The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Page Halton Hills Outlook la published newspaper of I in lion Limited Street Mall Registered Number PUBLISHER Don Brander ADVERTISING MANAGER Carl Sinke EDITOR Dave Rowney PRODUCT urge town Ontario Second piiomirrmv assistant MrylBlltorc Sharon Karen lalnr llrian Marl rod The poll shows Polling is Ottawa Report overdone Stewart ft elod We known all along that the federal government Is obsessed with opinion polls but who would have thought would reach these ludicrous proportions Here hate It In 1987 alone the Mulroney government commission differ cut polls And over the last lour years this government and its Liberal predecessor com mis stoned no fewer than That should provide our legislators with a pretty Rood idea of how we ore thinking on various And incidentally these polls do not Include those regular ones on if an election were held today how would you vote The government lets newspapers pay for these updates We don know nil the subjects covered by he polls but Information obtained under he Access to In formation Act Indicates that the results don come cheap White overall prices were not revealed It una disclosed that just the cost nearly is million Since works out at an average of some each wl can guess that the polls over the list four years cost us in the neighborhood of million IN 01U1 It Utile wonder that pollsters represent one of the fastest growing Industrie in the country And from the limited Information available on the federally funded polls we can that few major government initiatives are undertaken without first surveying public opinion It known for instance that the government whlti paper on defence was preceded by an opinion poll to explore the public s understanding and Similarly an opinion poll on migration ceded tin govern men recall of summer to deal with tin bill There was an extensive survey on child care before Health Minister Jake announced the new day care program We been surveyed on domestic air safety on our attitudes toward Japanese investment In And since polls are now pouring into locked government dine cabinets at tin rale of six a week wl tan assume thit few subjects are left un touched We can also assume that many of the polls represent a waslt of money Was it really worth mining our reaction to the Canadian Meat Month program Another poll tested American at Canada as a viable vacation destination R I It s not easy for average Canu to learn the results of these polls since Ihoy are intended for in ternal use or as one set of guidelines says to help government provide leadership But there can be little doubt that polling Is overdone One senior federal official said it not unusual for polls to be conducted before respondents know anything about the Issue being surveyed lie pointed to assorted surveys on free- trade conducted before the final text of the Canada United States agreement was released We gone nuts with polls said official there is virtually no control over how many surveys are commissioned If a department says It wants a poll on say public attitudes toward Canada Savings Bonds then the department responsible or com mis sioning polls Supply and Services automatically goes ahead and orders such a poll Twos a Crowd t MtB ONE I2HJT YOUD OWN MO WERE OH stmts Berrys World Staff ICumment Why Is HAL WA YS little boy babies that rep resent the New Year and NEVER little GIRL babies Its riceerroneous Sharing the spirit I look forward to the Olympic games every four years as much as the next person The Olympics ability to bring together athletes from all over the world competing in unique events like bobsleding and the biathlon is fascinating But when hype about the lame first started with the share the flame advertisements on television I was skeptical I thought it was just another neat publicity ploy by Petro- Canada I didn bother to enter the contest Obviously I blew it I Joined Herald Sports Editor Mike Turner on a trip up to Jan to help capture pictures of two Georgetown residents Tommy and Janie carry the flame for a kilometre each When I first saw the lashing lights of Ihc cars leading the two vans along Highway 9 it was the first time the spirit of the lime and nationalism it had hit me I Instantly wished I been given a chance lo run with the flame II had be a proud moment for young Tommy and Janie as they Your Business MUM Business Wild rice a quintessential nor them crop has flown south to California As the market for wild grows lake producers in nor th western On la no Manitoba and Saskatchewan arc facing stiff com petition from southern paddy farmers Canada Is the loser prices are so fast it hardly makes sense to grow it ihe old way organically in northern lakes In Saskatchewan wild rice producers will be lucky am a pound for their crop this year a third of whit il was a few years will greet this news with mixed emotions Wild rice is an ideal dinner Rift particularly for so meone who is fond of game birds like duck or partridge But It no something you pick up on lie vty homo with chili If current prices make wild nee impractical to grow they also make It impractical to cat In the food department of Simpsons Manitoba lake rice which is really a grass seed Is selling for a pound or more depending on the brand The bags with their drawstr and northern names Indian Head Game Bird make the organically grown rice popular with health food set The distinctive Canadian flavor of the packaging may also make the nee popular in Al least that what some Saskatchewan producers arc hop ing Sensing that Ihey must move quickly slay on lop of the product Saskatchewan rice farmers arc expanding from lake into paddy production Even ore leaving northerners In dust The Canadian crop adds up to about three million pounds according to the financial Post California harvested more than million pounds Inst year The continued success of the dian industry depends on skillful marketing Gourmet shops and health fond stores in Europe would likely prefer the Conn product if knew the ference For one thing hc Canadian gram is larger fast growing California crop Unfortunately Ihe same qualities that make the Canadian rice superior also limit the quantity that can be organically grown WINS That why wild ncc from may soon force the larger Cana dian growers out of business Faced with shelling out JIG a pound most consumers will a cheaper product even if comes from a com rice paddy In Lotus land One obvious question is what the rice from the time it farmer to lime It hits shelves to take It from ft IS a pound The grain is threshed and packaged In small gift sized bags Is shipped to store which add on their mark Canadian lake producers want to step up their marketing efforts so can in business They re hoping to sell to health food stores in Europe and Japan Given the prices they arc chare Ing this is a good Idea People In countries such as Japan Germany and may be the only ones who can afford lo eat northern wild rice Canadians will have to from flame will have the suits Proud but freezing Bui even the chilling temperatures t dampen the spirits of those carried Ihc torch and lined route There I thousands of people cheering at the primarily rural point at which they earned the flame But there were plenty of people smiling waving watching and wishing it was them who was carrying the torch When Tommy ran by mc he was being helped bit his running escort as the flame must have gotten a bit heavy at Ihe end of his run The flame Itself is not the huge light I had envisioned It actually not that big But its spirit and whal represents Is very very Everyone who watched the flame go by had a smile on their face Even In reeling weather Canada should be con for what they done They ve taken the run pas a public and brought It to the hearts and minds of Canadians In future years all those who car rlcd Ihc flame will look back on the 198S Olympics in Calgary with a special feeling They were a part of Ihe Olympics There no doubt about it people who didn enter Ihe contest to carry the flame are now saying to themselves I should hove Poets Corner Marlowe Dickson