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Wednesday September IS91 Political Forum Page 13 OTTAWA REPORT Stormy session is predicted for Commons Im back in Ottawa and the House of Commons is sitting again for what could be a stor my noisy and important session There arent too many elected people in this country right now who dont know that Canadian society is sitting on the edge of a crisis People are tired of being held hostage by striking public sector workers no mail late airplanes no grain shipments no mass transit slow borders and ugly picketline violence People are also tired of the endless talks about the Constitu tion and the future of the country Were moving into the final phases of the national unity debate with that sword of a possible Quebec referendum hanging over our heads The voices of separatism are growing louder and so are those of the people who think wed be better off without Quebec Most of us just want secure jobs a stable economy steady house prices fair taxes and a de cent shot of some day making it But instead Canadians are being dragged into debates they didnt ask for between Canada Post and the union between the government and its workers bet ween separatists and federalists Fed up You have every right to be But being fed up right now isnt enough It wont solve the strikes keep the country from Garth Turner MP HaltonPee Progressive Conservative falling apart or create jobs And thats where the govern ment has to come in As a Member of Parliament QUEENS PARK REPORT Auto insurance discussed During the first week of September I spent four days at Caucus meetings in Honey Har bour where my colleagues and I wrestled with several important decisions I told you back in May that we expected to introduce a public auto insurance system in the fall but the grim reality of current economic conditions has forced us to reconsider our plan The decision was a painful one but unfortunately public auto in surance will not be the only casualty of the worst recession since World War II Our govern ment will have to make severe cuts in spending with the result that other programs may fall by the wayside With the auto insurance ques tion our government was faced with a difficult choice to spend 14 billion and put people out of work of them per manently or to keep them employed and set the stage for economic renewal In a healthy economy many of those displaced under a public plan would have been able to find other jobs and more money would have been available for job retraining But in an economy that has been suf fering the effects of a recession we did not want to create un necessary hardships nor put peoples lives on hold by delaying the introduction of public auto in surance Our choices here were more difficult than our west because our province accounts for a larger proportion of the auto in surance industry and most Cana dian head offices are located in Ontario When the western pro vinces brought in public auto in surance under governments they were taking over small branch plant operations Very few jobs were lost The new public corporations had to set up new head offices and hired those workers who had been dislocated Ontario public auto insurance would have taken away a large proportion of many Canadian in surers business causing large job losses here in Ontario at a time when the economy could not absorb the workers So after a lengthy deliberation we decided to make a major change in our strategic direction and chose instead to reform the present system Through legisla- Noel Duignan North New Democratic Party regulation and negotiation with the insurance industry we will work toward an auto in surance system which is more af fordable accessible and fair Key reforms in the short term will ad dress many of your concerns The changes will include legislative amendments to allow more peo ple the right to sue for pain and suffering improving and index ing accident benefits and remov ing caps on rehabilitation costs We also believe that insurance companies can afford to reduce average annual premiums by to 7 per cent to for the average driver And we are in viting them to participate in a working group whose goal will be to ensure accessibility to af fordable insurance During the longer term we will reform the system by introducing a universal classification system designing a new system lo replace the Facility tion as insurer for last resort and looking at onestop shopping for insurance and license plates Helping drivers through safety programs will go a long way reducing the carnage on our roadways and lowering in surance costs We will also work with the insurance industry lo create a joint highway safety agency Largely funded by the in dustry the agencys goal will be to achieve the kind of success we have seen in those provinces which have public auto in surance Our reforms will make the insurance system better and will respond more effectively to drivers needs The alternative was to put thousands of people out of work in an economy devastated by the recession and that was not a realistic option In other news you may have heard that Anne Swarbrick MPP Special guest speaker at P OWER meeting In the fall of a high miscarriage rate caused citizens of Stouville to conduct a health survey showing a pregnancy failure rate two times the national average That and an unusually high rate of other il lnesses pushed citizens to work to close the dump Debbie Mitchell of Stouville will tell Halton Hills about the Stouville of P O General Meeting Wednesday September 25th at Georgetown District High School Everyone welcome For more information call Barbara at for Scarborough West has resigned as minister responsible for womens issues She told Bob Rae that she needed to focus all her energies on her treatment and recovery and did not want to remain as minister without being able to devote her full attention to the job The Premier noted that she will continue to play a key role in the caucus because of her experience in cabinet and her commitment to womens issues He has asked Education Minister Marion Boyd to take over Annes duties If you have any comments on the insurance decision or on other issues please call my Milton of fice at Tuesdays through Fridays Im going to be asked to vote on a lot of major items over the com ing months When I do I should be reflecting the majority opinion in the riding of HaltonPeel I hope you can help me do that by sending me your comments on the following subjects Public Service strike The government this week introduced legislation which would force the civil servants back to work It ex tends their contract for two years giving them job security But wages are frozen in the first year and raised by per cent in the second year The average union wage is My per sonal feeling is to vote in favour The economy cant stand to take a long strike Besides nobody was laying off civil servants dur ing the recession Canada Post The corporation and the union are back at the bargaining table But if media tion fails the unions made it clear that the mails will stop again If that happens back-to- work legislation will likely be brought before Parliament Ill support that too Delivering the mail is an essential service If Canada Post cant avoid a strike it should give up its monopoly National Unity The Cabinet is still trying to come up with a package of changes which reflect some kind of consensus They have a lot to consider the defeat of Lake the Spicer Com mission the committee report on changing the Constitution aboriginal demands and the en trenched position of the separatists When the proposals are done a SenateCommons committee will take them on the road for five months of public hearings Then Parliament will try again to find some formula which keeps all the regions of Canada happy and the country united The fact this has taken so long shows the task is not easy Lets be honest about it this is going to take some compromise from everybody The western provinces will probably insist that there be an elected Senate which gives a few million people there the same power as many millions more who live in On tario Quebec is probably going to insist on some special powers to protect its language and culture The East will demand a greater share of the economic pie And the rest of us might want a greater emphasis on Canadian unity and less of diverse in fluences like and official national bil- The economy Within a few weeks the government will table a comprehensive plan for what we all want prosperity It will likely include new incentives for research and development educational standards North American free trade and the elimination of trade barriers bet ween provinces If all of this works then Canada has a chance If we keep on fighting each other government against government workers against management French against English then forget it As I write this by the way several thousand civil servants are outside on Parliament Hill chanting for my resignation and that of every other Tory Theyll go home disappointed We have too much work yet to do AUTUMN VALUES Reg FLOORING SPECIALIST 126 Main St N ACTON 8531190