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In November, 1975, delegates from 33 nations and the UN attended an International Symposium of Small Busâ€" iness in Tokyo. â€" Representatives from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, who were there, reâ€" port two conclusions of special significance to Canadians. First, that concentration of power in affluent Western societies is responsible for the dual phenomena of inflation and recession. Governmentâ€" spending on social programs, which inflates the size, complexity and cost of government, leads directly to concentrations of power in business. The burden bears heaviest on small firms. Taxes on payâ€" roll, on income, on capital gains, on sales, on succession â€" by reducing profitability and the ability to finance growth â€" force owners to sell out. The efforts of larger firms to obâ€" tain special tax advantages merely accelerate the process. Big labour is a product of big government and big business. The decline of small business employment and output is a product of antiâ€"competitive behaviour in labour, governâ€" ment and business and not of technology or economies of scale. Power can be diffused by lower taxes on small firms and by tough competition laws. Second, that energy shortages and the transfer of jobs to third world countries will result in slower growth for developed nations. These changes require a new emphasis on small business development and the preservation of rural compmunities. Large scale standardized manufacturing will move to the Koreas and Taiwans, forcing developed nations to specialâ€" ize in sophisticated, differentiated products best provided by small and medium enterprises. In France, Belgium, Japan and Germany, public policy is directed towards encouraging small businesses and the communities they serve. Controls are placed on the growth of shopping centres and department stores in rural areas, on exclusive leases and loss leader selling. The emphasis is away from the automobile and towards local businesses that are within walking distance. Canadians are living in a dream world. Labour and proâ€" fessional groups fight for exorbitant wage increases while hundreds of jobs each week slip out of the country. Canâ€" ada‘s need is to get away from dependence on fossil fuels, from everâ€"expanding urban centres and from everâ€"increasâ€" ing concentrations of power in government, business and labour. The future lies in our ability to compete and that means encouraging the small and medium enterprises, which are best able to adjust quickly to changing products and markets. from the corporation because of the party‘s wellâ€"known image as wanting to reduce the power of the corporate world. | Gulf Oil Canada president Jerry McAfee could not have been serious when he said ‘political contributions "are made in recognition of our responsibilities as a corporate citizen and are certainly not made with any thought of reâ€" ceiving political favor in return." Perhaps no direct favorâ€" returning has been produced but any large corporation stands to lose less when the Liberals or Tories are in power rather than the NDP which has always been in the foreâ€" front in being critical of large business enterprises. If Gulf Oil doesn‘t appear to want any of the patronage action from political leaders the corporate bosses must not be reading the newspapers. The Ottawa Citizen last year reported that out of a $27 million advertising budget from the federal government, all but about $5 million was contracted without tender to ad agencies directly involved with the Liberal election camâ€" paign in the last federal election. Political patronage reaches into the provincial capitals to a significant extent as well. Canadians should now be A report out of Washington last week stated Canadian branches of Gulf Oil Canada donated political contributions ‘‘on both a national and provincial level in Canada®" totalâ€" ling about $1.4 million during the period of 1960â€"74. Politiâ€" cal parties at both levels which received such contributions were likely the Progressive Conservatives or the Liberals on the federal front or parties such as the Social Credit in British Columbia. Parties such as the New Democratic Party across Canada likely received no financial support The of political patronage in Canadian politics unmmm Returning a favor for a favor still exists in this country as a means of showing corporate people gratitude for friendli It‘s impossible not to sympathize with Ottawa. The Govâ€" ernment, trying to please everybody, succeeds only in ofâ€" fending us all. Its mishmash of welfare and makeâ€"work schemes encourages freeâ€"loaders while failing to provide enough help to those â€" the aged, the infirm, the dependâ€" ents â€" who need it most. Unemployment insurance. which puts an everâ€"increasing burden on employer and employee alike, will pay out $4 billion this year in benefits. Of the beneficiaries, 37 per cent are under 25. Only 28 .5 per cent are heads of family units, while 17 per cent are partâ€"time workers. The talent for doing the right things for the wrong people reached its peak when Ottawa allowed civil servants to strike. The essential services whose shutdown hurts the OTTAWA and Small Business By Kenneth McDonald 34 ks /) ~otevailintniialhs. 290 bun 5. > ocruiticatonatt ++ :. Not much else can be glimpsed there, in the murk and muddle. Unions will go on threatening, politicians will go on promising, the rich will get richer and the poor will get babies. But, gloriously, people will go on beiglg people: despicable and noble; anguished and triumphant; hating and loving; being born and dying. It‘s a great life, and the only one we have. and beans a week, which such a pension wzprovide. All in all, a jolly good year, one for which I wouldn‘t trade anything, except a chance to do it over again. â€" Now for a brief look into the dim distances of 1976 Last year we were bored silly by Women‘s International Year: I predict that this year we will be bored right out of our skulls by two mountains of eanui â€" the American Biâ€" centennial and the Canadian Olympic Games. Continued from page 4 Continued from page 4 point: any byâ€"law to conâ€" trol what goes on inside supermarkets (which are just enlarged versions of ordinary _ retail _ stores) would surely be out of place and without validity; a supermarket manager is the only person entitled to dictate what members of the public shall or shall not do while patronizing his store. One would do well to be suspicious of stateâ€" ments such as ‘"major The Canadian Federation of Independent Business has recommended that public service strikes at the federal levâ€" el be ruled out in all areas which prejudice public health and safety or which result in serious economic damage. The collective blackmail of the public service strike must be replaced by a form of compulsory arbitration or by final offer selection, where each pafl}tgesents a proposal to an impartial arbitrator knowing that one of the proposals will be selected and â€"will become binding on both parties. This prevents either side from proposing an unreasonable soluâ€" tion â€" which the arbitrator would be obliged to reject. Now let‘s hear it for the tax collectors, the inspectors, the regulators, the designers of forms and returns, the statistics gatherers. They have the right to strike too. Why don‘t they use it? They‘d never be missed. potential of being quite honorable. _ â€" yours,"‘ will remain with us for a long, long time. The poliâ€" tical process is founded on patronage in many areas and, alarming as it may seem, has considerable support from many politicians and people who should know better. It is indeed diseases like patronage which tend to harm the credibility of politicians in a profession which has the public most, hurts Ottawa least. The mail strike which ruins small business imposes no hardship on Ottawa. When Canadian airports are struck, civil servants merely stay in Ottawa â€" a not unwelcome development to businesses they would otherwise be harassing. . The small business community suffers from public serâ€" vice strikes in two ways: by loss of business through inâ€" terruptions in essential services, especially the mail; by the pressure on wages in the private sector from excesdive public sector settlements. . The wage part of Ottawa‘s wage and price controls is aimed not at industrial trade unions, where settlements are already declining in step with the declining economy, but at the unchecked monopoly power of public service unions. That‘s why the postal union heads tried so desperately to keep their strike going. It wasn‘t the posties they were thinking of, but defeat of the Government‘s antiâ€"inflation in Montreal this summer. In Qau:mw through the years has almost becomie a, way of for many people. Everything from government contracts to the size of student university has made the Quebec government seem to be the in the dominion. Similarly, the Maritimes recent history has aiso been plagued with political patronage. A professor of Mariâ€" time studies recently stated that such a practice has beâ€" come accepted by the résidents of the Maritimes as the basis of most political action. Although people of the Mariâ€" times show a considerably high degree of political aware ness, they possess a relatively low level of political efficacy. This may be attributed to the fact that many people of the area stand to.gain a great deal through patronage and conseâ€" quently, have little interest in upsetting the status quo. Patronage is, of course, alive and well in other Canadian provinces. The difference between patronage of yesteryear and today appears to be in terms of its acceptability by the public. Patronage today is usually subtle and, in some circles, outrightly accepted as a norm in Canadian political life. To the residents of Quebec political patronage is synonymous with the Eiberal Party. They accept both overâ€" whelmingly. In Ontario though, even with instances of possible patronage, the government is tightly held in check by a vigorous electorate and an effective opposition from the NDP. > The philosophy of, ‘‘You scratch my back and I‘ll scratch Letter to the Editor * wl Smiley Our elected councilliors should think hard before considering legislation on such a controversial issue. Smokers have rights, too â€" and votes. Sincerely, Frank J. Woodhams management of _ superâ€" markets would welcome legislation"‘; _ predictably, a manager would be most unwilling to be byâ€"passed by a byâ€"law. Who knows where the encroachment would end? By John Storm o At _ _ Â¥ %iaaggs for #Â¥ten ,fif | o o :%' Ra"m”ifli-‘f'fi‘.”-”f" * > L * i nanniia‘® ~"~ r;‘O Everything in the store SAVE UP TO ... _ SALE _ CONTINUES Raggs for #Men â€" &th Anniversary by Popular Demand P.S. . . . We apologize for any inconvenience caused during our Anniversary Sale. Due to large crowds our personalized service was not up to standards. 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