6 ~ Friday, December 11, 1987 ~ North Shore News News Viewpoint Video value HE PROSPECT of at ieast four more television channels added to the basic video menu of North Shore cable television subscribers will please some and pique others. Some will applaud the latest infusion of television variety; others will lament rate hikes for services they don’t want. But Shaw Cable, it appears, has chosen to steer a prudent course in the wake of the CRTC’s recent deci- sion to approve 16 new television stations for broad- cast in Canada. Company officials have expressed interest in a Ca- nadian all-news service, along with channels that will feature weather, religious, and youth and family pro- gramming. Though the prospect of 24-hour weather reports and features might not thrill those weaned on Hawaii Five-O, the service has the promise of basic informa- tion value, as do the other three. But most applause should be reserved for Shaw’s announced preference to leave The Sports Network (TSN) and MuchMusic as optional pay-TY services even though the CRTC has decided the two stations can be moved from pay-TV te basic cable service. Both services. provide entertainment with little ac- companying educational or information value and as such should be supported via a voluntary fee from those who choose to pay, not via a mandatory ransom from the general cable subscribing public, who choose not to pay. THE VOICE OF NORTH AND WEST VAMCOUVER th Shore & Seam emia aK SUNDAY - WEDNESDAY - FRIDAY 1139 Lonsdale Ave. North Vancouver, 8.C. V7M, 2H4 58,489 (average, Wednesday Friday & Sunday) $3 MILLION CANADIAN SUBSIDY CANADA RECENTLY BECAME the 12th country in the world to subsidize its authors for’ library usage of their works, allotting $3 million for this purpose. The debate surrounding this new policy initiative has concerned whether the funds are sufficient or not, and which of Canada’s roughly 7,000 writers, and estimated 20,000 works, will be eligible for the grant. (If too many people are allowed into this pro- gram, the money may be spread so thinly that some receive amounts less than the postage cost of sen- ding it to them). More important than these con- siderations, however, is the ques- tion of whether or not the policy is justified, at any level, and for any authors. At first blush, it might appear “| SUSPECT most~’ people don’t really mind spending money on a good cause. By ANN M. SMITH Con ig Niter Take, for instance, the $7- million that Ottawa has invested over the past few years in the hopes. of finding a solution to the on-going unemployment insurance debate. a 1, for one, have no problem with that and, besides, it’s really just a drop in the bucket when you con- sider the $11-billion needed to cover the bill for just one year of UI payments. What I do mind, however, is the federal government -—~ specifically, Employment and, Immigration Minister Benoit Bouchard — tak- By WALTER BLOCK The Fraser Institute obvious. that such a program is well deserved, and long overdue. For is it not unfair to an author that a library. may purchase his book, and then lend it out to dozens or even hundreds of peo- ple, cheating him out of all these potential book sales? In the case of a best seller, or better yet, a classic, the library may lend a given book to literally thousands of people over the decades. Surely this represents a great injustice to the author, ing our $7 million and placing it in cold storage because Ottawa feels that ‘it isn’t politically prudent to pick | one opposing side on this issue over another. Admittedly, the decision Bouchard was faced with wasn’t easy. He had the choice of pleasing those who want fewer restrictions and more money placed in the UI pot or those who are saying ‘‘Hold on, we’ve had enough.”’ Not surprisingly, it’s been the business community that has fed -the fight in favor of a tighter system. Business wants the gov- ernment to forget the polls and to show some leadership by doing something about UJ that’s economically — not necessarily politically —— smart. Bouchard’s announcement to the House of Commons in early rs for But a moment’s reflection will convince us that the case is by no means so straightforward. First of all, there are means, short of gov- ernment intervention into the economy, whereby authors’ inter- ests may be safeguarded. For ex- ample, many publishers of learned journals, and some publishers of books, commonly charge libraries SQ per cent or even 100 per cent more than the price levied on indi- vidual purchasers. Since the writer often receives a percentage of the sale price, this practice can, to some degree, compensate: the author for multiple library usages. Secondly, given that the pro- gram has a basic validity, why should only authors be compen-’ sated? Do not printers, publishers, mailing houses, warehousers, ad- vertisers, editors, and other denizens of the book trade also May did neither. In fact, he ven- tured only so far as to admit that, yes, the unemployment system as we know it, ‘tis not a perfect pro- gram.’’ Instead, he wants to “reduce the need (for unemploy- ment insurance), not the benefits.”” Talk about gutsy policy-making. The millions of dollars we’ve spent financing the Forget, Mac- donald, Newfoundland and Parliamentary committees is, in a word, history. Despite Bouchard’s token changes to phone service, record of forms and, the in- WRIGHT | Display Advertising 980-0511 Classified Advertising 986-6222 Newsroom 985-2131 Distribution 986-1337 Subscriptions 986-1337 North Shore News, founded 16 1960 a5 an independent subur! Borageape tl of the Cacia Tae Act is published each Weednesde cond CA Lid and dist? uted to every door on the: North Shore Publisher Managing Editor Associate Editor Advertising Director Peter Speck Barrett Fisher Noel Wright Linda Stewart an New paper and aualted upder Schedule It, y and Sunday by Noth Shore Free Press ! Registration Numies SHH Subscriptions, North and West Vancouwer, (7 per year Yialng Ges avadaule On teguist Gubhasnons ate welcome bul we aneat accept (esponsiodty for unheated matenal cluding manuLenpts ud octures atch should be accompanunt Dy a Stamped. addressed envelope SDA DIVISION fi we rary lose potential sales due to multiple library usage? Why should these worthies be ignored? | Third, and most important of all, we cannot logically; and coher- ently apply the philosophy underlying the Paynient For Public Use Program to other; similar, in- stances. For example,; consider the business of auto leasing and auto rental. But for the’ activities of Hertz, Avis, Budget and all the rest, the automobile manufacturers would be able to chalk up greater sales. ! : In the two or’ three years that these companies typically own a car, they commonly rent them out to hundreds of people, each of whom might have been forced to buy one, were this service not available. This applies, as well, to bus and trolley lines, and to railroads and troduction of claimant service of- ficers —- UI costs in this country are still exorbitant. What Bouchard has ignored is, first of all, the enormous fizancial burden of payroll taxes — the bulk of which are shouldered by employers and secondly, whether we like to admit it or not, the disincentives to employment that overly-generous unemploy- ment benefits are bound to create. It’s my bet that there are a great many frustrated, unemployed Ca- nadians who would be willing to shorten the period during which they qualify for UI benefits if it meant receiving some re-training programs to get them back into the workforce. I'd also be willing to bet that tighter restrictions on unemploy- ment insurance would provide the Entre contents © 1987 North Shore Free Press Lid. All tights reserved. by airplanes. Firms in these industries rent out space on the vehicle; they provide. They are engaged, in other words, in multiple use, thus ‘cheating’ their out of possible additional sales. In effect, they are ‘‘i6raries” for transportation equipment. (To be sure, few people are likely to pur- - chase a 747 for their own use; but the principle still applies.) / Transit, moreover, is not the on- ly ‘‘iibrary’’ in existence. There are also firms which rent out lawnmowers, chairs, tables, apartment suites, tuxedos, bridal gowns, hotel rooms, electronic equipment, office supplies — the list goes on and on almost as long as does the Yellow Pages. In many if not all of these instances, the manufacturer is ‘‘cheated’’ of ex- tra sales which might indeed take place were there no rentals. necessary incentive for those cur- rently abusing our very generous and lax UJ system to go out and seek employment more Seriously. It would be naive for anyone to pretend that some Canadians, sub- ject to minimal UI job search re- quirements, aren’t going to stay home if it means collecting 60 per cent of their former wages. I suppose time will tell whether Bouchard’s non-response will hurt his government, but in the mean- time it just heaps insult on top of injury for the vast number of un- employed Canadians who would dearly love to contribute to our workforce. ‘ It’s called passing the buck — all $11 billion of them — so that semeone else (presumably some other government) will have to deal with ‘he problem. manufacturers Z /