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Page 4 TERRACE BAY/SCHREIBER NEWS Wednesday, February 28, 199 Tel.: 825-374 Editorial Page: ik we General Managet.......Paul Marcon ; The Terrace Bay-Schreiber News is published every Wednesday by 3 Single copies 40 cents. Laurentian Publishing Limited, Box 579, Terrace Bay, Ont., POT-2W0 Reportev............ ....Angie Saunders Subscription rates: $15 per Tel.: 807-825-3747. Second class mailing permit 0867. Member of the Admin. Asst........... Gayle Fournier year / $25 two years (local) Ontario Community Newspaper Assn. and the Canadian Community Newspaper Assn. What- Another Tax? I heard on the radio the other day about the latest rage in Beverly Hills. It seems the rich and famous are keeping strange mementos of childbirth. A plaster cast is made of i) pregnant mother's stomach so the parents can cherish her once pregnant shape forever. These do-it-yourself casts are selling like hotcakes. It must be nice to waste your money so frivolously on something that will sit in the attic for the next 20 years. Canadians are going to need their money now that we are going to be hit by the Goods and Services Tax in January 1991. That's right- another 7% on top of the 8% Ontarians already pay. On January 1, 1991, when you make a purchase, the manufacturer's tax of 13.5% or higher will be removed and be replaced by the new 7%. federal tax. Tax exemptions will include: groceries, prescriptions, banking, daycare, medical, dental and financial services. All other goods and services in Canada will include the 7% GST. This includes restaurants, take-out food, accounting, lawyers, haircuts, and even funerals. Pretty good eh- you even get taxed when you die. . The example the GST Hotline gave me of an item that would be cheaper after the tax was a crash helmet. The 25% manufacturer's tax would be lifted to be replaced by only 7%. But crash helmets, to me, don't seem to be a necessity. Food, on the other hand, is quite important. I find to go out and buy a burger and fries at a restaurant cheaper than it is at a grocery store because I'm only buying for one person. After the GST comes into effect I'll have to start brown bagging it. A total of 15% tax, a 15% tip, plus the price of a meal is too much for the average person to afford. -- Everyone is entitled to their own opinion of the Goods and Services Tax. For information call the GST Hotline 1- 800-267-6620 and $21 per year (out of Production Asst....Carmen Dinner town). WS ASS SS s ~ THE BLACK AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL oS, ? \ st NY * Css LETTERS TO THE EDITOR The News welcomes your letter to the editor. Use this space as your forum to comment on any issue of common interest. Please address letters to: The Terrace Bay/Schreiber News P.O. Box 579 Terrace Bay, Ontario POT 2WO Please sign your letter and include your phone number Angie Saunders Will Ontario become the 51st American state? There were two stories that caught my eye in the news- paper last week. . They were both about the future of this country and they both bum- med me out. ' The first story was head- lined: Canada part of U.S. by 2000 says hot-selling American book The prediction comes from a book called American Renaissance: Our Life At The Turn of The 21st Century. It says that thanks to the formation of international trading blocs, Canada is destined to become a slice of the American pie before the turn of the century. How will it work? Well, the author, Marvin Cetron, predicts that the province of Ontario will be born again as the 51st American state. Newfoundland and_ the Maritimes will be blanket stitched together to form the 52nd, and British Columbia,: Alberta, Manitoba, the Yukon and Northwest Territories will be mashed 'up into 'two~ geographical snowballs to make up the 53rd and 54th states. Some snowballs. Author Cetron, by the way, is no hashish-sucking Big Sur star-gazing mystic. He's a three-piece, bottom-line Yankee businessman. He's also president of Forecasting International, an American think tank that counts the white House and the Pentagon among its clientele. But I mentioned two depressing news stories didn't I? Yes, well the other one bears a Quebec City dateline and runs under this headline: Why Not Two Countries? Quebec, Canada Growing Apart (Quebec and Canada growing apart??? Obviously for the headline writer, separation is already a fait accompli.) The source of this second newspaper story is Jacques Parizeau, leader of the Parti Quebecois, who was speaking in the Quebec legislature "téecently:' The 'gist of his' argument: that Quebec and the rest of Canada have so little in common anymore that it only makes sense to file for divorce. "Culturally, politically and economically," said Parizeau, "we are looking at two er Arthu Black societies that are grown apart. The obvious question, in conclusion, is: "Why not two countries?' I daresay there are a lot of non-Quebecois Canadians 'who "would' agree with Parizeau. They're fed up with Quebec. Sick of her whining and bitching. More than happy to help her pack, and put her on the front porch with bus fare and a heartfelt 'bon voyage!". But think about it for a moment: ; Sure, she's a pain in the butt sometimes...but what if she goes? What if Quebec does separate? How are we going to tell Canada from the U.S. then? By hockey superiority? Our best player lives in Los Angeles. Sixteen of the 21 teams in the 'National' Hockey League represent cities outside English Canada. So how else will we be able to tell Canadians from Americans? By our fondness for earmuffs? By our propensity for saying 'oot' and 'aboot' instead of 'a-owt' and 'a-baowt'? Not a very solid foundation for a national identity. There are two major political realities facing Canada right now. One is the Meech Lake Accord, the other is the Free Trade Agreement. The Meech Lake Accord will transfer power from Ottawa to the provinces--transforming Canada from a single, sturdy apple tree to ten little apples lying on the ground. Ripe for the plucking. Parizeau believes our country is doomed because of irreconcilable differences. Marvin Cetron thinks it's doomed because of Ottawa's back-door carnal liason with the Big Guy From Down South. "Our (the U.S. and Canadian) economies, peoples and cultures have become indistinguishable" says Cetron. "Once the free trade agreement takes full effect, the next logical step will be to accept politically what has already happened econom- ically--the integration of Canada into the U.S." Hmmmm._ The Tories didn't give us a chance to vote on Free Trade. Do you think we'll get to cast a ballot on statehood?