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Home My WebLink AboutClinton News Record, 2015-12-23, Page 44 News Record • Wednesday, December 23, 2015 www.clintonnewsrecord.com NewsCl Record PUBLISHED WEEKLY — EST. 1860 53 Albert St. P.O. 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Canada Member of the Canadian Community Cri2lNewspaper Association and the Ontario Community Newspapers Association Real work needed on aboriginal file Postmedia Network The only way we're going to make progress on aboriginal prosperity is through nitty-gritty hard work. This is what Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his Liberal govern- ment need to focus on. We don't need any more conferences and papers and commissions and inquiries -- at least not if they just result in what they normally result in, which is more talk. On Wednesday, Trudeau met with First Nations lead- ers and quite rightly said: "We didn't want to have a meeting so we can set up more meetings so we can celebrate in a gathering the fact that we've had meet- ings and we're going to have more meetings. We need to actually get to work on addressing concretely some of these very real challenges:' We couldn't agree more. Canada has had too many grand sweeping plans to improve the sorry life indicators that persist in aboriginal communi- ties: the White Paper in 1969, the Royal Commis- sion on Aboriginal Peo- ples in 1996, the failed Kelowna Accord of 2005. Now we have the final Truth and Reconciliation Commission report and its 94 recommendations. Will this help better the lives of Canada's aborigi- nal population, too many of whom live in sad condi- tions? Here's hoping. The question is, to what degree and how soon Trudeau will "actually get to work, as he says. Too many of his campaign promises on this subject were vague and not really about policy. They were about improving relations -- which is great, but not a roadmap to specifics. Ending boil water advi- sories. Increasing employ- ment opportunities. Improving community safety and policing. These are just some of the urgent issues that need to be addressed now. Not later. Not after the murdered and missing women REUTERS Chris Wattie Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shakes hands with Justice Murray Sinclair during the release of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's final report in Ottawa, Canada, December 15, 2015. Trudeau pledged to work toward full reconciliation with Canadian Aboriginals on Tuesday as he accepted a final report on the abuses of the government's now - defunct system of residential schools for indigenous children. inquiry wraps up in two years. Trudeau's platform did put forward a few specific ideas on this file, but not enough. Good gestures, no matter how optimistic they make all parties feel, can't address very real hardships. It's detailed policy work that'll do this. No Canadian supports the status quo. Everyone wants to see the poor life indicators faced by aborigi- nals improved. Trudeau has the mandate and pub- lic support to get to work. Despite assurances, Grits may hike GST Peter Epp Postmedia Network The federal government is maintaining that it will not raise the goods and services tax (part of the harmonized sales tax in Ontario), but that stoic resolve will likely buckle in the coming months under increased financial pressure. The GST is at 5%, having been reduced from 7% to 6% in June 2006 by the for- mer Conservative govern- ment, and then further reduced from six to five in January 2008. While many Canadians cheered the two reduc- tions, economists at the time agreed that a lower GST would rob the federal treasury of billions of dol- lars in revenue -- $6 bil- lion annually when the first reduction was intro- duced, approximately $14 billion upon completion of the second reduction. But the Conservative gov- ernment's philosophy at the time was to leave more money in Canadians' pockets, and it helped achieve that by lowering the GST. In the most recent elec- tion campaign the Liber- als promised to leave the GST alone, and Finance Minister Bill Morneau on Tuesday upheld that posi- tion. He even went as far as to tweet: "Contrary to misleading headlines, we are not considering changes to the GST." But how can they not be considering such changes? Raising the GST by even one percentage point would provide some relief from the financial pressure the Liberals find themselves in, particularly because of their determi- nation to provide tax relief for the middle class, ostensibly at the expense of the wealthy. That promise comes at a cost, as the promised tax relief to the middle class will total more than any new taxation might yield from wealthy Canadians. While the Liberals never promised a balanced budget in the recent elec- tion campaign, they prob- ably never anticipated their numbers would be out of whack so early in their government. At one point they conceded their annual deficit would not be more than $10 billion. But now forecasts are pointing to deficits much higher. And it's not like the GST hasn't helped previous gov- ernments. It provided bil- lions of dollars of new gov- ernment revenue upon its introduction in 1991. And while the governments of Brian Mulroney and Kim Campbell were toppled partly because the GST was so hated by Canadians, the governments of Jean Chre- tien and Paul Martin were able to balance budgets and post surpluses partly because of the GST. In the coming months the Liberals will be hold- ing budget consultations. It would be astonishing if an increase to the GST was not discussed. CLINTON NEWS RECORD - HOURS OF OPERATION MONDAY: 9:00 - 5:00 • TUESDAY: - CLOSED • WEDNESDAY: - 9:00 - 5:00 • THURSDAY: - 9:00 - 5:00 • FRIDAY: - 9:00 - 5:00 • SATURDAY & SUNDAY: - CLOSED ADVERTISING DEADLINE: FRIDAY AT 2:00 • PHONE 519-482-3443 • FAX: 519-482-7341 www.clintonnewsrecord.com