The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

845â€"3824 Fax: 845â€"3085 4 The Oakville Beaver, published every Sunday, Wednesday and Friday, at 467 Ian Oliver Publisher biing Publsh ertiser, Barrie Advance, Brampton Guardian, Burlington Post, Collin IM:R:IX‘ W Acton Stoufvilie/Uxbridge Tribune, Miton Canadian Champion, M Geoff Hill Circulation Director Hill hil/Vaughan Liberal, Scarbot 467 Speers Road, Oakville, Ont. L6K 3S4 Classified Advertising: 845â€"2809 Circulation: 845â€"9742 or 845â€"9743 rs Rd., Oakville, is one of the Metroland ngn lr;qc Distributing 'i:gv group of suburban newspapers which includes: Ajaxâ€"Pickering News Robert Glasbey Advertising Director Con , Etobicoke Guardian, Gso%elown en Free Press, Norman Alexander Editor Kingston This Week, Lindsay This Week, Mar mpra Ecopomlstu;r;dNim: Newmarketâ€"Aurora Eraâ€"Banner, North_York Mirror, Oakville Beaver, Orillia Teri o M er Today, Oshawa/Whitby This Woekmzskemohr;ugh This Week, Richmond All material published in the Oakville Beaver is protected b ht. A Tim Coles Production Manager reprodmrt';nan whore o in :an of this matorial is % % the THE OAKVILLE BEAVER Friday, Nov. 19, 1993 Numbers game No matter what kind of spin Prime Minister Jean Chretien puts on the numbers, the fact is that his Liberal administration must come to grips with the nation‘s deficit and debt...and time is not on his side. Evidence of how critical our finances have become came this week with the news that the federal deficit is really $40.5â€"billion, not the $36â€"billion projection by the previous Progressive Conservative government. But as alarming as this news is, consider the latest numbers coming from the finance department. The computers are spitting out some pretty scary digits, including one that indicates the deficit for the first six months of the year was already at $20.7â€"billion or $2.2â€"billion more than the same period just one year ago. If these numbers continue to yearâ€"end, the deficit could hit $41.4â€"billion or more, a dubious fiscal record to be sure. And for those Canadians who think they‘ve had enough of deficits and the like, consider this: the previous record deficit before the most recent revelations, was $38.6â€"billion and that came in the 1984â€"85 fiscal year. This was when the former Liberal government was defeated by the thenâ€" new Conservative leader Brian Mulroney. But it is important that we not compare apples with oranges when lookâ€" ing at the deficit picture. In the midâ€"1980s, the economy was booming and Ottawa was taking in record revenues as the overâ€"heated economy generatâ€" ed extra billions of dollars in taxation. The Tories, like most governments, chose to expand spending on all fronts, thinking that the good times wold last. When the inflationâ€"riddled economy corrected itself, the federal govâ€" ernment was in no fiscal shape to deal with the new economic reality that hit home hard not many months after Mulroney took his second massive majority win. The current numbers come when inflation has been beaten and interest rates are ready to hit historic lows. So if you take this into consideration, the deficit numbers mean Canada is officially an economic basket case. Finance Minister Paul Martin knows this is true and he also knows he‘s got to do something about it without throwing out promises of a more caring government carried in his party‘s Red Book of hope. These deficit numbers also came out during a week which revealed that Canadians are being taxed as never before and Ontario bean counters have told the Rae government that it has collected $880â€"million less in taxes than anticipated. This means the provincial deficit is likely to top $10â€"bilâ€" lion by fiscal yearâ€"end on March 31, 1994. Red lights should be going off everywhere in the corridors of Queen‘s Park ‘and Parliament Hill over these figures because the main shortfall in revenue is from personal and corporate income taxes. In the case of Ontario, this source of revenue is $635â€"million less than anticipated to date. What these numbers do is to create a kind of financial pall over the plans of the feds to try and jumpâ€"start the economy through publicâ€"works proâ€" grams. And regardless of the financial mess we‘re in, the prime minister has said he‘s going ahead with his plan to create jobs, jobs, jobs. The pay off will be small and the result will be more debt, debt, debt. But Martin should be warned that when he tables his first budget, likely in February or March, the Canadian public won‘t be in any mood to take any more tax hits. Should Martin ignore this situation, he will find out very quickly that although the Liberals have a massive majority, taxpayers have had enough and he has already seen what that can mean at the polls. * a@mim.. Do you approve of a more stringent no smoking bylaw for Oakville? Cast your ballot by calling 845â€"5585, box 5008 to vote. Callers have until 12 noon Thursday to register their vote. Results of the poll will be published in the next Friday edition of the Oakville Beaver. ols CALL845â€"5585 RESULTS OF LAST WEEK‘S POLL Should the provincial government remove betting on NBA games from the Proâ€"Line lottery? Yes: 5 No:13 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 Sidewalk projects must follow process Dear Sir: I would like to provide some clarification with respect to the letter from Gerhard Beck which was pubâ€" lished on November 17th. It appears to me that Beck either is ignorant of the established process for determining sidewalk projects in the Town of Oakville and of the facts of this situation, in particular, or has chosen to ignore the process, which, although not perfect, has worked well to date. Allow me to describe the process. There is a Sidewalk Committee which is comprised of three Town councillors and Senior Public Works Department staff. Membership by councillors is volunâ€" tary and determined on an annual basis. As Mayor, I have not personally attended the meetings of this Committee. The Sidewalk Committee‘s recommended program is determined from a list of requests and referrals from citizens, council, and staff. Priority is given to sidewalks in school zones and along busy arterial roadways, and to requests which have come from an outside body or through council(lors). In this case, the South East Oakville Traffic Study contained certain recommendaâ€" tions affecting the area. Council referred the matter to the Sidewalk Committee, who considered the student traffic associated with the proximity to the high school and shopping centre, and decided to include the sideâ€" walk in the program on this basis. The Committee‘s recommendations were presented to the Community Services Committee â€" a Standing Committee of Council, for consideration. That Committee considers the recommendations against the Councilâ€"approved annual budget. The public has severâ€" al opportunities to be involved in the decisionâ€"making process: by initiating a request; by attending public meetings (Community Services Committee or Council) at which the matter is being discussed; and certainly by lobbying their particular Councillors. Staff endeavors to inform those who live on the affected street of the impending changes, in order to solicit their input into the process. This process having been completed, Council then makes a decision (on a majority basis) as to which proâ€" jectsâ€"will be completed in the annual Sidewalk Program. I find it somewhat incongruous that Beck has someâ€" how related the Sidewalk Committee process (which has been long established) with his own negative perâ€" ceptions of my service and leadership and my stand as a candidate in the last federal election. I hope that this explanation has provided him with information he appears to have lacked when he wrote the letter. It would be my hope that people who are considerâ€" ing offering their names for consideration in the service of their community in the November, 1994 election, would all attend the Budget meetings. This will provide them with an informed base upon which to put their name forward, whether to confirm the status quo or to reform and renew from within. Ann Mulvale Mayor, Town of Oakyville New beer not the problem Dear Sir: This letter is in regard to your ridiculous editorial ‘Maximum beer, maximum damage‘ Nov. 14th. Although it is blatantly apparent that you wanted to please all your pals at the politically correct organizaâ€" tion MADD, I find four things essentially wrong in your comments. Firstly, I must ask how you can validate your claim that ‘the newest gimmick beer‘ will result in ‘a devastatâ€" ing toll on the highways‘ just because it contains, 50% more alcohol than regular beer? Certainly there are quicker ways to get drunk but who is to say that will force anyone to drive afterwards. Unless the beer comâ€" panies are sneaking a moral debasser in their new prodâ€" uct, maximum beer is not the problem, the problem is drinking and driving. Why do you insult everyone‘s intelligence by saying only young people drink this beer for the reason it is ‘the cheapest way to get drunk‘? To my knowledge, hardâ€"alcohol is still the cheapest way and maximum beer is available to everyone over 19. Lastly, ‘the answer lies in government intervention‘. Aren‘t we all a bit old for the facist routine? Dan Noble