: Deficit and debt continue to rise

‘Budget cuts taxes a touch

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3 MODEST TAX cuts in last
> week's provincial govern-
ment budget will help low
and middle income
people, says Skeena NDP
MLA Helmut Giesbrecht,

The amounts vary ac-
cording to taxable income
but add up to $50 million
this year and an additional
$75 million next year.

For a single income fa-
‘emily of , $35,000, the
amount will be $86 this
year and for a $55,000 sin-
gle income family, the
+ amount wilt be $170,

+ When combined with

r, the recent federal tax cuts,

+,

4

; middle

; the total break for low and
income earners
-should work out to $225
- million this year and $354
{million next year.

Up until this year, the
provincial tax rate was a
percentage of the federal
one, So the reduction in

_-federal taxes announced
jrearlier this year had an

+

;automatic impact on the
:* provincial tax,

3 Sull, said Giesbrecht,

ithe provincial government

Bete

NORTHWESTERN federal
.+Liberals came close to

- “having their motion on oil

“arid gas drilling be presen-

-ted to the main session

ra

*

a

oa

vie ee ae ee ee "1 " 2
ee ee ee } et

oa

4
sy

iH some seals,”
igadding it was a powerful
ja experience to be front and
4 centre in the crowd of hun-

Par ee

5 wae
ee ee

fa when their party held a po-
* i Licy convention two weeks

> ago in Ottawa.

. The motion ran a close
second to one from the

j| Maritimes on subsidizing

container ports, reports
*Rhoda Witherly, a Prince
Rupert Liberal wha was in

, Ottawa.

By “] think it was eight
votes short of the ene from
“3the

By which one would come out

Maritimes to see

“FOR ANNA Partel, Skee-

S sna s only Liberal youth de-

ently, the highlight was

seeing Prime Minister

Jean Chretien speak in

‘Merson.

zai

“] managed lo get awe-
she said,

ddreds chanting for “four
4 more years.’

is bringing in tax reduc-
tions over and above what
followed through from the
federal one.

The province is break-
ing its tax rate away from
the federal one and will
calculate it directly as a
percentage of income,

“Giesbrecht also wel-
comed anolher cut in the
small business tax rate, to
4,75 per cent,

_But he had hoped for.

some kind of relief from
the additional tax levied
on the purchase of pick up
trucks.

“This has a northern
focus because of the large
number of people who use
pick ups for their work. 1
had wanted a good, hard
look at that,” said Gies-
brecht.

The overall budget calls
for spending of $22.3 bil-
lion against revenues of
$21.5 billion, amounting to
another deficit year and an
added amount to the out-
Standing provincial debt,

Giesbrecht’s particular-
ly interested in health care

of the natural resources
and transportation
session,” she said.

Only one motion from
each sub-session could be
brought to the main one
involving all of the Lib-
erals who attended the
convention.

Northern Liberals want
the federal government to
at least study the idea of
lifting a moratorium on
drifling for oil and gas de-

posils off of the north’

coast.

Despite the motion

caming in second, Wither- ’

ly said Skeena riding Lib-

She also met cabinet
ministers like Hedy Fry
and environment..minister

David, Anderscinigilign shew, months but got involved.

said, appeared’'to “have
concerns about the local
motion advocating the lif-
ting of the moratorium on
oil and gas drilling off of
the north coast.

Partel, an 18-year-old
Terrace student at North-
west Community College,
plans to pursiie a teaching

. degree at the University of

YG

,_)

NW.

Y
N

7:00 p.m.

F

SKEENA VALLEY
Fa\mels MaKKeT
PUBLIC MEETING

Tuesday, April 11

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-some cabinet

spending, scheduled to
break through the $8 bil-
lion mark with an increase
from last year of $341.7
million,

The MLA agreed that a
portion of that will go to
wage increases of health
care workers but he’s ex-
pecting some good news
for financially-strapped fa-
cilities such as Mills
Memorial Hospital.

“We'll have to wait
until the operating ietters
go out [to health care faci-
lities] and that could be
late April,” said Gies-
brecht.

Some of the health care
money announced last
week will go to hiring 600
more nurses, This is essen-
tially a repeat of what was
promised last year.

As well, the province
says it will provide money
to train 400 more nurses.

And doctors are getting
a two per cent fee increase
in this year’s budget.

There’s also money for
school construction, a por-
tion of which should flow

Libs chase drilling idea

erals were able to lobby
ministers
who came to a separate
session they hosted.

“One of those was
Ralph Goodale,” «said
Witherly of the natural re-
sources minister wha
would play a key role in
any decision to lift the
drilling ban.

Others at the Skeena
session included fisheries
minister’ Herb Dhaliwell

‘and B.C. MPs Hedy Fry

and Lou Sekora. Financed

minister Paul Martin also

made an appearance.
Witherly said Skeena

‘Seeing Chretien was real thrill

Northern B.C. next year.
She said she’s only
been a Liberal for, a fey:

partly because her brother,
Krister Partel, is vice-pre-
sident of the B.C. Young
Liberals.

The party’s B.C. youth
wing successfully ad-
vanced resolutions on hate
crimes and clean ait legis-
lation, she said.

The only sour note, she
said, was the media’s ob-

Helmut Giesbrecht
to Terrace for this year’s
expected construction start
of a replacement for Skee-
na Junior Secondary.

One new feature being
brought in is indexing the
personal income tax rate
to inflation.

That’s to stop people
from moving up tax brack-
ets when there is no allow-
ance for inflation.

The federal government
also introduced inflation
protection in its budget
earlier this year.

Rhoda Witherly

Liberals feel advances in
technology and environ-
mental protection in the
past two decades make lil-
ting the ban something
that should be studied.

Anna Partel
session with highlighting
divisions over the question
of Chretien’s leadership.

The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, April 5, 2000 - A?

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