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Page HILLS OUTLOOK Saturday Joly tWs Hal ton Hills OUTLOOK published each Saturday by the ALTON I IF BALD Home Newspaper of A Division Canadian Newspaper Company Limited at IS Guelph Street Georgetown Ontario Mil Second Mall Registered Number ACCOUNTING Brent Borne Pauline Miller CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING JoanMannall Terry Colter Tbeir Outlook Turner shows Courage Twos a Crowd MARKETING REPRESENTATIVES Sharon BelhMacCHUvary PRODUCTION Iave Mylei Annie Mary Pore man Ottawa Report Stewart Thomson Newi Service Say what you want about Liberal Leader John Turners latest gambit on free trade but you cant question his courage If ever there wen an all-or- nothing initiative launched by an Op position Leader or any other politi cian for that matter this has to be It And unless Mr Turner ia being personally tutored by mystic forces such as Kinks leftover spirits Its unlikely that he has any belter Idea than the rest of lb about When an Opposition Leader throws down the gauntlet like this and tell Prime Minister Brian the Liberaldominated Senate will hold up the freetrade until a general election is called It is to put ft mildly a high- risk operation Mr Turner was quick to acknowledge be was ventur ing Into dangerous territory No one party leader can control the agenda of an election campaign And the issue that Mr Turner has dearly chosen as the centerpiece of his campaign the prime minister was forcing free trade on Canadians without any mandate whatsoever might well be shunted into the background could push this aside wit attacks on the Senate and toe alleg ed arrogance of this nonelected in stitution holding up the will of the elected House of Commons The Liberals with expected help from the New Democrats certainly have a case when Ihey say free trade was foisted on Canadians after Mr Mulroney had given assurance that be would have no part of it But would that attack hold up Or would the prime minister be more committed to tearing up the deal if elected a vote Is unnecessary A Tory defeat whenever the elec tion is bold would spell the end of this deal MANY UNKNOWNS And what would be the publics reaction if Mr Mulraoey simply Ig nored the Senate and didnt send the trade bill down the hall Since there is no legal requirement that the enabling legislation be passed by Parliament it could be argued that the government went farther than necessary In getting it approved by the elected Commons He hinted in this direction just a few days before Mr Turner made his drama tic announcement The House of Commons represents the elected represen tatives of he people said the prime minister Were dealing with the elected representatives of the people Once that process Is com- plete well look at things While Mr Turner went out of his way far out to take full respon sibility for his partys strategy its unlikely the Senate would escape the wrath of campaigning Tories And once you gel Into Senate reform and all that political paraphernalia free trade could become a mere appen dage to the campaign Anyway there are many Liberals who dont want to centre a campaign on this issue Tbey would much prefer to focus on the prime minister his personality and his alleged comings It would be different and much safer Tor Mr Turner If passage of the freetrade legislation meant the deal was sealed for all time But the fact that a Liberal or New Democratic government would have the right to terminate the arrange ment casts some doubt on need for a blockade by the Senate Its a matter of ho these arguments are presented and perceived TIME RIPE Prom all reports Mr Turner and his dose advisers including Senator Allan spent many hours mulling over the strategy before calling a news conference Its unlikely that these poll Leal veterans which also included Senator Graham the partys campaign cochairman overlooked some of the practical considera tions Thst last Gallup poll for In stance must have been on the table It showed that since the previous sampling the Liberals had dropped four percentage points to while the Tories had soared by seven points to A companion poll about the leaden also supported the theory that the momentum may be switching to the Tories In reply to questions on which leader offers the best vision for leading Canada only 15 per cent opted for the liberal leader while per cent named Mr and so per cent chose Leader Ed There are rampant reports of In ternal party polls that suggest all things considered the Liberals would be better off with an early election SNAFU by Bruce Beallie Here comes the Cruise Control now Standing ground is important now Your Business A friend Just back from St Johns My life Is a ragstorlchss story Unfortunately the first chapters already years long nla Recalling the projects history of false starts and failed negotia tions they fear they may be disap pointed again Something could go wrong with the big offshore oil project Oil prices could dive or the economy could grind to a halt making the billlon helping hand the government is giving the oil companies look like a waste of money Sure enough the politicians are coming under fire for their support of the project With Newfoundland and federal elections Impending cynics say the politicians are in vesting in votes not oil But If Sheik Ahmed Zak Is right we had better hope Mobil and Its partners waste no time In br inging Into production In Yamanj a book about the man who was Saudi Arabias oil minister for years author Jeffrey Robinson asks Sheik Yamanl how oil markets will develop In future THIRD PRICE SHOCK The former Saudi oil minister warns that unless the Industrial world cuts oil consumption learns to conserve and invests in alternative energy sources we will be in for a third oilprice shock In the mid- Clearly Investing In non- conventional reserves such as Hibernia and the Beaufort Sea will be at least as important to North Americas security of supply as in vesting In alternative energy north Indeed if the Canadian economy falters as many believe it will Newfoundland with Hibernia could be the only strong spot in the try In Its early stages will employ about 1500 people directly many others Indirectly Is not home free yet It could be postponed If oil prices tum ble or If costs get out of hand But media critics and analysts who call it a huge gamble are ignoring the risks Involved In not developing the field dangerous as volatile Interest rates If as some people predict we are In Tor a whom ping deflation Hibernia will be the least of our problems WARNING Oil companies are betting that the price will have risen substantially by when oil from will start to flow To break even oil will nave to hit US a barrel by then it is about a barrel now Understandably oil companies arc not willing to lake the risk Whether there is a third oilprice shock in the as Sheik Yam ant predicts depends also on economic growth between now and then The boom since has been helped by relatively low oil prices which have had the unfortunate ef fect of discouraging new production How serious oil shortage wtn be depends on how events unfold over the next three years Sheik Yamanl says The glut has helped the Western economies this Ea true But the ultimate results of short- term thinking will come later on and they will not oe pleasant Indeed anything brings the North American economy to its knees It will be our tendency to view things from a disturbingly short- term perspective Chasing their tail Staff Comment It was a somewhat funny scene in the council chambers at Region July Here was a lawyer telling the peo ple who hired him right out In the open that they must practise responsible government Toe question was whether or not Halton Region should endorse a recommendation by Thomas to ban area municipalities from appearing before an En vironmental Assessment bearing on proposed public landfill sites The buck should stop at the Region according to Mr Each municipality Is represented at the Region and that should be the place of battle he said ting their cases before the board Both are fighting the possibility of having a Regional dump In their municipality The Region and the area municipalities are spending millions of taxpayers dollars fighting each other endorsed Mr Lederers proposal a lough call But in the end it bolls down to the question of what Is responsible government has IS members on council Including the chairman Nine coun cillors are from Burlington has seven Hills five and Milton has only three Regardless of where the best scientifically safe spot Is In the Region councillors will never nor should they really be expected to put the Interests of another municipality before theirs You fight for the people you repre sent Its difficult to Justify taking that right away in such an awesome case as this Yea It means spending more money The question is would the taxpayers rather spend the money and keep the trucks the seagulls the bulldozers the smell and the ug ly hole out of own back yards If the answer Is yes as the work of citizens groups In Milton and Burl ington seem to show then area municipalities must never nave that right taken away Its Just a flaw In he system thats really difficult to correct Making another flaw wont fix the first one Poets Corner thoughts of you that sear my brain