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

Page THE HERALD OUTLOOK Saturday February 1989 Andres changes his tune Just bow many Andres arethere Theres Andre con sumers friend Then theres Har vie Andre defender of federal competition policy Oh yes and Harvie Andre the fan of corporate mergers There is a Harvie Andre who is federal minister of consumer and corporate affairs Could all these Andres be one and the same In case youre wondering what has brought on this attack of bewilderment I suggest you ex amine Andres recent comments on mergers He seems to have as many shades of opinion as chameleons have skin colors Now it may be the God given right of politicians to lets say adjust their message according to the audience they are address But golly Andres diverse remarks on mergers were merely made to reporters who of course have no opinion Lets see what our minister sale this week Certainly I think it might be useful for a parliamentary com mlttee to look at corporate tration he told a television inter viewer Monday 1 think we all have a sense of unease about these mergers I would encourage Parliament to have a look at it That same day however he told the Toronto Star he wouldnt bypass the federal Bureau and call for a public On Tuesday he was arguing thai mergers can be good for us and we neednt worry about corporate con HAILS MERGERS Mergers to enhance company strength through increased effi ciency tion and so on hallelujah Andre told the national wire service The Canadian press Weve got to do that as a country He went on to say all Canadians will benefit if a merger increases industry efficiency and prices to the consumer are dropped Andres words apparently caus ed a stir in his own precincts There was consternation in bis department At least one reporter was called There was no problem with the quotes the journalist was told but Andre didnt like the tone of the article Tbe conversation conclud with a ministerial aide saying that perhaps Andre should choose his words more carefully Perhaps the problem is the nature of Andres department It s one of those schizophrenic entitle- sometimes encountered in the bureaucracy responsible not only for protection of consumers but also for regulation of business At one time the No 1 aim of the department was to defend con sumer rights Times change however and with a government that leans toward business departmental may clash This may be one of those clashes NO SIGN Take Andres comment that all will benefit if industries increase efficiency and savings can be pass ed along to consumers The trouble is thereB no sign both these fine goals will be achieved In the case of the Corp takeover of Wardair everyone and his dog is saying air fares will rise But PWA President Rhys Eyton says his company future Wardair division will continue spirited com petition Oh sure His real message is in a second phrase We don t want to see foolish competition So what s foolish How about two separate companies with the same owner bidding down air fares for the benefit of consumers Then theres the Imperial takeover of Texaco Canada The Consumers Association of Canada says that one will mean higher prices for motorists and homeowners who use oil The oil industry may be flcient but where are the benefits for consumers Then theres the Molson Carting OKeefe beer merger No one is ex pecting lower beer prices for the consumer from that deal About the only way thats likely to happen is if foreign competitors are allow ed freely into Canada without the penalty of additional taxation Meanwhile our consumer defender in cabinet is taking a firm stand on the fence Or perhaps he doesn t really exist Wasn there a movie once about an invisible rab bit named Harvey PHOTO REPRINTS appearing in The Herald 8772201