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HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Citizens News, 1973-12-06, Page 11THURSDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1973 ZURICH CITIZENS NEWS PAGE 11 Jottings by c from In debating the Bill which would provide assistance to Ont- ario pensioners both Opposition parties in the Ontario Legislat- ure pushed vigorously for $2 00 guaranteed monthly incomes for the elderly rather than an insult- ing $50. Christmas bonus to Bills will not be proceeded with until next year. Mr. Bales said he wanted to give Members of the Legislature and the Public the opportunity to discuss the legislation. One Bill also prov- ides for inspection of public institutions by a panel selected pensioners. They said their from the Jury roll to replace the proposal would cost $50 million public inspection function of the a year which Ontario could af- abolished Grand Juries. ford. Premier William Davis Energy Minister Darvy Mc - said in response to questions that Keough, feels Ontario will get the Province has the money and through this winter without any is assessing possible increases. Pensioners receive $105.30 from the Federal Government and up to $73.86 as a supple- ment. If the Federal Govern- ment paid half the costs of in- creased benefits under the Can- ada Assistance Plan, $24 mill- ion would provide a monthly $209. pension for 340, 000 pen- sioners until March 31 and retro- active to October 1st. Treasurer John White and Mr. Brunelle were left with little Govern- ment support to face the barrage of criticism when the debate began. Attendance on the Gov- ernment side varied between 9 and 20. Mr. Brunelle, Minister of Community and Social Serv- ices made no statement. Mr. White who must answer for Government spending priorities in the House had trouble getting through a fifteen minute state- ment because of interruptions. The House sat until 1:30 a.m. Thursday debating this Bill. Government Grants which only serve to put more money into the pockets of publishers at the expense of the school system are not the solution to the troubles the Canadian textbook industry faces, Premier William Davis intimated in the Legislature answering questions from the Opposition and criticism as voiced by the Independent Publ- ishers Association, the Premier defended his response to the Royal Commission on book publ- ishing and his recommendation that 9250 of the approved school textbooks be written by Ontario or Canadian authors. The Can- adian publishers who depend on school books as their main prof- it line are feeling the pinch of changing trends in policies and cannot compete with stronger United States owned subsidiary firms in Ontario. Mr. Davis said the Royal Commission had recommended a special grant structure for text book develop- ment, but he said if all that did was put more funds in the publishers hands with lesser econ- omics to the school system then better solution has to be found. Schools no longer rely as heavily on textbooks and the Ministry of Education has moved away from conditional grants. Students are also taking greater care of their books and selling them to following classes. Attorney General Dalton Bales introduced legislation this week to abolish Grand Juries and shaten the list of exempted occupations on jurors' lists. He told the Legislature that the dislocations in fuel oil supplies due to the enthusiastic public response to the Provincial Covert ment's energy conservation cam- paign. Mr. McKeough believes that mandatory allocations at the wholesale level will have to remain. He said the unrestirct- ed driving habits of individual car owners as they affect energy conservation are coming under the scrutiny of Governments. He hinted there could be govern- ment intervention that could make it more practicable to leave cars at home and use pub- lic transit services. Margaret Birch, the Ontario Minister in charge of Youth Secretariat said this week, there was a need for a Tri -level adv- isory committee on grants to youth. Previously Mrs. Birch had been critical of most opport- unities for youth and LIP prog- rams. She said that these prog- rams had created numerous "non -jobs" by postponing the employment problem and not providing any vo rk experience. There has been a $360 million recalculation of the cost of the Ontario Government's Western Parkway Belt and the Niagara Escarpment Land Acquisition programs. The Province unveil- ed its plans for the Parkway Belt and escarpment on June 4. followed up with planning and development control legislation. Part of the plan was to buy about 2077o of the 200 mile long escarpment's 1.3 million acres at a cost when formerly introd- uced between $250 to $500 mil- lion. Latest figures put the price at a firm half billion dollars. The Honourable John White moved first reading of a bill entitled an Act to amend the Gift Tax Act. The purpose of the Gift tax Amendment Act is to bring in legislation the 1973 budget proposal for a once in a life time tax free gift for farm property of $50, 000. The obj- ective of the proposal is to en- courage and facilitate the cont- inued operation of family farms which form an important part of the social and economic fab- ric of the Province. Under existing legislation any person may make individual gifts of up to $2, 000. each, tax free, in any one year with the yearly total not to exceed $10, 000. As designed the prop- osed amendments will allow a gift of up to $50, 000 tax free once in a lifetime of farm prop- erty to a child. For purposes of the amendment the farm property is defined to include land, buildings and machinery necessary for the op- eration of the farm. In addition the term "once in a life time" has been defined as any one taxation year. This means that the gift may be made in stages over a taxation year but any exemption claimed under this section may apply only in respect to the amount given in a taxation year. In addition succession duty legislation has been modified to prevent recapture of the gift in an estate where the donor has not survived the gift by more than five years. The spending estimates are almost completed and the session is rapidly draw- ing to a close. It appears as though the house will recess next week for the Christmas break. Seabreeze Record Player Exclusive "Magic Ring" turntable, automatically changes speeds to 33 1/3 or 45 rpm. Spindle acts as on/off volume control. 4" heavy duty speaker. Weighs only 4% lb. 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