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Liberals seek a fresh look Home Newspaper of Halton Hills Established A Division of Canadian Newspapers Company Limited Guelph Street Georgetown 3Z6 Ontario DAN ID A BEVTTIE Publisher and General Manager BRIAN MacLEOD Editor Phone Manager Paged September II Fair taxes If Halton Region goes ahead with the study on Region wide market value assessment many of our politicians will likely have to do some soul searching once the recom come before council Wherever its discussed market value assessment in evitably causes controversy The big test will be whether politicians can consider themselves in the context of the Region of Halton or whether theyll simply fight on the basis that market value assessment is or isnt good for their own municipalities Its a that hasn t been solved since the initiation of regional government in 197- Last year the average taxpayer in Halton paid for regional services That expected to jump to about this year an increase of just under 10 per cent Because older houses throughout the Region are now assessed at values in varying years houses that are roughly equal in value today are actually subject to differ ing levels of taxation On the surface that seems unfair While the average tax increase in Halton last year was only seven per cent Milton residents were taxed at a level of 10 percent Milton Councillor Brad Clements points out Its a good point Newer homes tend to be taxed more because their value was assessed more recently than older homes The rifts are already being established as evident the comments of three of Haltons mayors on the topic Burl ingtons Roly Bird said he would favor market value assessment because were being fair every four years in stead of every The mayor was talking about the automatic four year assessment on the value of homes in Halton as proposed in market value assessment Oakville Mayor Ann Mulvale said such a system could cause a split council in her town The elderly who live in older homes in Oakville could be heavily impacted by the new system she argued And Halton Hills Mayor Miller said Everybody should be paying an equal amount its much easier to understand and explain But he was noncommittal when asked if he would sup port the scheme even if it meant Halton Hills residents rn ist pay more taxes The study on market value assessment could take as long as two years in Halton Although there is not yet any indication of the cost in Halton a similar study in Metro Toronto recently proved to be expensive at million As long as its not too expensive its important to find out if Haltons tax system is fair and if market value assessment would make it fairer The study is needed in these times when taxes are coming under increasing public scrutiny But if it does take two years market value assessment will likely become an election issue and you the voter the taxpayer will have the final say Just s no We know drugs like cocaine and crack can kill We know drinking and driving can kill But we didnt have to pull off stunts like this to impress upon people that drinking and driving is no longer accep table We appealed to their sense of duty and their respect for life Being buried under a shopping mall hardly appeals to respect for life Its more like an insult to the dead However its important that the message is kept alive that drugs especially the hard stuff can kill The and driving campaign got to me to my friends and to others who handt thought that much of it in the past Humble Howard gets to me in quite a different way J Im not very impressed by Hum ble Howards stunt at a Toronto shopping centre The CFNY dee jays cause is worthy but burying yourself for hours in a shopping mall to show that drugs can kill Isnt much more than a publicity For a government scan politics all spring like Premier Daid Petersons Liberals a fresh new look was an bsolutemust So loo is an internal reorganization aimed ling the kinds of errors that led to months of negative media coverage With the series of service and political changes announced over the summer both objectives appear to have been accomplished by Peterson The key staff was the naming of Gagnier as chief of staff a new post It ap pears to combine elements of what used to be the two top elected political jobs in the ad ministration nameh principal secretirv and executive director Both of those are now abolished Peterson s first principal secretary was Eznn the key Liberal strategist in the early of the government then Vince who in an earlier in carnation was close to Peterson as his assistant Borg now assumes responsibility for pursuing the 1996 Olympics for Toronto The executive director title was held by Gordon who the patronage and other political aspects of governing This spring he becime embroiled in the Patti Starr through the receipt of an for refrigerator paint job and had to resign So ill mean According to the Globe and Mail the changes were confirming the prominence of Borg while giving Gagnier extensive power The Toronto Star on the other hand had Borg being demoted while Gagnier was the big win The Toronto Sun which probably rightly considers these kinds of personnel changes of limited interest to its readers ig everything except that had been appointed to spearhead Ontario Olympic bid the Olympics being the big thing in Sun country much more important thin who is playing musical chairs at Queen s Park In truth the Star had it right Although retains the unspecified role of senior ad visor to Peterson it is quite clear that he s no longer the topxanks With his departure the last of the well known names on the team that brought Peterson to power has gone by the side OTTAWA TINGE The new broom has a decidedly 1 Ottawa tinge to it Gagnier came to Queen s Park less than two years ago after several years in the federal bureaucracy He is just one of an immigrant wave from that city in to the upper echelons of the On civil service and political world Also in Peterson office is Doug a former aide to federal Liberal Leader John Turner Kirkpatnck who is now responsible for operations and planning including political liaison could be considered to hold the most important post after Part or the attraction of Ontario is that it is seen as a political world with money available to make things happen unlike Ottawa where the taps are dry Unkindcr critics also suggest people who predate the 1984 Ottawa change of government prefer working for a Liberal government to which they feel a kinship Not mind you that all the top posts in Ontario are occupied by federal expatriates The top theoretically non political position in Ontario is cabinet secretary sort of boss of the civil service side of the system Bob Carmen who had served that capacity since the Grits came to power in also left this sum His replacement was Peter Barnes who was an up and comer in the Tory days too But Gagnier post will be the heart of the new system implying as it does even more centralized decision making than the Liberals were already doing and that was considerable This government now has an un mistakenly Peterson stamp on it If it goes wrong now there only one person he can blame for it Puzzled by inflation rates Vic Parsons Ottawa Bureau If there ever was a classic in stance of economic wizards staring at the same numbers and reaching vastly different conclusions Canadas current inflation rate is it The most recent consumer price figures for July tell us that infla tion has risen 5 per cent in the past 12 months And the predictions of top rated economic forecasters released week by the Con Board average out at a 5 1 rise by the end of 1989 up from four per cent last year Depending on where you stand today inflation is either the try most compelling economic problem or something not to be feared Fans of John Crow the Bank of Canada s governor applaud his tough minded interest rate pro gram which has pushed domestic rates about four percentage points higher than those in the United States They urge him to hold the line Crow as ever views inflation as Public Enemy No and insists the high rates are needed to control it They are also required he would argue to discourage employees from trying for larger pay hikes to offset losses due to inflation That s because higher rates kill jobs and in turn tend to soften tough demands by workers Crow supporters can safely argue because there is no way of proving otherwise that inflation would be a lot worse if interest rates were eased On the other side com plain that high interest rates arc part of the problem not the tion They say inflation has ton to rise despite Crow manipulation of the interest rate levers CRITIC For some opponents Crow is like the fellow who made odd noises to keep rampaging elephants awav When someone pointed out there were no elephants for miles his response as See it works There seems to be an increasing number of authorities of the that the central bank has gone overboard with its tough interest policy Jim Frank chief economist with the Conference Board leaned that way his remarks on the economic forecasts We don t see the inflation casing despite the Bank of Canadas policy of using high in terest rates to cool the economy and fight the inflation battle Frank said He added that recent federal and provincial tax in creases are part of the problem adding to inflation this year and next Theres no question this is true Higher taxes have been a prime contributor to consumer price in flntlon since the plethora of federal and provincial spring budgets Moreover Canadians are being squeezed both mounting taxes and larger Interest payments on cars other purchases CO I IK