National The Prince George Citizen — Friday, September 25,1987 — 5 THE FREE TRADE DISPUTE It's up to the Americans, Mulroney says OTTAWA (CP) — Prime Minister Brian Mulroney said Thursday that while his political neck remains on the line over free trade, it is still up to the Americans to respond to Canada’s bottom line for a free-trade agreement. And while a senior Canadian official said there are “high-level” communications between the two governments, Mulroney brushed off suggestions that he and President Ronald Reagan are planning a summit to clinch a deal that has eluded the negotiators. Canadian negotiator Simon Reisman called off the talks Wednesday in Washington and said as far as he is concerned, the negotiations are finished. He suggested that if a deal is going to be made, it will be the politicians who make it. In Montreal late Thursday afternoon, Mulroney said he alope is responsible if the trade talks fall apart during the next few critical days. “I acknowledge that obviously if it fails that people are going to reproach me for the failure,” Mulroney said. “Presumably, there will be some people who will say ‘well, he tried and he failed and therefore he should take the responsibility for it,’ and I agree.” Bruce Phillips, Mulroney’s top communications adviser, said the government continues to hope for a last-minute settlement to cap the 16 months of negotiations. And he said the government is still in contact with the Americans at a “high level — but I wouldn’t want to characterize it beyond that.” Sources close to the talks said Reisman left the Americans a five-point set of Canadian conditions necessary for the talks to resume. The conditions related to Canada’s demand for a binding system to settle trade disputes, the key sticking point. In the Commons, Mulroney said the ball is now in the American court. “In our judgment, there is an urgent need of a response from the American side.” Asked about speculation he and Reagan will meet to discuss the issue, Mulroney said it would be “inappro--priate at this time and perhaps unhelpful at this very moment for the president and myself or anyone else at that level to get involved.” With just 11 days left before the Oct. 5 deadline set by U.S. Congress, hopes for a breakthrough waned among key free-trade supporters in Canada. “It would take a minor miracle to turn this around,” said Thomas d’Aquino, president of the National Council on Business Issues. Reisman said the negotiations to reduce trade barriers between the countries were “terminated” as far as he was concerned. In Washington, the U.S. administration said it was willing to get back to the table after Reagan met top cabinet members to discuss the situation. White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater told reporters “our differences in these negotiations can be overcome.” But he added there had been no direct communication between Reagan and Mulroney. Fitzwater also indicated the United States is unlikely to make the first move. “There’s just no way to make commitments in advance in a negotiating process.” Sources said Reisman left the Americans with a proposal for a joint tribunal to settle trade disputes. -Essentially, governments would have to act on its decisions under their existing trade laws. If either government failed to live up to the tribunal decision, it would face some kind of sanction under the free-trade agreement. ^ The proposal was designed to get around American objections to a free trade deal that would override U.S. trade laws. A last-minute American demand to deal with some Canadian subsidies for cultural industries and regional development is another problem still on the table. The U.S. proposal would remove the subsidies from so-called safe harbors where they would be sheltered from attack under American trade laws. 'Refugees wave of the future' TORONTO (CP) - Canada will be accepting more refugees than before despite government plans to crack down on illegal immigrants, says Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. Accepting more refugees will be “the wave of the future,” Mulroney says in a taped interview to be broadcast tonight on the Global Television Network. “We need more immigrants. We need and should be accepting more refugees, but this has to take place in a system of respect for the law.” Proposed legislation to penalize those who help bogus refugees to land in Canada isn’t intended to cut the number of immigrants, Mulroney said. “This is not done with a view, at all, to accept fewer immigrants or fewer refugees. On the contrary, we are going to accept more.” The government cut short the summer recess and recalled Parliament to introduce emergency legislation in an effort to deter incidents such asthe arrival July 12 from Europe of a boatload of East Indians who claimed refugee status. The bill, widely criticized by immigrant aid groups, has passed in the House of Commons and is now in the Senate. Some Liberal senators have suggested they won’t give the bill speedy passage. In the wide-ranging, hour-long interview taped Sept. 17, Mulroney also hints that Ottawa may move later this fall to curb the ppwers of the Senate. The Liberal-dominated Senate is stalling a Conservative government bill to extend patent protection rights for drug manufacturers. The non-elected Senate has the constitutional power to kill or delay legislation. Liberal senators, led by former deputy prime minister Allan MacEachen, are subverting the democratic political process, Mulroney said. “Do they have the right to subvert that political action on behalf of all Canadians? That’s a fundamental issue and I think as the days unfold in the autumn that Canadians are going to want to address this in quite a fundamental way.” Westwood Nissan APPOINTMENT NOTICE We are pleased to annouce the appointment Of: Harry Menzies as one of the newest members of our sales staff. Harry would like to welcome all his past and present customers to drop in and see him at WESTWOOD NISSAN OiN IMJ 563-05U1 Serial killer haunts Ottawa Valley by MIKE TRICKEY Southam News CHESTERVILLE, Ont. -There’s a chill in the Ottawa Valley this week that goes beyond the sudden dip in temperature. It’s the heart-chilling fear that comes from knowing there’s a serial killer on the loose, preying on quiet senior citizens living in isolation on the outskirts of villages in the shadow of the nation’s capital. Twice this year bachelor farmers have been shot through the head in their homes for no apparent reason. In 1983, the body of a 60-year-old bachelor farmer was found dead in his home of three gunshots to the head. A week earlier, a 71-year-old recluse was found dead in his log cabin. In the first week of 1981, the remains of a 68-year-old bachelor were discovered in his fire-gutted home. And 12 years ago this week, the remains of an 83-year-old widow were found tied to a cot in the rubble of her burned-out home. All six victims lived within a 40-kilometre radius of Winchester, a small town midway between Cornwall and Ottawa. In four instances, fire destroyed the house and in a fifth, an oil stove had been tipped over but didn’t ignite. Ontario Provincial Police say the three most recent killings are the work of “a serial killer” and they have now linked the other three murders to the same man. The investigation took a bizarre twist this week when police called a press conference to say they know who the killer is and that they hoped he would come forward to talk to somebody, perhaps a reporter. “He would have a story to tell,” said •Detective-Inspector James McCormick, head of the 100-man police investigation. The next day, 44-year-old Jimmy Wise of Chesterville invited a tele- vision reporter into his landlady’s home to deny he had anything to do with the murders. “I haven’t done nothing,” the clean-cut mechanic said, adding that he’s the victim of a police vendetta because he helped a friend lay a successful assault charge against an OPP officer in Winchester. Pressing his hands together in his lap as he spoke to the television crew inside while other reporters milled about outside. Wise said he’s been harassed by police “ever since the senseless killing down in Morewood” on July 14. “There’s no place I can drive without them being there. I have been watched from the air by helicopters. Wherever I turn around I always see someone following me and I know someone is there.” Police have not said who their suspect is or where he lives and say reporters or townspeople who think they know who the killer is, are making assumptions. “Why the media has converged in a certain place, I don’t know,” said Cpl. Al Crocker as he sat behind a stack of newspaper clippings in his Long Sault OPP office Thursday. “All we have said is that our suspect is a male person in his early 40s who lives in the Ottawa Valley. We haven’t indicated any specific place. “There are other villages in the area who think they have someone who fits the description, too.” Police called in the FBI to prepare a psychological profile of the suspect. Crocker refuses to release many details of the profile, but does say the picture of a fortyish male who has had previous trouble with the law matches their suspect. Civil libertarians and lawyers are enraged at the unorthodox police behavior, but the chief of the ON APPROVED CREDIT Gold prices TORONTO (CP) - Gold was quoted at’$605 bid Cdn ($461 US) and $607 asked Cdn ($462 US) in mid-morning trading today by Deak International, a major gold and foreign exchange dealer. PHILIPS 12 LOW MONTHLY PAYMENTS $2900 MONTH PLUS TAX MW 309 E MICROWAVE OVEN □ .9 cu. ft. □ 600 watts □ Temp, probe □ 3 stage memory □ Alarm set □ Digital clock □ 4 recipe entries m PHILIPS PNF 169 20” TV 12 LOW MONTHLY PAYMENTS WITH REMOTE CONTROL *42 00 MONTH PLUS TAX NOBODY SELLS FOR LESS VkJeo Station 340 Vancouver St. • CALL TODAY! 564-9698 (Across from the Odeon Theatres) Open 7 Days A Week 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Out-Of-Town Customers Call Toll Free: 1(800)663-6890 ’ There is fear in the Ottawa Valley as a serial killer stalks reclusive senior citizens. There is also concern about the unorthodox methods police have used in tackling the case. provincial police force says he fully supports the investigating team’s tactics. After meeting with McCormick, OPP Commissioner Archie Ferguson told reporters that because the case was not a typical investigation, different approaches may be needed. “With the suggestion that it may very well be a serial-type murder, I don’t think you can approach that kind of investigation the same as you might every other investigation.” County Crown attorney Don Johnson complained to the attor-ney-general’s office this week that he had not been informed of the police press conference. Describing the event as “unusual,” Johnson suggested that anyone eventually charged in the case could apply for a change of venue or challenge rulings on the admissibility of evidence. Bob Wakefield, president of the Canadian Federation of Defence Lawyers, went further and described the proceedings as outrageous. Wakefield compared the case to the public ordeal of Toronto nurse Susan Nelles, who was charged and*later cleared of the murders of infants at Toronto’s Children’s Hospital. Attorney General Ian Scott has asked for a full report on the investigation. Crocker denies that anybody’s rights have been violated or that the chances of a fair trial have been damaged, if anyone is ever charged. “There is no fear in the department about lawsuits. We haven’t done anything to jeopardize the investigation or the reputation of the force,” he said. “We have a suspect but at this time we don’t have enough evidence to have a chance for a successful prosecution. I’m not going to comment on what has been reported in the media or on the interview on television.” The lack of hard evidence against the murder suspect and the unorthodox procedures being used by police have suggested to some lawyers that the police are trying to push the suspect into suing them for defamation. That would permit police lawyers to question the suspect about the case, although just as much could be learned by charging the man and forcing him to appear in court. But while the cat-and-mouse police games go on, the valley people wonder what has happened to their quiet corner of the world. Behind the postcard beauty of a rural autumn, there is fear in the tidy turn-of-the-century stone and clapboard houses. “It’s scary that there’s some deranged person out there killing older people,” says recently retired Diana Bies of Bonville. She says she and her husband have lived in the same house for 29 years, but have only recently been making sure the doors are locked. “If they haven’t charged anybody, they’re not sure they have the right guy.” >- Or guys. Earlier this month, the bodies of George Simpson, 40, and his sister Marguerite, 58, were found on their isolated farm near Hopetown, a small community about 60 kilometres west of Winchester. The pair had been shot. An off-duty OPP constable was also shot dead earlier in the summer near Renfrew, further west in the Ottawa Valley. Police say those three murders are not linked to the six they believe to have been committed by the serial killer. JUMP ROPE FOR HEART 0? B.C. HEART FOUNDATION Sponsored by BRITISH COLUMBIA MEDICAL ASSOCIATION make a statement... TIk* fur coat or jacket you choose says a lot about you. It lets people know you appreciate the finer tilings in Hfe and that you recognize quality. Because you are not an expert, Hohb's Furs is prepared to assist your selection and answer your questions. Our master furrier, John Hohhs, coinbines time proven methods with innovative ideas to produce results only his years of experience can achieve. Witii this special attention, your choice will lie exactly what you hoped for. We cater to your individual needs and our unfaltering high standards not only increase the beauty of your fur — they increase tiie value too! Make your statement with a beautifid Jur from Hobb’s 1277 Third Avenue — 564-5353 FURS