Page 6. Whit by Free Press, Wednesday, December 4, 1996 The only Newspaper owned and operated by Whitby resîdents for Whitby resîdents! CCNA MEMBER F: Canadian Community Onaro omunt Newsape AssciaionNewspaper Association Whitby Whltby Business Oshawa-Durham Home Chamber of Commerce in Action Builders' Association The Whitby Free Press Is distnibuted free to 99% of the homes in Whitby, Brooklin, Ashbum & Myrtle as well as numerous public and commercial Stlets n Whtby, Oshawa, Ajax, Pickrinng & Port PPerry. 28,500 COPIES DELIVERED WEEKLY MAIL SUBSCRIPTIONS AVAILABLE Canada $36 + GST e Outside Canada $85 + GSI ISSN#0844.3g8X Published every Wednesday by 677209 Ontario mc. 900 Hopkins St. /BOX 206e Whitby, Ontario LI N 5S1 Phone: 668-611il Fax: 668-0594 Doug Anderson - Publisher Maurice Pifher - Editor - Alexandra Martin - Production Manager Printed on newspnint with minimum 20% 41 reoyoled content using vegetable based inks. to *Ail written mateniat. illustrations and advertislng contained herein is protected by copyright. Any reproduction by an y means for commercial purposes wiihout the express permission ot the newspaper ls prohlbt and ls a violation of Canadian copyrighi law. Reproduction for non-commercial distribution shouîd bear a credit fine to the W h iby Free Press. m Trade with Taiwan B3Y Alox Shepherd Marketing Durham goods and services to Taiwan Is gooci business especdally since that country Is one of the true ecoaomic miracles of Southeast Asia. Recently I travelleci to Taiwan at the invitationand expense of the Taiwan Chamber of -Commerce, due to my backgroundj la business and my prevlous experlence wlth the People's Republlc 0f China. 1 gave the Canadian trade mission there a summary of the maay fine companles ln Durham uexport reaclyu to enter Into business relatlonshlps wlth Southeast Asia. Fit> years ago the>, were farming ln Taiwan. Now they possess the eighth-Iagest economy In the world. Man>, thlnk of them as the manufacturer of cheap clothlng, toys and tourist trinkets. That was yesterday. Toda>, Taiwan Is a ieadlng manufacturer 0f hlgh technology. That Is what plqued my lnterest la maklng a connection with them. Why shouldn't Canada benefit from this global success story? 1 told their agriculturai and trade officiais that ln order for them to become members of the World Trade Organization, a position the Taiwanese want, and Canada Is willllng to support, they would have to give up the high tariffs they place on Canadian beef imports and seafooci. 1 suggested the>, do thîs quickly to give their economy a chance to absorb the shock upon entry Into a freer trading envlroament. When you compare their average per capita Incomne of $13,500 U.S. compared Wlth $400 on mainlanci China you quickly reaize what the difference a be between a state-run economy and free enterprise. Canadian life insurance companles andi banks are seliing services there and some Canadian companles such as Bell Helicopters, Nortel, and Bombardier (planes) have landed major contracts. 1 met with a number 0f representatives from these companles andi brought their concerns to the Talwanese goverament mînisters. The' meeting with Talwanese business leaders and the president of Taiwan' hlmselt made their national news. 1 pushed dloser business relations so now they are weli aware 0of Canada's interest in forging cdoser ties. The colossal pace with which Taiwan has lndustriaîized is not without its costs. Less thaa three per cent of industrial and residentiai waste is treated and the cit>, of Taipel is shrouded ln smog. This provides opportunities for businesses - we have expertise ln design and construction of pollution control equipment. Taiwan cannot feed iseff. They rel>, on Canadian wheat imports. There is an emnerging market for beef andi hogs. 1 gave them bocally produced wine and maple syrup as gifts 1 and they were quite impresseci with the quality. They already E import our bottled water. Three-hunclreci thousand Taiwaneser visit Canada annually, spendiag $7,000. Few get past Banff. c I presenteci Taiwanese tour companies and airlines with ri brochures outling what Durham has to offer toursts. a 1 aiso met wfth the president of China Airlines who is looking a fora flght-training schooi. Since we have one here, I told hlm s 1 would get back tohlm la short order. c I, invite local business to contact me to discuss the nf opportuaities1 existing there. al Alex Shepherd is MP for Durham riding whlch includes g Wtb, on/ of Taunton RQad. To reachhNs constftuency 9 offcecai 73-770(Oshawa).ti pi Amega-mistake * By Paul Pagnuelo Rocket scientists sh stick to what they know bE rockets. And Municipal At Minister AI Leach shouciý seeklng their acivice whE comes to restructu municipal 'government Ontario. ln support of the idea Metro Torontos municipalities shoulci mergeci Into one megai Leach observed that it doe take a rocket sclentlst to fig Out that eliminating six city h and si 'x fire departrments sae taxpayers money. To thlnk a Toronto megag wlll be more efficient, resuit la reduced costs and a loy property tax burden, is fa But as a kaee-jerk reaction, an efly conclusion to come if the Municipal Affa Minister - himseif a for bureaucrat - would retura earth for a minute, he miç finci Out that a smaller aumb Of goVemments won't yield lW government andi lower cosi la tact, it produces the exa opposite effect -- biggi goverament, more spendir andi hîgh taxes. The Perceived savings t eliminating six City halls an their separate bureaucracie are far less than the highE cosM that would be associata wlth a megacity goverameni The empirical evidenc> worldwlde is that hlgher, no bower, unit costs are associatec with larger goveraments. Amnalgamation'i, on its own doesn't produce real ne savings. What megacit>, proponentc fail to point out when justifyinç their dlaims of lower costs is that the savings* they boasi about were not achieved by economies of scale resuiting from amalgamnation. They1re usualy the resuit of a reduction in service levels or by efficiencies that could have been achieveci despite amalgamation. If the citizens of Metro Toronto wouki be better served and at lower cost b>, a single nunicpai goverament instead of six, thea b>, extension why not do away with municipalities altogether? Let's just tura the delivery and funding 0f ai our. local services over to Big Sister at :ueen's Park. Or for that 'latter, whiie we're at it, lets liso elminate* provincial o0vemments andi have ai our ÇVemment needs serviceci by îe fecis la Ottawa. The ropo.sition, 0f course,-I ridiculous. The Harris government's Common Sense Revolution eelection platform taîkeci about ) rationalzing the need for the treglonai and municipal levels 0f 1goverament to avoici the ioverlap and duplication that now exlst. Whlle rationalization la necessar>, andi long overdue, what Leach is suggesting With Nis megactykldeals replacng bScl municipal gavernments wiith a, super-regional goverament, not just la Metro Toronto, butai of Ontarfo. But the reality Is that governmeat amalgamnation works agalnst the best lnterests of taxpayers. Super-regIonal goveraments not only dilute denmratic contrai of local goverament by citizens, the>, also increase the power 0f special interests. The onl>, economies of scale they provide are to public sector >unions whose power Increases exponentially as the size 0f goverament Increases. Large labour contracts, whlch Impose Inefficient work rules andi dîscourage customer- orlenteci serice, wll resuft la Iower quahty, excessivel>, high unit costs for public services andi higher taxes. SEliminatlng the competitive aspect 0f bower-tler munficipal governments means reducln the potential for Innovation. As goverarents become larger, gone are the benchmnarks to draw contrasîs betwéen effective and Ineffective, Harris and Municipal Affairs Maister AI Leach shaulci be eacouraglng .competitive goverament, not bigger and More cost>, goverameat. PauliPagnuelo is a member Of Ont aro Taxpayers Fed raton jOur beautiful winter is approachîng. We Caaadlans often define aurselves la trelation to this season 0f colci. We brag about aur hardiness In the face of bitter wlnds andi hard-daiven snow. We regale ourselves Wfth'tales of record saaws in 72 or the blizzards of 87 and '94. We gloat about our abilities to overcome the worst that wvinter dishes aut, particular>, when we see aur American cousins brought to a stancistill b>, what we wauld coasider a pleasant Itde snowfali. And we arerlght to boastAs a nation, we have adapteci welI ta the harshaess of wiater. We overcome man>, harciships to ensure that we oa carry on our Oives withia the confines of our sametimes cruel enviroament. Unfortuaatel, sometimes we gloat too boud>, and lot toalhardiaess overtake our usual> excellent Canadian common sense. We oa goE overboard la aur attempts'to prove aur ablit>, to deal wth winters worst - and the resmit oea m rean Injur>, or death.< Ever>, year, hundreis 0f us are klled or injureci becase we don't take lato ful aoount the harshness of winter. We venture onta aur highways as if it were mid-summer, not cansiderlng the icy surfaces or the reduceci Visibllty durlag snowals. Ai this because 0f the pride we take la not Ietting the weather control aur ives. ht is this false pride that kilîs and injures many of us. We shoulci, instead, be proud when we decide to stav at home when roads are treacheraus, ta delay our morng trek to work until the weather Improves, ta Postpoae meetings andi appointments to another day Mhen we hope the Weather will be better. We shoulci take pride la our recognition that we cant always take on nature and wln. We shoulci boast of aur good common sense that saves lIves andi prevents uanecessaWy anjuries. Thea we can truiy say that We have adapteci to our environmeat. Frank Murphy Executlve directoir fi Umad lnjury Assoiation t of DurhaM go It's only fair To the oditor: Re: Aduit education A recent Angus Reid poli showed that two-thlrds of workers asked had taken an adult education course In the past year. Some people took More than one. Many unemployeci eole dld too. Assumling that a person, worilng or not, must ive someplace, then property tax Is pald by ail for education. Income tax Is taken tram those worklng, which funds a part of education. Why does the aduft have to pay another tee for courses? Taxes pay for other people's chlldren to be educated. why not for ourselves? The oniy addltional cost of aduit courses is the teachlng, administration and usually a brochure. For this, an adult pays about $100 for a 24-hour course. This Is quite reasonable compare to private courses that tend to cost about $10 per hour. On the other hand, when you have already pald for most of the cost, why should the tee be for anything . more than re-Istratlon? ïf il chlidren receivea free education, then the adufts who pay for ht should recelve equal treatment. Otherwise, education tundlng shouid be changed so that parents pay for educabng their chilciren, the same as aduits who pay for themselves. Rt would only seemn fair. Don Young Ajax Funds for police To the editor: Wconcerai is the propose cuts to the Durham pouice departent. Hmlo can Durham Region council Justlfy or even considercufflng$4 milontfrom the police budget 01 $52 million. R MIl put more than 80 police officer and civil -servant lobs ln jeoparjy If these cutbacks are undertaken. ln a surprise announce- ment, Durham Reglonai police Chief Trevor WcCaherty andi Deputy ChNet Bob Jarvet handed la their retirement notices to take effect n.xt fail. Both these pouce officers have sald their decision was not based on the financial criais that faces the Durham police force. I have'my doubts. With the continuai increase la caime la our reglon,. how can we be better protected If there wlU be fewer Police ofilcers on the streets to do the job? If 1, as a tuaxpyer, was asked to coasider a tax Increase to see that aur pouce protection and services remain or are upgraded, I muid glad>, pay the extra dollars that it wouid take to maintaja the present levels. Should I become a victim of a break-in, wiifui Proper>, damrage or a car theft, 1 ud eventually have to pay Rith an Increase *lan m ny ansurance caerage. laiother vords, pay now or pay. later, but we MlI pay eventuai>. The chief andi deputy chief ;aow full weil the tough job bat is ahead and their Jobs wili iimost become Impossible If hey have less resources to vork with. This us where input rom the taxpayers should t-b" leard. We are the ones %% Dot the, ill and aur eleced mfcials were put into office ta erve la our best interests. If they were to ask me, I'd ay no to these cuts. l'm ail for' eeping aur police force fuily andec iIn ordor to p.rform the bugh job theydo. AnMw Cobu.an Commronsense 1 Reix)ii m a To the edItor: