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VAAFE 4.WEONESDAY NnVEMBER 2, 1983. WHITRY FREF PR FSS whitby Voice of the County Town The only Whitby newspaper independently owi Put Michael lan Burgess, Publisher.• Managing Editor ned and operated by Whit by residentsf or Whith - .e and oera-e--bv Wh7i-tav rEIrniu fUlIy residents. iblished every Wednesday by M.B.M. PubIlishing and Photography Inc. Phone 668-61 Il The Free Press Building, 131 Brock Street North, P.O. Box 206, Whitby, Ont. Second Glass Mail P.(>. Box 206, Whitby, Ont. Regisîration No. 5351 SANDRA LUCCI Community Editor ANDY THOMSON Advertising Manager Second class Mail Registration No. 5351 Jnernployment Insurance EmotionalIssue by W. ROGER WORTH Political dynamite. That's what John Bulloch, President -0f the, 64,000-member Canadian Federation of Independent Business called the Unemployment Insurance issue when he recently asked for a full-fledged public inqulry into the workings of the scheme. The fact is, .Unemployment .Insuranc e laan Issue that ls almost as emotional as abortion or capital punishment, yet it is a subject that needs to be openly debated. The reason? The cost of unemployment in- surance has more than doubled to $12-biilion over the last few years, and in many cases, the costs are being borne by those who can least afford to or pay. As might be expected, the hardest hit by the staggering cost increases are smaller firms, and particularly the tens of thousands 0f struggiing companies that aren't earning any profits.t n "There ls no question that concerted efforts shouid be made to tighten the Unemployment In- surance benefit rules, but our real beef lsnthat many smaller firms may in fact have to borrow money to meet the Unemployment Insurance payroli tax," said the CFIB's Bulloch. "The graduated income tax and corporate tax systema are fair because they tax profits," said Bulloch. "Payroll taxes are unfair: they're a disincentive to smali companies when it cornes to hiring people, and they've become what amounts to an anti-em- ployment tax." What further irritates entrepreneurs operating smaller firms ls the fact that Ottawa is reducing the amount it pays to cover the cost on Unem- ployment insurance, passing the cost on to em- ployers and employees in the private sector. In 1982, for example, the private sector paid 81 per- cent of total costs, compared to 53 percent in 1978. The federal government's share dropped to 19 percent from 47 percent. What's more, employers are forced to pay 1.4 times as much as employees to help defray the ever-rising costa. "lt's true, costs have increased draiatically because more than one million Canadians are unemployed," said Bulloch. "But Ottawa is also using Unemployment insurance as a kind of political slush fund, spending about a billion dollars per year on social programs such as maternity benefits. That money should be coming from the generai fund that includes income taxes and corporate taxes on profits." Bulloch believes governments don't really un- derstand that by increasing payroll taxes such as Unemployment insurance, they are stifling the very people who are creating most of the coun- try's new jobs. - Said Bulloch: "That's just one reason we need a public Inquiry, even If it is political dynamite." LETTERS TO THE EDITOR i have to agree with Max Yalden, our official languages commissioner, that the rest of the country should rise above the meanness of the Quebec language law. In other words, we should not penalize francophones in anglo-multicultural Canada because Mr. Levesque is being contempible to anglophones in Quebec. But having said that, i feel that our federal political leaders exhibited a certain double standard recently in delivering sermons to the people of Manitoba on what they should do about extending French language services in that province. Prime Minister Trudeau and thé Opposition Leader, Brian Mulrooney, are both Quebeckers, although Mr. Mulrooney holds a Nova Scotia riding. When are we go- ing to have a national day of prayer for Mr. Trudeau's anglo constituents? They need one. l'm told that just the other day, Mr. Levesque's so-called language police hit more than 50 stores in Montreal's Westmount because they dared to include the English word 'market" in the signs on their store fronts. And yet, the English-speaking people of Quebec have as deep roots in that province as the French-Canadians do in Manitoba and there are more of them. And there is no debate on the House of Commons, few pious ut- terances from the three party leaders about the rights of the anglo-minority in La Belle Province. In the Manitoba debate, Mr. Trudeau said that Canada has entered a new period of understanding in its treatment of minorities and that the resolution that passed the house without a vote would be a turning point in the life of a nation. He said that the Manitoba debate mark- ed what might well have been the most important day of his life as a Parliamentarian. One is tempted to sug- gest that he return to his own riding more often and observe the consequences of this new period of understanding there. Mr. Mulrooney said that govern- ments have a duty to protect the rights of our minorities wherever they may be. But don't hold your breath for the Tories to demand a day of debate and a resolution for the rights of the oppressed anglophones of Quebec. It is the votes of francophone Quebeckers that the Tories need to form the next government. Ed Broadbent took the same Une. "Never again," he said, "should any Canadian have to say: I am a stranger in my own land." Yet for the anglophones of Quebec, life is getting stranger and stranger. Mr. Trudeau was critical of the Parti Quebecois government for staying out of the Manitoba controversy. Perhaps it hasn't occurred to Mr. Trudeau and the other federal leaders that for Quebec to intervene on behalf of franco-Manitobaris, after de- nying language rights to anglo-Quebeckers, would be inconsistent. After the Manitoba Resolution, one suspects that inconsistency is not a quality that your average Parliamentarian would be likely to recognize. Dear Editor, Amazing! Amazing! We finally know where Rossland Rd. and Brock Sts. are located. I have been calling Dick Kuhawara's office on, and off, for the past couple of years trying to get the signs replaced after the intersection was overhauled 2/2 years ago. We wanted the signs back up, as it assisted our guests from out-of- town in finding our home. Why are the signs up now? Certainly fnot to assist our guests,-but to help the Developers peddle their bedrooms on the north and south side of Rossland Rd. East of Brock St, the latest area of carnage and land rape in Whitby. The slogan "Home of the Marigold" should certainly be re- considered for something more ap- something more ap- propriate - Let's say - Home of the Brown Fence. It does seem do have miles of insipid brown fence as on Man- ning and just about every other un- immaginative develop- ment that Council has approved. I'm not talking about the really, really big fence on the 401, I'm talking about the dumb little brown fences that Developers build to cover-up the back yards of the houses that somehow got built facing the wrong way. I cannot believe that oúr planning Dept. and Council want to create a Town of backyard thoroughfares instead of pleasant attractive residential streets. Well, what can you expect from a Council that allows their fire fighting equipment to be painted yellow. J.H. Priest Whitby Mou, a