Revisiting racism Dear Editor: -” Re; Native culture has been cared to death, (Hlana Mercer’s Oct. 1 Fair Comment col- umn.) I was raised in the United States, and as a child in the °50s 1 often visited relatives in the racist southern U.S. of that time. There is something disturbingly simiiar between this ” editorial and the arguments I used to hear back then. Those arguments were used for justifying everything from segregation to lynching. _ Racism is a form of ignorance and Ms. ~” Mercer's comments are a strong indication that __ She is a journalist who has not done her home- work. -_. Has she ever had a close relationship with a ’ First Nations person? Has she ever been to a :, potlatch? Does she believe the only truth is a _ Written: document? How easily she dismisses the tremendous power of legends and songs, by. referring to them as “oral hand-me- * downs”, and “no‘more than folklore.” These : th tions .together. Just cause: such ‘power ‘is:incomprehensible to f culture based.on the written loesn’t mecah that it is not the truth. t is aise unfathomable that a person would beso irisensitive schoo! system with some type of abuse industry.” For. heaven’s “unfavourable survey results’ to ‘the’ ‘public? Wasn't this: the “same task force that refused to fagg then ‘goes on. incomprehensible : Kk this. to. North: € as to equate what happened in . sake, of course there won't be a case-by-case examination. How many more years is chis expected to take? These deprogramming, con- centration camps for children existed for sever- al decades and affected thousands and thou- sands of people. Ms. Mercer writes, “And just for good measure throw in another $350 mil- lion for a healing fund.” I offer that there is nothing good about a society that screwed up so badly it needs a healing fund to begin with. Who can really cstimate the damage? How many families, friends, and partners to come will be affected by the legacy of such atrocities? Ms. Mercer concludes by offering that “the social decay among natives” is a result of “the cradle-to-grave arrangement with you the Canadian taxpayer.” She identifies the artempt to remedy some of the economic devastation resulting from cultural genocide as the cause of her own belief that there is “social decay” among native people. This is a distortion of a very ugly kind. Perhaps Ms. Mercer never experienced a - child’s impression of a “colored-drinking foun- tain, colored entrance, whites only” kind of world. I have. Her words remind me of the _ugly spirit of racism that prevails whenever the _f locals get together to nurture their collective fears regarding people and ways of life they don’t understand. . Melissa Crenshaw Bowen Island of Information and Protection ~ of Privacy Act.) a _ - Wasn't it-also Ms. Bragg, along with ‘other task force members who pushed for their interim report to go to referen- dum, even though the question makes no mention of the phe- “nomenal cost? = Given ail of this, I find Ms. . Bragg’s charges of bias to be >More than a bit questionable. - As they say in legal circles, se who seek er Shaded come with clean hands. ‘Heather Dunsford "| . Provincial Sales T: : Federal taxes and charges to the Gov't). ° advertorial. November 3/1999 HIDDEN TAXES mid-October, the Official Opposition has Geen reminding the Finance Minister that the majerity of Canadians want to see iewer taxes in the Year 2000 Budget. Certainty based on the input I have received from this community over the past year, there is a clear con- sensus that income tax tavels in Canada are far too hich. As 2 result, you have my assurance that | will con- tinue to deliver that maseage ta the Government at every possibile opportu- nity. Income taxas ara nat the only taxes which are high in Canada though. Just take a look at the following methods the Government has used, in past bud- gets, to take money out of your pocket. LIQUOR AND GAS TAXES: Most Canadians know that taxes maice up a significant percentage of the retail price of alcohol and gasoline. However, few are aware of the full extent of the tax bite. According to the Association of Canadian Uistillers, about 75% of the price of a typical bottle of liquor retailing for $19.50 is comprised of direct and indirect - taxes: . hoe $1.97 $9.63 $1.15 $3.32 $0.05 Provincial Mark-up Federal GST. Federai Excise Duty Freight Distilier's Selling Price $3.38 Total cost to consumer . $19.50 -With respect to gasoline, according to the Petroleum Communication Foun- dation, taxes account for more than 50% . Monte Solberg, estimates that bracket creep has resulted in a $1.1 billion inersase in tax ravenue in 1899 alone. TRADE BARRIERS Although import quotas and tariff barri- ers are not formally thought of as “taxes,” the effect on consumers is identical to that of a iax, even though the government usu- ally claims to be impesing quotas or tariffs in order to protect local Canadian produc- _ers from "unfair" foreign competition. In practice, the lack of competition created by the quotas or tariffs usually results in higher prices for consumers than would have been the case in the absence of the quota or tariff. This effect, as far as the consumer is concermed, is similar to the imposition of a product specific “tax”. Marketing boards, tike those that con- trol the supply of farm and agricultural products in Canada, can also have an./- effect on consumer prices that is similar to‘ that of a product specific tex. For exam- ple, the amount by which a marketing § board mandated: price for agricultural products exceeds the price that would pre- | vail without a marketing board, is the “tax,” which in this case is used to subsidize. ‘agricultural producers. in 1997, the OECD estimated that. the total implicit tax: imposed on Canadian. consumers: as a: > result of the Government's agricultural pol: icy was $2.2 billion per year. THE CONSEQUENCES _: ., Although’ the high tax: burden* in. Canada has heen front and center in the of the price of a litre of gasoline retailing ~ for 57.4¢ cents: Provincial fuel tax 16.20 00 13.76 Crude Oil costs (including royalties and taxes paid... Dealer margin... Oil company share’ Total cost to consumer BRACKET CREEF