V7 SSSA MISTAKES HAVE BEEN AND ew TAKE i PERSONALLY, TO SEE THINGS PUT RIGHT? ASAT QUIS . SS SN SWAN d - RN. RUG NHN AN ON NEWS | VIEWPOINT ion juggernaut (He NDP goverument’s plan to unionize B.C. is well under way. /\ Despite: outcry’ from smail - pusinesses when the socialists’. Bill 84 labor “eode was unveiled, the bill was given royal assent last December. . It removed employees’ rights to vote on an allows secondary ~ picketing, removed education as an essen- tial service and banned the use of replace- union. certification, , ment: workers... “Any ‘illusion of a level: labor relations - playing field in the province was lost with Bill: 84’s: passage. And now the reality of that inequity is hitting home. According to figures released recently by B.C.’s ‘Labour ~ Relations | -; published - in. the Vancouver Board of Trade’ s Sounding . Board journal, number of new union certifications jumped “We'll appear every year at every _ review. It willbe a sombre anni- Yersary of the failure of our system. oF David: Flather — son-of North Vancouver Dr. Verne Flather, who ‘ was .gunned down by.a man subsequently found criminally in- sane and not responsible for the killing on the annual - psychiatric reviews of the man and what Flather claims was the failure of the system to prevent his father’s murder. (From a Sept. 24 News story.) \ “I would go out with him. the odd Publisher... Managing Editor Associate Editor . Sales & Marketing Director Comptroller Peter Speck Timothy Renshaw Noet Wright Linda Stewarl Doug Foot by 172% to 228 between Jan. 18 and June _30 of this year compared with the same period in 1992. According to Sounding for example, pay up to 10% more Board, there were only 197 certifications i in ; B.C, for all of 1992. In the same article the Sounding Board ‘certification. Board . and the new world. time and act as .2- target in dowatown Toronto.””.. . Hal Jenkins, chief constable of the West Vancouver Police Department, reminiscing about - accompanying his older detective brother on ride-alongs with the Toronto Police Department. (From the Sept. 26 News High Profile.) “To be honest, 1 didn’t even know it was going to be on. To me, pelitics is a big game where they ail lie in the end anyways.”’ Dana Stuart of Vancouver, to Display Advertising 980-0511 Real Estate Advertising 985-6982 Classified Advertising 986-6222 Newsroom 985-2131 Fax Distribution Subscriptions 986-1337 In the end we will all pay for the. ‘costs wholesale. union certification prices, lost businesses and inflexible anid complacent work sites. oo i All part of the socialist vision for a brave in higher y the Sept. 26. Inquiring Reporter question: ‘‘Do you plan to watch the Oct. 3-4 federal candidates debate?’’ “The fact that their friends got hurt with a machete didn't break their litite hearts for very tong. I could hear. them laughing out there later in the night.” Unidentified Capilano-area woman, on teens who hang out at an area convenience store, after two of the teens were injured in a fight. (From a Sept. 22 News story.) 986-1337 contains 985-3227 . recycled libre AS IF you haven’t enough to confuse you during these election weeks, spare 4 moment to ponder the problem of free trade WITHIN Canada. Or to be more precise, the costly fact that if doesn’ t yet exist. / We're not talking here about Muironey’s free trade deal with the U.S., nor NAFTA which adds Mexico to it, nor GATT. Qur ex- pensive made-in-Canada trade problem is that all 10 provinces have long been allowed 'to act like independent sovereign nations in trade matters. Highly protectionist ‘‘nations,”’ too. From St. John’s to Victoria the barriers to Canadians freety doing business with other Cana- dians elsewhere in the country are innumerable. And they are estimated to contribute at least $6.5 billion to the total tax bill — an average of about $360 per year for every individual taxpayer. -~ The principal forms these inter- nal barriers take are preferential procurement policies by provincial governments, restricted labor mo- bility, marketing boards or the . equivalent for wine, beer and ag- ricultural products, and a maze of differing provincial standards and regulations. - Some provincial governments, for local products rather than buy them outside. Some refuse to buy any gocds at all from other pro- vinces if they’ re available — at states that ‘86% of new certifications are whatever price and quality — small and medium-sized businesses under 50 employees and 42% of the total are . companies with one to'16 employees....” As the article points out, small businesses are the least well-equipped with resources, / small provincial beer breweries money and knowledge to fend off union ‘locally. - Other examples include |. Quebec’s ban on bidding by out- ' of-prevince construction firms for “jobs in Quebec; a proliferation of instead of one or two large ones;." inflated produce prices due to . marketing board quotas. Now, at long last, the heat is on to rectify this costly and ineffi- cient system. Otherwise, our abil-_ ity to compete in the global mar- ketplace, as trade barriers between ‘Canada and other. countries come down, will be badly impaired. _. The creation of a single eco- nomic market in Canada is the mandate given to the Internal. Trade Secretariat, headed by Win- nipeg lawyer-businessman Arthur’ Mauro, former chief executive of Investors Group Inc. He has until. June 30, 1994, tohammer outa | broad agreement with the 10 pro-'. vincial governments. Legislation to make it official would follow by June 1995, : HITHER AND YON But despite a hopeful start — —_. with some motherhood ‘‘state-. ments of principles”? by the pro- ©; vinces already in place — don’ (ve ’ hold your breath too soon.” | >. Opposition to an internal free /" 3} market stems from exactly the. |