the HERALD OUTLOOK is each Saturday by the HALTON HILLS HERALD Home Newspaper of Halloo Hills A Division of Canadian Newspapers Company Limited at Guelpli Street Georgetown Ontario Second Class Mail- Nothing but nonsense Registered Number 8778822 Ottawa Stewart MacLeod rhomtsn Seivice What makes it so difficult to do or say anything critical about the Meech Lake accord is this nonsense about opponents somehow being antiQuebec Then there is this other nonsense about the accord having to be as drafted that it cant altered without the whole package coming unravelled Sure it would be inconvenient for some if changes were made Parliament and eight of the 10 legislatures have already approv ed the document but thats cer tainly not an insurmountable pro blem If the accord were improved by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and the premiers to satisfy the main concerns being expressed it wouldnt take long for all the legislators to give it a stamp of ap proval As for the present accord unravelling during a reopening of negotiations thats merely a scare tactic by the more strident pro ponents notably Mr Mulroney and Quebec Premier Robert Bourassa There is no reason whatever for the present accord as approved by nine legislative bodies to disintegrate during talks about its Improvement The worst that could happen is that the first ministers couldnt agree on And mats where things are right now Do we really expect some premier to stand up following fail ed negotiations and announce that because we couldnt agree on changes my government will in troduce legislation to unravel the accord already approved HARDSELL The trouble with a hard sell and lets face it Meech Lake has been a hard sell is that it must work Failure to make the sale under these conditions invariably results in very determined rejections One suspects that New Brunswick Premier Frank whose arms have been twisted In all directions by backers of Lake is more determined than ever to get the changes he wants No politician wants to be seen bowing to pressure To some extent this may also be true for Manitoba Premier Gary although his Immediate problem is within his own legislature where the Liberals and oppose the accord and out number his Tories Had the arguments both for and against Meech Lake been kept in better perspective from the begin ning we wouldnt be having these present difficulties in completing the project But the participating- first ministers who cobbled together the accord in an allnight bargain ing session did overindulge themselves in selfcongratulations about being latterday fathers of Confederation And opponents of the accord or even those with serious questions about it were made to feel almost unpatriotic Mr Bourassa who needs some uptodate issue for his forthcom ing election campaign is busy tell ing everyone that opponents of Meech Lake somehow dont know Quebec I am a bit surprised at the opposition of certain leaders of English Canada I would have thought they had a clearer and more profound understanding of the political situation in Quebec LITTLE WONDER Well if there are some misunderstandings in parts of Canada its not surprising From the beginning of negotiations we have been told that by far the overriding objective is to bring Quebec into the Constitution Even if the accord has flaws something few proponents openly admit it would worth the price we were informed How many times have we been told that without Quebec in the constitu tional family the country cant stick together Over and over we have been warned that a rejection of the accord would be interpreted as a rejection of Quebec giving rise to a renewed outburst of separatism Seldom has anyone stopped to re mind us that Quebec is already in the Constitution True the separatist Quebec government of the day didnt agree with the Constitution Act but did anyone expect such agreement There was no requirement for unanimity If Mr feels he is somehow outside the Constitution it was passing strange he made full use of it to invoke Its notwithstan ding clause to restrict the use of English on outdoor signs If that didnt establish some kind of con stitutional precedent I dont know what does And when opponents talk about the need to protect the rights of women natives and minority- language groups outside Quebec or Senate reform or the creation of new provinces these issues have nothing to do with a particular pro vince Yet as part of the hard sell these have all been lumped in with Quebecs membership In the Con stitution Know what else is strange When the first ministers went to Lake to reopen the Constitu tion no one harbored the slightest fear that It would result in any unravelling But now in a manner of speaking not even the reopening can be reopened just been too much PUBLISHER David A Beattie EDITOR Mike Turner AD MANAGER Dan Taylor Donna Kell STAFF WRITERS Brian MacLeod SPORTS WRITER Paul Svoboda ACCOUNTING June Glendenning Tammy Leltch CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING Joan Mannall SNAFU by Bruce Beattie I guess youve been accepted to college Theyve sent a pamphlet on home refinancing No intervention likely Your Business Diane Matey Thomson Htm Swviet We had been growing used to the idea that the federal government did not want industrial companies to have big financial service arms when Bell Canada came along and bought Montreal Trust BCE Inc the holding company thai owns Ma Bell has agreed to pay million for the trust com pany Montreal Trust is controlled by Power Financial Corp another corporate giant BCE is the biggest corporate conglomerate in the country bigger even than Cana dian Pacific Despite the bold move no one seriously expects the federal government to intervene Ottawas tough talk about keeping lenders and borrowers separate has come to nothing says Donald Blenkarn former chairman of the House of Commons finance committee Ottawa had been talking about limiting the holdings of commer cial and industrial companies in financialservice companies to 10 percent A string of bank and trust com pany failures over the past few years has sparked public interest in two owns companies that take deposits from the public But as some observers point out it is im possible to legislate ethical stan dards Letting ownership fall where it may while keeping a dose eye on intercorporate transactions seems to be the best way to protect the public BARRIERS CRUMBLE The finance departments rever sal is a dramatic turn of events Not long ago federal officials were talking about forcing companies that company teildliigs The House finance committee hauled executives of major com panies up before a bearing to grill them about possible selfdealing and conflicts of interest All in all it was an embarrassing display of political power wrongly used politicians were intent on punishing companies for what they might someday do although they had done nothing wrong in the past But has Ottawa really been con verted Montreal Trust is based in Montreal Unlike Ottawa Quebec likes the idea of industrial and financialservice companies join ing hands Montreal Trust plans to convert its federal charter to a Quebec one It will no longer come under Ottawas scrutiny Whether the deal is a test of federal policy is not entirely clear Observers say the key measure in winning federal approval in future will be is CONCERNS PERSIST It would be wrong to say the critics fears about conflict of In terest are groundless We have seen too many examples of self- dealing by small trust companies where the owners encouraged them to lend big mortgages to a real estate affiliate for example When the real estate market slumped the development arm dragged the trust company down with it This is not likely to happen with a company as financially sound as But there are other concerns The holdingcompany parent could discourage its financial sub sidiary from making loans to a competitor bringing its financial muscle to bear on the- marketplace Companies wanting to borrow money could end up with fewer places to shop Pushing these considerations aside the appeal of Montreal Trust to BCE to undeniable BCE has 350000 shareholders and employees many of whom could use mortgages loans or other pro ducts offered by Montreal Trust Who knows We may start getting Montreal Trust advertisements with our phone bills- ADVERTISING SALES Jeannine Valois Craig Teeter Sharon Hollingsworth PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT Dave Hastings Supt Annie GHson Susanne Wilson CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT Marie Shadbolt PRESSROOM FOREMAN Brian PRESS ASSISTANT Lee Blttner Arnies Army Staff Comment Brian MacLeod Over of us crowded together in Veterans Memorial Auditorium shouting cheering calling for more giving ap preciative applause where it was deserved There was a rush to the front and a strobe effect dominated the stage as camera flashes went off everywhere What was it The Arnold Schwarzenegger Classic and Ms International bodybuilding con tests in Columbus Ohio Being a fan of the sport I journeyed for eight hours last weekend to take in the daylong event and a seminar starring the most famous names in bodybuilding on Sunday The event featured a chance to pose with bodybuildings leading man Arnold Schwarzenegger for a polaroid and an opportunity to make small talk with the owner of the worlds most famous biceps for about seconds No we couldnt ask him about Maria Arnold walked back and forth between two screens for three hours nonstop just so adoring fans could bring that polaroid home for a keepsake Hes not as imposing as one might expect Ar nold is still in good form as his shirttearing bicepsflexing scene in Twins showed but he wasnt as aweinspiring as some might ex pect However In the bodybuilding world Arnold isnt just the leading man hes an icon At the mere mention of his name 2600 people went drazy cheering and yelling throughout the night The contest itself was a spec tacular event The Las Vegasstyle show featured the worlds best male and female bodybuilders We were also treated to appearances by fivetime Mr Olympla Lee Haney fully dressed of course fivetime Ms Corey Everson and of course Arnolds famous cousins and Franz One things for sure I have a whole new appreciation for female bodybuilders Although its the big boys like Gary Strydom Rich Gaspari and Robby Robinson who draw most of the attention female bodybuilders have learned bow to pose in such a way that its actually an eyecatching dance routine Arnold kicked off the seminar the following day Its easy to see how hes made the transition from the stage to the screen The crowd was hanging on bis every word and the one liners for which he has become famous were abounding One things for certain You didnt to be a bodybuilding fan to enjoy the show It was a sell out And after that much cheering and shouting no one could come out of there without the adrenalin flowing To those of us in the bodybuilding fraternity the show merely strengthened our resolve To those members of the general public who were seeking to satisfy their curiosity it was no doubt an education Oh yes Rich Gaspari and Tonya Kntght took top honors