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Possible provincial election in May hovered over Queens Park sittings By ARTHUR EVANS MPP Simcoe Centre Are we going to have an elec tion in Ontario in May That is the question still hovering over Queens Park as the sittings of the Ontario Legislature have resumed The answer to this question will be finally answered when the Throne Speech debates conclude Possibly all the suspense was removed by the author of this question the new Liberal Leader who presented mo tion of nonconfidence in your minority government to the ef fect that your government had failed to plan carefully the restraint program being put in to operation That occurred on March 16 1976 Two days later the new UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT Top Prices Paid Cush For Cars NORTHERN SALVAGE DISPOSAL Dunlop St 7289666 Liberal leader was backtrack ing furiously explaining that the Liberal subamendment to the main motion of non confidence was calculated risk to use the new Liberal leaders description Stuart Smith just thought that the New Democrats would not support such motion To the delight and surprise of Stephen Lewis the NDP leader said that such motion was so general in its phrasing that the NDP could support this sub amendment Now both Op position parties had placed themselves in real bind Here then your Ontario government is condemned by the opposition parties for fail ing to carry out an economic restraint program in prudent way and yet both Liberal and NDP are completely oblivious to the costs of another election campaign some six short months after the last pro vincial election What messy situation $122 MILLION Furthermore this un necessary election would cost at least another $12 million of public funds say unnecessary because both Opposition parties claim that they want minority government to work and to work well If that is their com mitment to the voters of On tario how do they justify their present willingness to have an election so soon say an unnecessary and ex pensive election because the voters in the vast majority of Liberal held ridings have clear ly indicated to their members that they should get back to Queens Park and start carry ing out their commitment in stead of doing all this sabre rattling By what you have read so far you may conclude that this minority government is afraid of having an election or that we would question the right of the Opposition parties to pre sent motions of non confidence DEIEND ON BUDGET lust not so That is basic right of the Opposition parties to carry out in our parliamen tary system But certainly question most vigorously the timing of an election and even more so the total irresponsibililt ty of both Liberals and NDP to deny your government its right to present the 197677 budget If both parties find the pro posed budget wanting in its specific application of the restraint program then they can combine to vote against your government When the budget is presented the voters of Ontario will learn the ways in which your government wants to run Ontario for the coming fiscal year and what specific means we would use to beat backinflation With this type of information the voters could go to the polls and cast their vote on that basis However attempting to bring your government down only one day before the presen tation of budget demonstrates massive con tempt of the public interest in these critical times If it should happen the fall of your govern ment at this time is not fixed in any real and abiding principle but reflects merely state of convenience for both Opposi tion parties Such an attitude is just in crediblell The overwhelming public sentiment is for stability in government for using our time and energies to solve ex isting economic and social challenges If an election is called your government will go and tell its story to the elec torate and let them decide the outcome Hopefully cooler more ex perienced heads in the Liberal Party will prevail when the vote of confidence is called More than anything else right now we need common sense and real cooperation not confrontation in resolving our present problems The voters expect this condition to be fulfilled We in the Pro gressive Conservative Party are committed to meeting that commitment of governing until the Opposition parties combine to vote against your government Takes lead MANCHESTER England AP Canadian champion Cliff Thorburn of Victoria BC took an 86 lead over Alex Hurricane Higgins of Nor thern Ireland in the world professional snooker cham pionship Tuesday night Thorburn who has beaten Higgins in four of their last five meetings trailed 42 at the end of the afternoon session but shot his way into solid lead in the 29frame firstround match Thorburn got breaks of 50 and 62 while Higgins had runs of 51 and 56 and took the last frame 7847 BECOMES CANADIAN OTTAWA CP Jennifer Craig Miss World of 1971 was among 40 new Canadians to re ceive citizenship certificates at ceremony in citizenship court here Yes the increase in Bank Interest really hurts So Bad Boy would rather sell for less than pa All items subject to prior sale increased interest on these unsold goods CLOSED HOLIDAY FRIDAY IIPEN SATURDAY 9AM TD PM TERMS OF SALE All Items delivered on first open date available the No phone or Mail orders All items sold with full Manufacturers Warranties No Holds or Layaways possible First comeFirst choice HIGHWAY 26 27 BARRIE 7267053 DAYS OFSAVEVELEFT Expenditure restraint Budget starts at government level By GORDON SMITH MPP Simcoe East On April Darcy McKeough Treasurer of Ontario presented his budget for 1976 This covered many items but over all it was budget of expen diture restraint starting at the provincial government level Tax increase on cigarettes and alcohol increase in OHIP coverage payments Tax cuts for small businesses An in crease in insurance premiums tax that has not been changed since 1956 and tax cuts for small businesses 0f major concern to he people of Ontario is the increase tax on cigarettes and alcohol and the increase to OHIP premiums It is through this Queens Park Report that want to dwell and explain fully just what these increases mean and to assure the public that as far as the OHIP premium increase is concerned the details re quire to he understood because the provincial treasurer has in fact broadened considerably premium assistance The change to the tobacco tax act is as followszthe tax on cigarettes is increased from 92 cents to 142 cents for 20 cigarettes Other package sizes will be subject to proportional increases This means an in crease of 11 cent per cigarette The tax rate on other types of tobacco and on cigars is un changed BAIIIiAIII IIIIII FITS GORDON SMITH This tax became effective at midnight April and businesses including retailers and wholesalers were required to declare their cigarette inven tories as at that time In regard to the increase tax on spirits wine and beer the following increases take effect on April 20 and the official budget statement reads as follows The gallonage tax on beer will be increased by 75 cents per gallon to total of 465 cents per gallon This will be RaoBal The Barrie Examiner Wednesday April 14 I9769 reflected by 15 cent increase in the retail selling price of case of 24 bottles of beer Markups include implied retail sales tax on spirits wine and imported beer will be in creased by averages of 30 cents per 25 oz bottle of Canadian spirits 35 cents per 25 oz bottle of imported spirits 10 cents per 26 oz bottle of Canadian wine 15 cents per 26 oz bottle of imported wine cents per 12 oz bottle of imported beer Proportional increases will be applied to other container and package sizes TAX EXEMPTION Before summarizing the OHIP premium structure would like to cover other items of interest to the public The exemption for prepared meals in hotels and restaurants The tax exemption now applies to meals of $5 or over from the present level of $4 This change became effec tive April Sales tax relief effective April also is provided on the purchase of the following ther mal insulation materials when used for the insulation of ex isting residences batt or blanket type insula tion loose fill insulation rigid insulation reflective insulation The treasurer has also reduc ed sales tax on mobile homes and this refers to new mobile homes which are purchased from vendor and which meet all CSA Standards in the Series Z240 and amendments thereto These will be subject to tax of seven per cent on reduced base equal to standard percentage of the vendors sell ing price for the unit This measure effectively ac cords to mobile homes tax treatment equivalent to that experienced in onsite residen tial construction For the purpose of this tax treatment on mobile homes meeting the above CSA Stan dards include units for residen tial use only UNINSURED DRIVERS Another increase in the budget statement that becomes effective Dec this year is that fees for drivers of uninsured motor vehicles will be increas ed from $60 to $100 per year Now would like to explain the changes to the Ontario Health Insurance Plan First the OHIP premiums due on and after May 1976 will be in creased from the current single and family certificate rates of $11 and $22 per month respectively to $16 and $32 per month respectively All pensioners social assis tant recipients and others cur rently receiving free OHIP coverage will conginue to receive free coverage when the higher premiums come into ef fect However for 1976 premium assistance will be broadened as follows free coverage single person having taxable incomes of $1534 or less families hav ing taxable income of $2000 or less halfrate coverage has been extended to single persons having taxable incomes bet ween $1534 and $2000 and families having taxable in comes between $2000 and $3000 do want to stress that these amounts refer to taxable in comes and not gross incomes FREE COVERAGE This generous enrichment in premium assistance means that an additional 363000 peo ple to total of 18 million will receive free or subsidized OHIP coverage That is nearly one in four Ontario residents This increase of premium assistance will also lower the premium actually paid by many families Even after the $10 month increase in the premium rate For family of four for ex ample the broader assistance criteria will result in net sav ing of up to $132 where gross income falls below $8225 an nually When you consider that 88 per cent of group premiums are paid by employers then the im pact of the premium increase on most working individuals and families will be modest HEALTHY SERVICES The second measure propos ed by the strengthens the link between utilization and costs of healthy services It involves the per diem charges for semiprivate and private accommodation in hospitals Currently hospitals levy usercharges on such ac commodation averaging $750 and $12 per day respectively Effective May 1976 these charges for privacy will be in creased to $11 per day for semi private rooms and $22 per day for private rooms This will raise an additional $20 million directly from those people who receive these extra benefits This extra revenue will be retained by hospitals and offset against their approv ed operating budgets was anxious to bring this to the attention of all constituents in Simcoe East because the one item of the budget statement that the Opposition leaders have expressed themselves as being unfair and in some cases inhuman are statements made without throoughly studying the budget statement and understanding its full implica tions that will benefit so many more people eligible under the free premiums and the half premium assistance program LOW PERCENTAGE believe this to be very good responsible budget that our pro vincial treasurer has presented think it is worth noting that in Ontario the pro vincial tax dollar represents just 12 per cent of the Gross Na tional Product whereas in the rest of Canada the average pro vincial percentage is 169 In closing out this report may assure all constituents in Simcoe East that my consti tuency office will be pleased to assist in any way with informa tion on the budget CROWN GARDEN CENTER HWY 93 AT CROWN HILL NOW OPEN EVERGREENS SHADE TREES FLOWERING TREES SHRUBS PERENNIALS SUGREEN and ClL FERTILIZER 20 OFF IAST YEARS FERTILIZER treasurer