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

T*A rri *»H f~> MWlwnWM 1 ' Serving More Than 18,000 Homes in The Town of Newcastle Volumi ■■■■ WWÊÊ ■■ : wssiAss : ; V ; f ".f v> WWm >. ■> ' §1111 111 Marketing. Boards Endangered I /_ oca / church Sponsors "Christmas Lane" This Weekend Local Farmers Wary Of Import Proposals by Lorraine Manfredo As the latest round of GATT talks nears a close this month in Geneva, Geneva, farmers across the country are hoping their Canadian negotiating team will stick by its promise to push for a balanced trade deal. Tens of thousands of jobs in . our nation's poultry, egg, and dairy producing producing industries will hinge on the outcome of the talks, farmers warn. "And it's not just the farmers who will have something to lose," says David Larmer, vicechairperson vicechairperson of the Durham County Milk Committee. Consumers, rural communities, and even the government government will suffer if Canada bows to international pressure to adopt certain certain changes to the General Agreer ment on Tariffs and Trade. GATT members have been trying since September to draft acceptable reforms to international agricultural trade. Debate over levels of domestic domestic and export subsidies and import restrictions dates back to 1986. The current Director General of GATT is urging that import controls on poultry, egg, and milk coming in to the country be lifted, and instead tariffs be imposed in their place. The levels of these tariffs would then be reduced over several years. But supporters of Canada's supply supply management system say. such a change would open the door to unlimited unlimited imports, and that would, in turn, threaten the family farm. Marketing Boards and Farmers Associations warn that production would soon shift to US-style corporate corporate operations, hungry for more profits. "They want to destroy our system system just so they can get their product product in our country," says Mr. Larmer.' Larmer.' , He says Canada's supply managed managed system has worked efficiently for 25 years to meet, but not exceed, Canadian demand. "It hasn't hurt," Mr. .Larmer says. "We don't over Continued on Page 3 a ér% ' «set by Laura J. Richards It looks like the Durham Regional Regional Department of Health and Social Services "will get through the year on budget," said the department's committee chairman. "There was a slight increase on those applying for General Assistance Assistance but the numbers are still virtually virtually level," said Whitby Mayor Tom Edwards. Statistics provided by Gary Cu- bitt, the Commissioner of Social Services, at Wednesday's meeting showed the number of people receiving receiving municipal assistance had increased increased .09 per cent from October to November,!992. From November 1991 to this past November there were 8.6 per cent more people looking for assistance, Mayor Edwards announced. The increased number of persons receiving assistance also includes 5,862 children. The number of those who sought help through General Assistance increased increased .03 per cent from October 1992 to November 1992. This was an 11.6 per cent increase from last year's numbers. Accordingly, those who received Provincial Family Benefits increased increased 1.4 per cent from October 1992. Continued on Page 3 "...She gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger..." manger..." (Luke 2:6-7) The snow was gently falling around the stable when Mary (Susan Marsh), Joseph Joseph (Brian Hart) and a shepherd' (Kristina Muxworthy) gazed at the sight of the newborn child. While the Star of the East announced the King of Kings' arrival, Mocha, a three-month donkey in the background munched on some straw. The scene is one of nine in a "Drive-Thru" Live Nativity called Christmas Lane which will be held at the Trull's Road Free Methodist Church on Saturday, Dec. 12 through to Monday, Dec. 14. The event begins at 7 p.m. each evening. You can find the church at 2301 Trull's Road, just a kilometer south of.Highway Two in Courtice., Photo by Laura Richards And Health Insurance Coverage Canadian Tire* ('indicates partial distribution) For information about inserting flyers in 1U 'WuAe*fa, please contact our office at 623-3303 by Laura J. Richards Durham Regional Councillors should get the same health care and. retirement benefit packages that regional regional employees do. This is the view of the majority of Durham's regional council. As a result, elected officials are looking into securing health care and retirement retirement packages -- perhaps by early next year. However, not all regional councillors councillors agreed that Durham's taxpayers taxpayers should be footing the bill for a benefits package which would cost taxpayers about $40,000. "Regional councillors should install install a benefits package at their own level of government" said Pickering councillor Kip Van Kempen. "The planning for this is not correct correct at this time," he added. Pickering Mayor Wayne Arthurs disagreed with councillor Van Kempen, saying he would support the package because not everyone had a bénefits package within the region. region. Town of Newcastle Mayor Diane Hamre also disagreed with Councillor Councillor Van Kempen. "The faces on council have been changing over the years. There are more people who are treating their role as regional councillor as a fulltime fulltime job. "There are a lot of people like myself. There are a number of us who are the ones putting the food on the table for our families," Mayor Hamre said. Continued on Page 2