Times-Advocate, 1979-04-25, Page 21Exchange rates result in big losses
By JACK RIDDELL
MPP Huron-Middlesex
During the Liberal Party’s
formal response to the new
Provincial Budget, our
John Deere
High-Pressure
Washers
Clean up quickly with a
John Deere High-Pressure
Washer. They're right for
dozens of tough cleaning
jobs. Choose from five
models with 500- to 1100-
psi nozzle pressure. Just
hook up to a cold water
supply, plug the washer in,
and start cleaning. See us
soon for a demonstration.
JOHN OEEHE
Time*-Advocate, April 25, 1979
Home-grown vegetables
from your own
It’s easy with a
John Deere
Tiller
Financial Critic David
Peterson, MPP (London
Centre) referred to the
Government’s latest com
mitment to balancing the
budget by 1984 as a “sham”.
He pointed out that if the
Government’s own projec
tions are correct and if the
current rate of decline of the
deficit (2.2%) continues, it
would take some 43 years
before revenues matched
expenditures.
In addition, this year’s
forecast doesn’t even in
clude an estimate of revenue
loss from uptake of the
proposed Small Business
Development Program.
In addition, “given our
justifiable lack of faith in
this Government’s
forecasts, the question now
becomes not when will the
budget be balanced, but
when will the trend to ever-
larger deficits be reversed.
“Moreover, if we don’t
soon start creating new
wealth in Ontario, we shall
necessarily be committing
ourselves to ever higher
levels of taxation in the
years ahead. There is no
way around that inevitabili
ty.
“Ontario’s deficits have,
in some part, in the past
been financed by loans taken
out in German
Deutschemark. These loans
were taken out at a much
lower exchange rate, and
when one of the loans
became due and payable in
1975, it produced an actual
loss for the province of $9.55
million. The Province still
has outstanding two loans in
DM and we face even more
severe losses due to the con
tinuing rise in the value of
the DM.
For instance, this year a
portion of one of the loans
became due on February
1st. This was equal to $4
million Canadian when we
took out the loan, and it re
quired over $9 million Cana
dian to make that payment
this year, showing an ex
change loss of about $5
million, with more losses to
come in the future.
“The fastest growing
budgetary item is the in
terest on the provincial
debt: the Davis years have
added $11.1 billion to this
debt, which is now costing
us $3.8 million a day in in
terest - and this is probably
a low estimate. This
amounts to $1,388 billion a
year, 9.2% of the current
budget, and an increase of
12.6% over last year. A
decade ago, the funded debt
stood at $4.2 billion.
It is now projected to be
$15.3 billion by the end of the
fiscal year, an increase of
263%. This represents an in
crease from $551 per capita
in 1970-71 to a projection of
$1,791 per capita for* this
fiscal year.”
Mr. Peterson criticised
the proposed Employment
Development Fund, describ
ing it as “little more than a
$200 million slush fund, with
no provision for legislative
scrutiny or accountability.
If the Treasurer considered
it anything other than a
political pork-barrel, he
would be willing to in
troduce legislation settin
out the criteria by which
loans and grants will be con
sidered. The fact that he is
unwilling to do so speaks for
itself.”
He challenged the
Treasurer’s comment that
taxpayers’ money would not
be directed to the Fund and
away from the normal
programs of government,
“because the money will
come in part from proceeds
of the sale of our Syncrude
shares and Ontario
Mortgage Corporation
mortgages. These in
vestments were originally
made out of general
revenues, money from tax
payers who are now ex
pected to help bribe large
corporations to remain in or
come to Ontario”.
The Liberal Financial
Critic condemned the Small
Business Development
program as “at best a tax
dodge for the rich. Money
will not go where it is need
ed - to assist new Canadian
ventures. Like the Employ
ment Development Fund, it
is a misdirected subsidy
scheme. The Government
has missed the mark on both'
counts.
We fear that the
Government’s proposal is
too restrictive, and will
result in a complicated,
bureaucratic nightmare,
with no more chance of
success than its previous
attempt two years ago (the
ill-fated Venture Investment
Corporations program)
which attracted not a single
registrant.
“Overall this Budget can
only be described as a bor
ing, muddled, piecemeal
attempt to get through
another year. The total lack
of priority and clarity are
frighteningly obvious.
Within the context of a $15.5
billion budget, we see only
tinkering,
The only consistent ele
ment of this budget is the
fact that overwhelmingly
the tax increases are levied
against the little guy. They
are consumer taxes which
are regressive, hitting low
and middle income tax
payers the hardest, and they
are uniformly inflationary.
Gasoline will cost more,
so will cigarettes, alcohol,
cable TV, any number of
fees and licences and, of
course, most importantly,
health care. Of the $269
million being raised in tax
increases, almost70%(or 184
million) are taxes on the in
dividual consumer.
Contrast that with the $5
million increase in the
capital tax rate on banks.
It’s clear who this Govern
ment is catering to, and it’s
not the average taxpayer in
Ontario.”
The Liberal Party has
called for a provincial
foreign investment review
agency, after I revealed that
a West German family had
enough money deposited in
backyard!
________ J
Huron County Banks to buy
the equivalent of 40,000
acres of farmland. The
Minister of Agriculture said
he would need facts and
figures before anything
could be done, and that a
study of land ownership in
Huron County was in
progress.
Having made a study of
foreign ownership on a
Canada wide basis I know
that four other provinces
have laws restricting
foreign ownership of land
and I can’t understand the
lack of interest on the part
of the Ontario Government
to at least conduct a survey
on the amount of land that
has been sold to foreign in
vestors. Remo Mancine,
Liberal MPP (Essex South)
asked the Minister if he had
a plan of action if the study
showed there was more
foreign ownership than ex
pected.
The Minister reminded
Members of the 20% land
transfer tax on the sale of
land to foreigners. However,
in a debate on this subject
last December 5th, I in
dicated that some foreign in
terests were avoiding the
land transfer tax by forming
an Ontario corporation.
Home-grown vegetables seem to
taste extra good. But the work
involved with backyard gardening
can be extra tough without the proper
equipment. And that’s where John
Deere comes in.
John Deere Walk-Behind Tillers are
available in compact and heavy-duty
models. The 2-hp compact tills a
swath 16 inches wide and up to 71/2
inches deep. The heavy-duty 31/2-
and 6-hp models have a 13- to
24-inch tilling width and a tilling
depth of 7 inches. The compact tiller
has a loop handle with full-width
control bar that lets you operate the
machine from behind or from either
side A unique rear-wheel/depth bar
assembly swings down for transport,
up for tilling. The heavy-duty models
have a reverse gear and a pressure-
activated clutch for added safety.
John Deere Lawn and Garden
Tractors pack the muscle you need for
even tougher gardening chores.
Choose a model, 10 to 19.9
horsepower, then add a
capacity-matched tiller that tills 22 to
48 inches wide.
Visit us soon. We have the
equipment you need to make your
backyard gardening easier.
Nothing runs like a Deere®
Clay Tile Insulation
Auger Backfill
Installation Maps Provided
Workmanship Guaranteed
KISTNER DRAINAGE LIMITED
RR #1 GADSHILL
656 2363 OR 656-2781
Patoran
herbicide for white beans.
Blyth 523-4244
Exeter 235-1115
SEMINAR ON MARKETING - A number of area farmers participated in a Thursday short
course on "Alternative Marketing Stiategies" al Ceniialia College. Fiom the left are Sean
Usher of the marketing division of Ridgetown College and area latmeisBob f-oi test, Hensall
Ray Cann, Exeter and John Scott, Staffa. T-A photo
c
i
DRY FERTILIZER
AMOK XWU
BLENDS
* Registered trademark EI17M
hil.l■lll■■l
AT THE PLANT WAREHOUSEDEPOTS
LIQUID APPLICATION AND WITH 0R WITHOUT
HERBICIDES
HURON
TRACTOR
Better yields start
and finish with
Green Cross
<XALIT(
GREEN
CROSS
(XALIT'i
Green Cross Patoran controls weeds from
the start of the growing season. And it
maintains that effective weed control
right up to harvest.
You get clean fields and better yields.
When applied pre-emergently, as
directed, Patoran is safe for beans-white,
lima, snap, kidney and others.
Green Cross Patoran.
The quality herbicide more
and more bean growers
depend on.
For more information,
write to Green Cross
Products, 1 Westside Drive,
Etobicoke, Ontario. M9C1B2.
GREEN
CROSS
GREEN CROSS PRODUCTS
1, Westside Drive, Etobicoke, Ontario
Division of CIBA-GEIGY CANADA LTD.
MONCTON • MONTREAL • TORONTO • WINNIPEG • CALGARY • VANCOUVER
^KUBOTH
DIESEL POWER
DOES IT!
16 hp. — 30 Hp.
Huron Counties Kubota
Dealer
|/ZZaZ_~ZTZzl£-
ib
SEAFORTH 527-0120
BLYTH
(519) 523-4244
FERTILIZER? — THE QUIET REVOLUTION
MEANS
FILLING MINI BULK
CAN OFFER BETTER SERVICE THAN EVER IN 1979
TRANSPORTING TO OUR UNLOADING INTO OUR FILLING THE SPREADER
THE INTRODUCTION OF MINI-BULK ENABLES US TO OFFER BULK DRY
FERTILIZER COLLECTION FACILITIES AT ALL THREE LOCATIONS
PLUS ON-FARM SERVICE BY SKILLED OPERATORS
I APPLICATION OF ALL
... STANDARD AND CUSTOM
PLUS MORE SPREADERS AVAILABLE FOR RENTAL
COOK'S A DIVISION OF GERBRO CORP
CENTRALIA
228-6661
HENSALL KIRKTON
262-2410 229-8986
DISTRIBUTORS OF LION BRAND TURF AND FORAGE SEEDS/ ASGROW SEED CORN AND A WIDE RANGE OF CHEMICALS