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C 16 | se To Ad \T s + wb $« n( ht s a . en 2 C i n h2 ,;:,:q.!'f w c 39 % / C o. FEBRuUARY 2 »~ ~y=»omm, 'Denies Cent Promised. |\ _ _A flat denial that he had ever made any such pledge was instantly o given by Premier Hepburn as he in-- 4 sisted that never, at any time, h,'d | he committed the Province to give | the municipalities one cent of the | I gasoline tax revenues. The half-- mill rebate of 1939, he declared, had been given by the Government voluntarily, and should not be mis-- construed as fulfillment of a pledge e which was never made. maseeasesaumeectemmmmene Controller Nora l'lend:;'son o'f = * Hamilton clashed repeatedly wit Enlistment Will Ease the Premier during yesterday's con-- i ference and took strong exception L Reliet Burden, Says to Mr. Hepburn's charge that Mayor - H.Pbu"\ to Mayors William Morrisoo. of that city had eb hee it on mm not come to Toronto to join with his fellow--mayors because he was not LOSE GAS TAX SPLIT 'in agreement with their protest. Wilkenrurncics | Fears Mayors Ungrateful. p ---- | _ The Premier expressed the belief Premier }{c:pburn y a'mcd tfie sc B that the mayors of Ontario too often tarie Mayors' Association yesterday | ( /o jncjined to accept Provincial that a drop of $8,000,000 in Provin-- Iassistancc without any demonstra-- cial revenue, together with increased _| tion of g;;atitiudc. iHe tpointfed :}t'xt ¥ R j . --| that the Province, in return for the ME (exP enditu.r eb. "lm?.a Pikg .l_ e¢ income tax revenues, had taken over 000,000, made it impossible for the the cost of old age pensions and Ontario Government to grant !9 | mothers' allowances, two items that municipalities the same half--mill | were growing larger and larger subsidy this year which they had | paopn year, received in 1939 from revenue on-- The Province had granted the mu-- tained by the two--cent increase iN | picjpalities a one--mill subsidy as gasoline taxation. s well, Premier Hepburn continued, Rejecting the request of Ontarl® | ang was also paying the cost of in-- mayors that the Government recon= | gigent tuberculosis patients. Cost sider its decision not to grant the \of mothers' allowances during the half--mill subsidy this year. Premier past five years had jumped from Hepburn expressed the convictionmt _ | s3 q31,000 to $5,096,000; indigent T.B. that enlistments and improvements lpa!ienl expenditures -- during -- the in industry would lower relief rolls _ | fiys; yeaer reached $1,603,000 and the during 1940 to the point where | province in 1940 was anticipating many Ontario municipalities would an _ expenditure _ of _ $2,400,000; be able to effect a saving on religt Queen's Park this year was budget-- e::nenditures equal to the half--mill ing for $1,000,000 less in income tax ,rebate +they had anticipated from revenue; old--age pensions would gasoline tax revenue. cost an additional $1,308,000; and The Premier stressed the IM* _ yn};1 the 40--40--20 unemployment re-- provement in the unemployment re«-- lief agreement was entered into by lief situation which he felt was soon the Dominion Government, Premier to be in evidence throughout the _ yropburn added, the Provincial ad-- entire Province because of the war. ministration had shouldered "the He recalled in particular the recent lion's share" of the relief burden in announcement of the Federal Min--« . qnparip, ister of Finance that Canada's war Not once during the conference effort would cost the nation $500-- _ ,;, premier Hepburn commit him-- 000,000 during the next year. self to a continuation of the one-- "If this war is to be as seriously mill subsidy in lieu of income tax. prosecuted as the Governments of . D. McNish, Asked by Controller J Great Britain and Canada would ; ipaliti in the Toronto, if municipalities have us believe," Premier Hepburn nt on one future could always cou declared, "there should not be a ill, Mr. Hepburn said he was single able--bodied man on relief in mlw'er'les.s to bind either the present this country. They should all be ab-- po future administration. sorbed either in the army or in °",,'B"u'; Il teil you what Pil do." industry. Premier Hepburn concluded. . "So Predicts Labor Shortage. long as I am Premier, I will see to The Premier told the Mayors at it that the municipalities are prop-- a conference held at Queen's Park erly reimbursed by the Province's yesterday afternoon that he agreed decision to take over the income tax entirely with the prediction made revenues." %: by E. A. Horton, Director of Un-- employment Relief, that 1940 would bring a 33 per cent decrease in the number receiving relief assistance in Ontario. . , "Before the year is out," Mr. Hep-- s burn added, "I believe there will be an actual shortage of labor in Can-- ada." Mayors from all parts of the Province had gathered at the Royal York Hotel cearlier in the day to draw up a statement in which they accused Premier Hepburn of having made "a definite pledge" to grant municipalities a one--mill subsidy from the increased gasoline tax. They insisted that the hal{--mill re-- bate granted in 1939 was but half of the total subsidy which the Prime Minister had promised them, and contended that total elimina-- tion of the subsidy in 1940 was a violation of the personal promise which Premier Hepburn had given k the municipalities. Mayor Stanley Lewis of Ottawa later read the statement to Premier Hepburn and pointed out that the Ontario Mayors' Association now urged that the pledges made, and * only partially carried out in 1939, be implemented in full with provi-- sion for this being made in the budget at present before the Legis-- htm' *