Daily Bulletin, Tuesday, February 28, 1995

THE MORNING AFTER:  The federal finance minister, Paul Martin, delivered
his budget yesterday ("Getting Government Right" is his slogan for massive
cuts to what the government of Canada does and is).  

As expected, there aren't immediate huge cuts to federal-provincial 
transfers for higher education and health, but the money from several 
programs is being lumped together into what will hereafter be called the 
Canada Social Transfer.  It's a combination of tax points and cash transfers, 
and the budget documents released last night don't show the breakdown 
between those two -- which is important, because provincial governments 
will argue that the cash is what matters most.

Ottawa says transfers for education, health and welfare total $29.4
billion in the current year, and will be $29.7 billion in 1995-96, before
starting to decline.  The 1996-97 figure is shown as $26.9 billion.
For Ontario, the total is $10.5 billion this year, $10.7 billion next
year and $9.7 billion the following year.

Martin's cuts to government spending affected almost every area, including
Industry and Science Canada.  Overall, spending for "industrial, regional
and scientific-technological support programs" is to drop from $3.8
billion this year to $2.4 billion by 1997-98.  That includes a drop in
the budget for the "science and technology agencies", including the granting
councils, from $1.359 billion to $1.038 billion over three years.  Exact
figures for the individual agencies aren't in the budget papers made
available last night.

An electronic handful of budget papers is available on the Internet.  Look 
through UW's Electronic Library, where the budget is the first item listed 
on the page; or point your Web browser to http://debra.dgbt.doc.ca/opengov;
or look on the UWinfo gopher under "Documents of Current Interest".

STATIONERY requisitions that were sent to Today's Business last Wednesday
and Thursday have gone missing, says a distressed Phyllis Nandakumar of 
the purchasing department.  Departments that ordered office supplies on
those days should get in touch with Today's directly, she advises.

TODAY, BRIEFLY:  Members of Canadian Union of Public Employees local 793
vote today for several members of the union executive.  Polls are open in
the Davis Centre until 7:30 p.m.

Sue Johanson, sex therapist with a kick, brings her "Talk Sex" performance
to Federation Hall at 7 p.m. tonight.  The gender issues board of the
Federation of Students is the sponsor; admission is free.

William Chadwick, of the department of drama and speech communication,
will talk tonight about the writing of "The Berlin Show", the high-energy
musical play he directed in the downtown Button Factory last summer.  It's
the story (based on his book, which in turn is based on historical record)
of how the city of Berlin, Ontario, changed its name to Kitchener in 1916.
Chadwick's talk about how he created the play is the 15th annual Faculty
of Arts Lecture, and will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Theatre of the Arts.

BUDGET PLANNING:  The senate finance committee is to meet tomorrow to
talk about UW's budget for 1995-96, a year in which income is expected to
go up by a little more than 1 per cent even while enrolment continues to
go down.  The big challenge is how to make up for the temporary savings
UW has been enjoying (if "enjoying" is the right word) during the Social
Contract: some $3.5 million this year from unpaid days taken by staff
and faculty, and from reduced contributions to the pension plan.  The
meeting tomorrow is at 1:30 p.m. in Needles Hall room 3001.

AND THAT'S about it for Pancake Tuesday (Mardi Gras, Shrove Tuesday,
Carnival).  I haven't been able to find out whether pancakes are on the
menu at any of the food services outlets today.  Nice day, isn't it,
compared with yesterday's descent of ice?

Chris Redmond
Information and Public Affairs, University of Waterloo
888-4567 ext. 3004      credmond@watserv1.uwaterloo.ca