The Gazette from Montreal, Quebec, Canada • 31

The GAZETTE, Montreal. Feb. 3, 1 31 1978 opening mi' CHICAGO NEW YORK St. Bruno centre i Output growth slows down 0SB0RN LANGE, LIMITED Gdnsrjl and Life Insurance Broksrs Employe Benefit Plan Consultant! start set for spring Li MSf ill 759 VICTORIA SQUARE MONTREAL H2Y 2K5 Holiday Inn, By ALAN D.GRAY of The Gazette Construction will begin this spring on the second-largest shopping centre in the Montreal area. The mall will be built at the intersection of highways 30 and 116, in South Shore St.

Bruno, about 12 miles from downtown Montreal. It had been announced a year ago, and was to have opened in August 1977. By last September, however, the project had run into financing problems, stemming from soaring interest rates and construction costs. Stanley Witkin, senior vice-president of the developers, Cadillac Fairview Corp. Ltd.

of Toronto, reports that funding is no longer a problem, and that planning "is in high The centre, which is still unnamed, is now scehduled to open in August 1978. The complex will include four major tenants: Eaton's, Hudson's Bay and Simpsons, all of Toronto, and Steinberg Beaucoup of Montreal. Cadillac Fairview will own 50 per cent, and Ivanhoe Corp. (the realty branch of Steinberg) and Eaton's will each hold 24.5 per cent. The St.

Bruno centre will contain between 125 and 150 stores and services in 900,000 square feet of rentable space. The cost, which a year ago was projected at $30 million, is now set at $35 million. Witkin says it will be the only two-level suburban mall in the Montreal area. The largest centre in this region will be les Galeries d'Anjou, now being expanded to 920,000 feet from the present 700,000 feet. About 65 outlets are being added to the current 85.

Les Galeries d'Anjou was opened in 1968, and is equally owned by Cadillac Fair-view and Simpsons Ltd. Its two major tenants, Simpsons and Eaton's, will be joined by Simpsons- Sears Ltd. of Toronto when the addition is complete. It will be the third location in greater Montreal for Simpsons- Sears, which was CP wlrphoto DONALD MACDONALD: Scrapping the export levy will be considered as one option. Tax on exports to be reviewed by government By PETER COOK Financial Times OTTAWA Figures released by Statistics Canada yesterday show recovery in the economy was checked in the final months of 1975, and growth in output seems to have slowed down.

The index of real domestic product which has been rising since the first quarter of last year the low point in the current recession declined in October and November, falling below the level of the year's third quarter. The RDP figure is the most significant measure of economic health besides the GMP since it assesses the real value of all goods and services produced in the domestic economy. It fell sharply in October and made only a partial recovery in November. Stat-Can figures show the RDP up 0.6 per cent to 116.2 (1971-100) during the month, because of gains in mining, manufacturing and residential construction. However, the average for the index in October-November at 115.8 was lower than during the July-September quarter.

Even if there were strong production increases in December, this suggests the fourth quarter performance will not be as good as most economists expected. Weaker growth in the economy during the final months of last year would mean a decline in real GNP for the whole year, perhaps in the region of a one per cent fall. For the economy to have advanced at all in 1975, the expansion rate in the fourth quarter would have to be 2.1 per cent. That would be twice the growth that occurred in the third quarter when real GNP went up 1 per cent. Instead, growth is likely to be less.

It is therefore virtually certain that the Canadian economy during 1975 turned in its worst performance in 21 years, and it may even have been. worse than the 1954 slump when the economy slipped back 1.2 per cent. unknown here until last March, when the retailerbelieved to be the nation's largest opened at Brossard, on the South Shore. The company's outlet at Anjou is expected to be ready in August, while the other, smaller stores will open several months ahead of schedule, on Mar. 25.

At St. Bruno, tenant sign-ings are not expected to begin for some time. Final designs and site planning are nearly complete, according to Witkin of Cadillac Fair-view, and constructiion should begin around May, depending on the weather. A St.Bruno official says that services, such as feeder roads and sewer connections, will be ready on time. He points out that the contract between the town and the shopping centre owners, signed in Nov.

1974, called for completion by next Mar. 15. Witkin predicts that St. Bruno will be "the last of the super-regionals" in Montreal, at least until the 1980s, with the possible exception of Canadian Pacific's Angus Yards in east-end Montreal. That property has long been rumored as a likely target for a king-size commercial development.

"The growth of retail space in Montreal has out-distanced population growth," Witkin says. "There won't be more major centres in Montreal for a while at least until the population can catch up." A spokesman for the realty branch of Eaton's, however, feels that there is room for two or three more regional malls within five to 10 years in the Montreal district. "Opportunities for major regional centres across Canada are getting limited, but there will be more, including Montreal," he affirms. "It depends on getting the economy straightened up, meaning either lower interest rates or the opportunity for the retailer to make a profit despite escalating rentals." TD cuts rate on mortgages TORONTO (CP) -Toronto Dominion Bank has reduced Us conventional mortgage rate to 11 per cent from 12 per cent, effective immediately. Its rate for National Housing Act (NHA) mortgages remains at 11 per cent.

Our Holiday Inn Airport hotel inToronto Holiday Inn, Toronto-Airport. Luxurious accommodation, less than one mile from Terminals 1 and 2 and just 2-r minutes from downtown Toronto. This modern hotel offers 350 guest rooms and luxurious suites, meeting rooms and a 1000 person ballroom which converts easily for any sized function. Enjoy fine cuisine and dancing in the Roof Garden Dining Room and live nightly entertainment at the Red Baron. There's also the comfortable club-like Wing Chair lounge if you prefer a quiet atmosphere.

The luxurious, convenient Holiday Inn, Toronto-Airport. And, of course, guest parking is still free! For free Holidex reservation service, simply call your nearest Inn or Holiday Inn Reservation office. John Meyer TORONTO WINNIPEG 849-4161 Toronto Airport COMMONWEALTH OF CANADA LIMITED E. Bornstain Dismcl Manager M. Barnatain Diitrct Manager TORONTO-AIRPORT 970 Dixon Road, Rexdale, Ontario Tel: (416) 677-7611 the plan would be considered as one option.

Macdonald told the provincial finance ministers that the federal government expects a return to real economic growth this year and a possible moderation of inflation. Macdonald estimated there will be real economic growth for 1976 of between 4.5 per cent and 5.5 per cent. In 1975, the gross national product the value of goods and services produced showed zero growth. The rate of inflation, which averaged almost 11 per cent last year, can be reduced to eight per cent by late-1976 provided certain conditions are met, he said. "Providing that the anti-inflation program takes hold firmly and quickly, and providing that the anticipated moderation in world food, energy and commodity prices occurs, rates of price increases of eight per cent or lower appear to be possible by the fourth quarter of 1976." he told the finance ministers.

Questioned at a news conference later, he refused to say whether this indicated an over-all average inflation rate for 1976 of nine per cent. "We'd be averaging down through that nine per cent figure," he said. Most of the provincial ministers said that they came to the conference mainly to hear the federal view on the economy, and to present some of their own views on the anti-inflation program at an afternoon session. 1975 billion in the year-earlier quarter. At the same time, GM's board of directors declared a first-quarter 1976 dividend of 60 cents per share of common stock, payable March 10 to shareholders of record Feb.

11. The dividend is the same as that paid in prior quarters since the firm reduced its payment from 85 cents early last year. RICHARD SIMON EAU OTTAWA (DJ-CP) -The federal government won't proceed with plans for legislation for an export profits tax until the matter has been reviewed by cabinet and reported back to provincial governments, Finance Minister Donald Mac-donald said yesterday following the federal-provincial finance ministers meeting. Macdonald said the provincial ministers expressed concern during the meeting that the levy, which is intended to prevent diversion of goods from domestic to overseas markets during the current price control period, would have a "negative impact" on exports and therefore on the provincial economies. The provincial ministers said the measure's complexity could deter exporters.

Macdonald didn't indicate what changes might be made in the proposed bill. The government has proposed to tax away all excess profits resulting from sales in foreign markets. Most of this money would be returned to the companies within three to 10 years of the end of federal controls. Macdonald said most of the afternoon session was taken up by discussions about the levy, which several provinces feared might affect investment. Among them was British Columbia.

B.C. Finance Minister Evan Wolfe said provincial exporters' business is threatened by the levy while domestic prices are not affected. He said he wants the levy scrapped. Macdonald said scrapping period to the second highest level for a fourth quarter in the auto giant's history. Worldwide dollar sales in 1975 were $35.7 billion, up 13 per cent from 1974 and just short of the record $35.8 billion set in 1973.

Fourth-quarter sales of $10.5 billion by the world's largest car producer were a record for any quarter and compared with sales of $9.4 MITCHELL M. KYLE GM profit $1.25 bin. in 31 step A billion-dollar lesson for Ottawa The announcement of inflation controls discounted stock market values by at least 10 per cent. To what extent the discount has since been deepened by the prime minister's expectations of continuing, if possibly different, controls is still largely a matter of how much weight is given those expectations. Certainly, the market has not benefited from them.

Canadian politicians, particularly those now setting economic policy have tended to be indifferent to the market's responses! to their actions. They are generally remote, geographically as well as temperamentally, from the forces at work in the market. More important, they seem to have little understanding of what the market represents. They are, in this respect, recommended to read the recent study which appeared in the Brookings Institution's Papers on Economic Activity wherein economist Barry Bosworth concludes that about 25 per cent of the depressive effects in the U.S. economy during the 1973-74 period operated through the stock market.

Bosworth calculated that the $525 billion declined in stock market values 1973-74 resulted in a $15 billion to $25 billion drop in consumption and at its peak effect may have reduced the annual rate of business investment by as much as $15 billion. A rise in stock market values will correspondingly stimulate business activity. Bosworth calculated that each 10-point jump in the Dow index means a $380 million to $620 million increase in consumer spending and a $360 million increase in business investment. The 90-point rise in the Dow since early December would accordingly represent a potential $3.4 billion to $5.6 billion addition to consumer spending and a $3.2 billion rise in capital expenditures. It would be extremely difficult to work out a rea-'sonably precise Canadian parallel from Bosworth's findings.

The differences in scale between Canadian and American economies, and the manner in which they are expressed, are too pronounced. The central message, though, is the same. A declining stock market is more than a reflection of declining business activity. It also actively contributes to the latter. Similarly, a rising stock market feeds new growth into the economy.

That's something that even the most indifferent Canadian politician, preoccupied as he should be with the effect of controls on the prospect of improving employment, ought to be able to recognize even though he may never have placed a buy or sell order in his life. Less growth The control program was adopted in a perspective of rising real growth for the Canadian economy this year. Projections of around five per cent are still generally accepted but it is becoming increasingly difficult to find the evidence to support them. Indeed, the evidence tends to point more towards less growth. Take the stock market, in the context of Bosworth's findings.

At a time when the U.S. market was recording a 40 per cent increase and in the process generating potential economic benefits in the way of significant increases in consumer and business spending the Canadian market rose only 10 per cent. In fact, increases in Canadian consumer spending have been slowing and business spending is experiencing an actual decline. Some Canadian politicians may welcome this development as evidence of restraint but have they worked through the consequences? If the economy is to achieve any real growth this year, there must be real increases in consumer spending. The rate of increase in consumer credit outstanding, however, has been slowing and may have slipped into an actual reduction since the beginning of the year.

Where will growth come from if Canadians aren't buying as much' Not from business spending. From exports, then? That's increasingly doubtful too ia the slower than expected rate of recovery in Canada's foreign market and the growing evidence of the extent to which Canadian exporters are go longer competitive. The behavior of the stock market has more to tell oar policy-makers than they seem yet prepared to acknowledge. John Meyer is a Montreal businessman whose column is syndicated fry he Toronto Star. LXtJ DETROIT (API General Motors Corp.

yesterday reported near-record earnings of $618 million in the fourth quarter of 1975 to finish the year with profits of $1.25 billion, up 32 per cent from 1974. GM's earnings in the final three months of the year, equal to $2.14 per share of common stock, rose 22 per cent from the same 1974 MAURICE J. BOURASSA I. Lubareky District Manager B. H.

Davidson D'vS'on Manager A. Boileau Division Manager Nol D'Stnct Manajef jy These Investors Representatives are among our best at providing a full-range personal money management and tax saving sen ice. During 1975 they helped many clients, and established over one million dollars each in new programs. Our congratulations go out to these gentlemen, ho are helping fellow Canadians to reach their lifetime financial goals. Their achievements place themselves, their clients, and Investors "a step ahead." Investors Sy ndicate offers the financial planning serv ices usually associated with Banks.

Stockbrokers, Trust Companies and Insurance Companies all presented by one skilled person in the privacy and convenience of vour home. Abex Industries Limited Amsco Joliette division appointments The appointment of Maurice J. Bourassa as director of marketing, Mitchell M. Kyle as assistant director of marketing and Richard Simoneau as assistant works manager of the Joliette plant has been announced by Howard M. Brownrigg.

vice-president and general manager Mr. Bourassa. has been associated with the company for over 15 years in various markeung capacities, and was previously assistan: director of marketing. He will replace Roland C. Rivest.

who is retiring after 48 years of service. Mr. Kyle, who joined the company in 1960, was district sales manager prior to his present appointment. Mr. Simoneau joined Amsco Joliette ia 1972 after graduating in metallurgical engineering from Ecole Poiytechnique.

University of Montreal. These appointments reflect the growing importance of Amsco Joliette as Canada's leading manufacturer of manganese and abrasion resistant steel castings for the mining, construction, transportation and cement industries. g4 We can find a SYNDICATE LIMITED way to get your future going today!.