The Goderich Signal-Star, 1974-05-09, Page 3e
JACK'S JOTT#iOZ
FROM QOEN'S PARK
A new land transfer tax
designed to discourage large
scale acquisition of Ontario
land by foreigners, was given
Royal Assent in the Ontario
Legislature.
The Act's 20 per cent tax on
purchases of land by non-
residents of Canada was
criticized by opposition mem-
bers as insufficient., They
favoured the proposal of a,
select. committee to • restrict
land ownership in the province
to Canadian citizens or •landed
immigrants.
The House . is presently
debating the,proposed - land
speculation 'tax act which
would impose a 50 per cent tax
on speculative gains frog) the
sae of land.
During the debate on the
province's land speculation tax,
Ontario revenue ` minister Ar-
thur Meen, admitted that the
50 per cent rate depends en-
tirely upon whether Ottawa
"would. go along and if it does
not' the tax may have to be c'ut
back sharply to about 25 per
cent. Mr. Meen .said ,the tax
will have to become law before
the province will knowafor sure
that it has the required,federal
acceptance. In arriving at the
50 per -cent tax' Nitre, Ontario
assumed ' that „Ottawa would
allow_ ,individuals and cor-
porations to deduct that
amount from their income or
gapital 'gains in calculating
taxable, income.
The new tax was a corner
stone of the Ontario budget un-
veiled April 9th, and was
designed to stabilize land -prices,
and so restrain inflation.`
PEAR EDITOR
(continued from page 2)
have for increasing the price of
a product; reasons which Mr.
Hazlitt has:, -,..either failed to
recognize or Pis ignorant 'of. I
suggest that Mr,. Hazlitt ought'
to have considered the
f6regoing reasons for justifiable
price increases before seeking
to publicly discredit 'any per-•
, , son,' who, for 'Thany reasons
beyond his control; `is forced to
raise retail prices. Inflation is
a vicious .economic merry -go-
' round; surely we can not. -expect
one man to hold down his
prices when all around him,
you, I, and everyone is deman-
ding and getting more money.
As I stated earlier, the
newspaper is . a powerful In-
strument which can influence
peoples' thinking. Witty letters
4 such as Mr. Hazlitt's receive a
great deal -of undue attention;
it's a pity, that, in "this par-
ticular instance, such wit could.
not have been supported by an
equal portion of intelligence. ••
• Eric' A, • Fi�nchei-
Land tax
Dear F.tditor�,
The,, .'land' speculation ,tax:'
!recently tabled Queen's Park
'is cruel legislation which
heavily penalizes thousands of
rural .land'' owning 'Ontario
residents whorn--1 suspect have
no idea that they are being "ac-„
ted against. When the law is
passed, these people will find
they are subject to a -tax of 50
er cent on their' lands when
sold. The tax will be in ad-
dition to any capital gains tax
they have to pay' the Feder'"al
Government. All of this'
amounts to expropriation of
lands with little compensation.
The following is a partial list
of properties which are taxable:
(1) A11 Inds owned by rural
residents, unless the property`is,
smaller than ten acres and is
lived on• If it is lived on and
greater than ten acres then it
becomes taxable.
(2). With few exceptions all
rural income producing proper-
• ties which are not a place of
residence,
The tax is unfair to farmers;
Lumbermen and other rural
people who have worked all
A their lives on their lands and
-have their life savings tied up
in this asset, You really have to
stretch the imagination far to-
classify them as land
speculators, as the title of the
'bill suggests.'
•
The government has stated
that they intend on. driving the
price of real estatedown by
passing the land, speculation
tax and another tax ..o.f.'20 per,
cent ifa rural resident sells any
of his property to a foreigner. ,.
This, of course, will enable the, ,
„government to buy rural lands'
at cheap prices. They have also
conveniently worded the
legislation to„ read that if land
is sold to the Crown instead of
private persons, the tax will not .
be payable: The government
will now be' in a position. to
force the farmer or lumberman
to sell his land to them.
Land speculation and
skyrocketing house • prices is
strictly a city problem. This.
being the case, why should the"'
farmer and the rural resident
have to suffer because of the
situation in' the big cities and •
surrounding areas? It is unfair
to harness country people with
this legislation. These laws
should ably coven eriairi cities
and towns and not the whole
province.
•
ly
0
GODERICH SIGNAL -STAR, THURSDAY, MAY 9. 1974— PAGE, 3
Land transfer tax given Royal
Howeve'i, .opposition speakers choosing to construct housing
suggested that it would do
neither" one. It was further
suggested that unless 'Ottawa
'allow the speculation tax as a
deduction, the tax on public
corporations would jump to
between 110 and 112 per cent.
Mr. Meen admitted that under
these circumstances the tax
would be confiscatory and
would ,have to be abandoned.
A Table contained in the
Budget shows•that the total tax The orders announced by Mr..
on land gains would rise from Handleman in the legislature
31 per cent to 65 per cent for had the effect of freezing all
people in private corporations, forms of commercial develop-
not in the business, of land ment in the affected
dealing. and deyeloping. For mu:nicipatities' unless the
public corporations ,the rate development is in accordance
would go from 60 per cent to 80 with an official plan. As soon
per cent all of which was based as proper land use controls are
•
Yours truly,
Marvin Lee
0tc'rtchelme(! by suppe'rl
Dear .Editor: ry
To the Ratepayers' and
Residents of West Wawanosh:
Approximately 50 residents
on the Belfast/St. Helens Road
and the village of St. Helens
were ,canvassed to support a
petition whicli is detailed
'below. We 'obtained= 45
signatures, which is roughly 90
per cent of the ^ voting
population of this area. The
signed petition in the following
terms was read and presented
to Council . at its meeting on,
May 2,' 1974:
"In your letter dated March.
12, 1974 to Mrs. Dorothy -
McKenzie you stated. , that,
'more adequate dust control
methods would be studied and
considered by Council'. As the
time for:dust treatment of the
roads, is •approaching 'arid no
report has been received on
what•was decided by Council as
a result of its 'studies and con-
sideration', -we, the . under-
signed, • petition Council as
follows:
(1) That the St.
Helens/Belfast portion of Con-
cession 10111 be fully 'treated
for dust control instead of Spot
Treatment;
the
rather than sell lots, to small
builders who might then be
driven out of the business.
Ministerial orders designed
to prevent uncontrolled
development •of shopping cen-
tres on rural land were im-
posed by''' housing minister
Sidney Handleman on 62
municipalities.
on the thought that the tax, developed the orders will be
would be allowed as a ded uc- rescinded. The :62
tion. municipalities were offered
Several. Liberals spokesmen help in the preparation• of the
said the bill will turn appropriate planning measures.
developers into builders, This may be,j•n the form `of
mile and frequency of treat-
ment be equal to that of County
Road on Concession 8/9,
(3) That St. Helens be in-
cluded in above r'equesta No,(1)
and (2)."
Without any 'discussion by
Council in my presence the .
Reeve replied to the petition in
decided tones "the answer' is
no", a on .the grounds that if
Council complied • with this •
petition 'it would be forced to
treat all of the Township roads
in the same manner, and this •
would necessitate a plebiscite
(yote of the whole Township),
To pint a minor undertaking
such as.proper dust control to.a
plebiscite would seem to, be a,
contradiction of former policy.
as, without a plebiscite, Council
took the responsibility of a
major undertaking upon their
own shoulders undertaking
spent
thousands . of dollars on the
-erection of:,a Township Garage
and on a tremendous amount
of gravel and fill on the access
road thereto, which road, in-
, cidentally has'had very little
traffic. I can only assume,
therefore, that Council has
used a flimsy excuse. to thwart
the implementation of the
requests of 90 per cent of the
area voters involved in the
Petition.
- As a result of Council's
refusal first, of the Petitioners'
requests and second, of our
earlier personal request for
treatment of .the road. area to
the West of our residence at
our, own expense, we arranged
,privately on May 3, 1974 with a
contractor to supply and spread
2500 lbs, of bulk calcium
chloride on thud fronting
and West'of our property This
expensive treatment will
benefit us only a short time and
will need 'to be repeated
because of the heavy traffic, but
there is no other course open to
us•
Council's refusal includes the
renting Of Traffic Counters, but
the variance an the amount of
'traffic',on roads can be easily
determined by the frequency of
the need to regravel• The
Belfast/St. Helens' Road and
the road between St: Helens
and Highway. 86 ,are high on
the priority list for need' of
frequent calcium chloride treat-
ment. This suggestion to Coun-
cil was received by crur� Reeve'
with "horror" because of cost.
Ontario Is progressing, but
have the roads in this area im-
proved very- much since
pioneers laid. the first corduroy
roads? Timbers are still being
per d •
.17
•
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financial assistance, far the
developing of xonin '•by-laws or
staff assistance Tactually to
prepare the by-laws. The lack
of zoning in Townships has
meant a shopping centre can be
built without any approval
being ' required. -Without any
zoning the municipality cannot
refuse a building permit even if
it was inclined to do so. Those
municipalities which. have
zoning by-laws now in the ab-
sence of an official county plan
will be given special concession
for commercial development.
Ontario's Health 'Disciplines
Bill received second. reading
this week and it will now go to
a standing committee where it
will be given clause by clause
review' by,politicians and other
interested parties.
The Liberals joined the` Con-
servatives in 'voting second
reading approval but it was op-
that I winformedsup-
port.60whomaloneinto
NFU submission
Dear Editor,
When the request of the
National Farmers' Union to
present a submission to the
federal, Cabi'net on general
farm policy ,on April 8 was tur-
ned down, the organization
decided to proceed in any event
'and present its views to tbe
Senate Committee on
Agriculture and Opposition
parties.
The submission noted. that
although farm cash receipts for
1973 registered an all time high
of $6.9 bil'lion and are predic-
ted to climb • to $8.9 billion in
1974, far,naers are seriously con-
cerned over the unprecenden'
ted rises in costs of' production.
It warns against the "cancers.
of inflation" which are gripping
the country and are reflected in
the unparalleled increases in
the costs of interest on
borrowings, high • costs ;of
production and of goods and
services, now easily recognized
as negative forces to the
national good. -
Unprecedented levels of
profits being reported by large
multi -national corporations are
contributing to the anguish of
the irnpoVerished'_ people of
Canada and -the world, Gover-
nment actions in Fighting in-
flation are .charged as being
primarily directed against "the
weak, the poor, the wage-
earner, and the unorganized,"
Dealing with the feed`. grain
issue, the N.F.U. states• it can-
not accept that the basic needs
of either feed grain producers
or the users of feed grain can be
met by the open market system.
'The proposed policies of the
Federal Government are
designed primarily to accom-
modate contracting and ver-
tical 'integration into food
posed by the New Democrats.
Health Minister Frank Miller
indicated that he will have a
number iof amendments to
make and there will be many
more to come from the op-
position members and still
others are"oto be proposed by
representatives of the various
health professions. 'The`- bill
which will establish a central
health disciplines board will
take full effect by mid -summer
if the province can keep to its
planned schedule,
Vernon Singer, Liberal mem-
ber for Downsview, protested
that the health disciplines
board would not be.requi•red to
give reasons for itt decision-, ,
would not require a com-
plainant to be present'. at
hearings or be accompanied by
a lawyer and does riot.„tequire
that a complainant be shown"
material on record about him.
All that really has `.been done
St. John Ambulance at work
according to Vernon Singer is
to ' set up another ad-
ministrative board which ap-
parently is going to serve
somebody's conscience but is
not _going to help the com-
plainant. The„bill which is
really an interim measure,
deals initially with five
disciplines, medicine, dentistry,
pharmacy, nursing and op-
tometry.
A strike at 11 metro
Toronto area hospitals was
averted this week when a ten-
tative settlement was reached
giving 6,900 hospital workers
wage increases of $.1.50 an hour
in five stages during two years,
Ontario's Health °Minister
Frank Miller had intervened in
the dispute by announcing that
Ontario hospitals would be
allowed to exceed government
spending ,ceilings•, because of
Severe- inflationary.. factors,
sent
.
.The ceilings remain -but Adjust,
meats will' be' made to cover
both increased cost of *materials
and better wages for workers.
There was mprie than the
usual excitemeft around
Queen's Park this 'week. A
lunch hour fire caused damage*
estimated at. $14,000 to the
main building and contents.
Twelve fire trucks were sent to
the blaze which was confined to
the massive. roof beams in an
attic over the fourth floor in the
northeastern corner of the $1
year old seat of government.
The Provincial Government
does not carry fire insurance on
this building because it feels
that it is cheaper to accept the
risk ;,ra,ther than pay enormous
premiums.-
• In 1909 a fire caused
$700,0004 damage to the
parliament buildings at
Queen's Park. "
Brigades display First
Parade attention! Parade open order ... , March! Parade,
. .
stand at ease..
Goderich 'Arena could have passed as a- var time armoury
on Thursday night when the area St. John Ambulance
staged their: annual inspection. ' Brigades from Goderich,
Clinton, Listowel, Mitchell, St. Marys and Stratford stood -
rigid in their full dress uniforms as they were inspected by
Area Commissioner Lt, 'Col. Randel of Kitchener.
As the parade marshal shouted orders to' each brigade. to
stand fast for inspection, the Clinton Legion Pipe and
struck up the march music that has sent a'Chill up the spine
of many a man for centuries.
After the inspection the first aid specialists displayed their
ability by tending to eight people injured, in a simulated
head on collision between two cars. The victims of the crash
were -St. Mary's students who were artfully and gruesomely
made up to look like eight rnaimed survivors.
The Goderich , brigade is in dire. need of 'volunteers to
-augment their force and are recruiting all the people they
can. They have need of between 15 and 20 men and women
this year.
production, charges the brief,
and proposed that feed grains
be once ,again returned, to an
,gerderly marketing system in-•
volving both the Canadian
Wheat Board and the
Canadian, Livestock . Full
Board.,
Price stabilization programs,,
states the N,F .U. submission,
are essential to - farmers in
periods of rapid inflation, and .
recommends a nati•ona`T
stabilization program whereby ,
farmers in one region' are not
economically disadvantaged
over -producers in other regions.
The brief urges stringent con-
trols to'prevent large dairy cor-
porations such as Kraftco fr2�m
gaining market control of theme'''
milk industry Quoting the
sharp decline of 4.7% in dairy
production in 1973, the N.F.U.
expresses the view that .'recent"
price increases in dairy sup-
ports are inadequate to expand.
production through the attrac-
tion of new producers info the
industry. ' '
Other ,matters dealt with
were the rail transportation
system, energy policy designed .
to• meet Canadian needs and
legislative action to deal with
women's property rights and
tb.e option of farm wives to' par-
ticipate in -the Canada Pension
Plan, G.. Austin
e,
1'ra4. correctly
Dear Editor:
May I be permitted to com-'
ment on the article,appearing
in •your ,issue of May 2, "From '
the Minister's Study"?
The writer states: "When the
Scribes and Pharisees asked
•Jesus about the coming of the.,
kingdom, He told them "then
he'adds his own words: "For it
would b% the reign of God in
the hearts of men" ,,
The Interpreter's Dictionary
of the Biblecommenting on
the text containing the ex-
pression "the kingdom of God
is within you" (Luke 17:21),
says: "Although frequently
cited as an example of Jesus'
'mysticism' or 'inward'ness',
) 'this interpretation rests chiefly
upon the old translation,`
'within you' (Douay) Under-
stood in the uhfortunate
modern sense of . 'you' , as
singular; the 'you' is plural
(Jesus is addressing the
Pha-rise.es vs.20) .., The theory
that the kingdom of God is an
infer state of mind, or of per-
sonal salvation, runs counter to
the:context of this verse, and
also to the whole *NT presen-
tatihn' of the
(vol,2: pp.882,883 ).
The Scriptures speak of the
kingdom as "an administration
idea."
•
at the full limit" of the appoin-
ted .times" to bring the entire
Universe back to unity and
peace and is a real government.
(Ephesians 1:9,10)„ This. ;text
reads: ",,.he made known tows
the sacred secret of his will. It
is according 'to his-- good
pleasure which he purposed 'in
himself (10) for ,an ad-
ministration at the full limit of
the appointed times, namely, to
gather all things together again
in the Christ, the things in -the
heavens and the things on
earth.'
The -word here rendered "ad-
ministration is in the Douay,
the King .James and the'
American Standard versions
shown as "dispensation". Web-
ster defines "dispensation as
"the mode -of God's dispenpsing
mercies"; and "ad-
ministration” as "the executive
part °of a government".
All ..this is in harmony with
the prophetic wordsf "For unto
us.a child is born, unto us ason
is given; and the government
shall be upon his shoulder Of;•
the increase of his government
and peace there shall be no
end." (Isaiah .9:6,7)..
The fact that the Jewish'
Pharisees failed to "recognize
.Jesus as the Messiah" only em-
phasizes the 'fact that for the
same reason that they failed to
recognize him in his proper
capacity then pictured a like
situation'today (1 Corinthians
10:11)
"So we should pray, as Jesus
taught us to pray, Thy kingdom
come." But we need to know
what we are praying for.
(Daniel 2':44; 7:13,14)
Sincerely you-rs,-
C,F, Barney.
re,
Lacerations
In shock!
RED CROSS
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