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THE HERALD OUTLOOK Saturday November 17 Page9 Letters MPs isolated from reality To the Editor Ottawa has been nick named Wonderland on the Rideau and no wonder it fits The federal politicians who live and work there have Insulated themselves from some of the unpleasant realities of the world realities which the rest of us tax payers must endure every day For instance Members of Parliament never have to worry about receiving the medical care they want when they want it Many Canadians are now suffer ing on long waiting lists for heart operations or hip replacements Most of us have spent time in the waiting rooms of doctors or hospitals MPs dont have those problems because they can simply breeze into an Ottawa clinic established specially for them where they are treated immediately This exclusive clinic has a doc tor on staff whose only duty is to treat MPs and senior bureaucrats The countrys health care system might be fall ing apart with people dying on waiting lists but our elected leaders are guaranteed medical care at their convenience They have also guaranteed themselves a worry free retire ment MPs enjoy one of the most lucrative pension schemes in the world After only six years in office MPs are guaranteed a pension with unlimited protection against inflation Worse the pension is payable on the very day they leave office regardless of their age Then of course there are all the wonderful perks of office MPs enjoy The generous tax free allowances the free travel the six months severance pay if they lose an election the expense ac counts and a whole host of other privileges paid for by the tax payer MPs have set themselves above the Canadians who voted them into office as a privileged ruling class This is something we expect to occur a place like the Soviet Union but in Canada Pity MPs are held in deep by Canadians and they have earned it If they want to win back our respect the respect they should have as our elected representatives they will have to earn it For starters that means no special medical clinics and a fundamentally reformed pension plan True leaders lead by example Its past time that Canadas political leaders did just that Sincerely David Somerville President of the National Citizens Coalition Toronto Ont The victor of the feud Dear Editor I am earnestly hoping you will find space in your valued paper to print this letter and trust you will appreciate my motive for having you print same Apparently Wheldon Steamer left many of your readers hanging in mid air concerning a feud he proclaimed with me because I had inadvertently misspelled his name Wheldon I have received numerous let from old acquaintances in Georgetown as to the outcome of this feud Now my motive for your ting this letter Is to save 39C for every stamp I would pay to res pond to each of these letters To get back on track regarding the feud it is known as the shortest feud in history and Steamer and I are once more the best of friends I am pleased to announce that I am the victor of the feud which Steamer also concedes because by his own admission I knocked the H out of Wheldon I wish to thank all for their con and I must add a little closure to this letter to wit Steamer has now to settle another feud with my wife Edith I received a letter from him to day in which he closed with con his regards to Oops Steamer please be ad Write us a letter The Herald wants to hear from you If you have an opinion you want to express or a comment to make send us a letter or drop by the office Our address is Guelph St Georgetown Ont L7G 3Z6 All letters must be signed Please include your ad dress and telephone number for verification The Herald reserves the right to edit letters due to space limitations or libel vised that her nickname is spell Gratefully yours Ernie Port Bazaar a success To The Editor May we take this opportunity thank the Herald for your support regarding our recent Christmas Bazaar We also thank the many residents of Georgetown and district for coming out and hope that you enjoyed ihe items available at the bazaar It is only through your support that we in turn are able to donate to many causes in and around Georgetown We would like to announce the winners of the Cash Draw Lome Allen Georgetown Marlene Brampton Joan Thacker Georgetown Once again thank you very much Holy Cross Parish Georgetown Bazaar Committee Positive aspects of development Dear Editor It was refreshing to hear from a reader who is aware of the positive aspects of development We are referring to the letter by D Morrow entitled Town cant stand still if it to survive In the popular anti development movement it is easy to iose sight of the real pur pose of development to provide homes for families and places for people to work shop play and at tend school Jobs are created both during construction and after when the new people join the community The lot levies and taxes help reduce the tax burden and provide better vices for residents We should not forget that most of us live in homes because someone was willing to risk the time and money to obtain a severance or a plan of subdivision so our houses could be built Input from local interest groups is needed to provide a balanced examination of the needs of our community When conflict occurs it should be resolved by reasoned discussion and debate not by noise numbers and confrontation We must all work together to ensure that our community not only survives but also obtains the benefits produced by responsible development Yours truly Kent and LoisMcClure Halton Hills Dont mortgage future Dear Editor Like Morrow Oct 13 I have been encouraged by our cost conscience town and region way you look at it a pen saved is a penny earned But Morrow and I part com at this point He the defeat of Beechbrooke He welcomes a council turning its back on residents favour of development He feels sad the Hills missed out on an asphalt plant Too bad if residents don t like a highnse in their neighbourhood more taxes will come Too bad if residents don want a plaza around the corner lost taxes I do not think we have to tear a community apart to afford the present I think our council has made a mistake at some point to include building permit revenues in general revenues When building is rapid revenues are up At this time repairs and maintenance should be done us ing this special building fund When times get tough then maintenance should slow down We do not have to mortgage the future to pay for the present The trouble is development in come becomes a drug which we need constantly Forget interest groups we need the income I think not Development income does not reduce taxes In fact it puts pressure on taxes for more services Last time I checked they were paying taxes in Were they nof Sincerely P Hynds Acton Thanks from POWER Dear Editor A special thankyou to all those who attended the POWER of fashion on September We appreciate the support which you have given to our group and its purpose We extend a very special to Elizabeths Fashions for hosting trie show It was a wellorchestrated event It was wonderful to see so many people come together and help to those who donated their time and efforts to this event Sincerely Barbara C Skok Columnists- Space invader games played with interest rates By VIC PARSONS Ottawa Bureau Thomson Newsservice OTTAWA Its like something out of those space invader torn games You blast one reason for high interest rates out of the skv and bigger meaner Lister villain is on screen That why in spile of modest lowering interest rates lately experts art saving thev will be staving high for some time vet the case of excess niand A year ago John Crow governor of Bank of Canada was complaining that spending and borrowing individuals and businesses was loo high hat was his justification for a tough inflation fighting monetarv policy lhat led to high interest rales Now he says there a better balance Demand the economy has fallen back from the unsustamably high levels of last year he said recently This is visible in several areas One is the rate of growth in tgage borrowing I and Housing Corp a federal agency says mortgage credits which now totals about billion will grow by 12 to- 13 per cent in 1990 In it s ex to fall to the nine- to- 10 per cent range This is a sharp drop from IB per cent growth rates of the past twovears October Bank of notes the same trend In the July to September period there was a marked slowdown in mortgage credit growth on sumer loans have fallen off slightly and federal govern and pnvite businesses are borrowing pro ire borrowing it thi same rate this year as last HFC So Far so good Perhaps now Mr row could ease off especial lv since his pohev his pushed the into recession Not so fast Here mines another squadron of those suicidal space aliens Now lhat demand has been shut down the Persian Gulf oil crisis the proposed imposition goods and services tax and an outflow from anada to foreign cash are touted as reasons to keep the squeeze on row has made clear lhat he will not be amused if workers seek to recoup losses to their real incomes arising from higher oil prices and a larger government tax take with the In his words he will en courage people to take economic decisions on the basis that infia will decline over lime and not the reverse More bluntly Vic Parsons that means don I to make up losses now because Crow will come down on like a ton of bricks rates won moderate he other factor that could keep rates high has Utile do with Canadian behavior investors Germans and Japanese are less attracted to Canadian bonds as rates rise at home If Canada is to com pete for that it 11 have to offer incentives through higher interest rates This constructs a dismal interest rate scenario one to this week by Judith Max well chairman of the Economic Council of anada She pointed out Canadians face an precedented period of monetary restraint with real interest rates much higher than the celebrated c redit crunch of 1981 RITES HIGHER It s unnerving indeed that real rates the bor rowing rates vou d at the bank less inflation are higher now thin at the outset of the worst recession since the Second World War Maxwell said high in teres rates are putting a serious tr on economic Maxwell however questions the role of governments in pushing up the inflation that Crow so wants to crush Since 1989 the biggest con tnbulors to inflation have been governments she told treasurv managers this week Govern ments decide prices on things like public transport utilities excise taxes on alcohol and vehicle registration fees Prices not touched government have moderated since late see prices rise because of higher retail and gasoline taxes for example and ask for more pay because they believe they aren t getting their fare share This doesn t make life easier for Crow she says To carry this a step further than Maxwell that perception will likely grow when the GST If approved goes Into effect on Jan Interestingly Crow seems to dispute Maxwells argument To be sure he said last month indirect taxes increased for ex ample but these are a small part of the overall inflation in prices that has occurred There appears to be a cant gap between the views of these o advisers to inance Minister Michael Wilson And there little doubt that now Crow has more clout You can count on painful in rates for a while yet