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Page THE HERALD OUTLOOK Saturday Augut 19SS the HERALD Outlook Sell VIA and CP to foreign buyers OUTLOOK Is published each Saturday by HILLS HERALD Home Newspaper of Hills A Division of Canadian Newspapers Company Limited at Street Georgetown Ontario 17 Second Class Mail Registered Number 8772201 8778822 PUBLISHER David A Beattie EDITOR Brian MacLeod AD MANAGER Dan Taylor Diane Your Business Thornton Hun Struct Whatever happened to the takeover of Canadian Pacific Was our indignation all i nothing A couple weeks ago the business community was abuzz speculation that Ltd that mo Canadian of companies was about to be swallowed whole by foreigners CPs stock price climbed as mystery buyers snapped up shares Behind the scenes big speculators may have been ac cumulating stock in anticipation of a bid Maybe the ensuing uproar scared the wouldbe acquisitors away The vision of foreigners swooping down on CP offended our national sensibilities It was politically unacceptable Chances are that if someone really was sniffing around the big conglomerate they are still huddl ed behind closed doors trying to come up with a proposal that will sooth nationalist sentiment Lets say the buyers are a con sortium of British US and Cana dian companies This is pure speculation Their original plan was to make an offer for all of CPs shares take the company private and divide it amongst themselves selling the parts they didnt want They scotched this plan when they realized what they would be up against Back at the draw- their task is to come up with something they can sell to the people I have a suggestion How about if we throw in Via Rail the passenger rail service CP dumped on the federal government when ii became too expensive for the giant company to run For a price of course The deal would be condi tional on the buyers keeping the rail service running After all Canadian Pacific- Railway still owns the land and tracks that carry Via trains It owns the vast tracts of la id thai house the rail yards some of most valuable real estate in the country When Canadian Pacific was founded the government gave it this land in order to make the railway possible When cars trucks and airplanes made off with the railways business CP dumped the unprofitable passenger service on us the taxpayers Yet it charges Via Rail a pretty penny for the use of its tracks Maybe the whole notion that so meone wanted to buy Canadian Pacific was just a rumor Or maybe the takeover artists linger ing in the shadows have given up and gone home at least for now CP A PLUM But Canadian Pacific is ripe for a takeover Investors could buy some stock and leave it at that CP shares give them a crosssection of the Canadian economy CP Rail the Soo Line CP Ships CP Trucks an interest in Laidlaw Transporta tion PanCanadian Petroleum Ltd CP Forest Products CP Telecommunications CP Hotels Marathon Realty and Inter national Trouble is the stock market doesnt value conglomerates highly enough Over the past few years big investors have made more money buying and selling companies than they have buying and selling stock Sooner or later someone will come along and persuade us that the restructuring breakup and sale of would be good for Canada It would certainly be good for CP shareholders who would be able to sell their shares to the bid der at a handsome profit This would be a turning point in Canadian history Whether it would be good or bad would depend on who ended up with what Berrys World HAVE YOU SEEN THE ABYSS STAFF WRITERS Urn SPOUTS EDITOR Colin Gibson ACCOUNTING June CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING Suit Donna loan Manual SNAFU by Bruce Beattie SALES Valois Craig Teeter Stacie Roberts PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT Dave Hastings Supl Annie Susanne Wilson CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT PRESSROOM FOREMAN PRESS ASSISTANT Todd Aikman Treat pizzas equally Why did you buy one made out of clear plastic You know I cant stand the sun Trudeau our next Governor General dorsement of Buckingham Palace And if holds to the tradition of alternating between two official language groups he will appoint an anglophone who will likely be from outside Quebec But like before him has proven adventurous in his appointments of women blacks and ethnics to the high courts and viceregal posts The gender barrier to the governor generals title fell with appointment of Sauve so if Mulroney is thinking of blazing any new trails he might be considering an ethnic or native candidate Whoever replaces Sauve will in herit one of the richest rewards the country can offer its public figures The annual salary of is meagre compared to other top cor porate and offices but the perks that are lavished on the headcfstate are extraordinary SPRAWLING PALACE Home is a sprawling palace on an forested site in the ex clusive village of In side it is a glittering maze of ballrooms banquet and dining rooms reception halls and galleries Outside it is a pastoral estate of gardens and recreational fields tended by landscapers and It is dotted with staff quarters greenhouses car riage houses and service buildings A masonry and perimeter fence seals the grounds control the gates Access is granted to pass holders guided tours and the local cricket club The viceregal family can also escape the capital by reposing in the Quebec residence inside the historic Citadel fortress overlook ing the St Lawrence and the Plains of Abraham The million annual budget also provides for a lot of entertain ing and travel that must ac company the heady lifestyle of a head of state The governor general and spouse are expected to host visiting members of the Royal family and other heads of state and official visitors Lavish banquets receptions luncheons balls and parties are also arranged for a Variety of reasons OTTAWA One of the hottest topics fall in this city of rumors and speculation will be the next governor general Jeanne Sauves term as 23rd governor general has already been extended once to next Jan and the 67yearold former broadcaster and politician has made it clear she wants to retire Prime Minister Brian Mulroney has given no hints as to whom he may be favoring for the viceregal position as Queens represntative and commanderinchief of the armed forces Pollsters have toyed with names and sampled public response to a number of possible candidates But when Parliament is called back into session Mulroney will have only three months to decide on a successor to Sauve And thats when the rumor mills will be grin ding at full speed Before Mulroney extended Sauves term the Gallup organiza tion attempted to gauge public ac ceptance of a number of public figures To the surprise of some they found former prime minister Pierre was the choice of more than a third of those who responded Trudeau was ranked 13 percen tage points ahead of former cabinet minister Flora MacDonald and the rest of the pack which in cluded Joe Clark Robert Stanfield William Richard Hatfield former UK high commissioner Roy McMurtry and Supreme Court Chief Justice Brian Dickson The choice however is not up to tiie public Since prime ministers have been appointing the heads- of state with the official en- Vic Parsons Ottawa Bureau I Does the release of the Goodb and Services Tax papers signal an end lo the Great Frozen Pizza Debate Alas we can say with it does not But we may have seen the end of the beginning You may recall that pizza recently came to the fore as an issue in Michael Wilsons new sales tax foray Under the proposed rules pizza dished up in a restaurant would be subject to the impending tax fast becoming known the GST while the frozen variety purchased in your local supermarket is exempt Thais because the chilled variety might be considered a basic grocery Foul play cried the restaurateurs All pizzas should be treated equally Now you may take the view that frozen pizza cant hold a candle to the succulent delight served at the local diner and its worth paying the extra amount But the preparedfoods question is one of the trickier ones to confront the government as it prepares to im plement the GST by Jan The finance minister has made it clear that he wants to discuss with the food industry and restaurateurs the definitions of basic groceries It may be necessary he suggested to separate the taxfree the tax able product by product The vast majority of grocery store products would be tax free POSITIVE MOVES This willingness to be flexible should be viewed positively After all facing a vast array of critics Wilson has already made conces sions to amend presumed flaws And promised hearings on the GST haverit even begun yet No one should doubt Wilsons determination to replace the ex isting and widely denounced manufacturers sales tax He stood firm again Tuesday We are ab solutely committed to going ahead with this tax Wilson says hes not under any il lusions that replacing a hidden tax with something more visible will make the government popular But he firmly believes the GST is in the economic sense the right thing to do However he has promised steps to make the proposed GST less burdensome Lets look at a few of these Critics charged that a sales tax is regressive hurting poorer citizens more To deal with this the refundable sales tax credit for adults will be almost tripled to in and doubled for kids to Single parents can cluim the adult credit for one of their children About nine million Canadians will receive credit cheques and the first quarterly payment will be made in December before the new tax is introduced The middle personal income tax rate will be reduced in to from the current 26 per cent Families earning up a year will be better off Wilson says Moreover be says these changes Continued on Page 6