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Another idea worth exploring would be replacing the entire Employment Insurance scheme with a totally different way of supâ€" porting the unemployed â€" call it a Layoif Tax for lack of a better term. Corporations have long complained that El premiums (which they call payroll taxes) represent a disincentive to job creation. Let them put their money where their mouth is and get behind a program that punishes companies that shed jobs instead of those that create them. Instead of giving money back to employers and employees in the form of a premium reduction, the federal government should be reimâ€" bursing those who suffered the most while the government accumuâ€" and reinstating a benefit rate of sixty per cent of previous gross earnâ€" ings would be a good start. It‘s hard to look for work effectively on an empty stomach. What is most galling, however, about the CPP increase is that it ignores the greatest inequity in the premium strucâ€" ture. Unlike other premiums or taxes, > CPP premiums are payable only on the x first $34,000 in income. This means that an individual making a million dolâ€" lars a year pays the same amount of CPP premiums as a person making only $34,000 annually. It doesn‘t seem fair, and it‘s not. Indeed, removing the artificial ceiling on premiums would have brought more money into the program than will the Liberals increase in premiums. If the government had the political will to instiâ€" tute a progressive rate structure for the CPP. the premium increase would be totally unnecessary. On the other side of the equation, the Employment Insurance fund has been running a five to six billion dollar surplus, allowing the govâ€" ernment the freedom to reduce premiums for the third time in the past four years. This surplus (which has been a major contributor to Paul Martin‘s success in reducing the deficit) results not from any success in reducing unemployment, but from a series of reductions in benefits and restrictions on who could qualify for benefits. Whereas over eightyâ€"five per cent of unemployed people could qualify for benefits at the beginning of the 90s, now fewer than half can. # A > ) Scott Piatkowski In January, you‘ll notice two changes on your paystub. Employment Insurance (formerly Unemployment Insurance) premiums will take a much smaller bite out of your paycheque. At the same time, Canada of these changes is negligible, both of them merit serious examination. First of all, its far from coincidental that these offsetting premium changes are occurring simultancously. The Liberals are sensitive to charges from the Reform Party and others that the CPP changes amount to "a tax grab" and need a way to minimize their impact. Reducing the El rate was a convenient way to stop Canadians from noticing â€" or at least stop them from complaining. The coming shortfall in the Pension Plan stems from artificially low premiums in the first thirty years of the program. Instead of conâ€" tributing to a true pension fund, workers have been largely paying for the pensions of currently retired people. Moreover, whatever surplus was carried in from year to year was not invested with a mind to buildâ€" ing equity, but was loaned to the provinces at ridiculously low rates of interest. Successive federal refused to increase premiums gradually as the Am need became apparent, preferring. to defer the task to future governments. ; vm Now that an increase is being impleâ€" mented, the jump is far bigger than it Waterloo Town Square 75 King St. South, Suite 201 Avomner VIEW N2J 1P2 Tim Gardner Deborah Crandall Pentrnimndcayreapere mommnttue Carolyn Anstey Circulation/office Denise Tucker Lynn Mitchell Major Accounts Bill Karges Well as I see it, the least culpable is the mainly voluntary District Health Council and next to that, the service providers who were told that they had to cut back 18 per cent when already grossly underfunded by one third of the provincial average. This town has two universities and a college â€" that attracts in the range of 30,000 students who by not having a permanent residence in this area, do no bring an envelope of funding with them. In addition, 4,000 people a year are now moving to the area. With no doctors taking on new patients, they end up with no preventative medicine and tie up emerge with routine medical conditions, which we all should know, cost much more money than a doctor‘s visit. With reduction in beds available in hospitals, new doctors have avoided starting their practices here, as they risk not being able to provide a bed for their patients when needed. This is already documented as It is amazing how suddenly health care needs can gain so much attention now in the local papers. When running on this platform recently, 1 was denied even an interview on the main topic of my platform. Here is a chance for the papers to parâ€" tially redeem themselves, by actually aiding in communicating what this community can do for themselves. As the Hon. Liz Witmer MPP pointed out, she has not been doing her job over the past years in lobbying for adequate health â€" emnammem care funding. Neither have we had the benefit of | Gt Andrew Telegdi‘s MP‘s skill, as 1 have not seen ; federal money invested here to help our health | mw services. Of course the regional and city counâ€" | cils would like you to believe that it is the | District Health Council who have the responsiâ€" | bility of ensuring health services for the area While the public would like to either love or hate any individual hospital or health care provider, depending on who you talk to or preâ€" fer to blame. If this were the Kingston area, 1 don‘t think that there would be an incumbent in town. 1 was raised to hold elected officials accountable â€" that is part of the electorates responsibility, just as much as supporting the representatives efforts Speak out about health care ANK rvitinententintatnmnmmmmmmmms. omm Circulation: Jerry Fischer Evan Mitchell Matthew Hayes Production: Millie Martin benefit of not seen ur health ity counâ€" The Waterloo Chronicle is published by The Falrway Group, Emt a division of Southam Inc. . l 75 King St. S., Suite 201, Waterloo ON. N2J IP2 886â€"2830 Waterloo Chronicle is published every Wednesday by GUEST COLUMNIST L @. * The Fairway Group A division ‘of Southam Inc International Standard Serial Mumber " and send it to the Legislative Building, Queen‘s Pak Toronto, M7A 1A1, but you will have to use a stamp but on envelope should do for the same party. a So who should be accountable? Every elected official has a large portion of blame as well as the community that has prdâ€" ed itself as being independent and not requiring help. This "can do" attitude has resulted in no one effectively demanding having happened routinely to the established doctors of this community. Hence we do not attract doctors, even the family physician kind. e buck. Write a letter with your experiences or complaints and make copies of it (six cent phoâ€" The pen is mightier than the sword, let us use it and if it is ignored, let us not forget those that stood by and did nothing hbut pass the improvement in our services. Sure we sit back and watch some groups push for funding of their projects and we agree with some of them and turn our noses from the rest of them, but the truth is, we have done too little: However1 believe that many would do more if they only knew how or believed that things could Subscription rates $45 yearly in Canada $90 yearly outside Canada +GSTL (Continued on page 7) not by P ship work Regi al c 30