I Lr ArT AEE UES SRI dh EY At i Sutnaknbichdtiinciunaicsnsondionladiinadenon ins wh with Bruce Stewart I ran into an old friend of mine from university who is originally from the Port Perry area this week: He majored in political science as | did and he is now working on a Ph'D. M Interestingly enough, the subject of his Ph'D is Scugog township and his thesis is that Scugog should separate from Canada and become an independent country. : When he told me this, | just laughed and asked him what his thesis was really about. "No, really, its about the advantages of Scugog separating from Canada,' he said. "There are many advantages to the plan." | knew he had some radical ideas and as usual | was ready to challenge them. | asked him to name even one advantage. "Well, | really don't know where to start," i! he said. 'Let us start with lower taxes." "The Scugog government will get all the money that now goes to the federal government in income tax, in gasoline tax, in building material tax, and many other taxes," he said. "The government of Scugog will also get all the liquor and beer tax money that goes to the province as well as its share of income tax and raany other provincial taxes, including sales tax." *And on top of that, the Scugog government will get all the money from the normal municipal taxes," he said. "Do you know that now the local council only gets about $125.00 out of $400.00 of taxes." - With all this money at its disposal, the local government could surely eliminate some of the taxes and provide better service at the same ~t{me. But | protested, the residents of the Kingdom { of Scugog would still need all the services that i{ their present tax money goes to provide. i Oh yeah!' he said, "What does the average citizen really get out of all the money he pays in taxes to anybody but the township government." "After all, Scugog really wouldn't need an army,'".he said. "What would the government of Canada do? Bomb .Port Perry if they werent happy with something Scugog was doing." Or would the provincial government sent the O.P.P. to invade another country,'"' he said. 'And what 'else does the average person really get from the federal government,' he asked. Off hand, | couldnt think of anything a local council couldn't provide. "*And "what about the provincial govern- ment? What does the average working person get from it?" HE DEMANDED. "A lot of hassel whenever they want to do anything, but nothing much more constructive comes out of the mass bureaucracy at Queen's Park,'"" he answered himself. "And what does the average person get from regional government that a local council couldn't look after better," he said. "We get planning from the region, done by people who don't know or understand or care about the actual local needs of Scugog. They are much more concerned about what is happening in Oshawa, Pickering or. Ajax, than what is happening in Scugog. "We get some roads from the region, things like Lilla Street. Again, caused by people not understanding the local needs." | had to agree with him and was so taken back by his argument that | really didn't come up with any adequate response. "But look at what people get from the local i government as it is now,' he said. "Things like local roads, garbage collection, street lighting, things that really matter in your every day life." "My thesis calls for Scugog to become something like Monte Carlo,"" he said. '"'We could have a big tourist trade with Lake Scugog and could offer people things they couldn't get anywhere in Canada." To "People from Toronto could go to another country without going more than 20 or 30 miles." "And our local government would be much more aware of the actual needs of the residents of Scugog than the government in Ottawa or Toronto or even Whitby could ever be." The more | think about it, the better | like the sounds of Prime Minister Lawrence Malcolm. Or how about Governor-General Stewart. }- -N to thy. ">N NN "TTY "preservation of a - Council considers firs Scugog council held a three and a half hour closed door session Monday night to review the first ten months of operations of the new township. Under the terms of region- al government, the township must guarantee employees of the four former municipal- ities a job for one year. _ That ope year will soon be up and council asked Clerk Ld res YER, EAU TUT bes | EE ia Neil Brodie to prepare a report on the overall operat- ions of the township. Because 'personnel matters were involved, the meeting was closed to the public. "I think a meeting like this is a really good idea," Coun. Don Frew told the STAR Tuesday morning. "It is good to find out what the problems are and to try to Lilla Street plan continued sed about what the region considers progress by Mr. Price. He said progress isn't widening roads and-encour- aging excessive speed. Rather progress is the small town's integrity, he said. He also wondered why a regional councillor from 'Newcastle or Whitby should make a decision that will effect Port Perry so dras- tically. 4 . (21) TAL A fy solve them." "This is too big of an organization not to take a look at every once and a while," he said. "I certainly wouldn't run my business -- TRY OUR -- Surf & Turf Steaks Filet Mignon Lobster Tails Queen St. Emiel's Place 'Licensed Dining and Banquet Rooms Fishermans Platter Port Perry PORT PERRY:.STAR--Wednesday, Nov. 6, 1974--3 t year's operation without reviewing it from time to time." Mr. Frew said that he was pleased with the operations of the new Scugog Roads Department this year. 985-2066 You have a bright future in sportcoats! 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