B8 Terrace Review — Government taking confused appr economic slowdown, oppositio Glen Clark, the NDP MLA for Vancouver East and Opposition finance critic, said last week in Terrace that the Social Credit government’s approach to the current economic slowdown repre- sents a confused political agenda, not a genuine strategy for coping with a recession. Clark noted in an interview that the government is still running advertisements saying B.C. is "recession-proof", but at the same time suggesting that economic indicators are "ominous", talking about "restraint" again while simul- taneously hinting at massive capital spending programs to float the provincial economy through a recession. "It’s a government look- ing for a way to win an election. They can’t figure out what to exploit," he said. Clark claims talk of economic calamity is out of place here. "The world needs to know that things are not nearly as bad here as in Ontario. B.C. needs leadership, to Wednesday, November 28, 1990 reassure consumers and investors. - No wild policy swings — a steady hand.” Psychology plays a large part in - recessions, Clark argued, which is why leadership plays an important part in maintaining consumer and investor confidence when the eco- nomy is troubled. "For the govern- ment, it’s a good time to invest, for example in silviculture. That kind of investment is also an indi- cation that the goverment has confidence in the long term." B.C. in general and areas outside the lower mainland in particular are vulnerable to the current slow- down, Clark says. He believes it’s a situation that could have been minimized with some foresight during the four years of prosperity that are now apparently giving way to a recession. "What should have been done was planning during the good times, spending to diversify. There has been too much growth on the lower mainland and no channelling to the regions. For example, a cin ‘of the. forest revenues could have been put into a fund for diversifying . com- munities. that rely on the forest industry." When asked how industry and commercial development could be influenced to locate outside the lower mainland, Clark replied that it’s a matter of marketing other areas of B.C. and putting "dis- incentives" in place to discouraged development in areas that are already sufficiently ~ diversified. Resource money could also be put at local disposal, an example being diversion of some stumpage revenue into local development funds for forestry-based communi- ties. In addition to what he alleges is dramatically. Clark says an NDP government would impose a higher corporate tax rate — but not a lot higher. B. C.’s current corporate tax rate is 14 percent, compared to 15.5 percent in Ontario. "No one would say. Ontario is . scaring investors away," he remarked. Clark added that ithe two strongest economies in the world — Japan and Germany — also have the highest corporate tax rates in the world. | Skeenia NDP candidate Helmut Giesbrecht, who was Tertace’s mayor during the last recession, says we're probably in better shape 1o weather an economic storm now than we were in the early 1980's. "We survived as a community a lack of policy to deal with \ ans eee changing economic conditions, Clark is also critical of the govern- ment’s taxation policy. In the past six years, he claimed, the propor- a tion of revenue collected through & personal income tax has escalated -aiimem ‘Where To Find It’ oach to | n critic says quite well, although many of us as individuals didn’t do so well. We came out with good planned pro- jects. "A lot depends.on the local people. We certainly couldn’t count on the provincial govern- ment," Giesbrecht said. Glen Clark is one of several NDP shadow cabinet members currently on a “campaign” tour of the province. Party. leader Mike Harcourt said Oct. 31 said that since no election was called in the fall the NDP decided to provide their own forum to present alterna- tives to Social Credit policies. Clark’s northwest tour included stops in Prince Rupert and Kitimat as well as Terrace. Terrace 2 Tree Trimming $1,000,000 iiability for YOUR protaction' 4 CHANGES by Bev Y, Y 2803 Kenney Street Terrace, B.C. ~ Wolfe Tanning System ~ LANZA products Phone for an appointinent , GROCERY Laundromat & Carwash B&G Open 8:30 - 10:30 daily PENTICTON Escorts~ KELOWNA 638-7212 VERNON 24 Hrs. asy FEMALE TERRACE PRINTERS and PUBLISHERS BUSINESS SERVICES Call on our Design Team 635-7840 635-9666 : 635-7400 TOTAL HAIR CARE : ; 2701'S. 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