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Page THE HERALD OUTLOOK Saturday July8 1990 Outlook 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 3Z6 8778822 PUBLISHER K Robert Maltolmson MANAGING EDITOR Colin Gibson AD MANAGER Dan Taylor Second Class Mall Registered Number STAFF WRITERS Ben Lisa Rutledge SPORTS EDITOR Rob Risk ACCOUNTING Jennie Inga Shier CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING Joan ADVERTISING SALES Valols Craig Teeter Roberts Kim Haryott PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT Dave Hastings Supt Gilson Stu Robertson Susanne Wilson CIRCULATION Marie Time to ease up on interest rates Okay Mr Wilson enough is enough It time to ease up on in terest rates Finance Minister Michael Wilson is coming under fire for resisting the S trend to lower in rates Alan Greenspan the American central banker says he will not let tight fisted chartered banks undermine his attempt to guide the U S economy to a soft landing If need be he will let S rates drift lower Mr Wilson in contrast says the problem in Canada is that people are borrowing too much Canadian rates already are five percentage points higher than they are in the United States But at least one economist John Grant of Wood Gundy Ltd thinks they are about to fall substantially Does the finance minister not understand financial markets To appreciate Mr Wilsons position it is useful to compare the growth of the money supply in Canada and the United States Since money supply growth has been trending lower in the United States Not so in Canada MONEY BOOM Our money supply has been growing especially over the past year Money growth signals infla tion in the months to come Mr Wilson knows this He fears the past year s money explosion created an underlying inflationary bias But money growth has come to a halt Demand for loans has slowed as well The liquidity squeeze s taking its toll Mr Wilson and John Crow governor of the Bank of Canada have succeeded So why do they persist with high interest rates tions abound International capital markets demand it for example Or there are more savers in Canada than borrowers A more likely explanation is that they want to make sure the creature is dead If they don t let up soon they will have killed more than inflation Mr Grant thinks relief com ing He predicts the prime business lending rate will tumble percen tage points over the next year and Dtanne Maty a half It will fall to per cent by year end from 14 per cent now It will continue to fall throughout ending the year at 10 25 per cent While this is good news for rowers it is bad news for savers The yield on threemonth Govern of Canada treasury bills will fall 55 points by the end of the Mr Grant predicts RATES TO DROP The decline in long term rates will be less dramatic The yield on Canada bonds will fall from per cent to 8 30 per cent by the end of 1991 he says Chances are that the drop in fiveyear mortgage rates will be equally muted The remarkable thing about Wood Gundy s forecast is that such a big drop rates will be achieved without a serious recession Mr Grant foresees a six month reces sion beginning in the fourth quarter of this year Wood Gundy s sanguine view flies in the face of other forecasters who say interest rates will stay high for the foreseeable future It is clearly this camp that has Mr Wilson sear Why is there such sharp disagreement Because the old economic yardsticks are no longer useful One industry can be crumbling while another is boom Money measures also can be deceptive People have been rowing as if there were no row But many of them may have been doing it to stay afloat That would not be inflationary The joke is on the taxpayer l Poets LOVERS LULLABY I hope you have a baby I hope you have a baby Maybe more than one If I were When all said and done And If you wanted me No man is complete I d have your baby Till he fathered a son Even though I don t much like You II make a great father To even hold them anymore I always known it SUI1 never let go of yours Just like I know you d Just like I don t seem have made To be able A great lover To let go of you If I hadn t blown It My babycrazy days are done I hope you have a baby Yours are just beginning And never forget By the time you re out The love that created him Looking for fun When he driving you crazy 1 11 be watching soap operas He be worth all the trouble And knitting He doubtless cause I know we missed the boat He would be to me But really that s okay If he were mine and yours Chancei are It would have gone down 1 hope yon have a baby With no survivors anyway hate you to miss All that family life can mean I hope you have a baby Just like we ve missed My love for mine was enough Whatever It Is To keep me from indulging That we might have been My love for you We ve never even kissed Or even finding out if It Though my guess is were true It would have been good And believe me There are some things in life That powerful testimony That be missed As to just what a baby can do And maybe some that should ByJB Acton OTTAWA Many of you likely think your beloved national capital is a pretty funny place Here are some items good for a belly laugh or two Did you hear the one about the federal government slashing 6 million from women s programs across the country Maybe that one tickle your funnybone After all when the heat was on the government restored the funding for 74 women centres so the cuts come only to th year So how about Ottawa on to begin charging 500 war veterans for food and lodging in chronic care hospitals next April And the proposal to ra fees paid by another 3 600 vets by 75 per cent to 420 a month by next spring Yeah the government took some of the laughs out of that one by agreeing to phase n the increases more gradually What s more the 615 veterans who were wounded will II get free room and board Okay hoho what about this The feds are eliminating the native communications program worth S3 million and tnmming native broadcasting funds by 2 million NO Now we re getting somewhere Ottawa hasn t reversed these Oh yes it also trimming 2 million from native friendship centres Hang on We re just warming up folks How about those fun loving senators chuckle voting themselves a day tax free just to show up for work in the Senate or at committee That s in addition to the cash they get mere ly for being appointed to the job Golly you re a tough audience But I know you get a giggle out of MPs approving a proposed 6 increase in their tax free allowance which is now in addition to their basic salary of 100 And here s a real kneeslapper Imagine Industry Minister Benoit Bouchard granting to pro mote next years World Hot Air Balloon Championship in Quebec Ha ha that should please the women groups That exactly what they are losing from their promotional budget his year Now this will have you rolling in the aisles Ottawa is forking out million through the Industry and Communications Depart ments for a comedy complex to Vic Parsons be located in Montreal DELIGHT No doubt this is a special delight for Canada s native people since that just about the same amount that was cut from their com munications programs The complex will include a theatre a museum a restaurant and comedy boutiques selling fun things perhaps exploding cigars and whoopie cushions Federal provincial and municipal authorities all expect the centre priced at a total of 5 million will bring flocks of tourists to the city Goodness perhaps they can stage an annual Meech Lake Cream Pie Festival to mark June featuring politicians pushing custard tarts into each other faces You probably had just about enough humor for one day Enough that is to realize the joke son you dear taxpayer Community colleges threatened By PAULINE JOHNSON Queen s Park Bureau Thomson Newspapers TORONTO Sweeping changes are needed to enable Ontario community colleges to meet the challenges of the century says a 000 report released July 20 The report called Vision 2000 was released by the Ontario Education Ministry It is the result of months of study by a commit tee of educators and education ad labor business and government representatives work in collaboration with the On Council of Regents for Col leges of Applied Arts and Technology The college system can and must serve the needs of Ontario s students workers employers and communities as this province endeavours to adapt to increased competitiveness and restructuring in the economy the demand for newer and higher skill levels in our workforce the impact of new technologies and the demands of social change said Charles Pascal chairman of the Ontario Council of Regents The joboriented focus of the 23 community colleges will be retain ed but if we are training too rowly the shelf life of what we do will last from now until next day he said We are not trying to turn colleges into universities but places where ability to be lifelong learners is enhanced Education Minister Sean Con way who was not present said in a press release he expects the report to spark lively discussion amongst educators Among its recommendations the committee calls for The formation of a Provincial SchoolsCollege Coordinating Council to increase access to col leges through better links with secondary schools and local com munities Together with funded college administered preparatory courses this would enable more access to low income mature ethnic native and disabled students The establishment of a without walls provincial in stitute to partner universities with colleges so that college students could go on to take university degrees without repeating credits or in the event universities do not agree that the Institute grant A major redesign of college curriculums so that students learn a wider range of academic sub jects to prepare them for lifelong learning in a society where job changes are frequent and technology changes daily The creation of a College Stan dards and Accreditation Council to set and review system wide pro gram standards so that graduating students from all colleges could equally meet job requirements A review of tuition fees which should take into account that some students workers taking retraining and fixed income students cannot afford the same fees as working part time students