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Page THE HERALD OUTLOOK Saturday August 1990 the HERALD Lisa OUTLOOK is published each Saturday by the HALTON HILLS HERALD Homo Newspaper of Halton Hills A Division or Canadian Newspapers Company Limited at Guelph Street Georgetown Ontario Second Class Mail Registered Number 877 8822 PUBLISHER K Robert MANAGING EDITOR Colin Gibson AD MANAGER Dan Taylor STAFF WRITERS Ben SPORTS EDITOR Rob Risk ACCOUNTING Jennie CI Joan ADVERTfSING SALES Craig Teeter Stacie Roberts Kim PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT Dave Hastings Supt Stu Robertson Wilson CIRCULATION Marie Stockbrokers take steps to protect investors TORONTO Stockbrokers are taking steps to make your money safer in their hands Banks and trust companies have federal deposit insurance The Canada Deposit Insurance Corp covers deposits of up to a person at each member financial institution But this protection does not extend to money on deposit with an investment dealer In troubled times people about what might happen if another firm were to fall So the investment industry is setting up a 70milhon fund to protect investors from or failure of a member dealer When Osier failed in dealers used the National Con tingency Fund to bail investors out At the time the fund had a mere 16 million in the bank Member firms had to make up the difference In the end the industry I paid out million in claims against Osier Osier was not a big dealer If a larger firm were to go under or more than one small firm the m dustry would be hard pressed to come up with the cash Under the new plan the fund will grow as ifallgoeswell GOOD MOVE By dealers hope it will have grown to million half in cash and half as a line of credit Some of the features of the new fund are A limit on losses for each client account A limit on cash balances in a client s account A six month time limit on claims An early warning system in which dealers report their finan situation monthly No coverage for insiders Don Leslie president of the Canadian Investor Protection Fund estimates that member firms hold 5 billion in clients cash and billion to billion in securities This raises the question is 70 million enough Dianne Maley It s a tricky problem for dealers The federal government backing of bank accounts is generous too generous some would say Critics of deposit insurance argue that it allows people to be reckless with their money at the taxpayer s ex TOO GENEROUS Indeed the S savings and loan can be attributed in part to generous deposit insurance Americans are protected for up to at any one financial in stitution In the end the bailout could end up costing American tax payers as much as billion US Investment dealers cannot draw on the taxpayer when investors get careless This could work to their customers advantage are a self policing group If they know wrongdoing or bankruptcy other dealers will cost them dearly they will police each other more carefully In the case of financial failure investors need not be too concern ed thanks to the new fund But wrongdoing is trickier Suppose a failing dealer uses clients money for its own purposes It could row against clients treasury bills for example In this case the limit of an account may not seem so generous Still investors will be better off under the new plan Poets Corner The Old OH Lamp Long ago at home by the old lamp light My mother would read to her family s delight As the story she read vou would picture as said We listened so eagerly till time for bed We sat by the stove on a cold cold night Fields were covered with snow drifting white Outside the cold winds it did sting We sat there cuddled like a king Many years the storms they have swept Yet we have many fond memories left I think of my Mother she would read it twice My brother and sister sat quiet as mice Those great stones 1 never forget Not only stones adventures did get Life was hard living you got in a rut Water was carried firewood was cut Fingers and toes were often froze We didn have the warmest clothes Though we did love together did cling In life to us success it did bring To be left without any king of light A lamp at night sure was a welcome sight By Albert Brooks R 1 Limehouse MORNING PEOPLE Morning people chatter They greet the crack of dawn They are bright and chipper They should be quartred and drawn By Patricia Hretchka Georgetown FOOD OR THOUGHT Watch what you eat The doctors say Don eat meat Not today Don t touch butter Watch out for fats Too much sugar Kills lots of rats If you do just what they say You won live forever But it could feel that way By Patricia Hretchka Georgetown NO CARE Few SHELTERS CONDITIONS Canadian municipal infrastructure in bad need of an overhaul Ottawa Imagine You re vaca in Quebec making a leisurely tour along the St Lawrence River and you grind to a halt at a crossroads Passing before you is a convoy of 15 grabage trucks You art mystified by the procession but worse horrified to see each truck drive down to the and dump us contents into the swirling waters It s an outrage r In your shock you call so in authority to register in To your dismay the placid voice on the phone informs that this is unusual but a daily occurrence This dumping t happen that way but it represents the kind of despoliation thit occurs each day in Canada because municipal infrastructures are either made quale or have deteriorated badly over the years Sewage treatment plants sewer systems and waterworks are wan ting Roads bridges and sidewalks need repair The Federation of Canadian Municipalities warns public health and safety the en and economic develop ment are at risk because in vestments have not been made in needed facilities The garbagetrucks case was cited by the Urban Community of Quebec and repeated in a recent Liberal party task force report on municipal infrastructure The 15 trucks are equivalent to the 500 million litres of untreated water and 50 metric tons of raw sewage that are m fact dumped into the St Lawrence each day PROBLEM The issue of declining or made quale facilities is a national one Metro Toronto desperate search for a community willing to take its garbage in exchange for cish is a symptom Recently some towns n the Ottawa Valley had to warn residents not to swim in nearby because heavy rains had overwhelmed municipal sewage treatment capacity More than eight million Cana dians live in communities without sewage treatment About 140 of On 370 treatment plants are below provincial dards In Newfoundland more than Vic Parsons 000 homes do not have adequate water sewer service The pro estimates it would cost about b to provide basic service to these homes and upgrade and replace existing services Northern Ontario and New Brunswick complain that the Trans Canada Highway and other roads are in serious need of repair Coastal towns in British Columbia are concerned about the impact of sewage on the local fishing in These fears incidentally cut across political lines Prominent members of all parties have the federation call for a three pronged financial attack on the problem by all levels of govern POLITICIANS INVOLVED When the federation took up the challenge in 1985 the chairman of the task force was Michael court then Vancouver mayor but now leader of B C s New Democratic Party Other members were Mel Couvelier then mayor of Saanich and now finance minister in B s Social Credit government and George formerly mayor of and now a Liberal MP In 1988 when the federation urged the federal government to get involved in ing a national problem the group s president was Jean Cc now labor minister in Brian Mulroney s cabinet Then the federation estimated it would cost about billion over five years to upgrade sewers roads and other facilities and continuing decline has now pushed this figure up to about billion About onethird of this money should come from the federal government the federation sug gested with the remaining amount split between the provinces and municipalities The work would be a stimulus to the economy the federation argued It could create more than 60000 jobs a year and the impact on Ottawa deficit after taking into account increased tax revenues from individuals and companies would be only about million But there little likelihood tawa will budge from previous refusals to participate The federal deficit is still a preoccupation and interest rates are high which dampens enthusiasm for spending Moreover relatively low unemployment rates are not put ting any pressure on Ottawa to come up with makework public projects For now it seems our towns and cities will have to make dowith what they vegot Write us a letter The Herald wants to hear from you If you have an opinion you want to express or a comment to make send us a letter or drop by the office Our address is 45 Guelph St Georgetown Ont 3Z6 All letters must be signed Please your address and telephone number for verification The Herald reserves the right to edit let ters due to space limitations or libel