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Page A4 — Terrace Standard, Wednesday, March 14, 1990

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“EDITORIAL —_

Budgeitman ia e

B.C., at a cost of $680 million — the _

Nobody likes a government budget,
least of all a member of a party which
isn’t in power. No matter what the docu-
ment says, opposition politicians make
what they can in the way of hay out of its
provisions.

And so this is the case with Jim
Fulton, the New Democratic Member of
Parliament for Skeena. Never one to
leave a catchy phrase unsaid, Mr. Fulton
duly came forth with his opinions of the
recent federal budget.

By and large, it was standard Fulton.
He's easily one of the more quotable of
all politicians in B.C. and knows how to
get the most of an issue. This time he got
a bit carried away.

“Despite promise after promise that
the Polar 8 icebreaker would be built in

Conservatives scrapped it,’’ says Fulton ©
in a March 6 mailing from his office. .

What’s this? A member of the opposi-:
tion defending what is on the surface a
floating white elephant? There may be
things to criticize in this budget, but can-
ning something that cost $680 million
surely can’t be one of them.

There’s something wrong with the idea
of building a ship that would cost $680
million. No vessel is worth that expense.
The concept is insane and ludicrous.

Why, for a mere $500 million and
change, we could buy one of those fancy
American B-2 stealth bombers. Then
again, we’d love to hear Mr. Fulton’s .

reaction if the Tories ever proposed the =

idea.

Pulp, pulp, pulp

VICTORIA — It can’t be said

often enough or loudly
enough: the most important in- From the
If anybody wants to understand next 25 years. In effect, it’s a signing -gredient of a healthy economy Capital
H Is .
; Pulpwood Agreement 17, the proposal over of one of our most precious assets In British Columbia, there by Hubert Beyer

to assign a security of 623,000 cubic

metres of pulp for 25 years, they’d best .

head to forestry school. A, couple of
courses in politics are also in order,

It’s a creature jammed with all of the
‘complexities of wood supply, of where
and how to log and of environmental
controls. It’s also full of how govern-
ments and politicians react to big
business and vice versa.

What's at stake is a guarantee by the
province that a company or companies
will have a source of pulp wood for the

— our forests — in return for industrial

development. .A. .rough.. comparison.
might be the-deal Alcan has with the pro-:
vince for northwest water ‘to power ‘its
Kitimat smelter.

The agreement goes before public
hearings this May. It'll bring out the big
question of just exactly how much wood
there is in our forests, who should get it
and why. As such, the agreement pro-
posal deserves the highest level of
scrutiny.

Condoms and life

For years we parents have

tried everything to motivate our
teenagers. Coached by STEP,
Dr. Hiam Ginoit, and Tough

Throug

h

are about 105,000 small firms
with fewer,than 20 employees.
That’s about 92 per. cent of -all.
companies operating in the
province. ;

Small business creates 96 per
cent of all new jobs, and foots
40 per cent of the private
payroll in British Columbia.
Annual gross revenues
generated by small business are
in excess of $37 billion.

As I said at the outset, the
small business sector is the
most important part of our
economy. Without small
business, there is no growth,
no job-creation, no economic
health. What’s more, because
of its diversity, the small-
business sector keeps the
economy afloat whenever our
resource-based industries ex-
perience a down-cycle,

“Small business people,
once the unsung heroes of any
economy, are emerging as the
best hope for the future,’’ says
John Bulloch, president of the
Canadian Federation of [n-
dependent Business.

dent of the Alberni Chamber
’ of Commerce, says the same

thing.

“The Canadian Chamber of
Commerce has urged govern-
ments for years not to give
help to small business by way
of grants and loan guarantees.
There are better ways, like a
better tax system,’’ Janssen
says.

“Small business needs a bet-
ter climate in which to survive.
Unless that happens, the
failure rate of new small firms
will remain high,”’ Janssen

adds,

A recent government task
force report touches on some
of the problems that plague
small business in British Col-
umbia. The task force was
jointly chaired by Socred
MLAs Ivan Messmer
(Boundary-Similkameen) and
Dan Petersen (Langley).

A lot of small businesses

ed reasons, run a high risk: of °
going under,
But after identifying all the ;
problems, the task force falls’
back on the old solutions
which, according to the Cana-
dian Chamber of Commerce

. and the Canadian Federation

of. Independent Business, simp-
ly don't work.

Introduction of a new loan.
guarantee program for start-up
firms and replacement of the
regional seed capital program
witha selective loan guarantee =
program are two of the recom-
mendations put forth by the
task force to help the small
business sector.

There is a problem with loan ;
guarantee programs. Since they
are delivered by financial in-
stitutions, the result is often. -
that banks and trust companies
will not even consider financ-~
ing a venture unless it has the
blessing of a loan guarantee, -

For a variety of reasons, ~

Love, we've praised, pushed, Bifocals Considering the importance start up with too fittl€ however, not all entrepreneurs
and bitten our tongues. of small business, its demands capital, owe too much want to involve the govern-
Sometimes, in desperation, bY Claudette Sandeckl on government have been money, pay too much ment in their ventures. Some .

we've resorted to Dairy Queen

treats and blatant bribery.
“At dest, the fruits of our

labours have been spotty.
- Now | know why our
endeavours fell short: Our ap-
proach was wrong.
‘ This revelation came to me
while reading news of a recent
school board meeting where
parents argued whether or not
condom machines should be in-
stalled i in their high schools,
‘One mother claimed making
condoms available in. schaols

would give students “a green

light to go ahead with sexual ex-
perimentation because the
school board sanctions it."

‘I don't agree the board sanc-
tions promiscuity when it per-
mits installation of condom
machines. (Does the Liquor

Store sanction drunken driving.

when it sells a fifth of whiskey?)

dispenser arouse level-headed
teenagers to engage in the deca-
dent - goings-on this mother
foresees? If it does, we ought to
analyze. the persuasive powers

of this monster machine so we |
can harness its hidden vibes to

better use. .

Maybe then, if we purchase
ant farms by the truckload and
wedge them into nooks
throughout the school, ‘the ants”

rub off on our educatees induc-
ing them to apply themselves
diligently to their educational
tasks.

And maybe then, if we dare
our sons and daughters to look
closer at dropouts’ everyday
disadvantages and vexations,
the lifelong drawbacks of quit-
ting school prematurely will
convince our kids to stay in
class until they graduate.

Somehow, I doubt we can tap
into the condom. machine's
juices, But if the mother’s
reasoning was sound, - then
wastebaskets in classrooms
would produce student bodies
chockablock with fastidious
Felix Ungers.

Wall clocks would rule out

latecomers, and lockers would

Gyms, sports equipment, and —

cinder tracks would turn: our
pupils on to healthy outdoor ex-
ercise, while weaning them from
TV and videos;

_ Libraries stocked with
literature, magazines, and
references would give us scads
of, bookworms, dozens of

students conversant in current.

affairs, and more than-a smat-

tering’ of university. calibre

proverbial ‘industriousness: will: g ad

a

This hasn’t happened,

Perhaps we should be happy
students have resisted these sub-
tle influences. Because if the
mother’s logic held, we'd have
to scrap a few things to head off
disaster:

For example, we'd have to get
rid of. fire extinguishers,
sprinklers, and fire alarms, for
fear of sparking a shower of ar-
sonists.

We'd have to lock up video
and 35mm cameras, or media
and journalism students might
trigger a flash of exhibitionism
a la Marilyn Monroe.

‘Condom machines lack
power. Kids just love to drive
Mom and Dad up the wali, and
the mention of S E X will do it.

WHEN YouR TOES -
Gor FROSTBITE | ?

modest, and even those modest
demands have been largely ig-
nored.

Contrary to big industry,
which has never been bashful
about demanding governmnet
handouts — right down to
full-scale financial bailouts —
small business doesn’t ask for
special favours, What it does
want is a good climate in
which to operate.

Bulloch has told govern--
ments for years that grants and
loans aren’t the answer to the
problems that plague small

’ businesses. Subsidies, he says,

-don’t work. A better tax struc-
ture does.

Bulloch gets support for that
view from some unexpected
quarter. Gerard Janssen, NDP
critic for small business
development and former presi-

interest

re (ULPID »» COLDER THAN A Whoo: mre

“Excessively high levels of
debt, the narrow equity base
and low levels of retained ear-
nings, despite very acceptable
levels of sales, have resulted in
a situation in which small
firms experience extreme dif-
ficulty growing past the small-

scale production stage due to

the pressure of debt-servicing
and repayment obligations,
and low levels of productivity-
enhancing investment in new
machinery and equipment,”
the report says.

In other words, a lot of |
small businesses start up with
too little capital, owe too
much money, pay too much
interest on borrowed money,
cannot afford new equipment,
and, for all the aforemention-

. Goods and Services Tax (goo

fear the red tape, others. imply .
want to keep the government's
nose out of their business.
More important, though, Joan.
guarantees don’t reducea *:
small company’s debt-load, -
identified by the task force as.
the number one problem, ~.:
Other.recommendations in +
the report call for the removal.

of the six-per-cent sales tax an’...
. machinery and equipment pur-

chased by small businesses and-
withdrawal of the federal’ «2°

luck). .
It seems we have yet another

report telling us what's wrong®..”-

with our most important
economic sector, but fatling *:
abysmally short of offering |:
workable solutions. Small
that. deserve better than
that

4 Will the mere presence of A teach kids respect for others’. -Jrot / UNCLE MARTEN WHY tf WOULD'VE Feoze THE ...canem!) ) [[P HONEY 2 Just can TELL
! coin-operated condom - belongings as well as their own. Hou) CoD WAS IT IT WAS COLDER THAN A WITCHES «+. : YOU How COLD IT WAS!!!

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