A6 - Friday, August 3, 1984 - North Shore News

here was a suggestion by Senator Ray Perrault last weekend that Prime Minister John Turner just might be making an announcement while he was out here to the effect that federal minimum labor rates could be boosted.

The reason for that move would be to br- ing the federal hourly rate into line with what the Unions were demanding on the Ex- po 86 site, thereby simply solving the ongo- ing skirmishing and sniping and, theoreti- cally at least, bringing peace and prosperity to lotus land.

The very idea that Senator Perrault would make such a suggestion is mind-boggling, and the possibility of Mr. Turner making such a deal is absolutely stunning in the ramifications of such a move.

To consider upping the federal rate simply to ease out of a sticky localized situation seems preposterous to those who feel that in- flationary wage settlements have been one of the more damaging elements in our shattered economy.

In fact, it was a Liberal government that introduced the good old ‘six and_ five’ package for Canadians to live with during our tough down times. Yet we now have a Liberal Senator who almost seems to go against that belt-tightening policy.

To change the structure of a Federal rate simply to achieve ‘peace’ on the Expo site, or even to make such a suggestion, reminds one of the great appeasement of the late ‘30s by

Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain in Bri- tain.

Responsibility

asn’tit been wonderful to see the way transit management, the unions, and the provincial government have responded to the needs of the public regarding the ongoing bus stoppage? Their sense of responsibility will undoubtedly be remembered by the thousands who have to pay for a service they do not have and who have to pul up with considerable distress while all parties give the appearance to doing nothing and caring less.

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Nornh Shore News, tounded if 1960 as an indupendent sutburtiar nRewapaper and qualttiod under Schedule HWE Pact ltl Parageagt Olof tbe bactne Tas Act ts published each Wednesday Fiday and Sunday by North Shore Free Press Lid) and distlbuled to every door on the North

Shore Second Class Matt Aegisteaton Number 3665 Entire contents ¥ 1964 North Shore Free Prees Ltd All rights reserved

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Upwardly mobile bureaucrats

N THIS AGE of ever-rising government deficits, one is forced to wonder about the spending habits and management ability of the country’s bureaucrats, mandarins and senior civil

servants.

Indeed, it was no less an authority than Kenneth Dye, Canada’s Auditor General, who brought the matter to mind when he admitted to Commons Committee that his department was conduc- ting an investigation into the ‘*use-or-lose’’ theory of government's fiscal year.

The apparent reason for the excessive spending: if the cash that was budgeted to be spent hasn't been used up, the mandarins go on a spen- ding binge to see that it is. lt 1s a lot like a taxpayer happily finding that he ot she didn’t have aS many expenses as planned, so the extra money

By W. ROGER WORTH

can be blown on a trip to Las Vegas or the sunny south rather than paying down a loan.

For upwardly-mobile civil servants, though, the practice is much more important to individual caréers, and the country’s sales people have a field day during these end-of- fiscal-year rites.

Indeed, some knowing companies place senior ex- ecutives in Ottawa and some provincial capitals only for the big buying period.

Swamped by

ANY CANADIANS live within a day’s drive of U.S. cities. Starting in the West

and working East,

Vancouver is near

Bellingham and Seattle; Lethbridge is close to Great Falls, Montana; Regina is not too far from Minot, North Dakota; Winnipeg 1s within 300 miles of Grand Forks, North Dakota.

Toronto and Buffalo are practically inseparable, Thunder Bay 1s) only 200 miles from Duluth, Min- nesota, Rochester, New York isa 2% hour drive from O1 tawa, and Montreal and Burlington, Vermont are not too distant neighbors

Many Canadians. therefore, have had first hand experience with prices in the iS) We northerners go down there and purchase

meals, gasoline, clectront equipment, books. cocords, tapes, toys and hundreds of

other goods and services There is one thing unique

about alf of these purchases Its not quality Goods and

By WAL TER BLOCK

services available in (¢ anada arc) oindistinguishable = trom those in the US as tar as quality is concerned

Nor ois iat

even varicty Although a much smatliecr country, with some few cn

cephons, everything avatlable there is available here

No Phe amasing, start mg. truly giganta difference is price Virtually everything in the ko SN omay be had at a

New computers replace the old. Offices are redecorated and new furniture sales take on added glamour. Spending plans that had long simmered on the back burner are miraculously discovered overnight.

If the bureaucrats don’t spend their entire allotments, it seems, there is real concern their peers will view them as bad managers who can’t budget correctly.

What’s worse, from the mandarins’” point of view, is that mext year’s cash allot- ment for the department or agency may be reduced. This, of course, 1s not acceptable to the bureaucrats. There is an inherent belief that a larger department, and. greater spending, will result in more power and influence for the bureaucrat involved

The problem, of course, 15

that there is little or no incen- tive for our bureaucrats to save money. So instead of putting a few billion dollars of the planned spending aside to reduce the overall deficit, the extra cash is spent in one final free-for-all.

Nor is the difficulty all at the federal level. .Indeed, there seems to be a spending mentality among bureaucrats that affects every government body in the country.

The solution may be to of- fer bonuses to frugal bureaucrats who don’t follow the ‘‘use-or-lose’’ theory and have money left at year-end.

On the other hand, a simpler and less expensive idea would be a salary cut for bureaucrats who do waste taxpayers’ cash by taking ad- vantage of this many-times pernicious system.

(CFIB Feature Service).

government

much lower price, ofttimes substantially cheaper

Meals, beer, toiletries, (ex tile goods are all available at substantially reduced prices - even when the differential values of the US: and Cana. dian dollars are taken into ac- count. If not for the steep tanffs, merchandise limits, quotas and other barriers to trade, almost all Canadians would rather buy in the U S

What accounts for these sharp and dramatic dif ferences? Inthe view of many people, this is the price of in dependence Were we to lower the trade barriers, on this hypothesis, the maple leaf would vanish, trampled under foot by muilhons of Canadians on a bargain hunt

What

nonsense’ Canada

Noel Wright on vacation

has higher prices than the U.S. because we have more government intervention which stultifies productivity.

We have greater unioniza tion, more inclusive welfare programs, socialized medicine, more vociferous protectionism, more highly developed marketing boards, government industrial strategies, central planning, Crown corporations (which are unknown in the U.S), to say nothing of our in terferences with intra national trade.

To this must be added that we are a much smaller coun try than our neighbors to the south

Then, with an cconomy in tegraicd with that of the

(tS) although aot a polity. we could enjoy thei lower prices

(Dr Block ts Sentor foonomist of the Fraser

Institute )

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