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War on drugs isn t Black or white Home Newspaper of Halton Hills- Established A Division of Canadian Newspapers Company Limited Guelph Street Georgetown L7G 3Z6 Ontario DAVID A BEATTIE Publisher and General Manager BRIAN MacLEOD Editor Phone DAN TAYLOR Advertising Manager Mill Page THE Hi 1IK1 Tax after death Taxes are now more inevitable than death That absurd statement borrowed from a satirist has been brought to life by Finance Minister Michael Wilsons Goods and Services Tax which includes of all things funerals We admire Mr Wilsons ultimate goal of reducing the deficit But forcing people to spend less by introducing a sales tax which is expected to bring in an extra billion to government coffers is a strange way of going about it Canadians want their government to be fiscally respon sible so they generally agree with the big push to reduce the deficit But we watch new furniture appear in govern ment offices while the furniture in the average Canadians living room grows older Fortunately for those lower income families pressure groups prohibited the government from taxing our groceries The shame of it is the government wants to do just that Our leaders want a tax on the basic necessities of human life Were not sure if the government understands that there are still many Canadians out there who still have to worry about the price of milk So instead theyve bypassed taxing the necessities of life and taxed us after we die How are you going to sell that one to us Mr Wilson Meanwhile our own MP Garth Turner whose battle cry during the federal election was the middle class is under attack has refused to stand up and be counted Now it has been left up to his successor the business editor at Mr Turners former newspaper the Toronto Sun to carry on the famous coupon legend which once pro pelled the MP into the limelight on our leaders doorsteps Mr Turner now says of the tax Im not going to sup port it and Im not going to oppose it To his credit he has organized a series of town hall meetings to hear people in the riding of HaltonPeel speak Dont let this opportunity pass Mr Turner has said he has the prime ministers ear during caucus meetings Now is the time to put those caucus meetings to the test Sometimes town hall meetings serve to placate the public by letting people get things off their chest We hope it wont end there We hope the government will listen and act Caffeine fiend Caffeine according the Shoppers Drug Mart prepared information sheet is the most popular non prescription stimulant used today The pharmacist says caffeine can improve shortterm mental alertness hurray However she goes on to say its no substitute for a goon nights sleep because all it does is make you ignore your tiredness heck she says it cant even sober you up Now I always suspected caffeine couldnt make up for lack of sleep but I didnt really want to know it All these years beginning with my univer sity days when Id easily put away cups ot the liquid gold during all- night essays Ive been relying on coffee thoroughly convincing myself that a constantly filled cup can add an extra hours to my working day Each morning now I arrive at the Herald to an already freshly brewed pot of 10 cups of coffee with the aroma drawing me towards the coffee maker beside my desk But what now Is it- possible shudder the thought that Ill reachfor the decaf IS Brian MacLeod Editor Notebook oh This is it This is what Ive been fearing I got the information in the mail the other day and Ive beer biting my nails ever since Im go ing to have to quit cold turkey I cant just cut back to four a day Andwhat will I do with last years Christmas present My enemy Im told by a phar macist writer is caffeine So that it All those sleepless nights that dull paid in the forehead these snappy answers to my coworkers its not because Ive been intensely pondering or front page stories Its because of my best the lee maker The appointment of a cabinet- level provincial antidrug boss was probably a political in evitability Whether it will prove anything more than windowdressing is another matter And thats not for want of either sincerity or effort mind you The man who got the job Muskoka Ken Black has been Premier David Petersons special advisor on drug abuse since last October Moreover he authored a rather common sense report last year on dope use Hes likely as good an appoint ment to the post as could be made But what were dealing with when it comes to drugs is something that cabinet posts arent going to solve And Black it of course It is true Premier Petersons question to reporters remains per tinent How do you face emerging problems He noted that for drugs the answer isnt just reposed in the corrections ministry or the solicitor general or in education or health its all of those things And how do you organize an ef ficient approach to a comprehen sive attack on these problems One way to coordinate any crossministry issue like drugs and make it high profile simultaneously is to give a cabinet minister with responsibili ty in the area without actually creating a ministry Thats what was done with what is known as womens issues for ex ample as well as for other issue categories such as native affairs francophone affairs race rela tions the disabled and senior citizens But except for race relations those are targetted to specific client groups The difficulty with drugs like race relations is that it is everywhere The throne speech raised the subject of drugs within the context of maintaining a sense of safety and security in our communities is critical to our provinces well- being and development Antidrug education has been stepped up in the schools and- community based programs enhanced in what are euphemistically called highrisk neighborhoods PROMISED Stronger police drug enforce ment has been promised as has a wider range of treatment pro grams including employee- assistance programs And now weve got Blacks ap pointment and the establishment of an interministerial committee that includes eight other ministers whose responsibilities touch on drugs one way or another Almost of drugs tills eigther one way or another either towards harsher laws and enforcement of laws or towards more and better treat ment facilities Sometimes as in the throne speech a government will em phasize both approaches although invariably it will eventually put more emphasis on one than the other But the core problem will re main People take drugs because they want to take drugs And even if they dont inform on their friends who do Moreover the profits are so huge that greed atone will guarantee a steady supply to feed what amounts to an instiable demand There are solutions that have been advanced but they require major social adjustments of a nature that no politician is likely to touch For example there is legaliza tion along the lines of how liquor is controlled through Liquor Control Board stores That at the very least would destroy the criminal chain of ac tivity that hat webbed its way through every facet of society to day Alternatively there could be periodic random drug sampling at every job in the county the RIDE program carried into the office with community service fines and public embarrassment as penalties for being caught indulg ing Yet the key deterrent to drug use remains getting its consump tion frowned upon with the same kind of fervor now reserved for cigarette smoking Good luck Ken Each MP costs us 700000 The cost of keeping your MP on the Job in Ottawa will break the barrier this year To be precise the cost of deliver ing all direct services offices and staff that Members of Parliament demand along with their own salaries and perks will total million this year Thats for each of the 295 MPs At the rate this spending is in creasing 87 per cent over last year you will be sending million- dollar men and women to Ottawa within five years That will be very soon after the next general elec- The cost of operating the Com mons and maintaining Us members doesnt include extra costs run up by the prime ministers office the privy council office cabinet ministers and their limos and chauffeurs their second offices and added staff All that is charged against departmental budgets Much attention is paid each year to salaries and perks MPs bestow on themselves and the few remunerative morsels they toss down the hall to cut the grumbling in the Senate Senators have always resented the fact they receive less for occupying a loftier position in Parliaments pecking order Soon after MPs return to parliamentary duty Sept 25 we can expect to hear more on that subject when a review of salaries and allowances paid to MPs and Senators is tabled in the Commons Former MPs Francis Fox and Gerry St Germain have been reviewing the salary schedules since February and are putting final touches to the study It should be in the hands of Deputy Prime Minister Don Mazankowski sometime this month For their efforts Fox and St Germain have been pocketjng bet ween and for each day they spend on the review Backbench MPs are now collec ting about in basic annual salary and taxfree allowances almost double what they made in 1980 The salaries rise with position and responsibility up to Prime Minister Brian level of But the salaries and allowances claim only a portion of the total outlay in the Commons Each MP is provided with a sixfigure operating budget to cover salaries for secretarial research and sup port staff and whatever contract help is required and for some other commercial services Other allowances and sup plements are available to provide for additional constituency offices and furniture and for travel in remote and distant ridings Outside the basic threeroom high- tech furnished Parliament Hill office the expenses really begin to mount