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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1988-10-12, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1988. Opinion Whatever happened to paying your way? The quick, knee-jerk reaction by large industry against the proposal last week by New Democratic Party Leader Ed Broadbent of a special tax on companies that produce toxic substances to help clean up the environment may show that many industry leaders don’t really believe in a “pay as you go” philosophy they generally claim to support. Mr. Broadbent said he would raise $200 million through the new tax, if he were prime minister, to help clean up pollution. This would be combined with a further $130 million through general tax revenues and $250 million from closing a tax loophole to put a huge new fund at the government’s disposal. But Gerry Finn of Polysar called such a tax “discriminatory” and Firman Bentley of Polysar said the tax would damage the whole economy by driving up the price of energy. These industry leadersnodoubtseeMr. Broadbent’s plan as one more mad socialist scheme but in reality, it seems to follow a very conservative belief: that those who cause the problems should pay forthem. The pollution that isfoulingour water and air comes from a relatively few manufacturers of dangerous goods. Mr. Broadbent’s proposal would be to make the people who do the polluting pay for it through a special fund. The companies, on the other hand, seem to want the country to carry on a somewhat socialist plan to tax everybody in the country to help pay for the cleanups necessitated by a few careless companies. They want to continue to be subsidized by the ordinary taxpayers. Perhaps Mr. Broadbent’s plan isn’t the best. Perhaps the companies that produce dangerous goods could come up with their own insurance pool to pay for cleanups, in much the same way travel companies set up their own fund to protect consumers who lose out when they’ve prepaid vacations with companiesthatgobankrupt. Butthethinkingbehind Mr. Broadbent’s plan makes sense: that those who cause the pollution should pay to clean it up, not the rest of us. Companies that don’t like the proposal should either come up with their own solution or stop pretending they believe in individual responsibility and are against government subsidy. Voting against motherhood understandable this time % One can have a fair amount of sympathy for the five Huron County Councillors who decided to vote against sending the proposal for a new Huronview to the province for approval and funding last week. The five reeves, including some from our area, virtually voted against motherhood in not going along with the majority in supporting the plan. How can you vote against providing decent accommodation for your aged parents? For several of the dissenters, at least, it didn ’ t seem so much that they were against the project as they were upset with the lack of financial information they had been given about the project. For the millions of dollars involved, the documented data given to councillors to make their decision did seem to be rather skimpy. Verbally councillors were told they could look forward to a half-mill tax increase county wide to pay for phase one but they had no real figures down on paper in front of them. There were likewise no comparison figures from smaller, county-operated homes for the aged in other parts of the province to give councillors some idea of the operating costs of the new, three-site Huronview proposed. For some councillors, approving plans for the new Huronview under those circumstances seemed too much like buying a pig in a poke. The original report of the Seniors Care Facility Committee was a massive, well-researched document giving councillors lots of information to base their decision on. The problem is no one has taken the time to do the homework necessary to present as good a case for approval of the final 220-bed, three-stage Huronview proposal. Given the lack of information, councillors didn’t have to be against the idea of the new Huronview to vote against it. Sunday stroll Mabel’s Grill There are people who will tell you that the important decisions in town are made down at the town hall. People in the know, however know that the real debates, the real wisdom reside down at Mabel's Grill where the greatest minds in the town [if not in the country] gather for morning coffee break, otherwise known as the Round Table Debating and Fili­ bustering Society. Since not just everyone can partake of these deliberations we will report the activities from time to time MONDAY: Tim O’Grady broke the moratorium on discussion of the Ben Johnson affair this morning. There was around of boos in the restaurant when Tim mentioned the Johnson name. It wasn’t that everybody was against Johnson, j ust that they ’ re so sick of the whole story they’d made a pledge not to ever mention the name again during one of the morning coffee sessions. But Tim said he’d been thinking and he figures Ben missed a great chance to accomplish something good out of all this. Ben, after all, comes from Jamaica and Jamaica is in pretty bad shape these days after the hurricane. Ben could have instantly given a boost to the whole economy of Jamaica, if he’d taken off for the island instead of coming back to Toronto after the Olympics. He’d have had so many reporters following him that the Jamaican tourist industry would have been instantly revived. TUESDAY: “Whatever happened to free education?” Hank Stokes was asking this morning. Hank was mentioning that he ’ s shelled out so much money to his kids to take to school in the last month that he should have taken out a second mortgage on the farm, if the bank would have let him. There has been money for student council fees and money for bus trips to Stratford and Continued on page 5 The Citizen P.O. Box 429, BLYTH, Ont. NOM 1H0 Phone 523-4792 P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, Ont. NOG 1H0 Phone 887-9114 The Citizen is published weekly in Brussels, Ontario, by North Huron Publishing Company Inc Subscriptions are payable in advance at a rate of $17 OO/yr ($38 00 Foreign) Advertising is accepted on the condition that in the event of a typographical error, only that portion of the advertisement will be credited Advertising Deadlines Monday, 2pm - Brussels, Monday. 4pm- Blyth We are not responsible for unsolicited newscriptsor photographs Contents of The Citizen are © Copyright Serving Brussels, Blyth, Auburn, Belgrave, Ethel, Londesborough, Walton and surrounding townships. Editor & Publisher, Keith Roulston Advertising Manager, DaveWilliams Production Manager, Jill Roulston Second Class Mail Registration No. 6968