Ad Terrace Review — Wednesday, April 4, 1990

Reform Party flaunts easy answers -

by Tod Strachan

The Reform Party meeting in the
Caledonia Lecture Theatre last
week wasn’! large but it was en-
thusiastic. About 30 people over-
whelmed speakers with their eager-
ness. Could this be a sign of the
times? By the time. the meeting
was Over, an area Reform Party
executive. had been elected that
will soon be a part of a new con-
Stituency executive, For the
Reform Party, this is ground
gained.

What had these people fired up
were the words that they came
expecting to hear. Words expound-
ing simple, commonsense solutions

to today’s complex problems. Not

that the Reform Party solutions are
necessarily new solutions. But for
some people they are much more
attractive now than they were a
few years ago.

The Terrace Review talked to
Kelowna resident Werner Schmidt,
chairman of the area council for
the Reform Party prior to the
mecting and he described his

* party’s position on a number of

current issues. —

Probably foremost in ~ most
people’s minds today is the Goods
and Services Tax. According to
‘Schmidt, the federal government
has not shown competance in
handling the money they already
have and they shouldn’t be allowed
to increase or implement new taxes
until they do,

-Even bringing the GST in is
irresponsible of the federal govern-
ment, he says. The. cost of imp-
ementing this tax, according to
Schmidt, will be somewhere
between $750 million and $1 bill-
ion. And that’s not going to reduce
the deficit, he says, it will be
added on instead.

And increased government spen-

ding will be a fact of life after the
GST is implemented. Schmidt says
he doesn’t know yet how many
government offices will be opened
in B.C. to administer the new tax

- but he says there will be at least

one in Kelowna; probably to serve
the southeastern corner of the
province. That office will employ
45 people, says Schmidt,-and at an
average annual ‘salary of $35,000
for each employ that one ‘office
alone will cost the taxpayer about
$1.6 million annually -- plus bene-
fits and office and equipment
costs. He predicts the total annual
cost of that single office will mun
around $2 million.

Added to this cost will be the
administration costs of maintaining
the tax by businesses. Pricing
structures will be complex, supply

contracts ‘will have to be re-negoti- . ~

ated, new accounting-systems will

have to be implemented. Mistakes —

will be made and ‘training will be
required, says. Schmidt, ani the
retail purchaser will pay the shot --
on top of the tax.

When asked to explain - the
government’ s claim that a Goods
and Services Tax was implemented
in New Zealand a few years ago
and is working well, Schimdt
explains an essential difference
between our GST and their’s. The
New Zealand tax was a blanket tax
~ there were no exemptions -- it
didn’t matter if a piece of bologna
was wrapped in cellophane or
between two pieces of bread,
Something else to note, says
Schmidt, is that the New Zealand
tax started out as a single digit tax
but went to two digits about a year
later.

' Our system of government today
has unfairness built into it, accord-
ing to Schimdt. One example of
this, he says, is the federal
goverment’s national solution to
inflation in southern Ontario. In

You can’t keep a
good band down

by Stephanie Wiebe

The Skeena Junior Secondary
School band was really looking
forward to their exchange trip with
a-school band in Edmonion this
May. Many of the 55 band
members would have had the
chance to tour Alberta’s provincial
buildings and sight-see . between
concert performances.

The plans were all set when
Edmonton suddenly backed out of
the program for unexplained
reasons. Undaunted, Skeena’s
band,
Theresa Lescaudron, decided to go
ahead with their planned tour --
until Edmonton also withdrew
billeting arrangements. Though
travelling expenses have been met,
without billeting the students have
no place to sleep.

But you can’t keep a good
musician down. Skeena band
students are still planning to go
ahead with the trp, with the help
o£’ local citizens: and businesses,
One of their fundraising activities

under the direction of ©

is the "Rent-a-Student" project.
This coming weekend, April 7th
and 8th, that Skeena band student
energy is available for a rental fee
-- for odd jobs, lawn and garden
work, window washing, etcetera.
There is no set fee, 80 payment
will be left up to the employer.
To rent a student, an answering
machine has been set up at
638-0778, and interested persons
can leave a message with their
name, phone number and a4
description of the job that they
tequire a student to perform.

The students are also planning a
car wash later in the

month.

Businesses wishing to donate
funds for the trip will get adver-
lising space on the cover of the
band’s spring program. Interested
businesses should phone the “Rent-
a-Student" hotline (638-0778) or
contact Mrs, Lescaudron at Skeena
Junior Secondary School (635-
9136) during school hours.

Ontario, high interest rates are
helping to slow the: ‘economy: and .

for them that might be good. For . .
those of us in the Northwest,’
though, it’s bad. High interest rates -

are hurting our ecomony where
inflation doesn’t exist. —
_But while the government was

hurting us with their anti-inflation -

solution, they were fueling further
inflation in Ontario and Quebec to

‘buy votes. One example of. this,

says Schmidt, is the $100 billion
the federal government took from

western Canada and invested .in-

Ontario and Quebec through. the

National Energy Program. Another
is the $1 billion office building»

they built for CBC in downtown
Toronto last year. This was about
the same time CBC was. cutting
staff at CFPR in Prince Rupert.

is reason enough not to allow the

federal government any new tax, |.
Schmidt says, but adds there’s j

more. Government spending is out
of control and to a large part this
is through wages to federal
bureaucrats. Bureaucrats under the
reform party would face a dismal
fate.

Those that remained after the
civil service was trimmed to a
sensible level would be retrained,
according to Schmidt. They would
have to learn how to think as
accountable entrepreneurs... as
businenessmen. They would be
trained as "fudiciary trustees", says
Schmidt, (perhaps that title alone
would appease them) and their
incomes would be reduced to a
businessman’s wage.

When asked how this would be

achieved without mutiny in the.

ranks, Schmidt was quite frank.
The politicians would do the same
thing. The days of $750,000 Com-
monwealth Conference trips would
be over. The days of glamorous
trips to the exotic Caribbean to
give away millions of tax dollars
would be over. The politicians

would lead by example. The psy- .

chology is quite simple: if the
chairman of the board drives a
Chev, his executive secretary can’t

This sort of fiscal irresponsibility’ ] --

drive a Cadillac. It wouldn't look
right. -

And the deficit? According. to
‘Schimdt,. the federal debtstood at

$187 billion in .1984, today it

stands at $375 billion, and by the

end of the 1990-91 fiscal year it”

‘will be $400 million. .
Schmidt has a way of explaining

the deficit that hits home. He uses

this example. Let’s say you want

to buy a-$25,000 car and you're

able to borrow the ‘money at the

same tate-as the federal’ governm-

ent, 11.1 percent. The payments

are annual so it will be at least 12
months before you even notice.the
real cost of the car-on your wages —

-and at the end -of -that. year. you

have some options. |

~ Continued on page Aa

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Alley System Tatal Cost

Parallel to Lazelle
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CITY OF TERRACE
NOTICE OF INTENTION TO PROCEED WITH LOCAL

IMPROVEMENT PROGRAMMES

Notice is hereby given pursuant to Section 656 of the Municipal Act that Council of the.
City of Terrace intends to proceed with the construction of certain works hereinafter
described as a Local Improvement under the tnitiatives Plan.

General Description of the Work

Upgrading (as required) and application of a 16 Foot wide strip of asphalt pavement on
the allay system parallel to Lazelle and Park Avenue, between Emerson and Kalum

Taxable Frontage

Commuted Coat

Per Fact

Further notice is hereby given that a copy of this notice has been mailed to the owner(s)

of the parcels of land liable to be specially charged for the cost of sald works, and

unless within one (1) month of the date of the publication of this notice, a majority of the

owners representing at least one half of thé value of the parcels which are liable to be

specially charged, petition the Council of the City of Terrace not to proceed with it, the
work may be undertaken as a Local Improvement.

Petitions shall be lodged with the Clerk-Administrator, and shall be deemed to be
presented to the Council when so lodged, of which every owner of a parcel of land llable
to be specially charged under these Programmes is liable to take notice.and be govern-.

—

Cost Par Foot Over
. 10 Yrs./20 Yre.

$3.60 $2.72 ©

E.R. Hallsor
. Clark-Administrator _
CITY OF TERRACE