vam, we Mh, ee ee, es . Help Tre. fillen and I can't get up! _ PROVIDED YOU'RE not a _ Jarge corporation, a banker... or civil servant, Paul - Martin’s Monday budget ‘rated quite a deep sigh of Felief. : For the moment, that. “Ina “mance thé finance minister outlined “a three-year plan aimed at calming . down Canada’ 's offshore creditors, 4 while leaving us little people at’ _ home apparently almost unscathed. “No income tax hikes. No imme- . diate changes in Old Age Pensions or the Canada Pension Plan. Only “minor tinkering with RRSPs. © Changes i in UI, social programs and - transfers to provinces temporarily postponed pending the Quebec ref- ‘ erendum....'”. . ae The single bit of nastiness, als ‘cent per litre increase in the gaso- ° “line tax — adding around 65 cents ‘tothe’ cost of a $24 tankful. _ An exuberant Martin made full “use of numerous artful pre-budget leaks —a" valuable political tech- - nique that has now replaced the once sacrosanct principle of budget ‘secrecy. He confirmed what the leaks had forecast, but always with more favorable figures. ‘. “Thus, the leak about an added 2. . cent per litre gas tax turned out to. bé 25% too high: The speculated ‘ $25-billion deficit target for 1996- .97 dropped to $24.3 billion. A . leaked $12-billion savings goal ~. over the next two years fell well short of the $15.6 billion Martin 985-2131 (133) 1139 Lonsdale Avenue North Vancouver B.C. . V7M 2H4 North Shore Managed ae ee es _actually announced. And a predict- ed $5 in spending cuts for every $1 in taxes became a triumphant $7 in ,.cuts for every tax buck. _ The $975 head tax on immi- grants, the slashing of subsidies and the privatization of Crown cor- porations were all good news to’ John and Jane Taxpayer. a ‘And provided they work in the private sector, so also was the firing of 45,000 civil servants by 1997 — : 20,000 of them by next summer. . The only snag here being what 45,000 pink slips — the biggest- ever mass termination in Canada— will do to UI funds. . So much for smoke and mirrors. _ This 1995 budget fails to cope with reality. The announced cuts need to -. be doubled at the very least. As long as there’s ANY annual deficit, Canada’s killing debt will - keep on growing, further bloated _ by the law of compound interest. Mews View point O SHOES, new socks and some debt service. Finance Minister Paul Martin’s second Liidget took a serious first step on the road to paying down the country’s crippling $546-biilion national debt. But the step should have been far more dramatic, and it will only be beneficial in the long run if it is followed briskly by more steps down that same road. In delivering his budget on Monday, Mr. Martin dispensed with the traditional pair of new budget shoes, opting instead to wear a pair of new socks knitted from, budget yarn ends to underscore the new Liberal austerity measures, The socks helped move his fiscal feet in the right direction: $25.3 billion in federal gov- ernment spending cuts over the next three ‘years; the elimination of 45,000 federal civil "service jobs, or 14% of the country’s civil ser- By 1997, when Martin plans to have reduced the deficit to $24.3 ~ billion — the debt itself will have soared to more than $600 billion. At this rate it would take at least three to four more years to elimi- nate the deficit. By which time the debt would be approaching $700 billion — with annual interest pay- ‘ ments of over $50 billion. Yet Martin has produced no plan for balancing the budget. Indeed, he’s even hinted we might eventually coust along with a deficit of around $20 billion — and to hell with the debt and compound - interest. For Canada to escape bankrupt- cy and a Third World living stan- dard the deficit must END by 1997 — not merely | be shaved to $24.3 billion. ; How come the Grits always wind up with an nF grade in math? Dear Editor: i UNTIL MARCH 29 North Van - District Hall features an art show by Karin Bubas — a top 94 Sutherland grad now in Fine Arts at ‘ Langara. Meet her at the opening reception Thursday, March 2,-7:30- 9:30'p.m. ... And happy birthday Re: your editorial of Sunday, Feb. 12. I share your sentiments completely, but I must point out one error in reasoning. You object" / to pensions for MPs who fail to listen to constituents or to- take their concerns to Ottawa. Canada, sad to say, is not a- republic, We labor. under an‘ archaic, if widespread, parlia-. ‘ mentary form of government. Our “masters” have only permitted us —.up until the last election,’any-, way — to “choose” from among - three’. predetermined, - obsolete, and thoroughly corrupted politi- cal establishment machines. The candidates elected to: office were interchangeable and : indistinguishable since a majority ‘t government pursues its own inter- ests and those of its friends with ~ impunity 2 and nO legal obligation i ! | \ Evite er, a ' ‘ “Gihy AG p YALL AL LLDUE ATA BT LAAN RAINE LOAD MLE NALS ERP ALL IZED HM Se aallad EAP MEE TERA TCTEN LAS WA AREL RE METRES AYO COROT MSGR I vice, over the next three years; a projected reduction of the country’s $38-billion deficit - to $32.7 billion in 1995-96 and a further . reduction to $24.3 billion in 1996-97. : And no new personal income taxes. The last item will be widely applauded, but Mr. Martin had littie choice in the .matter* Any new taxes would have inspired full-scale taxpayer revolution from Newfoundland: to’ British Columbia. Canadian taxpayers. ‘have “ no more money left to waste on hare-brained : government spending projects. © Monday’ s budget was a positive start for a country in which the fleas have been maiiag- ing the dog for far. too long, but the federal»: government needs to finish what it has start- . ed: pulling the country back from the fiscal abyss. : ; And it needs to finish that Job 00) er’. rather than iater. 7 mailbox Time to rethink our parliamentary system to acknowledge the electorate. : - This, quaintly and curiously, is _referred to. as “parliamentary democracy”. " ue Only since the 1993. election have we witnessed in Ottawa the .” spectre of any party of substance »: allowing -free votes and ‘cen- ;- " stituency-driven representation as. a matter of policy. -.:.: As. long as the parliamentary . form endures in Canada, we will see MPs listening to us only when "and if parties such as Reform vol- untarily elect to dispense with the “constraints of “party discipline”. Almost end of: civics: lesson is about to become’a republic.:Do ‘they know anything we don’t? Or are. they just doing’ so iething about it? 0s . David Weiser ne West Vancouver’ . Friday, March 3, to Mt. Seymour Lion Dudley Kill. i eee WRIGHT OR WRONG — Three little words a man can never say too often to keep his marriage ' LETTERS TO the editor. ‘must: be legible (preferably typewritten) and - include your name, full address and. telephone number. ' Due, to space constraints the North Shore News cannot publish all letters. Published letters may be edited for brevity, Clarity, accuracy, legality and taste. : Submissions can be. “faxed” 985-2104, but still must be signe and fully addressed. ' Letters can also be sent - y puter. to. the. FirstClass, bulletin’, board system. The user, Di is mai '. Further, instructions’ are found in “News conference. ar: eRe NS ee ry Today it exceeds $542 billion. Chris Johnson Operations Manager 985-2131 (141) Nortit Shore News, founded in 1969 as an independent suburban newspaper and qualified under Schedule 111, Paragraph 111 of the Excise Tax Act, is published each Wednesday, ° Friday and Sunday by Nerth Shore Free Press Ltd. and distributed to every door on the North ” Shore. Canada Post Canadian Publications Mail Sales Product Agreament No. 0087238. Mailing fates. available on aquest. Submissions are welcome but we cannot accept responsibility for . Unsolicited material including manuscripts and pictures, which should be acecmpanied by a ‘stamped, self-addressed envelope. Tete. 8 Pe ee happy: “Let’s eat out.” . Timothy R Renshaw Managing Editor | - 985-2131 qd 16) Linda Stewart ° 980-0511 (319) Adiminestration | Display Advertising Real Estate Adve, ising Classified Advar'ising Newsroom ; Newsroom Voice Mail Distitutton Display & Steal Eetate Fax Newsroom Fax Classified, Accounting & Main Office Fax: ‘Sales & Marketing Director. Poter Kvamatrom 200-0511 4 (103), ; * 9pe-6222 (202) MEMBER . SDA’ DIVISION o -;, 61,582 (average ‘circulation, Wednesday, Friday & Sunday) “°° |) : ieee cerita telecine Riise Main AE a IO - Entire contents © 1995 North Shore Free Press Ltd. All rights reserved.~: