates clearly watered down this approval After debating some com plicated proposals delegates ap proved a resolution that called for changes in the accord without say ing whether these changes must come ahead of the accords ratification It was the best com promise available What is clear is that the majority of Quebec delegates thought the party had turned its back on Lake something they did not like And with a Chambly byelection coming up on Feb 12 the issue becomes rather important rather quickly Phil Edmonston the con sumer advocate wants to run for the in the riding and he has been given pretty good odds at win ning I THE HOUSING SIMON 13 WW Ml INNS IN ADUmRSTER Y00iELUCWIHf Provinces havent buried GST Vic Parsons Ottawa Bureau The idea of a unified national sales tax got a slight boost last week when Finance Minister Michael Wilson met his counter parts from the provinces It would be more than a little rash however to predict that a joint federal and provincial levy on goods and services will be a feature of Canadas shortterm economic landscape A few grunts of modest en couragement from provincial treasurers who not long ago described the whole idea as an unacceptable monster suggest on ly that the feeble concept is not yet planted two metres down While admitting that theres no chance of provincial participation by the target date of Jan 1 1991 for the planned goods and services tax GST Wilson said the door is open to future cooperation Some reports left an impression that the provinces were more open than ever to a unified national tax This seems odd since the two levels of government batted the idea around for 18 months before Wilson declared last April that Ot tawa would go it alone and the devil take the others Indeed the majority read Tory Commons finance commit tee report on the GST quoted a former Ontario assistant deputy minister who had worked on the idea as saying a federalprovincial working group had been close to a deal but just ran out of time These meetings were characterized by a level of good will energy and constructive ad vice that certainly was superior to anything else I saw in years on the federalprovincial scene said the official LR Leonard One must conclude that descrip tion hasnt held true since made his unilateral move last spr ing Still last weeks mood seemed marginally upbeat A single sales tax would satisfy one large group of opponents to Wilsons GST notably small businesses which have to collect the taxes But because a unified tax could cause great inconve nience to the provinces giant hurdles remain to be overcome Wilson seemed content that a process has been set in motion which will allow officials from both levels of government to discuss the idea A less sanguine view was offered by Dick Johnston Albertas treasurer who maintained in an interview with that the pro vinces havent budged Alberta is the sole province without a retail sales tax and the only jurisdiction that even federal officials admit would lose ground with a GST So its understandable that Johnston would be most adamantly opposed to a national tax But there is no reason to believe Johnston was exaggerating when he said Wilson was overstating his case and the provinces still see the GST nogo Others have pointed out the pro vinces will have to shoulder a part of the political heal with Ottawa if a national tax is introduced