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i 6 The Canadian Statesman, Bowmanville, July 3,1985 Section Two Comment Now You Can Keep Your $$ Believe it or not, you've spent the past six months working for the government. government. But from now 'til January, you can keep what you earn. That's because July 1 was "Tax Freedom Day" in Canada. It corresponds corresponds to the day on which the average average Canadian has labored long enough to pay off his tax load to various levels of federal, provincial, provincial, and local government. It's a very graphic way of illustrating illustrating j ust how deeply the government digs into the wallet of John Q. Public. Public. According to The Fraser Institute in Vancouver, B.C., the average Canadian faces a tax rate of 49.8 per cent on each dollar that he earns. So, translated into months of the year, that means a typical Canadian has to work until July 1 before he has paid his debt to the government. government. Incidentally, that date is much later than it was in previous years -- evidence of the increasing bur den on the Canadian taxpayer. Naturally, Tax Freedom Day varies from province to province. In Ontario we're relatively lucky because because our debt-free day fell on June 22 of this year. In Alberta, residents will have to work until August 28 to pay the tax man what is due. (Although (Although natural resource taxes do lighten the load somewhat for Albertans). Albertans). Prince Edward Island has the earliest tax-free day. Residents of that province begin pocketing their own money after May 11. All in all, this is a very vivid way to show the public the true extent of government costs. But think about how long it takes to get the monkey of government debt off our backs. Six months of a year is a long time to work for the government. Perhaps it's time to ask ourselves whether we are getting value for the money. Now What Will They Do? The report cards have been handed out. The blackboards have been erased and the school buses have been parked for a two-month rest. The kids have been officially turned out to pasture for the July and August holidays. Summer is officially officially underway. It goes without saying that this is the time of the year for motorists to pay extra attention to youngsters at play on the streets or sidewalks. And it's time to make the added effort effort to ensure that the summer is generally accident-free. But the topic of summer holidays also causes us to wonder about the availability of recreational activities activities for those who are too young to get a job and too old to spend their summers entirely in the back yard. Many readers will recall that there used to be extensive recreation recreation programs offered in municipal municipal parks for youngsters of grade school age. And there were numerous numerous summer school courses at the Bowmanville High School -- courses which not only educated but also entertained. Certainly the opportunities for summer activities have declined over the last five to ten years. This summer there are activities at the Visual Arts Céntre and there are programs offered by the YWCA in the form of day camps. Some churches offer summer activities and, of course, there are the usual baseball and soccer leagues as well as a good swimming program. We might also add that the libraries have a number of reading programs and special activities lined up for the long hot days of summer. Nevertheless, there is nothing available available which would compare to the municipal recreation program or the board of education summer school activities. If we recall correctly, it seems as though the reason for the disappearance disappearance of municipal and school board recreation programs goes something like this. The municipality gradually pulled out of the daily recreation programs in park playgrounds because because it was losing business to the school board. The school board, in turn, abandoned abandoned most of the summer school activities such as sports, rocketry, horseback riding, and art because provincial subsidies dried up. Parents, Parents, therefore, were unable to pay the full price of a summer school general interest course. Are we faced with a lot of students students that have nothing to do this summer? Only the parents can answer that question. It may be that youngsters are able to amuse themselves without without the formal programs which have been offered in the past by government agencies. Or, on the other hand, a large number of kids may be facing a long, hot summer. Sam at Queen's Park On June 18th the government government of Premier Frank Miller was defeated in the Legislature Legislature as the result of a vote of non-confidence by the two opposition parties. Was this vote necessary? I do not think so. To my mind the results of the May 2nd election showed that the people of Ontario wanted to see all three political political parties have a degree of influence on government policy. No one party was given a clear mandate to govern, making compromise the chief goal of the legislature, To achieve that goal, Premier Premier Miller introduced a comprehensive comprehensive Throne Speech taking in the strong points of each party's campaign, This Speech proposed to create 200,000 new jobs, encourage the construction of more affordable affordable housing and improve healthcare-all without any major tax increases. At the local level, we have seen an announcement by the Ministry of Industry and Trade to create a $300,000 innovation centre at Durham College in Oshawa to strengthen strengthen the links between skill training programs and local business needs. In addition, Durham will be among the 22 community colleges colleges of Ontario that will be receiving increased skill training funding for apprenticeship, apprenticeship, skill training, technical technical upgrading, business and career action plans. Durham will benefit by more than $3 million from this increased funding. Now, as you have probably already heard or read, the Liberal and NDP parties have agreed that there will be no motions of confidence against the new Peterson government for two years. Having become knowledgeable in the rules of our parliamentary democracy in recent weeks, I know that this agreement runs counter to the spirit of our system, It means that the new Peterson government, and the NDP, have given themselves a blank cheque to do whatever they want for the next two years. It remains to be seen what kind of government the new Liber- al-NDP alliance will bring to Ontario. I wish them well, however, I am more than a little concerned about the direction their policy takes. The Progressive Conservative Conservative Party of Ontario will remain vigilant and active. We will stand up for economy in government, balanced legislation legislation and respect for the sound traditions of parliament that have served our province well over the past two hundred hundred years. On a personal note, I would like to thank the students of grade six at Ontario Street Public School in Bowmanville for their kind letter. I had given the students a provincial flag and some pins for an exchange visit they had with students in the Province of Quebec. According to their letter, the exchange trip was a wonderful experience. I'd like to thank the students, students, and their teacher Jean Marchand, for writing me and telling me how things worked out! Canadian Statesman Durham Counly'i Greet Family Journal 623-3303 Eitabllehed 130 years ago In 1854. Alao Incorporating The Bowmanville News The Newcaitle Indépendant The Orooo News Second claéa/nall registration number 1581 Produced every Wednesday by THE JAMES PUBLISHING COMPANY LIMITED 62-66 King SI. W„ Bowmanville, Ontario L1C 3K9 (*ck U L ► JOHN M. JAMES Editor -- Publisher GEO. P. MORRIS Business Mgr. BRIAN PURDY Advertising Mgr, RICHARD A. JAMES Assistant Publisher DONALD BISHOP Plant Mgr. All layouts end composition ol advertisements producsd by the employees ol The Canadian Statesman, The Newcastle Independent and The James Publishing Company Llmlled are proteclsd by copyright and must not be reproduced without written permission of the publishers. 115,00 a year -- 6 months M 00 etrktly In advance foreign - $45.00 a yaar Although pvniy pmcmilion will bn token to «void onor. Tim Cnimtlum r.tntP'imim Accepta nfJvcitnmg m nn columns on the unili'ifilrtndino lh«| H will not bo liable lor nny error In Itm ndvmlif.omont published hereunder unless « proof ol such wlvedisemenl is roquonled In willing hy Urn ndvnihser nnd relumed In Itm CenmJuin titnlvsmnn business ollicn duly signed try the miveilisei nnd with such error or cnriortlonn plainly noted m willing thereon, nnd in Huit cnr.o if nny eimr so noted in not corrected hy Urn Cnnndinn îîtnlesrwm ils li.ihiiily ntuill not eiceed such « portion ol llm entire rosl of nut li ndverlislmenl n.n llm space occupied by Itm noted error hems to the whole spine occupied hy such ndvofiini'menl * Popular Spot During Holiday Weekend SUGAR and SPICE Whether or Not Rill Smiley We Canadians are a queer lot. I'll bet there's no other country in the world where people talk so much about the weather. You know what it's like in winter. Go to a party or any social gathering. If everybody is sitting around rather awkwardly and things don't seem to be warming up, just mention heating. In five minutes, the people \yho were sitting there moments ago staring at each other's feet with painful smiles are animatedly discussing coal, wood and oil furnaces, kitchen stoves, insulation, cold east winds. They'll go on for hours, and both men and women are fascinated, not by the heating experiences of others, but in a frenzy of impatience to tell you about their own. For eight months of the year we go around telling each other it's awfully cold for this time of year. We complain bitterly if the weather doesn't become semi-tropical in April, though we should know perfectly well from past experience that it won't. Along toward the first of July, we suddenly get a little hot spell. Nothing desperate. Just a little warm weather, stuff that people in the tropics would sneer at. So what do we do? Do we cast off oür woollens with joyous cries? Do we have a big fete, dancing in the streets and sacrifices of thanksgiving offered to old Sol? Do we really get out and loll around in that wonderful heat we've waited for so long? Not we. We go around complaining even more bitterly than we do in winter. We take it as a personal affront. We get a harassed, hectic look. If we live in the city, we dodge from one air-coolem building to another (inevitably catching our death of cold in one of them), and when the weekend comes, rush madly off in all directions. We greet each other with anguished looks and "hot, ain't it?" Some people try to fight fire with firewater. They convince themselves with remarkable ease that a long, cool one will solve the entire heat problem. It's like pouring gasoline on a small blaze. After half a dozen long, cool ones, they're exuding more moisture than they're taking in. So they blame the weather. Most of the preceding remarks have been about the adult male population. I must admit that women and kids stand up to the heat a lot better. Big reason, of course, is their attire, or lack of it. Small children have less clothing on them in this weather than there is in the handkerchief their old man totes around in his hip pocket. Women, whose name is vanity, are interested in acquiring a tan, so expose every possible inch and ounce to the dazed gaze of the men. Women's summer garments, if they avoid slacks like the plague, are a delight to the eye, and the ultimate in common sense. Maybe that's why ladies don't sweat, but just perspire. Not so the men. Unless they're on their holidays, they face the heat with a surly lack of compromise that is admirable, if rather stupid. Most of them wear the same clothes they do in winter except for overcoat and jacket. A few sneakily remove their tie and some of the more degenerate roll their shirt-sleeves up, but that's about as far as they'll go. Vast majority of men wear heavy leather shoes, wool socks, long trousers made of wool or flannel and heavy shirts. They also wear underpants, which cannot be said of everybody in summer, or even in the family. One more thing that makes a man miserable in the heat is the amount of junk he has to carry in his pockets. In cool weather he can spread it around in jacket and top coat pockets. But when he has only trousers pockets in which to carry cigarettes, handkerchief, lighter, coins, car keys, wallet, pencils, bills, envelopes, bank-book, sinkers, pipe and about fifty other essentials, he looks about the shape of an old tree, covered with fungus. A dame can carry twice as much, but she has it all rammed in a purse, and slung over her shoulder. Hot weather is not for men. They should be all given six weeks off in the summer, while the scantily clad women and children keep things going. The men won't be happy until they sniff the first nip of fall in the air, and can start grumbling-about the cold and what it costs to heat the place. ' OTTAWA REPORT ' By the Hon. Allan Lawrence M.P. ^ (Durham - Northumberland) ^ For anyone involved or interested in politics and government, government, these past 12 months have been extremely busy and exciting. In thinking back over all that has happened during that time, one has to be somewhat amazed at the profound changes which have taken place, It's the opening of a new chapter in our history. It seems rather hard to believe believe that just a year ago at this time John Turner was taking over from Pierre Trudeau Trudeau as Prime Minister, a federal election was expected, and there was much speculation speculation about the outcome. Within the past six months, provincially we've seen changes of premiers and an election which left the Ontario picture considerably more unsettled unsettled with a new government than we've become accustomed accustomed to over the previous four decades. No doubt many of you have had your fill of politics and élections for now. If so, you should be warned that one item is still on your plate, There'll be local municipal elections next November, and campaigning should start In earnest around September, After that, we should be clear of elections for at least u couple of years-unless another provincial one is culled 1 From a federal viewpoint, I believe these past 12 months, have been" excellent for Can ada. A new government was elected in September, with a mandate for the significant changes it now is making. For virtually all governments governments today, economics is the governing consideration. That certainly is the case at Ottawa, Ottawa, where almost every decision decision must be made with an eye on how it will affect the huge federal deficit and the financial burden it imposes on us all. That was shown in the Finance Finance Minister's statement last November and again in his budget last month. The government lias set out to turn the economy around and to stimulate the development so badly needed to create new jobs. Yet all those actions to some extent are constrained by tiie need to reduce the enormous public debt, for which the interest alone is eating up one-third of your own personal tax payments. As Prime Minister Brian Mulroney told nn audience a few days ago, nothing would please him more than to bo able to announce reduced taxes and increased social welfare benefits-und some day lie hopes to do so, But such action now would bring financial financial disaster, Playing fust and loose with federal finances, as we have learned In recent years, leads to mounting inflation and higher interest ruttis-fvom which no groups suffer more than the economically disadvantaged disadvantaged and those living on fixed incomes. Even within those constraints, constraints, this government has brought many welcome changes. changes. We have a new era of enlightenment at Revenue Canada through the Taxpayers' Taxpayers' Bill of Rights. A major program was launched to reduce reduce the ravages of acid rain. A new Divorce Act and legislation legislation to enforce support and custody order is before Parliament, Parliament, Consumers and small business business stand to benefit from revision of the laws governing financial institutions. Women and visible minorities are being given tetter job opportunities opportunities in businesses under federal jurisdiction. Spousal allowance benefits are being extended to some 85,000 low- income widows and widowers in the 60 to 64 years age bracket. Locally there arc two developments developments since the federal election that I particularly want to mention. First, VIA Rail passenger service has teen restored to the northern part of our area. I'm hopeful increasing numbers will again use this train and justify Ils continued operation. Secondly, we have finally got federal authorities to lake a close look at our radioactive wastes problem in Port Hope, Hope Township and Newcastle. Newcastle. One of tiro federal mini sters concerned visited the area in March and another will come during the summer. This is a promising start towards towards something we have never before been able to achieve-a workable program for removing these wastes forever. That's a significant beginning beginning during your federal government's government's first 10 months in office, and we can look forward forward to much more, especially especially as the economy improves. improves. This will be my last Ottawa Report to you for now. With Parliament recessing at the end of June I'll be returning to catch up on my local duties amongst you in Durham- Northumberlànd. I hope to see many of you personally during the summer, and hear your views on some of the things I've mentioned, I would like you to note that our annual Durham-North- umberland Barbecue will be on Wednesday, August 28th, at the Devil's Elbow Ski Area, just north of Bethany in Man- vers Township. We'll look forward forward to seeing you there, Eakins to Head Tourism John Eakins, M.P.P. for Victoria-Haliburton, was sworn in June 2titii by Premier David Peterson as the now Minister of Tourism and Recreation, Since 1975, Mr. Eakins' position position as Opposition Critic for the Ministry of Tourism and Recreation mid the former Ministry of Industry and Tourism Tourism has allowed him to follow closely, and become a spokesman spokesman for, many of the ministry's ministry's important issues, He Ims, for instance, focused on luxation issues as they affect the tourism industry and on (lie interconnection between tourism, recreation, transportation transportation mid the environment. environment. "My role ns critic for fills ministry lias provided me with knowledge which will be an Invaluable asset as I work for Ontario's tourism Industry," said Mr. Eakins, "1 am pleased to assume this leadership leadership when the Ontario tourism industry is facing such a positive positive future," Mr. Eakins has also closely followed such recreation concerns concerns as fish restocking and fishing licences, closer tics with municipalities in sports and fitness and ministry involvement involvement in privatization of provincial parks. "1 look forward lo meeting and working with the members members of fhe Recreation Division," Division," Mr. Eakins said, "Their contribution to recreation, sports and fitness significantly significantly enhances the health and social well-being of On- larlmis throughout the province," province," Mr. Eakins' career in Ontario Ontario politics begun with his election to the Ontario Legislature Legislature in 1975, He Ims teen Opposilion Critic for the mini stries of Industry and Tourism, Tourism, Natural Resources and Tourism and Recreation. As well, he has served us Member Member of the Select Committee on the Ombudsman and as Chairman Chairman of the Liberal Rural Municipalities Tusk Force. Before entering provincial politics, Mr. Eakins served the Town of Lindsay for several several years as Councillor and Mayor. He is the past president president of the Towns and Villages Villages Municipal Association of Ontario. Mr. Eakins is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Royal Canadian Canadian Legion as well as an honourary member of (lie Lindsay Pipes and Drum Band, He is the past governor of Sir Sandford Fleming College College In Peterborough. Mr. Eakins resides In Lindsay, Lindsay, Ontario, He lias three children,