w~rrm~gis MRI.Ommmlbl GIGCTIOn Tax cuts, jobs, national unity. -- and cable tv Candidates trade quips at Chamber election forum By MIKE KOWALSKI Free Press Staff Writer Federal election hopefuls in Whitby- Ajax riding squared off again Thursday, but no knockout punches were delivered. Although all five candidates received and for the most part, landed several blows of their own, based on their collec- tive performance, one would have had a tough time predicting who will emerge victorious on June 2. About 200 people attended the tradi- tional Whitby Chamber of Commerce fo- rum in the Town council chambers and heard the candidates cover a variety of topics ranging from job creation, taxes, national unity, and, while not in the same category as the aforementioned issues, a Brooklin resident's complaint about not receiving cable television service in north Whitby. As expected Liberal candidate Judi Longfield was forced to defend her party's record since 1993. Longfield, a Whitby councillor for the past six years, admitted the government had made some mistakes - specifically, its unfilled promise to scrap the Goods and Services Tax - but she warned the audience to beware of anyone promising to reduce taxes, a main plank in the platforms of her Reform and Progressive Conservative opponents' parties. "We will not cut taxes if it means the quality of life for Canadians will suffer," she stressed. "We will pursue an across the board tax reduction, only when we can afford it." Instead, a Liberal government will rely on low interest rates to spur investment in the private sector and when Canada's $9- billion deficit is eliminated, the money will be used to retire the country's $600- billion debt and ensure that social pro- grams are adequately funded, Longfield added. Reform Party challenger Bill Serjeant- son countered that his party's plan to slash taxes by $2,000 for an average fam- ily of four by the year 2000 for example, is essential to creating jobs. "Governments don't create jobs, gov- ernments destroy jobs, business creates jobs," said Serjeantson, a professional engineer. But while acknowledging that it "takes time" for the impact of tax cuts to be felt in the economy, the Ajax resident argued that tax-cutting provincial governments have been hindered by the Liberals record of $25 billion in various tax increases over four years. Serjeantson said Reform's plan to re- store $4 billion in health care and educa- tion funding to the provinces can be achieved through a $15-billion savings in other areas such as privatizing Crown cor- porations and reducing spending. Although some public sector jobs will disappear, private sector job creation will increase "twofold," he insisted. Progressive Conservative candidate Frank Snyder also called for a 10-percent income tax cut to boost consumer spend- ing and create jobs. A construction company owner, Snyder said the government cannot take credit for slashing the $42-billion deficit left by his party in 1993. "It has a lot to do with the provinces tak- ing cuts in transfer payments, there's not been one major initiative by the Liberals to bring this about," he said. A Tory government would increase transfer payments to the provinces by $1.4 billion to protect health care and edu- cation, Snyder said. Although he would join the other four candidates in opting out of the lucrative pension scheme enjoyed by Members of Parliament, Snyder offered no response when asked if his party's proposal to re- place it with an RRSP program would be retroactive to include Tory leader Jean Charest, an MP since 1984. New Democratic Party candidate Karen Dolan emphatically rejected tax cuts as a means to create jobs and instead called for more government spending in selected ar- eas and tax increases to ensure that profit- able corporations and wealthy individuals pay their "fair share." Conceding that the NDP will not form the next government, Dolan, a General Motors assembly line worker, said more New Democrats are needed in Ottawa to "speak out" on behalf of ordinary Canadi- ans and hold the winning party accountable. Canadian Action Party candidate Rob- ert Radford spent much of the evening ex- plaining that the fledging party formed by former Liberal and Conservative MP Paul Hellyer had not yet developed policy on most issues. However, Radford, a self-employed management consultant, stressed that CAP MPs will "take their orders" from the people they represent by holding regu- lar 'town hall' meetings with their con- stituents to arrive at a consensus on major issues. Radford promised to follow "your wishes" regardless of his own and his par- ty's views. The candidates have a return engage- ment next Wednesday afternoon at An- derson Collegiate. Manning woos first time voters By MIKE KOWALSKI Free Press Staff Writer Reform Party Leader Preston Manning 'rode' into Whitby on Thursday and left town assured of winning the support of many first-time voters. Although not everyone who heard his speech at Anderson Collegiate was impressed by the Alberta native's proposals should his party win the June 2 election (see separate story), judging by the re- ception afforded Manning by the nearly 500 area high school students, he could do little wrong. Devoting almost all of his roughly 45-minute visit to fielding questions from the appreciative audience, cern to not only students, but most Canadians. "When the campaign starts, people focus on a large number of issues, but when you get to the end, the focus is on two or three important ones," said Manning. "Right now, it's the econ- omy and what to do about jobs and what can be done to make the economy work better," he said, while stressing Reform's pledge to reduce taxes to accom- plish this goal. Although noting that "crime, the social safety net, health care," are im- portant, Manning said his party's insistence that all 10 provinces must be treated equally and no spe- Manning touched on a cial status for any, may number of topics of con- have emerged as the 'sleeper' issue of the campaign. Slamming the other par- ties support of "distinct status" for Quebec as "playing'with words that won't make a hoot of dif- ference to the people in Quebec," Manning said a Reform government would give more control to the provinces in such areas as culture, language and natural resources. While hoping "it never happens," Manning added that "if Quebec democrati- cally chose to secede in a fair process, the federal government would have to honour it." 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