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PAGE 6 â€" WATERLOO CHRONICLE, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 3, 1994 "Government debt has reached crisis proportions in Canada. We have joined the Third World." â€" Robin Richardson, Fraser Institute If you want to see how successive numbers of politicians â€"â€" Conserâ€" vative, Liberal and NDP alike â€" have botched up our economy, all you have to do is get yourself a copy of the Fraser Institute‘s most recent report on Canada‘s massive debt problem. When you read it, you‘ll shake your head and ask yourself just how we ever got ourselves into such a mess and why we ever elected sibility for letting this country‘s finances slide right down the drain. What it has to say is both startling and depressing. For instance, Canada‘s total allâ€"government gross debt is much bigger than anyâ€" body ever thought. It exceeded $1.75 trillion â€" yes, you got that right, trillion â€" as of March 31, 1994. Debt per person reached $61,188; a family of four owed $244,472. But get this: Canada is the 46th most severely indebted economy in the world in terms of allâ€"government debt. And it‘s worsening. It ranked just behind Burundi and just ahead of Morocco on the "severely indebted category." Even worse, Canada‘s allâ€"government net debtâ€"toâ€"GDP ratio had risen to 105.8 per cent as of March 31; it is an astounding monument to reckless overspending that will take generations to fix, if it‘s even ever fixed at all. ing. They show once and for all that the people we‘ve elected to office in the past 20 or so years have botched up the fiscal health of the country; they have nothing to be proud of. Just read this: "Insofar as total allâ€"government debt is concerned, Canada is both absolutely and comparatively severely indebted, and has at least in this regard joined the Third World. Even more disâ€" turbing, Canada‘s indebtedness trends are getting worse, not better, unlike many Third World countries." The conclusion sends chills up the spine: "Canada has joined the Third World in terms of the magnitude and severity of its total allâ€" government debt problem. All of the conditions for a financial crisis of major proportions are now in place." Why has this happened? Why has government after government continued to give away money to every special interest group â€" whether it be teachers, policemen, firemen, or any other public secâ€" tor group â€"â€" or even to corporations who want subsidies? The answer is simple: for the most part, we‘ve elected politicians who find it hard to stand up for fiscal responsibility. They can‘t take the heat when the greedy public sector unions beg for more, when companies want handouts, or when they‘re told there‘s no more money left to fund UIC or pensions. They just keep on spending; it‘s easier that way. The report agrees: it says that most politicians live in a fantasy world where they tell you everything‘s all right. But it‘s an illusion; the problem is that the illusion has weakened the resoive of most politicians to say "no" and just stop spending. What I kept thinking when I read the report was how we ever allowed this to happen to ourselves. How did we keep electing politiâ€" cians who have effectively botched up the future for both us and our children by overspending? The public sector unions have been bullies. They have squeezed more out of the system than it has to offer. So have other special interest groups. But the politicians who let them get away with this atrocity bear even more blame. The next time you hear one of our soâ€"called "leaders" telling you everything‘s OK with the economy or one of the public sector unions screaming for more money or concessions, just remember what this report says. Or, better still, pull it out and read it. It‘s such a tragedy. The spectre of a country that once had it all going down the drain financially is not a pretty sight. Waterloo Town Square 75 King St. South, Suite 201 Waterloo, Ontario NJ 1P2 Fax No. News Line 886â€"3021 Tragic situation chorus of Happy Days Are Here Again! You think retail sales aren‘t up. I checked the other day and one store was so busy two women were trying on the same girdle. And another store has expanded so much its bargain basement is on the third floor. It hasn‘t been that way for long. Until recently busiâ€" ness was so quiet you could hear the overhead pile up. To put it another way, store sales were slow in the mornings, but dropped off in the afternoons. At the height of the recession, some businesses tried everything. One opened branch offices but, sadly, nobody wanted to buy branches. Even a few months ago I asked the fellow at the lumber yard about business, and he said it was mostly come see, come saw. Still, in my farâ€"reaching research, I picked up some tips on businesses. Like so: Without a doubt the easiest to start from scratch is a flea circus. The trouble with launching a trash collection busiâ€" ness is that you‘re at other people‘s disposal. _ The dry cleaning business is tough. There‘s never a Finally, the way to survive in business is to be a firm believer in human rights. Every time any human says something to you, you say, "Right!" Shuffling the Cards: I stay away from heavy financial advice, but here‘s a note in passing: It takes longer to cancel a credit card than it does to get one. This week I decided to thin my wallet by cancelling a couple of cards that were more or less duplicates. That took some doing. Still, if responding to recorded voices and listening to elevator music is your thing, you might enjoy it. Canada‘s Paul Martin has said good times are here to stay. The Gâ€"7 leaders have sort of agreed, albeit with a bit more restraint. Yes sir, a few months ago I heard a yesâ€"man say maybe. Right than I knew â€" and wrote â€" that the recession was over. And now it‘s all but unanimous. True, you‘ll still read the occasional sobâ€"sister piece about a family that‘s hurting but in general the recesâ€" sion is done. The jobless rate is declining, welfare rolls are shrinking, store sales are up, consumers are showing more confidence, and so on and so on. So let‘s have a Happy Days Are Here Again Waterloo Chronicle is published every Wednesday by *J The Fairway Group Subscription rates 215 Fairway Rd. S., us,.iyi-c-t E Ki ' m‘. " President: Paul Winkiee _ +GST. . The views of our columnists are their own and do not necessarily mprueit the views of the newspaper. â€" d <<> SNM1icaa nusilenidyiaite International Standard Serial Number ISSN 0632â€"9410. To sum up: I had to do more explaining to give up the cards than I did to get them. Fact is, they came to me out of the blue. I never applied for them. I have cards aplenty without them. Besides I‘ve disâ€" covered something: Money is even handier than credit cards. Meet Counter: Every time I pass that sprawling Waterloo County board of education complex on Kitchener‘s Ardelt Avenue, I wonder anew: Are we really sure it doesn‘t house one bureaucrat for every pupil in the system? Courting Trouble: Every summer, just as reguâ€" larly as the Toronto Ex rolls around, we‘re told a horâ€" ror story about the backlog of criminal cases in local courts. + This summer‘s account of crisis: Trial dates for adults are now being set well into next March in Kitchener and February in Cambridge. What‘s that? Time doesn‘t matter. It sure does, parâ€" ticularly when lawyers begin to apply to have cases thrown out because of undue delays. And cutbacks in legal aid will only worsen the situation as more folks start defending themselves. (And doing it badly.) . The hoary legal maxim has it that justice delayed is justice denied. And make no mistake, it‘s not only a denial of justice to the accused, it‘s a denial of justice to all of us: Victims, police, witnesses and society as a If any accused go free because of the clogged courts, the blame rests squarely with Queen‘s Park. Justice isn‘t something you should stint on even if budgets are tight. It‘s no wonder crime is so rampant. For example, I know a burgilar who‘s stopped making house calls. menrorenvenmennnonceme mepenper