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

Page THE HERALD OUTLOOK Saturday February 1988 Outlook Lifestyle Trust busters in spotlight Canadas revitalized trust busters will be in the spotlight over the next few weeks after the an nouncement of the merger bet ween the countrys second- and thirdlargest brewers Shortly after the merger bet ween the Molson Cos Ltd and Carting OKeefe Breweries was confirmed a spokesman for the Bureau of Competition Policy said the deal will be reviewed by the federal agency One of the bureaus mandates is to ensure that mergers and other business transactions and prac do not unduly lessen com petition and harm consumers Review of a transaction of the size of the OKeefe deal is automatic under the new competition law that went into ef fect a year and a half ago The changes made then overhauled a decrepit 75yearold act and toughened the competition powers But though the law gives the bureau greater powers that doesnt mean Big Brother is wat ching over the business Vic Parsons ready to pummel offenders at the first opportunity Indeed the approach taken by director Calvin Goldman a Bay Street lawyer who took on the com bines job two years ago is to speak softly and carry a big stick NEW POLICY That policy was outlined in the bureaus recently released annual report for Its first full year of operation under the new rules The report noted that historically the bureau had investigated violations of the act with a view to prosecu tion and levying of criminal penalties For mergers for example that was not a successful approach REVIEW Under the old act not one merger prosecution succeeded in three- quarters of a century It proved impossible to show beyond reasonable doubt that the public bad been hurt However the report con tinues it has become clear that in many instances the goals of maintaining and encouraging com petition can be pursued with greater effectiveness and certain ty and with less time and expense through an approach to enforce ment which stresses the promotion of voluntary compliance with the act and relies on a broader range of responses to noncompliant behavior Thats a long way of saying its better to talk through emerging problems rather than waiting for the government regulator to bran dish that stick And thats where the bureau has a good deal of clout Often from the business viewpoint its wiser to take a step backward to achieve a goal instead of getting tied up in lengthy and expensive court wrangling exposed to the public TheGreat Wiped Out North Back in 1906 Ambrose Bierce an American journalist and wit published the first edition of his celebrated Devils Dictionary It was a bitter sardonic book con taining comical and imaginative redefinitions of familiar words so popular and widely quoted that it became a classic often reprinted Now we have a similar book about Canada by Allan Gould another journalist and wit who has seized Bierces idea and run with it through the thickets of Canadian political and cultural pretensions The result Is a fresh and amusing romp diverting and sometimes satisfying Gould is however more jolly and laidback than Bierce and may be like his sub ject too um gentle Gould has a sharp eye for idiocy and a deft way of exposing it He is a rare and clever fellow a certified egghead with three university degrees but also a toughminded working journalist with a sure in stinct for pricking balloons A brisk writer Gould is the author of nine books Odd I think that he is not better known He deserves to be Is it possible that we are still too timid or insecure to cherish our own humorists until like they are acclaimed abroad Goulds new work is The Great Wiped Out North or When Sacred Cows Come Home to Roost Stod- 228 pages with il lustrations by Graham It is breezy and enjoyable Gould has long since won bis spurs and takes sly pleasure in sticking them into critters from A pronounced eh for Bar bara the Honey to Z for without the known as the North Pole he gained fame for Us G being silent when nothing else was The author aims his darts at Canada Post and Air Canada At- ancl Elmer the Safety Elephant Conrad Black and Peter XL Application Weddings Occasions BY APPOINTMENT ONLY CONSULTATION GROUP CAROLINE- 8773251 C Newman the familiar icons of our often overblown identity and gives us chortles of delight when he skewers them Gould has fun with Alimony adding insult to in jury The to air is human to forgive CBC programming divine All this for less money than a parking meter and just as exciting The Globe and Mail Canadas most influential newspaper because it carries a good selection of articles from the national newspaper The New York Times National Energy Police an ingenious concept on the part of the federal government of create Western Separatism Many of Goulds entries are not just definitions but short essays designed to communicate Informa tion as well as to produce smiles He is an extremely knowledgeable rascal and like every good satirist he wants to provoke as much as to entertain Humor is after all a serious business In the preface he insists True Patriots Laugh I believe that the truest patriots are both willing and anxious to laugh at their countrys foibles and im perfections and help to work towards correcting them If this book moves some of its readers to laughter and a crusading desire to make this pretty good country far better than it pretends to be then I will be satisfied Good stuff that and theres much more like it between these covers And yet and yet Gould gives pleasure with soft humor more than with the snap and bite of satire This admirable book is more nice than nasty more tickl ing than trenchant Somehow I get the feeling that hes just too nice a guy a stylish jabber but not a tough puncher There is a dif ference after all between the humorist and the satirist between the bright jokester and the memorably mordant wit Jack McLeod a professor at the University of Toronto 1b the author of two comic novels and Me and Going Grand He Is the editor of The Oxford Book of Cana dian Political Anecdotes VOGUE AND BUTTERICK PATTERN SALE VOGUE PATTERNS Buy 1 Get 1 FREE BUTTERICK PATTERNS Buy 1 Get 1 FREE Sale Datu Feb 1 to 25 GET READY FOR SPRING WITH GEORGETOWN FABRICS Gebrtjefown 8777477 eye EDUCATION BETTER The report says the bureau is placing emphasis now on com munication and public education Companies are being encouraged to seek advice about transactions at the earliest possible stage The hope is that conflicts can be nar rowed down to only the most serious and contentious This willingness to resolve issues before they get out of hand has already proven successful A case in point is the December Federal Court order forbidding fixing of realestate commissions Federal officials say they are already seeing increased competi tion and consumers are benefiting from negotiation of the fees they are charged There have been no consumer complaints about fixing in the last month and discount companies are expanding their Moreover the Canadian Real Estate Association and several regional boards lived up to part of the arrangement by publishing the court order in daily newspapers last Thursday On the merger front the report concluded examinations last year about per cent of the total mergers in Canada and 120 were found to pose no problem Seven mergers are being monitored and two were abandoned after in vestigation by the bureau In four others changes were made to the proposal to alleviate bureau con cerns The MolsonCarling merger will mean two brewing companies the other being John Labatt Ltd will overwhelmingly dominate the industry If interests of beerdrinkers and the smaller breweries are threatened the com petition bureau wont hesitate to say so ASK KATHY DEALING WITH DESSERTS I love desserts I enjoy preparing them and I enjoy eating them But Im concerned about my familys health I dont fed good about those rich calorics Do you have any suggestions A Desserts add a special touch to any meaL And fortunately there are many healthful lowcalorie dessert recipes available Following is a sample recipe ChocolateStrawberry Cake 2 cups apples chopped 2 cups strawberries or frozen unsweetened 1 vanilla 1 chocolate extract Diet Center Lite sweetener 1 cup Diet Center Protein Powder Chocolate 2 tap baking soda cup bran unprocessed Place first 6 Ingredients In blender and blend well Pour KATHY mixture Into a large bowL Add the remaining dry Ingred ients and mix with an electric mixer Spray a Bundt pan with lowcalorie nonstick spray Pour mixture Into pan Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes Cool and refrigerate or freeze When ready to serve garnish with fresh strawberries Available at Diet Center For more healthful recipes call your local Diet Center Business Number Personal 8772900 Home Number By Appointment 8530780 Mill St Georgetown BULK FOOD0 Next To Macs Milk Special Buy Any Other Item or More and Receive the Prices Above SPECIAL PRICES IN EFFECT UNTIL TUESFEB61989 Seniors Day Every Wed 10 OFF BULK FOODS NcxITo MACS MILK