Dear Editor: 1, like many others, am extremely dis- turbed at the thought of three mega stores at Park Royal shopping centre, especially at the expense of our only “pleasure centre.” The driving range has only been up a few years. | took lessons there, and have spent many a happy hour there practising my swing! The bowling lancs have been there forever. My children bowled there when they were young and I’m sure it has given pleasure to a lot of people over the years. moves @ north shore news MAIL BOX As for the movie theatre, it is the only theatre of any kind we have in’ West Vancouver and it was so nice to have an affordable one in our midst. EF ecapect they aren’t making cnough money. That’s the bottom line these days. Evervthing must turn a huge profit or out it goes. Has anyone given a thought to the effect these stores will have on our small- er merchants who may be trying to sell the same products? And as for the extra traffic they will create on Marine Drive, | shudder to think of it! West Vancouver has always been such a nice place to live, maybe a “cut above” the norm. It would be disastrous to be known only for our humongous shopping cen- tre. It seems the general opinion is that “affluent” West Vancouverites and their neighbors have nothing else to do with ther time and money but shop till they drop! Eve McLatchie West Vancouver Callins’ columns are instructive A lor of negative things have been said about the editorials Doug Collins writes for your or But I’m happy vo report - that a number of young people I know find his writings very informative. J teach’a course in critical my class. They allow students to practice finding the elements of a poor argument. My students are also learn- ing that simply getting angry at what Mr. Collins has written accomplishes nothing. Instead, I encourage them to notice his inconsistencies, negative stereotyping, question begging definitions, circular reasoning, faulty assumptions, and so on. We inquire into bod: the claims he makes and the way he makes them. Then we practice how to respond effectively to his kind of writing. With all due respect to Mr. : thinking at UBC. My students ~understand the value of free speech and. freedom of the press. But they are also learning ow important it is to judge for themselves what others have written. * The editorials written by ‘Doug Collins are very useful to ted white, m.p. & Early Inst week the Prime Minister announced a § $90 million Federa! Government program to fund - youth “Internships” in the civil service, As the NOP _ Leader, Alexa McDonagh, pointed out though, this is “a drog in the bucket" in terms of fhaing the youth “unemployment problem and wil! probably be of “| assistance to less than 0.5% cf unemployed youth. The program is also representative of a typical, old- “gtyle, big government, throw monay at it approach that falta to recognize the resi causes of youth unemployment. Instead of implementing policies -Wihich would encoursge fong term, private sector “ycath employment, Mr Chretien's *Internships* will “use other people's money, taken trom the bust ; Nesses und taxpayers who really ¢o create jobs, to “uy what ero efther short-torm "make-work" jobs, “er to fund an unnecessary expansion of the Federal Government bureaueracy. , Mr Chretien's sppareni inability to appreciate the true causes of youth unemployment reminded me of a -book | read during the summer. it was entitled"Youth Quake", and was written by a 25 year old Albertan, €zra Levent,who fee's that “Our Prime Minister is like 9 driver who is iosi but refuses to stop the national car an ask for directions” and “the best way to kilt someihing is to tax it. So how ‘come @ government that campaigned on Jobs, ‘ dobs, Jobs, is taxing them ot the highest rate in our history? Stop picking on employees, please. Stop pricing ue out of the marker." . Ezra was referring, of course, to payroll taxes, ‘which make it more expensive for employers to hire new workers, and which also act as a disincentive to the employment of youth, mary of whom may need sig- nificant amounts of on the job training before they become fully productive. KILLING JOBS One payro!l tax which was in the news at the same time 28 the Prime Minister announced the Liberal "Intern- ships” was the unnecessarily large amount of money being taken from both workers and employees for unemployment insurance, resulting in the creation ota $13 billion surplus in the El fund. This tex grab alone is more than twice ar large as the “aniount spent by the Liberals on their boon- doggle "Infrastructure Program", but payroll taxes overall have jumped from just ; MOViWe” TUNE-UP SPECIALISTS AYLOR AlrCare - Gov. Certified #50222 TUNE-UPS - FUEL SYSTEMS - ELECTRICAL Wi be reas OUR 39TH YEAR 176 PEMBERTON AVE. N.VAH. SERVICE Lib. B.C.A.A. - A.R.A. - APPROVED 299-9000 CONSULTATION * LZLAiS1S 965-7455 advertorial, September 17/97 2 YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT 2.9% of tax dollars. collected in 19S5 to more than 12% in 1996. Economists Livio Di Matteo and Michael Shannon, writing in the Canadian Business Economics maga- zine, say that for every percentage rise in payroll taxes, 40,600 jobs are icst in the long run nationally, Payroll * tas do not just act as a disincentive to new employ- ment, they also encourage employers to automate, and to replace full time positions with part-time positions. it logicalty follows that the opposite effect, JOB CREATION, is the natural result of government initia- tives to fower taxes. For example, low tax Alberta now has the lowest unemployment levei of ail provinces, and Ontario, where three cuts to personal income taxes - have tuken place since the Harris government took office, has produced about 60% of all national job gains since February, even though it accounts for just 39% of Canada's labour force. By contrast, in Quebec and the Maritimes. where taxes are amongst the highest in the - country, unemployment has been languishing in the double digits for many years. WHAT'S THE SOLUTION? As Ezra says on page 125 of “Youth Quake", the solution is simple, but not easy. We have got to make youth a more attractive investment tor businesses by cutting payrofi taxes. That way, young people will be mere affardable for employers without any reduc tion in wage rates. Ezra also points out, though, that Canada's Auditor General has commented that “the tevels of income support provided by social programs may be generating work disincentives and causing a form of voiuntary unemployment”. 4e admits that same § fobby graups and “entitiemmaniacs" will be outraged at such a suggestion, but goes on to provide a couple of pages of evidence to back up the a7gument that at least @ portion of youth unemploymant is caused by welfare paycuis hich provide inceme more easily than having to work. "Youth Quake” was an interesting read, but | was given my copy so ! am not sure it i is available through your local bor «store. If you: do come across it though, it could be worth buying and passing on to the twenty-somethings in your family. Reminder: Parliament opens at 8am Vancouver time next Monday, Suptember 22nd, with the election of the new Speaker. That process could take most of the day and can be seen live on North Shore Cable 35. The Speech from the Throne foliows on Tuesday, and regular business resumes on Wednesday. Ted White, M.P. ,,#302-1200 Lynn Valley Road, North Vancouver, B.C. V7} 2A2 Tel.: 666-0585 Fax: 666-0509, Internet: http://www.reform.ca/white-t/ , . Collins, the problematic argu- ments in his writing are serving, a very positive function in my classroom. Peter B. Raabe North Vancouver, B.C. Mm) me ce a em ms ee te nee eee age ey ee LY Wednesday, September 17, 1997 - North Shore News — 2 MAILBOX POLICY: Letters to the editor must_be legible (preferably typewritten) and include your name, full address and telephone number. 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