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WFIITBY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBE R 11, 1987, PAGE 7 PAG.E SEVEN FREE? TRtADE? We the undersigned hereby eliminate ail tarrifs and trade barriers between our two countries. Furthermore woe agree that- neither country will pursue policies which will subsiclize prices or in any way insulate them from normal market forces. signed Brian Mulroney Ronald Reagan I just wrote a free trade deal between Canada and the United States and I did it in a couple of minutes. So why did it take our respective two governiments eighteen months to write an agreemient which they will continue to argue about for several more months if not years? Because what they negotiated isn't and neyer was free trade. They were seeking instead a comprehensive trade deal which would reduce trade barniers. Free trade is straight forward as the above "agreement"t shows - tarrif reduction is a tit-for-tat can of worms. Depending on who you choose to listen to, "free trade", is either the key to the future prosperity of Canada or a slow death to everything that makes this country what it is. Perhaps both are true and that is the crux of the debate. Is the prospenity of the country more important than the country itself? As a nation Canada occupies that part of the N. American continent with a decidely hostile and perverse climate. The hardshiips of our geography have shaped a very different economy than the United States, one in which we grow peaches and strawberries not because the climate is suited but because many Canadians for perverse nationalistic reasons prefer Canadian grown fruit. F'ree trade will eliminate those products which are not competitive. At the same time it will give the Americans free access to our natural resources - western oil and gas wilI have to be sold to the Americans at the. same price as Canadians so any economic incentives the West might have offered to help diversify their economy will become impossible. Free trade, if enacted, will be, at the very least, an act Of faith. Nobody has any real idea of its impact. Economists make all kinds of projections on both sides of the issue depending upon -who's paying their fee, but for all their charts, computations and analyses, economists are lucky if they can predict the next five minutes let alone the next five, ten or fifty years. Their hind- sight on business cycles is staggering, their foresight is wishful- thinking. The debate is in full swing yet the document they are debating won't be available for another few weeks yet. The argu- ments for the deal are based on studies by the Macdonald Com- mission and the Economic Council of Canada. Yet these studies made a number of presumptions as to what a 'free trade' would include - many were wrong. The need for some clearer understanding and cooperation from our chief trading partner is obvious but whether the agreement negotiated between the Mulroney and Reagan governments achieves this is another matter. Canada set out to get an economic agreement but in the end it got a political one. Only a week before the final deal, the sides were so far apart that Canada suspended negotiations, yet at literally the hast minute, a deal was struck. t may not be unusual for two sides to withhold their concessions until the last minute in hopes that the other side wihl play their hand flrst, but in negotiations as vital as these, I have to wonder whether the final arrangement was as well considered as it should have been. What they agreed to was written in only a few days, yet it is taking the bureaucrats two months to draft the "detailed" wording. You really have to worry whether anybody really knows what is in the deal let alone its implications. The main argument for "free trade" is increased trade leading to greater prosperity. For who? The interests of those supporing free trade are very narrow. Many big corporations support it because of the money their companies can make in the American market. The provincial premiers who support it are after their province's own narrow interests - Quebec so it can expert more power, Aberta so it can expert more oul and gas, Saskatchewvan, potash and uranium, B.C. lumber and forest products. In fact the people supporting "Free trade", are the same ones who were supporting it even before negotiations began. They support it regardless of what the deal is. They support the concept of free trade without regard to whether the concept will be achieved. The charge that oppenents of free trade are afraid to compete freely in the marketplace of the world is unfair. I happen to think Canada can compote very nicehy - we already are-w-eever ou -1ods r reatedfairly.What Canada needs 'il .~. FIRST REMEMBRANCE EÎAY DINNER IN NEW J.EGION HTALL, NOVEMBER 8. 1945 This photograph shows the head table guests at the flrst Rernembranoe Day dinner held ln the Legton Hall on B3yron Street South, whlch opened ln 1945. From left to right are: Peter Dralmin, Frank Thrcadgold, Mayor Bob Devereli, Rev. Cata, E Ralph Adye. Legion President Tom Semple and Chaplain Rev. David Marsh ail. The only rnerber of the head table iving today 15 Peter Drann former mianager of the King Brothers Tanneiy, who now lives lni Toronto. Whlitby Archives Photo 10 TEARS AGO fromn the Wednesday, November 9, 1977 edition of the WHIT13Y FREE PRESS " 50 Whitby residents have received Canadian citizenshlp at the first cerernony held ln the Durhamn Region Council Chamnbers. " Slow growth ln Durhamn Reglon rnay cause the regional council to reassess its sewer serviclng plans. " The Whitby Puýblic UAbrary should expand into the main floor of the old municipal building by Mai-ch 1. " Neil Murkar of the Whltby Minor Basebail Association reports that rninor baseball in Whitby Is ln serlous trouble because of a shortage of volunteer help. 25 'YEARS AGO from the Thursday, November 8, 1962 edition or the WHITBY WEEKLY NEWS " The Ontario Municipal Board has approved rczonlng for a shopping centre at Dundas and Frances streets " Flylng Officer J.B. Jeppesen of Whitby has recelved his pilot's wlngs at RCAF station at Gliml, Manitoba. from the Frlday, November 1l, 1887 edition of the WHflBY CHRONICLE *Chier Constable llugh McBricn says the period for cows running at large expires on Nov. 15. * The WVhitby Township lBoard or I Icalth want Trooklin studcnts to stop attendlng school in Whltby bccause or a diphtherla cpldcmlc. jý ýý Fli