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THE WEEKEND OUTLOOK Friday June 1991 Page Opinion Random decisions being made by political leaders The many years spent with horses has led me to believe that horses make decisions based on a set of dice located In their brain One throw of the dice the horse swerves another throw the horse jumps a four foot fence next throw the horse refuses to jump and I provide a good imita tion of a ballistic rocket Rational decisionmaking seems to be replaced by a ran dom process Lately I have started to believe that some of our political leaders also follow a random decision making process Throw the dice we are for free trade another throw we are against the con sequences of it next throw let us change the constitution and so on It seems that rational decision making is absent and an understanding of the conse quences totally lacking This in triguing failure affects leaders of all political parties which at least brings an element of fairness in the game Bob is proposing to make the officers of a company per sonally responsible for salaries of the employees Having come through a recent experience where I was asked to keep a company in direstraits afloat I can say that I find the idea ludicrous There I was battl ing banks and creditors to keep the company going and save some jogs and for my efforts and sleepless nights I could lose my shirt Thanks Bob but no thanks Equally erratic is the behavior of our Federal government Hav ing made free trade the law of the country we now see otto the man in enrage of customs rei orce the barriers at the borders to stop Canadians from shopping in the States Did it not occur to our leaders that free trade implies that people and cor porations shop where it is cheaper It Is bad for Canadian businesses to lose money to American competitors but it is not by raising barriers that we will strengthen our economy Canadian business cannot com pete because of high taxes high wages high interest rates and the smothering presence of four levels of government If the Conservatives are really keen on making Canadian business thrive any of the follow ing actions would achieve the ob jective eliminate one level of govern ment any one municipal regional provincial federal eliminate 50000 federal jobs get rid of any three of the scores of reporting taxes dues licenses which make running a business in Canada the equivalent of being a subsidiary of the civil service lower interest rates and let the dollar find its natural level fight any request for wage in creases if not justified by an equivalent raise of productivity I strongly supported Free Trade but clearly our govern ment has failed to follow through with the kind of actions which make free trade a success Italy has enormously benefitted from free trade within the Common Market but Italy joined the Market with low wages low taxes a weak currency We have sent our businesses to war handicapped by high taxes high interest rates and high wages To win in a commercial competition with a handicap of some 1015 per cent is impossible Give business the tools and they might do the job threatening Canadians with fines and con fiscation for doing the logical thing eg buy a product where it is cheaper is silly Mind you it will encourage an already thriv ing business organized smuggl ing Just to make sure I am not supporting a damn-all- politicians attitude I would just like to see a bit of rational think ing at the government level Peoples Forum CMA backs tobacco taxes Dear Sir The Canadian Medical Associa tion recommended and supports tax increases on tobacco as an ex cellent way to prevent nicotine addiction disease disability and death The Government of Canada and the nine provincial governments that have increased taxes on tobacco in 1991 have our complete support While we respect the democratic right of the Canadian Tobacco Manufacturers Council and smokers to protect the tax in creases we believe that the pro ject should be rejected Smoking is a major cause cancer heart disease em physema and a of other diseases Smoking is responsible for the premature death of Canadians every year Tax increases have proven to be an effective way to reduce tobacco consumption to en courage smokers to stop smok ing and most importantly to pre vent young people from starting to smoke Canada is a world leader in ef forts to reduce smoking Tax in- Chiding NDP Dear Editor Bob started practicing the 3 Rs when the former Health Minister Evelyn Gigantes was forced to resigned but was then promised that she would soon be recycled as an MPP As more ministers got into trouble he started practicing immediate reuse He will eventually be forced to Reduce his cabinet because of the incompetence of the caucus Is he moving towards concen trating more power into his own hands Certainly his latest tion in which he overruled his own written guidelines smells of totalitarianism What guarantee is there that his majority govern ment will not mess with the On tario Election Act to silence first us the fourth party and then pro ceed with the third and the se cond the media provide the on ly safeguard to democracy in this Province by publishing the opi nions of the real opposition not Robert Nixons arterisclerotic reactions Sincerely Giuseppe Deputy Leader Family Coalition Party of Ontario Editors Note Citizens sent the real voice in a democracy This voice was heard ut the last election we assume your parly got the message creases have played an impor tant part in that success The physicians of Canada wish to ex press their congratulations and support for those tax increases Efforts to reduce smoking are of the highest priority in Canadas health promotion program- Sincerely Carole Guzman MD PresidentElect Price was right Dear editor The price was right Our local boys and girls were treated to free weekly soccer clinics from January to May courtesy of the Georgetown Soccer Club All children were invited to par ticipate including those who were not previous members On behalf of the parents of those attending I would like to send a big thank you to the direc tors and coaches of the Georgetown Soccer Club for pro viding this opportunity for the Georgetown youngsters BrendaSisnett Georgetown Thanks from seniors Dear Editor On behalf of the Georgetown and District Seniors Association it is my pleasure to say thank you to the Royal Bank for their generous donations of two che ques to the Associations building fund One was for on the occasion of the opening of their seniors banking centre in the Main Street branch and the se cond for representing the proceeds from the sale of Royal Hot Dogs on June 13th during the celebration of Seniors Awareness Week and Pioneer Days The hot dog stand was suc cessfully operated as a Royal Bank venture by Vera Shepherd Manager of Seniors Banking and Lou Miatico Senior Accounts Manager for Indepen dent Business We thank the Bank and the Managers concern ed As well as the money they raised they contributed an attrac tive feature to the days ac tivities These expressions of the Royal Banks concern for seniors in terests are very much ap preciated Yours sincerely WL Mellish President Rare soccer incident Dear Spectator Im glad you took the time to at tend our May soccer game Other than parents there are never many spectators especial ly nameless ones that voice their opinions Im writing to let you know that No and No were not the only ones to display unsport smanlike behavior Had you been a little more attentive you would have noticed that a few boys from the blue team also spat in their palms Unfortunately you only witnessed an incident that rarely happens But dont fret we coaches and referees are working hard with boys and girls of all age groups to teach them the importance of good sportsmanship I just wish we could do the same for the unknown spectator who couldnt speak to the coaches before chastising two 9yearolds in the newspaper Yours Sincerely Mike Hastings Atom Coach Hurray for the Glen To the Editor Gien Williams Town Hall Board stand upand take a bow The last three Saturdays have seen a piece of waste land located on the northwest corner of Confederation Street and Main Street in the Glen gradually be ing transformed into a communi ty parkette Almost finished it is already attracting a lot of attention from local residents who cant watt to walk the new paths by the river and admire the plantings of trees and shrubs Achieved with the hard work of local resident volunteers donors of money machinery and materials the cooperation and assistance of town staff and coun cillors and the invaluable support of the Glens good corporate citizen Sheridan Nurseries the parkette is going to be much ap preciated and well used by locals and visitors alike long into the future Congratulations Law and other Board members for your vision and persistence which will make this latest Glen project the obvious success that it is going to be Tony Taylor Glen Williams Thanks for support Dear Sir On behalf of the Glen Williams Town Hall Board of Trustees I would like to thank all the people who came out to the H shrub sale I am happy to report it was a great success every single shrub found a buyer Thanks too to Sheridan Nurseries who donated the stock Now we can concentrate on the projects we have lined up for this year such as the Parkette and Canada Day See you again at next years shmb sale Sheila Willis Shrub Sale CoOrdinator Glen Williams Town Hall