'A4- The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, January 11, 1995

TERRACE:

STANDARD

ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988

ADDRESS: 4647 Lazclle Ave., Terrace, B.C. = V8G 188
TELEPHONE: (604) 638-7283 = FAX: (604) 638-8432
MODEM: (604) 638-7247

Tax fairness ~

ONE OF former Skeena MP Jim Fulton’s more
constant efforts was to quell the idea that there
is, in his words, a ‘‘24-hour boog-a-rama’’ going
on on native reserves when it comes to public
monies of one type or another.

For the vast majority of the time, Mr. Fulton is
tight. Even the most casual examination of
Statistics places natives among the disadvantaged
when it comes to incomes, no matter what the
source.

But there is one area that has always been a
tricky issue and is now even more so given a
Revenue Canada edict of Jan. 1, 1995. And that
relates to income taxes paid by natives.

Up until Jan. 1, natives who lived off-reserve
and who worked for native-owned businesses
were exempt from income taxes. The qualifier
was that native companies had to have their head
offices on reserves even if the majority of their
business was conducted off-reserve. This edict
doesn’t affect natives who continue to work on
reserve. . |
The edict did not affect a lot of people, approxi-
mately 3,000 ail told. And it has led to one sit-in
at a Toronto Revenue Canada office.

This particular issue of taxation is a matter of
fairness and the edict is welcome. For as much as
natives may statistically and in reality be dis-
advantaged, there are certain common bedrock
elements that must apply to all Canadians.

To be sure, there will still be people upset about
the income and other tax exemptions for natives
who live on reserve. Those people often forget
that these exemptions were created as part of the
Indian Act and were not thought up nor intro-
duced by natives. . .

But that will probably soon change as native
self government agreements are made. Govern-
ments, no matter who runs them, are experts at
easing monies out of the pockets of their
citizens. To think otherwise is unrealistic.

And finally, as long as Revenue Canada is tak-
ing aim at tax havens, here’s another suggestion.
It might start casting an eye on some of those
offshore foreign tax havens so enjoyed by some
of our larger corporations. That’s also a matter of
fairness. |

Tree year

IF INDEED this is the Chinese Year of the Pig,
in B.C, it should be the Year of the Tree.

By spring, the provincial government will have
fully cranked up its new Forest Practices Code
and be financing Forest Renewal projects.

More cynical people might suggest this is all a
run up to an election in 1995. In reality, both
programs are long term and rational efforts
designed to ensure that our precious timber
resources prosper and are enjoyed for countless
years to come.

All this is not to suggest everything is going to

be rosy this year. The benefits won’t be felt for
years. And that means the watch words for
forestry this year will be patience and co-
operation. .

wt
SONA PUBLISHER/EDITOR: Rod Link
ADVERTISING MANAGER: Mike L. Hamm

PRODUCTION MANAGER: Edouard Credgeur

NEWS COMMUNITY: Jeif Nagel = NEWS SPORTS: Malcolm: Baxter

OFFICE MANAGER: Rose Fisher, Terry Miller
DARKROOM: Susan Credgeur
ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS:

Sam Collier, Janet Viveiras, Tracey Tomas

CIRCULATION SUPERVISOR: Karen Bruriette.
MEMSEROFB.C.PRESSCOUNCIL —

Serving ihe Terrace and Thernhlll area. Published on Wednesday of each week by Cariboo Press (1969)
Lid. at 4847 Lazelle Ave,, Tarraca, British Colutabia, oo
Storias, photographs, illustrations, designs and typestyles in |he Terrace Standard are the property of the
copyright haldars, including Cariboo Prass (1969) Ltd., ifs iliustration repro Services and advertising
agencias, ‘ so
Reproduction in whole or in part, withoul writlen permission, is specifically prohibited.
Authorized 2s second-class mail panding tha Post Office Department, fer payment of postage in cash.

Cathar bay

Special thanks to all our contributors and correspondents
for thelr time and talents

4

|

| . Wh | ,
He willl nin

\ ATantstand . We
2 | those people who
ft th Cth ng

oe”

le

howl

Three cheers for exports

VICTORTA — The way I see
it, you: hear cnough bad
news in the next 12 months to
turn you into a basket case, So,
to start the year off on a posi-
tive note, Jet me cheer you up
with some good news.

According to figures just
feleased by Statistics Canada
and B.C. Stats, total exports
from British Columbia rose by
more than 16 per cent in 1993
to $19 billion, the highest
value of exports ever recorded
in this province.

Even better news is that Brit-
ish Columbia’s exports con-
linue to diversify. White the
U.S. is still British Columbia’s
single largest market, account-
ing for 53 per cent of total ex-
ports, the Pacific Rim ac-
counted for 36 per cent of the
province’s exports. ;

By comparison, Canada. as a
whole shipped 80 per cent of
its goods to the U.S. and only
nine per cent to the Pacific
Rim. We can thank cur geog-
raphica! location for that, and
the efforts of successive
provincial governments which,
regardless of political stripes,
have done a good job of open-
ing Pacific Rim markets to
British Columbia.

Clearly, that strategy is
paying dividends. Exports to
South Korea, for instance,
grew by 14 per cent, to Japan

AN OPEN letter to
Mike Scott, MP for Skeena:

Dear Mike;

I understand you haven’t

received one letter or phone |

call suggesting justice minister
Allan Rock is on the right
track proposing tighter gun
control.

May this be your first of
many,

I’m not the only supporter of
tighter gun control. Hundreds
of us sce no reason for every-
onc to possess guns. Bul if you
own a gun, repister il, and
store it out of sight under lock
and key.

My parents taught me a
healthy respect for guns. We
had three on our Saskatchewan
farm, They stood behind the
pantry door, A .22 rifle, a 303,
and a double-barrelled shotgun
from my — grandfather's
homesteading, Ammunition
was stored on the topmost
shelf where only Dad could
reach.

He used a gun whenever he

Ad

a 7RUE_ STORIES

Gl 13TH. AUE.
WH ITEHORSE
YT YAGEG

FROM THE CAPITAL.
HUBERT BEYER

by 19 per cent, and by a whop- .

ping 31 per cent to Taiwan.
Meanwhile, due to a strong.
U.S. economy, exports to that!
country rase by 26 per cent to
more than $10 billion worth of

Taney

destined to states bordering the
Pacific Rim. Ty
Small wonder, Glen Clark is
one happy camper. He’s Brit-
ish Columbia’s minister of
employment and investment.
He offered the following com-
ments. along wilh the report
that contains the statistics:
“Geography bas given Brit-
ish Columbia a natura! ad-
vantage, Located as we are,
midway between Northeast
Asia and Europe, British
Columbians are uniquely posi-

FROM “PAWS READERS

butchered, Once he had to
shoot a four-year-old  Per-
cheron mare afler she sawed
her fetlack on barbed wire and
Bangrene sct.in. When my
brothers were late teenagers,
they were allowed to bunt
gophers with the .22,

I have no recollection of .
~ them see the light.

moving those guns even to

clean the comer where they

huddled. When the lille kids
hid beside the puns playing
hide and seek, they never dis-

Boy! THAT WAS SURE
A ROUGH CROSSING!

THROUGH BIFOCALS
CLAUDETTESANDECKI -

tioncd to take advantage of
growing markets in the Pacific
Rim, Europe, North America,
and Latin America,’’ says
Clark.

“British Columbia is an
ideal springboard to Pacific
Rim markets, with Vancouver
the closest major sea port on
the North American west coast
and the Vancouver Internation-
al Airport a leading North
American hub for the Pacific
Rim region,’’

There’s more good news in
the statistics. Exports of valuc-
added products made up 13 per
cent of British Columbia’s to-
tal exports. That means growth
in economic sectors olher than
primary resources,

Which is of the uimost im-
portance to British Columbia’s
future, because we can ilo

‘ “longer rely on the continued

extraction and export of raw
materials, particularly lumber.
Value-added is where it’s at,
and any increase in exports of
value-added products will help
lessen our dependence on pri-
mary resources, ;

Still, forestry remains the
province’s number one export
item wilh all forestry com-
moditics comprising 60 per
cent of total exports, up 23 per
cent over the previous year, Jor
a total of $11 billion.

turbed the guns.

Such a contrast to a recent
new report of a county in
Washington state that passed a

Jaw every adull must own a

gun, At a backyard barbecuc,
adults: wearing tee-shirts and
shoris sat around in lawn
chairs with John Wayne-sized
revolvers balanced on their
crossed knees. A sillier tableau
would be impossible to stage
without John Candy's direc-
tion.

Apparently you doubt ithe
government could casily cn-
force the proposed Icgislation,
given the opposition. Remem-
ber when seat belts became
mandatory? Some motorists
swore they’d never buckle up.

They didn’t until they paid
too many $75 fines or their

kids convinced them lo do the

sensible thing. For a few, one
accident was cnough to make

Opponents of gun registra-
tion argue the paperwork
would be onerous. Nonsense.
Canadian police must file a

WHERE'S THE
FRYING PAN?

— —

apg tet et
Wr Wiia ,

ar ‘e

Fewer guns will save lives

=| OF THE DISHES

Export of softwood lumber
rose in all of British Colum-
bia’s markets with the excep- -
tion of the United Kingdom,
where a decline from seven per
cent of all softwood exports in
1992 to a mere one per cent in
1993 was noted.

The performance of other
seclors was cqually  im-
pressive, Exports of fisheries
products, for instance, rose by -
10 per cent in 1993 to $696
million, That same year, the
fisherics industry recorded its
highest wholesale valuc in his-
tory, recovering strongly from
the downturn of 1991 and
1992,

Exports ‘of natural gas to the |
United States also continued to
tise in 1993, reaching $439
million in value... That. |
teprescited an increase of 24
per cent for the year and con-“""’
linued the trend which saw an
average growth of 20 per cent
in exports of natural gas a year.

While the above-mentioned
statistics are good news. for
British Columbians in gencral,
they are twice welcomed by
Clark and the NDP govem-
ment,

With an election morc. than
likely this year, I’m sure Clark -
plans to wave those figures be-
fore anyone trying to bad-
mouth the government’s per-
formance in matters economic,

om,

written report accounting for
every discharged bullet.

Surely if overworked cops
can report in triplicate, so can
gun nuts who aim mainly to
kill time . . . or anything elsc
that moves, including — pro-
tected animals. ’

I’ve heard most of the argu-
ments against tighter gun con-
trols. But I'm not buying.
Their excuses sound a lot like
“Tm not recycling my news-
papers so long as olhers are
plugging landfills."

Too many little kids acciden-
latly Kill themselves with guns
left around the house like
tossed jackels. Too many
people commil suicide. Too
many women are shot to death -
by an embittered spouse or ex-:
boyfriend. Fewer guns can
only save lives, :

As for gun collectors, targe

shooters, and gunpowder ad--- -_

dicts, I'l work at feeling .
sympathetic toward them .. .
bulnol wholcheartedly.

RIGHT HERE T
CLP! ON TOP. |,

aE