Waterloo Public Library Digital Collections

Waterloo Chronicle (Waterloo, On1868), 6 Dec 1978, p. 8

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Page B â€" Watrerloo Chronicie, Wednesday, December 6, 1978 A few random thoughts: In case you may not have noticed, since the election the Tories have stopped complaining that the Liberals are stealâ€" ing their economic policy. It was and is true that ever since Pierre Trudeau stole the wage and ‘price controls policy from the Conservatives he has been adopting even more elements of the economic policy of the Conservatives. The Liberals even swiped one of the Tory enforcers, Jack Horner, and sat him right in cabinet. This soâ€"called policy of restraint which is actually a policy of cutâ€"back on badly needed growth stimulents. of shifting responsibilities to other levels of governments, of reneging on the job creating promises in areas of transportation inâ€" vestments and public works projects and promised meaâ€" sures to regain a bit of control over our economy â€" all the things we pay for with our taxes â€" has hurt the country. Mike Makarchuk Two things you no doubt have noticed is that since the Liberals have adopted Tory economic policy both the econâ€" omy and the Liberals have hit the skids. Liberal candidate Waterioo riding As in our own households. so in our nation, debts and deficits are to be discouraged, but they can help to tide us over, and when we have collateral there is little to be worried about. Our resources are our collaâ€" teral. â€" The fifth key to economic strength has to do with inâ€" ternational trade. Canada is dependent on it. That is why we must join â€" in the longerâ€"term greater Canadian ownership and more Canadian manufacturing to keep the diviâ€" dends and jobs here: _ Also, because of our resource base, we can afford to make those tax cuts which would now bring the necesâ€" sary stimulus to the economy. A fourth key (this article is a continuation from last time) to economic strength is to bank more heavily on our vast resources. Our mineral, water. energy, forest, and agricultural resources are not infinite, but they are staggering, far out of proportion to the needs of our population, inâ€" cluding the present and the foreseeable future. We must use them wisely. In the present situation our resources allow us to be optimistic, and they encourage the following actions : â€" in the shortâ€"term, meaning this winter and next. more exports of oil and gas to help our trade balance, by offsetting oil imports to the east coast. By now dear readers I hope that you will all know what happened. Two of Mike Makarchuk‘s columns were printed. One, under his byâ€"line, was written by Joe Surich. The other. which i assume Mike authored himself, was printed under my name. Where was my column? Alas it has been lost to posterity. I had writâ€" From time to time friends who suspect me of being semiâ€"literate inquire who ghost writes this column for me. With complete candor I have been able to reply that it‘s all mine, the good and the bad. That is until November 15th when this column last appeared. Much to my horror, and I‘m sure to the chagrin of Mike Makarchuk, a mistake was made and Mike‘s column appeared under my picture and name. I am sure Mike was no happier about it than I, although after the iniâ€" tial shock I thought it was a good joke Terry James had played. In fact, Terry was more upset about the error than was L. I always wondered whether anybody read this stuff. I now know that there are at least nine regular readers of this column. That‘s the number of teleâ€" phone calls I had asking me if I had flipped my lid Here was the P.C. candidate trotting out a lot of N.D.P. propaganda : congratulating the N.D.P. for its reâ€"election in Saskatchewan. Horrors! Political Podium In the recent byâ€"elections. the voters took it out on the Liberals. The experts tell us that people tend to vote against things in byâ€"elections and vote for policies in general elecâ€" tions. In the general election Canadians will be searching for a positive alternative to the Liberal Conservative econoâ€" mic and social policies. This alternative is advanced by the New Democratic Party. In my conversations with people. each person seems to have an analysis of the cause of our problems. These anaâ€" lyses vary from the ~postal workers are getting too much money, the unions are too powerful, big business is too big. too many people are on welfare. people are lazy and don‘t want to work. people are living too high etc. Recently I talked with a person who had visited Holland after leaving it some 12 or 13 years ago. From the general gist of his description,. it would seem that even Holland seems to be doing better than we are. All systems seem to be ~go . At the present time our devalued dollar is making eur goods and services competitive but we must reâ€" cognize that our productivity must increase and our prices must be brought in line. Why aren‘t our systems on ~go °" We as a western the world community in negotiating reductions in tariffs and other trade restrictions. Protectionist measures may help us in the short run. but they will hurt us badly in the long run. Our trading alliances must be preserved and shaped in multiâ€"directional ways, beginning with North Ameâ€" rica and the European Common Market. but including also the Middle East. the Eastern giants, and Third World countries. A sixth key relates to domestic productivity. Our construction and manufacturing industries are not working at full capacity. They need a stimulus through appropriate personal and corporate tax conâ€" cessions. Our productivity is also suffering too much from work stoppages and strikes. The answer is not to take away the rights of workers but rather for our entire society to find a more creative way of resolving difâ€" ferences on wages, and finalizing work contracts. We need to give special attention to the industrial opportunities arising from new technological developâ€" ments, especially in the fields of energy and comâ€" munications. These are areas in which we have, and ten about Remembrance Day. Frankly, it wasn‘t such a great column anyway. If L ever find it L‘ll file it somewhere and maybe dust it off next year or the year after. It did have some timeless qualities I thought. Having begun this column in a light manner, why change the pace now? Perrin Beatty, M.P.,has done an analysis of the percentage change in vote for the three major parties in the byâ€"elections of October 16th and has applied those percentages to various ridings in this area. The figuresâ€"are obviously not a reliable indicator of what will happen next spring but they do give some indication of what would have happened here if we had had a byâ€"election. In the seven Ontario ridings where byâ€"elections were held the Conservatives increased their precenâ€" tage of the vote to 54.9% from the 1974 general elecâ€" tion result where those same ridings saw the Conserâ€" vatives take 36.9% of the vote. The change was an 18% increase. The Liberals dropped 21.5% and the N.D.P s increased 2. 3% _ & Applying those percentages to the new riding of Waâ€" terloo would give the P.C.‘s 51.5% of the vote, the Liberals 18.1%, and the NDP.‘s 30.2%. Using the Frank Epp NDP candidate for Waterioo riding country are unique in the world. We are the only country in the world. barring a few banana republies, that does not own itself. Most ofour wealth, that is our natural resources. is owned by what are termed multiâ€"national corporations. They control distribution and accordingly export these reâ€" sources overseas thus depriving us of jobs. At the same time the money generated by the exports is also exported and consequently not reinvested in Canada to prove a secondary manufacturing base. We have to change this state of affairs in line with other western countries of the world in order to start trying to do something about our economic problems. I note with some glee the results of the Saskatchewan election and I note also that just previous to that date the Blakeney N.D.P. government had obtained control of one of Saskatchewan‘s major resources, the potash industry. Deâ€" spite the screams of the Conservatives and Liberals of goâ€" vernment meddling. the people of Saskatchewan resoundly returned the N.D.P. government giving them full confidenâ€" ce for the course they took. that is the course of regaining control of their own resources. Our entire social welfare system, including all the allowances and unemployment insurance, needs a drastic overhaul. And I believe there is much money to be saved, while at the same time we do our collective share to eliminate poverty. Our social assistance should be more adequate for the truly needy and less adequate for the obviously lazy. The present time of troubles is a time of testing â€"for all Canadians. Some of our problems are due to outâ€" side forces over which we have little control. Others are our own responsibility. If all of us, toâ€" gether with our governments, do what we know to do. we will undoubtedly overcome our present difficulties and experience a brighter future. Parliament will be asked to approve the application of a negative income tax which is a step in the right direction. The step being taken is small and much more remains to be done. There are regional and interâ€"provincial disparities which must be dealt with in the redistribution of powers and incomes, and the gap between the rich and the poor worldwide is far too great for comfort. can develop, some expertise and leadership. The seventh key lies with reducing disparities. The final test of an economic policy is what it does to the poor and disadvantaged. This column was written by Rich Hobson the P.C. candidate for Waterloo. If it appears on this page under the name of any other candidate kindly disreâ€" gard but remember that to err is human, to forgive is divine. Let me give you an example. In August, 1969, Prime Minister Trudeau went on national television to talk to Canadians about inflation and the country‘s economic problems. He said We would be on the way to financial disaster if nothing were done to bring spending under control. To spend vast sums on welâ€" fare, education, and other programs while allowing inflation to continue would merely place hundreds of thousands of Canadians on a treadmill they could not escape."" During the intervening ten years governâ€" ment spending has increased by 201% and the civil service has increased by 45%. To forgive is inconâ€" ceivable same calculation in Kitchener would give the P.C.‘s 49.8%, the Liberals 23.1%, and the N.D.P. 26.7%. Siâ€" milar dramatic changes would be seen in other area ridings. Those figures may or may not be significant when the election comes late next spring but they warm the cockles of my Tory heart these long wintry November nights.

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