Page 10 THE HERALD WednenUy May 1M1 Empty rhetoric The third session of the 34th Parliament of the federal government of Canada was inaugurated late Monday afternoon in Ottawa with the reading of the Speech from the Throne by GovernorGeneral Ray Hnatyshyn The only fireworks on the day were provided by members of the Canadian Armed Forces who unleashed a 21gun salute as the GovernorGeneral inspected the traditional honor guard Canadians hoping to find ammunition in the Throne Speech with which to fight the dualfront war against the economic recession and the possible breakup of Canada were instead offered blanks in the relatively short 12page speech The Throne Speech charts the course the federal government will follow through this parliamentary ses sion and Canadians would be well advised to shop around for life jackets given the meandering route of fered in the document by Prime Minister Brian and his Progressive Conservative caucus members Even HaltonPeel MP Garth Turner wasnt that im pressed with the document as he noted when interview ed by a reporter from the Ottawa Bureau of Thomson News Service I would have like to have seen more meat on the bones Turner is quoted as saying in reference to the Throne Speech More committees are promised more public hear ings on various issues will be staged but the vagueness of the promises spoke volumes in terms of the lack of leadership being displayed by the federal government in a time of crying need These vague promises and governmental meander- ings will similarly cost the Canadian taxpayer even more money as the PCs desperately seek to stave off defeat in the next federal election In the Throne Speech the federal government promis ed initiatives on literacy education training and retraining Canadas work force The same things were promised in the last Throne Speech in 1989 Since then the federal government has slashed educa tion transfer payments and through mismanagement of the economy caused businesses to close which in turn caused thousands of workers to lose their jobs Now this same government which caused the pro blems claims to have the solutions Political gamesmanship and nothing else A national child care scheme promised in two previous Throne Speeches was not even mentioned this time around The federal government is hanging on by a thread its parliamentary majority If it had expected to win back the respect and support of voters with Mondays Throne Speech PC caucus members should think again Canadian voters are not naive anymore and empty rhetoric neither pays the rent nor the food bill Empty rhetoric was what Mondays Throne Speech was all about Editorial No to landfill Editors note The following letter was released to the Halton Hills Herald for publication The Honourable Ruth Noel Duignan Room The East Wing Legislature Building Queens Park Toronto Dear Ms Grier The Acton Quarry Landfill pro posal is overdue for a change in status You claim that in order for democracy to be served the proponents must be treated to the Full Environmental Assessment Process In this case the last part of the process the Hearing gives the side with the most money a chance to carpet bomb the side with the least The number of ballots not the number of dollars is the deter mining factor in a democracy Your party is in power because of ballots Many of the people who cast those ballots hope the P make the decisions required to repair our environment You said no to shipping gar bage from region to region you said no to some forms of incinera tion It is time to use your courage once more tell RSI very democratically get lost Sincerely David Noble PS Reply requested Write us a letter The Herald wants to hear from you If you have an opinion you want to express or a com ment to make send us a letter or drop by the office Our address is Street Georgetown Ontario 3Z6 All letters must be signed Please include your address and telephone number for verification The Halton Hills HERALD Home Newspaper of Halton Hills Established 1 A Division of Canadian Newspaper Company Limited 45 Guelph Street Georgetown Ontario L7G K ROBERT MALCOLMSON Publisher and General Manager 8772201 CLASSIFIED Join MannallShlllay J CIRCULATION Marl ACCOUNTING Jannla Acci SUBSCRIPTION DATES lno1aCHylnSloial ill month I Second Cliti Hall claim on ill a Igjnal and ruling malarial by lit amployaat and publlihad In Nallonal EL Toronto Ontario or SL Montraal Tin agio a thai I ha hall not bo 1101 lot dam pa tilting Out of anon In beyond amount paid lor tha actually by trial portion of In Meanwhile in the east wins takes of his new custommade office furniture you can take the OUT COMFORT AND ITS SUCH A NICE GRAIN TO IT Peoples Forum Businessman takes NDP to task Editors Note The following letter was released to the Hills Herald for publication Premier Bob Queens Park Toronto Ontario Dear Bob The announcement of your governments first budget can best be described as misleading discriminatory and irresponsi ble Is this the same Bob who was politically grandstanding for the taxpayers of Ontario by pompously declaring that he would not charge on GST At the same time neglecting to tell them that by doing this he was giving away millions of dollars in lost revenue Well Bob tell us why you have made a complete about face Tell us why you would impose a broad coverage gas guzzler tax that is subject to both GST and PST and to further add to inflation impose an in crease in tax at the gas pumps The automobile is a necessary tool and a major if not the major economic product of our Pro- vince It is now along with the sins of tobacco and booze Bob you have just guaranteed a further sales decrease in an already slumping automobile industry which is down to per cent over last year and the inevitably lay at both retail and manufacturing levels Previous governments in the recession of the early eighties recognized the importance of the automobile industry to the well being of our Province and saw fit to totally remove PST to stimulate sales If you were giv ing true consideration to en vironmental conservation and ficiencey along with economic stimulation would not a removal or reduction in PST to purchasers of fuel efficient vehicles seem a more appropriate course of ac tion I would suggest to you that the gas guzzler tax in the same manner as tire tax is simply an unnecessary tax gouge on a captive market to support unwarranted increases in government spending It is time to stop whining about federal cutbacks in transfer payments Transfer payments were cut back because there wasnt any money to transfer The federal government doesnt have any money to spend and Bob neither do you Simple economics is that you have to cut back on your budget Its hard but sometimes you just have to say no The productive people of our society can nq longer bear the burden of increased social pro grams We cannot afford to pay mentally and physically capable people not to produce An in dependent and thorough study of our social programs is both need ed and overdue Your budget did nothing to ad dress the discriminatory cor porate payroll tax As you must know this tax is fraught with ine quities Millions of dollars in revenue lost to exemptions through noncorporate income Health care is everyones respon sibility As a young man it was obvious that this was a great Province in a great Country with great op portunities If you worked hard and were willing to make sacrifices there was no limit to the heights you could attain The rewards proportionately and justifiable went to hose who worked to earn them That vision today is rapidly becoming cloudy and slanted because of too much government rampant and un controlled spending with the subsequent demand for taxes to fulfil the need to bow to lobby groups with an insatiate appetite for a free ride Bob business is the creator of wealth If we ran our businesses in the manner of government our prisons would probably be full You havent as yet killed the goose that lays the golden egg but your first budget is a major step that may well make it fly south for longer than just the winter Yours sincerely Walter Dixon President Park Lincoln Mercury Sales Thanks for coverage Dear Colin This is to thank you and The Herald for all the recent coverage you gave to the Lifestyles of Hills event April We are always most ap preciative of the support from local business and sometimes take for granted the assistance given in the area of publicity by the local press Our event was very successful and all the feed back has been of a positive nature Sincerely Cooperative Program Planning Committee Hills