SU Z S>:. 86 Castlegar News december 18, 1985 OTTAWA (CP) — The Senate, a wag once suggested, is decorated in red to hide the crimson blush of its ashamed occupants — if they happen to be awake. Many consider the Senate a $27-million boondoggle, a place where spent politicians and aging party bagmen snooze away their twilight years, wrapped snugly in a security blanket that includes a $54,600 salary, an $8,800 tax:free expense allowance, free. travel, free long- distance telephone calls and other nifty perks. It’s the country’s cushiest sinecure. Or is it? Many senators say the stereotype doesn’t fit. They brighten dull news pages. What upsets senators most are reports poking fun at Senate sitting-hours. Some days, the Senate sits for less than 30 minutes. The upper chamber, which meets three days a week, convened for just over 10 hours in October before suspending sittings for two weeks in November. say the press only looks at the Senate for comic relief to Senators say the hours reflect the lack of legislation passed by the Commons. In any case, they maintain, a tally of sitting hours is not an accurate measure of their work. HEARS PROBLEMS Ontario Senator Charlie Turner, a former Liberal MP, says he’s as busy now as he used to be. Old constituents still call when they have problems. Turner, a former CNR engineer, says he.also spends a lot of time dealing with the problems of CNR pensioners. - Senator Jack Marshall, fron: Newfoundland, says he spends a lot of time working on veterans’ problems: ‘dealing with 500 cases in the past year; often speaking to veterans’ groups, sometimes filling in. for Veterans Affairs Minister George Hees. Senator Richard Doyle, former editor of the Toronto Globe and Mail, notes he worked all summer as one of four Senate members of the joint Senate-Commons on ions which held hearings on free trade and Canadian participation in the U.S..Star Wars plan. 5 i “['ve worked bloody hard since I got here last March,” Doyle says. Senators say they do their real work in committees, studying bills before they are approved by the Commons. “I believe there's a general feeling that our most valuable work is done in the committees, where we take legisl: apart and ion it, by paragraph by paragraph,” says Doyle. Marshall chairs the Senate fisheries committee which headed north and held seven straight days of hearings on fish marketing when the Senate recessed last month. “I came back-and I see in the papers that the . senators are relaxing for two weeks,” Marshall says. “It just churns my guts out.” The Senate banking committee's inquiry into bank failures has been extremely well-attended, despite long hours and frequent evening sittings. Senate no $27 million boondoggl And you won't find a more combative crew than those senators holding hearings into the controversial National Film Board movie — ‘The Kid Who Couldn't Miss — about First World War flying ace Billy, Bishop. But some committees work harder than others. From June through October, all committees involving senators sat for 372 hours, two-thirds of which were by: the iT i i (134 hours), the banking committee (49) and a special Senate committee on youth (67). FEW MEETINGS During the same time, the Senate energy committee met for 5'/ hours; the committee on social affairs, science and technology for 4% hours; the foreign affairs committee for 21 hours. The committee with the most Senators — the obscure joint committee on the parliamentary library and the even more obscure joint committee on parliamentary printing — did not meet at all. BUSINESS ‘Last Minute Rush? We Can Help... At MIN@LA This SLR camera features a compact built-in auto- focus system that gives stantly. 1.7 lens, strap Off Our Reg. Prices 6’’ (15 cm) Poinsettias Polyester/Cotton fabric in ass't. prints and solids. Not all sizes available in all stores. 4 Men’s & Ladies’ Quartz Watches Men's Chrono-Alarm, Calculator or water resistant; Women’s Slim LCD's. 4 2 88 ea. Mtg. Suggested Retall 19.95. 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AA, C&D sizes 4 per pack; 9-volt THE MORE YOU LOOK THE MORE YOU SAVE FREE TRADE LOBBY GROUPS GET READY By LARRY BLACK NEW. YORK (CP) — The American public seems hardly to have noticed last week when President Ronald Reagan set the clock ticking toward free trade negotiations with Canada. But the special interest groups are already lining up on both sides of the issue. Reagan's notification of the proposed. talks to the U.S. Congress went almost without comment amid Washington's pre-Christmas flurry of budget and tax bills. And 60 working days from now — some time in early spring — the talks will begin unless one of the two houses of Congress objects. But while free trade with Canada has roused little public interest, increasing attention is being focused on ANALYSIS doing by A F business in, or in competition with, Canada. Only politicians from lumber states have so far threatened to try to block the talks. But other groups with a stake in Canadian trade and investment — from hi: ical to book i and energy and textile groups — are making their positions known. “My sense is that. the so-called lobbyists are positioning themselves early on to represent vested interests — whether they be the textile interes: i ‘ity or .” says Brian Rose, a New York-based lawyer with the Montreal firm Stikeman Elliott. ‘ “Behind the scenes, positions are being taken,” he says. “In Canada, I don't have the sense that it's happening quite so quickly.” But in the United States, another observer warns, “all the manufacturing groups and all the labor groups and all agricultural groups — to say nothing of industries like pharmaceuticals and steel — are going to be ready.” While Reagan's letter to the two ional hostage to current di: the is rep to have brought up three beefs in a telephone conservation the same day with Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, : One —.lumber — is a long-standing public dispute which has become the object of protectionist legislation in the U.S. Congress. . But two others — Canada’s royalty payments to multinational drug companies, and its policy on the foreign ownership of book publishing — are special- interest issues, backed by powerful lobbies which are trying hard to translate them into trade-offs at the upcoming talks. For example, Ottawa's attempts to bring Prentice Hall’s Canadian division under Canadian control — the crux of the book publishing dispute — has brought down the wrath of the company’s new U.S. owners, the Gulf and Western and its lobbyist Robert Straus, a former U.S. trade representative and chairman of the U.S. Democratic party. Allan Gotlieb, Canada’s ambassador to Washington, has counselled Ottawa to back down on the issue, warning that Straus’s threats to retaliate with a “scorched earth” policy against Canada will discredit the country’s negotiating position. And following Reagan's mention of the Prentice Hall issue, Leonard Silk, a New York Times business columnist, raised the issue, complaining it was “a form of neo-protectionism. “Such neo-protectionism is likely to be a subject of in the et with Canada that President Reagan . . .is now prepared to begin,” Silk warned in a column. Rose warns that an issue such as Prentice Hall, which he describes as “one very small isolated i is ing the of the foreign towards Canada- “Many people in the United States, particularly in the U.S. Congress, are concerned that Canada’s interest in free trade is really based on a desire to obtain an umbrella shield against protectionist legislation in the United States,” he says. “And they question the Canadian government's motives.”, . #3 With Canadian trade unlikely to ever spark national interest in the United States, the focus of the committees urges the politicians not to hold the talks may well be by these and other individual business concerns, others warn. COL FERRARO'S dion C:; YOUR SATISFACTION 1S OUR MAIN CONCERN: 2 CONVENIENT LOCATIONS TO SERVE YOU * CASTLEAIRD PLAZA *« DOWNTOWN Until 9 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays. Prices effective until Tuesday, December 24, 1985 “for your festive feast" _ Canada grade A frozen young turkeys e all sizes & all weights 3.04 kg *each filled Super Saver Card om" be fo 1. the total price of Grade ‘A’ turkeys or any other turkey ur stores price without Super Saver Cards ww ERSHUERZ, Ib. @ 3 & = with 5 filled BSSUTERSAUER pay only (Butterball, butterballbasted, fresh turkeys) Offer Good Thru to Dec. 24, 1985 McDONALD'S TOPS Britain has LONDON (REUTER) — Eleven years after crossing the Atlantic, the American McDonald's hamburger chain has established a leading position in Britain's booming fast-food business. = The reaction was less than-ecstatic in 1974 when McDonald's opened its first British hamburger restaurant in south London. “There were times when we were sitting there on our own for hours on end-without a single customer,” says Bob Rhea, chairman of the company’s British branch. But, helped by a shrewd television advertising campaign, Britain soon succumbed to the formula that sells 140 hamburgers a second in 36 countries on five continents. By the end of this year, McDonald's expects to have 196 in land, ing an ii annual sales of $172 million. LEADS PACK McDonald's is the leading fast-food chain in Britain, ahead of Kentucky Fried Chicken — which industry analysts say has revenue here of some $140 million — as well as Burger King, Wendy's and Britain's Wimpy hamburger outlets. McDonald's had worldwide sales of $3.4 billion last year, and Britain is the company’s fourth-largest outlet, after the United States, Japan and West Germany. But McDonald's is not satisfied. “We are still tiny in Britain,” said Rhea, who opened his first McDonald's in Ohio in 1960. “We only exist in the London, Birmingham and Manchester areas. But we have big plans.” Company president Paul Preston says McDonald's. changed its fortunes in Britain by appealing to children. “Most of our television adverts (commercials) went out in the afternoon when the kids were watching. It was pressure from the kids which brought their parents into our restaurants.” TVAKEY TV still plays a key role in the company’s plans for expansion. It has divided the country into 13 regions covered by commercial television companies that carry advertising. “So far, we're in six TV regions,” Preston said. “Ultimately, we plan to open a McDonald's in every community and on every High Street that can support one.” The British fast-food market — led by traditional fish and chips with about 27 per cent, and hamburgers and sandwich bars with around 17 per cent each — will have estimated total sales of $4.2 billion this year. McDonald's success has .attracted to London its perennial U.S. rivals, Burger King and Wendy's, ,while competition from pizza, Kentucky Fried Chicken and fish and chips is strong. Analysts estimate that the fast-food market in Britain is growing at a rate of 15 per cent a year. Mac attack “Only dly is the g to realize that this industry, almost alone in the economy, is generating millions of pounds in investment and thousands of new jobs,” said John Barnes, managing director of Kentucky Fried Chicken. Rhea said McDonald's has become one of the biggest employers of young people in the country and is making a major but largely unappreciated contribution to the British ~ economy: “By the end of this year, we will have invested $340 million in Britain and will be employing 15,000 people. We are providing jobs . . . and this country needs jobs.” Government inspected poultry e frozen Canada grade A ° butterball basted turkeys 437, 1.98 10 2 OO Se exon! Cards you could for @ 10 lb. 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