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

PAGE A14 . WATERLOO CHWMCLE. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 1991 ttr No need to reform Canada's libel laws The Cinadian Daily Newspaper Association publishes an annual survey oflibel defence costs. In 1988, 59 per cent of the 8,5 daily newspapers surveyed reported spending not a single penny on defending libel actions. In 1990, an Attorney-General's committee, composed of several knowledgeable people, didn't perceive libel chill as a serious threat to free expression and werent even prepared to agree it enstedi I believe the WRLL has really gone overboard and presented a grossly distorted picture by suggesting a plaintiff in a lawsuit Just has to whisper the word "libel" and the courts will somehow order publishers to turn over buckets of roomy. Do you remember the Robert Coates matter? He was the defence minister who sued the Ottawa Citizen for libel. His case never went anywhere but the newspaper insisted on what turned out to be a fruitless constitutional challenge to the law of libel and, in the process. wasted $1 million in lawyer’s fees. Newspapers and magazines are able to defend themselves well. They can hire lawyers who know their trtuffand they can also afford to pay them. That gives them a leg up on the poor plaintiff who - unless he's rich - cant do the same thing. What WRLL doesnt like is the defence of truth. As it is now, there is nothing you cant say about somebody as long as it's true. But if you say it, you must prove it I dont have to prove as false. The writers believe that the person who sues should have to prove that what the newspaper says is false. It is a ludicrous suggestion that would eat away at the very fabric of our freedoms. It would give already powerful Joema/istiy interests even more ammunition. Think of it. It is the logical impossibility of proving a negative. And furthermore, writers shouldnt say something about a person unless they can prove it's true and they have the documents to back it up. Here's what it boils down to: libel law demands good reporting. As I said to my Mend, newspapers already have a huge amount of power They shouldn't be able to destroy reputations at their discretion. J F rederrck Sagel Ls a Kitchener lawyer who lives m Waterloo. He 15 part of a group called Writers to Reform the Libel Law which has called for an immediate reform of all libel laws. It includes people like June Callwood and Michele Landsberg who argue that libel law puts freedom of expression in Jeopardy. - Bin. sis I pointed out to my friend, the group has some real problems m Its arguments, That is because our own libel laws age perfectly fa.ir and don't i!tfriryre upon freedom of the pres; _ in its bnel'. the group tan't poiiit G a single instance if libel chill. It can't even cite a single story that was rewritten through fear of a libel action. And-then tt makes the lame argument that libel chill exists bty.ausfr, you Pust pegsufg it by what is not published, Ouch! My Mend was worried because he felt that Canadian newspapers and magazmes were becoming victim to libel chill, an American concept that basically boils down to a fear of being sued for what you wnte. "C'mon now, you've got to admit our libel laws are far too tougl That's what a journalist friend said to me during an animated conversation we were having last week and it was one I had ben giying some ghopght to for some time, 7 "No? I aiiswered. " think the laws we have are adequate to protect both the newspapers and the individual who thinks he's been wronged by them" H nobealocal ABOUT THE MW fan! f;hru I TID BIZ The final plan, currently being considered by Waterloo city council along with several other proposals for regional shopping centres. calls for a further expansion of 75 stores. including another department store, which will increase the mall to 174 stores and services in over 600,000 square feet. The budget for the project is $36 million. Province woos foreign Investors through am tour An investment tour planned for late October will provide companies located in Canada's Technology Triangle with an opportunity to attract foreign investors. Organized by the Ontario Ministry of Industry. Trade and Technology (MIT?) and the Economic Development Departments of Canada's Technology Triangle (Waterloo, Kitchener, Cambridge and Guelph), the tour is designed to promote investment opportunities that will contribute to the economic growth of the province and provide jobs for Ontario residents. The tour will run horn Oct. 28 to Oct. 31. Potential foreign investors are being recruited by MI'I'I"s offices in London, England and Frankfurt, Germany, The ftrat phase is a "million, 20-atme expansion and renovation project, scheduled to be completed in the spring of 1992, that will increase the mall by 30,000 square feet. But Cambridge leaseholds, the parent company of the mall, eventually hopes to expand even further, At a hound-M113 eel-Emmy for the new expansion, Cambridge Ian-shows presented a $15,000 donation to the Waterloo Recreation Com. Construction begun on $4M expansion of Conestoga Mall Kenn Addertey Chronicle Staff Conestoga Mall in Waterloo began Phase-1 of its expansion and renovation program last week in a bid to become the area's next regional shopping centre, Luanda: Vice Pm'tdem' Ron Melon during the grrsisndttrrsakhtg ceremony for Conestoga Mill's oxponslon. w “any m Ray Bauer Jr. (10ft), Chairman of the Watedoo R-tttlon 00mg? fundrttlslng committee, put! atititN W?ttrdooAayArr Lynge WtttrtttomtTtt.tteetttt a $15, .. chogye from Cambridge laik. Have a talk about making giving a family affair. When you save for your holidays, mortgage or new car, put some away for giving too. Let everyone in on the decision of which causes to help and you'll be a real Local Hero family. AmMmlompm-MW "Sme of the investment tour participants will be looking at the region as a place for permanent settlement. All will have bulineee management experience and the emote and potential to contrib- ate significantly to the economic health of the area," said Ken Bauman, a senior business consul- tant with the ministry. Economic development departments from the Technology Triangle municipalities and MITI‘s Kitchener otNe are currently obtaining and screen- ing area business investment opportunities for review by the 25 or more potential investors. For more information about the investment tour or to submit investment propeala, contact Miran Kurmak at 74T8706 or Ken Bauman and Peter McGough at M1'IT Kitchener, 744-6391. "This expansion is beginning 14 years almost to the day that we celebrated our opening of the mall," said Ron Meiers, senior vice president of Cambridge Uatseholds, "and I hope it's just a forerunner to additional growth in the near future." The plans for phase-2 currently before city council are in competition with several other regional shopping centre proposals that Waterloo politicians will be voting on at the rtrat council meeting in September. "Your generous support and patronage over the past 13 years has made our mall, your mall. We eagerly anticipate the new shopping horizons that this expansion will bring," reads a promotional brochure. Cambridge Leaseholds is promoting the Conesto gs Mall as the seasoned, proven choice in the tussle. relying on the mall's long and medial service to the community as a strong selling point. plex fundraising committee as part of an aggressive public relations campaign to promote the expansion of ganestoga Mall. AnewmiritMirvirm v,