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A6 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER Wednesday March 1,2000 T h e O a k v il l e B e a v e r Ian Oliver Publisher Neil Oliver Associate Publisher Norman Alexander Editor Kelly Montague, Advertising Director Steve Crazier Circulation Director Ten Casas Office Manager Mark Dills Production Manager Riziero Vertolli Director o fPhotography Metrotand Printing, Publishing & Distributing Ltd., indudes: A^ax/Pickenng News Advertiser. Alkston HerakJ'Courier. Bame Advance. Barry's Bay This Week. Bolton Enterprise. Brampton GuartJan. Burlington Post. Burlington Shopping News. City Parent. CoflngwoocWVasaga Connection. East York Mirror. Erin Advocate/Country Routes. Etobicoke Guardian. Ramborough Post. Georgetown Independent/Acton Free Press. Huroria Business Times, Kingston This Week, Lindsay This Week. Markham Ecnomist & Sun. Midland/Penetanguishine Mirror. Milton Canadian Champion. Milton Shopping News. Mississauga Business Times, Mississauga News. Napanee Guide. Newmarket/Aurora Era-Bamer. 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Forever Vbung, City of York GuarSan OPINION RECOGNIZED FOR EXCELLENCE BY: Ontario Community Newspapers Association , Canadian Community f*C N A Newspapers V Association S ', W e lc o m e ^ W a g o n it d r r s m ,930 , b r o n t e THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: ^'^ategies farTfl T H e b u t t e r f l y ' " " " 'l/f if o J *1 ^ * > i Q JTbhena J A \ vard JiNqlE BeII FuNd 467 Speers Rd., Oakville O n t L 6K 3S 4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5567 Classified Advertising: 845-2809 Circulation: 845-9742 S K Suburban Newspapers of America (9nki>ille ^ / / . watds T V A U C T IO N r iM r i S S f Editorials Mostly good news O ver the past several years, federal budgets were hold-your-breath kind of docum ents that usually contained both obvious and other m ore insidious tax increases for average Canadians. ` But with M onday's budget, Finance M inister Paul M artin has decided to give - something back to taxpayers who have been coughing up huge amounts o f their income to hit his balanced budget plans. The biggest im pact for taxpayers is the elim ination o f so-called `bracket creep' that saw income earners catapulted into higher tax brackets due to infla tion. If it did nothing else, the budget would have been notable for this alone. A nd there was good new s in the com m itm ent to spend $225 million in each o f the next two years on the nation's infrastructure and a further $550 million in each o f the four years. Reducing the capital gains tax and reducing the general tax rate from 28 per cent to 21 per cent for businesses will be a boon to the economy, especially in · COntario. ' But with all this good news, there were areas where the budget fell short. Martin did nothing about the 5 per cent surtax on w hat the feds call high income earners. You may rem em ber that this move was initiated by the same r Paul M artin, to eliminate the yearly deficit. The deficit has been eliminated but · the surtax remains. W hy? Because it's just too lucrative a tax grab to let go o f for * now. A nd after all, someone has to pay for the other tax cuts. " Elim inating the deficit was a fiscal measure that had to be done before we 1 1 tackled the more than $600 billion in federal debt. And it's the yoke of debt that will impact Canadians more than anything else in the future. If we don't knock it dow n in tim es o f prosperity, should the econom y slow, w e'd be no further ahead.To allocate just $3 billion to debut reduction this year is a mistake. O ttawa has been downloading health care costs for years, putting more onus on the provinces by not transferring tax monies back to them. Levels o f federal - health care funding still haven't been restored to where they were in 1994-95. To - only put $2.5 billion over four years into health care and post-secondary school education is simply a farce. Letters to the Editor The Oakville Beaver welcomes your comments. All letters m ust be typed, signed - and include the w riter's address and phone number. Send to: Letters to the Editor, ,.The Oakville Beaver 467 Speers Rd., Oakville, Ont. L6K 3S4 » Re: H eroes P resentation Feb. 22, 2000 jr I a tte n d e d a H e ro e s Presentation together with the stu dents and teachers o f W hite O aks "Secondary School. I am a parent o f th ree teen ag e sons and I 'm a of the Week Heroes session brought home critical issues 0TLetter responded quickly Health Care Professional w ho has w itnessed the tragic consequences o f an a c c id e n t w h ils t n u rs in g these patients back to som e sem blance o f a future. I w ish to say `thank you' very m uch to the sponsors w ho raised the funds to prom ote aw areness and consequences o f risk. BRAVO to the young g entle man w ho told a courageous and h o n est sto ry o f life, b efo re and afte r a d riv in g ac cid en t an d its consequences. I d o n 't believe for a m om ent an y o n e w an ts to lo se so m eo n e dear to them, because they didn't take the Sm art Risk. A sk y o u rselv es th is q u estio n every day: W here is your line? to attack on students As a parent m em ber o f the O akville Trafalgar High School Council, writing as an individual, I w as outraged, along with my colleagues, by the assault against two Sikh students on school property. N ot only was it racially-moti vated, but in true cowardly fashion, five ganged up on two. Inescapably, all o f us share in the sham e as w ell as the blame. Although a singular incident, events never occur in iso lation. R ather they form part o f a larger context, since everything is intimately linked to everything else. Signs of unrest were there-signs we failed to read. Alas, mere m or tals make mistakes. Those involved have been charged with assault and sus pended from school. By far the worst outcom e for each of the five is the dam age done to their reputations. Effective justice like effective parenting must be predi cated on logical consequences. All being well, measures taken will teach everyone a valuable lesson, and mitigate against any similar recurrence. To their enorm ous credit, L arry D ilanni, O T school principal and his vice-principals, N ancy Syer and Regan Heffeman, individuals o f the highest integrity, individuals with total dedication, have done everything humanly possi ble to address the situation. Three distinct programs aimed at maintaining a physically and em otionally safe operating environment within the school are in place. These include T A P-the T each er A dvisory P rogram , in v o lv in g m ixed groups o f students in grades 9 ,1 0 and 11, w ho m eet week ly to d is c u s s s tu d e n t r e la te d is s u e s ; P E P -P e e rs Empowering Peers, whereby senior students mentor with th eir ju n io r co lleag u es; and B ully B e w are-a p ro g ram aimed specifically at the problem o f harassment. The Council's School Life and Safety Committee, ably chaired by com munity representative Jenny Catton, works clo sely w ith stu d en ts, teach ers, an d ad m in istrato rs to ensure that O T is a safe, stimulating place for all students. Finally, OT is currently involved in Youth N et Halton, an outreach mental health program run by youth, with sup port form trained professionals, aim ed at helping adoles cents del with personal problems. Arguably, each one o f the five instigators could benefit from this most worthwhile endeavour. As a parent o f two children at OT, and a charter mem ber o f the School Council, I have been privileged to work with many excellent individuals whose primary objective has been to focus on making the school a better place. A finer group o f people you w on't m eet anywhere. However, schools are complex organizations w hich precipitate com plex problems for which no sim ple solutions exist. Invariably, the rig h t people co m e up w ith the rig h t answers. W ithout question, we have the right people at OT. M. Groenuelo Governments have no place in pro sport · N ow that the dust has settled (albeit temporarily) on the feasibility o f operating N.H .L. | -franchises in Canada, I w ant to offer a realistic, perm anent, and easy solution. The emphasis in this discussion has been the "effect" on th e fra n c h is e s , i.e . o p e ra tin g lo s s e s . T h e CAs give budget high marks for tax relief >; We are happy to see that Finance M inister ! Paul M artin has made a com m itm ent to reduc ' ling personal incom e taxes over the next five j !years. Personal incom e tax cuts w ere recom 'm ended by the Canadian Institute o f Chartered ! A cc o u n tan ts in its p re-b u d g et rep o rt to the [ H ouse o f C om m ons Finance Com m ittee. J L o w er corporate taxes fo r sm all business ; land the m ost highly taxed business sectors, >;such as high technology, are also steps in the ! ;right direction. ; We are pleased with the governm ent's pro; jections with respect to the level o f our nationj a r d eb t in relation to G D P (G ross D om estic . P ro d u ct). O u r rec o m m en d a tio n w as fo r the ! federal governm ent to set tw o-year rolling tar! .gets fo r red u c in g the d eb t-to -G D P ratio to 58.2 per cent by April 2001 and 55.4 per cent ]by April 2002. T he Finance M inister's projec! 'tion o f a debt-to-G D P ratio o f 55.2 per cent is I v irtu a lly id e n tic a l to o u r rec o m m en d a tio n . J However, these projections appear to be in part ; a c h ie v e d b y h ig h e r p ro je c te d G D P g row th > fuelled by a buoyant economy. ; R u n n in g u p to th e b u d g e t, C a n a d a 's | -C h artered A cc o u n tan ts h ad also blo w n the ; whistle on bracket creep and urged the federal governm ent to elim inate it immediately. ! W e a p p la u d th e fe d e ra l g o v e rn m e n t fo r ! e lim in a tin g b ra c k e t c re e p by re sto rin g full I indexation to the Canadian tax system . It's a ;io n g -o v e rd u e an d m u c h -n e e d e d stru c tu ra l ; change to the system. T he governm ent has also ! ;im p lem en te d o u r re c o m m e n d a tio n th a t the J m iddle marginal tax rate be reduced from 26 to ' -24 per cent this year. We are disappointed that the am ount allo cated to reduce the debt this year is only $3 billion rather than the $5 billion we recom m ended. G o in g fo rw ard , w e en co u rag e the governm ent to allocate half o f each year's sur plus to debt reduction. Reducing the debt will free up funds for further tax cuts and other ini tia tiv e s to e n h a n ce p ro d u ctiv ity an d m ake Canada more competitive. The federal budget diverges from recom m e n d a tio n s m ad e by C a n a d a 's C h a rte re d A ccountants on tw o points: the five-per-cent surtax on high-incom e earners and program spending. CA's are disappointed by the governm ent's proposal to phase out the five-per-cent surtax over the next five years rather than eliminate it today. The objective o f the five-per-cent surtax was to eliminate the deficit, and that objective has been achieved. The federal governm ent's budget allocation for program spending o f $3 billion in 20002001 is double the $1.5 billion recom m ended by CAs. To free up increase, sustained, long-term funding for a wide range o f programs to bene fit all C anadians, accelerated debt reduction should be a key priority. So far, we have seen no com m itm ent to debt reduction beyond the $3 billion contingency reserve which has been a feature o f recent federal budgets. Guylaine Saucier, FCA Chair, CICA Roger Ashton, CA CICA TAxation Committee "cau se" has not been addressed adequately, i.e. player salaries. G overnm ent subsidization w o u ld be a t b e s t, B a n d -A id tre a tm e n t -- surgery is required. T he solution is a salary cap -- it w orks for the very successful N.F.L. I subm it that a generous cap on any play e r 's basic salary be $1 ,0 0 0 ,0 0 0 p er season. Performance bonuses could be negotiated to a m axim um o f a further $1,000,000 per season. U nder perform ance might cause a claw -back o f basic salary. A m inim um but generous per cen tag e o f th e n et p ro fit o f ea ch fra n ch ise should be channeled to am ateur or semi-professional leagues. The above figures are exam ples only. The fran ch ise ow ners sh o u ld co llectiv ely d eter mine the actual cap on any player's rem unera tion in the league such that: a) ticket prices would be affordable for m ost fans giving rise to sold-out arenas resulting in better conces sion profits, and a m ore exciting atm osphere for fans and players; b) owners would receive a re a s o n a b le re tu r n on th e ir in v e s tm e n t; c) funds would be provided for developm ent o f ju n io r talent to ensure future high calibre Canadian players in the N .H .L.; and d) players would be realistically remunerated. I truly believe that the rem u n eratio n cap com b in ed w ith incom e from en d o rsem en ts, other incom e, and potential for post-playing career em ploym ent would adequately and rea sonably rew ard players for th eir talents and services. Players w ho feel otherw ise should channel their careers into another discipline in their form ative years. In c o n c lu sio n , le t m e say th a t I am an ardent N.H.L. fan and greatly adm ire the tal ents o f the vast majority o f its players but let's get real. Steve Doherty P ud WHATS THAT PAPER, SAMMY? by Steve Nease Peter D. Pellier "t e n super Foods'5 ' T e n Fo o d s YOU SHOULD EAT> THAT TASTE Hey/ we Mve ^ >7 MOSfOFTHEH -WHAT'S OM / t e f (SOODBUT ARE BAD VioW ! WE HAVE ALL OpTHOSE/ Historical S ociety apology We have been advised that some o f the information pub lished in the "Beaver" on Feb. 23rd, the Heritage Supplement, and derived from an Oakville Historical Society Newsletter o f Dec. 1999, is in error. The error is in the final segment o f our Newsletter article, w hich stated: "We understand B lock 110 may once again change owner, and residences replace business." This refer ence is to the " S h ark ey 's" estab lish m en t. We h av e been advised that our understanding was incorrect, and that use o f it in the "Beaver" has resulted in inconvenience to the Sharkey's restaurant. We very much regret that this has happened, and apologize to the owners for their inconvenience and concerns. THE BACK? JoR YoU." H.L. Buxton For the Oakville Historical Society