A7 -Sunday News, August 24, 1980

Dear Editor:

Many countries subsidize
exports. Few, however, tax
them. The reason export
taxes are ular isn't
hard to find. They
discourage production and
by undermining otherwise
healthy industries they limit

the revenue available to the
government that imposed
them.

An export tax, in other
words, is a_ short-sighted
measure. Capital is
fightened away and jobs
become scarce. An
otherwise healthy sector of
the economy slows down
and the growth potential of
the nation suffers as a result.

This has happened with oil
in Canada. Production has
declined since 1974 when the

Put ali

Dear Editor:
I am thoroughly fed up
with people who blame

crows for what is ther own
careless laziness. If crows
and rats are living off our
garbage (which they seem to
be) then why are we feeding
it to them? It seems to be

beyond the mental and
physical capabilities of
Vancouvertes to put and

petroleum industry was first
hit by an export tax. Self
sufficiency has given way to
imports and Canadians now
find themselves in the
ridiculous position of paying
foreigners twice as much for
their oi] as we are prepared
to pay our own people at

_ home.

What will happen if an
export tax is applied to all
forms of energy in this
country? The search for
natural gas will slow down.
The construction of hydro-
electric projects in Northern
Quebec and Manitoba will
be postpo. :d. Exports of
coal from Western Canada
will be limited to existing
contracts.
bility of
grade fuels into étectncs

and selling it in nearby areas
of the United States will be

ruled out ajtogether. .
The loss of revenue in
these energy source areas is
bad enough. But the reali
killer is uncertainty. A
government which imposes a
tax without warning can
strike again. It makes in-
vestors nervous and workers
look elsewhere for em-
ployment. It puts a stop to
the kind of growth which,
under free market con-
ditions, would have been

beneficial to all concerned.
Import duties are dif-
ferent. They protect certain
industries from foreign
competition. They therefore
production at

And the possi- /encourage
converting low, home. Intérnational agree-

ments often perpetuate
i

ort fax is self-defea

them. Not so, an export tax.
Unilaterally imposed it has
the effect of stopping a
resource industry in its
tracks!

An export tax, unlike an
import duty, is highly
selective. It hurts a_par-
ticular industry in a given
area. It discriminates against
those parts of the country
which may be said to be
resource rich from a
developmental point of
view. It favours Canadian
consumers who are many
over producers of export
commodities who are few. It
hurts our “bread and butter”
industnes at a time when we
need them most.

Any government that
imposes an export tax is
opposed to free trade. Also

on garbage cans

keep lds on their garbage
cans, or to be sure that the
municipal governments is
making an effort to cover
garbage dumps quickly to
discourage scavengers.
Christmas bird counts
from the Seattle area show
that the crow population is
substantially fewer than the
Vancouver counts. And
what is the’ mysterious

solution that those brilliant
Americans use to outwit the
wiley crow? They simply
don't feed them with all the
garbage that Canadians
leave in open contaimers and
dumps. Less food for parent
crows means fewer babies
will survive or even be bred.
West Yancouver has
decided the solution is not to
put lids on garbage cans but

A crying need for action

Dear Editor:

Contrary to the view of
Tom Scott, City Engineer,
there are several very
hazardous mtersections in
the city which would benefit
greatly by changes in layout.
The most dangerous are the
Y intersections at 3rd and
Lower Levels and East
Esplanade and Lower Levels
both high accident areas.

The aim should be that
traffic lanes must not cross
on a diagonal bul meet at a

Tight angie. This can be
accomplished by the
judicious placing of traffic
islands. The fact also that
these intersections are
inadequately signposted
have in my opimion con-
tributed in large measure to
the danger.

There ts certainly no room
in the engineering depart-

ment for complacancy and -

rather than an interesting
challenge as Tom Scott puts
wo — there ts a crying need

for more informed action
from his department before
more Lives are lost.

R. Earnshaw
North Vancouver

to bring in some hunters to
shoot and maim the crows in
Ambleside Park on Saturday
mornings.

I say maim because I have
seen the men do exactly that
and not even bother to kill
the bird outright. Apart from
the obvious suffering these
men inflict I think it is ex-
tremely poor policy to have
hunters in a municipal park.

A.M. McDonald
West Vancouver

Hot Fudge Cake

Sunday & Monday
Aug. 24825

=

its short-sighted from a
dollars and cents point of
view. Instead of reinforcing
success it props up
weakness. It slams on the
brakes when our economy
should be surging ahead.
Ottawa, if it is at all in-

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terested in more jobs and
better pay for Canadians will
therefore do what other
countries have done; avoid
export taxes like the plague.

Hon. Jack Davis, M.L.A.
North Vancouver-Seymour

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