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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1973-11-15, Page 30• PAGZ SA—GODERICH SIGNAL -STAR, THURSDAY, NOVEMBEH 15, 1973 Huron's Jack Riddell talks about provincial budget 'i Local Member of Provincial Parliament Jack Riddell didn't pull any punches as he rose to his feet in the Legislature late last month to add his caln• menta to the budget debate. The following is the `text of his address: "In trying to separate the wheat from the chaff, 1 would be int lined to think the Rltntster of Agriculture and Food (bit- Stewart I should be spreading more of the fertilizer that he referred to earlier oil the go.ern ment side of the House and let the opposition time for a H hi le "I am . en pleased to ha% e the opportunity to add nts cunin►ents the debate on the budget "The IrtI reared sales tax has been ut tt.rce'for .e.eral months now tinct leas pro ed r. • be an extra burden on the already overburdened con sumer In the ttrst 1ise months ►!f the. tt•.ai .ear, April 1 to Aug :11, "1 reasur\ collected *49t1 :► million Iron) the retail sales tax It is gt tierall. acknowledged that this fiorrn of taxation is regressive ,over - MI electrical work - All electrical fixtures supplied and, installed by SAM WAIN ELECTRIC • RESIDENTIAL R.R. # 2 Goderich • COMMERCIAL • INDUSTRIAL 524-8083 congratulations to . -0 GERRARD'S New SHOPPING CENTRE sailings by HURON RAILING CO. GODERIPH 524-9020 Interior and exterior railings Quality built - Custom designed congratulations to f GERRARD'S Wo woro pleased to have been chosen for this exciting new building 24 HOURGLASS SERVICE ALL TYPES OF ALUMINUM STORE FRONTS PLATE REPLACEMENT SERVICE MIRRORS i the entrie income span. The Ontario will be the oil added to the fire that consumers, especially those people sets off a major conflagration? with low incomes, targe families or "The government has only two fixed incomes are the ones who have choices. One is to change. the law. been suffering as a result c►f the two However, thjs_ second flip-flop per cent increase in the sales tax. would surely be the end of the The tv►nsunter is being burdened minister. The other choice is to en - with increases in fond, housing and force the law and prosecute the den - clothing and an extra two per cent purists who are now practising in sales tax is Ontario's con- openly. This would surely llruse a tributian to his miseries. great outcy from the thousands of "Canada has the dubious distinc- patients who are getting low cost tion of having the highest rate of in- dentures from these people. crease in food prices among eight "So for the Minister of Health it leading industrial nations according is a choice of the devil or the deep to yhe latest comparison by the blue sea. And, in the meantime, the Organization for Economic Co- government is spending thousands operation and Development. In of dollars on the training and licen- •lune, Canada's food prices index sing of denture therapists who will had )umpwd14.1 percent in a year, probably be defunct as soon as Jen- a rate of increase greater than any turists are licensed, which seems to of the other seven countries cited. be the only answer to this problem. Tet railer eOuntries surveyed were This is just another example of the the United States, Japan, France, waste and mismanagement typical Germany, Italy, Netherlands and of the Tory government. the United Kingdom. "We were given another insight "The consumer price index in into the ineffectiveness of the September showed that food prices Ministry of Health to administer $2 to Canada had risen Iti per cent billion of public tney when a over the last year, housing rose 7.1 senior official of thinistry came per cent; clothing, 5.4 percent; Iran- to the Leader of the Opposition (Mr. sportation, :1.9 per cent; health and R.F. Nixon) with some important personal care, five per cent. In light documents. I am referring to Dr. of all the information we have on David Kinlock who left the ministry the everinsdeasing consumer price last March after being publicly em - index, the government has shown barrassed by.. the .minister. little or n`i'S concern for the average "In a letter to the Leader of the wage-earner whose income is not in- Opposition he stated: creasing accordingly. Instead of ad- '•A combination of a well - ding two per cent to the sales tax, intentioned but poorly informed the government could tax the excess arid impetuous minister, i►f an en - profits made by large food chains trenched senior bureaucracy who seem to be doing extremely resistant to change and of an en - well despite or perhaps due to the . viranment within the ministry that ettcessiye increase in food prices, is hostile to integrity, imagination "In an editorial on Oct. 4, the',... and initiative does not auguresvell Globe' and Mail said:for inteljigent administration. "It can be said without , the "By now everyone is familiar with possibility of refutation, however, ----'0r. l'inlock's constraint package that no single thing has produced that was supposed to save the such an immediate and pervasive effect on inflation in Ontario as the two per cent increase in the sales tax. - "The exempt inn was continued on _ fund. Pet -feuds were exemj►ted but - the massive things— not excepting clothes for children, grown larger than the government allows — the sales rax increase at once reduced the purchasing power of a dollar in Ontario by two per cent. 'tNat only is the provincial gover- nment, collecting; two per cent more sales tax since the last provincial budget, it is collecting it on prices which have risen dramatically in the ensuing months. It seems unlikely that Queen's Park needed the -extra money. Having taken it, can it spend it un services that would be more essential to Ontario_. citizens than clothes fur adolescents and -adults, the light bill, the heat hill, the telephone bill, rising rents and had that is still dramatically high{lespite the seasi►nal August dip? "This gavernrr(E+nt suffers from Zack of planning in other areas as well. One of the most import ministries and one suffering most from the lack of clear direction is the Ministry of Health. .The Minister of -Health (Mr. Putter) has made so many mistakes that 1 won- der why he is still in that position. Had he been working in private in- dustry, he would have been fired months ago for imcanipetence. fortunately, it is the' people of On- tario who are suffering due to his mistakes. The Health Ministry is one of the most serious ailments of t his government. "One of Mr. Potter's most famous` blunders has been in dealing with the dentist -denturist.; controversy. A year' and a half ago, a hill was in- troduced which would have allowed denturist:; to deal directly with the public, ignoring the advice of a task force which recommended exactly the apposite. "A seven-nt'tn committee bas set up to draw up standards for licen- sing denturists. Four months later, the .government cimtradicted itself once again. The Minister of Health rejected the advice of the committee as well as the principle of the original hill by introducing new legislation prohibiting denturists from dealing with the public. A new dental worker was introduced, in -- stead — the denture therapist who could work only under the super- vision of a dentist. "It has4been almost a year since the introduction of that legislation and denturists are still dealing directly with the public in open violation of the law. Not only are they providing low-cost dentures for citizens of Ontario who are crying out for their services, but they also have the support of many physicians and dentists. "To date, according to the Den- turist Society of Ontario, about 700 doctors- are providing the denturist people with certificates of oral htalth. The&e certificates are Presented to the denturist who is then assured that the patient's mouth is healthy before dentures are fitted. "This denturist -dentist con- troversy has proven to be a great source of embarrassment for the government. The original bill which would have allowed denturists to deal directly with the public was a good,bill and deserved the support of the Legislature. However, seems that the minister was not strong enough to stand up to the preasut'es of the Ontario Dental ',Association. Dentists did not want another dental worker to deal direc- tly with the public. The minister made his now famous flip-flop and changed government policy accor- dingly. "The Denture Therapist Act is now law but there are hundreds of denturists breaking that, law. So far there have been no prosecutions. 1 wonder why? Could it he that the government recognizes its error and is afraid that arresting denturists government $50 million but only succeeded in embarrassing the government once again when Dr. Kinlock revealed, how this con- straint.- package was abandoned. "The minister has been promising a constraint package to try to limit the soaring costs of health care for many months. In I'hst spring's session the phrase used' most often by the minister was, "I will be in- -traducing a constraint package very shortly." Months have passed -since then. Health care costs keep rising and we are still waiting for some guidance from this government. "Mr. Speaker, it is interesting to see how the government has changed its priorities. Previously health .and education were top priority but this has naw shifted award transportation. The govern- ment has introduced spending.,, ceilings for schools, causing 'a great many innovative programmes to he cut from cirriculums. "The Metro Toronto'Board of Education, which at one time was the pride, and joy of a farmer Minister of Education, now the Premier, is suffering the most from the spending ceiling. All the special pregrarnmes• started in his era as minister are being crucified by the cutback, Many of the smaller boards. whichyneyer had special ser- vices are not upset because they are less of a.' loss. "The government realized that most boards could not live within the ceilings last year and raised ceilings -7.9 per cent this year. However, this raise in ceilings is not enough to cover all the expenses in- cu1red last year. I agree that money must be spent to solve Ontario's transit problems but riot at the ex- pense of the education of our children. Millions of public dollars are being spent on a sal( new tran- sportation system which will not be ready for 10 years, while traffic and public transit problems get worse every year. "I believe this is going to be one propose of the major issues for the govern& -..rent in the next few yearn. It had better start preparing some answers now. "Another facet of the Tory bureaucracy that fascinates me is the number of task forces, corn - missions, committees of inquiry, ex- ploration teams and 80 on and soon which have been set up since the last election. For example, in the Ministry of Industry and Tourism atone, eight exploration teams reported to the minister last year. Incidentally, none of these reports was made public. "1 would like oto see a list of an the reports, green papers and statements produced by the govern- ment and its committees in the last two years with a breakdown of the costs. I think we would all be star- tled with the results of such a tabulation. BEST WISHES ON`THE good "However, I must admit i Y of rewarding Tor ters or unsuccessful Tory didates, such as Barry Lowy had worked on several repor the government considered the paper used so that tis whose recomme r ted ars not ndations are a total waste? "Mr. Speaker, there are a n of matters which concern taining to the agricultural i in Ontario. But owing to t that we have yet to con81def t penditure estimates of. -the Mi of Agriculture and Food view of the fact thatme ia premium I will refrain from m any further comments on budget. 1 will gladly relitiqui House time to other members wish to participate in this de Thank you. GRAND OPENING OF GERRARD'S New SHOPPING CENTRE AND WELCOME TO OUR GROWING LIST OF CUSTOMERS • BUILDJNG MATERIALS SUPPLIED BY' 11�/V Yllll ��► 'II" I °d' ��bPNut "III alp �blll 1 1611"14 116! 'ii°11 'f. ,I 11 -6 �1 IIgI�J1UlI 111114141114444161164461 ilii hank iagii6 d� 1/110IP Ln'-„II�G;I 1111” A DIVISION OF ' LUMBER CO. LTD. 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