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Elie Barrie Examiner Robb PublisherGeneral Manager Walls Editor Emeritus DM Henshow Managing Editor AThe Barrie Examiner Tuesday Sept 1976 Where was the taxpayer at meeting on reforms The captains and the kin wer in Orillia thursday waxing grothfuel or elegant about property tax refor ms School boards municipalities of all Sizes businessmen tourist operators charitable organizations and farmers were at the meeting They told the property tax reform commiSSion just what they thought of the proposals But where of where was the guy property tax reform is going to af fect the most Where was the guy who owns his own house and pays the every increasmg taxes on that house faith fully Where was the guy from the so caJled silent majority the guy be Tax exemptions for churches are the last remaining vestige of statesupported official religion But the question of what the tax reforms will do to the man who owns threebedroom bungalow was never really asked let alone an swered in Orillia Thursday It should have been asked It is all very fine for the com mission to say the tax reforms will widen the property tax burden by getting more from business But if business has to charge more topay taxes Well you know who pays So does widening the tax base really help the lot of the man with the threebedroom bungalow aa Ill 57111 rIHu III IIIIIIII llllra all Ill1111 Ill 94 71 VJV 11 determining who pays his taxes every year Where was the taxpayer who uses the roads and sidewalks but very lit tle else provided by municipalities In theory he was represented by his municipal representatives But the municipal representatives were concerned with esoteric sub Jects such as taxing speculators and whether churches should be taxed or not Thev should Which Helmut is better time the hearings great many other were raised at the Orillia meeting They may be answered by the questions commission ends its But there is the nagging feeling that the questions wont be an swered until the tax reforms become law And then it might be too late to change the tax laws once again Zchoice faced in election By ROD CURRIE The Canadian Press Now that the campaign for the Oct West German general election has officially com menced it seems to be boiling down to personality battle over which Helmut is better Thus unless third name Lockheedis brought into the fray the prospects are for pretty colorless campaign This despite the fact some commentators hail it as the most important election in the Western world after the US presidential contest Unlike neighbouring France and Italy where parties range from Communist to neo Fascist the political spectrum in West Germany is relatively narrow And this time redhot issues are scarce On the face of it Chancellor Helmut Schmidt leader of the governing leftliberal coalition of his Socialist party and the small Free Democrats would seem to have the upper hand He has international stature experience and is tough GIVEN EQUAL CHANCE But recent polls give almost equal chance to Helmut Kohl relative newcomer leading the Christian Democrats and their rightwing partners the Chris tian Social Union Schmidts sometimes arro gant style and his weakness for putting his foot in it in deal ings with allies and colleagues have not endeared him to some of the 38 million eligible voters And Germans seem to out siders to be unreasonably alar med over the comparatively mild inflation and unemploy ment rates although West Ger many is better off in these areas than any other industrial country Despite setbacks West Ger many stands today economic ally more powerful and politi cally more influential than ever before In this situation the opposi tion is left to ar ue that the economy shoul be even stronger that freedom is threatened and that the govem ment is soft on communism Kohl and his colleagues promise to reduce taxes and raise the rate of industrial in vestment One slogan promises freedom instead of socialism DIFFICULTTO SELL Its solid campaign idea INTERPRETING THE NEWS Analysts puzzle over role played by China in incident By BRUCE LEVETT WASHINGTON CP The dead have been buried and the 8525 are gone from the skies over the powderkeg border be tween the Koreas leaving polit ical analysts here puzzling over how significant role China may have played in defusing the incident at the poplar tree Two United States soldiers on treetrimming mission were slain in an encounter with North Koreans in the nomans land demilitarized zone North Korea called it mis Ellie Barrie Examiner 16 Bayfield Street Barrie Ontario Telephone 7266537 Registration Number0484 Second Class Mail Return tage guaranteed Dai Sundays and Statutory Ho idays excepted Subscription rates daily by carrier 85 cents weekly $4420 yearly Single copies 15 cents By Mail Barrie $4420 yearly Simcoe County $3400 yearly Balance of Canada $3600 year yNational Advertising Offices 65 Queen St West Toronto 8641710 640 Cathcart St Mon treal Member of the Canadian Press and Audit Bureau of Cir culations The Canadian Press is ex clusively entitled to the use for republication of all news dispatches in this paper credited to it or The Associated Press or Renter and also the local news published therein The Barrie Examiner claims Copyright in all original adver til ng and editorial material mated by its employees and7 regroduced in this newspaper ogeyright Registration Num r203815register61 understanding South Korea said it was predeterminedd scheme to trigger off new war in Korea Within hours of the incident US South Korean and North Korean troops on the peninsula were placed on alert American air squadrons in South Korea were reinforced The carrier Midway sailed from Ja an and President Ford order the big 8523 to fly practice bombings runs over the demilitarized zone US State Secretary Henry Kissinger called in Huang Chen head of Pekings liaison office in Washington There has been no word of what passed between them nor what passed between Chinese and North Korean diplomats in Peking and Pyongyang Whatever it was the official New China news agency re ported North Korean statemen ts about the border clash but provided no comment of its own Inflammatory North Korean rhetoric was toned down TALK NOT FIGHT The chief Chinese representa tive stayed away from the first two truce meetings at Pan munjom after the incident He returned when it became clear the two sides had decided to talk rather than fight Suggestions here are that China cooperated to keep from handing the US new morale building issuein this election yearsimilar to the Mayaguez incident in which US marines invaded the island of Koh Tan in the Gulf of Thailand retoo the vessel Mayaguez and struck at the Cambodian mainland to force surrender of the crew The incident nearly 18 mon ths ago came in the wake of US humiliation in South Viet nam and was hailed as stroke of US determination Some sources here conten that new Korean war would hurt China as well as the US but one difficult to sell in country that has the soundest currency lowest inflation and unemployment rates and one of the highest living standards in the world But the relative calm of the campaign could be disrupted if Lockheed scandals which have already brought disgrace to Prince Bernhard of the Nether lands and the indictment of former Japanese prime minis ter sweeps into Germany Bonn now has decided to re open its own investigation into the sale of Lockheed Star fighters to Germany in the late 19505 at time when Franz Jo seph Strauss head of the oppo sition Christian Social Union was defence minister It is unlikely that the investi gation could reach any con clusions before the election five weeks hence But the Lockheed scandal has become such an emotional issue that its mere mention adds some ginger to the campaign For all that the various polls that show the two Helmuts about neckandneck also in dicate that about 18 per cent of voters remain undecided and Korea and benefit only Chinas archrival to the north the Soviet Union The Chinese want the US out of Korea but there have been indications that they want this accom lished in slow and or derly ashion so as not to at tract movement of Soviet for ces into the resulting vacuum The next move is expected to come when the UN General As sembly meets in New York next month President Kim Il Sung of Nor th Korea has his diplomats trying to drum up Third World support for resolution by 21 countries to demand an end to all acts of foreign military in volvement and aggression against Korea BIBLE THOUGH came forth from the Father and am come Into the world again leave the world and go to the Father His disciples said unto him Lo now speakest thou plainly and speakest no proverb John 1628 29 Jesus made it very plain as to who He was where He came from and where He is He also made it clear that He is coming again WE WANT YOUR OPINION Letters submitteu lor publication must be original copies signed by the writer Please include your street ad dress and phone number although they will not be published Letters which can not be authenticated by phone cannot be published For the sake of space blic interest and good taste Examiner reserves the right to edit con ldense or reject letter No signs of intelligent life FROM PARLIAMENT HILL Bilingualism isnt the issue dragging Liberal down in polls By STEWART MacLEOI Ottawa Bureau Thomson News Service When the latest Gallup Poll was published to show that Lib eral popularity had dropped to its lowest level since 1958 there were all sorts of suggestions that Prime Minister Trudeau should have returned home im mediately to deal with the situ ation But no one seemed to know what he should have done on his arrival Perhaps that is be cause there is no agreement on what specifically has caused the Liberals to slide And it wouldnt make much sense for the prime minister to panic af ter cure when he doesnt know the cause of the ailment In any event Mr Trudeauch his European vacation run its natural course before coming home to get all the gory details of this latest public opinion poll But now that he is back in of fice he cant be feeling much of postvacation glow from the surveys that show that only 29 per cent of Canadians now sup port his government This com pares with 47 per cent for the Conservatives It can be assumed the prime minister has great deal of YOUR BUSINESS Stock market looks for lift By VINCENT EGAN Business and Consumer Affairs Analyst Thomson News Service The stock market has tradi tionally looked to Labor Day as turning point in price trends Its the end of summer and according to market folklore at leasta time for investors to turn their attention once again to their stock portfolios This year that tradition is reinforced by yet another In United States presidential elec tion year prices tend to strengthen between Labor Day and voting daywhich is Nov this year This pattern may be based on nothing more than the eternal optimism of analysts brokers and investors Optimists believe that any change will be change for the better Market history does show however that US stocks have fared better on average under Democratic president than un der Republican The Republican response to that is that when they come to office they have to spend so much time cleaning the eco nomic mess creat by the Democrats Publicopinion oils show Democratic candi ate Jimmy Carter well ahead of Republi can President Gerald Ford So it seems likely that sentiment on Wall Street will be increas ngiy bullish between now and the November election DIVERGENT TRENDS Where Wall Street leads will Canadian stocks follow Maybebut not necessarily The almost automatic arallels between US and anadian markets are becoming thing of the past The Trudeau government has been chipping away at equity investment apparently for rea sons of politics dogma since at least 1971 when it decided to tax gains on risk capital as if they were earnedincome Li ider the antiinflation pro gram Ottawa has forced Cane work ahead of him before the next general election expected in 1978 NO PREDICTIONS But despite the continuing up ward momentum of the Toricsthis began after the February leadership con ventioneand the concurrent downward momentum of the Liberals its far too early to start predicting the outcome of the next election Stories have recently been written about how 30 per cent is the magic figure and once partys popularity dips below this its time to prepare for term in opposition dont know where the Liberal organizers came up with this logic but they could disprove it by going backi01957 Just few months before we defeated the Liberals remembers John Diefenbaker the polls gave us 29 per cent and the Liberals had 49 You know what think of polls However this doesnt distract from the fact that Mr Trudeau and his Liberals havc their work cut out for them if they are to overtake Joe Clarks Conservatives dian corporations to roll back their profit margins to at least 15 per cent below the level that existed before last October Taken together these and other government policy deci sions have had the net effect not only of driving foreign in vestors out of the Canadian stock market but of driving Ca nadian investors out of it as well The US picture is encour aging to investors Real eco nomic growth in AprilJune 1976 reached an annualized rate of 42 per cent while in Canada it was flat compared with 27pcrccni real growth rate here in JanuaryMarch OUTLOOK CLOUDY The outlook for the Canadian stock market as for the Cana dian economy remains cloudy Corporate profitsa key dc terminant of stock values arent likely to be an incentive to risktaking even after Fi nance Minister Donald Macdo nalds amendments to the anti inflation rollback Although the ban on cor rate dividend increases is to modified next month that in itself will hardly offset the erosion of investor confidence that has been going on for several years now Some market analysts and brokers believe that the only development that could bring back any substantial amount of stock investing would be an end to the antiinflation rogram or even the likelihoo of its end No such development is in sight this year The more the Trudeau overnment is pushed by big Ia and business the less likely it is to revert to highinflation course For Canadian investors theres some comfort in reflect ing on two factors The proxim ity of the US market which appears to be fairly buoyant and the apparent immunity of the Cana ian stock market to further declines in the near fu ture from the base that it has formed over the last several months There seems to be near unanimous viewpoint here that the prime minister is simply better campaigner than his Tory rival and so will narrow the lead during the actual czun paign But Mr Irudcau must improvchis starting position Trouble is what does he do He is known to feel that the bill ngualism issue which bitterly resurfaced during the recent air strike is playing major role in his governments current unpopularity Fur thermore he has expressed confidence that he could win an election on bilingualism There may be frustrations and reactions from time to time he has said but basic ally anndians are fair minded people NTEAR If it were clearly established that bilingualism was the root cause of Liberal unpopularity Mr lrudcnu would no doubt bc well advised to tackle the issue head on But this is far from clear There is another view point that Mr Irudeaus per sonal unpopularity has great deal to do with current sland ings And an electoral battle over bilingualism wouldnt scr vc much purpose in this case Now Claude Wagner an un successful candidate for the Conservative party leadership has come up with the theory that the present situation is all due to the governments flipflop on price and wage controls He points to the fact the Con servatives have the same poi icics on bilingualism and their support is rising while the Lib erals are falling He thinks the government has simply lost its credibility by campaigning against controls and then im posing them If this is the case Mr Trudeau wouldnt accomplish much by campaigning on behalf of bilingualism No there was no reason for the prime minister to curtail his vacation and now that he is back there is no reason to ex pect an onslaught of Liberal popularity procedures Its go ingtotakclimc Perhaps Mr Trudeau will lose in 1978 but despite popular theories dont think it will be because his government fell in low 30 per cent on the Gallup Poll 24 months earlier In politics two years is along time QUEENS PARK Darcy McKeough ideal leader CAN ADAS STORY Black day for Prairies By BOB BOWMAN Sept 1883 was black day on the Prairies The tempera ture dropped sharply in an Ar ctic wind and crops were ruined by frost The entire continent was suffering from an economic depression at the time and conditions on the Prairies were so bad that Montreal milling company of fered to buy all the wheat for 40 cents bushel and oats for 15 cents This situation was one of the factors that led to Saskatche wan Metis sending delegation to Louis Riel in Montana asking him to return to Canada to be their leader Farmers also met in Winni peg in December and formed the Manitoba and Northwest Farmers Union They drew up bill of rights which among other things protested the CPR monopoly The CPR tracks were being laid across the Prairies at that time In those days Prairie settlers lived in primitive conditions Singlefurrow plows were drawn by horses 01 oxen and the first sod turned over was used for building shacks in which to live Space was left for for public that is frightened By DON IIEARN Queens Park Bureau Thomson News Service TORONTO Some time ago noted that if in the next elec tion Ontario Premier William Davis were either defeated or returned with another minority he would have to resign or at least face leadership con vention If such situation did occur and under the immediate politi cal conditions of today one would say there is good chan ce it will then we have the fascinating question of who might succeed Bill Davis either as premier or party leader THE WORLD TODAY Russian actions blamed for problems in Poland By JOHN IIARBRON Foreign Affairs Analyst Thomson News Service Why is one of Europes larg est sugarbectproducing nations rationing sugar this fall The country is Communist Poland The reason is yet an other failurc of the Marxist sys tem to properly distribute and price what has become com modity for hoarding in Poland In addition Poland too has been hit by Western Europes worst drought in several ccn turies and production is down And then the friendly Rus sians whose demands on the Polish cconom are tradition ally madc wit little concern for the Poles tripled their pur chases of Polish beet sugar This year as in 1970 scvcrc riots and outbreaks all over Po land are result of the govern ments food policies and be cause of stateinspired food shortages Since 1970 Communist leader Edward Gierek has maintained freeze on food prices while wages increased more than 30 per cent These couldnt last qnd few weeks ago he announced loper cent incroascs in food rices from which decision the olish riots began again This time the strikes were even uglier with factories at tacked and stretches of railway track torn up In the Peoples Rc ublic of Poland all factories an railways of course belong tothcsiaic So such riot action comes un der the very harsh and arbi trary laws of Communist country of crimes against the state PRISON NO ANSWER The government handed out hundreds of sentences of hard labor in prison for periods rang ing from six months to five years Others were dismissed from state jobs which means losing housing any perks supplied for holding favored government positions Anyone who VISits Poland or who knows fellow Canadians of Polish origin who have visited relatives in Poland are aware of the simmering hatred which Poles have forARussians This potentially dynamic and historically great Euro ean race has been ordered ut subdued and com Iled to operr ate ramshac lc socialist economy because it remains Soviet satellite One wonders what kind of modern bright and confident society Poland would have had McKEOUGII STRONG In any contest for the job there probably would be good number of contestants But once the dreamers and the publicity seekers were weeded out there would prob ably be only three strong candi dates AttorneyGeneral Roy McMurtry Labor Minister Bet as in the 70s if she had not slipped behind the Russian orbit in the mid 40s West Germany too is ma jor sugarbeet producer but has no rationing and certainly no food riots West German work ers earn many times the sala ries of Polish workers in identi cal industries The difference is the system The West German one based on enli htened capitalism and very su stantial state benefits works THE PICK OF PUNA window or two but there was no glass Canvas or animal skins were used instead Heat was usually provided by sheetmetal stove One of the greatest dangers was prairie grass fires After 15th for buildings the next task was to plow trench around the homestead as fire guard Set tlers who were caught in fires could only escape by lighting backfires on the leeward side and move on to the burned area Their food was chiefly fli tatoes and occasionally turnips peas and carrots Sta les were flour for bannock read or flapjacks oatmeal for porridge corn syrup dried ap ples or prunes salt pork tea and coffee OTHER SEPT EVENTS isssCartier reached Island of Orleans below Quebec on sec ond voyage l619J6ns Munck of Den mark probably discovered Churchill River Hudson Bay i763King George III issued proclamation urging subjects to settle in Canada intoMore than 500 Scottisn immigrants landed at Quebec te Stephenson and Treasurer Darcy McKeough In this observers mind there is no question of who is the best in that group McKeough wins hands down He appears to be the one strong leader in the group Dr Stephenson has great deal of ability and merits lot of respect She perha would be good leader But would be good one as against strong one in McKeough McMurtry think would not be either strong or good leader He has flair for pub licity but there the plus column seems to end CONVENTION STABS The big question about McKeough is whether he could wm And here his biggest obstacle well could be Winning con vention convention is quite differ ent affair from an election Conventions are full of politi cal knowitalls and they thrive on gossi whispers and plain backsta bing If McKeough were in con vention the whispers are easy to foresee He thinks too much of him self