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Page 14 WHITBY FREE PRESSt Queen's Park Report By HAROLD CREER A Pretty Distressing Affair All that inost of us want year down to 4.8 per cent to know about a government According to the budget, the Budget is the bad news. But economy must grow by over Budgets are no longer just seven per cent a year in catalogues of new taxes or-- real terms (that is, net of cccasionally, usually ,just be- inflation) in order to get un- fore an election - tax relief. employment down to thre They are also an expert diag- per cent by the end of 1975. nosis of the economy and a Ontario has neyer had a revelation of how govern- real growth rate Of seven ment intends to use its ii- per cent except, 1 believe, inense powers of economic durîng the war years. Last leverage. year, the economy grew by And in this respect, the aine per cent but 3.4 per 1972 Ontario Budget is a cent of that was Inflation. pretty depressing affair. It This year, the governmet message is that the govern- expects an increase of 9.9 ment expects only a slow rc- per cent but again 3.4 per covery over the next year or cent will be accounted for so from the slow-down of by inflation. 1970-71 and that there isnt What then is the problem? much the government can do The very rapid growth in the about it beyond what it has labour force is one explan- already done. ation. Traditionally, one can "I do not expect a quick expect the number of people end to the problem of unem- at work (or lokiag for work) ployment," Treasurer -Darcy to increase by two per cent McKeough a d m i t t e d. "it a year. But since 1989 it seens likely - to p e r s i s t beenaveraging3.4 er through this year and into 'ent c astnow td 1973."ycophsnw auz a n d beca use significaatly At another point, he con- more women are now In the fessed: "One of the most labour market. The economy striking lessons of economic has fot been geared to pro- stabilization efforts in Cana- duce an equivalent number da is that it takes sever. of new job opportunitie. years to repair the damage A second explanation, no caused by a recession and to doubt, is the Impact of the return to full employment." United States' surcharge on These are the admissions Canadian exports and other of a sadder but wiser man. measures designed b short- Last year, in his 1971 budge, en the U.S. market for Can- Mr. McKeough was a lot adian produets. While the more bullish: that Budget actual effect has been less was designed "to provide than feared, thepsycholog- maximum stimulus to the e- ical shock was very great conomy and to move unem- and led the business commu- ployment down towards the nity to cancel or postnone three per cent level by early aany investment programs 1972." Its main tool for do- which would have crenccd ing this was the five per more jobs. cent investment tax credit- Because of this (and, 3me for the following two years. would add, because it was a corporations could deduet half-baked idea la the first from their income tax an amu- p 1 a ce), the government«s ount equal to five per cent five per cent investment tax of investment in new machin- credit has not had anythin ery and equipment. like the expansioaary effect To get unemp,1 o y m e n t it was expected to have. The which averaged 4.3 per cent Treasury anticipated it would of the Ontario labour force lose $125 millions a year in 1970, down to three pe; in corporation tax revenue§ cent by early 1972 woulid as a resut of companies' have required the creatilon claiming the credit but in of some 150,000 new jobs. the past year it lost only a- In fact, only 83,000 new jobs bout $30 millions, which is were created. New job for-ante wyofsigth mation did not even kee-p cei rdcc nyoe pace with the increase in the qatro h e nei labour force, which rose by metwchadbnhoe 119,000. The result: an av- fr erage unempldoyment rate for Wt h euno ofd the year of 5.2 per cent. ecetiyarthposcs This year should see some aebte:teTesr x improvement, if trends of pesamso 10mlin the Iast few months hold -a mut lts on f irm. The labour force is cdnalwihi uta expected to increase by 110, bu httegvrmn 000 in 1972 and the numberwilpcu inte igr of new jobs by 119,000. Even tae ongsleobc, so, this will only get the un- lqoecipsdb h emploccordingate for budgBudget. Ottawa So few b u s 1 n e s s owner s are happy wl th the Government ail the time that it's safe to conclude t h a t m ost business owners are unhappy with the Government some of the time. But weighed down by long workdays, and pre- o c c u p i e d wi th moment-to-moment problems of a bus i ness operation, the owner has lIttle time to confront Government, or study the legislative is- sues affecting him. He is mor e inclined to leave these matters to h i s a c countant and lawyer, yet their assistance sel dom goes beyondkeeping him informed. They do not bang on desks in Ottawa to get laws changed. MAJOR CORPORATIONS The "Financial Post" stated recently that major cor porat ions are increasing their own efforts in t h i s d irection, some spending up to $1 million a year to put across their points of view in Ottawa. The small comp any, often with a different view- point, stands inevenmore danger of being left out in the col d because it must compete even harder for the government's attention. Tofill this information and communicative vac- uum, the Canadian Federation of Independent Bus- i n e ss has devel oped a unfque program call1ed the Mandate ballot. Each month it sends its members an outline of legislation affecting business, lists the pros and cons, and includes a ballot on which the businessman can indicate whether or not he favours each issue. There is ai so a space allotted for the member to includehispersonal commentson the issues, or on any other Government matter which concerns him. The comp leted ballots are returned to volun- t e e r d!istrict chairmen who tabulate the votes in each electoral riding in Canada, then send the act- ual ballots directly to each member's M. P. The M. P. , who a1 r e a dy h as a copy of the Mandate, receives the ballots and can see for himself how Fe deration members in his riding think about the issues affecting them. The ballots are not form lettersor coupons; they are an honest expression of each member's indiv- idual opinion on the actions of Government. A NON-PARTISAN POINT OF VIEW The Federation does not present preconceived opinions to itsmembers. The Mandate adopts a non- partisan point of view, and presents the business an d professional member with both sides of com- pi icated matters, but in understandabl e terms. Thi s gives a member's answer credibility and value. The results are sometimes surprising. On one recent ballot, Federation members supported the c o n c ept of wage and pr ice controls, but opposed establishment of a Competitive Practices Tribunal w h i ch would help regulate business competition, usual ly to the advantage of the small1 businessman. F e d e r a t i o n President, John F. Bulloch, of Toronto, talks confidently of a membership reach- ing 20, 000within five years. After only six month s of ope ration, the Federation has 3, 000 members andisahead of its schedule for reaching its mem- bership goal. Bulloch is building the Federation on the foun- dation of his successful Canadian Council for Fair Taxa t i lon. 'it appeals ta the same basic group of f r ee enterprisers who supported the Council. In t hat original group, we found we had the nucleus o f a p ow er f ui nat ional organization that coul d speak on ail issues affecting free competitive en- terprise, nlot taxation alane. " But l io ch feels the Whi te Paper on tax reform w as t he single issue that has made possible the success of the Federation, and the Council before i t . "Many independen t businessmen a nd profe s- sionals realized for the first time that they could voice1- no longer afford to ignore what was happening In Ottawa.I SOL.ID OPINION AND AMMUNITION By extencdng their influence right into the off- i ces of their MPs, Federation members are pro- vi d ing the ir elected representatives with solid op i n ion and ammunition for use in Pari iament or caucus. This can be invaluable to an MP who lacks the technical knowledge or background experience to discuss abusiness Issue. With legislation becom- i n g increasingly complicated, the role of the MP isoften threatened because hecan't grasp its im- pl ications. The No v e m b e r -December ta* reform debate w as an ou t standing example of a Parliamentary exchange·compIetely lacking value. All the mean- ingf ul debate took place in the public arena out- sidetheHouseofCommons, and amendments to the tax bill were proposed there, not in Parliament. Because of the impartial nature of its ballots, theFederation will sometimes find itself support- ing the Government on a particular piece of legis- lation, and sometimesopposing it. "However, when MPsbelonging to the party in power find the Man- da t es are consistently in opposition to bills they t h e msel ves favour, they wi i have good reason to b e lieve they are l'osing the support of the busin- essmen. " LOSSOF SUPPORT MEANS MORE VOTES The Ios s of this support means more than the votesof the businessmen themselves, for the Fed- eration places heavy stress on building public op- inion through publicity and education. News of its a c t i v i ties appears regulariy in newspapers, on t e I e vision, and in an average month reaches 3. 5 mi i 1 ion readers, listeners & viewer s. "We have ample evidence of how this impact can swing public support for or against a particular bill or issue. Thi s a p p r o a ch , the Mandate ballot, and the membershipmakeup set the Federation apart from other trade or business associations. But1loch feels that most national organizations lack cred- ibility anyway because their voicesare demiNiated by big industrial or business interests. He s a i d both MPs and the general public tend to discount the policies of some associations for this reason. "How c.an an a ssociation that represents oil c o m p anies and service station operators s p eak fa irly for both in such areas as competition pol- icy ? H o w can an association that represents both steel companies and smal1 toolmakers speak with a united voice on the roie of capital incentives in taxation?" Bulloch asks. TheFederation, through its publicity and edu- cation programs, is also'the ideal organization for p r omoting the concept of free competitive enter- prise asa viable economic and social philosophy. 'lit is the most believable group in Canada for es- pousing this viewpoint, " Bulloch said. TheFederation is located at 745 Mount Pleas- ant Road, Toronto 298. Toronto Star T he Toronto Star will be taking an e d i t or i a i stand on the controversial in ternational airport in the very near f u t u r e, H . Sears, a member of the e d ito r iai board told the Whitby Free Press on Monday. The S t a r thus far. has not taken an ectUtorial stand, and those who are say- ing the newspaper is pro or anti the air- port, would have to be dealing in sheer guess work, he added. In r es p onse to a question posed by theFree Press, ItHas the Star slanted or coloured articles regarding the air- po r t , or carried only one side of the issue, Mr. Sears.explained, "if you fol- - tow the Star editorial page, you will to take a stand s e e t h a t we c a r ry a great variety of letters, both pro and anti airport. If our articles are thought to be coloured or slanted, they are sianted in that the persons being interviewed feel very strongly one way or the other. So f ar we have only covered the impact of the airport on the area. As reason for hesitating on the air- p or t edi torial, he offered that enough i n f o r m a t i o n a 1 material has not been gathered to warrant it. We h ave been collecting al1 the in- formation available, and will be taking an editorial stand in the very near fut- ure, he said. 34« KING 9T. W, 728-6211i - '