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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1997-05-07, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, MAY 7,1997 The North Huron P.O. Box 429, BLYTH, Ont. NOM 1H0 Phone 523-4792 FAX 523-9140 itizen P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, Ont. NOG 1H0 Phone 887-9114 FAX 887-9021 Publisher, Keith Roulston Editor, Bonnie Gropp Advertising Manager, Jeannette McNeil PAID The Citizen is published weekly in Brussels, Ontario by North Huron Publishing Company Inc. Subscriptions are payable in advance at a rate of $27.00/year ($25.24 + $1.76 G.S.T.) in Canada; $62.00/year in U.S.A, and $75.00/year In other foreign countries. 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, 2 p.m. - Brussels; Monday, 4 p.m. - Blyth. We are not responsible for unsolicited newscripts or photographs. Contents of The Citizen are © Copyright. Publications Mail Registration No. 6968 E ditorial I .... ' Ever-changing rules A new deal was apparently struck last week between the provincial government and the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) over who will pay what costs in providing services. We now have just eight months before the effects of the Common Sense Revolution hit municipalities and the poor councillors are still trying to figure out what the ground rules are. One thing councillors know: come Jan. 1 the world of municipal government is going to change drastically. The problem is they can't plan for the biggest changes to come along in a century because they don't know what they are. County council, at its April 24 meeting, agreed it was premature to set up a strategic planning day for county politicians to talk about things like police and ambulance services, because they hadn't been told by the province what was happening. That was before last week's agreement which will create more confusion. The municipalities had thought they would have education taken off the property tax roles. Under the new agreement it appears education will still be partly funded by property taxes and the government will take more of a share of social programs. Now municipal governments will have to start making new financial projections — if they can get the detailed information needed. If that isn't confusing enough, municipal politicians are still struggling with the pressure to amalgamate. Recently, for instance, local politicians in Kent County turned down the idea of amalgamation. A provincially-appointed official, however, stepped in and amalgamated all the municipalities into one. Rural townships are worried about being dominated by Chatham; Chatham is worried about loss of focus on its problems. Municipal councillors elsewhere in the county, who see few advantages in amalgamation, now see the government could force it on them anyway. Throughout history, revolutions have created chaos, from which a new system eventually grows. With the Harris government's revolution, it is municipal politicians who must create order from the chaos, and against a deadline of Jan. 1. — KR The mean season arrives Spring break_____*^5__________________________________________- ______________________________ Photo by Bonnie Gropp Letters to the Editor When it comes election time, the media looks for more symbols than a high school English teacher teaching Shakespeare. There's something nice and handy about a symbol. Especially in these days of image, of the short, visual bit of film on TV, a single picture or event can become shorthand for a political leader, his/her campaign, his/her party's future. What is remembered is Pierre Trudeau's athletic diving into a swimming pool versus Robert Stanfield's fumbling of a football or Joe Clark's lost luggage. Brian Mulroney was boosted by his single remark that John Turner had a choice other than to go along with Trudeau's patronage appointments made at the end of his term but was harmed by the symbol of his singing When Irish Eyes Are Smiling with Ronald Reagan. It's a silly way to decide the fate of a government but it's happening again. Last week somebody in the campaign team for Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe, didn't foresee that when he toured a Quebec cheese factory he would have to don a hygienic hairnet. Nobody looks good in a hairnet and when pictures of Duceppe appeared on television and in newspapers, he became the centre of ridicule. The image nicely fit with the media's feeling that he was incompetent For political leaders and campaign planners, it makes an election campaign dangerous as a minefield as they try to avoid a single 10- second moment that might come to define an election campaign. For voters, it's also dangerous. It's hard work making a democracy work. It's not pleasant having to sift through all the garbage of an election campaign to try to find out which local candidate, which party, offers the best program for the next four or five years. An election is the one time when voters truly have power in a democracy. A decision that day can change the course of history (take a look at what the 1995 election of the Harris government has meant to Ontario). We shouldn't decide our future based on a picture of a leader dropping a football or wearing a hairnet. As our decision in the June 2 federal election nears, we must ignore the image and look for the substance in the election campaign. — KR THE EDITOR, Minister Leach announced the results of negotiations between the government and the association of Municipalities of Ontario on the subject of "who does what" - essentially which tier of government would pay for what services. To understand what the minister has negotiated it is important to first comprehend the funding breakdown for education. Currently there is approximately $13 billion spent on education province-wide. Three sources fund this amount. About $5 billion comes from the education portion of the residential property tax, $5 billion comes from the province in grants and $3 billion comes from the commercial and industrial assessment. For education, Leach announced that residential education tax will be cut in half, with $2.5 billion staying in education. The education tax rates would be set by the province to generate this $2.5 billion and then the rates would be frozen, the other $2.5 billion currently generated locally for education will be available to the municipalities to pay for other services delivered at the local level. The taxes, therefore, will not be decreased, just allocated differently. School boards will have no authority to raise additional residential taxes to supplement the rising costs of education. There was a brief reference made, implying that the province would assume half of the current education costs paid by residential property taxes - presumably the other $2.5 billion. Much was not included in the announcement and is still unknown. For instance, the Minister of Education has still not released his model for a new funding formula - a formula which is scheduled to be in place for September, 1998. Although the minister announced stable funding throughout the 1997-98 school year we still do not know how much the government will commit to education after that. There was no reference to what will happen to the $3 billion in commercial and industrial assessment currently being spent on education. And we still do not know whether the $2.5 billion to be raised for education from the local property tax will be retained in the communities in which it is raised, or whether it will be gathered provincially and then redistributed. Huron County and many rural boards have long believed that, as consumers of articles made in urban centres, as shoppers in larger urban areas, and as consumers of financial services centred in the cities, it is only fair to redistribute this urban wealth. City dwellers would argue the opposite. Leach opened his announcement by reminding the MPPs of the government's goals in the "Who Does What" exercise. "The first (goal) was to reduce taxes by ending the spiralling costs of education in this province. That was first priority", he claimed. For the first time the government has essentially admitted that its tax reduction will be achieved by gouging education. The Federation of Women Teachers' Associations of Ontario claims that "by far education has been hit the hardest in this exercise - all under the guise of reform. Releasing bits and pieces of education, leaking rumours, creating turmoil in the schools, and now, taking revenue-generating powers away from boards and money out of the system with no guarantees of stable funding - in general, creating chaos in education - is no responsible person's notion of reform." Leach said it himself - this government will achieve its tax break at the expense of education. This government is taking money away from children to achieve their own political goals. Shame on them." The Federation of Women Teachers' Associations of Ontario represents 42,000 women public school teachers in Ontario and is a strong advocate for children and education. Willi Laurie President HWTA.