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ow appropriate that on Weedless Wednesday, a day set aside for Hall smokers to abandon their habit for a day, we talk about new moves to ban the sale of cigarettes in drug stores. The provincial government announced Monday, that it intends to bring in tough new antiâ€"smoking legislation that will ultimately see cigarette sales banned in all Ontario hospitals and other health care facilities in the province. Good for them. Some Oakville pharmacies have done away with cigarettes which have been linked with all kinds of health problems. From respiratory diseases to heart and circulatory problems and lung cancer, cigarette smokers are under attack like never before. Toronto has already banned smoking in the workplace and indoor pubâ€" lic areas. More municipalities should follow their lead. The next logical place to have smoking banned is restaurants. Although restaurants set aside some areas as nonâ€"smoking, there are never any barriers to prevent secondâ€"hand smoke from drifting over to nonâ€"smoking areas. Most experts agree that secondâ€"hand smoke can be as dangerous as smoking itself, especially when the concentration is high. The human and financial cost of smoking in this province is enormous. According to the health ministry, 13,000 deaths in the province every year can be attributed to smoking. We also approve of the government‘s plan to completely ban all smokâ€" ing in schools. How far we‘ve come from the days when permitting stuâ€" dents to smoke in designated areas, was seen as being progressive. Federal government surveys show that more teenage girls are smoking than their male counterparts. So much for smoking being macho. It seems the girls are using cigarettes as appetite suppressants to stop them from eating. The upshot of this is that these girls are not only eating poorly but risk damaging their health as a whole as a result of smoking. For that reaâ€" son, they‘ve been targeted this week. ust when we thought that chivalry was dead comes Peter Viasic, who asked JSilvia Trombetta to marry him while wearing a traditional knight in shining armor riding a white steed. Seems that Silvia always referred to Vlasic as her knight in shining armor, so Vilasic took those words to heart when he popped the big question on the weekâ€" end. Sometimes the government makes some sense and this is one of those times And like all tales of chivalry, this story too has a happy ending. Silvia said yes and the couple have a May wedding planned for next year. Nice going Peter. € se mt m im MaAartmMmthn LDatDDd â€" Mmtconl trieturakiâ€"merment tnsls 467 Speers Road, Oakville, Ont. L6K 354 | 845â€"3824 Fax: 845â€"3085 Classified Advertising: 845â€"2809 Miranlatian® AAKâ€".0740 ar RAG.A7A2 Do more with less is the message of the 90s Dear Sir: At the Jan. 12th Town of Oakville budget _ committee meeting Councilior Mark Brown overlooked some important points when he referred to an article which had appeared in that momning‘s Globe & Mail. It was headlined "when costâ€" cutting is a false economy" and it appeared he was using it to counter points made by FORG‘s Ian Croskell who had just spoken about how the Town bureaucracy should consider cutting back. Firstly, the author, John Dalla Costa, referred to how excesses of the past years had made many orgaâ€" nizations too bureaucratic and overâ€" burdened with debt. And, after sayâ€" ing this he referred to the overuse of costâ€"cutting and that it may become a liability. (I wonder whether Councillor Brown can describe how costâ€"cutting and downâ€"sizing has even begun to make any dramatic impact on the Town‘s bureaucratic organization, procedures and delivery of services? It is unlikely that he could convineâ€" ingly describe Town costâ€"cutting in any substantially meaningful way because it simply does not appear to have happened.) Certainly Croskell illustrated a number of discrepancies between last year‘s budget statements, that the savings steps which would be taken simply did not appear in any evident way in this year‘s budget document. But, if changes have happened (changes which should have appeared as savings), why is there a need for more money instead of an improved utilization of what is already available? Secondly, Councillor Brown should take note of Dalla Costa‘s point that ... "If there is any lesson in the past 20 years of business activity, it is that without innovation, without vision, the future is mortgaged." This is exactly the point that every delegation was attempting to impress upon the town‘s politicians and administrative managers that evening, as well as repeatedly during last year‘s budget committee meetâ€" ings. One of the important economic points made by Dooley at last year‘s budget committee meetings was the point about the ratio of staff to resiâ€" aninfNTNNNNNNNINNINNNNENIENENNNNNNmNNNNNrECGSIOCoNINorcIEns Chivalry lives EDITORIAL Butt out dents and how that ratio has grown further apart over the years. Based on the praise of how things were done in the past, we would be hard pressed to believe that the town‘s operations and delivery of serâ€" vices used to be less efficient when there was a lower ratio of staff to resâ€" idents. Certainly this ratio reflects a significant cost to taxpayers (with wages which seem to have escaped the pain that most residents have felt in their incomes). In private industry, organizations are continually striving to identify ways to achieve the same or more output and increased performance results with fewer people. Those organizations which are prospering are the ones which are finding ways to do that and simultaneously managâ€" ing to excel in setting new quality, performance and delivery standards. Taking a look at what is happenâ€" ing in the ‘real‘ world, we can‘t help but ask ... "By what right does a Welcome to the new service of the Oakville Beaver called ‘Phone Alone Infosource‘. It will provide information merely by calling our special number, 845â€"5585 and then punching in the appropriate box number. We‘re setting up a special ‘Speak Your Mind‘ box #5250. Callers can record their views in the 45 secâ€" onds allotted but must leave, their names and phone numbers. Dear Sir: Re: ‘Police find males worst traffic offenders‘ â€" Beaver Jan. 13th I am miffed by this article.First, I thought that it was no longer approâ€" priate for the police forces in Ontario to keep statistics which could be used for the grouping of individuals in relation to crime. I am sure that June Rowlands will be happy to hear that this is now possible and papers will begin to summarize the guilty parties in many fashions. Males worst drivers.. figuratively speaking Second, it occurs to me that police officers may be letting off the more gentler sex, a la the movie script. Perhaps males are being persecutâ€" ed to make up those monthly quotas. Got a gripe? Give us 2 call Third, what Community Award Winning contribution did you expect to make by publishing this piece? Fourth, be careful of percentages, 90% of the miles driven in Oakville may be by male drivers, making the conclusion erroneous or perhaps males only account for 20% of the miles driven. It has been said that figâ€" ures lie and liars figure. GO Figure. public organization, which is also a vendor of services, have the right to consider itself exempt from the need to meet the demands of its cusâ€" tomers+" Certainly it cannot presume itself to be above the plight of its cusâ€" tomers. Any public service organization which considers itself so exempt and believes that it can continue to increase its prices without having to find ways to do more with less then, that organization does not deserve to retain the right to continue its exisâ€" tence in the same management order or constitutional composition. In the Jan. 11th edition of The Globe & Mail, a source Councillor Brown apparently likes to lean to for information references, there also appeared a noteworthy quotation by Lester Thurow. Thurow said that ... "A competitive world has two possiâ€" bilities: You can lose. Or, if you want to win, you can change." (Hopefully Councillor Brown noted this quotaâ€" We‘ll publish a cross section of the responses each week. And there‘s more coming in the Friday and Weekend issues so stay tuned. PHONE ALONE The Oakville Beaver welcomes your comments. All letters must be signed and include the writer‘s address and phone number. Letters should be typed, doubleâ€"spaced and addressed to: Letters to the Editor, The Oakville Beaver, 467 Speers Rd., Oakville, Ont. L6K 3S4 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER R.J. Maki i1 \dvertising: 845â€"2809 845â€"9742 or 845â€"9743 LO8L. ) Further to Dalla Costa‘s editonial comments, we are not talking about going through repeated and mindless cycles of costâ€"cutting because everyâ€" one in this town realizes there are levels of services which need to be satisfied. But we are in an era of change with adjusted expectations and we simply have no evidence that Peter Wagland or any of the other town managers are making necessary adjustments. What we do see is the continual call for increased tax needs while those of us who pay the bills are continually getting less income. (Isn‘t it surprising that to our diminished purchasing capabilities, most of our supplier sources of goods and services are continually finding ways to improve the quality of their offerings, their prices and their serâ€" vices.) The environment is forcing adjustment upon all of us. (It seems that) ... "the realization has been slow to dawn that we have recently entered an era where the forces of disinflation now dominate those of inflation." â€" P. Nicholson, Scotiabank senior viceâ€"president. Dalla Costa also talks about costâ€" cutting as an addiction but nowhere have we approached this condition and it is unlikely that any community delegation would endorse such a conâ€" dition. What we do want to see is a hold on cost increases and accompanying demonstrations of innovation in doing more with the same amount of monies. These demonstrations must be visible and not simply elements of consultant reports, studies, confidenâ€" tial human resources files or vague and lengthy explanations which do not directly clarify the point. In conclusion, Dalla Costa stressâ€" es that while costâ€"cutting alone is not the answer, it is part of the answer. However, the real key is new ideas and that is the underlying fundamenâ€" tal of every delegation‘s presentation and imposing request of our town staff and elected officials. It is not to just keep looking for more money to solve the same probâ€" lems but to work smarter with what is already there. Simon Dann Robert Glasbey A« Norman Alexande Geoff HiM Circula Ian Oliver Publisher Teri Casas Tim Coles [ Dear Sir: Thousands of Canadians, including many of your readers, have writâ€" ten to Federal Finance Minister Don Mazankowski asking that the govâ€" emment remove the GST from readig materials, and received a form letter in reply. In this letter, the Minister tells Canadians that "the traditional [federâ€" al tax] rate on reading is not zero," and claims that publishers paid the old Manufacturer‘s Sales Tax on a large number of items, including paper. Reading material was exempt from the Manufacturer‘s Sales Tax at every state of production, including the purchase of paper. A study conducted by Woods Gordon in 1988â€"89 found that the "accidental" MST paid by publishers amounted only to 0.9â€"1.5%. The Finance Department Economic Analysis Unit reached the same concluâ€" sion, as did former Finance Minister Michael Wilson. The GST Consumer Information Office at Consumer & Corporate Affairs Canada concluded last year that this very low level of "accidenâ€" tal" tax was not a significant factor in the price of reading material, and that the GST is therefor a brandâ€"new tax on reading. Either the Minister is genuinely unaware of the facts regarding the old tax, or the Department of Finance is consciously distorting these facts because they cannot otherwise defend this government‘s actions in introducing the first federal tax in Canadian history to apply to reading The GST is the first federal tax ever to be collected on books, magaâ€" zines or newspapers. In its first year, the GST caused Canadian sales of books to drop 10%, sales of magazines to drop 15%, and the largest drop in Canadian newspaper circulation in 50 years. The freefall continâ€" ues in 1992. During the last recession and in the early, preâ€"GST, months of the current recession, sales of all reading material increased. We agree with the government‘s stated goals of improving Canadian education, increasing literacy levels, encouraging communication between Canadians and strengthening our shared culture. The Prime Minister took a stand in October 1990 when he promised to carefully review the tax on reading material after one year. It is essential that that review be undertaken immediately, and that reading material be zeroâ€" rated under the GST. Make books GSTaxâ€"free M Manage C ing Direct LETTER OF THE DAY MabIEcEct Jq Jacqueline Hushion y, Wednesday Mirr cha ly fo n Uar Graphic y Jdan wit py () Wook 199 & & & &