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PAGE 4, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1982, WHITBY FREF PRESS Whitby w- Voice of the County Town, Michael ian Burgess, The only Whitby newspaper independently owned and operated by Whitb Pubi Publisher . Managing Editor I y residents for Whitby residents. lshed every Wednesday by M.B.M. Publishing and Photography inc. Phone 668-6111 The Free Press Building, 31 Brock Street North, P.O. Box 206, Whitby, Ont. MICHAELJ. KNELL Communlty Edito ELIZABETH NOZDRYN Advertising Manager Second Clans Mail Registration No. 5351 Regîstration No. 5351 Reallocate arts grants and create jobs elsewhere A few days ago, this publication received two press releases from the Ontario Arts Council, a wholly subsidized agency of the provincial govern- ment. This Is nothing unusual. The releases were statements by council chair- man Arthur Gelber and Chalmers Award officer Michael Wilson. Gelber announced that the council had given 343 arts organizations and 139 indivIduals grants totalling $5,385,888. Wilson announced that 17 performing artists received a total of $161,000 for assistance in ad- vanced training in their particular skili. The size of these grants strikes us as ridicu- i have a friend who believes strongly that the anti- nuclear, ban the bomb people are on the right track, and that if they march and protest enough, they'll manage to convince the politicians that war is indeed obsolete. I'm not sure that he's right, for a couple of reasons. Until all of us march,;l'm sure the politicians will continue to regard most protesters as the lunatic fringe. And I think i know enough about human nature to doubt that war can ever be obsolete, even with total destruction staring us in the face. i respect the principles of the group on the west coast which has decided to take on Revenue Canada in the struggle to make its point. The group estimates that 10.5 percent of our personal income taxes go to support the Canadian Armed Forces. So they've deducted 10.5 percent from their annual tax bill, and have sent a second check to Ottawa for that amount, made out to the "Peace Tax Fund." The Revenue Minister, William Romkey, told the House recently that with-holding tax dollars is not a legitimate form of protest. i don't real- ly care if it's legitimate or riot. it's a form of revolution after all, and revolution is never legitimate, in the narrow sense of the word, as Mr. Romkey uses it. I would rather apply two other yardsticks to it: ONE: Can it be justified? and TWO: Is it likely to be effective? i suspect that the answer to bath of thdse questions is "no." If each tax payer was free to direct thegovemment on how his tax dollars are to be used, we wouldn't have government for very long. We'd have anarchy. So unless we're convinc- ed that anarchy is preferable to what we've got now it seems to me we've got to pay our taxes without trying to attach strings to them. In answer to the second ques- tion, is it likely to be effective, the "no" is even more re- sounding. Revenue Canada has untold resources for the extracting of taxes from a reluctant citizenry. The basic principles of English Common Law have been turned upside down to give the advantage to the Revenuers. You're guilty until you can prove yourself in- nocent, for one thing. And to appeal any Revenue Depart- ment decision, you must first pay what they say you owe them, with interest. So much as i admire the spirit of the peace ladies from Victoria, I don't give them much chance against the relentless machinery of Revenue Canada. And i don't agree with the point they're making anyway. l'Il go this far though. Either give the Armed Forces enough money to do the job they're supposed to do, here and in Europe,;or abolish them utterly. The present situation, in which we have Armed Forces in name only, at a cost of several billions, is preposterous. That's not news but that too is reality. lous. in fact, even givlng these awards in the first place should be considered foolish in the ex- treme. In the Gelber statement an average of $11,174.04 was given to each of the 343 organiza- tions and 139 individuals invoived. The average in the Wilson statement is $9,470.59. The Gelber release also quoted him as saying, "In such difficult economic times as these, we need the stimulation and sustenance offered by the arts." Frankly, this is one of the most ludicrous statements ever to come from the hallowed halls of Queen's Park. Now, Pefore anyone (especially the members of the arts) gets the impression that we're against the development and refinement of Canadian arts and artists, let us say for the record that this is simply not true. However, we believe that this statement and set of awards is a prime example of the lack of prlority in government spending and economic policy. As Gelber was quoted as saying these are diffi- cuit economic times. "'After reading these state- ments, this publication was set to wondering how many small businesses could have been saved or how many jobs could have been created with the $5.5 million that was given away in total. is the government trying to tell us that it is willing to spend $5.5 million on the arts, but is not willing to come up with two-thirds of the $450,000 that is needed to re-open and renovate the now empty second floor of the Dr. J.O. Ruddy General Hospital? The chronic care unit that wili hopefully be established at the hospital is needed to provide long-term medical care to many people, mostly senior citizens who have already made their con- tribution to the society in which we live. Is the government telling us that it is willing to let hundreds, possibly even thousands, of small businesses that provide a measlI few thousand jobs go under because they want to spent $5.5 million in this manner rather than give it ta businesses^as grants, boans or tax breaks which could mean the difference between bankruptcy and survival? If these were prosperous times or if Ontario was as prosperous a province as Alberta, whose Heritage Fund is bulging with literally billions of dollars, this publication would have no difficulty in supporting these grants. We have to ask ourselves if these grants are golng to have a positive impact on the livellhood of our community, and how many jobs will they create? We realize that in a sense these artists are being employed to do their varlous things, how- ever, what are they giving society in return? What product or service are they providing that we need to survive until the end of this recession? No individual or organization, lricluding this newspaper, is going to deny that Canada needs to develop its own culture and to have art forms that belong to us uniquely. But in these times, it must not be a priority. The priority must be to survive econmically. Not only survive, but recover, grow and prosper. Then we can devote more time, ef- fort and money on the arts. Another thing that should bé considered is that the vast majority of funds given away by the On- tario Arts Council came from the taxpayers. We do not believe that the average taxpayer wants to be taxed to support arts during a time when many of them are uncertain as to how long they will be employed or be able to keep Up the mortgage pay- mènts on their home. This is a classic case of confused fiscal priori- ties in government and in these troubled economic times there should be one main priority and that is creating employment. Our unem- ployed brothers and sisters aren't going to bruy very many grocerles with their culture ... the food- stores, the banks, etc., etc. all want'cash. r4î 4(4p A &7O ,Jzvd zxêIE