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‘Says Bank of Montreal

‘TORONTO (UPC) - A major
~ Canadian bank ‘says Canada
_is following the United
~ States into a recession, with
_ high inflation and. Mortgage
interest rates Pointing the
way.

__ The Bank af Montreal said:
Tuesday in its monthly
Business Review the ac-
celerating American. in-
- flation rate in 1978 and sharp
rises. in interest: ‘rates were

aan cstations ‘of “stresses”
leading ~ economic
slowdown. ,

STILL AFFECTING BUSINESS in the Province of Quebec, Premier Rene Lev
byelections in the province to be held in November (UPI wirephoto)

By W. ROGER WORTH

Canadians are having a
difficult time trusting
business people these days,
and with good reason.

In the past,
were confident the local
butcher wasn’t about to tip
the scales with his finger.
The meat cutter, in many
cases, was a personal friend,
or at least an acquaintance.

Now, consumers have to
contend with supermarket
chains caught mixing low-
priced pork with beef, cooly
selling the concoction at
higher-than-high beef prices.

Fertilizer companies think
nothing of = short-changing
their customers by selling
under-weight products,
some as much as 10 pounds

consumers -

T-D bank said that even

with the employment rate at ©

peak levels “it would appear
that the U.S. economy has
gone into recession.

“Economic growth in the
first quarter of 1979 was.

. quite low — an annual rate

of 1.1 per cent.

“Bad weather was widely... slowdown or
blamed for the slow-growth —

but a rebound failed to occur
in the ‘second quarter and
economic growth in fact

less than the amount in-
dicated.

Many large companies
have also taken advantage of
the move to the metric
system, hiking prices by
inordinate amounts to in-
crease profit margins.

Even the government
operated post office joined
the trend when it announced
most mailing costs would not
rise when it changed to
metric, neatly evading the
fact that a lot of customers
are going to pay con-
siderably more moncy for
the service.

Then there's the quality
issuc.

The number of product
recalls has increased so
Gramatically that the

declined at a 3.3 per cent.

rate.”

In Canada the main in-
dicators have followed the |
same trend “except that the
drop-off in the growth rates
appears to have occurred —
* somewhat later.

°

. “The. same story of
emerging
FéCession is told in the key
monthly indicators ... for

both Canada and the United

States,” said the review.

Deiadnes

he issue wit

Canadian public now takes
them for granted

In fact, the automotive
companies are now recalling
more cars than they sell
every year.

Canadians have come a
long way from the good old
days when a Model A ran for
10 years, developing few
problems that couldn't be
overcome with a little binder
twine and a recycled wad of
chewing gum.

The list goes on.

The aircraft industry and

government authorities
apparently feel it’s not
important to inform the

flying public that 506 faulty
engine mounts have been
found on commercial jets
during a six year period.

Call 980-0511 —

The bank ‘said a surge in
Canadian retail sales oc-

curred: ‘despite declining real

income, . however, the surge
was. possibly caused by
consumers dipping into their
savings accounts.

The gasoline shortage was
cited as an important factor
in sagging U.S. car sales
which were down “a
whopping 74 per cent.” The
bank said low housing starts,

‘high mortgage interest rates

and inflationary house prices

esque fs shown announcing

Soft drink manufacturers

blanket the country with
exploding pop bottles, then
balk when Ottawa asks them
nicely to stop using the
containers. At least one
manufacturer, it scems,
wants a direct order from the
government before he will
act.

Yet it's beleagured smaller
retaijers, car dealers, travel
agents and other in-
dependent entrepreneurs on
the firing line who bear the
brunt of public complaints
about these abuses.

Further, these smaller
businesses are forced to
accept such criticism,

particularly if they operate
by the credo that “the
customer is always right.”

What's to be done?

industrialized world

weré other significant in-
dicators.

“In fact, in some states,
because interest rates are so
high, usury laws have ac-
tually prevented the making

of mortgage loans,” the bank
said.

The bank said a fall-off in
industrial. production,
decline in housing starts and
an increase in imports.over
exports indicate the
Canadian economy is
following its American
counterpart.

Trade
trouble

if no plan

VICTORIA (UPC) - A senior

Royal Bank executive has .

warned that Canada could

cut itself out of world trade

markets .unless it soon
develops a_ long-range
economic strategy.

H.E. Wyatt, the bank's
vice-chairman for western
Canada, based: in Calgary,
told a Chamber of Com-
merce luncheon Wednesday

_that Canada and Britain are

the only two countries.in the
today
without a national economic
plan.

“We're at the stage where
if we don’t develop a long-
range economic blueprint,
we may lag so far behind the
other nations, recovery, if
possible, will be long
delayed,” Wyatt said.

It’s time all

people - specifically, the

executives of major com-
provided
straightforward answers to
the public on quality and

panics -

Pricing policies.

By ‘evading or
stonewalling contentious
issues,, Canada’s corporate
elite are slowly but surely
eroding public confidence in
the {ree-en{erprise system.

Roger Worth t Director,
Public Affair, Canadian
Federation of Independent
Business.

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