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

Chronicle Waterloo crossâ€"counâ€" try skier Megan McTavish will tomorâ€" row add yet another award to her impresâ€" sive list of accomâ€" plishments..............14 Opinion ....................6 LeNOFs ..â€"â€"â€"â€".â€"â€"â€"â€"â€"â€"f Calendar...............12 Sports.................... 14 Classified ............... 18 12 14 18 14 1h, â€" MATTRESSES & BOX SPRINGS Andrew Telegdi Telegdi predicts federal budget surplus When Waterloo MP Andrew Telegdi was recently asked to look into his crystal ball, he predicted we‘ll see the first budget surâ€" plus since the 19605 unveiled next week. "I think we already have a zero deficit," said Telegdi in an interview with the Chronâ€" icle last week. "I expect we‘ll end up with some kind of surplus." The bigger mystery is how the surplus will be spent. If you‘re looking for clues, look no further then the Liberal‘s book of financial magic â€" the mysterious "red book." In broad terms we laid out the plan in Bob Vrbanac Chronicle Staff 3% m the last campaign," he said. "The surplus will be used for new programs, used for debt reduction and tax reduction." In terms of specifics, Telegdi said he‘ll be watching the disappearing deficit show along with the rest of Canada. Backâ€"benchers won‘t know what‘s in the budget until Liberal financial wizard Paul Martin makes the announcement Feb. 24, at 4 p.m. In the meantime, Telegdi said that backâ€" benchers have been doing some heavy lobâ€" bying to pull certain rabbits out of the hat "We don‘t know what‘s in the budget," he said. "We find that out like everybody else." "For the university community, I‘m hopâ€" ing that there will be some recognition by the Finance Minister of post secondary eduâ€" cation," he said. "I think we‘ll see some stulf on student loans and student assistance." Telegdi also hopes the finance minister picks the right card and reinvests in research and development. "Ultimately, it‘s research that feeds the economy." "I think we‘ll see some reasonable funding for the research council which is a pretty big area of mine," he said Telegdi said the one thing we won‘t see in the budget is an increase in MP‘s salaries. They‘re too afraid that the electorate will make them all disappear. "It‘s an awkward issue," he said. "It someâ€" thing we‘d probably rather not deal with."