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HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Citizens News, 1969-03-20, Page 9THURSDAY, MARCH 20, 1969 ZURICH CITIZENS NEWS PAGE NINE REPORT FROM PARLIAMENT HILL by R. E. McKinley, M.P. Over the past week or so, the business of Canada's government has been carried on under the shadow of two major economic trents that affect every Canadian closely and colour every debate in the House of Commons. These two trends are, contin- uing inflation and the steady in- crease in government spending and hence, the steady increase in taxation. The first - inflation- is most clearly revealed by rising interest rates. A week ago Friday, the Bank of Canada raised its rate from 6 1/2Yo to'I'Tfo. This rate is the rate at which the central bank lends money to Canada's chartered banks and is the prime indicator of our national money market. The sharp increase in this basic rate of interest indicates that inflation is still. very much a factor in the Canadian economy and could continue to grow unless measures are taken to discourage borrowing. Such an increase in the Bank of Canada gate is usually followed AIMOIMa Rest Home Group The Blue Water Rest Home auxiliary met on Wednesday evening, March 5. There was a short business meeting after which the residents and auxiliary mem- bers were favoured with enter- tainment provided by Mr. and Mrs. Jim Young and Mr. Mozart Gelinas, Refreshments were served by the committee of the month. by a matching increase in the rate at which the chartered banks lend money to their customers. So, you can expect an increase in the cost of any money you borrow from your bank, very shortly. As to rising government exp- enditure, early last week the government tabled supplementary estimates for the fiscal year 1968- E9 amounting to close to $152 million dollars. This is in add- ition to the mote than $10 1/2 billion already asked for to run the country up to April 30th. In bringing in the additional bill for the Canadian taxpayer, the President of Treasury Board said $105 million of the new amount was to meet "conting- encies" - by which he said he meant wage and salary increases it was expected would be re- quired for the Civil Service. The original cost of govern- ment for the year plus the add- itional amounts now required fo far towards explaining the nec- essity for the recent increase in taxes sought by Minister of Fin- ance. Parliament has already app- roved the new programme of tax- ation of estates which will leave estates under $50,000. not tax- able, but estates over $50,000. will be calculated from the $20, 000. figure. Before it, still is the proposal for a 2% "Social Development tax to be levied on income. This measure will short- ly come before us for consideratior and, according to forecasts in Ottawa, May or June may see additional tax proposals brought forward to meet spiralling costs. Rising interest rates closely affect another subject now before the House - housing. You will recall the report on housing broughi down by the task force headed by the Minister of Transport recently. Since his report was tabled, he has been making very optimistic state- ments in the House and elsewhere about the huge amounts of mort- gage money that will be available to carry out his report's recomm- endations and reach the target of construction of 200,000 new home; this year. It now appears that the increase in interest rates already in force, and the probability of an even FEATURE VALUE 400 GIANT SIZE Regular price 69e o package of 10 Feature Value price iY packages for 77c THURS., tea., SAT. AT: Zurich5 Hardware higher rate in the near future, will reduce rather than build up the pool of investment capital nec- essary to provide such a large number of new homes. The House of Commons has alsc been dealing with other measures that might be classified as "house keeping" legislation--- bills providing for new government dept ments and the amalgamation of others. Through this reform of departments, the government hopes to be able to tackle major problems such as regional dis- parity, unemployment and nat- ional development in more eff- ective manner. Whether they will be success- ful, remains to be seen. As these events unfold here on Parliament Hill, I look forward to being able to report upon them for you, from time to time. carries your favourite TV program to cities across the country, lets you speak to anyone across the street or across the continent, in seconds, moves business data across the country at hundreds of words per second, speeds photographs anywhere, flashes an electrocardiogram from the patient's home to a city hospital for instant diagnosis? TheTelephone Network available instantly whenever you need it, keeping Canada a world leader in communications. Bell Canada Built, managed and owned by Canadians