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Group invites past members to celebration In recognition of the city of Sarnia‘s 125 anniversary, the mayor and council have appointed a comâ€" mittee of interested citizens to encourage and assist in coâ€"ordinatâ€" ing communityâ€"wide events throughout the year. . All of us extend an invitation to former Sarnians to join in our celebrations, particularly during Homecoming Week, July 26 through Aug. 1, which will feature a regatta on the St. Clair River. The Waterloo Regional Chapter of Children‘s International Summer Villages (CISV) is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. City seeks Sarnians We would like to establish contact with those people who have been involved in the organization during the past 25 years. A special anniversary dinner and dance is planned for Saturday, April 3 at Bingeman Park Lodge, Kitchâ€" ener. It is hoped that all past and present CISV meITbers and their families will plar to attend the Silver Celebration. Anyone interested in receiving a calendar of events may write to the For further details, members may contact J. Evans (893â€"0085) or S. Williams (893â€"4707) or write to: CISV, Waterloo Regional Chapter, P.O. Box 1312, Kitchener, N2G 2B1. The Québec MPs were publicly joined by David Weatherhead, MP (Scarborough West), chairman of the Ontario Liberal caucus, who agreed that "many Ontario MPs sympathize with their position.‘" The bottom ‘‘cards""* are teetering â€" the "tower‘"‘ is justifiably worried‘ First, our area was treated to the performance of this government‘s sup porters praising the budget measures as being ‘"in the best interest of the country .‘ and voting their agreement in the House of Commons. Then we were advised by the same persons that local concerns would force changes. This whole process is a very healthy example of the democratic system reâ€" sponding to the overly secretive process of preparing a budget. It is also the direct result of the widespread criticism of a budget which does not adequately respond to the present economic recession. Most recently, two cabinet ministers and eight other MongsÂ¥al area MPs published a letter to the prime minister. In it they called for the immediate implementation of programs to increase jobs for young workers and the construction industry. The Trudeau government‘s economic ‘‘*ivory tower" is collapsing like a house of cards. Last week I was present with Regional The Chronicle welcomes letters to the editor. Writers must identify themselves through their name, address and telephone number. We reserve the right to edit. WALTER McLEAN Waterloo Regional Chapter Children‘s International Summer Villages Letters policy Paul Morgan, Secretary We‘re looking forward to hearing from our Sarnia friends and would especially like to have the members of our football "Imperials" here for our specia! week. committee in care of City Hall, Sarnia, Ount. â€" clinics for people of all ages with allergies, asthma, chronic bronchiâ€" tis and emphysema â€" family asthma clinics for chilâ€" dren with asthma and allergies â€" smoking pfevention education in the schools, paramedical and mediâ€" cal communities â€" public speaking â€" patient services The above are just a few of the services supplied. The Waterloo Regional Lung Asâ€" sociation is more than half way through its fund raising for 1981â€" 1982, however, we are down from last year. Our agency needs your dollars to help fight respiratory cripplers. The money that is collected remains in the"community and is used to provide such worthwhile services as: Lung association needs more donations Donations can be mailed in the return envelope provided through the mail recently, or dropped in to any Torontoâ€"Dominion Bank branch. 125th Anniversary Committee Moe Closs, president of Chrysler Canâ€" ada, told the meeting that the budget, as now written, will mean 45,000 fewer new cars will be taken by Canadian car rental companies. This is a direct result of the budget‘s planned abolition of the writeâ€"off on company cars â€" a move that has already been described as saving Revenue Canada *‘"peanuts." All the finance minister had to do was ask, before he introduced the budget, and this could have been avoided. Hugh Sloan. president of Budd Canada Inc., pointed out that while Japanese cars contain only one half per cent of Canadian parts content, they enjoy 25 per cent of the Canadian market. Also, Japanese cars sell for less in Kitchenerâ€"Waterioo than they do in Tokyo! Chairman Jim Gray, Waterloo North MPP Herb Epp, and officials from all levels of government in our area, at a special emergency meeting of the Canadian Auâ€" tomotive Parts Manufacturers‘ Associaâ€" tion. Local companies in attendance inâ€" cluded B. F. Goodrich, Budd, Genesta Manufacturing, and Bauer Industries. The association protested that the federal government was hurting the auto parts business at the same time it was promising to support it! The question on everyone‘s mind was LETTERS Rena Sproat, President Waterloo Regional Lung Association Terri Hungle, Coâ€"ordinator, ‘Ivory tower‘ collapses The Ontario government has always mainâ€" tained that it was the job of the federal government to act. In regard to home ownership the minister of housing said on May 5, 1981, ‘"Clearly, interest rates are a part of the cost of ownership. For any government at the provincial level to try to step in and offer some incentives or reductions in interest rates would be a foolhardy move..." Yet other provinces have acted to offer some protection. Saskatchewan has passed the Home Owners‘ Protection Act. Between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 1982, the homeowner cannot be foreciosed on and has the options of negotiating a mortgage somewhere between the existing and current rates, continuing to pay the existing mortgage, or paying nothing. Although the prime resposibility for interest rates is held by the federal government, where the federal government is unwilling to augâ€" ment current programs, the province can and should target aid to those more vulnerable groups, i.e., lower income householders, farmâ€" ers, small businesses. In the spring of 1980 when all the trouble first came to a head, the Liberal Party announced a program that would give shortâ€"term help to homeowners, farmers and small businesses. On Jan. 1, 1983, a new mortgage must be negotiated, however, under this plan the mortgage lenders stand to lose at least the difference between what the homeowner paid on his existing mortgage and the rate that might have applied to the new one. That loss is not recoverable. If the homeowner opts to pay nothing, the interest due at the existing rate will be added to the principal. Manitoba has just announced a $23 million 2â€"year interest relief program covering homeâ€" owners, small businesses and farmers. This program is very similar to that proposed by the Ontario Liberal Party in 1980. It offers shortâ€"term relief only, stressing that any longâ€"term solution necessarily lies with the federal government simply because that soluâ€" tion must be exercised on a national level. As yet the only action taken by the Ontario government despite their protestations that their hands were tied, is to offer a relief program to farmers facing bankruptecy be cause of high interest rates and this only after Province should offer interest rate relief This point was well made a few weeks earlier to the Special Progressive Conserâ€" vative Task Force on the Budget. Ray Bauer, president of Bauer Industries Limited, explained that his firm has been forced to announce its first layâ€"offs in over ten years. The disincentives imposed on his firm by the budget have forced him to cancel planned expansion. Investment funds have been drained off by new taxation. New jobs were wiped out before they could even be offered‘! Bob White, United Auto Workers Direcâ€" tor for Canada, demonstrated the imporâ€" tance of these jobs. "Automotive jobs account for 40 to 80 per cent of manufacâ€" turing employment in Ontario communiâ€" ties from Windsor to Kitchener to Oshawa. Put simply, we can‘t expect a viable auto industry from a government that supports high interest rates and economic stagnaâ€" tion." The housing industry, which the prime minister refused to stimulate with a mortgage and tax credit, did not escape Mr. MacEachen‘s ‘"long arm." Michael what is the federal government planning to do to protect the 600,000 jobs left in the Canadian automotive industry? How could the budget have been allowed to punish an industry already plagued with layâ€"offs and cutbacks? WATERLOO CF"*ONICLE, wWEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1982 â€" PAGE 7 Further information about this program is available through the local Ontario Federation of Agriculture representative. The program will be run in coâ€"operation with the banks, by two committees, the case committee and the provincial decision comâ€" mittee. The case committee, composed of the branch manager of the bank involved, the local OMAF official and the producer (or representative) develops the proposal and presents it for consideration to the decision committee. The provincial decision committee consists of senior level appointees. It is responsible for the approval of assistance recommended by the case committee. It will also monitor the program to ensure fair and equal treatment of producers in different regions, products, banks, etc.. and act as an appeal avenue where a case committee is having difficulty reaching a concensus. The assistance package to an individual producer can include one or a combination of the following options: deferral of interest by the bank on bank loan(s) for a period of six months backed by a provincial guarantee; an interest reduction grant floating rate bank loans and shortâ€"term fixed rate bank loans for operating purposes only; a provincial guaranâ€" tee of a new line of credit for operating purposes only for a period of up to one year. The purpose of the program is to provide assistance to farm enterprises which are currently experiencing extreme financial difâ€" ficulties but which could be made to work. Aid will be given upon review of the individual case and will come from both the government and the bank. Information on the finalized version of the Ontario government‘s farm adjustment assisâ€" tance program has just been released approxiâ€" mately one month after it was first announced by the minister of agriculture and food. Given the example of the other provinces, the Ontario government certainly can act; and well they should to relieve pressure from those more vulnerable to the current economic situâ€" ation. a great public demonstration by farmers Schout, president of the Kitchenerâ€"Waterâ€" loo Real Estate Board, told the task force that the budget turned a slow construction period into a time of unnecessarily high unemployment. Perhaps the most telling witness at the Kitchener hearings did not represent industry at all. Ernie Ginsler, executive director of the Social Planning Council of Kitchenerâ€"Waterloo, spoke of the human costs of unemployment â€" the effects on the family, on physical and mental health. He underlined the greater need for caring services during times of economic hardâ€" ship. His question for the cabinet: "Why did the budget ignore the voluntary sec tor?"" = The Liberal government stubbornly maintains that high interest rates are needed to fight inflation. They plan no "offâ€"sets"" for those who can least protect themselves. How long can inflation be fought on the backs of the workers? Battling inflation becomes a bit of a "dead issue" when a family has lost its home because of skyrocketing mortgage rates and layâ€"offs in the workplace. But in recent days some rays of hope appeared. Joining with provincial premiers, some of the government‘s supporters are beginâ€" ning to get this message through to cabinet. Canadians should not give up