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Clinton News-Record, 1974-05-30, Page 16ATTENTION FARMERS! Due to the shortage of natural fiber twine we are offering the new Poll .Twine to our customers this season. /Ho "NEW IMPROVED" NI-TWINE BALER TWINE 5eatureJ $ 1 8 8 ° • A BALE • Uniform weight and size • Non-toxic to animals • Competitively priced • Manufactured in Western Canada • Sold by Canadian Dealers and Distributors FARM SUPPLY CENTRE RR 4, CLINTON 482-3423 MANAGER SALESMAN RALPH RUFFINGA DON JEWELL BLYTH, ONTARIO CLINTON, ONTARIO MEW Non rot • Reduced wear to parts flEALEK TRICIAN novs WERE ELECTRICIANS Of GREAT RENOWN, 'TALK OF OUR FINE WORK IS ALL OVER TOWN" /1 /141/ /, iii AND (EFFICIENT l The Land Speculation Tax Act has undergone 2$ hours of debate in the Legislature and practically half the sections of the bill have yet to be con- sidered. The bill has probably been one of the most inept bills that has been introduced into the house and although the Liberal Party of Ontario sup- ports the principal of taxing those persons who make ex, tremely profitable gains at the expense of many Ontario citizens, the members disagree on many of the details of the bill and have proposed many amendments in the hopes of improving the bill. Opposition members have argued that there should be an exemption for the small builders. At the present time there is nothing in the statute that will allow small builders to continue. These are effec- tively prohibited by the provisions of the bill from going to a developer and buying three or four or five lots on which to erect houses, because no developer will sell to the small builder without his payment of the 50% speculation tax. Vern Singer, Liberal for Downsview, argued strongly NOTICE TO PROPERTY OWNERS DESTROY WEEDS NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN to all persons, in possession of lands in any Municipality in the County of Huron. In accordance with the Revised Weed Control Act, 1972, Section 4, 14 and 20 and amendments thereto, 'that unless noxious weeds growing on their lands are destroyed by June 15, 1974 and throughout the season, the Mtinicipality may enter upon the said lands and have the weeds destroyed, charging the costs against the land in taxes, as set out in the Act: The co-operation of all citizens is solicited. ALEX CHESNEY, Weed Inspector, County of Illturon BY RENA CALDWELL Personals Mr. and Mrs. Harold Jones were in Guelph last week atten- ding their son Kenneth's graduation in agriculture and engineering at Guelph Univer- sity. While in Guelph, they visited with Mr. and Mrs. Ar- nold Gackstetter. The UCW of St. Andrews Church Kippen met on May 14 at the home of Mrs. Ken McLellan. Due to inclement weather seeding has been delayed in the Kippen area. Corn planting is now in progress, Mr. and Mrs. Andy Gibson, Wroxeter, visited with Mr. and Mrs. W.L. Mellis, Mr. and Mrs. Elzar Mousseau and Mr. and Mrs. Ross Faber attended the Turn- bull sale at Grand Bend. St. Andrews Church Kippen held A nniversarrServi ces Sum' day, May .26 with Rev. James Reddock of Bayfield in charge. Music was supplied by the Huron Centennial School choir under the leadership of Mrs. Carol Lebeau. FRED LAWRENCE Electrical Contractor Home - Farm - Commercial Wiring Phone Auburn 526-7505 Business end Professional Directory R.W. BELL OPTOMETRIST The Square, GODERICH 524.1661 NORM WHITING UCENSED AUCTIONEER A APPRAISER p llangitart,1Celly, Doig and Co.. Chartered Accountants 268 Main St., Exeter ARTHUR W. READ • Resident Partner 285-8128 *owe yaldive oppadami4 Prompt, Courteous, Efficient, ANY TYPE, ANY SIZE, ANYWHERE We give complete sale service PROFIT BY' EXPERIENCE Phone Collect 236-1964 EXETER OPTOMETRY J.E. LONGSTAFF OPTOMETRIST CUNTON—MON. ONLY 20 ISAAC ST. 482-7010 SEAFORTH BALANCE OF WEEK GOVENLOCK ST, 527-1240 BOX 1033 212 JAMES ST. HELEN R. TENCH , 8.A. PUBLIC ACCOUNTANT TEL. 462-9962 CLINTON ONTARIO INSURANCE K.W. COLQUHOUN INSURANCE. & REAL ESTATE Phones: Office 482-9747 Res. 482-7804 HAL HARTLEY Phone 482-6693 LAWSON AND WISE GENERAL INSURANCE— GUARANTEED INVESTMENTS Clinton Office: 482-9644 J.T. Wise, Res.: 482-7265 ALUMINUM PRODUCTS For Air-Master Aluminum Doors and Windows and AWNINGS and RAILINGS JERVIS SALES R.L. Jervis-68 Albert St. Clinton-482.9390 DIESEL Pumps and Injectors Repaired For All Popular Makes Huron Fuel Injection Equipment Bayfield Rd., Clinton-482.7971 that there should be an exemp- tion from this tax on the basis that once a subdivision is registered, if a developer takes a piece of raw land and turns it into a subdivision making building lots available then there should be an availability of selling those lots to an in- dividual builder and allowing him to go ahead without the 50 per cent speculation tax. Margaret Campbell, Liberal for St. George, tried to instill upon the Minister that there should be an exemption from the tax for senior citizens who are in senior citizens accom- modation and who have rented their home but for some reason beyond their control have had to sell their homes during their residency in the senior citizen accommodation. Other Opposition members tried to ,point out to the Minister that the Land speculation Tax Act does not allow either for a widow whose husband died and left her a small estate which she turned into a duplex in order to get a small income from the rent. If this woman decides that there is too much work and worry in- volved for her and she wants to liquidate her assets she is faced with the speculation tax. In the estimation of the Liberal Party this woman is not a speculator but is benefiting from the work done by herself and her husband and trying to protect herself from inflation. Other arguments of the bill are that the enforcement provisions of the act, the limitation period and search or seizure provisions must be changed. The act allows the Minister's officials to go into somebody's office to gather in- formation and to see his documents and records. Theoretically, at least for the purposes of this act, if there is reasonable ground to believe that an offence has taken place under this act as is done in relation to income tax and cer- tain other taxing statutes, they HURON PINES ELECTRIC can go in, seize the documents, seize the papers for the mi.: Phone poses of -tlyis-4att7 also allow the ministerial of- TODAY'S CHILD BY HELEN ALLEN THE TORONTO '-D9_,I),j SYNDICATE' Good-looking Michael, 11, is Irish and Italian in descent, a slender boy with blue eyes, light brown hair, fair skin and a winning smile. Michael is in good general health but has had a number of asthma attacks caused by allergies. Th,e allergies are now controlled by weekly injections but because of his asthma, he missed a good deal of school and is behind his age group. He is in a special Grade four class now to help him catch up and is doing better in school than ever before. He will probably do even better when he is settled in a home of his own. Michael's allergies include feathers, dust, wool and animals — with horses the worst. But his foster home's dogs and cats do not appear to bother him. Fortunately he is not allergic to any foods and is on a normal diet. Energetic Michael loves sports. He played centre field on a baseball team last summer and is proud of the trophy it won. He plays floor hockey at school and looks forward to being on an ice hockey team next year. He is a good swimmer and likes fishing. Quiet but not shy, Michael is friendly, pleasant and co- operative, He gets on well with other children. Michael will be a fine son for a family who will appreciate his lovable personality, share his interests and be calm about his allergies. To inquire about adopting Michael, please write to Today's Child, Ministry of Community and Social Services, Box 888, Station K, Toronto M4P 2H2. For general adoption information, please contact your local Children's Aid Society. RE LOVES SPORTS ficials to take the seized documents to any other depart- ment of the provinical govern- ment which is" concerned with taxing matters. As if that were not enough the statute goes on to provide that the same infor- mation, the same documents and the same records can be turned over to any other depar- tment of the federal govern- ment which is concerned with taxing matters. The act permits these same documents to be turned over to any department of another provincial govern- ment with whom Ontario has a reciprocal agreement, Opposition members wonder just what kind of legislation it is which allows the government to come in and investigate a particular offence which it must have reasonable grounds to presume is taking place, and then dissipate this information to all sorts of other agencies of all sorts of other governments. It really boils down to the fact that it is a gestapo arrangement which the Minister is setting up. The limitation period is six years and in the minds of the Official Opposition this is too long a period of time. Op- position members feel that if the ministry is doing its job, it should be able to determine whether or not it feels there has been an offence under this act in a much shorter period of six years. Another provision of the bill which Opposition • members disagree with is that which sub- jects a farmer to the tax unless he sells his farm to members of his family. Murray Gaunt, Liberal for Huron Bruce proposed an amendment which would allow a farmer to sell his farm to anyone free of the tax if he has farmed it for a period of 10 or more years. Official Plans and Land zoning would dictate whether this farm was to remain in Agricultural produc- tion but the argument is, far- mers should not be penalized for being the victim of city en- croachment upon his land. Opposition members, thatithere sjite,cf-13s#rr exemption from the land speculation tax for people who have been sent out of the coun- try by their employers in order to carry on their business. If they have rented their home and upon returning decide to sell it then they should not be subjected to the speculation tax. Jim Breithaupt, Liberal member for Kitchener, made several points, one of which, was that the speculation tax should have a time element built into it for an example a depreciating rate of 5 per cent per year. This rate should also be available to the person who owns a commercial building, a sixplex or an extra home which he or she has purchased and maintained and has hoped to use as a matter of saving. Mr. Breithaupt also argued that the various areas of par- cels of land that should be exempt are those for which the townships have been giving the minimum severance, In other words if the smallest parcel of land that one could have severed and upon which one could build a home, is 25 or 28 acres, then that should form the base upon which the tax is levied. Perhaps the greatest uncer- tainty in the bill as it is written at* the present time is whether the speculation tax is deduc- tible as a business tax from the federal income or corporation tax. The Minister of Revenue says, "As Far as we know the federal government will allow this 50 per cent tax to be deduc- ted as a cost ,of doing business." Vern Singer, Liberal for Downsview, hastened to reply that "as far as we know is a very, very interesting phrase, because I can add to that my comment that as far as I know, the federal government is going to make no such allowance." Where, speculators become involved taxes could run as high as 81 per cent in the case of a private individual or 86 per cent in the case of a cor- poration, on the minister's speculation that this 50 per cent tax was going to be allowed as a cost of doing business. If it is not allowed as a cost of doing and it is added on then the speculator is taxed on the full' amount of that -profit which amounts to 112%. This then becomes a con- fiscatory tax. As indicated at the beginning of this column the Land Speculation Tax Bill is so inept that Mr. Singer, Liberal for Downsview, on behalf of his colleagues, felt that there was no other recourse than to make a reasoned amendment which appears on the notice paper and which reads as follows: "That all the words in the motion for third reading of bill 25 after the word "that" be struck out and the following substituted therefore: - "The, bill be not now read the third time but be referred to the Standing Administration of Justice Committee so that this committee may determine whether or not the tax imposed 'by this in tact, deduc- tible as a business expense un- der the federal taxing statutes". One of the members of the Official Opposition who has been in the house for ap- proximately 20 years, commen- ted that he cannot recall when any statute pertaining to such an important matter under- went such long debate. The original bill contained something like 28 pages and the Minister since its introduc- tion has brought in ap- proximately 22 pages of amend- ments. The Ontario Medical Association complained this week that proposed legislation would force doctors to live un- der a "lingering threat" of a malpractice suit for years, when they appear before the Standing Committee of the Legislature on Social Develop- Ment, studying the Health Disciplines Act. The present law in Ontario allows the patient one year in which to sue a • doctor for negligence. Bill 22, the Health Disciplines Act, 1974 now only extends this for two years from the time the doctors services to the patient ended but also allows further indefinite exten- sion by the courts, Doctors have objected strenuously to the discretionary powers given to the courts to extend the limitation period. This would have tie effect of forcing mem- bers of the health disciplines to labor under the lingering threat of suit by disgruntled patients even many years after they have had professional contact with them. The Ontario Government has paid $22 million for about 11,000 acres of land, optioned by a consortium of developers as the site for a city of 150,000 to serve the Nanticoke In- dustrial Development on Lake Erie about 30 miles south of Hamilton. Mr. White, Ontario's Treasurer said it was cheaper to buy up the options the group held than to acquire land at another site recommended last year by a government report. The developers will not make any money to speak of on the assembly of land. The developers will make some money in selling 298 acres the only portion of the site they own outright for something over $800 an acre so the profit on this land is almost,$341 an acre. The Ontario Government has decided to assist victims of the recent flood in the Cambridge, Brantford area by matching dollar for dollar any money that is raised locally. A local committee will be set up to raise money to distribute assistance to those hardest hit 'by the flood. I am pleased to conclude this column by reporting that the Cabinet has formally approved the purchase of 2.1 acres of land on Sanders Street in the Town of Exeter, Ontario for the development of senior citizen housing by Ontario Housing Corporation. The Corporation has com- missioned the architectural firm of Hagarty and Buist, of Lofkdon, .to. prepare drawings on which a modified tender call will be issued, The design of the project will be submitted to the local council for its ap- proval prior to the call for ten- ders. The Huron District of the Oddfellows and Rebekah's Lodges presented an eye testing machine to the Huron County Health Unit last week In Holmesville. The machine, worth $500 was presented to Bob Gibson, left, president of the Health board, by deputy president Mary Grigg and Oddfellows committee chairman Murray Taylor. Funds for the machine were raised by clubs In Clinton, Goderich, Wingham, Exeter, Hensall, Brussels, Brucefield and Seaforth. (Clinton News-Record photo) $3,000 MONSTER BINGOS CLINTON COMMUNITY - CENTRE —8:00 P.M. MONDAY, MAY 27- MONDAY, JUNE 3- MONDAY, JUNE 10- MONDAY, JUNE 17- MONDAY, JUNE 24 PRIZES EACH NIGHT $1,000.00 JACKPOT BINGO 3-SHARE THE WEALTH 15 REGULAR GAMES - $60.00 EACH SPONSORED BY CLINTON RECREATION COMMITTEE ADMISSION - $1 EXTRA CARD - 25c EACH OR 5/$1.00 SHARE THE WEALTH 25c EACH OR 5/$1.00 JACKPOT CARD $1.00 EACH PAGE 4A—CLINTON NIEWE-:RECORD, THURSDAY, MAY 30, 1974 Jack's Jottings By jock Riddell, Iluron MI'11 BUDD KUEHL at 86 King St. Clinton 482-7901 l The provisions of this act