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rtu i Home Newspaper of Halton Hills Established A Division of Canadian Newspapers Company Limited Guelph Street Georgetown 3Z6 Ontario K ROBERT Publisher and General Manager BRIAN MacLEOD Editor Phone 8772201 DAN TAYLOR Advertising Manager it RrgOIrm Ml Page THE HERALD Wednesday May 16 1990 on a I Feds are looking to spread blame You dont have to look too hard to see that the federal government is going to try to spread the blame over the Goods and Services tax around The House of Commons consumer and corporate affairs committee which HaltonPeel MP Garth Turner chairs is threatening to subpoena companies that refuse to appear at its public hearings to say whether they will pass savings from abolition of the manufacturers sales tax on to coo per cent will be replaced by the seven per cent goods and services tax According to Mr Turner about 10 potential witnesses have refused to appear at the hearings We dont blame them Its not up to them to answer for an unpopular govern ment tax And if Mr Turner and the rest of the Tones believe all the savings from the abolition of the will be passed on to consumers theyre sadly mistaken We dont doubt that some prices will go down but there s plenty of opportunity to use excuses like the potential cost to businesses of collecting the tax to mask the increased pro fit margin Its one of the negative aspects of the GST the govern and unfortunately the taxpayers will have to ac cept But a house of commons committee pointing its finger at big business because companies their pro fit margins will help deflect some of the criticism away for the Tories the same way the government tried to drag the provinces into it by attempting to get them to operate with the federal government on the tax We hope the Canadian consumers wont be fooled From the Publisher Macaroni venison food Now what does that have to do with the invention of the Wheel Well just ask the over students from Centennial School who spent long hours in rehearsal to put on the half hour shows of Wheels at the John Elliott Theatre this past week The students under the direction of Mrs Johnson and Mrs Arm strong both teachers at Centennial wrote the story line and Paul Brtsley and his talented group of musicians and artists put the whole production together to give the audience a fine evening of entertain The students brought us along through time from the introduction of the wheel by Rock the Caveman to the days of and his ChanoU to the old west and the Iron Horse complete with Indians to the days of the automobile and the time of the great inventors Marconi Edison and Ford We id up m the future with spaceships and of course no wheels After all the wheel by now is ancient history One of the most enter songs of the evening was dedicated to Henry Ford the man who invented the assembly line for the production of the automobile Thank You Henry Ford And to the students and Paul Bnsley we thank you for a show well done Staff editorial Leadership election quiet If the lack of hype so evident dur the PC North Halton Riding Association leadership vote Satur day at the Acton Curling Club was indicative of the other similar votes held in PC ridings across the province the critics are right in us ing the word boring to describe the partys leadership election system I question whether the president of North Biding Ian Bourke and I were at the same event last Saturday While Mr agreed the event started off slowly he thought things picked up after the ballots were closed during the afternoon Granted I wasnt the last to leave the curling club but I did leave well after 3 30 p when the voting was closed and the event was no more eventful than when it began some three hours earlier But if the Conservatives claim to be true to their word they 11 keep the boring system to elect future leaders Grass roots seems to be the buzz of party members not only among North Halton Conser vatives but among Conservatives across the province Indeed PC leader elect Mike Harris has stressed throughout his leadership campaign the partys resurectton will only come with the support of Its grass roots membership Garth Turner no publicity slouch OTTAWA Garth Turner MP is no slouch when it comes to seeking publicity Fresh from a triumph of sorts namely an exhaustive examination of the future of Canada Post the chairman of the Commons con sumer affairs committee and MP for Peel has now turned his attention to the possible conse quences of the goods and services tax GST One of the more worthwhile ac in your beloved national capital these days is the commit tees GST hearings Tory Turner and crowd have called a wide range of witnesses who are offer their views on the taxs tiaJ impact on consumers These include officials from labor and business academics social interest groups present and past politicians economists and bureaucrats And if any witnesses don show tough talking Turner promises they will be forced to ap pear Cynics might dismiss the hear ings as merely a sideshow for the benefit of disgruntled taxpayers But Turner is a committee chair man in the Don Blenkam mould hes not afraid to ask hard ques tions and to propose ideas not on the government agenda This of course doesnt mean cabinet will fall over itself to adopt recommendations arising from the committee report expected early this summer NEEDS AIRING But it s important that there be a full airing of the GST issue from the consumers viewpoint Thats precisely what the current hear ings offer Finance Minister Michael Wilson and other GST proponents argue that the adverse impact on consumer wallets will be moderated by lower prices on some products This will be achiev they say by the removal of the existing hidden federal sales tax on manufactured goods So government officials say while previously untaxed services will cost more the total infla impact of the GST will be a mere 1 25 per cent And it will be felt only in the first year of the tax Vic Parsons Ottawa Bureau burden on to customers The dian Manufacturers Association is urging its members to ensure clients receive the presumed GST What will guarantee this Wilson and colleagues believe good old fashioned marketplace will ensure savings are passed along to consumers And just in case a little help is required Con sumer Affairs Minister Pierre dials is setting up a monitoring agency to point out offenders Skeptics abound however They say Wilson has underestimated the impact of the GST and is counting too much on businesses to reduce prices Turner wants this angle in vestlgated It may be true that sav will accrue to the final pur chaser he said but until we hear it from the lips of business leaders themselves consumers can be ex for being skeptical TOUGH TALKER When he announced the commit tees list of potential witnesses Turner talked tough If there are some businesses out there who think they can end up lining their pockets through this change in the tax system rather than passing savings along to consumers theyd better think again Some MPs notably on the op position side would like to see a tough watchdog with powers to roll back price increases something like the Inflation Board of the mid 1970s Turner calls that an op tion But its unlikely at this stage the government would go for that Stil the hard nosed frame of mind displayed by Turner and already seems to be stirring up valuable information for consumers Companies such as Ford Canada and Pont Canada which dont like the idea of federal monitors mucking about In their affairs have announced theyll pass benefits of their lower federal tax Meanwhile the governor of the Bank of Canada John Crow has threatened to clamp the lid on pro fiteers by resisting unjustified price and wage hikes presumably by jacking up interest rates As the committee hearings pro ceed over the next few weeks tax payers should get some enlighten ment on the shape of the postGST world We may not like it but at least itll be on the record Letter to Editor Concert tribute Dear Sir I am writing to you today to tell you about a wonderful community event in honour of a man who devoted his life to Canadian coun try music For more than a quarter of a century Mr Hill together with his wife Jean promoted country music at Rock Hill Park near Shelburne Ontario They hosted great stars such as Willie Nelson Barbara Mandrell Con way Twltty Hank Now and Tom my Hunter Four years ago the onset of Alzheimers Disease forced Mr hill to retire and sell his beloved Rock Hill Now in tribute to Mr Hill performers will come back to Shelburne to stage a gala concert on June 10 1990 The headline act will be the sixtime Juno Award winner Ms Carrol Baker who never forgot the talent contest she once won at Rock Hill Alt proceeds of the concert will go the Alzheimer Society In Mr Hills name to promote the search for the cause and cure of this terri ble disease In order to make this concert a true success and the tribute Mr Hill so richly deserves we need your support In terms of publicity and news coverage We would ap preciate any opportunity you could give us share this great human interest story with your readers Please feel free to contact us for further information Thanks for your support Sincerely Julie Morris Alzhei Society of Pee