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Outlook on Halton Hills MP wants to know what your feelings are It seamed like visiting people be a good way to start off am so Dorothy and I spent New Years Day touring around this hogs new riding of BaltonPeeL Three mayors were having levees receptions at which they put on those chains of office and in vite people in for a glass of something In Georgetown Mayor Ruse was serving a non alcoholic kind of In Hilton Gord KranUgtSfered cider and coffee Burlington Mayor Blrdjjiad on After a day like tbat after talk ing with dozens of people and the better part of three municipal councils Im struck by how dif ferent our communities are and yet how similar Prom the tower ing Burlington city hall building to the view of fields that Caledon Mayor Emil Kolb enjoys from his office it is truly a long way But I also know were glued together by a number of common an goals Most of us are working middle- class people We play by the rules pay our taxes struggle to afford homes and look forward to the future Most of us dont expect government to give us handouts but we also expect the guys In Ot tawa to look out for our interests For the past six weeks that has included me As I told you before the first four of those weeks ed getting to Ottawa getting established and then getting the free trade legislation through the House of Commons Now its on with the future And on to tackle some of the obvious problems which brought me into On The Hifl With Garth Turner politics in the first place- In my former life one of the things I did was write newspaper columns on money business and the economy Many times I used those columns to blast the feds for letting the mortgage on Canada get out of hand That mortgage is call ed the deficit the amount of money we have to borrow each year because Ottawa always spends more than it collects in taxes As we borrow the national debt grows And as that increases so do our annual mortgage payments This is the score right now The government will have to bor row about billion to get through tins year We owe more than billion as a country some of that to banki and people who bought savings bonds But most of it Is owed to foreigners who purchased govern ment securities Within three years well owe billion It takes a third of all taxes col lected just to pay the interest on the debt we already have From last April to last October alone we spent billion paying that in terest about billion more than in the same period a year earlier In fact it costs us about a minute every minute of every day to carry this Canada And most of that money is being sent to investors out of the country To my mind this is nuts It seems like were bleeding to death And I resent one of every three of my tax dollars being spent on something as useless as debt ser vice charges It is clearly time we started get ting the national house in order Because if we dont the dollar will inevitably fall while interest rates and inflation rise Life here in Bolton Burlington Acton Georgetown Caledon and the rest of the riding wont feel so good We only have to look to South American countries to see the results of overborrowing The first folks to get whomped are those in the middle class So now that Im in politics and In the government its time to do my part Ive spoken with the finance minister Michael Wilson and over the next few weeks 111 be working with him on things like the next phase of federal tax reform Sometime in March be will likely have a budget ready to table in the House of Commons and that reform could be a big part of it The reality of paying down Canadas mortgage is that well have to raise taxes or lower spen ding Neither option will feel very good and politicians like me know bow steamed people get when they are asked to pay more and take less Anybody who read my words before I went for this job knows tbat I slammed governments of all stripes for endlessly raising taxes BEARLY USED AUTO PARTS INC Formerly Watson Auto Parts UNDER NEW OWNERSHIP Parte lor Lata Modal Carat Trucks rjf Hotllrta Services HIGHEST PRICES PAID FOR CARS TRUCKS PDCC I Business Hours I TOWING I Saturday Nearly used AUTO PARTS INC Formerly Watson Auto Parts or 5 It seemed like the easy way out when government spending jusl kept on increasing I know Canadians expect a lot from Ottawa But I also know we realize what kind of a future lies ahead if we borrow more billions and face unbearable mortgage payments A number of people have tokd me they were sorry this issue didnt come up during the election campaign They would have liked hearing where the candidates and the parties stood on cutting the deficit and reducing the national debt To my mind there is nothing more critical except making sure we protect and promote the en vironment Both will irreversibly shape our national future Neither can be ignored No easy answers so Id ap preciate your thoughts Are there areas where you think we can cut back on government spending Do you think people would stomach higher taxes if they were target- ted to reduce the deficit Please let me know You can write my Ottawa office without a stamp Garth Turner MP House of Commons Ottawa KlA Or drop me a line at borne Box Camnbellville LOP 1B0 but then youll need to spend 38 cents Ill try and make it a good invest ment for you Increased funds for program Barbara Sullivan for Halton Centre has announced a 37350 funding increase to expand a family violence counselling pro gram in Burlington The annual assistance will be provided to Family Services Burl ington Counselling and Human Relations Institute Mrs Sullivan said that the fun ding is in addition to the in annual funds provided to the agen cy by the Ministry of Community and Social Services for family violence counselling services The Increase will allow the agency to hire another counsellor to better meet the needs of women who are abused men who abuse and children who witness abuse in their homes In addition to the family violence counselling program COHR Fami ly Services the second largest family service agency in offers a variety of support services to area families The expansion of the family violence counselling program will allow greater access to services for families residing in the communities of Acton Georgetown and Halton Hills The funding is part of a million increase in provincial government support for family violence counselling services Spending on family violence counselling by the Ministry of Community and Social Services now stands at million annual ly Total provincial government spending on family violence ser vices Is million a 15 per cent increase over last year Grant helps museum keep up in The snow is here Tune up your gear Alpine Tuneup 995 Binding Installation Oakley Eyeshades Now In Stock MAIN STREET SOUTH GEORGETOWN riling Lot 1988 The Halton Museum just west of Milton received a 3976 grant from the Government of Ontario through the Ministry of Culture and Com munications These funds have been sup plemented by the Regional Municipality of Halton and used to purchase muchneeded equipment to assist museum staff with the conservation of Haltons artifact collection and promotion of Haltons heritage Among the items purchased psychometer and tber- devices for measuring and recording temperature and humidity a light meter humidifiers storage cabinet microform reader display system camera and projector and screen The purchase of this equipment will allow the Museum to Improve its conservation promotional and educational programs Staff are now able to monitor and record temperature humidity and light levels in all six buildings and In the offslte storage area in Milton Researchers staff and volunteers will use the microform reader to scan documents thereby further ing the preservation of original ar chival material The display system projector and screen will be used for offsite activities and presentations N ELLS DRIVING SCHOOL Approved by Ontario Safety gum NEXT COURSE Feb 6Mar 1 MondayWednesday 630930 pm For In About Count or phone 8772671 X