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2B - PORT PERRY STAR - Tuesday, March 20, 1990 investment | in your home. PROTECT IT. 000 00000000000000000, ~=43 SE sikkens CENTRAL PAINT & WALLPAPER 295 Ritson Rd. S., Oshawa 434-3939 SALE -- all -- Lamps Many Styles to Choose From Order in your choice of colours. Come and see our models today at ... The PERSONAL TOUCH 209 MARY STREET, PORT PERRY (across from L.C.B.0.) NOW REGISTERING - 4 WEEK EVENING COURSE - Tuesdays & Thursdays 6:00 to 9:00 PM APRIL 3rd to APRIL 26th ' : L | ] and Surviv Hy ¢ 1q . Learn to Drive... al lly Young Drivers of Canada " Training centers coast to coast © Driver training for all ages © Retrainin, Sourees available for ary commercial drivers [) - Free pick-up at home for in-car © The Young Drivers program is only ® Private in-car instruction avallable at a Young Drivers Center. © Defensive driving you can live with For information, brochures and course schedules call: Now Accepting VISA 2 BROCK ST.W., UXBRIDGE 852-9705 Durham Lung Association to offer popular "Stop Smoking Program' On January 1, the majority of Ontario's workplaces became of- ficially smoke-free, as the Provin- cial Government's Bill 194 came into full effect. For approximate- ly 29 percent of Ontario's workforce (those who still smoke) Bill 194 has created quite a pro- blem. Some will decide that this new inconvenience, together with the spiralling cost of tobacco pro- ducts and the ever-present threat of health damage has finally made smoking an unacceptable proposition. With this in mind, the Lung Association in Durham Region will offer its popular and suc- cessful Stop Smoking Program "Countdown" in Port Perry, at the Port Perry United Church, 294 Queen Street beginning Monday April 9 at 7:30 p.m. A recent Course graduate described the program as '"tremendously helpful "and positive."" Based on behaviour modification techniques, Count- down shows participants how to deal with their smoking habit, Report from Ottawa without dependance on unreliable "quick cure" technologies. It places a major emphasis on teaching strategies which put each individual in control of their own health and future. The five week (seven session) Course currently hoasts a 79 per- cent success rate. Pre- registration is required, and may be made by credit card. For more information, call the Lung Association in Oshawa at 436-1046. Recession not going to happen? by Ross Stevenson, M.P., Durham Headlines don't always give the most accurate picture of what's happening to our economy. For some months we've been hearing warnings that an economic slowdown, if not a more severe recession, was on the way for all Canadians. But last week we learned something odd. The national unemployment rate, instead of climbing as it usually does in late winter, actually declined slightly to 7.7 percent in February. Here in Ontario it was only 5.4 percent. Then Statistics Canada reported that the retail business by department stores didn't go in- to a post-Christmas tailspin as ex- pected. In fact they had a very good January, with sales totalling $776.9 million, 4.2 percent ahead of one year ago. Add in some other encouraging indicators -- businesses are plan- ning to invest much more heavi- ly on new plants and equipment in 1990, more new houses are being started, our dollar continues to strengthen against other curren- cies -- and one begins to wonder whether we are going to see that. predicted economic downturn. Or, as one business consultant was quoted last week: '"This recession is possibly not going to happen." We've just finished our first full year since the Canada-U.S. Trade agreement -- commonly called free trade -- became law. And we've heard many reports about how that agreement is affecting Canada adversely. When the agreement was sign- ed, its opponents warned they would blame free trade for each and every subsequent industrial layoff or factory closing. And that's what happened over the shutdown of GM's van plant in Scarborough. Very little attention was given in the same week to Freightliner's announced plans for a new $43 million truck factory at St. Thomas, Ontario. Closure of the Inglis plant at Toronto remains a popular target for free trade's opponents. Only one news report that I saw men- tioned the new factory which is to be opened on that same site. One of free trade's severe critics was McCain Foods, of New Brunswick. The company warned that free trade would "devastate" Canada's food processing in- dustry and cost thousands of jobs. Perhaps through kindness, Durbar Steam Cleaning LOOSE RUGS A SPECIALTY We also clean Broadloom & Upholstery none of that was recalled last month when the same company, McCain Foods, announced plans for a new $36 million potato pro- cessing plant that will create 169 jobs on Prince Edward Island. That was just a few days after a competing company stated it also was building an equally expensive new potato plant that will employ 160 workers on the Island. In the year since the free trade agreement began some businesses certainly have closed and some jobs were lost. But labour shifts are a fact of life to- day. Some four million Canadians change their jobs in a normal year for personal and business reasons. So despite all the dire warnings from the critics, under free trade our economy is doing extremely well, our culture survives, our lakes and rivers are not being drained into the U.S. and -- best of all -- Canada's sovereignty re- mains unquestionably intact. 985-8552 We Pick up & Deliver ay. CELY 920 KEEPING CENTRAL ONTARIO INFORMED sales * service * parts CONSUMER - INDUSTRIAL - POWER PRODUCTS