f
;

“a

{Hie

Cte cg LOE TORS AAR Se tee MY Ete

This is the ammonia truck

oo)

ay a
:

which overturned, taking the life of its driver, on Highway 16 west Sunday.

_ Post office ups letter rate to 14 cents

OTTAWA (CP) -- The
basic first-class letter
rate will rise to 14 cents
April 1 and rates charged
for other postal services
also will go up, Post-
master-General Jean-
Jacques Blais said
Monday in the Commons.

Blais said the across-
theboard increases are
needed to combat a rising
deficit and “‘we estimate
that for the 1978-79 fiscal

-year, ,the.-in¢reages - will-

in about $125
million in additional
revenue.”

Prairies
hardest
hit
OTTAWA (CP) —
Prairie cities were hit
hardest by the rise in the
cost of living during
October, Statisties
Canada said Monday in
its monthly survey of
consumer prices in 14

major cities.

Regina consumers felt
the heaviest impact of
inflation, as prices in that
city rose 1.6 per cent in
the month. The cost of
living rose by 1.5 per cent
in Saskatoon and 1.4 per
cent in both Edmonton
and Calgary.

Only Winnipeg among
the five Prairie cities
surveyed fared well, with
a monthly increase of
five-tenths of one per
cent. The national rise in
consumer prices between
September and October
was one per cent.

Cost-of-living increases
in the last 12 months in
the five Prairie cities
were: Regina, 10.3 per
cent; Saskatoon, 10 per
cent; Edmonton, 9.9 per
cent; Calgary, 8.8 per
cent and Winnipeg 8.3 per
cent,
SAINT JOHN LOWEST

_ Saint John, N.B., ex-

perienced the lowest
monthly increase in the
cost of living during Octo-
ber, at four-tenths of one

xr cent. The 12-month
increase was 8.5 per cent.

Changes in the cost of
living in the other cities
during October, with the
12-month rate in
brackets, were as
follows:

Toronto, up 1.3 per cent
(8.7 per cent); Ottawa,
one per cent (88 per
cent); Thunder Bay,
Ont., one per cent (8.6 per
cent); Montreal, nine-
tenths of one per cent (9.3
per cent) Vancouver, 0.9
per cent (6.4 per cent);

St. John's Nfld., 0.6 per
cent (7.6 per cent);

Quebec City, 0.8 per cent
(9.3. per cent) and
Halifax, 0.6 per cent (2.3
per cent).

It now costs 12 cents to
send a first-class letter in
Canada.

“I am sure that
members will recognize
that no politician, least of
all yours truly, will shoot
to the top of any popu-
larity poll by announcing
price increases,’”’ Blais
said.

However, he told the
Commons that “even

-with these price _in-

creases, Canadian postal
rates will still be among
the lowest in major
Western countries.”’
PAY 21 CENTS

“Expressed in
Canadian dollar
equivalents, Australians
pay 21 cents for a first-
class letter and so do the
French. It costs the
British 16 cents and
Americans 14 cents.”

Blais said _rapidiy
rising costs have out-
stripped the growth in
revenue.

The post office deficit
was $568.8 million in the
1976-77 fiscal year and *‘it
cowd increase to $717
million in 1978-79 unless
drastic action is taken,’’

The post office will
‘implement a_ broad
range of price increases
to virtually all domestic
and international rates.”

“Tf the post office is to
maintain its present level
of contribution to
Canadian society, then it
must establish a better
correlation betwee)
postal rates and the cost
of providing postal
services."

The costs of tran-
sportation, labor and
equipment have  in-
creased,

COSTS HIGHER

Transportation costs
are 20 per cent higher
than they were five years
ago and wages, since
1968, have increased by
120 per cent compared
with an increase of 107
per cent in revenue.

Blais said the post
office employs 63,000
persons and salaries
account for more than 70
per cent of the operating
costs of the department.

Blais referred  in-
directly to the strained
relations between the
post office and the 22,000-
member Canadian Union
of Postal Workers
(CUPW) when he urged
the co-operation of all
postal workers to ‘make
mechanization work and
te maintain consistently
high levels of service.’

The volume of mail
moved through the post
office is not as high as it
should be and ‘‘service
disruptions, coupled with
aggressive competition
from other forms of
communication are the

principle causes of this
shortfall,’’

John Rodriguez
(NDP—Nickel Belt) said
in reply to Blais that
there have been work
stoppages by CUPW
members because the
post office management
as not lived up to a
commitment to protect
postal employees from
adverse effects .--of

technological change.

EFFECTIVE APRIL 1

In addition to the first-
class mail rate increase,
other rate increases,
effective April 1, are:

Greeting cards of five
words or less and other
third-class addressed

mail of up to two ounces

will have the minimum
rate increased to 12 cents
from 10 cents.

The cost of third-class
quantity rate mailings of
printed matter will be
increased with the
minimum rate per item
going up to 7.5 cents frm-
M six cents.

A new local rate for
unaddressed printed

matter and samples: will -

be introduced for pieces
weighing up to two
ounces. The rate is four

cents apiece in letter.

carrier offices and 3.5
cents t non letter carrier
offices,

The basic fee for
registration will be in-

“T hear there’s
been some changes
in Unemployment
Insurance.
What’s the story?”

New legislation has changed some of the
ground rules of our UI program.

In general, the rules of eligibility and
payment have been improved. Now they more
accurately reflect the ease or difficulty of finding
and keeping a job in the region-in which each UI

claimant lives,

Parliament has decided that people who live
in areas of high unemployment will be given
certain advantages over those who live where jobs

are more plentiful.

“That’s all well and good.
But what does it mean to the person
who just lost a job?”

On December 4, the entrance requirements

will change.

while the special delivery

fee will go up to 80 cents
from 60 cents.

Publishers mailing
rates for books,
magazines, newspapers
and periodicals will be in-
creased by between 20
and 25 per cent.

Blais defended the
hefty. second-class: mail
rate increases of between
20 and 25 per cent. Those
will apply primarily to
newspapers and other
publications.

“This has been a
highly-subsidized rate,”
Blais -said. “The post
office has been carrying
the can.”

‘ereased to $1.25 frm $1, -

Listed
Here!

if you wish your Business
Phone listed for your customers

‘THE HERALO, Tuesday, November 22, 1977, PAGE 3

Maggie a
movie star

MONTREAL (CP) —
Margaret Trudeau will
star in a Canadian
feature-length movie
which will begin
production here Dec. 5,
says Robert Menard of
Videofilm Productions
Ltd. of Montreal.

Mrs. Trudeau and
British television star
Patrick McGeohan have
already signed contracts
for the lead roles in Kings
and Desperate Men, “a
taut thriller” expected to
cost $1.2 million, Menard
said today. .

Asked if he thought
Mrs. Trudeau showed
promise as an actresss,
Menard exclaimed: ‘Oh
yes, no problem!”

He said the film's
producer and director,
Alexis Kanner of
Kineversal Inc., had seen
her in a_ television
program in Vancouver.

“Kanner had __ the
feeling thatshe could be a
great actress. It’s just
one of those things you
can feel easily.’’

The amount Prime
Minister Pierre
Trudeau’s estranged wife
will be paid for her part in
the film is “a seeret,”’
said Menard.

Bruce Dern, who
played Daisy’s husband
in The Great Gatsby, and
Andrea Marecovicce, an
American of Italian
descent who played

alongside Woody Allen in
The Front, may also act
in the film, said Menard.

A brief outline of the
script, most of it written
by Edmund Ward of
Britain, describes the
film as “a taut thriller
(which) examines with
tensile and _ ruthless
fairness the charisma of
real and compassionate
objectivity.”

The story is about a
froup of terrorisis who
ay siege to a radio
Station and broadcast a
mock trial to condemn a
judge and the social
system.

The film contains ‘‘all
the elements of the
contemporary and
growing crisis of piracy
and (depicts) the panic-

aralysis of a major

orth American metro-
polis.”

Menard, the associate
producer, said the film is

ing financed solely by
Canadians and called it
“a completely Canadian
production.

“The entire supporting
cast will be Canadian,
he added. ‘‘And Margaret
is, of course, Canadian."

Mrs. Trudeau was not
available for comment.
She has been living in
New York since her
separation last summer
from the prime minister.

New Business’s
Not listed in our
B.C. Tel Directory.

E. MARR DISTRIBUTORS LTD. - 638-1761

MARR’‘S BOOKKEEPING &
ACCOUNTING - 638-1761

K & J AUTOMOTIVES - 638-9494

VILLAGE MEATS - 638-1765

TERRACE OIL BURNER SERVICES - 635-4227
BOOK. NOOK .- 635-3081
THREE RIVERS WORKSHOP . 635.2238
ALL-WEST GLASS - 638-1166

Free - for ONE month courtesy of THE

DAILY HERALD

period.

100.

Please Call 635-6357

“Then there’s maternity,
sickness and age 65 benefits.
Any changes there?”

Sickness benefits were only payable during
the first 39 weeks of the claim. Now they are
payable at any time during the entire benefit

Maternity benefits of 15 weeks and the
special one-time benefit (equal to three weeks’
benefits) at age 65 remain the same,

The same people will still pay for the
program in the same proportions, and the types of
employment insurable for UI remain the same,

“Do I still goto the same U1 office?”

__ In regions of low unemployment, claimants
will need up to 14 weeks of insurable employment
to get UI benefits, This will only happen in places
where it’s easier to get and keep a job.

In regions of high unemployment, claimants
will need as little as ten weeks to qualify.

But until December 4, the entrance require-
ment remains at eight weeks wherever you live.

“Does all this affect the
waiting period?”

No. The basic two week waiting period
remains the same everywhere.

And so do the rules on the waiting period
when a claimant has left his or her job for no good
reason or been fired for misconduct. In such cases,
a claimant may have to wait up to eight weeks
from when employment ends unt benefits be-
come payable,

“And how long can
_ you get benefits for?”

The old maximum was 51 weeks, The new
maximum is 50 weeks,

But since September IL, the total number of
weeks for which a claimant qualifies also reflects
the unemployment rate in his or her region.

Right now, we measure unemployment by
dividing Canada into 16 economic regions, Later,
in 1978, we will fine-tune the program to 54
regions so that: UI will be even mare closely
related to local labour market conditions.

“Do you still get the same
amount of money?”
Absolutely, The UI benefit rate is two-thirds

of your average weekly insurable carnings.
The maximum is $147, less tax,

Yes. Until U1 offices and Canada Manpower
Centres move in together, no changes will be made.

The Unemployment Insurance Conomission and the
Department of Manpower and Inmeagration have become
the Cartada Employment and Inenigration Commassion.
For a tint, you'll still see our local offices tdentified as
Unemployment Insurance offices or Canada Manpower
Centres. When they're together in one location, they'll be
called Canada Employment Centres,

Working with people
who want to work.

i’ Employment and Emploi et
Immigration Canada Immigration Canada
Bud Cullen Bud Cullen
Minister Ministre