Home Newspaper of Halton Hills Established A Division of Canadian Newspapers Company Limited Guelph Street Georgetown L7G 3Z6 Ontario DONBRANDER Publisher and General Manager Free trade models meaningless DAVEROWNEY Editor Phone 2201 CARLSINKE Advertising Manager Page SECTION A THE HERALD Wednesday March Back to normal A court judgement that shook the insurance industry has been overturned and all appeals have been ex A Brampton youth once granted 3 million for being paralysed lost his case when the Supreme Court of Canada Feb wouldn t hear a further appeal The courts have ruled fairly Now hopefully some of the radical reactions to the original judgement will sub side Michael crashed his dirt bike on City of Brampton property in 1977 Hij family argued that the 14yearold boy paralysed and brain damaged wasn t responsible for the accident and the City should be But responsibility wasn the big point of this landmark case The court ruling which sparked a controversy in Ontario had to do with compensation for the victim Shocked by the excessive and unprecedented 3 miilion judgement insurance companies reacted vously by drastically hiking their rates They argued that the industry couldn stay in the business if they didn accept the realities of liability suits The facts are clear more people than ever are suing for compensation and cla are getting higher and higher This left school boards local governments fall fairs taverns nursery schools and sporting organizations to pay exorbitant rates Some organizations had to reduce services and halt programs because liability insurance became so unreasonable Region and the Town of Halton Hills had to ab sorb large insurance increases charged to them by the insurance industry as a result of the Brampton accident Lawyers and judges let the situation get out of hand But the decision last week by the Supreme Court of Canada changed all that Now we wonder will rates be reduced because the 3 million judgement was overturned Past history in dicates this won t happen But at the very least the experience of the Michael case should serve as a warning about how court rulings can t be out of step with what society sees as reasonable Stacked deck A oneman delegation to the Halton school board last week failed to do his homework A Burlington taxpayer and businessman addressed trustees Thursday He lectured them on common business practices and stressed that school boards should be run in a more business like fashion While the gentleman intentions were good it was clear he hadn t adequately explored the real problems and concerns a school board faces While it would be nice to run a school system like a business its not easy to do Here are a few reasons why When it comes to budgeting for school programs and equipment schools can be compared to the business world First of all schools aren t profit making bodies They depend on funding from provincial transfer payments and property taxes at the municipal level School boards such as Halton are finding that the pro vince isn t keeping up with its share of financing To compound the problem the province keeps in itiating new programs for school boards to implement without offering the money for the boards to keep up with the costs Schooling is becoming more expensive Computers in the schools are necessary for students to learn ways and practices of the business world But they come with an expensive price tag Teacher salaries make up the bulk of a school board budget Although in theory it would be nice to slash wages of teachers in Halton it be very While an independent business might weather a long strike a school board can tolerate draconian methods when a child s education is at stake Besides if t pay the going rate for teacher salaries the best instructors will go elsewhere leaving us with a level of education Nevertheless this angry taxpayer speaks for us all when he talks about wasted tax dollars His comments certainly provide food for thought Maybe one day he will decide to change the system from within by seeking election as a trustee But only then will he really see how difficult it is to make serious budget changes when the cards are stack ed against you Better in blue Editors notebook By While Halton Hills already has a collection program for recycling watte thing could be In Mil on the towns bluebox racy dine program has municipal officials anything but blue Since it was Initiated last year Milton is recycling about 15 per cent of Its waste That about double what Hills collects in recycling materials In Niagara Falls last year about blue boxes were issued and about per cent of homeowners use them The dty was able to per cent more waste In than the year before Economists including both fans and critics of the Canada U S Irade agreement have paraded before a legislative committee here that Is examining the deal Most of the time Ihey talk of jobs won or lost with side trips Into the esoteric world of economic models It leaves this observer more than a little doubtful Forecasting by the use of models doesn I mean a lot when you deal with the real world Common sense would suggest the biggest influence on Job creation the next few years will be the Urn and severity of the next downturn In the business And so far as I know no economist has a perfect track record in predicting such reces sions It is more or less an educated guess Hence the appeal to me of the testimony of International economists Murray Smith and Frank Stone PACTS Rather than speak of models or analogies so obscure as to be irrele vant Hawaii 19th century free- trade deal with the U S Is one that nationalists like to peddle they looked at parallel freetrade deals elsewhere and did so within the context of the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs is the multilateral trade that Is the bcrols Queens Park By Derek Nelson preferred avenue of approach to trade liberalization To give a single example Liberal David Neumann asked the pair how difficult adjustment to free trade might be tor Ontario given the plant nature of our economy Smith noted Austria small with high tariffs and lots of branch plants from big neighbor Germany next door went to free trade in five years with surprisingly few adjustment pressures There was no obvious displace ment in the Austrian economy yet It Is very dose to what we observe between Canada and the United States Smith and Stone are members of the Institute for Research on Public Policy although they said were testifying Tor themselves They made valid point lhat as Canadians we tend to Ignore Moreover Smith was struck by how interpretations can be given to ports of the deal out of context with cither the trade agreement whole or the GATT with which here is a lot of Interrelationships in terms of legal provisions arid obligations They made these further points The Canada U S deal provides a classical freetrade area under terms of the GATT The essential feature of a free- trade area is each country re tains Its Independent commercial policy INTERWOVEN The terms of the Canada US agreement are Interwoven with the terms of and many of the issues dealt with in this agreement interlinked with the current In fad In the highly protectionist area of agriculture the US and Canada are contemplating much more sweeping libernlttalion In the Uruguay round than In Ihe Canada US deal The dispute settlement provisions In our deal are much more for mal than in other bilateral free- trade areas Including the Euro pean Free Trade Association European Economic Com EEC bilateral agreements the US Israeli agree ment and the Australia New Zealand agreement There is no parallel elsewhere for the exemption of cultural Industries granted under the US Canada deal In event of major world oil Iban the Canada US trade and It requires us to actually In crease exports From the small EFTA countries Austria Norway Sweden Finland phased in their freetrade deal withtbe big ESC Checking their growth rates for the extra five years allow ing time for the effect of free trade to become dear Smith and Stone found the nations red growth exceeded that of the EEC countries by per Both New Zealand and brad before they entered their respective free trade agreements with Australia and the were runn ing very substantial trade with their large trading partners Within three years both were In a surplus position Mind you economists be economists If they relied solely on one explanation for anything Of equal Importance to the suc cess of a freetrade area Smith and Stone cautioned Is for the smaller partner Austria Israel New Zealand or Canada to pursue other responsible policies such as liberalization of Its exchange rates and reduction of Its budget deficits SU1I overall It sounded like free trade has been good elsewhere VIDEO ON iwwiTfnoMiEsr ABA Its funny how one persons about a movie can be so from another I can t understand why mere are some adults out there deprive themselves from watching a good movie for hit a fist fight or a car crash w 11 give I hem a stomach I started writing this after talk ing about the movie Shoot to Kill with an moviegoer She ex pressed Interest In flick until I told her there were some scenes too nice II was a good movie but you probably wont like It because there some violence In It I said to her That was enough to turn my friend off Surely as adults we are able to endure more than children and know the difference between right or wrong Not all violence La necessarily graphic or gory Never It Is sometimes necessary to move the plot along In an In teresting manner I ve always admired the pro ducers of the James Bond scries for balancing the use of violence action love scenes humor and Into one complete package A film that relies sole ly on violent people with mean Ingless plots will never do well at the box office But people do need variety to sit through a twohour movie especial ly without Ihe advantage of com breaks every five minutes Citizens forum Red Cross campaign Dear Sir Help us celebrate March Is Red Cross Month Give a blood donation or volunteer some time with the Georgetown and District Red Cross branch or both Last year thanks to that generosity we were able to pro vide over articles of sickroom equipment free of charge to those in need We provided round trips to doctors for those unable to obtain transports most of these clients were senior citizens Our blood held seven clinics and col 1575 units of blood Over people were trained In first aid We hold weekly Fitness classes in three senior buildings We offer Individual Emergency Aid and Reunion and our volunteers are always on standby for Minor or Major Disasters Ap proximately were enrolled In Red Cross Water Safety pro grams You may not need any of these services now BUT you may one day and you II be glad are there Help ua help others give generously Monaster Coverage was generous I would like to thank you for the generous editorial you wrote on Feb Being small art group we welcome your comments and the way you expressed your feel in about our show to public The Herald has always been there with its support for us and we certainly appreciate It Sincerely Shirley President Palette and Pencil Club Womens Place helpers tops Dear Sir The staff the clients and the board of directors of Women Place would like to ex tend their most sincere gratitude to all those Individuals and organize tions who had contributed time money or supplies to our facility over Christmas holiday season Needless to say many children and their mothers benefitted great ly during thai time when It was for them difficult to join In the festivities We hope to continue to provide our services to those in need We thank alt hose who have given and may continue to give to Women a Place Dr Maria Grande MD Chairperson Publicity Reader likes writers story Dear Sir We wish applaud Brian MacLeod tor his astute column Garbage a dirty business In February issue of Hills Outlook Unlike our neighbors Brampton Oakvllle Burlington and Metro Toronto we In Hills rely on underground resources for our water both municipal and rural Should Reclamation Systems sue ceed in their bid to turn the Acton Quarry Into a dump our drinking water could be at risk Let slop the process now Ministry of Environment officials acknowledge that public opposition Is a consideration So let oppose for our own and our children s sake Please write The Honourable James Bradley Ministry of the Environment Suite 100 13S St Clair Ave West Toron to Ontario M4V1PS Contributions to POWER are accepted at GeorgetownActon Branches of Hub Credit Union or Box 274 Acton Ont L7J Yours truly Wendy Shepherd Acton Will you be at water meeting Dear Sir Too few people know or seem to care that the small area of green space swamp protecting the town wells on Princess Anne is to be sold as building lots Its not too lote to ask questions Please attend the public Informs tlon night tomorrow Thursday March at the Administration Building on Trafalgar Road Be at that meeting It your drink water Yours truly Barbara Georgetown 30 years ago Rev Morgan McFarlane of at the marriage of Elma Louise Staple ton of Georgetown and Ross McCrimmon Turner of Georgetown The bride changed from her waltz length gown of blue nylon net and race to a grey suit for the honeymoon trip to Niagara Falls Silvers the top team In the Georgetown Bowling League was selected by the of the Bowling Five Pins tourna ment one of two teams from the KitchenerWaterloo zone to roll in their Sportsman Show tournament in Toronto Aden Main Street park and the Free Press office were used in a TV Perspective program The sites were used in a minute film entitled The Editor televised by the National Film Board for their Perspective series Stuart Young purchas ed the former Robbs Drug Store business Mr Young had been the manager there since 1948 There had been a drug store at Main St N since 1915 when Hourlgan tint established the business 15 years ago Citizen of the Year Mrs Treaty received an award engraved during a dinner and dance at the Legion auditorium Company lieutenant Dave In your opinion Question What do you think Asked at Holy Cross Church during Importance It of religious dress rehearsal Last Importance of religious plays tlzo the belter Idea of what let people see how It Its a way of acting tual which of the Bible V ta occurred during the Interesting youabetterldea Its a way of acting time of Christs ox lessons in an Interesting manner out the words ft Istence gets people Involved which Is very survival weekend at Base Borden Members of the Georgetown s militia company spent the weekend living to tents and cooking their rood over fires Larry Pickett of Georgetown was elected president of the Georgetown Horsemen Associa tion during Its annual The main concern of the meeting was to discuss the of the upcom ing year horse shows 10 years ago Jim Young of Georgetown was named top salesman of Clay Equip ment Corporations Top Ten ritory sales representatives for The company la represented in Canada through a division office in Georgetown In an effort to prevent the long lineups which result on the first day Issues of stamps after an In crease of postal rales the Georgetown post office released new 14 cents and 30 cents denomination stamps a month ear Walter Gray 85 of Georgetown measured being named Lions Club Citizen of the Year as the second best thing that has happened to him next to marrying his wife Edith Mr Gray devoted many years of voluntary service to the community of Georgetown A yearold Georgetown man began a 30 mile sojourn through Africa and Europe David Connolly spent five months touring countries such as South Africa Libya Morocco and Spain 5 years ago Only albs at birth baby Brian Ian Arnold was early and a bit too tiny for the Infant car seat his mother received rent free for eight months from the Georgetown Janice Arnold of was presented wllh Ihe ap proved car seat for giving birth to the first Georgetown baby during Buckle Up Baby Week Elaine was elected president of the Historical Society She replaced Cy Waters Acton Dirty Dozen volleyball squad consisting of the towns police detachment battled their way to the semi finals at the third annual Rudons tournament Over w raised In the charity event played at the Acton High School The Georgetown District High School wrestling Rebels pinned down a Peel championship at White Oaks Secondary School In Oakvllle Altogether of Rebel wrestlers earned team at the Peel Hal ton meet