Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - May 13, 1985, Winnipeg, Manitoba May Page focus Pawley is the Lone new Democrat among the Western but he expects to find common ground with Bennett Lougheed and Pawley expects to find agreement by Fred Cleverley Winnipeg free press Grande Manitoba Premier Howard Paw Ley does not expect to be the Odd Man out at this years meeting of Western at least he does not expect to be in disagreement As much As he has on Many in the the Premier holds this belief de spite the potential for disagree ment in a meeting Between two conservative one social credited whose actions Are More conservative than can be found in any other Canadian and who is the Only new democratic Premier in the at meetings in in Swift Saskatchewan in 1983 and in be British last year Manitoba Premier was the Only Friend Ottawa had at the Confer ence since Federal representatives Are not invited to provincial premiers often Paw Leys was the Only voice raised in support of anything the Trudeau government was this with the conserva Tives in Power it could be expected that Pawley would be come the strongest the Only critic of Federal policies where they affect provincial mat Manitoba Premier is convinced that the actions of the Mulroney government since it was elected last september have been Felt and not by most provincial he suspects that conservative mind de particularly Western May not agree with con Servati reminded Federal Cabinet Manitoba Premier Points for that Saskatchewan has asked that the report on Cost cutting in the Federal prepared by Deputy prime minis Ter Erik Nielsen be put on the table for discussion Here this Pawley suggests that this indicates the uneasiness that Saskatchewan feels about the consequences of a Federal government that appears Only too willing to concede Many areas to provincial provided that the costs associated with these areas Are transferred to provincial Pawley also Points out that his was the Lone voice calling for a study of tax Reform at the Federal provincial meeting in Regina last tax is on this years Western premiers at Saskatchewan it must be Howe that tax Reform is a Broad and the fact that it has been added to this years Agenda for Western premiers does not necessarily mean that what will be discussed will be exactly what the Manitoba Premier had in mind when he raised tax Reform at the last Federal provincial the top Issue this As it was is free the main com Munique from the Kelowna meet ing last year called for International Trade liberalization to become a National policy in and for the removal of Trade barriers affecting particularly agricultural and upgraded resource since the election of the new Feder Al the Prospect of free Trade has been More widely discus three of the four Western pre Miers were solidly behind last years while Pawley made it Clear that his support was conditional on nothing being done that might affect Manitoba Indus particularly companies in the Needle Hawleys relic his support of rather than free and his insistence that any moves be made sector by Are Likely to run up against the enthusiasm for free Trade already a Cornerstone of the policies of British columbian Bill Albertas Peter Lougheed and Saskatchewan Grant last for Lough in called for fast action on Canadas part to Cement Down a free Trade Deal with the while the americans Are re Pawley regards such an attitude As a bit Peg Ging As it does free Trade As an article of Faith rather than a Rea soned Manitoba main presentations at the conference will be based on agricultural and transportation More the need to gain support for greater use of the port of Churchill by All three Pawley Points to this years dispute Over the support for the sugar beet and mentions that while Alberta was More willing than Manitoba to share the Alberta growers Are still not and As a result May not Plant beets at All this Pawley regards the necessity of provincial support to have breached a traditionally fed eral and fears that the conservative government in Ottawa May be More willing than its predecessors to abdicate control to the provinces if it can avoid some of the costs Hawleys optimism toward this years meeting represents a significant change of attitude toward the productivity of such meetings by the Manitoba a year ago he prior to the beginning of the meeting at that he had serious doubts about the value of the time spent at meetings be tween Western when re sults were taken into consider he last year sur prised him by the number of areas of common agreement that were he said there was an improvement in the degree of under standing of Western and a More common approach to fiscal problems than he had this the changed political climate May isolate Paw Ley More than in the he will be the Only one of the three pre Miers who has no direct pipeline into Ottawa his perception that other premiers share his obvious dissatisfaction with the new Federal provincial relations picture will be confirmed Only if his Western colleagues use one of the More traditional items on the Federal provincial rela to do a Little Ottaw bashing that has been a More often than of the 13 meetings the four Western premiers have held since they began gathering on a regular Crow rate report benefits Prairies Ottawa looking you re alive How those men far spokesmen were moving through uncharted Waters As they attempted to find a contemporary replacement for the Crow the 90year old crows nest pass agreement which set rail freight rates for Grain by even the 1982 Western Grain transportation report of Gilson appears mildly primitive As it deals with the critical question of How the Crow Benefit should be but Gilson who was Fol Lowed in his quest first by a Cross country set of hearings con ducted by the House of commons transport committee and this month by a detailed report by Manitoba Justice Gordon focusing on the payment question alone did some critical mapping of the route and the even while dealing with the wide Range of from rail costing methods to Branchine that would confront policymakers setting up the new Prairie transportation first of Gilson underlined the link Between transportation rates and the wests growth Poten tial in a potential that everyone he met in his consultation Odyssey seemed to want to he found that the statutory rate Structure could or be Neutral in its effects on Western Canadian economic the distribution of those impacts is critical to the discussion of payment of the railway Revenue for it was profitable to produce grains and oilseed for Export under the 20percentofcost Crow shipping which took Little off the International Grain Price paid at that same Crow rate held up the Price for grains being sold on the in the old Crow rate Cost Prairie live Stock producers the key to the economic growth people were talking and the key to fairness in replacing the Crow Lay in determining How the continuing to be paid annually by the would be Distri that Grant rep resent the difference Between the Grain freight rate payments of farm ers in 198142 and the sum required to fully compensate the railways for their costs As Well As covering a portion of inflationary freight costs where necessary and providing a safety net sharing in freight costs if Grain prices col farm organizations were split Down the Middle on whether those payments should go directly to the or to the pools in particular argued that by direct ing its payment to the railways the government would have the clout to enforce High the argument on the other Side was that such a system would perpetuate the existing by paying the whether or not they shipped by the Prairie farm Economy would be set free to reach its full letting Market not freight decide what was in the Gilson report unlike the Hall study which just landed on our desks did not deeply research the it had More than enough on its plate in simply establishing general direct ions for the raft of issues needing whatever the system of Crow Benefit Gilson called for a review of the effects in Jolln Cohen Ottawa editor a proposal that was Woven into the legislation passed in Gilson tried to get the Best of both opting for the payments to be split Between the railways who before the end of the decade would get Only 19 per cent and the producer payments would be a hitched from Grain production and shipments in one of two alternative payment methods Gilson proposed be available to Farmers and tied to productive so that Farmers could grow what they one added justification for this Al embracing eligibility was the fact that the historic Crow Benefit had enhanced farm land values on the giving All Farmers a direct stake in the Crow in the of then trans port minister Jeanluc Pepin in 1983 caved in to what was seen As the powerful political pressure of the and allowed the payment to go to the the universe was probably unfolding As it Justice with an interesting team that included Andre the Maverick former head of the eco nomic Council of and Syd a venerable agriculture department had the time and the mandate to take an intensive look at alternative payment meth his inquiry committee has produced a recommendation that does leave the Prairies room for As Well As giving every indication of offering greater fairness and reasonableness than the Gilson meth it is the total govern ment Grant would be shared by producers in relation to their net sales of eligible that it is shipped is sold to a livestock producer or oilseed crushing Plant whether it moves by train or by left out Are livestock who would have received Crow Benefit payments under the Gilson for but will now at least Benefit from lower Grain prices since farm paying More for will receive less of the Export Price obtained for their nor will forage producers get any but the Hall committees potent argument revolves around the need to retain As much As possible of the governments Crow Benefit for those who have lost their Crow after As freight rates Rise these producers will be shouldering a growing portion of the total with the Crow Benefit compensating for a diminishing Hall that when Gilson wrote fewer types of grains and Grain products were eligible for the 1983 Western Grain transportation act extends the list of statutory grains to include almost All specially this Means Farmers can diversify extensively without losing their removing most of the reason for tying the Benefit to land acreage rather than As for the path railways for the Hall committee found that not Only would it perpetuate the historic Price distortions but it was found in economic models to result in a less Selloff agricultural com Schroeder gets the Robin Hood business backwards in the new democratic party is committed to the redistribution of to the betterment of the poor in society at the expense of the who Are judged Able to share More of their it is ironic after three successive deficits chosen by new democratic finance minister Vic Schroeder As a Means of achieving the redistribution of what he has really achieved in three Short years is a redistribution system by which Money is taken from the poor and Given to the by any Schroeder is a reverse Robin the real Robin Hood took from the Rich and gave to the by his is taking from the poor and giving to the anyone who doubts the above statement should take a hard look at the real Impact of the taken in new by Moody investment to downgrade Manito Bas credit rating from a to first of no one should be As a Rooming commentator on Csc that simply because it contains the first letter of the is not too bad As credit ratings just As Virginia turned to her newspaper to discover that there really was a Santa Leslie Hughes would do Well to ask some harder questions of the economics professor she was interviewing regarding the serious Ness of the slippage in Manitoba credit if she had been listening after asking whether we could get to a or an As if we were still in her professor answered that we could slip to a b perhaps the Csc has not insisted that its commentators Brush up on the subjects on which they choose to conduct inter but any Large Borrower who does drop below the a category has serious trouble Fred Cleverley getting any More Money at All at rates that can be the Csc should not expect to get too much critical comment from its economist of Ruben he once argued that we canadians should not take the size of our Public debt too after we owed most of it to if he was suggesting that it was All in the or something to that it is Clear that he has never experienced the rougher ends of the collection departments operated by canadians who lend to other both professor Bellan and finance minis Ter Vic Schroeder tended to Brush off the serious consequences of the drop in the provincial credit the professor was quite Correct when he said it will not cause the provincial Economy to collapse Provin Cial economies do not collapse with a they collapse in a manner similar to falling Down a flight of shallow the finance ministers attempt to classify the extra i million that the changed credit rating will Cost Manitoba As Insp if cant is hard to this is the same minister who regards the shortfall in Federal Transfer payments this year of million As significant enough to Wame ail Manitoba financial troubles the loss in credit rating will be a lot More significant when Manitoba starts borrowing the billion it needs to build the Ura Estone generating but it is significant enough right at the the if we take schroeders figures at face represents an extra in tax for every Manitoba it will be reflected in the Cost of every government service that is including telephones and the Telephone system and its inter est rate will be affected by the rating of the which guarantees the Hydro will be the biggest Borrower of As it is and the rate Manitoba Hydro pays is directly linked to the credit rating of the provincial which guarantees its borrowings As just who bears the biggest Burden of deficit financing is it the business Community despite what Schroeder May businesses really pay no taxes at taxes on business become part of the Cost of doing and Are included in the final Cost of the product that is sold to the How about the wealthy they will carry their share of the extra Cost of financing that has been imposed on the and in most cases will carry More than the the Cost would work out to if everyone paid but the if you tack an extra or even on to the tax Bill they get will but they will they will be Able to they can afford to and they can afford to take those hard decisions about when the Burden of taxation in one location requires that they move the real Burden created by the reduced credit rating will fall on those least Able to pay the poor in society will not be Able to buy As Many consumer once the Price of these items reflects the increased taxes that have been paid by the the and the the poor in society will not be Able to take advantage of the free cars the Telephone system is giving away to those who make More than the average number of Long distance be cause the poor wont be Able to afford Long distance the poor wont be Able to celebrate Christmas by lighting up their because Power rates will reflect the extra Cost of and who will get this extra Money the people who Are financing us from new or or or else they will get the Money that is being squeezed out of Manitoba because of poor fiscal management on the part of the finance the Money from the poor will go to the Way to Robin doonesbury by Harry Trudeau ;