Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - April 16, 1981, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free press thursday. April 1c, 1981 7 Energy minister Merv Leitch left has been negotiating for months with Federal Energy minister Marc Lalonde right on Oil prices now agreement if you expect nothing even a crust of last month the Alberta Appeal court non fat 1--------------in, ruled unanimously that the Federal gov pc no 1 Peter Emmet cannot tax province owned and to a my talks Between Energy minis ,1 to and transported natural resources that ters Marc Lalonde and Merv Leitch i Winnipeg this week to produce a break through in the dispute. As one Alberta official put it if we Are Able to part cordially and agree to meet again that will be a giant stride in those terms the meeting was a Success. More important is the fact that for weeks before the Winnipeg meeting both sides carefully avoided fiery Rhet Oric. This new attitude produced an acceptable climate for the monday meeting. The agreement to discuss their differences is genuine. But Why was it so Long in coming and Why is it unlikely there will be any agreement on pricing and taxing until autumn at the earliest six months ago it is More than six months since the last Alberta Ottawa Energy meeting by ministers. It is almost six months since Lalonde announced the National Energy program which would More than double the Federal tax take from Petro Leum resources. And it is six months since Alberta retaliated with the threatened cutback in conventional Oil production of barrels a Day Over the next year of which one barrels a Day cutback has been implemented. The Alberta and Ottawa combatants have both been slow to resume negotiations because they have been waiting for two things the increase of Politi Cal pressures and Legal interpretations As to whether the Federal Power grab unveiled in the National Energy pro Gram is within Federal jurisdiction under the British North America act. There have been important develop ments on both fronts. Gradually Over the Pas six months there has been growing political pressure on Ottawa to accept the inevitability of higher Energy prices. The Canadian chamber of com Merce the Canadian manufacturers association other groups of Industrial associations and finally the newly formed Energy users Council have pressed the Federal government to let Oil and natural Gas prices Rise much More rapidly than was proposed in the National Energy program. The reasoning of the proponents of higher prices is quite straightforward. With diminishing conventional Oil Peter Thomson Ottawa editor supplies Canada cannot for Long main Tain prices far below world Levels currently less than 50 per cent of world prices and should Start making the necessary adjustment now. Furthermore the Ottawa Alberta dispute is hurting Oil exploration and development in Canada which raises questions about Canada s future Security of Supply. Third and related to the second Point is that the dispute is holding up Energy Mega projects in the Oil Sands and heavy Oil areas of Northern Alberta which will Cost billion and produce economic benefits to manufacturers right across the country. Federal reluctance to agree to faster rising prices has stemmed from an election Campaign commitment made 15 months ago and although one is not supposed to mention it to the political situation in Quebec. Quebec speeches on the latter Point it is significant that Lalonde has made speeches in Quebec in which he stated that the National pricing policies had saved con Sumers in the province More than billion an obvious reminder of some of the benefits of Canadian Unity. It is also Worth noting that the first Leitch Lalonde meeting in More than six months was scheduled for the same Day not before the Quebec Provin Cial election. Now with the parti quebecois re elected and with political pressures for Price increases steadily mounting to offset Lavonde s election Campaign commitment he is free to agree to Price escalation at a rate that would have been unacceptable a few months ago. The other Issue which has prevented any possibility of Alberta Ottawa agreement and rendered it pointless to hold meetings until now the right of the Federal government to tax Provin Cial resources is still outstanding. But it. Too is moving toward a critical Point. Are exported. The decision has tremendous implications in the whole Energy dispute. On monday and again the timing is significant both with regard to the Energy dispute and the Quebec election Justice minister Jean Chretien announced that the Federal government will Appeal to the supreme court of Canada the decision of the Alberta Appeal court. From Alberta s Point of View the final decision on this question because it impinges directly on provincial rights in the Canadian federation is More important than the question of Price. Alberta has not questioned the Feder Al government s right to tax Petroleum products at the manufacturer s level nor even the right of the Federal govern ment to control pricing of Oil and Gas entering inter provincial Trade. But Alberta has insisted that the Federal government does not have the right to impose what amounts to a production tax at the wellhead which was included in the National Energy program and in an enabling Bill now before parliament. Under the circumstances i would be unrealistic to expect any Progress in the Alberta Ottawa Energy pricing and taxing talks until the supreme court has rendered its decision on the Federal government s Appeal. No one is certain just when thai decision will be forthcoming. Obviously the Energy taxing Appeal will have a High priority in the supreme court. But on april 28 the supreme court will commence hearing an Appeal of equal importance the question of the Federal government s right to proceed to Britain with the prime minister s Resolution to Patriate and Amend the Constitution. It has been estimated that the supreme court might be Able to Render its Constitution Resolution decision in late May or More Likely in Early june. The Energy taxing Issue is according to several officials equally important and equally Complex and does not flow naturally from the decision on the Constitution Resolution. It seems reasonable to assume Given this schedule that the supreme court decision on resource taxation will not be taken until july at the earliest. It is not a decision that should be rushed for the Issue of provincial control Over resources will probably have More to do with the shaping of Canada than will the decision on the constitutional Resolution. Certainly westerners Are much More agitated about resource ownership and control than they have been about the Constitution. Thus while the Leitch Lalonde meet ing on Neutral Winnipeg ground on monday May have been a necessary preliminary and a May meeting co he fall into the same category the real negotiations will not get under Way for at least a couple of months. British bid for the sane Centre by Flora Lewis new York times London the impressive thing about Shirley Williams in this Day of sloganeering table pounding image grooming is that she makes so Little Effort to impress with a sense of self importance. Williams is one of Britain s current gang of in her very different Way the special one As Mao s widow was special in China s original use of that title. Along with David Owen Roy Jenkins and William Rodgers she led the breakaway of frustrated moderates from a labor party Bent on careening far off to the left. They launched the new social demo cratic party. Special British circumstances drove them. But their concerns Are with problems faced throughout the West and they May Well provide another More hopeful British Experiment for the rest of us to observe after Margaret Thatcher s trial by monetarism and unemployment. We Are not fooling Wil Liams keeps saying As she outlines the Hopes and plans of her still Small group to reverse the trend toward extremes. But even if we fail we will have forced both labor and the conserva Tives to reconsider and move Back toward a sounder naturally they do not intend to fail. But one of their greatest appeals is their Low key no nonsense no hyper Bole approach. They have no panaceas. They do not offer theories fresh baked or stale and they do not claim to be the Only alternative to doomsday. But they have done a lot of thinking about modern society and they have come to the conclusion that what it does not need above All is More conflict More Tough opposition More polarization. What it does need is More continuity More co operation More participation. A new politics people need to feel their leaders really know where they Are going be fore they will make the necessary efforts. That Means another kind of poli tics and the Low voiced mild mannered Shirley Williams is a Good example. She is 50 now Mother of a 19-year-old girl currently at Harvard. Her popularity and it extends far beyond her political support is based on the feeling she gives of being direct sensible without illusions. For More than a generation now the British have been lurching from one end of the political map to the other not just repairing mistakes of enthusiasm or neglect. With each swing the momentum to Dogma and extremism has been reinforced. The labor party is going so much further left because prime minister Margaret Thatcher is going so much further right because the labor govern ment before her was tugged leftward and so on. In the process both major parties have lost Public Confidence and they become increasingly shrill in the attempt to regain support. As some British commentators Point out the last time that happened Here was in the 1930s. The party that sprang up in the Middle to collect the votes of distress and disgust was Oswald mos Ley s fascists. So it is very encouraging that this time the proposals for another Way come in such a modest intelligent package. The chances of the social democrats Are hard to judge at this Early stage. They have had a phenomenal initial response which shows that a great Many people Are fed up with the available political choices but does not prove a thing about votes when election time comes. It is not easier to get a new party going in Britain than it is in the however tiie social democrats have some big advantages Over John Ander son s attempt last year partly because three of the gang of four were already established As potential prime ministers even More because they have some coherent stimulating ideas if not a detailed program. A Good insight into their attitudes though they Are far from agreeing on everything comes in Williams s new Book politics la for people. It is the kind of Basic thoughtful analysis of the modern political dilemma that so distinguished the prewar intellectuals like Harold Laski and William Beveridge and led to the welfare state. Her main Point is that the gains have been digested and have caused some indigestion. New needs have Arisen in a world changed partly As a result of those achievements. They cannot be met either with a lot More of the old Medicine As the leftists argue or by regurgitating social Progress under pain of acute economic depression. It is not Only unions or business or government that is too big in her View. It is that separately or together they no longer serve the common interest in a Way that gives individuals a Chance. She is for a mixed Economy invest ment incentives especially for smaller businesses being bled out of existence by tight Money leeching and some form of Industrial democracy that will give workers More stake in stopping the wage Price spiral of inflation. We Are in for a turbulent Williams states calmly. She is doubtless right. And she and her friends Are right that it is not Likely to be eased by trying to turn the clock Back to any nostalgic dogmas. Whatever its electoral fortunes Britain s new party will provide a vital service in focusing ideas for the future. It is Worth watching. We believe a balanced budget is a realistic goal. This budget is realistic a straightforward statement of the pro Vince s financial position and economic the projected deficit was is 14 million the actual deficit was million and the fiscal year was 1978 79. Our Long term objective will continue to be a balanced budget on a combined basis As and when the economic conditions the deficit is still manageable when considered As a percentage of the Gross provincial product and provincial that Defi Cit for 1980-81 was originally s140 Mil lion Rose to million and then apparently settled at about Mil lion. We concluded that a temporary in crease in the provincial deficit would he the most appropriate budgetary policy response Al this Lime. In our View the deficit we Are projecting remains within manageable limits our government has in no Way abandoned its Long term objective of a balanced the projected deficit for the current fiscal year is million. The final figure will be known next year. In the meantime the opposition was choking laughter and outright astonish ment. They especially liked the minis Ter s comparison of this deficit with the one encountered in 1977. According to Brian Ransom when inflation was conservative deficit amuses opposition under the dome Arlene Billinkoff taken into account that nip created million deficit was equivalent to about million in this fiscal year. Our projected deficit is of course some million or 20 per cent did that make it much better Ransom described his budget As a Good example of moderation and common and As he told report ers we have controlled the understandably the opposition disa greed. What had been accomplished while there was no general tax increase the maximum property tax credit was in creased and taxes on the traditional sins of tobacco and alcohol would Rise again. There was also the anomaly that working and senior citizen mar ried couples had received lower Cost of living tax credits than single people. That would be corrected. Those changes required Only a few minutes to describe but the speech continued for one hour and 45 minutes. For a person who had said he intended to present a less politically oriented address than his predecessor Ransom spent a lot of time listing nip errors. As Sidney Green noted he had labelled the last finance minister As Craik the fake but he would Call this one cry ing lying Brian. He had never heard a More blatant apologetic political de Fence in a budget and while he had accused Don Craik of making political comments in comparison that minis Ter s presentation was a Model of Howard was no As generous but his displeasure was evident. In fact he intended to break tradition and speak immediately on the budget in Stead of waiting a Day to absorb All the messages in the document. This time there was very Little to absorb. The changes tax credits were welcomed but they were merely a sad admission by the government that it had been wrong. We take credit for achieving that he also appreciated a new incentive program for Energy efficient housing but it was Only while the concept May have some political sex it was insignificant. Where were the initiatives needed to turn the Economy around As an nip traditionalist Pawley wanted new fresh programs with Public thrusts. Instead there was a tired worn out government which unable to reach a balanced budget had produced an eco nomic failure. All the promises remained unfulfilled Pawley said and if it was not so tragic the whole situation might be funny. This record deficit existed be cause the tories had painted them selves into a Corner with their restraint measures and the cutting Back of taxes. Where were the innovations if this was a pre election budget his group was eager to fight but based on this document it was unlikely the writs would be issued in the near Faure. His disapproval was echoed by Doug Lauchlan. The Liberal Leader believed it was the worst budget he had Ever heard with its simplistic reasoning. The analyses were superficial to the extent of being frightening. Green however was not fright ened except by his own accuracy. He had estimated a million deficit and his expectations had been More than realized. According to his figures with the various tax cuts this govern ment had achieved million in deficits since coming to Power. To have such a figure created by a group with a pretence of fiscal responsibility was the biggest joke of a government whose expenses were running ahead of its revenues should get those revenues he said but these people had governed badly and Dis played no such responsibility. Ransom had a different View. Those reductions had helped to restore a competitive tax Structure to the prov Ince and in future years we intend to introduce further reductions As economic and Revenue conditions for the moment they had recognized the importance of avoiding additional tax burdens. We Are using the deficit concept in exactly the manner that responsible economists suggest it should be his government s action would be guided by the principles of fairness moderation and common while the critics May have expected More he believed this budget was prudent and but it certainly was not balanced. Doonesbury this Vbk m hmm. Sou do Autv a was. W daughter sin651h a pfc of Rhoda and f 1 theft event Sig up in we get such a kick out of Matching Huff form ;