A6 - Wednesday, April 6, 1983 - North Shore News EE editorial page MAINSTREAM CANADA Party? Or man? | 700,000 ways to recovery _ The retirement of Attorney General Allan Williams from provincial politics makes West Vancouver-Howe Sound the most interesting of the three North Shore ridings to watch in the upcoming election. The conventional wisdom is that 25-year-- old Mark Sager, former West Van school board chairman and currently chairman of retiring Education Minister Bill Vander Zalm’s commission on school costs, will inherit the Social Credit nomination. There might be couple of challengers (Dan Cumming, personable chairman of the Squamish-Lillooet Regional’ District? And/or West Van school trustee Margot Furk?). But Mr. Sager would seem at the moment to have the edge. Meanwhile, an intriguing new factor emerged over Easter with rumors that Mayor Derrick Humphreys is toying with the idea of running, either as an Independent or as a Conservative. The mayor, a seasoned political veteran now serving his third term, declines for the moment to be drawn. But should he decide to run — on the platform of full-time promotion of West Van's interests in Victoria — his overall record on behalf of the community could make him a formidable contender. : The riding remained loyal to Mr. Williams for 17 years, even after his 1972 switch from the Liberals to the Socreds. In 1979 he was returned with a huge 10,600 majority and would undoubtedly have held the seat again this time. Mayor Humphreys’ entry into the. contest could provide a renewed test of whether West Van votes for a party or a man. Happy end There's good news about at least one of this year’s North Shore school closures. The 45 “trainable” mentally , handicapped students being integrated into Windsor after Prince Charles shuts down can only benefit from sharing a normal school environment. Meanwhile, Windsor itself is preparing to give them a genuine welcome — heart- warming proof of how attitudes have been humanized in recent years. Reem VENTE OF ORT l Ase WERT VANCOYWER sunday news Display Advertising 980-0511 north shore Classified Advertising 986-6222 news Newsroom 985-2131 Circulation 986-1337 1139 Lonsdale Ave . North Vancouver, BC V7M 2H4 Publisher Peter opedh Associate Publisher Robert Grafham Editor-in-chief Noet Wright Advertising Director Tarn Francs Personnei Director Mrs Berni Hilliard Circutation Director Han AE ihs Production Director Office Manager Chris Jonnseon Donna Grandy Photography Manage: Tomy Paters North Shore News founded oe TOA as a be perbenl Coen grvety Crete tg nenpoere curved cpeaandeleesch csrvedere Soc Peescduale: UW beat We Pras sage capt Ut thse bincine Tan Act on pautbated wach Wednesday anc Ssaruday try Noort? Shor free Prenn Lt and Ginteitbaled to eee, dame on the Nort Sex ond ¢ lass Mail Heyisteateon Numbe 10t'. Entire contonts 1982 North Share Free Prees Ltd All rights rosorved Sone Subaceiptionn Noeth and West Var conver hott pee yer rater avatilatte on ro uuent Marrterrgy N. Perey tee ST YC veoapete Hn FT © rate pee bw Fb bet or . evigee THIS PAPER IS RECYCLABLE By W. ROGER WORTH Small business doesn't get the respect it deserves. Who would have guessed, for example, that smaller firms would have been employing an extra 700,000 people if the economy was as wr = . sone healthy as it was two short years ago? The point, of course, is that small and medium-sized firms play a vital role in the economy. While = major companies such as Chrysler and Massey-Ferguson get the media attention, the hiring, layoff or expansion WEEK, y a i ON GOOD FRIDAY, with a day-long shower bath descending outside the window, I decided it was the occasion to indulge in a special little treat. | sharpened my pencil and started on a preliminary run at my T/ GENERAL - 1982. Three hours later I began to have very warm feelings for Peter Pocklington. Mr. Pocklington, the Edmonton hockey milhonaire. is the most colorful candiate in the current Tory leadership race. His platform, as far as | can tell, consists of a single plank of noble dimensions flat-rate income tax Under Mr Pockhagton's plan every andiviadual and business in the country would be allowed to clam maybe hall a dozen simple staightforward = deductions trom his or ats total income The entire balance, however large or small) would then be taxed at 20 per cent This according too Mer Pocklington s pocket cahoulator would quickly testore the povernment to solvency white costing nobody cacept the growing army of tan dodgers anything eaten In tact) many honest taxpayers might actually find the msecltves better off COBBLEDYGOOK The key to thas happy Solution is to be found on the mountain of fruitless human clhort now demanded by che Tt Gt NIERALIL se hrectiudbe s and oats 2 Between them. they contain spaces for a total of no less than 360 separate dollar entries, including around 150 addition subtraction and muluphcation sums, not to mention the requirement, in some cases, for detailed balance sheets even the average family taxpayer who doesn't play the stock market probably has to fill in at least one-fifth of the spaces and do onc halt of the calculations. for a mintmum total ol 120 scparate cntiies And thats just for starters At 70 of more points along this exhausting paper route he sanstructed to refer to the accompanying Tax Gunde in order to check whether os how the entry applies to him Being wnitten by the tax man othe guides offen in comprehensible pob ble ygook rs eapressly designed to bamboosle the hapless turpayert surrendering inle more dollars than be may legally owe If he takes a chance pits his and brains unatded against the Tax Csumde and sundry Interpretation buble tis there are 1 400 assessment clerks armed with PES Computer terminats walitiag to still clobber tram fee more dollars when has decisions made by hundreds of thousands of entre- prenuers across the country are what really make the economy tick. The major companies are important, but a_ healthy small business community is crucial. There is no question that smaller firms have fallen on hard times. Bankruptcies and receiverships are at near-record levels, declining saley~“have forced staffing cutbacks and few entre- preneurs are prepared to expand, particularly con- sidering the uncertainty over interest rates. Still, there is solid reason for hope. As the economy (hopefully) turns around, more and more Canadians are taking the gamble of going out on their own. Last year, for instance, at the height of the worst recession since the 1930s, 150,000 new firms” were started, and according to the Canadian Federation § of Independent Business, there will be another 200,000 start- ups this year. Those figures are en- couraging. Nevertheless, the real solution to unemployment will be to entice individual entrepreneurs to rehire the 700,000 workers they have been forced to lay off. It won't be easy, even if the economy booms. focus oe Noel Wright return finally lays an egg at the Surrey Taxation Centre (aust one oof seven such horrors accross © anada) GRADE 6 RETURN Loday im takes the mathe matieal talent of an Pinstein and the cunning of Machtavelly to ensure any fairness from the tan regulations Two different taxpayers with wenatmal moomes can wind up paying ludserously difterene amounts of tan Thats why Can Comsultaney thas bee ome Canada s Number One Keowih industry cm ploying full Gime many of the best bears in the oountes to shepherd more and mine New technology and mechanization are steadily eroding the number of jobs available as smaller firms are forced to upgrade facilities to compete with their big business counterparts. And in many cases, the money to expand or even revert to the Situation that existed two years ago is not available. Stil, governments can help in the effort to produce more jobs. One method is to hold the line on government spending, thus ‘ensuring that interest rates will remain at relatively low levels. There are also a variety of tax policy changes that could be made to reduce the risk involved in entrepreneur- ship. One major problem is that our mandarins and policy makers have little under- standing of the small business sector, so they tend to underrate its importance. But it is important. The Canadian Federation of Independent . Business proved that with a survey that indicated smaller firms were forced to lay off 700,000 people in the last two years. The politicians who are interested in getting the economy moving. should take a serious look at these figures and accept proposals to help small companies thrive and rehire the jobless. (CFIB Feature Service) April is Pocklington’s month desperate clients through the tax jungle for handsome fees. The cost of all this to the economy — the staggering total of everyone's non: productive me, the salanes of untold thousands of civil servants, the huge sums siphoned off by the ac countancy profession, the Everest of paper boggles the mind. By contrast. the Pocklington tax return would be reduced to maybe 12 spaces for your various sources Of income, ax for your basic deductions. two additions, one subtracton and one simple 20 per cent calculation In all. say. pust 22 entries on oa single sheet of pape which a grade six student could complete in 1S minutes flat Nine out of every 10 Revenue Canada employees could be climinated and put to useful work Those annual millions oof wasted oman hours could be switched to and = wealth consultancy creating Ihe industry would fold overmght and get back lo instead — of yobs profits plan auditing pension Within a Canada neoher by billhons nd pustments your of two could be | don t koow what delegates to the Lory leader ship Convention will with Mrs April ots Just eventually do But month Pocklington obvicusty bas now tO DS million peesprrtnny Canadian taapayers tre sounds bike an idea where mroment has arrived