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6 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, March 6, 1990 The Port Perry Star 235 QUEEN STREET - PORT PERRY, ONTARIO PHONE 985-7383 FAX 985-3708 The Port Perry Star is authorized as second class mail by the Elsewhere $60.00 per year. Single Copy 50¢ EDITORIAL Publisher - J. Peter Hvidsten ~~ Office Manager - Gayle Stapley Editor - John B. McClelland News/Features - Julia Ashton News/Features - Kelly Storry -Darlene Hlozan BUSINESS OFFICE Accounting - Judy Ashby Billing Department - Louise Hope Post Office Department, Ottawa, for cash payment of postage. PRODUCTION ADVERTISING Second Class Mail Registration Number 0265 Annabell Harrison Advertising Co-ordinator - Valerie Ellis * Subscription Rate: In Canada $20.00 per year Trudy Empringham Advertising Sales Representative - Anna Gouldburn ENAOLAY COMMU p » " by Wo » Areas a3305h Ve Retail Sales - Kathy Dudley, Linda Ruhl, Tracy O'Neil Member of the Canadian Community Newspaper Assodation Ontario Community Newspaper Association Published every Tuesday by the Port Perry Star Co. Ltd. Port Perry, Ontario Editorial Comment BACK-LASH Some chickens are starting to come home to roost for the stand taken by the city council in Sault Ste. Marie which de- clared itself English-only. The Canadian Union of Public Employees and the Nation- al Research Council have announced they are cancelling plans to hid conventions in the Soo this year, as a form of protest over the language squabble. And a group of phys ed teachers from New Brunswick will boycott a convention planned for the northern Ontario city. The loss of convention business is a tough blow for Sault Ste. Marie, a city that badly needs every dollar it can muster in tough economic times. It's estimated that over $1 million in revenue will be lost-by the convention cancellations by CUPE and the Research Council. Groups such as CUPE or anyone else for that matter, are free to hold their conventions wherever they please, but "pun- ishing" the people of Sault Ste. Marie for decisions made by city council could trigger off similar moves by others in all cor- ners of the country. What little national unity left in this country is taking more of a battering. Perhaps CUPE, which obviously dis-agrees with the stand taken over language by the Soo city council, could have made its point better by holding the convention there and using the chance to talk to people about the issue. But no, they just packed up their marbles and went home. When push comes to shove, as it has now, it will be interest- ing to note if the Sault council sticks by its guns when the go- . ing gets tough from an economic point of view. Passing English-only resolutions is one thing: losing con- vention business is something else again. Will the council fal- ter 0 the face of what can only be called "economic black- mail?" It should be kept in mind that it was for economic reasons that the Sault council passed that resolution in the first place. The message, and it's one shared by a lot of Canadians these days, is that providing services in two languages is too costly for municipalities. The council feared that Ontario's Bill 8 is "the thin edge of the wedge," despite the vigorous statements by David Peterson to the contrary. But more than that, the declaration by the Sauit council and more than 40 other Ontario municipalities, was a state- ment of concern about a deeper malais that has fallen over this country, one that is difficult to define in precise terms. There are deep concerns that the country is falling into a huge economic depression. Interest rates are on the rise, fac- tories are closing their doors and throwing people out of work, huge tax hikes have already hit or are just around the corner. Yet the federal government is pre-occupied with Meech Lake, and the special status to get Quebec to put its signature on the Constitution. Business and political leaders in Quebec have made re- cent statements calling approval "or else" of Meech. Talk about blackmail. The climate is ugly in Canada these days, and it's not just because winter seems to be hanging on longer than usual. Though there is no way of accurately measuring, there is less tolerance than a decade ago. People are suspicious of others, they refuse to accept things at face value. They suspect there is a "hidden agenda" in what much of what governments are doing. By boycotting the Sault, groups like CUPE and the Na- "tional Research Council (a federal agency, by the way) are making a point, as they have every right to do. And we expect more such points to be made in the weeks and months ahead. The county has fallen into a sad state of affairs over this language squabble. But there's more to it than that. There's anger and let's face it, there's fatigue. A lot of people are just plain tired of a debate that has gone on for at least two dec- ades. We are sure the people of the Sault will survive without CUPE, the Research council, or the New Brunswick teachers. . We are not 8o sure about the survivial of the country. " SPEAKING OF BURNING RUBBER, /M SURE No ONE WOULD OBJECT IF THIS PILE WERE cy DOWN Jottings NO EXPERT, BUT... | don't claim to begin to fully understand the . implications of the Federal governments proposed Goods and Sales Tax (GST) which will be implemented next January, but I'm con- vinced it is going to hurt our economy. After seeing a news report in a daily news- paper last week | was further convinced that the GST is wrong, and if the Tories were not so stubborn, they would say "we've made a mis- take", and find a better solution. And they wouldn't have to look far for one possible answer to the dilemma of raising more money. A 42 page study, published by a gov- emment funded group says they could save more than $2.5 billion (that's BILLION $) in ad- ministrative costs over the next five years sim- ply by scrapping the G.S.T. Neil Brooks, a professor at Osgoode Hall Law School, Toronto, says in his paper pub- lished by The Institute for Research on Public Policy, the government could raise the neces- sary revenue through a very small increase in income taxes. Nobody likes to pay taxes, and raising the taxes would not meet with a lot of hoopla, but at least when the initial shock was over, the mon- ey would roll in and the public would not be con- tinually reminded of this Gouge and Screw Tax. Consumers are constantly going to be reminded of this unpopular new tax every time they buy an item. Purchase a shirt for $30, add 8% provincial sales tax, and then another 7% GST for the Feds. Final price for that $30 item now totals $34.67. That's a lot of damn tax. And the new GST applies to almost anything you purchase. | like Mr. Brooks' idea of a small income tax increase. It makes a lot more sense (in addition to dollars) and would save taxpayers millions in administration costs , not to mention grief. Last month the government revealed it would have to hire an additional 3,900 employ- ees to administer the GST, and the original esti- mate of $200 million to administer the, tax is now expected to reach $380 million a year. In addition to these massive annual administrative costs the government plans to spend $300 mil- lion more on one time grants to small business- es to help defray the transition costs of moving to the new sales tax. While Mr. Brooks agrees in his report that the present manufacturers sales tax must go, he says the GST is not the only solution of mak- ing up the revenue lost by its removal. But as usual, governments do not listen to their constituents. They seem to contrive end- less ideas they feel are good for us poor taxpay- ers, and whether we like them or not, we're called on to pay the price. Democracy, eh! The politicians are treating residents of this country like little kids. We don't need to be told by these so called "wise" men and women what is good for us and what isn't. Enough is enough! Mr. Brooks suggests increasing the federal surtax so that the lowest federal tax rate would rise by 2.7 percentage points, the middle rate by 4.2 points and the top rate by 4.6 points. This small increase (and don't think for a moment that | want to pay any higher taxes) would give families with lower incomes $300 more in disposable income while families with higher incomes would have about $300 less than under the GST scheme. Sounds much more sensible to me than the GST. Personally, I'm a little frightened about the next couple of years here in Canada. As the val- ue of our dollar comes down, our interest rates go up and the prospect of a new federal sales tax looms on the horizon | suspect families are going to tighten their belts and get ready for the crunch that appears to be coming. And if people do stop spending, it will have ripple effects that could cause great harm to our economy. When people stop spending, busi- ness must also tighten their belt, and this will re- sult in layoffs, plant closings, stores going out of business and people losing jobs. It's not a pretty picture, but unless the Feds get off their high horse and find another way to deal with the huge deficit (which they created in the first place), the outlook for the next couple of years is very bleak. Rl bi BRT, Aa An IE Tp i OH NS HE I NG