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PAGE 6THE CANADIAN STATESMAN, APRIL 11,2001 \z\&0PINIONS FOR 14 6 YEARS, OUR FIRST CONCERN HAS BEEN OUR COMMUNITY Publisher - Tim Whittaker Editor-in-Chief - Joanne Burghardt Managing Editor - Judi Bobbitt Advertising Manager - Brian G. Purdy Advertising - Lavcrne Morrison, Cliristian-Ann Goulet Office - Jnnia Hodge, Nancy Pleasance-Sturman Editorial - Brad Kelly, Jennifer Stone, Jacquic Mclnncs ®lje Canadian Statesman Former Publishers and Partners Rev. John M. Climic and W.R. Climic 1854-1878 M.A. James 1878-1935 • Norman S.B. James 1919-1929 G. Elena James, 1929-1947 • Dr. George W. James 1919-1957 John M. James, 1957-1999 Produced by Metroland Printing, Publishing & Distributing Ltd. Also Publishers of CLAR1NGTON THIS WEEK P.O. Box 190, 62 King St. W., Bowmanville, Ontario L1C 3K9 TEL: 905-623-3303 FAX: 905-623-6161 HOURS: Monday to Friday 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.M. E-mail: judi.bobbitt@durhamnews.net Publications Mail Registration No. 07637 EDITORIAL e-mail responses to newsivom@tlitrluwmews.uct Government bound to cut smoking Feds must take measures to prevent deadly habit It has been lagged a naked lax grab by our federal government government or a measure aimed at getting fewer people - especially especially children - to stop the deadly habit. Or simply never to start. The question is: will 50 cents more per package of cigarettes cigarettes act as a deterrent to smoking? The tax increase, announced last week by the federal government, was roundly acclaimed by anti-smoking advocates. advocates. Some argue the increase is not enough, but suggest suggest any measure which might prevent smoking, is positive. positive. Others argue those who choose to smoke should pay a high price since the cost to care for long-term smokers when they succumb to smoking-related diseases is high, $3 billion a year. High smoking taxes help offset that bloated cost. The real key to the higher tax is it will hopefully dissuade dissuade young people with less money to spend, to blow it on cigarettes. Recent statistics show 3,000 children start smoking in Ontario each month. Some 22 per cent of Grade 7 to OAC smokers began the habit in Grade 5-6. So, it's clear the best policy is to get to them while they're young and try to hit where it hurts: in the allowance pocket. pocket. The long-term numbers have been devastating. Youth smoking in Canada - those between 15 and 19 - jumped from 21 per cent in 1991 to 28 per cent in 1999. The numbers numbers are better in Durham where the latest stats show 18 per cent of those under 18 smoke. Still, something has to be done to stem the tide. Therefore, a large chunk of the revenue derived from that tax increase will flow towards advertising campaigns ' designed to drive home the message that smoking kills. Health Minister Allan Rock says $110 million in additional additional government ads will be hitting the media by 2004 with the intention of reducing cigarette consumption by 30 per cent overall within' 10 years. RCMP patrols will be beefed up to prevent smuggling, duty-free cigarettes will be eliminated, and there will be a surtax of 50 per cent from 40 per cent on producers of cigarettes. cigarettes. Federal governments in the past, short of making smoking smoking illegal, have tried everything they can to reduce smoking. smoking. The elimination of lifestyle advertising, the ending of sponsorship of sports and cultural events and the grotesque warnings on packages have all beèn a part of a larger plan. Perhaps, by hammering home the message that smoking 'costs' as much as smoking 'kills,' success will follow in the battle to butt out. LOOKING RACK WITH THE STATESMAN 75 YEARS AGO April 8,1926 Bowmanville Hospital celebrated the 12th anniversary of its opening by holding the annual birthday party. A good musical program was furnished during the afternoon. 50 YEARS AGO April 12,1951 A majority of service station and garage operators in Bowmanville were considering the possibility of a 7 pan. weekday closing and staggered Sunday openings. There were no restrictions in place on the 'open for business' hours of any local service station or garage. 25 YEARS AGO April 14,1976 MPP Doug Moffalt (NDP Durham East) was chosen as the NDP candidate for the next provincial election with the unanimous support of the NDP riding association in a nomination meeting. All 39 members of the association present at the meeting voted in favour of Mr. Moffall's nomination. Information taken from tlw archives of The Canadian Statesman LETTERS TO THE EDITOR e-mail letters to newsroom@durhamnews.net Property taxes should not support healthcare To the editor: I am appealing to all residents residents of Durham Region to write and support those Regional Regional councillors who do not agree with the Lakeridge Health Corporation Corporation agenda that a levy be made on our already overburdened overburdened city taxes. Municipalities are not tax collectors for any agency and I doubt if they have a mandate to do so. City taxes are for education and the various projects and amenities in the community. The recent full-page advertisements advertisements in 'This Week' which include that of a newborn in a hospital, will devastate any parents' parents' emotions, but don't let this invasion cloud your judgment. This is a form of blackmail. Health care is the responsibility responsibility of the federal and provincial provincial governments. We must remind remind our representatives that it is their duty to ensure adequate funding or face defeat at the polls. Harry Elvins Bowmanville Writer shouldn't make decisions for kids To the editor: Re: 'Kids are easy prey for marketing maven' opinion shaper in March 18 This Week, by Kay Fisher. I am in the advertising field and find Ms. Fisher's article disturbing. Granted many ad vertising agencies use "field research" research" on young people in order to gain ideas for their next campaign for shampoo or pop or whatever it may be, but how typical it is in this era not to take responsibility for our actions. actions. Advertising does not make, you buy a product or conform to an idea. Every single person who watches an ad has total free will to buy the product or not, no one can be forced do it. It is you who must take the money out of your wallet. It is you who decides to buy products products strictly based on the logo found on it. It's sad you are going to deprive deprive your children of the clothes they want to wear just because you don't want them to be "walking billboards." Is that really your decision to make? Is it right to use your children children as a springboard for your anti-advertising ideals? Jason Grant Government not shy of promotion But critics say tax dollars shouldn't pay the bill Premier Mike Harris has been given à lot of advice on ways he can give up his power to spend millions of dollars on government government advertising that promotes his party, a big issue in the 1999 election, but he is unlikely to accept accept any of it. The Progressive Conservative premier's misuse of ads paid for by taxpayers has been well-documented. well-documented. While government ads should be used to inform, he has run many arguing his health system system meets the needs of residents but fails to counter constant examples examples of it letting them down, and other ads which show tax cuts create jobs, when many think their main result has been to weaken services, Mr. Harris has bought space attacking "union bosses," when he could debate them without cost in news media, and a leaked memo even confessed the main aim of the taxpayer-funded ads was to "leave the audience feeling feeling comfortable with the Mike Harris government." Other premiers also used government government ads to help their parties. The most notorious were when an earlier Conservative, William Davis, plastered the province with commercials showing pristine pristine lakes and forests and urging, "Life is good, Ontario. Preserve it. CONSERVE it," and won back his majority. But no government including the Tories under Mr. Davis has used ads paid for by taxpayers to promote a party on anything like the huge scale of Mr. Harris. This became a major talking point in the 1999 election the Tories Tories won, while most news media previously tended to look on government government spending on partisan ads as something minor that evety party did and much of an insid ÜF91 Hr'" Eric Dowd \At Queen's Park er's story. Many editorials in newspapers newspapers and even some right-wing columnists who usually are steadfast supporters of Mr. Harris said he had gone too far. New Democrat deputy leader Frances Lankin has now proposed proposed a law that would force government ads to be objective and impartial and not promote the interests of a governing party or directly attack the policies and opinions of opposition parties or other groups. It also would bar government from personalizing ads with pictures pictures of a smiling Mr. Harris, not totally recognizable as the guy who snarls at opposition and union leaders. It would also provide provide the provincial auditor, who regularly shows independence by revealing horrific waste by governments governments of all persuasions, the power to evaluate ads and recommend recommend that a governing party he feels broke the rales, reimburse taxpayers. Liberal leader Dalton McGuinty earlier introduced a private member's bill on much the same lines but enabling MPRs to refer any government ad they feel is partisan to the legislature's legislature's integrity commissioner. The commissioner, who normally normally investigates allegations MPPs have breached ethics, also would be empowered to demand a governing governing party reimburse taxpayers. The Canadian Taxpayers Fed eration, which mostly worships Mr. Harris' because he has reduced reduced government and taxes, has called on all three parties to support support the Liberal bill. It is annoyed Mr. Harris should have embarked on what it calls "a massive ad buy, at all when he is supposed to be restraining spending." The provincial auditor prompted by complaints Harris had government pay for partisan ads also has investigated and noted some jurisdictions have guidelines that government should pay only for ads which explain its policies and inform of •rights and services and not for those which have the effect of promoting the government's interests interests above those of opposition parties. The auditor concluded Ontario Ontario politicians need some guidelines, but stopped short of offering to act as arbiter, as suggested by the NDP. A poll also recently suggested suggested a large majority of residents feel Mr. Harris's spending of government money on partisan ads is improper. But the premier has an advantage advantage he will be reluctant to give up and no one can compel him to, because he has a majority of votes in the legislature. The Liberals and NDP also have both been in government during the last decade-and-a-half and did not use their opportunity to bring in a law restraining government government from spending on partisan partisan ads. It is probably unrealistic even to expect an incumbent to give up a weapon that helps keep incumbents incumbents in power and the most that can be hoped for is the pressure will force Mr. Harris to put some brakes on government ads that help his party. Jacquie Mclnnes Staff Writer jmcinnes@durlmmncws.iwt A sting and a prayer Clarington residential properly taxpayers taxpayers may be reciting a part of the Serenity Prayer in the next couple of months as regional and municipal lax rates are set. . z Specifically, they may want to focus on "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change " because higher taxes are looking more like a sure thing every day. What is so different this year from last, besides the fact it isn't an election year? In truth, a combination of factors have come together to conspire against our freshly-minted politicians, who may be in the unenviable position of coming to power at just about the worst fiscal period in recent history. While local politicians have been talking talking about the evils of downloading from the provincial government for the past few years, it seems until now, the pain has been deferrable. Now, it's time to pay the piper or raid the reserves; reserves; a move few treasurers would recommend to pay operating expenses. expenses. Realistic politicians may have to come to terms with the fact they may not be able to go back to their constituents constituents with the mantra 'zero tax increase' increase' when the next election rolls around. In Toronto, (where the tax rate is still lower than out here, incidentally) the,normally cocky Mayor MeJ Last,- man has been quieter than usual as services services (some of which are princely by Durham standards) are put on the chopping block and the message ip leaked a large increase is .inevitable. The latest news is from Oshawa, where a tax increase is also being predicted. predicted. Clarington will likely face the same fate when its operational budget comes down the pipe in the next month or so. In the meantime, it appears our rer gional taxes are on the way up. The politicians are grappling with a hefty funding increase request from Police Services to keep pace with the Region's Region's growth. Then there are the new responsibilities handed over from the Province for land ambulance (which the Province helpfully points out really really requires upgrading now that it's no longer paying the bill). A huge expense expense has been handed down this year with .the social housing stock, which, to be kind, are diamonds in the rough in need of some costly polishing. Then there are Durham's hospitals, which lobbied the provincial government government for expansion money through most of the 90s, and coming up short, are knocking hard at the Region's door for capital funding. While the rest of us focus on acceptance, acceptance, perhaps our local politicians can sharpen their pencils and concentrate on another part of the same prayer that relates to finding "the courage to change the things I can." 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