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the HERALD Wednesday Opinion No easy answers for land questions The battle between Hills residents Sheldon and Giusep pe over lands in the Speyside area raises questions for which there are no easy answers At the centre of this battle is Mr request for the Niagara Escarpment Commission to include as part of the Niagara Escarpment Plan lands owned by Ms Sheldon and other property owners Mr claims he applied for the amendment to protect the area from being quarried Ms Sheldon describes Mr Gon request as a travesty saying he has no rights on my property it morally indefensible what he is doing I don agree the request is morally indefensible since as a citizen he has the right to apply for the amendment If Mr Gon action is morally in defensible then it follows it is also morally indefensible for the com mission to allow citizens to make such a request I doubt Ms Sheldon would agree with this description of the NEC since she says her fight isn t with the commission it only with Mr While I disagree the requested amendment is morally in defensible do think Mr s ac tion shows a lack of good faith Since the amendment will affect a large number of property owners if ever approved it would have been neighborly of Mr to first survey the affected residents on their opinion of the proposed amen This approach would have also by Ben made sense in order to show the whether the amendment has public support In defense of her position Ms Sheldon points out the NEC didn t deem it necessary to have the lands under question included in the plan when it was first drawn up or during the recent five year plan review Ms Sheldon reasons therefore the request is nothing more than a useless and expensive make- work project for NEC staff This point makes sense when considered in context with the fact the lands have never before been in eluded in the plan It will be interesting to see if the NEC decides to process Mr application or reject it deeming it a frivolous request However it unlikely the NLC would deem the request frivolous since Ms Sheldon acknowledges the lands under question I be used for any large development such as a quarry Ms Sheldon points out the amen dment should be rejected because the area residents have always been environmentally aware Prior to the NEC formation the Speyside Ratepayers Association of which Ms Sheldon is a member protected the area under question from being quarried she said That being on record Mr could counter with the idea that any new property owners who move into the area may not be as en aware which Ms Sheldon could reply the only reason people move into the area is because they appreciate the rural landscape hey would therefore do nothing to harm the natural setting You are probably getting the point here are obviously no easy an to this debate but hopefully somewhere down the line the two sides can arrive at an acceptable compromise Five year cycle is something to bank on A few weeks ago I wrote about our leader deep lack of economic understanding which will undermine our recovery and prepare the way for the recession of During the same week when that column was published Jan 20 Jan 25 we were granted a few macroscopic examples of the confusion which reigns the mind of our leaders and the media First came poor Bob speech to the Let me tell you that I actually like Bob and respect his intellect and intentions And if who unlike other Premiers did not play football without a helmet is confused we are in trouble wants growth and is will to pay for growth with all the accumulated pnnciples of his young political life is asking for cuts is scrapping programs to achieve fiscal stability he wants higher taxes and looks to a Government generated public works program to get the economy going In other words either by ting money or by taking money out of the private sector to start a government inspired and manag ed program of public works he hopes to get the private sector go ing again Right Bob first kill the horse than ask him to win the race made one useful state ment his intention to manage change But he obviously totally missed the meaning of change management And why should he not Mr Matthew Barrett the CEO of the Bank of Montreal and pro bably not an NDPer came out of his executive suite to ask the Another View government to spend to reflate the economy This is the same fellow that like his con has been busily cutting credit lines to small businesses keeping interest rates on credit cards at usury levels refusing to extend the credit card facility to small business But now he wants govern to spend On a less exalted level but even more significant is the delivery of two bits of news from our CBC Nash In funereal tones and Knowlton is good at them he told us that Canada is closing down some gas stations and some refineries But then in a tone of great hope he also told us that in ebruary our political masters will meet in Ottawa to discuss the And in this total misunderstanding of reality is the real problem closing down of gas sta and refineries should be a moment of great rejoicing if we are really committed to a cleaner environment But the closing down should come at the end of a managed process are you listen ing Bob which minimizes hard ship to workers and the public On the other hand the news of a meeting in Ottawa of our beloved Premiers should be reason for jeering catcalls and massive flight of cap tal to the Bahamas and that shining exam pie of a well managed economy mbabw The best we can expect is that in order to sae the r skins they will follow the advise of the Bank of Montreal s chairman and start a round of inflation and higher taxes Within four months the cycle will pick up Followed by recovery of the real estate market lif you want to buy a house do it now and higher in rates How do know Because it has happened regularly about every five years since Peoples Forum Turners column bashed by bank bigshot Dear Editor I am wnting to correct the multitude of errors and misrepresentations contained in Garth Turners recent column on bank profits Like a number of ill informed people Mr Turner at tacked Canadian banks for what he believes are excessive profits earned in However a look behind the bank industry not torn line reveals some interesting facts For example revenue earned in Canada at most banks was down significantly in 19 per cent at Royal Bank and was the most disappointing a decade In contrast the provincial economy shrank by just per cent As for record profits Royal Bank s overall revenue worldwide was only two percent more than last year and would have been much less if we hadn t taken million set aside for third world loan losses and plied it to 1991 revenue In fact the only reason Cana dian banks ported reasonable profits overall in 1991 was the contribution of their operations outside of Canada At Royal Bank for example the revenue we earned in other countries amounted to per cent of our overall profit If our critics took the time to analyze this they would realize that Canadian banks are a shining example of Thanks Garth To The Editor We all should be grateful to Garth Turner for commodating the production of this beautiful record of our Na tional Anthem Unlike the Titanic when a full orchestra playing while the ship went we can no longer afford an Meanwhile our Prime Minister is flying south for the ultimate in photo opportunity at Mount after all his George Bush can do no less for the man who delivered a country without a shot being fired John Minister of pnvatization is busy with the li quidation sale everything must go no offer refused American Express only Who says this Government has no foresight when they needed a credit card company to handle expenses up to a thousand dollars The first one that came to their mind was American Express Jim Robin son must be pleased Sorry folks I could not resist this little play of words un fortunately the danger that we will lose this country becomes everyday more real and unless Canadians start to take an in terest in their country they will wake up some morning in the future as Amencans I joined the Counsel of Cana dians and urge everybody who cares to become a member Ask your local library for two books The Quick and the Dead from Linda McQuaig and the Betrayel of Canada By Mel Hurtig If you don t know already you will find out who Jim Robin son is and how Simon got frustrated Canadians are buying imported goods stores owned by Americans every hour four million dollars go abroad as pro fits dividends and loyalties the cost of foreign ownership Hoping to have given you some food for thought Yours truly Ben how business in this country can compete worldwide and profits back to Canada for the benefit of Canadians Would our critics prefer we try to earn less and let the business go to other countries Also in criticizing the level of bank profits most people never mention the sue of Canadian banks relative to dollars earned Nor do they use any commonly accepted financial measurements like return on assets to assess their propriateness Simply put large companies earn more dollars than small companies And Cana dian banks are large with millions of customers and billions of dollars in assets But as any financial analyst will tell you it s the return on those assets and equity that are the real measure of profitability And if you use these to analyze bank profits they are hardly astronomical or even unreasonable As for claims that banks are making their money by gouging customers a study done by an in dependent consumers association revealed that service fees for the most commonly used consumer services rose less than the rate of inflation in In answer to the often asked question of credit card interest rates it is a proven fact that credit cards produce much larger writeoffs and delinquencies than personal loans In addition the rates of credit cards also reflect the fact that balances are smaller and are paid off more quickly than personal loans in fact SO per cent are paid off in less than 30 days and effectively produce no interest for the bank Finally banks do not change their lending criteria during a recession Unfortunately economic conditions make it tougher for some in and businesses to meet these criteria because their tion worsens and they become less creditworthy In these tions banks try to help clients through a temporan period of difficulty with sound financial ad vice In conclusion while banks in Canada have and will continue to feel the effects of the recession their employees have done a tremendous job of minimizing the impact with very prudent management Consequently while many banks south of the border have gone down the drain with their depositors funds the Canadian financial system is one of the strongest and most stable in the world And this means that the deposits of Canadians con tinue to be among the most secure and protected in the world Sincerely David Manager Public Relations Ontario District Royal Bank Mercy killing raises questions The Editor The Star reported Nov 7 that a Gallop Poll revealed per cent of Canadians say that doctors should be allowed to end the life of an incurably ill patient through mercy killing if the patient has made a formal request in writing Just like that without any fur ther evidence to go by no tions asked just go by a written request that may or may not be authentic In Washington State USA voters rejected a first ballot measure to legalize euthanasia for the terminally ill Opponents of the bill contended that voters saw that the death with dignity initiative contained too few safe guards to protect the elderly the poor and the disabled Before we get carried away by the 75 per cent figure in the Cana dian poll by Gallop let pause to take a good look at the many im plications involved in this very serious subject Secton of our Criminal Code of Canada states that everyone who A counsels or procures a person to commit suicide or aids or abets a person to commit suicide whether suicide ensues or riot is guilty of an indictable offence and is table to imprison ment for years Section of the Canadian Criminal Code states Culpable homicide is murder where the person who causes death to a human being means to cause his death This raises another serious question as to whether a person who as a member of Parliament initiates a bill to Implement euthanasia could be culpable in eluding those who may vote in support of such legislation Today Jan the Star reports that the euthanasia debate is just beginning I ask this question What is there to debate To me it seems that those who wrote those sec into the Criminal Code meant it to remain permanently as low no changes Steve Emraerson Acton