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6 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER Feb. 2, 1994 OPINION the applicable rate. The publisher reserves the right to categorize and reject advertising. in the event of typogra The Beaver, published every Sunday, Wednesday and Fridazi at 467 Rd., Oakville, is one of the Metroland Printing, Publishing Distributing Lid. group of suburban newspapors which includes: Ajaxâ€"Pickering News Advertiser, Bartie Advance, Brampton Guardian, Burti Post, Coliing#ood Connection, Etobicoka Guardian, Georgetown I V Acion Free Press, Ki , Lindsay This Week, Economist and Sun, Stoufivilie/Uxbridge Tribune, Milton Canadian Champion, Mississauga News, Newmarketâ€"Aurora Eraâ€"Banner, North York Mirror, Oakville Beaver, Orillia Today, Oshawa/Whitby This Week, Peterborough This Week, Richmond HiVThornhi/Vaughan Liberal, Scarborough Mirror. All material published in the Oakville Beaver is protected by copyright. Any lgrmducfion in whole or in part of this material is strictly forbidden without the consent of the publisher. i Ian Oliver Publisher Robert Glasbey Advertising Director Norman Alexander Editor Geoff Hill Circulation Director Teri Casas Office Manager Tim Coles Production Manager 467 Speers Road, Oakville, Ont. L6K 354 845â€"3824 Fax: 845â€"3085 Classified Advertising: 845â€"2809 Circulation: 845â€"9742 or 845â€"9743 Advertising is accepted on the condition that, in the event of a typographical error, that portion of the advertising space occupied by the erroneous item, together with a reasonable allowance for signature, will not be charged for, but the balance of the advertisement will be paid for at. | or services iphical error, advertising goods or services at the wrong price, goods not be sold. Advertising is merely an offer to may be withdrawn at any time. Tax watch fi s taxpayers, we‘ve seen it all before and heard it all before...federal finance ministers and bureaucrats saying that the country cannot tax workers any nore. And yet after every utterance to the contrary, these same finance minâ€" isters go before their federal or provincial citizens and tell them, dolefully, that they have no choice but to raise taxes. Turn the clock back to June of 1991 in the tiny city of Charlottetown, appropriâ€" ately enough the birthplace of Canada, and a meeting between provincial finance ministers and thenâ€"federalâ€"finance minister Don Mazankowski. The usual parochial provincial views were enunciated at the meeting but there was one overall theme...Canadians simply can‘t afford any more taxes. Much the same message was delivered to new Liberal finance minister Paul Martin in Calgary over the weekend. But just like Mazankowski, Martin will go back to Ottawa, claim his hands are tied and recommend the only way out of fiscal morass is to....increase taxes. Watch for it in Martin‘s budget that he hopes to hand down in a couple of weeks. We‘ve got a message for Mr. Martin. Don‘t do it! Canadians have just come through eight years of Progressive Conservative rule . that was supposed to be more fiscallyâ€"responsible. That didn‘t happen. Consider the Tory example. The size of the federal bureaucracy at about 223,000 remained stagnant during a time we were led to believe the reverse was happening. During the reign of King Brian, there was also a shift in bureaucratic focus from providing services to collecting taxes. Now, more than 16 per cent of federal public servants are engaged in some kind of tax collection function. Most finance ministers are not creative people and because of that fact, they always go the tax route. They‘re simply too thick to grasp the fact that the more you tax people, the more you hurt the economy, drive it underground and see less in tax revenue coming in. So it‘s no surprise to us that this is exactly what‘s happening both federally and provincially. 6 Ontario Treasurer Floyd Laughren, after hitting provincial taxpayers with the largest tax hikes in history, now says he can‘t guarantee there won‘t be more income tax raises coming. And why? Because there has been a sharp decline in tax revenue. See what we mean? The fact is that our national debt increases by $86,000 a minute. Consider this: in 1981 our debt was $91â€"billion and now it‘s hovering around $460â€"billion and the only way to make a dent in it is to cut spending. If the feds aren‘t up to the the task, debtâ€"servicing, thanks to compounding will soon completely cripple any federal government initiatives. Still, they don‘t and won‘t learn...maybe Martin will be the first. But we doubt it. One bright spot Tnere weren‘t many bright spots in the 30â€"13: Super Bow! loss of the Buffalo Bills at the hands of the Dallas Cowboys. After all, the team set a Super Bowl record in losing four straight games and another in losing to the same team in consecutive years. But it didn‘t start out that way, thanks to Oakville‘s Steve Christie. He was just about the only positive thing to happen in the game for the Bills. Christie set a Super Bowl record with a 54 yard fieldgoal in the first quarter. Too bad the kicker didn‘t get a chance to contribute in the second half of what was a 30 minute game for his team. But there‘s always next year! Dear Sir: I would like to thank you for giving me top priority in your newspaper. I was delightfully surâ€" prised that you deemed the issue of printed matter on a skateboard far more pressing and informational than that of the blackmarket trade Es of human body parts in countries such as Russia or Argentina, or of missing and abused children, or of the wars being fought for freedom to chose religion or choice of speech. I‘m sure that by now you can sense the tone of this letter, and though you may find it extremist in its expression, this is precisely what this matter boils down to... choice. If I could express to you in 2 â€" 3 paragraphs the intricacies of political correctness vs. censorâ€" ship, I would be a genius. Since I . don‘t claim to be, I will tell you * this much. I sincerely hope that most people would place more confidence and trust in the judgeâ€" ment of our youth than the people "CONCERNED" in this matter have thus far. A youth with a solid moral upbringing wouldn‘t take these graphics literally. Pointing the finger to art on a skateboard is merely a way to pass the buck in dealing with the problems ‘we‘ may be experiencing with youth. The boards mentioned in the article you printed have very speâ€" cific intent in the portrayal of their art. The intent, surprisingly enough, is not to encourage youth to tie up women, have sex in pubâ€" lic, or to kill cops, but rather to be aware of the seriousness of the issues that face their generation and encourage them to take action. If any reader would like an explaâ€" nation to the matter, I would be more than happy to enlighten them. I can be reached during norâ€" mal business hours at 111 Kerr Street. On the topic of business, I would like to impress that this is a democratic country allowing freeâ€" enterprise. The potential harm that your article may have caused to my business is very grave. Fortunately, the citizens of Oakville are not extremist or judgâ€" mental in their views and have seen it fit to overlook accusations made by your editorial. I won‘t deny that there is a difâ€" ferent culture to snowboarding and skateboarding. Nor will I refute that the art can be shocking. CD covers, comic books, and your local video store display very graphic art. But the difference between these and skateboarding/snowboarding is Another black Dear Sir: Is anybody listening? After reading in the newspaper . ie PHONE ALONE CALL845â€"5585 Artwork on boards isn‘t appalling says shop owner this: cultural and sexual accepâ€" tance. There is a status to this sport that is not only fashionable but an interpretation of what youth across North America share and face every day. Racial, sexual, religious preferences aren‘t whispered about, sex isn‘t dirty, and women definiteâ€" ly have equality and rights. EVERYBODY has a right to say and feel what they perceive as eye for post office and Ma Bell about the problem a person had with their attempt to get a passport by sending the document to Ottawa SPEAK YOUR MIND Got a gripe? Give us a call. Readers are invited to express their opinion on a topic of their choice by calling 845â€"5585, box 5250. All callers are allowed 45 seeâ€" onds to express their opinion and must provide their name, address and phone number for verification. A cross section of the responses will be published in next Wednesday‘s Oakville Beaver. The Oakville Beaver welcomes your comments. All letters must be signed and include the writer‘s address and phone number. Letters should be typed, doubleâ€"spaced and addressed to: Letters to the Editor, The Oakville Beaver, 467 Speers Rd., Oakville, Ont. ‘L6K 354 appropriate. Make responsible choices as a parent during the child‘s developmental stages and you won‘t have to worry that they‘ll become rapists, or sexists, or perverts, or cop killers, because they saw what you perceived as "appalling" artwork. Thank you. Davis Walsh Owner of Hustler Snowboards and the runaround they got, it reminded me of an incident I had with our post office this past week. In the establishment of my new travel office in Oakville recently, I used the post office for the distriâ€" bution of travel information into the community. They looked after my needs quite well and in followâ€" ing up wished to call them for furâ€" ther information. I was in Milton at the time and didn‘t have the phone number. I did have the number for the Milton office so called there and asked for the Oakville number and was told that they could not give it to me! This national compaâ€" ny was not able to give out the phone number. Wow! They did give the number for the postal pubâ€" lic relations department, a 800 number, so I called that and got somebody in Fredericton, N.B. who reiterated that they were instructed to not give out the numâ€" ber! Do you believe it â€" is anybody listening? Anyway, I hung up the phone very frustrated, decided to phone Bell Information in Oakville, and got the number. I made my call and did my business with them. Unbelievable! You think so? Well, would you like to hear the story about another national comâ€" pany, that same Bell Canada, and the frustration of trying to deal with them in putting the new phone system in the Oakville office. Well, that‘s another story for another day, but does it really matâ€" ter â€" is anybody listening? If my business operated with that kind of service and public relations, we would be long gone, long ago! Bruce Hood Town should buy trucks made here in Oakville Dear Sir: Ford Motor Company has been a cornerstone of our commuâ€" nity for many, many years. This company has paid millions of dollars in local taxes and services. It continues to support many local events and chariâ€" ties,even in these trying times. Most importantly, ‘Ford‘ Oakville has provided steady employment for many thousands of local residents. We must realize the importance the success of the Ford Motor Co. means to all of us. I find it extremely difficult to understand why this town conâ€" tinues to add competitors‘ vehicles to its fleets. Most recently, two new Dodge Ram pickâ€"ups were chosen, even though Ford‘s Ontario Truck Plant, which produces the number one best seller in North America, is located right here in Oakville. As an employee of this great company, and also a long term resident of Oakville, I find this action both insulting and disâ€" gusting. It‘s apparent whoever is making these decisions is desperateâ€" ly in need of a simple lesson in ethics. A. Foster Boaters politics don‘t mix Dear Sir: The recent cartoon of Bob Rae singing his little ditty while sitting in a submerged boat is, well, really quite offensive to boaters everyâ€" where. Although the Premier should, indeed, be invited to give up his day job in favor of singing (can it get much worse?). For a boater to be associated with Bob Rae and the NDP is like being associated with the Titanic. Like the Titanic, Bob Rae and the NDP, will sink on the first voyage, taking almost everyone with them. Maybe, Bob Rae could sing his song at the bottom of a greyy water holding tank with Ruth Grier and the rest of the effluent! Wayne S. Gra Role models The most admired individuals, their field, and the percentage of votes they received among collegeâ€" bound students of their gender Individual (field) Michael Jordan (basketball) Connie Chung (news anchor) Monica Seles (tennis player) Mario Cuomo (governor) Tori Spelling (actress) Bill Gates (entrepreneur) ) ) Patricia Schroeder (congress Luke Perry (actor areers Colleges NEA Graphic