\. knock on Doug from the Internet Dear Editor: First let me congratulate you on the admirable job you have undertaken with respect to your web site and newspa- per. As a teader, and surfer, I - return to you paper on a fairly regular basis and generally I enjoy it. AS a recent immigrant to British Columbia from Alberta I take strong excep- tion to, in fact I am sickened - by, the cowardly and sinister ‘drivel spewed by Doug Collins. Asa fifth-generation Canadian 1 respect my roots > from England, Germany, * Scotland and the Benelux. 5 Politically. 1° describe “ myself as_ slightly. right of . “Preston Manning, and | am a libertarian ‘of social con- science. I am also proud of “our constitutional monarchy. . My: late’ father fought © ‘sacism in the Second World was wounded three tm 5 and | decorated for his : My grandfather, was deco- 20 think the new two ‘doltar coin is ridiculous. Not only is a completely unneces- sery.’ denomination, worss, it’s expensive imprac- tical. ugly design . looks more like a'gns station token than'o rowd coin of the realm.” als Mason | leat Vancoay r 7 Wrong stuff. ‘Deer Editor: - Soto Nock Wright, in his Feb. 7 2 column concerning the ‘election of B.C.'s 31st ‘pre- -mier, uses the term “modern _ joumalese’ which my dictio- "nary defines as “a careless or faulty style of writing.” 1 quote from the article, ws “Clark has developed a lead- ~ “ership image brimming over with “the right stuff" (so, of “course, did Hitler, Mussolini | "and Stalin in the beginning).” “It is immaterial: whether “> Clark has the “right stuff” or “not, but 1 strongly resent the . warped, biased, deceitful and *” “underhanded “Wright stuff.” “implied in your references. ‘ This...article should. be -inserted in University jour- even rated by both Engiand, and France, as a flyer in the First World War. Your columnist besmirch- es their honor, the honor of all Canadian heroes and com- mon-folk by his very pres- ence on the Internet. He is not an example of true Canadian beliefs and by his demonstrat- ed exploitation of racist deviance, he offers nothing to the world commonwealth or local community. [ find it abhorrent that he uses the image of our country’s heroes as a pulpit for his poison. Your columnist should get out of the house, get out and see the world, or get out of the media before he corrupts the lives of many more. There are better ways to sell newspapers! Jim Hoit Delta All are invited to an introductory talk on - the Baha’i Faith On Saturday, March 16th : at 8 pm f at the Anne MacDonald Hall ' 333 Chesterfield Avenue next to Presentation House The Earth is But One . Country” - Save 50” before Mar 15 @t your neighbourhoed club | ® personalized programs — *.co-ed & ladies only area © new cardio centre ® excellent aerobic fam ® squash & racquet ® saunas © whirlpool @ childcare ® steam room ® indoor suntanning ““nalism text books as a prime example of _ modern. joury, “nalese’at its worst. “Al Emsley * North Vancouver - Baha’ u'llah ; Wednesday, March 13, 1996 ~ North Shore News - ) FARILBOX POLICY 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 _—— Mp. News cannot publish all letters. Published letters may be edited for brevity, clarity, accuracy, legality and taste. Letters can be faxed to 985-2104, but stiff must be signed and fully addressed. advertorial, March 13/96 BUDGET 1996 J typed thie report during my flight back from Ottawa almost a week ago, i so If you fee! you have already heard and read enough about the budget, | apologize. However, | felt that it was | important to put my comments on the record, just ii case it helps you to see Mr. Martin's announcements from a different perapective. TALKING POINTS At first glance the budget seerns to be fairly innocuous, and the Finance Minister f has gone to great lengths to assure us that everything is going very well. A closer j look, though, reveals some interesting | facts. | 1. The Liberals atiacked Reform during the 1993 election campaign for suggesting that a claw back of CPP may be necessary for seniors eaming more then $54,000 per year. Mr. Martins budget, though, contains a provision to claw back. CPP from | © seniors earning more than $40,000 by the year 2003. In addition, seniors will ’ be forced to begin drawing on, and paying taxes on, their RASPs at 69 instead of 71 years of age.: These measures are far more severe than’, anything proposed by Reform! . | 2 The Liberals have always claimed that - af this short speech the’ Government . wit f- Reform would destroy medicare, even though our writien policy clearly states that we would MAINTAIN funding for: - medicare, IN ADDITION to allowing if Mr. Martin had implemented | Reform’s “Zero In Three” budge plan § when he cams to office in fate 1993, we | would be arguing today what to do | with the SURPLUS funds, Instead of facing many more years of ballooning interest payments on the debt, a | stagnant economy, and unemployment feveis In the range of 10% to 15%. RAY BUDGET SPEECH There is always strong competition to get on the very limited speakers list forthe | budget debate, but my Ottawa Assistant managed to book a prime spot for me, just before Question Period last Thursday, the } - very first day of debate. ff you are a f pclitical junkie, you can request a fullcopy |: of my ten minute speach by calling my. § office. ff you are content with : a. few excerpts, read on. , “Business has told” ‘the Govemment repeatedly how jobs will be created, ‘Stop running deficits and start’ running § “surpluses, so that taxes can be reduced. | The resulting flow of money back into oe hands of consumers and taxpayers: wi guarantee generous job: creation | from. Poe It's really rot a hard concept to grasp." “ "In the time that it takes for me to 9 spend a milion’ dollars more than it it took , in.” ; ; SK “It continly doesn't. tke paraliel private choice. Mr. Martin's s budget REDUCES transfers in support . of medicare by $4 BILLION over the next faw years. So much for thelr claims — to be the defenders of medicare! Ia The Minister of Finance claimed that 263,000 jobs have been created in the past 13 months, bu? Statistics Canada figures for the same period show a net LOSS of 227,000 full time jobs. When Capilano Howe Sound MP Herb Grubel asked the Minister about this during Question Period, Mr. Martin said his " figures were correct if you didn't deduct ‘the jobs that had been LOST in the ‘past year. Talk. about creative accounting! 4. Program spending | is down by $9 billion, but interest payments on the dobt have risen by $9.8 billion since the Liberals took power. Mr. Martin is sacrificing government services in order to pay the additional interest on the debt, and we are stili going backwards, NOT making progress as he would like you to believe! What ali of the above confirms, yet ¥ again, is that Reform was the only Party _ } which told the TAUTH about Canada's | fiscal situation during the last election | campaign. We said that it would not -§ matter the were er which Party became Government ‘because we ¥ approaching a fiscal crisis and cuts to | Government spending could not be: avoided. We detailed up front what cuts f we would make, only to be labeled as the “sfash and burn” Party by our critics, many - 8 of them Liberals. Two and a half years later, the Liberal Party has become tne | “slash and burn” Party, forced by its own ‘inaction to make deeper ‘cuts to social | programs than Reform ever proposed. ’ gain.” “Since: the end of 1999 . this “Liberal } Government has added almost $90 billie |. fo the debt,-and, as’ a‘resuit, almost $10 ie bikion per year to the interest payments. | That extra $10. billion per year has to be} cut from the heart. of {government f Spending each year before we even begisi ‘to, make: some headway in ‘terms: of : 7 ‘ controling the core of Govt spending.” ‘People see us (MPs) as. pufted ‘wp : " porkers, slurping at the trough, handing e out hard earned taxpayer dollars to. 1-' : peopla who will not. work, to special 5 interest groups, and to businesses that’ §... don't need and shouldn't be getting the money. Meanwhile, the Finance Minster is : subjecting Canadians to the TORTURE of | a thousand small cuts, not the death of a | thousand small cuts Mr Speaker, but the | TORTURE of a thousand small cuts. | Nothing large enough to get us off the debt and daeticit treadmill, but always just . enough to prevent an immediate fiscal | crisis. Irritating little bits of pain but for’ no |. “Imagine, Me Speaker, how stimulative it would fiave been for the economy if the Minister of Finance had been running a. surplus in his budgat yesterday and could have announced, like New Zealand has, tax cuts of $46 PER WEEK for the | average worker. With more money in their |. .. pockets Canadians would have spent [- more, increasing domestic demand, which in turn would create jobs and | increase government revenues.” ;