advertonal, September 27, 2000 ——MaAIL_L Box— c= College FUEL TAXES Commission fee hike way Take the starement that the reason for the recent recreation Dear Editor: fee increases is the result of the district zero budget with a grain of salt. The truth is chat the rec commission is out of control. The council representatives to the con:mission traditionally go along with the commission bureaucracy because to do otherwise costs dearly. That was clearly evident during the last election. You are not on the commission very long if you challenge anything the bureaucracy dishes out. T always thought that the commission was doing a good job when it comes to providing programs but, when it comes to running the commission like a business, they are failing short. ; The rec commission told the district council at budget time that the gap between raising fees and not raising them was $59,000. Since the average increase in fees appears to be 30%, except for seniors for which it is 50%, and the total income from fees is $2.5 million, I calculated that 30% of $2.5 million is $750,000. Now i in my book $750,000 is quite a bit more then $59, 000. Some $59,000, out ofa $14 million budget, in my opinion, is so small it could have easily been made up through a little bet- ter management by the commission. Those who are familiar with the commission will surely agree with me. When I -recently asked the commission representatives appearing before council whether they ever had an independent _ outside audit they could not answer the question. Clearly, it was ‘ Outside their comprehension. When I asked them how much money they hoped to raise thorough the additional fee increas- es, they could not answer that either. When I asked them the cost for the many thousands of overprinted programs now sit- ting in the offices collecting dust they said they did not lose any money because the more programs you print the cheaper they are, +. The situation will not change until the two North Van . council dogs wag the rec commission tail again instead of the other way around. But this is not likely to happen with the pre-" sent district leadership. <<) That the commission raised fees for seniors more then for anyone else when many. of them are on- fixed and limited come and exercising is of crucial importance shows the level f understanding the commission has for public health. The ‘alternative to keeping fees down will be more doctor _ visits. That will be a lot more expensive. What the commission ; Witeds is'a shakeup but this will not happen as long as run-of- the-mill politicians are afraid of the commission or hope that public recreation will give way to private recreation altogether. ‘Methinks that is what some of them are really after. And with that Trest my case. ' : Ernie Crist, Councillor - The North Vancouver Chamber of Commerce cnaW YOUR als | intemet 101: Let’s Taiki October 5th, 7:30 am ©. Speaker: Mr. Mike Agerbo. ; From Dave Chalk’s Computer Show _ ~ Sponsored by ‘ meridex & e-Commerce Toolkit: A How To October 19th,: 7:30 am Speaker: Mr. Clay: Braziller President of Triumph Communications : “21 st Century Marketing “November 2nd, 7:30 am : Speaker: Mr. Fred Armstrong | Publisher of the Maple Ridge Times : _Spansered by. ue TICKETS:725" ach (or 60" for all three sessions) © Cal t0 book today! “987-4488 Seating is limited www.nvchamber.be.ca The new Leader of the Canadian Alliance, Stockwell Day, made fuel taxes the subject of his first series of questions in the House of Commons last week. In addition, the Canadian Alliance forced the Liberal Government into a full day of debate on the subject on Thursday, September 21st. There was plenty of rhetoric during the debate from NDP members, who blamed the oil companies, rather than J governments, for high fuel prices. But is it teally corporations, or governments, which exert the most contro! over the price of gasoline? WHO IS TO BLAME It is OPEC, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Note: Not Corporations) which has the most 4 obvious influence on world oil prices. The governments of OPEC supply the bulk of our nesds, but they also decide how much oil to release on to the market, thereby exercising enormous control over the price per barrel. If the oil market was driven by § corporations, rather than governments, there would be true competition amongst producers, and oil prices would almost certainly be well below $20 per barrel, instead of close to $35 as they are today. In addition, if a group of corporations were controlling the supply and prices the way OPEC does, laws would swiftly be passed ft to break up their monopoly. Contro! of the basic price by OPEC is not the end of the story, of course. Once the oil has been refiried into gasoline our federal and provincial governments tack on excise taxes, sales taxes, trans- portation levies, and then GST on top of everything — a tax on taxes. These taxes “make up about 45% of the retail price, meaning that a 78 sent liter of gasoline would be more like 40 cents without the s taxes. The ail companies take a few cents per liter in profits, but they have to pay taxes on their profits so the government rake-off is even higher than calculated at the pump. The real villains then, are our governments, which have added taxes on 4 to gasoline, year after year, until their greed has finally caught up with them. QUESTIONS IN THE HOUSE Stockwell Day quickly discovered that § getting meaningful answers out of the Prime Minister with respect to gas’ taxes during Question Period was not going to be easy. Here is the Hansard record of his - fifth question to Mr Chretien last Tuesday, after he had tried four times to get an | admission that fuel taxes are too high. Mr. Stockwell Day (Leader of the Cpposition, Canadian Alliance): Mr. 5 Speakers, I see now why they call this question period and not answer _| period. “IT would like to suggest that maybe the problem is not that he (The Prime i Minister) does not care but that he does not know what his constituents .are going through paying the price at | the pumps. <7 Can the Prime Minister tell us what ,. the price of gasoline is currently in his’ riding of Saint-Maurice? (Emphasis added for clarity.) _ “| Right Hon. Jean. Chretien (Prime- Minister, Lib.}: Mr. Speaker,. everyone knows that the price. of oif has | increased . considerably over . the ; summer. Everyone realizes that this is _a@ problem. Ai this point, the Minister ‘Ted White; M.P. ;:#302-1200 Lytin, Valley Road, North Vanco of Finance and the government want to meet with provincial governments and discuss a collective solution with them, while at the same time making sure that the system works well and that the government can continue with its agenda to promote economic growth and reduce taxes. Reducing taxes will heip consumers afford goods whose costs have unfortunately | gone up in recent months. Immediately after responding to this question, the Prime Minister hurried out of the House, presumably to make sure that someone called a gas station in his Riding to check the price. It appeared, from his demeanor and answer, that he did not have the faintest idea how much his constituents were paying for a liter of gasoline. MISLEADING THE HOUSE An excellent statements made during Question Period can create lasting false impressions with | the public occurred on Wednesday. Here is the record of the exchange. Mr. Stockwell Gay (Leader of the | Opposition, Canadian Alliance): As 7 understand it now, government is in a position to give money back to people, it says it cannot because it has to consult. However, when it wants to take money j away from people, as it did when it reduced health care to the provinces by 33%, and as it did when it raised the gas taxes in 1995, there is no | consultation. Will the Prime Minister please abandon this self-interested | policy and state clearly that his government will in. fact consumers to have a reduction in their taxes at the pump? : Right Hon. Jean Chretien (Prime Minister, Lib.): We have many options that we are looking into, but we have to go back to the fact that the increase in the price of oil in Canada has been caused by the tripling of the price of oil around the world, including those who produce oil in Alberta. °° | By the way, I would like to tell the House of Coinmmons that there was no tax on gasoline in Alberta when the Leader of the Opposition became a member of the assembly. He was the minister of finance for three years and there was a 9 cents a liter tax in Alberta. (Emphasis 7 added for clarity.) APOLOGY Mr Day demanded an apoiogy from Mr Chretien for the above remarks because he was NOT the Finance Minister of. : Alberta when Don Getty's government of the late 1980s implemented a gas tax. The § Liberals ‘claimed: that. no apology was needed, ‘and that Stockwell -is: too. thin: |. skinned, but. the records of the debates of Parliament now include a statement which incorrectly. * suggests . hat -.Mr.. Day- [> implemented | fuel" taxes. in’ ‘Alberta. f'm : willing to bet ‘that statement ends up being used in print : somewhere,. inadvertently or otherwise, as if it was ° fact, by pclitical opponents intending to discredit Stockwell. An oiecstion ts in the air, and as the Speaker of the House said at the opening of the first Question Period, "Let the games begin." uver,. B.C. .V7] 2 2A2 i ‘Tele is 666-0585. “Faxs 666-0509, ‘Anternet: http://w ww.reform.cafwhite-1 ‘Every Sunday featuring great _ healtts for good living. _ example of how | when the | allow” >. Author, Dionne Brand, reads at Capilano College The Women's Studies departinent presents a free lecture by poet, novelist and essayist, Dionne Brand, on Thursday, October 12 at 7:30 p.m. in the Cedar building, room 148. As part of the Thomas A. Dohm, Q.C. tecture series, this Canadian literary wonder will give selected readings ard a discussion of her work. Dionne is the author of Land to Light On, which won the Governor General's Award for Poetry, and the acclaimed novel, In nother Place Not Here, For details, call 986-1911, ext. 2467. & Don't miss this art sale and exhibit Drop by the Birch building at Capilano College on Saturday, October 7 or - Sunday, October 8 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. to de some early Christmas shopping. Graduated Perspectives is an alumni art sale to raise funds for scholarships for students . in the Studio Art and = Textile Arts programs. Also on exhibit will be the 12 Visions of the North Shore prints. Buy someone a special gift and support two terrific programs at the same time. Sy + > Abn at heart? ” With backcountry :. . adventures becoming 1 mo! and more popular, there an increasing need for”: ‘skilled ourdoor leaders. To find out.more about a career” in adventure tourism, come : to an information meeting for the Wilderness Leadership program on _. ~ Thursday, October 12 at” 7 pam. in the Cedar-- building, oom 134, or call. ; 984-4960. : > Be a Windows a Capilano College's snew - "part-time Windows Syste . Professional program begi this October. Participants _will gain a solid fouiidatio -in network administration in this 14- to 20-month. ‘certificate program. A~ * Windows 2000 operating | system course is also._; availabie for those “computing professionals who just want to upgrade from Microsoft Windows NT to Windows 2000. For details, :<: |° call 990-7871 or send . e-mail to- : : computing@capcollege.be. : CAPILANO. COLLEGE .