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The Huron Expositor, 1990-08-29, Page 3The issues, stands: the candidates speak BY PAUL RUDAN Ontario voters have eight days t0 decide who to vole for when they head to the polls on Septem- ber 6. In Huron, the rosin, and most obvious issue is agriculture. All five c:aodiiites eV= this rduig s an agricatlturaI leader in the ince, and all admit there art madarneotal problems with the industry. Huron voters and the media had clic opportunity to hear the representatives at last week's all - candidates' meetuig m Clinton, and they will have one more chance before the Clccuon. The Huron district of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation is sponsoring the second all -candidates' meeting at Clinton's Central Huron Secon- dary School. The meeting is Thursday night, beginning at 7:30. Following the first meeting, the five candidates were asked about the issues in this riding, and their party's positions. TOM CLARY FAMILY COALITION Mr. Clark says the previous governments have thrown money into agriculture programs and the results were minimal. He promises to establish a farmers' only bank, with a six per cent ceiling on loan interest rates. According to Mr. Clark, the bank would raise money through investors, who would receive generous tax concessions. He also says that the subsidy wars waged by the U.S., European and Canadian provincial markets have hurt Ontario governments; and our government has done little to support Ontario farmers. He suggests there be a base price on commodities in Ontario. When world prices fall, below the set provincial market, the farmers should be reimbursed to maintain the base price. "We haven't helped ow tanners mai "tIN ..we're in a fau'ty 118.situnicia." he stated. wit lashed out at Premier David Pekoes for his promise of $ 19 willion for rural eatrepreavurs. Mae markets are not practical, Mr. Clark says. "We have the best farmus ui Ontario. We know what we can produce." Another issue is she Cut in traada payments from the mince; to health and education. �+ arc the ma Ontario had a bslag cid budget, Mr. Clark noted. The PCP arc strong pro-life supponers and they are &gairast euthanasia. '"That's the difference between us and the other parties the sanctity of life," Mr. llark said. JIM FITZGERALD LIBERALS Mr. Fitzgerald pointed to a number of areas in the county that have benefited from the Liberal overtreat, such as hospitals and health care, the Huron County Pioneer Museum in Goderich, municipal uutsovemient plans, and the roads and sewers. He says the agriculture industry suffers from high interest rates and low commodity prices. "We have to continue to pressure the federal government to lower interest rates," he stated. Mr. Fitzgerald also criticized the federal GST. "What we need is a national policy." He explained that a provincial bank for farmers and small businesses would be unfair to other parts of the country. "Everyone should have equal access to funding." More money is needed for rural entrepreneurs, said Mr. Fitzgerald, because banks seem reluctant to invest in new businesses. The result is these people take their ideas to the U.S. He says that a lot of opportunities will come out of the $19 million Rural Ventures "We nerd to bring in, and save, staid! uMlusu'ies. We must re vital!ZC LIZ county to keep ow young pimple from atoms away," Mr. Fitzgerald declarers ALLAN DETTWEILER LIBERTARIANS Contrary to die position of the other parties, the Libertarians believe them► should be least government intervention in agric ultiat0. "The problem is government gives grants and subsidies and there result in over -production, and the consumer aids paying more," says Huron candidate Mr. Deuweiler. He believes the market place should control production. And he admits that will be ups and downs, just like other economic sectors. "1f government doesn't interfere, people will probably pay a bit more at the checkout. But this means less taxes and less bureaucracy, which gives people more money," he offered. Mr. Deuweiler believes county reform is a big issue. He says that the provincial government should not be able to tell the county governments what they can and cannot do. He holds the same argument for education. Mr. Dettweiler suggests that people have the right to send their children to whatever school they choose. Each parent would receive a voucher for which to pay for their child's education. If the school requires a higher tuition, the extra dollars would come out of the parents' pockets. The Libertarian Party is against forced bilingualism, government run car insurance and pay equity. "A good economy is the best way to keep a fair system -- an economy with lots of oppor- tunity," stated Mr. Deuweiler. PAUL KLOPP NDP Mr. Klopp is the NDP represen- tative and he says he is sick and Wed tu nearing the lr nesse ane the pest PC ¢overnmerts make election pronuses, and then do nothing. '"IQ's no use in blaming everything on the federal government. But that's enough blame w go around," he said. Mr. Klopp wants to see a "trade w Onteno interest rate" for farmers and small businesses. He suggests the province use the Ontario Sao Batik. They would barrow Savings the Bank of Canada, at a suggested rate of 10.5 per cent, and pass this rate direcdy to fanners and small businesses. The credit unions could be used as a vehicle to provide the loans because they are more efficient, says Mr. Klopp. "Te framework is thexe...it could eventually lead to the federal interest rates being lowered," he said. Also on farming, Mr. Klopp said the commodity prices must inc-reaae. "'Ric argument that food prices will sky rocket is a myth," he stated. Mr. Klopp also wants to see more attention given to alter- native fuels, such as ethanol. He criticized the Liberals for their promise to lower the provin- cial sales tax by one per curt, "They're the ones who put it up to eight per cern in the first place." It's time, he said, to put a stop to the ad hoc policies which al- ways come up near election time, but are put on hold for three years. KEN CAMPBELL PC PARTY The main problem with agricul- ture is there is no long-term policy, says PC candidate Mr. Campbell. He says there should be a federal policy, but at the same time, there should long-term provincial goals for agriculture. He states that a special bank for farmers and small businesses is not realistic. "I have no idea program, where they re going to get money THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM - Peter and i ' an • y, seen here with son Jim at their campground near Walton, are waiting for the boom to fall when tax assessment is imposed on seasonal trailers. The Raithby's, along with other private campground owners, expect the assessment to have far-reaching effects on the industry. Elliott photo. Raithby • from page 1 the Seaforth area trailer park for less than a year, were quick to act and had letters composed and out to their 128 seasonal camping families by the next day, detailing Revenue Minister Remo Mancini's plans. Support has come quickly for the campground owners' cause. Mr. Raithby points to the large turnout at Wednesday's protest rally in Kincardine, which he attended, and the scheduled march on Mr. Man- cini's Leamington office this past Monday. For an industry that isn't used to protest, he notes, "the O.P.C.A. has mobilized very quick- ly." "You can't even print what the campers are saying about it." F. And the bad news doesn't stop *-with the owners and campers, the Raithby's say. With the tax as- sessment imposed, large numbers of trailers will be put up for sale by disgruntled owners. Trailer sales- men, repairmen and propane dealers will feel the squeeze, and towns surrounding trailer parks - including Few surprises Seaforth - will be hit. Student workers, making up camp main- tenance and recreation staff, will lose out. "All of these student workers..", says Mrs. Raithby. "We aren't going to be able to afford them." The proposed assessment guidelines, copies of which were sent to the Huron County As- sessment office early this summer, would have officials assessing seasonal trailers on the private sites. The campground owner would later be sent a two-part tax bill, one for his or her home and one with the total tax assessment for the remainderof the property, including the trailers. Facing "an absolute paper nightmare", it would then be up to the park owner to determine each individual camper's taxes, and collect them. If owners want to appeal their assessment - and Peter Raithby estimates that about 75% of the campers will - the appeal courts will be logjammed. And should a camper refuse to pay the tax on his seasonal property, the park owner is left holding the bag. Mr. Raithby feels that many campers will just pull out, spelling Campers, owners march • from page 1 He added that the ministry has been trying to assess trailers for the past three years and now that the'e is an election, the ministry is trying to push the tax through. "Anything that looks permanent, they (Ministry of Revenue) want to assess," he said. Mr. Jay said guidelines set out by the ministry show a trailer qualified for the assessment tax is one that is connected to hydro sewage and water, is stabilized by blocks and has a deck, carport, garage or ad- ditional room. He said the ministry can't an- nounce assessment tax because it doesn't know if it can legally issue the tax. Mr. Jay said a 1986 Grand Bend court claim on assessment that was lost by campers is now under appeal in London. The case is expected to be heard in October. Showing how the assessment tax will affect campers and campground owners, Mr. Jay said a park in Sauble Beach was assessed four years ago on 149 trailers. The as- sessment meant that We owner would have been taxed a total of $10,000. The new bill must be passed over to the campers. Mr. McArthur said seasonal rates are currently between $600 and $1,000, and that these fees rise annually. The increase would be ht riu tON EXPOSITOR AuGUS 129 J HI, MOM - T.J. Klopp, son of NDP candidate Paul Klopp, flags down mom after fulfilling his obligations to the press and passing on his election thoughts to Exeter reporter Fred Groves. T.J. came to hear dad at the Huron All -Candidates debate Friday night in Clinton. Elliott photo. that cheap. And who's going to .put money in the bank?" he ques- tioned. Money for farmers should come from other programs that can be made more efficient, according to Mr. Campbell. "We have to stop the civil service from growing and cut the fat from other programs." Taxes are the other issue in this election, Mr. Campbell states. The province is not paying their fair share of the education costs. He stated that the provincial government should pay 60 per cent of the education costs. He says the farm rebate programs should return to what they were originally intended to do, and that was to alleviate the farm proper- ties from education taxes. Mr. Campbell added that the environment is another important issue. greater by another $500 is campgrounds were assessed on their seasonal trailers and if the GST were added, he said. "People will sell their trailers," he said simply. Had an agreement finalized Mr. McArthur said that OPCA had finalized an agreement with the Ministry of Revenue in the fall of 1989 for a new lot license fee to be purchased by the camper. The agreement was also with the Ministry of Municipal Affairs, The Ministry of Tourism and Recreation and the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO). But, the Ministry of Revenue sud- denly refused the proposal and came up with the assessment tax. The 1989 agreement meant campers would have to pay an annual $50 sticker fee for a seasonal lot, a system already used in Florida, he said. The campground association first heard of the new assessment tax in June when various trailer parks including Green Acres Park in Waterloo, Highland Pines Campground and Windmill Park were advised assessors would be visiting. After some confusion and letters, the campground association finally discovered the assessment tax and licence fee were first announced June 9 by the Ministry of Revenue. The ministry sent a document, 'Guidelines for the Assessment and Licensing of Seasonal Trailers', to regional assessment offices advising them of the new agreement. Mr. Jay said that 23 cents of every dollar would go to the municipality under the new as- sessment tax, and most of the rest would go back to the province. "The province is grabbing a large amount of tax dollars," he said, adding that the assessment tax is a "disaster to the industry" and that campground owners will become tax collectors. Campers will move Former Aintree Trailer Park owner Tom Boyer said that the new tax will encourage people to move so that they won't have to pay the tax. "The signs say it, enough is enough," he said. Niagara Falls camper Herb Barger, who was camping at Fisher- man's Cove last week, noted that "It's another tax, surely there's got to be a limit or an end." He said the government has imposed enough taxes, and added that there should be a responsible government instead. Tan Dickson, owner of Happy Hollow Campground in Port Albert, said he pays high enough taxes on lots and services. He said a trailer owner must pay a sales tax and GST on purchasing a trailer begin- ning January 1, 1991, and "that's high enough." "We (campground owners) have to collect tax at different times than when the lots are due. We collect when the mill rate comes from the township," he said. "There's nothing wrong with a service charge on the lot but that should go to the municipality. But to send the tax to the government that they do nothing for, is unfair." He said there is no cost for owners to collect the money but there is a cost of hiring another clerk to handle the money. He added the assessment tax will also cause campers to move so they don't have to pay the tax. Mr. Dickson said the new tax will make it impossible for people to camp because they won't be able to afford it. "It's hurting the younger people with small families," he said, ad- ding the tourist is hit with the GST while the seasonal camper is hit with this additional tax. Mr. Jay said the provincial sales tax is imposed on trailers every time they are sold. He said trailers are usually sold seven or eight times meaning a total of $7,000 to 58,000 in sales tax could go back to the government. disaster for tumself and other private campground owners. "If we lost more than 10 or 15% of our seasonals, we wouldn't be able to pay our mortgage," he says. Mr. Raithby said that Family Paradise had already been visited by two assessors from the Goderich office early this spring. At that time, the OPCA was still in court over the issue, battling an as- sessment that had been levied on the Klondike Trailer Park, near Goderich, three years ago. Mr. Raithby showed the gentlemen the gate. "I basically told them that they'd better go back to their office," he recalls. But now the tax threat is back at the campsite gate, and this time it's not going away. The Raithby's, along with their fellow campground owners, are bitter over the stealthy way in which the assessment has been implemented by the Ministry of Revenue. Mr. Raithby feels that a trailer licensing fee would be the most logical route for the government to take to collect on • from page 1 With the Huron County Planning Committee currently organizing a series of public meetings on the proposed County Restructuring, the candidates had some comments to add on the issue. Paul Klopp as- sured voters of the NDP's op- position to the move, which would see municipalities with populations under 4,000 - both towns and townships - amalgamated for county and regional government and ad- ministration processes. "i'm very much against this," he said, adding that this is an example of de-localizalization of government and disregard for the people's voice. The restructuring, he added, is being "rammed down our throats." Allan Dettweiler echoed Klopp's comments on this point, and disputed Liberal Jim Fitzgerald's claims that "if we don't want it, we don't have to have it" "There has been no attempt what- soever to ram Anythingdown anybody's throat," Fitzgerad main- tained. "This is a local consult, by local people on a local matter." Ken Campbell noted that the Progressive Conservs'ives arc keeping an eye on the restructuring proposal, and that an amalgamation of some of the township governments is a likely eventuality. "This is probably something that we're going to have to face," he added. One farmin voice? One w eT wanted to know that candidmes thoughts 'n an all-en- compasing orgy i hien for the farming community. Ken Campbell foresaw problemq with this idea, pointing out that "if we had one voice, it would event.ially become very beaurocratic." The interest of the farmers would not be very well served with such an organization, he furthered. Jim Fitzgerald agreed, saying that he didn't support farmers being forced into one organization. But Paul Klopp spoke up in favour of the notion. "The NDP has always supported people who wanted to get together," he told the crowd. A general farm organization "..is definitely needed. You need to have a strong voice," he told the farmers. "it is good democracy." Allan Deuweiler agreed with Klopp on a unifying organization, hut cautiously, saying that he would "have no pmhlem supporting one that truly represents the farming population." The I.ihertarians, he added, very much admire the OFA and would he prepared to wort c kosely with them in their aims. PCP candidate Tom Clarke was against a general farm organization, opposed to the politics that would be involved. in his closing comments, Mr. Clarke expressed his disappointment that no-one in the audience had raised concerns over the abortion issue. Stating the Family Coalition Party's adamant stand against abor- tion, he also touched on the removal of prayer and Bibles from the school system and the "pe- rverse" attitudes in government that put this policy through. Mr. Clarke also voiced the party's opposition to homosexual rights a number of times during the evening. The five candidates are scheduled to go head to head again this Thursday evening, August 30 at the ("entra) Huron Secondary School auditorium, when the Huron branch of the Ontario Secondary School Teacher's Federation hosts a debate The meeting will get underway at R p.m. trailer units. An agreement between the OPCA and the provincial government on a fee in the neigh- bourhood of $50 or $60 had been reached earlier this spring, but hopes for this resolve were dashed when news of the assessment broke. "The Association was lied to consistently," Mr. Raithby notes, referring to conflicting reports on the assessment issue. Should it go through, taxation would come into effect on January 1, 1991. "The Association has no problem with paying the tax; it's just the method of collection ane the amount of collection," he states, calling the assessment "u- nworkable". With two weeks left to baule the assessment ("once the election is over, we may as well give up") the OPCA is rallying to fight. And for private owners such as the Lil and Peter Raithby, the fight could be a long one. Remarks Mr. itaithby wryly, "We got into this tusiness because it looked like it was fairly government -free." COMMUNITY CALENDAR 1 you're ori a mop rein Wont M insoroot to other se forth area residents, /ler+• do Mier $$14012 or the Expositor et 1121-0240, et MeV the irdentilleen II t, maty fir, The Huron Exposfor, Box M. ilea whim, OMNI*, *K 1 Iasi Io advisee of the scheduled date. Free Neal 10010uda dr* meq, maw al mentis and loeartten only. space for the Ctrtatlawnlly Calendar lb •snMsd by the Moon Its. Wed., Aug. 29 1 30-4:00 p.m. — Senior lhuf ieboord at the Arens 7 00-9:00 p.m. — sea Defense Course at Arena 7.30 p.m. — Ths Huron County Genealogical Society will moot in the Assessment Board Room. Goderich (behind the jail) Allsop Lobb will talk on Photography Visitors welcome 7 30 p m. — apron Mochsy executive Meeting Thurs. , Aug. 30 12 00 noon Aqua Fit et Lions Pool 7 00-9 00 p m Solt Defense Course at Arena A:00 p.m. — Man's Ball Hockey Finals Topnotch vs Hog Tues., Sept. 4 Back to School Wed., 1 30-1.00 p.m SDCc 7 00-900 00 p m e t Arens Thurs. 7.00-9:00 p m et Arena Election Day Sept. 5 Shuffleboard at — Joint Registration Sept. 6 - Joint Registration 1