Page 6, Whitby Free Press. Wednesday, May 19, 1993 CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER ASSOCIATION CANADIAN CIRCULATIONS AUDIT BOARD 25,500 COPIES DELIVERED WEEKLYI Published every Wednesday by 677209 Ontario Imc. Box 2065,131 Brock St. N., Whitby, Ontario Li N 5S1 Phone: 668-6111. Toronto Line: 427-1834 Fax: 668-0594 Doug Anderson - Publisher Maurice Pither - Editor Alexandra Martin - Production Manager Printed on newsprint with minimum 20%0/ l recycled content using vegetable based inks. Nurture local economny To the odltor: The rezoning application by Invar ta permit the developmant of a Price Club and Aikanhaad's warehouse store in Whitby has pasdand is considarad topical byyour papar. I do foal, though, that soe questions neod ta ba addressed. ls the project sensible? Council feels that sinca people beave the ragion ta shop at these kinds of stores, we must jump at the chancelao hava them in Whiby, or thay wiii devalop in Oshawa instead. That's a rationalizatian. lnvar's application was reasanabla and dasorved approval. The councillars are nat futurists, business anaiysts or economlsts, 'and should stick ta their knitting. Are davelopmnents like this an inevitable? Council féeas they are and thay wiIl nat stand In the way O! progress or increasad campatitian. I is ridiculaus ta suggest the market survey compliid by the praponents o! this deveIopmant is anything but self -serving. This particular retail concept, which arginated in the U.S. peaked in the mid-ighties, se the retailing oxparts conceda. Nowadays, nicha stores continue ta outperform the giant warehouse stores. If you have visited The Cap or shopped by mail arder, thon you hava sean the future. Big is nat necessariîy better. Council, so they say, has a duty ta approve devolopmants that will croate jobs and genorata taxas. lntaresting. I suppose the same reasoning could ba usad ta point out that the counicil has a faw clients in town that they have a duty ta raprasent as weil. But nat ana counicillar spoka up far the axisting businessas in tawn. 1, persenaily, favour the projeot. But flot for the MCJôbs R will croate or tax revenue it ganeratas. Thosa are short-tarm goals. Over the long term, we wiil learn whather Price Club and Aikenhead's investmant wili pay. We do, however, need ta b. sean as an attractive community for business investmant. This goal can ba achiavad by nurturing the local econamy, in addition ta encouraging naw investmont. The rhetaric in the counicil debate was axcruciating. The councillors' performance, . which included' bombast and angor, creatad tension instoad af ampathy. The local business community deservad botter. Just who spoaks for small business in Whitby anyway? Joseph Butson Whtby $675,000 for camp To the Editor: Thanks ta the Whtby Free Press, Camp Day Canada 1993 enjoyad aven greater success than 1striaSI yer'swment raisod $675,000foth Tim Hortan Children's-Foundatian and, as a rasut, we look forward ta hosting an aven greatar number o! deserving children at each o! aur 10-day camp sessions this sumnmer. The enthusiasm and commnunity spirit dispiayed by the media who helped ta promote the day's activities is greatly appraciated. Our sincere thanks for once again making Camp Day Canada a very special day. Donald B. Schroeder President The Whitby Free Press welcomes lettms ta tde editor on any subject of canoem tb aur readers. Lettais should be brief and ta the point - rarely more dma 300 words. AUl letters must be acoempanied by the narne. address and telephone nuniber of the wter. However. on request, your naine may be withheld tramn publication if we agrea there is a vald reason. The newspaper reservas the right ta relect or edlt alileltters. Serid to: The Ecltar, Whitby Free Press. Box 206. Whitby, Ont. LN 5S1, or drop through aur mail siat at 131 Brock St. N. t' ~ ViUeLEVYM ium End the endless By Troy Langan Canadlan Taxpayers Federatian As I watched the recent faderaI budget addross unfold, I cauldn't holp but think where I had heard this ail boforo. R seems evory year the Ministor of Finance risas in the House a! Commons to announce that in f ive ears thora wifl be no more federal brrowing requiremenits and the books wiII be balanced. We are treated ta graphs, pie charts and pointer sticks in the hope this wîll ail put us at aaso. J ust f ive more yaars. This yaar, aur faderaI deficit came- in at $35.5 billion. l's remained reiativaîy steady aboya the $30-bilîion mark since the Conservativas took office in 1984. It ail gets piîed an top of a $450-biîiion faderaI dabt that grows at a rate of $63,000 a minuta. One minute's growth in faderai debt is mare than most families wilI aarn in annual incoma. Canada's total dobt ta grass domestic product ratio of 91 par cent is the third worst of al industriaiized nations. 'Compare this ta 23 par cent In Germany or 6 par cent in Japan. What's more aiarming is the cost ta service the dabt. $40 billion in debt servicing cost is equivaient ta 66 par cent o!faderai incoma taxes. Think about this, 66 cents o! every dollar you send ta Ottawa in faderai income taxes goos just ta pay interest on the f ederai debt. I can oniy shako my head when some suggest that the solution is ta incroaso taxes. Some politicians and intarest groups now caîl it 'fair taxation.! Tax revenues available ta the Conservative government sinca they took office in 1984 have grown by just shy of 100 par cent. To aven suggest that the problam is ana of toa lâite revenue is irresponsible., 1 don't kna«f anyone upset with the government bacauso they'ra not taxad anough. But I know lots a! people wha believe govern- monts spend too much and that debt will cripple aur childrans' future. Aftar ail, if high taxas and big debt wera the solution, I think we'd ail be aýnjoying the prosperity by now. ht seemed Don Mazankowski missed a clear opportunity because thora exists such clear consensus on what needs ta bo dono. Citizens were prepared ta bite the bullet, ta begin in a serious vay ta gat aur fiscal problains behind us. This past February, the C.D. Howo Instituto brought togother a number af prominent economnists f rom a varioty of sectors ta discuss the serlous- nature of Canada's debt crisis. The f indings, pubîishod In the lnstitut's Fobruary issue of 'Commontary,' concludod by say ing, "the damiage ta Canadians' lvng standards of -f iscal rtrenchment forced by an abrupt end ta investars' wilingness ta buy Canadian debt vwauld be far groater than that of a timely, controlia budget- balancing pracass. "ft has nover been mhore urgent for Canadian govornment ta act vigorously in addressing this soriaus -- and seriously noglectod -- problemn.w Sa wo can choose ta take leadership now on these issues or wo can wait until those peaple-in Zurich, Hong Kong, Takyo and New York docide that lending us money is i ust too big a risk. Edward Neufeld of the Royal Bank said racently, "thora are ail kinds of examples where, in one wook, countries went from being able ta float issues ta not being able todo so.0 When this happons, we as Canadians wilI face an unprocedented program of austerity. t's normally very difficuit for politicians ta make bg cuts before an election. Btthora Is an unquestionable understanding and ovorwholming base o! support ta, make the kind of cuts nocessary ta, got our country back on track. This includes univorsality and so many entitiement prtýgrams oxisting on barrowod prospéfity. So let's ond the endloss five-year plans. and gat on to tackling aur probloms with somo real respansibility. Opinions expressed are those of the author. To the adîtor: Re: May 12/93 article 'Charges laid against f Iower vendors.' Once again 1 hava been astounded by the manner in which the Town o! Whitby attacks its local sinail business peoaple. I would lika ta know why the Town would break the provisions a! their own bylaw and lay charges an a man thay know ta be a legitimate business owner and upstanding citizen in aur community. Bill Brant, owner o! Burtinsky and Brant Florists, was charged on Mother's Day for seiîing his flowers on privata land Iocated on Dundas St. Mr. Brant was charged under section 1 o! bylaw 185-75. This bylaw relates ta hawkars and paddiers and autiines the licencing req urements. hl is clear undar section 2(d) that Mr. Brant and any other persan already paying business tax in the municipality was exempt froin thase icencing raquirements. Your article quotas Town administrator Bill Wallace as saying *The main issue is they pay no business tax. they have ne overhead and wa don't know what they pay their workers. The issues o! taxes and overh'ead may apply ta seaof thoso chargad but they clearly do not appiy ta Mr. Brant andi ho should know that. 1 believe that il is nana of Mr. Wallace's business what any business pays its ampioyees as il is outside o! the municipal government's jurisdiction and they have no right ta even ask for this information. f the Town has made an error b charging Mr. Brant then they oIuid admit thair mistaka and ublicly apologize ta him for the Sarassmant and embarrassmont they have subjactad him ta. If the Town doas flot admit thair error then 1 hope thay ara propared to charge ail other marchants whan thoy hava sidewaik salas, etc. f not, thon it may b. perceivad that they are discriminating against Mr. Brant for saine reasen. ht would net surprise me at ail if the Town wera ta change th. bylaw and delete the exemption provisions. This would b. in keeping with their constant disregard for the di!! iculties f acing small business ownors in our community.PaPecn Whltby The ont>' Newspaper owned and operated by Whtby residents for Whîtby residents! MEMBER 0F: ONTARIO ÇOMMUNITY NEWSPAPER ASSOCIATION ONA DIVISION Attack on business CCNA