PAGE 6, THE HERALD, Wednesday, November 30, 1977 orld’s largest Holiday Inn sits unfinished MONTREAL (CP) — It was to be the world’s largest Holiday Inn, with 860 rooms, but today the unfinished shell sits abandoned in the heart of downtown. For some Montreal businessmen, the 38-story building symbolizes their, own problems as Quebec enters its second year under the Parti Quebecois government. Work on the $3-million project stopped more than a year ago after Holiday Inn pulled out because oof soaring construction costs. The owners, S. B. McLaughlin Associates of Mississauga, Ont., have since been unable to find financing to complete the project. A recent report by Greenshields Ltd., a Montreal investment firm, blames this failure on the election of the PZ, which has ‘“‘substantially altered the prospects for a viable hote] project on the site.” McLaughilin’s roblems actually began ong before the PQ vic- tory. When the building failed to open on schedule before the 1976 Olympics, it became evident there was little need for another hotel in a city already oversaturated with rooms. But the deserted project is a symbol of the RCM tough time Montreal is having in attracting investment. The im- plications for Quevec are serious since much of the province's industry and nearly 50 per cent of its work force are located here, The value of con- struciton contracts awarded in Metropolitan Montreal dropped 27 per cent during the first nine months of 1977, while Toronto enjoyed a growth of 18 per cent, A recent Montreal Chamber of Commerce report says construction represents two-thirds of investment in Canada. Unemployment in Montreal has grown almost 4.7 times faster than in the rest of the province during the last year and 3.6 times faster than the Canadian average. Reports of buisnesses leaving the city continue to provide opponents of the PQ government with ammunition for attacks on its political and social policies, although the evidence of this apparent exodus is often confusing and contradictory. Federal Finance Minister Jean Chretien says Quebec has suffered a net loss of 186 firms so far this year because of political uncertainty created by the PQ’s stand on independence. Nealry 85 per cent of these companies were based in Montreal. During the first six months of 1977, migration told a similar story. Three times more people left Quebec than during the same period last year, Chretien said. The French-Canadian president of a large Quebec manufacturing firm says the PQ is “scaring the hell out of businessmen” with its economic policies and its ‘vendetta against the Engligh language.” “A lot of us French- Canadian businessmen are successful because we are bilingual and can dea] wilh the rest of North America as well as Quebec,” says the executive, who doesn't want to be identified because he fears “they (the government) will get even with me.” “We're being run by a bunch of teachers and professors,’’ he says angrily, referring to the © number of PQ. ministers with academic backgrounds. ‘‘Hov many of them have ever run a business?’’ Claude § Beauregard, director of the Montreal Chamber of Commerce, says __ investors are waiting for the political climate to settle in Quebec before putting P could have created explosive situation EDMONTON (CP) — The RCMP’s _ chief criminal investigator in Alberta said Monday that disclosure of a secret agreement between the force and the income tax department in the early 1970s could have created “an explosive political situation.” Chief Supt. J.D. Routledge told the Layecralt inquiry that the ossible results could ave been similar to “what's going on in Parliament right now. It would hecome quite a political football.’ He was referring to a 1972 agreement under which the exchange of confidential tax infor- mation between the two federal bodies was for- malized as an attack on organized crime. Routledge said that the agreement was felt to be sosecret by senior RCMP personnel that even provincial attorneys-gen- eral were not informed of it. He said Alberta At- torney-General Jim Foster, who is respon- sible for law enforcement in the province, “probably would need to know” about the agreement but never did until it emerged at the inquiry. KEPT IN DARK Postponed study OTTAWA (CP) — Transport Minister Otto Lang said Monday he is postponing a decision to call a royal commission into air safety in the North until after he has studied a report by two transport investigators. But Lang told the Commons the depart- ment will be hiring extra staff to better enforce air safety regulations as a result of the report. The report charged that aviation safety across the country, but particularly in nor- thwestern Ontario, is being jeopardized because of the transport department’s failure to enforce air safety rules adequately. The investigatior called after an air crash in which a pilot died, was to have looked into air safety in northwestern Ontario, But Lang said the report ‘may have broader implications.’’ In responding to op- position questions, Lang said a department official was not acting on ministerial instructions when he told the_ in- vestigators to cut short their study by 30 days and to conduct the _ in- vestigation openly. It has been reported in the Toronto Globe and Mail that the — in- vestigators—William Slaughter and Andrew Carswell— wanted to travel incognito through northwestern Ontario during their in- vestigation. Outside the Hote, Lang said about 15 more enforcement officers may be needed to bolster the present staff of about 75. He also noted that the report calls for a ‘very high” standard of safety rules and said any breach of present regulations does not necessarily constitute a threat to safely. Protest against apartheid WINNIPEG (CP) — Dr. Christiaan Barnard, a pioneer in heart transplant surgery, said Sunday he is willing to demonstrate against apartheid, but not against South Africa. Speaking at a testimonial dinner, Dr. Barnard said he has family roots going back more than three cen- turies in South Africa, a country he said is ‘more sinned against than sin- ning.” South Africa has onl enemies in the world, said Dr. Barnard, who was here to receive the 1977. international “ é medical research award of the St. Boniface General Hospital, During his speech to the group of about 2,000, Dr. Barnard referred toa handful of | demon- strators, members of the Manitoba Anti-Apartheid Coalition for Majority Rule in Southern Africa, ‘If they demonstrate against apartheid, then I ‘will join them, because I certainly don't believe in thal either. “4A man like myself, who has operated on so many people, realizes that as soon as you cut through the skin, everybady is the same. The chief superin- tendent said he did not know why Foster was kept in the dark about the agreement. The inquiry, headed by Mr. Justice James Laycrafi of the Alberta Supreme Court, was called jast spring by Foster to look into the affairs and activities of Royal American Shows, a Florida-based midway operator. The inquiry is also in- vestigating whether any person committed unlawful or wrongful acts during a tax-related investigation of the company. Routledge testified that “on a verbal basis,” top municipal police officers were informed of the existence of the agreement during an investigation. He said the RCMP had been trying for some time to formalize co-operation between the department of national revenue and the police force in the ex- change of information potentially damaging to organized crime figures. FORCE WORRIED Routledge said the force was worried that if an agreement had not been reached, national revenue officials would set up their own in- telligence unit. This would have removed some respon- siblities from the RCMP and would have led to “another fragmentation” or duplication of efforts aimed at the same goal. He said there are 32 federal law enforcement units in the United States and it has proved to be “a disaster” in some cases. Routledge said 39 Albertans are suspected of organized crime connections—31 involved mainly in crime within provincial boundaries and eight with national or international crime connections. He said drug and prostitution rings are always highly organized and also mentioned book- making and stock manipulation as ac- tivities that would warrant a special RCMP organized crime file. Earlier, the inquiry was told by William Pritchett, retired di- rector of terminal in- vestigations for the RCMP, that force offi- cials had at one time suggested that anyone found with $1,000 in his pocket be cheeked for possible organized crime connections. their money into Mon- treal, He also says Quebec's minimum wage of $3.15 an hour— highest in North America—has damaged the city’s com- petitiveness, especially in tourism. But exports will get a boost from the falling value of the Canadian dollar, he adds. HAS NO ILLUSIONS Beauregard says he has no illusions about the city’s economic slump, but with patented chamber-of-commerce optimism, he sees a brighter day just around the corner. A $75-million grant from the federal department of regional economic expansion, announced in July, will build up secondary in- dustry in several ‘'special zones” within a 50-mile radius of the city, says . Beauregard. The grants are ex- pected to generate $300 million in investment during the next three years. Combined with a new $30-million provincial tax exemption program, the hand-outs will give inves tc pote ntial enefits amounting to less. praperty taxes. property Owners. Changes in ussessment law now make it possible for property owners toaccuralely measure whether they are fairly assessed. Your 1978 property Assessment Notice, issued by the British Columbia Assessment Authority, Assessments had became outdated. They had become inequitable in terms of their actual value relationships. Properties having identical market values were assessed at widely differing amounts. This resulted in some owners paying more than their fair share of taxes and others The new law required production of the 1978 assessment roll based on fixed percentages of - actual value for each class of property. This means that the inequitics will be removed, and | that cach class of property will be assessed on the same basis. In all, it provides a fairer way toshare the cost of essential local services. ‘What will happen to taxes? The assessment roll provides the rate base used by niunicipalities. school boards and other local governments to raise the funds necessary to provide essential local services. | The costs of these services determine the overall amount required to be raised by local The purpose of the change in assessment law is NOT to raise more taxes but to provide a fairer busis upon which to apportion the costs of essential local services more equitably between Since assessments are now directh' related to actual value. cour assessed values may be higher ot lower than in previous years, An increase about 40 per cent of their total investment. Marcel Marion, director of the Montreal Urban Community ex- pansion office, says a usinessman considering an investmént in either city might decide that Toronto currently offers fewer obstacles. “There are many factors involved in such a decis on and I'm not saying the PQ isn’t part of the problem," adds Marion. - But he takes issue with Chretien's dire warnings of a mass exodus af businesses from the city because of the separatist scare, FEW MOVED Many of the companies cited by Chretien were personal investment firms, or “paper com- panies,’* says Marion. Few employees were involved. He says only four “real businesses”’ shifted any of their activities out of the city, including the Royal Bank which moved one of its departments with 125 employees to Toronto. John WORKERS Dinsmore, a former assistant deputy minister in the Quebec department of industry and commerce, says there are "'a lot of factors at work" behind Mon- treal's economic ills. but they have “very little to do with the political environment,” “People tend to get into moods about places.” says Dinsmore, who gave up his government post last June to become chief executive officer of Ma- rine Industries Lid., a major Montreal-based firm. “For a long time, the mood was buoyant because of things like Expo 67 and the Olym- pies, despite their notoriety, he says. “Maybe the mood is off right now, but I don't think the basics have changed.” CITY CHANGING The Toronto-born executive, once Quebec's highest-ranking English- speaking civil servant, says Montreal is‘‘‘a city in revolution,”’ but maintains it will weather the current storm be- cause ‘Quebec needs a commercial metropolis.” Jf Montreal is ur dergoing a revolution, nowhere is it more 1978 Assessment Notice. _ The fairness of your assessment may be deter- | mined by comparing the Assessor's estimate of actual value of your property to your own estimate of its current market value as well as by compuring it lo the current market values of properties of similar worth, The percentage of actual value at which each class of property will be assessed is: Residential — 15" (includes apartments. con- dominiums, mobile humes, ete.). Business and Other - 25"0 (includes commer- cial. some industrial). Industrial. Utilities, Machinery and Equipment, Forestry ~30"1. The Assessor and his staff will give you every assistance necessary tO pro assessment. What appeal do I have? Your Assessor is prepared to provide you with a detailed explanation of how your assess- ment was determined. BRITISH COLUMBIA If youare dissutisficd with the assessment and wish an independent review. a right of appeal is available to you. The pracedure to cumplain is simple ands fully explained on the reverse of your 1978 Assessment Notice, The deadline for any written appeal is kanuary 20, 1978. The new assessment method is fully explained in the brochure that will accompany the nuiling of vour individual Assessment Notices. ~ perly cheek your evident than in the housing market. A recent Royal Trust survey shows that house prices in westend Mon- treal, where most of Quebec's English- speaking populat lives, have fallen by as muchas 18 per cent in the last year. ; Al the same_ time. prices in heavily French- speaking communities such as Sherbrooke have risen by as much as 28 per cent. Claude Root, company vicepresident of real estate, blames the depressed market here on the number of cor- porations moving em- ployees out of Montreal. Most of the transfers are to Toronto. The exodus has been going on for at least 10 years, but the election of the PQ = government “acted like a catalyst” and the movement has accelerated significantly since then, he said in a telephone interview from his Toronto office. DIFFICULT TO MEASURE Although the migration is hard to measure, a recent report by the Canadian Association of ora decrease in your assessed values from those in effect last year docs not necessarily mean that your property taxes will change significantly. Tax notices bused on your new assessed values will be issued later in 1978. is in the mail and will be arriving at your door * shortly. An information brochure explaining the Is my 1978 assessment fair? Look at your changes accompanies the notice. As your assessment is now based una fixe Assessment Notice... — When they arrive. please take time to read both percentage of what your property is worth its PT . co carefully... fairness can be measured by actual value it's different , comparisons. this year! Why changes in The Assessor's estimate of your property's assessment law? actual value (market value) is shown on your ASSESSMENT AUTHORITY Movers says the volume of household and office furniture moving from Quebec to Ontario has jumped by 70 per cert since last year. ; industrial real estate is faring no better than residential property, says Root. There is. virtually no building going on and nobody is selling because prices are ridiculously ‘low. But lower industrial real estate values are an obvious plus to any firm looking for a place to locate, says Pa Laurin, director of public relations for the Montreal Urban Community economic development office. Laurin says he has received neariy 700 requests for information this year from people interested in locating businesses here. Last year al this time, his department had received only 300 inquiries. It now shows both the actual (market) value and the -assessed value on which your 1978 taxes will be based. Taxicabs were introduced in London around 71823. Loma =