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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Wingham Advance Times, 1995-12-20, Page 5WEDNES Y, DECEMBER 241885 S• r-.'Y,•,',/„•"P,�'d..'oaP•+.•'.•.,tH.�i'. ark together to create a better nation united Dear Editor: On October 30, we almost lost Canada. Today, we can choose to do nothing and run the risk of losing our Canada, sometime in the future by default, or we can choose to em- bark on a people crusade to make Canada work for all Canadians. "The 20th Century belongs to Canada” was a popular dream shared by Canadians 100 years ago. Today the United Nations de - 'dares Canada the number one country in the world — and on Octo- ber 30, our Canada was preserved by a mere 50,000 votes, or approxi- mately one per cent of Quebec vot- ers. We are grandparents, a nurse and a farmer and former sales' rep., and we live on a gravel road in Morris Township, Huron County, Ont., We have a family of five, and they and their spouses have blessed us with eight grandchildren. Two days before the vote, thou- sands of everyday Canadians from across this land, joined with every- day citizens of Quebec in a last minute effort to save Canada — who knows for sure — but that "everyday people rally" may have saved Can- ada. Everyday people, meeting, talk- ing, singing and cheering everyday people, we believe can make Cana- da work for all Canadians. Will Rogers is quoted as saying "He never met a man he didn't like — I've never met a person that I got to know that I didn't appreciate. What if: Service clubs, towns, cities, churches, businesses, farmers, indi- viduals, etc. organized exchanges of their members with similar groups in Quebec, with translaters to facilitate communication at com- bined events like meetings, picnics, barbecues, etc., etc. During my sales career, and to- day with our farm customers, we have people who at times are not satisfied with our products and ser- vices, or in plain words, have com- plaints. To resolve complaints, the first rule is to listen carefully while the problem is clearly stated, and ask the dissatisfied party to suggest so- lutions • Reforms not thought through to save money Dear Editor:. UI, EI, OH MY! Better late than never. But is it? After two years of humming and hawing, Human Resources Devel- opment Minister Lloyd Axworthy has finally unveiled his proposals ..to reform Canada's unemployment insurance system. The question is, was it worth the wait? The good news is that the federal government says the re- forms will save about $2 billion in benefit costs by the year 2002. Ax- worthy also claims that the changes will create up to 150,000 jobs a year through a number of govern- ment programs. The bad news is that this may not be enough. The $2 billion savings only rep- resents a 6% reduction in pay -outs - hardly the stuff of serious fiscal re- straint. And the 150,000 jobs creat- ed by government intervention are likely to be more than off -set by the disastrous effects U1 premiums have on employment (The Bank of Canada estimates that 130,000 jobs were lost between 1989-93 because of high payroll taxes). The centre- piece of the reform package in- cludes a watered-down two-tiered system: People who collect U( (to be re- named El for Employment Insu- rance ) repeatedly will pay a penal- ty. Every time workers use the program over a 5 year period, their benefits will drop by one percent- age point. But there's a catch. Re- peat users would only face a maxi- mum reduction of 5% of what they previously received. That's not much of a disincentive to chronic UI abusers, Does anyone seriously think that those milking the system will he dissuaded by a measly 5% reduc- tion in their benefits'? Another ma- jor change involves basing benefits on the number of hours worked by an individual. Currently, benefits are calculated on a weekly basis. The hourly system will help to raise the period of time needed to qualify for UI, thus making for lower pay- ments in some cases. In other cas- es, however, workers will actually receive higher pay -outs. Forestry workers, for example, who on average already receive $6.17 in UI benefits per dollar con- tributed (compared to finance workers who receive only 58 cents per dollar), will likely collect even more. Moving to an hourly system might actually compound the prob- lem of an inter -industry transfer of wealth. As part of his effort to get people off UI and into jobs Mr. Axworthy is reverting back to the old Liberal tradition of make-work projects. Like the infrastructure program be- fore it, a new community job crea- tion slush fund will be created to provide low-paying, short-term em - 4 ployment. While no one would argue that it's better to have people .working than sitting around on the dole, these type of schemes don't pro- duce lasting employment. They do, however, add to the national debt. And what about turning UI (or EI, or` whatever you want to call it) into a true insurance plan where the pre- miums an individual pays reflect the risk that that person has of be- coming unemployed? Forget about that. The new changes will actually move El farther away from real in- surance. Higher income earners, for instance, will be penalized - they'll be paying their usually high premi- ums while having their benefits taxed back starting at $48,750. So what's the final verdict? Giv- en all of this, one can only con- clude that the government is not really serious about UI reform. The failure to create a true insu- rance plan and to cut payroll taxes means that economic growth will suffer and fewer jobs will be creat- ed. Chalk it up to another wasted op- portunity. Paul Pagnuelo Ontario Taxpayers Federation, Ajax, Ont. Clearly the 49.4 per cent of Que- bec voters who voted yes to start proceedings to leave Canada have serious complaints. Let's then listen carefully with an open mind to those sincere Yes and No Quebec voters and have them clearly state their complaints with Canada, and the solutions they suggest to make Canada work for all Canadians. Any organization I belong to — Canadian Shorthorn Association, my Church, etc. — allows a 50 per cent plus one vote to decide operat- ing decisions. But to alter the major direction of the group requires a majority of usually of about 60 per cent. On Oct. 30 the Quebec referen- dum was conducted virtually in iso- lation to Canada, with no agreed upon rules. No one knew in the event of Quebec leaving Canada, what Canada's position was on many crucial matters: what per cent of national debt to be assumed by the Country of Quebec, what about passports, currency, federal proper- ty in Quebec, geography and sup- port or abandonment of our aborigi- nal citizens if they choose to separate from Quebec. Without many of these issues be- ing resolved before another vote is held how can voters make an in- formed decision. The separatists are reported to be saying that the ball is in the federalists court and are waiting for them to respond. Surely since Canada is at stake, Canadians must give top priority to the rules of the game, should Que- bec or any other province or territo- ry decide to secede. According to the polls taken since the referendum, up to 70 per cent of yes voters want to negotiate a deal that would keep them in Canada. With a combination of "get to know exchanges", a positive reso- lution•of complaints and an honest effort to establish rules of secession for all Canadians, we everyday Ca- n;dians can help ourselves and our elected leaders enter the 21st Cen- tury full of promise for our future. Let's start today to make Canada work better for all Canadians. WHAT ARE WE DOING We are arranging an exchange of our village service club and a vil- lage club in Quebec. We are pressing our government reps to establish the rules of seces- sion, listen carefully to complaints of our citizens and develop a plan to make Canada work better for all Canadians, all done in open ses- sions. We love Canada and want to pre- serve and improve it for our grand- children and all grandchildren across this great land. If you like our plan, feel free to use it. If you have better ideas, please • share them, let's build now and let us not lose our Canada by default. Ross and Mary Procter, Brussels Time for better economic ideas Ffirst off, I know it's been a while. It must be that time of year again, it seems at Christmas time our inter- ests are pulled in lots of different directions. Anyway, enough of the idle chatter. I don't know if it's me or not but it really seems that our government (which by the way is supposed to be on our side) has completely forgotten who it's friends and foes are. I understand that our provincial and federal governments are in debt up to their snowbanks. But, why do our leaders always move ahead and think later? I agree that we have to make cuts, huge cuts. Mike Hams promised us tax cuts and in my opinion he should have started there. Once we knew that we would have more liquid cash on hand be- cause of the tax cuts I think we would have loosened our wallets and started spending more money. When that happens, the economy would improve and more jobs would be created along with more small businesses opening up. I also feel that any cuts made, must be felt by all the people in the province, not just a select In My Opinion' Bruce MORGAN group. We are all here as people from this province and we should all feel the pain of any action that our government makes. It was made very clear to us in the early fall that our highways wouldn't be cleared of snow as fast this winter. making that deci- sion will cost a Targe number of people their lives over the next few months. Is that a really smart decision to make? I don't think so. We can come up with better ideas that will save our province money and will share the burden of the cutbacks equally amongst all of us. With Christmas and the holi- days just around the corner all my family would like to wish you and your's a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Bruce can be heard weekend mornings on 96.7 CHYM-FM in Kitchener. 4 THE MUM 48181 iICETIMES `. ' as ,<+R.?,Kl •^^> b::a:,:�s�:z,":3R<w. Dave, Don, Mitch, Paul, Mike, Dave, Honey with Jillian, Mark (absent) "From Our 5fome 7o yours ... Wishing you a Warm and Safe Holiday season" 357-43OOL,NN,,X���I Hwy #4 AR CONDITONING • H Just South of Wingham EA1lNG tie we talk. You'll be surprised how easy it can be to talk about insurance - To get product information, competitive prices AND great service for your: Home Investments • 44, Life Commercial f Group "I wi[Cput myself in your shoes - and I will always make sure the laces are tied, securely." lad i ii a +(OV '096. 0r 6th, `a' a aren deist `� t 224 Josephine Street VVingham 357-2669 4