Page 6, January 10, 1979 - North Shore News

. S . a :
p j ni
= . . cod
: on .

Big Brother in Victoria is at it again. Last week
— in what appears to be a further move to save its

~ own hide at the forthcoming provincial election —

the Socred government adjusted its halo and took
a roundhouse swing. at the last bastion of true
democracy that we still retain: our local councils

and school boards. ae

On the surface Thursday's
announcement by Finance
Minister Evan Wolfe
sounded like pure
motherhood.

The province, he said, will
not allow 1979 municipal
general purpose mill rates to
be increased over 1978 levels
- and no municipal or
regional district budget may
be increased this’ year by
more than five per cent.
School boards were also
asked to keep budget in-
creases to five per cent.

Moreover, said Wolfe,
_municipalities must spend
their often meagre savings, if

_ any, to meet this year’s bills.

“Municipalities will be
required to treat their
unexpended general revenue

fund surpluses for the years |

1977 and 1978 ... as revenue
for 1979 budget purposes,”
was the way he put it. |

FRIENDS LIKE THESE

Let me, at this point,
make one thing quite clear.
When it comes to the battle

«for lower taxes alk round,
youll find Wright in there
. fighting with the best of
them. But I confess to being
a little choosey about my
allies — particularly if their
names happen to be Wolfe
or, at the federal level,
Chretien.

With friends like these in
the tax battle, who needs
enemies?

hair naturally

btow dry.

Martha creates
beautiful naturat

and thirty minutes

The natural cut follows the flow of
the hair and is cut exactly as the

falls.
wash and wear. Comb and let dry or

We WAILS

for you very
looking translucent
nails that last and last—in just one hour

OPEN Sun 11 a.m. -4p.m.; Thurs & Fri. 9am - 7pm.
Mon, Tues, Wed, Sat9a.m.-6p.m

focus

Noel Wright

Following their 1975
election victory Mr. Wolfe
and his Victoria colleagues,
you'll recall, doubled ICBC
rates and ferry rates almost
before the ink was dry on the
Lieutenant-Governor’s pro-
clamation. They followed
that up in short order with a
40 per cent hike in the
provincial sales tax.

’ Eighteen months ago, in
what they explained as a
“catch-up” operation, they
revamped property tax
assessments — with the end
result that many
homeowners last year

Completely

drying.

thin

By appointment
Ifno answer call

Chretien — ;
provided them (out of.

suddenly found themselves
faced with three-figure
increases in their municipal
tax bills. Then, just for good
measure, our Victoria
masters cut back on their
contributions to school
districts, leaving local school

boards to sink or swim with
_ what remained.

As the day of reckoning
with the electorate draws
nearer, Mr. Wolfe and his

‘coligagues have alleviated

certain . of their earlier
demands on your pocket-
book a little. There has been
some abatement of their
original ICBC rates and ferry
fares. From Ottawa Jean
eventually

federal tax funds) with a
loophole through which to
retreat gracefully from their
punitive seven-per-cent sales

tax — Mr. Chretien himself is _

hungry for votes. But the
record hardly suggests that
B.C.’s Socred government
has any genuine interest in
saving the taxpayer's bucks.

PASSING THE BUCK

Like Mr. Chretien and his
federal cronies its obvious
interest is to avoid being
nailed as the tax villain in an
election campaign only a few
short months away.

California’s 1978 tax revolt
and its local promoter,
provincial Conservative
leader Vic Stephens, may
well have scared the pants
off Premier Bennett and his
cabinet. Hence, with the
moment of truth at hand,
their move last week -—
hoping we won't notice — to

' pass the tax buck to our

local government.

Permacurl is a new PH controlled
perm combined with a natural cut to
create an exciting mew [ook you just
wash and wear. No setting or blow

Te Coupou

BRING THIS AD - WORTH $5
FIRST VISIT—EXPIRES JAN 17

984-9817
085-8634

IN THE INTERNATIONAL PLAZA HOTEL
CORNER MARINE OR: AND CAPILANO RD

olfe from:

_ The practical results of
Victoria’s crackdown on
local government budgets
-will vary considerably from
municipality to municipality.

- In this particular neck of the
woods we shall possibly
escape fairly lightly. During
the past year or two all three
North Shore municipalities
have shown praiseworthy
restraint in holding down
budget increases and are
dedicated to continuing
along that path.

They should be able to live
with the new five-per-cent

ruling without any too
drastic cutback in services.
For North Shore school
boards — 70 -per’ cent. of
whose budgets goes’. for

payroll — the task may be’a-

little tougher with inflation
hovering near nine per cent,
but it’s still a good way. short
of being a disaster situation.

WILLING TO PAY >

In numerous other

municipalities, however —

especially in the boom areas

of the central and northern
Interior — Mr. Wolfe’s edict

MMA Voncouver 11th and Granville

GOLD'S VISA‘ Vancouver 11th and Arbutus
EPMA wy Nogh Van 341 Lons sie Ave
FABRICS ' Surney, 10653 King Gs -ge Hwy

Coquitlam Canboo Srp Centre

Plenty of SS Victoria, 16965 Hiltside Ave across
tree parking ee) Richmond 6115 Park Fad Vs block from Sears

trom Hillside Shopping Ctr

expanding. populatio
_ already. in urgent ‘ne

Cases there’s no way th

additional services, just
keep. .pace with minimal
requirements for. civilized

are usually willing to pay for
in 3

be provided within the new
five-per-centlimit. ~~

prices

good thru
1-13-79 or while
quantities last

7236-4665
736-0536
980-4433
588-6040
31-6611

§95-3243
270-3424