PAGE 6, WEDNES)3AY, DECEMBER 2. 1981, WHITBY FREE PRESS Budget deceptive, Crosbie teils local Tory faithful CLAREMONT - John~ Crosbie brought his down-home Newfound- land political huinor to the annual meeting of the Ontario Riding Pro- gressive Conservative Association here Mon- day night. In speaking to a hall bursting with about 200 of the party faithful, Crosbie attacked through ridicule, the recent federal budget of Liberal Finance Minister Allan Mac- Eachen. "It's flot the answer to a maiden's prayer," he said, "in fact, it's fot the answer to anyone's prayer in Canada today. " Crosbie, himself the finance minister in the short lived 1979 Tory government of Joe Clark, told his more than receptive audience that the budget does nothing to create jobs, encourage investment or reduce high interest rates and inflation. The MP for St. Johns West said that latest figures showed the Gross National Product was down 1.6 per cent in the third quarter of this year. He maintained that Canada was now clearly in a recession. "The budget is such an abismal disaster," Crosbie said adding "it is not something that was calculated to defeat inflation. " However, he agreed with MacEachen's posi- tion that inflation is the major economic problem to be overcome but criticized hlm for not taking sufficientý steps to deal with it. Crosbie, 50, also laid the responsibility for the nation's economie problems at the feet of the current Liberal ad- ministration. "The current economic situation was flot caused by the Cana- dian people," he said. "It was caused by a lack of government leader- ship - it was caused by the 10 or il years we have had under them. " Crosbie also accused the government of "not having the guts to mark out a clear course for 'w "q teS 1 hom bai. s *eci more rsdse > se 1 *n r rc r e * --*a i CASE opeople Pop TH~E BROWN'S F OODMASTER 0-&S F 12-30 OZ. fBOTTLES $U9» plus deposit PSP1M BROOKLIN 655-4,521 $449 plus deposuPEPL 8:30 arn to 6:00 prn Except Thurs. & Fr1. Night8 tii 9 pin Canada." The government, he added, has also thum- bed its nose at lnvest- ment both foreign and domestic creating even more problems. Crosbie, who is now the external affairs critie in the House of Commons' for the Tories, maintained that if the PC government had lived, Canada would have neither the high in- terest rates or inflation it currently suffers. "They are responsible for high interest rates," he said, "and they alone are responsible for the economic situation." Crosbie said that during the last 15 mon- ths or so there have been 14 increases in the price of oul and gas, 10 of which were federal tax increases. John Croabie This constitutes a "major breech of trust with the Canadian people" he continued adding that during the 1980 federal election the Liberals promised they would not increase the price of oul and gas as much as the Tory's proposed 18 cents. Crosbie believes the 14 increases added up to about 45 cents a gallon. "This was the most deceitful and deceptive budget speech of the century, " he said. "This budget is a disaster. MacEachen is out of touch with the Canadian people. " MacEachen, he said, told the nation that his budget was one of restraint. Crosbie ridi- culed this saying that goverfiment spending has increased by 22.1 per cent in the last 12 months. Added to this, Crosbie said adding to the pic- ture of economnic gloom, is the fact that there was no real growth in the Canadian economy last year. "They have grossly betrayed the people of Canada," he said. Crosbie, often touted as a potential successor to party leader Joe Clark, also took out a few moments to lament the Tory's faîl in December, 1979. "We had time enough to conceive but flot enough time to deliver."9 Many Canadians, both inside and outside the party. are probably wondering what would have happened if the Tory government had had time to deliver. moe m *speia y e-.,9 W-bak-e s,-,,ia