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

Page Saturday October I IMS Halton Hills Company Limited at is Street Second laii Mall mil 8772201 Brian Mail eod EDITOR AD MAN AC Ml Dan Taylor Mac I rod lit NT Hastings llson Annie Mary loulon man Outlook Terrible timing Twos a Crowd Ottawa I Stewart MacLeod Thornton As if Liberal Leader John Turner didn already have enough pro blems he had to go out and create a new one It might not prove to be monumental mind you but at this stage he need even the slightest unnecessary glitch And this one was entirely necessary Coming from such an ex politician It was in fact inexcusable What we talking about is timing one of the most crucial factors In the success or otherwise political lives What passes as brilliant politics on one particular day can be an absolute bomb the fi day There was no a It days ago when the Liberal accused the Mulroncy runn mg up an enormous llion lab as it tossed out preelection goodies from one end of Canada to the No opposition leader could be en peeled to do less on the eve an election In the last election campaign you might recall Brian never missed an opportunity to tell that the Turner led Liberals were spending them out of house and home in an irresponsible drive or reelection So the prime minister obviously knew that the would be returned in this campaign But even he could not have predicted how Mr Turners timing would make things so easy for him Within hours of accusing the Tories of trying buy their way back into office Mr Turner was at it himself It difficult to imagine what the prime minister will do with this BIOBLCKS While Canadians were still toting up Mr Turner estimate of alleged Tory votebuying the Liberal leade goes to Whistler and unveils the first major plank In his election promising to spend illlon to help municipalities rebuild sewer sterns roads and water It matters not about the of the proposal But what does matter is the timing Tf Mr Turner wants to get Canadians worked up over the government alleged 12 billion spending spree surely it would be prudent to wait more than 24 hours before announcing a single Liberal program that will cost 15 billion To moke it even easier for Mr Mulroncy to attack Liberal proposal would also involve equal municipal and provincial par over five years This means that any astute politician and the prime minister qualifies In this respect is able to talk albeit it loosely about the Liberal plan for spending billion And this is one plank In a platform that has yet to be unveiled It would be different if Mr Turner was pressed for time But the lion even been called And after It called there Is going to be nearly two months for the Admittedly the I leader had perfect audience the British Columbia Union of Municipalities as the original idea for such a three- government pro gram came from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities Still Mr Turner have to miki his announcement it that mo- mint Me had doing qui Berrys World attn or dishing out of doll pretlcctun slush fund for rvalue Party SHOW The Liberal leader should have given the public a few weeks at least to concentrate on the long Tory spending spree before cluttering up the books with his own pledges Lord knows there is enough to think about We have million fur regional development in Quebec billion for the oil field million for 12 minesweepers million for vehicles 4 billion for child care over seven years million to tight literacy million to help wint and grape industry adjust to free trade million for a gas pipeline to Vancouver Island And it was still coming including up to billion for on oil sands in Alberta It can be argued of course that Mr Turner should be very careful in any specific attacks on this ding since most of the protects arc very popular in affected regions Instead some Liberals say he should talk in general terms about what Ottawa can and cannot afford And he could the timing the fact that must of the money is being thrown out on the eve of an election LETTER Consider the issues Dear Sir An editorial by Brian MacLeod In your Outlook publication of Sept 1068 did an excellent job of taking us through last week fivehour discussion at town council re a denied CN railway line Showed what motivated with a clear purpose can do However immediately followed this and 1 quote You wonder how Important the issu leadership will be In the upcoming federal election teems to we should each be considering the Important issue of leadership us we prepare to cast a vote In the upcoming municipal Thank I dont believe an ingrown toenail qualifies The ties that bind Your Business Diane Thornton Strvici may be the most for world something we say so Seventy seven per cent of us say we don understand free trade That wouldn stop makes me why w being by hem When pollsters ask men public what Ihcy of some up I he they know the issues Indeed one polls tested the reliability of poll Americans he of an issue that he had invented Tin vast majority of those polled were cither for or against the issue few admitted that they had ntver of the problem before Opposition to free trade par in Ontario Is weird and worrying In the words of one col a mystery that cannot be solved by rational analysis cording to a recent report by two economics professors from the University of Toronto The main objections to the free trade agreement are that we are too dependent on our trade with the Americans the second is that they threaten overwhelm us culturally Tht issue of trade dependency calls to mind the Third Option of former prime minister Pierre Trudcau who sought to expand our trade ties with Europe and tile Far East THIRD OPTION is sad but the initiative fell flat as well as being highly pro tectionist is abandoning Its smokestack industries the logical buyers of Canadian raw materials Japan Taiwan are so busy trying to offset their big trade surplus with the Americans that they have to buy all thi U goods tan manage to the sales Canadian exports git ignored in the process As it stands nearly BO per cut of our exports go to the Urn led States a proportion of our Imports come from south of the border The geography is compelling To a great extent as analysts have pointed out the fret trade deal that the Americans have signed or mnllze the ties that already bind our two economies The result of this integration over the years has been a standard of in Canada like that In the United States a chicken or two in every pot and a Ford or two in every driveway and televisions and VC1U In the ingroom Al LAMt UK AN More puullng than tie is our fear of being subsumed culture As children we knew all about Tom Sawyer If a story a or a legend I American it was British There was the London bridge and the Brooklyn bridge A busy house was like Grand Central Station who ever heard of Union Station When we grew up wed move York got a Job on Madison Avenue visit the t State building go Is see a Broadway show and stay at the Waldorf Astoria All Christmastime we listened to singing White Christmas or Silver Bells songs as American as apple pie Today three generations of Canadians can be found all listen to the same music that old American favorite rock n roll From Frank Sinatra lo Presley to Bruce Springsteen we have been raised on American culture and holt it to be our own Whatever si ill distinguishes us from Americans will remain for belter or worse after the free trade Is signed It k time we stopped shrinking from shadows on the wall and mustered the courage lo lake a chance on a deal that will allow us to preserve a standird of living that is North American through and through we may find differ from the Americans in the wrong wpvs Whats the true story El Staff Comment Will we ever know the In behind the Ben Johnson saga I doubt It After being stripped of his gold medal Johnson a coaches and doc tor started throwing around the old the water bottles must been switched excuse Although It Is not entirely In conceivable virtually every person who has lesled positive for steroids has used a similar excuse What Is It that makes lien Johnson Is It not entirely inconceivable once he found himself flounder ing in the two previous during the summer Johnson attempted to Find a quick cure In a desperate bid to prepare In time fur the Olympics 1 don think Johnson should crucified for taking steroids whether he knew about it or not In the highest echelons of athletic competition steroids arc merely a fact of life 1 Just find it Interesting that millions of Canadians who don even know the man can say he different He wouldn t take steroids Somebody must have given it to him Even now after events of the past week I consider myself lucky lo be one of the people who has seen Ben Johnson run and train While I attended York University In the early 1360s often worked out at the Metro Track and Field Centre on campus the stomping ground of Johnson Mark McCoy Angela Taylor and Williams Back Ihen Taylor now Issajcnko was the star of the bunch Johnson McCoy Williams were to compete in the Olympics They were Just known to us regulars at the centre as a who could tear up Ihe 100metre oval indoor track They were Many limes we slopped what we were doing watched in as these runners whose names meant little to us lore Around the track ranking virtually no noise It seemed to the onlooker lhat their feet never touched the ground You had to see it to believe Steroids were available at track and field centre I knew tw people who were us them when I was there But that Rang of runners was never associated with the drugs What has bothered me Is the assault on the media by some people In the whole affair The media have hung Johnson without a trial they While agree some papers have gone too far a newspaper Job It has been said is to chronicle history as It happens And Ben Johnson was caught with steroids in his body That a fact His excuse is no different than others been caught We Just like him loomuchtobcllcvelt Ben Johnson will reveal his story in a West German maguunc on Mon If Ben Johnson says It alii remember this so have What did you think then