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PAGE 8 ♦ THE CANADIAN STATESMAN ♦ May 3,2006 Tim Whittaker Publisher Joanne Burghardt Editor-In-Chief Chris Bovie Managing Editor Fred Eismont Director of Advertising Eddie Kolodziejcak Classified Advertising Manager Kirk Bailey Distribution Manager Lillian Hook Office Manager Janice O'Neil, Cheryl Haines Composing Managers Clarington's Award-Winning Newspaper Since 1854 TOje Canadian Statesman ■ i EDITORIAL e-mail letters to ncwsroom@durhamregion.com Tax cuts are delivered in budget On Tuesday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper took the next step in his five-priority pledge to Canadians when he unveiled his first budget. . The budget, delivered by Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, makes good on strong Conservative Conservative promises to cut the GST by one per cent, to provide parents of children under the age of six with $100 per month for child care (both take effect July 1), to beef up spending on crime and the military and to provide the structure for a wait-times guarantee. guarantee. Mr. Flaherty's package of tax relief measures, in addition to the GST cut, include an increase' to the basic personal amount to be claimed increasing to 655,000 people who would not pay income tax, a reduction in the lowest tax rate to 15.5 per cent from 16 per cent,' and a tax credit on employment income of up to $500 to increase to $1,000 on Jan. 1,2007. There are also a bushel of tax cut plans for businesses including including a cut in the general coiporate income tax rate to 19 per cent from 21 per cent by 2010, elimination elimination of the corporate surtax for all companies by Jan. 1, 2008 and the elimination of the federal capital tax as of Jan. 1, 2006. Small businesses can benefit by becoming eligible for the 12 per cent tax,rate to' $400,000 from . - $300,000 as of Jan. 1 with reduc- ' lions to 11 per cent by 2009. There is increased spending as well. The military will get a $5.3- billion boost over five years, a reflection of the prime minister's push to improve the Canadian Armed Forces. There is $161 million for 1,000 RCMP officers and federal prosecutors prosecutors and pots of money to improve border security and crack down on crime. Families get a boost through the child-care monthly payment but that's not all.' There also is a tax credit,provided credit,provided for up to $500 in eligible fees for physical fitness programs for each child up to age 16. That means' hockey moms and' dads can claim for each child. And infrastructure gets some money as well as the feds will put $5.5 billion into a new Highways Highways and Border Infrastructure fund and provide a tax credit of 16 per cent for those who purchase purchase monthly transit passes. There are also plans to put any surplus achieved annually directly toward debt reduction. That's a change from past Liberal Liberal practice which saw surpluses broken down into spending and cuttingdebt. Under the Tory plan, our debt- to-GDP ratio is expected to drop 31 per cent by 2008,with predictions predictions that it will fall to 25 per cent by 2014. While there may be much opposition to this budget, none of the three opposition parties is in a position to force an election : oyer.it. . ■ And if they did, the Prime Minister Minister would be able to claim he is merely delivering on his campaign campaign promises. This strong budget offers the proof. BACKWARD GLANCE Darlington from air, 1980s Canadian Statesman file photo This photo from the 1980s gives an aerial view of the tremendous tremendous amount of work that went in to building the Darlington Nuclear Generating Station. Phone 905-579-4400 Classifieds 905-576-9335 Distribution 905-579-4407 General Fax 905-579-2238 Newsroom Fax 905-579-1809 E-Mail newsroom@durhamregion.com 865 Farewell St., Oshawa ON L1H 7L5 Publications Mail Registration No. 07637 infodurhamregion.com CLICK AND SAY Today's question: Given a choice of tax cut option, which do you prefer? 1 per cent GST cut . : Income tax cut Mix of both ; Cast your vote online at infodürhamregZon.com Last week's question: Do you think Canada should continue to have troops in Afghanistan? No 59.8% Yes 40.2% Votes cast: 604 HAVE YOUR SAY Do you favour an increase in military spending and a larger armed forces? dolighan.com LETTERS TO THE EDITOR c-mail letters to newsroom@durhamrcgion.com More effort needed to curb litter To the editor: Re. Pitch-In event not optional; it's necessaiy, April 23. I too find it quite concerning concerning that the level of garbage around our community seems to be increasing with little or no concern. What bothers .me. is that;, it. seems very little is being done about it! We need more than a one- or two-day (usually during Earth Week) reminder to pitch in and help clean up. week highlights the problem, but blames tourists and strangers as the main problem. Are these same people driving into our subdivisions to drop their litter? Can we go further and blame them for the considerable considerable garbage that , follows the sidewalks between our schools and the carefully planned convenience convenience stores? Where are the garbage cans to ■ at least give children the option of using them? And where are the parents to teach these children responsible waste management by better organizing their own household wastes at the curb? How about teaching your children children to help pick up the blown garbage/recycling on a weekly basis? As for paper waste around the super mailboxes, I've got a solution. Why not mandate Canada Post to do its original job, like delivering delivering the mail only? This would greatly decrease the amount of waste around these mailboxes. So let's have everyone pitch in, starting with your own street while educating our children about being responsible mem bers of a cleaner community. Even better, how about following following up with those phone calls and e-mails by concerned citizens as you've requested Fred? We all need to be responsible. Scott Hanthorn Courtice Flag should be lowered out of respect for soldiers To the editor: I too find it very disrespectful not to lower the flag to half mass following the death of these soldiers. soldiers. Even though I disagree with ' the war in Afghanistan and Iraq, these soldiers should be remembered remembered as they gave the ultimate sacrifice, their lives, as they leave behind families and friends, I do believe the media has every right to cover the return of these soldiers as this shows the rest of Canada the realities of war and at the same time I would hope the media would respect the rights, of the family members that are ' mourning their loss. Scott Templeton Whitby Lack of response to soldiers' deaths a worry To the editor: So, we aren't going to acknowledge acknowledge the deaths of four of our soldiers. We have approximately one- tenth the population of the U.S. ' and you can bet if the equivalent number of 40 U.S. personnel were killed in one day they'd howl. ' The current Conservative government government has quickly aligned its thinking with Big Brother and is showing all the signs of toeing the line on red,- white and blue policies. I thought it might have taken a few more months for ' that. : Gur sons ; and daughters over- i ! seas deserv.e:OuT support.no mat-. : ter how we feel about them being there or the government that put them in that position. The people they leave behind also need our support, and now there are the families and friends of four more. If I had a flag it would be at half-staff until the final boy was laid to rest but then like a lot. of people, what I feel doesn't count. I suppose it's more important what the neighbours think. Marian Wild Oshawa Albert Maschke "No. We should be trying to get away from war." , 'W ' " : "C** 1 , Grant Herron "Yes, because if we're going to promote democracy internationally, internationally, then we should give our troops the means to doit." LETTERS We welcome letters that include name, city of residence and phone numbers for verification. Writers are generally limited to 200 words and one submission submission in 30 days. We decline announcements, poetry, open letters, consumer complaints, congratulations and thank you notes. The editor reserves the right to edit copy for length, style and clarity. The newspaper newspaper contacts only those people people whose submissions have been chosen for publication. FAX: 905-579-1809; E-MAIL: Newsroom@durhamregion.. com. Audrey Sarginson "Yes, because we have to support our troops." Do we really belong in Afghanistan? Lost amid all the fuss over whether to lower flags to half- mast for fallen soldiers and the squabble over showing funeral ceremonies on foreign soil or not until a body arrives back in Canada is this: Do wc belong in Afghanistan, at all? In spile of the unfortunate politicizing politicizing of tragedy, what really matters now and in the future is whether armed intervention in a foreign land will lead'to democracy! democracy! Our mission in Afghanistan is fraught with peril, something that has become obvious to us all in recent weeks. On its own that's no reason to cut and run, as the prime minister would call it. For that mallei', when it comes to bravery, Canadian soldiers have shown in the past century during two world wars, in Korea, and in countless other missions, that they take a hack seat to no lighting lighting force. Tim Kelly So this is not about our military military men and women. Of course, without reservation, they deserve our full support. What's of concern here is the way in which the situation in Afghanistan has been dealt with by foreign powers for centuries, and especially since the fall of 2001. Afghanistan, lor anyone willing willing lo crack a history hook, has always been a nightmare den full of warring tribes, narcotics mobs and religious families -- who share little except a revulsion for foreigners (ie. Westerners or infidels). That's not true of all Afghanis or even a majority of them. But that minority holds tremendous power. To their misery, the British, who tried to conquer Afghanistan Afghanistan in the 19th century, were sent packing. Cut to the 1980s for our next lesson and you'll find the Soviet Union, after a decade of war, the victim of the mujihadeen. Our next stop is the fall of 2001 when, after carpet bombing and a huge effort by the United States and its allies, the Taliban were' crushed. But then, what happened? Instead of securing Afghanistan properly and doing intense rehabilitation right after the conquest, the U.S, seemingly lost interest and trained its sights on Iraq. Afghanistan was left to rot. And now we're paying the price - or at least our soldiers are. We now hear about it taking . five, 10 or even 20 years to turn Afghanistan around. There are comparisons with Vietnam, believe it or not, Despite the different scale of operations - - hundreds of thousands of sol- ci'i rs versus mere thousands - the goals in Afghanistan mirror what the U.S, tried, and failed, to achieve in Vietnam decades ago. Wt h . jv about how Canadian and other NATO force soldiers arc trying to "win the hearts and minds" of the Afghani people. The same was tried with dismal results in Vietnam. We hear about how Taliban fighters have infiltrated the Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police. The same happened will) the Viet Cong in the South Vietnamese Army. We hear about roadside bombings, bombings, ambushes and sabotage in Afghanistan, In Vietnam, it was booby traps, ambushes and sabotage. sabotage. . The closest parallel of all is that wc have a desperate people who want westerners to leave, who believe wc don't understand or respect their culture, their language, language, their religion, their way of life. Even if wc claim that isn't true, it's what many Afghanis believe. The same was true in Vietnam. In Vietnam, millions fought to , the death until the U.S. finally lull, delealed. Will the same Imp- lien in Afghanistan? Before wc recommit our troops after the current mission ends next February, we need a full and frank discussion about what we believe we can achieve in Afghanistan. Our troops deserve that debate. Copy editor Tim Kelly's column appears every other Wednesday. E-mail lkelly@dttrh(Wire}>ioiu'om. Marlene Maschke . "Yes, because if we are g to put our soldiers at risk, then we should support tl however we can." The Canadian Statesman one of the Metroland Print Publishing and Distribute group of newspapers. The Statesman is a member o the Bowmanville Claringto Board of Trade, the Great< Oshawa Chamber of Com merce, Ontario Commuait Newspaper Assoc., Canadian Canadian Community Newspap Assoc., Canadian Circula lions Audit Board and the Ontario Press Council. 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