PAGE 4, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 5,1981, WHITBY FREE PRESS whitby F Putished e%ýerv- Wednesday V 11 ~ N by .B.N. Iublishing and Photograph% Iiw. Phone 66<-6111I Voice of the County Town Michael fan Burgess, Publisher - Managing Edilor The onlv Whitby newspaper independentIy owned and operated by Whithy residents for Whithy residents. 131 Broek Stribet North, PA)>. Box 206, whitby. Ont. MICHAEL J. KNELL Community Editor MARJORIE A. BURGESS Advertising Manager Maltng Permit No. 480 Member of the Whitby Chamber af Commerce Canadian government should adopt policies Last Thursday afternoon, the Bank raised Its prime lending rates to th financial institutions to an all-time hiý per cent. And, ail things being equal, thal probably jump again tomorrow as the m tion of treasury bonds is held. What this means to the average C this: higher mortgage rates, increased ment, and higher prices for practically that they buy. Now, If you add a 12.8 per cent annua flation, a current unemployment ratE eight per cent and a dollar that is d( value, you have one giant economic me: What really hurts, is that the federal1 Finance, Allan McEachan is proposin taxes when he presents his budget to of Commons sometime this fall. Canadians are already suffering fr economic hardships caused by thE dispute between the post office and ti Canadian Union of Postal Workers. And what is this government doing a From our vantage point, absolutely noth While the people he is supposed to continue to wonder what is going to them, Prime Minister Pierre Tri vacationing in Africa. And what is worse, McEachan is c with measures to help the average Cane with the situption. This situation is going to hurt Whi Over the course of the last two years munity has been a leader in new resid industrial growth in the Region of Durha Many of the town's newcomersi bought new homes in recently devel independant of of Canada divisions may find that they cannot afford to keep ti e nation's them. gh of 20.54 Further, the developers may find that they wiii fE nat be able ta seil their new homes because ti t rate wiil people simpiy cannat afford to pay the outrageous ti weekly auc- interest rates. It is quite possible that these economnic factars, L, anadian is over which the individuai Canadian has na contraio unemploy- will create even larger hardships in the property n everything taxpayer because the town's tax base will nat p grow as fast as anticipated. l rate of in- Another group in aur cammunity that has t e of about already been seriously affected by the postal dis- te eclining in pute and faces more trouble tram the jump in in- a ss. terest rates is the smail business sector. Minister of The smali business sector is the largest em- <r ig ta raise ployer in Canada. The small businessman is fin- A the House - ding it ever more difficult to cope with thc farces of the economy that he cannot contrai either. rE aom undue What this means is that small business will not c e ongoing be able to raise money for capital expansion that he striking wiil aliow it ta become more -productive and h thereby hire more people. b ibout this? lnstead, s is probable that many of these P ing. businesses will be forced ta lay off workers, in- ti represent creasing the rate of unemployment, in order just b happen tota meet their increased casts. udeau is The government has been telling us that it wan- ts ta keep interest rates high in order ta bring si oming out down the level of inflation, a adian cope However, from this vantage point, it seems that this policy has not been effective. dî tby badly. The latest figures reieased by agencies of the O , our com- federal gavernment have shown that, if anything, d lential and the rate of inflation will increase by the end of this m. year. M wha have Sa, where des that leave the average Canadian laper sub- smal businessman or the average Canadian, for tl theU. S. hat matter? It probably leaves most Canadians with a eeling of helpiessness being of the knowledge hat they can do little to make the economic pic- ure brighter. There is one small glimmer of hope, however. ast week a major poli indicated that 67 per cent f Canadians surveyed believe that the govern- ent is not handling the problems of the economy roperly. Perhaps this news will cause the Liberal party o re-examine its position and bring in policies hat will encourage the growth of small business nd greater productivity and employment. One mistake that the federal government has nade is the assumption that whatever the mericans do, Canada must do also. For example, if Canada could reduce Its interest atesto, say, 10 per cent, what kind of investment ould be encouraged. At that rate, the government would probably ave all kinds of customers wanting money to uild new facctories, to- hire new people, to roduce more goods and services which would in urn allow more people to buy homes, start new usinesses, to buy more goods and services and o give a little bit of hope for a prosperous future. Our economy moves in a circle. If the circle tarts off on a good footing, the circle will move in good way. It is time for the government to behave in a aring and innovative manner and not keep relying n what our good friends south of the border are oing. Canadians probably cannot go on like this uch longer. We should start telling our govern- ent to stop sitting on its hands and to do the job hat they are paid to do. Thanks go to downtown board for a great mall Dear Sir: As Downtown Whitby Merchants we would like to thank you and all the Whitby Central Business District Improvement Area Board for all -the work and great ef- fort you made to make the Saturday, July 25 Downtown Mall a success. The jovial carnival at- mosphere was great. It certainly provided a good opportunity for the people of Whitby to see that Downtown Whitby has much to offer in friendly ser- vice. Sincerely Art & Pam King King's Kolour Koral. EDITOR'S NOTE: The above letter was written to Michael Burgess, publisher and managing editor of the Whitby Free Press, who serves as president of the W.C R.D.î.A.B. il