CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER ASSOCIATION CANADIAN CIRCULATIONS CNA DIVISION AUDIT BOARD 25,500 COPIES DELIVERED WEEKLY Published every Wednesday by 677209 Ontario Inc. Box 206, 131 Brock St. N., Whitby, Ontario L1N 5S1 Phone: 668-6111 Toronto Line: 427-1834 Fax: 668-0594 Doug Anderson - Publisher Maurice Pifher - Editor Alexandra Martin - Production Manager Printed on newsprint with minimum 20% recycîed content using vegetable based inks. How about an apology To the EdItor: On May 9, Bill Brant was wrongly charged by an overzealous Town of\ Whitby bylaw officer for selling floWers. Brant told' the bylaw officer he was a downtown business person; he had his sign up to advertise that he was a local business. He offered to walk her around the block and show her his store but she insisted she was right and he was wrong and continued writing out his summonds. Brant's day in court was set for June 7. The Town knew from the beginning that Mr. Brant should not have been charged but waited until June 4, as late as possible in the afternoon, to let him know via the grapevine that the charge had been dropped. No one from the Town approached Mr. Brant personally, no apology was made and no error was admitted. It was shabby, disgusting treatment, from the farce of being charged in the beginning, right through to the tacky end when a message was sent by several people to let him know the case was dismissed. I've seen more class on the Gong Show. Mr. Brant then phoned the bylaw officer to see if this was in fact true and asked to have the message in writing. She refused. Not once did she back down or admit her error. Mr. Brant went to court on June 7 anyway, curious to see what would happen to the others who had been summoned. When the bylaw officer saw him there, she put him through the humiliation of being dragged up in front of the judge; the charge was formally dismissed and then they as much as told him to get lost. On June 10, Mr. Brant received a letter from the bylaw off icer, off icially telling him the Town had withdrawn the charge. They still would not admit they were mn error. Rather they stated in the closing paragraph that the bylaw is going to be changed. .Since the Mother's Day fiasco, there have been countless street vendors on the corners, in the parking lots, harassing people getting out of their cars at the Beer Store. They are selling out of the backs of trucks and out of the trunks of their cars. Thy core tram out of town wth bags and books and CDs and watches and go door to door trying to sel to downtown merchants on a daily basis. On Mother's Day weekend, Henry Street High School was warned to shut down or be charged. They were selling flowers for a fundraiser. The very next weekend, R.A. Sennett Public School had a blockbuster sale of plants. No one stopped them. How can one school be threatened one weekend and yet another be allowed to do the same thing the next weekend? I think Mr. Brant deserves an apology, both from the Town of Whitby and from the bylaw officer who should be made to take the book home and read it before she is allowed to write any more useless summons at the taxpayer's expense. Karyn Seguin Whitby B soin By Craig Docksteader The Canadlan Taxpayers Federation The fact that Canadian governments are racking up debt at an astonishing rate is becoming common knowledge to most Canadians. But what has been unclear is how Canada stacks up in relationship to the rest of the world. If we took all the countries of the world and examined their total government debt levels relative to the size of their economies, where would Canada place? In an attempt to answer this question, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation recently conducted a study comparing total government debt levels of 174 world economies, 12 of which were Canadian provinces and territories. Using methodology adapted from the World Bank, the study ranks these geographical regions in terms of total government indebtedness as severely indebted, moderately indebted or less Red ink flows indebted. The results of the study are shocking. Ail 10 Canadian provinces meet the conditions necessary to be deemed severely indebted, and all are facing a worsening trend in total government indebtedness. A total of 56 countries and provinces fall into the severely indebted category (SIC), qualifying their inclusion on thé appropriately entitled 'SIC list.' This means that Canada's total government debt levels are now more severe than what citizens face in nations such as Argentina, Burundi, Poland, Mexico and Brazil. As incredible as this may seem, it is the unfortunate reality. But the bad news doesn't stop there. While countries such as Argentina and Mexico are facing an improving trend in total government indebtedness, the trend is worsening for every Canadian province and for Canada as a whole. This means that, over time, Argentina and Brazil will move off the severely indebted category list to the moderately indebted NURSING CO-OP student Debbie Nelson day; watched by fellow student Erin Baxter checks out a muscle strength tester at a (Ieft) and physiotherapy student Robin recent Whitby General Hospital career Simon. Photo by Mark Reesor. Whifby Free Press category, if present trends continue, while Canada will progressively move up the list. As Robin Richardson, national research director and chief economist with the CTF points out, this is not a study of wealth, income levels or prosperity, but rather a study of total government indebtedness. He mentions that, "Because income levels of the countries and provinces do vary, the ability of citizens to repay government debt, while maintaining necessary government infrastructure, will also vary." , , But while this means that the social impact of severe government debt cou'd be greater on lower-income countries than on high-income countries such as Canada, it provides little comfort to taxpayers who must pick up the tab. "The results of this study are particularly troubling because Canadian governments are doing little to stem the flow of red ink," says Richardson. "Canadians should be very concerned about the levels of debt governments are racking up in their name. Borrowed dollars are expensive dollars and lead to rising tax burdens." Once again, taxpayers are faced with the inevitable reality that legislated limits must be placed on government borrowing and taxation. Politicians of every political stripe have shown themselves to be unwilling or unable to impose fiscal discipline upon themselves and balance their budgets. Balanced budget legislation should be introduced at every level of -government prohibiting governments from borrowing unless they first receive permission from voters. Taxpayers' protection legis- lation is also necessary to protect taxpayers from ever-increasing tax burdens. In addition, voters must be given the right to initiate referendums that would be binding on their government. Naturally, measures of this kind are not foolproof, nor are they a miracle cure for all of Canada's problems. They are, however, receiving increasing support by taxpayers across partisan and ideological lines simply because, if thoughtfully and carefully implemented, such measures will make it far more difficult for politicians to be fiscally irresponsible. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Page 6, Whitby Free Press, Wednesday, June 16, 1993 The only Newspaper owned and operated by Whitby residents for Whitby residents! MEMBER OF: --e ONTARIO COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER ASSOCIATION CCNA