Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - June 25, 1987, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free press june 1987 Page 7 newspaper wars set Fleet Street buzzing opposition maps smell blood in the Asyet detailed tory proposal to tax such essentials As food and sales tax Battle looms Ottawa finance minister Wilsons decision to hold off on Reform of the Federal sales with some key decisions left in abeyance on its future scope and pending further rounds of is at this Point the most controversial aspect of his tax Reform announced last opposition politicians have been blasting Wilson for planning a tax regime that when All the parts Are in Hammer the As some go so far As to indulge the As Liberal Ray Garneau did the other they warn that in the new Federal sales tax Wilson is creating a Trojan horse that will hit canadians As no tax has Ever hit them Garneau pointed to a background paper released with Wilsons tax proposals demonstrating the work Ings of the new which uses in its examples a Federal tax set at the eight per cent consider ing that Wilson wants to apply the tax to most goods and including Garneaux charge does not appear too Wilson himself has managed to Lay Only some of the fears to there Are still so Many unknowns in the mix that the minister does not know How Many billions of dollars he has to raise with his new nor could he say How much Money will be raised by each percentage Point of or to what degree lower income canadians will be compensated for this new tax finance department officials will be meeting with their Provin Cial counterparts through the sum Mer and into the fall to try to make a Deal wrapping the proposed sales tax into a Broa based National tax that includes a re vamped provincial sales tax As Joan Cohen Ottawa editor the tax would be collected and distributed by with each province free to set its own portion of the tax at whatever level it the ministers background paper said that integration of the Provin Cial and Federal tax would be a major National achievement and that it would involve fundamental change in our taxing that is a fair for one the method of tax which would see each level in the production and distribution Chain turning Over to Ottawa a share of the tax on the products it handles is unlike anything Canada has seen raise funds Wilson tells us the new tax would have to raise enough funds for the Federal government to cover the amount now produced by the 60 year old manufacturers sales tax which amounted in 198687 to an estimated billion the amount produced by the three per cent sur charge imposed last year on both personal and corporate Worth a forecast billion to Ottawa in 1987 an amount that would compensate for the corresponding reduction of an unspecified portion of income tax now born by Middle income canadians and sufficient funds to pay for a much expanded regime of refundable tax credits for Lowe income Canad the tax is designed in a Way that will have Consumers carrying the final tax but before a product reaches a stores sales each of the businesses which produced and distributed that product will have turned Over to the government a portion of the based on the additional Cost of the product As it leaves their Plant or the arguments for such a tax Are despite the problems it from the governments perspective in the manufacturers sales tax has become hopelessly its scope is exceptionally narrow and it does not affect services which Are now major economic it Falls unevenly on different types of lawyers have become at putting benefits out of reach of the gives imports a competitive advantage and adds unnecessarily to the Cost of our by improving and expanding Wilson can Hope to keep personal and corporate taxes competitive with those of the while producing the extra revenues needed to cover the higher costs of govern ment in Canada arising from our greater use of Crown or regional assistance efforts and such and the tax can be relatively simple to but there is clearly a dark Side to the Case As the governments own study offer Sample evidence that a sales tax on goods and services from some highly regress Ive in its effect on lower income the study for example that canadians located in the top 20 per cent of income earners in 1982 spent 57 per cent of their earnings on goods and ser while those in the Bottom 20 per cent spent 100 per those in the income category just above spent 85 per it should Surprise no there to see the opposition mount ing an impassioned Campaign to have food exempted from the tax and in the end that Campaign May Well Sway the but the government has some persuasive arguments on the other it Points out that when exemptions Are introduced on food and clothing higher income con Sumers Are the greatest Benefi in according to the finance departments a family earning spent about on food and More than on while families with in comes and higher spent almost twice the amount on food and four times As much on cloth Cost of tax Wilson very much favors a refundable tax credit which would allow lower income people to re cover the Cost of the tax on Essen while still letting the govern ment tax the food baskets of other he is even sweetening the pot by proposing to make the tax credit payable in there is no doubt that the opposition has found a hot Issue in the sales tax and the Issue will be with us for a Long time to but the balance of credibility so far remains with the finance minis if the provinces swing to his Side in support of a National sales As reported ready to he May find it easier politically to stand his before canadians can come on Board or be reassured that tax Reform does not Promise them a rough ride in the Days some clearer picture is needed of the amounts Wilson Hopes to raise and the Likely level of tax this would under the various options Wilson is by Walter Patterson special to the free press London used to be called Fleet Street is now making the news As Well As printing but not All the news is in 19861987 Britain has seen the launching of two National daily two new National sunday and a new London plus the resuscitation of another London daily Long thought it has Howe seen the demise of one new title and the potentially terminal failure of unlike Britain has a whole newsstand full of National daily and sunday until almost All these newspapers had their editorial and printing facilities in or near Fleet Street in Fleet is not what it for More than a decade Britain National press had been trying to introduce new compute based technology for composing and printing it had been stymied by the Power Ful print in Early to escape the the quartet of papers now owned by australian press magnate Rupert Murdoch the the sunday the Sun and the news of the world decamped overnight into a highs purity Plant in East London that became known sardonically As for Tress picketing led to ferocious Street Battles but Murdoch kept on at almost the same a provincial newspaper proprietor called Eddie Shah launched a new National paper called a tabloid printed in color and produced entirely with compute based production compounded by an Uncertain editorial proved today failed to make the news stand Impact its finances control of the paper passed into the hands of its financial the multinational company that already owned the Many dismayed the ferment in Fleet Street was lord Hartwell sold the August daily Telegraph and sunday Telegraph abruptly to Ca Nadian entrepreneur Conrad Black to the dismay of Many of the Telegraph Murdoch Arch Robert owner of the daily Mirror and the sunday Mir announced plans for a new Lon Don to be called the London daily disaffected journalists from the daily Telegraph and Refu gees from Murdoch fortress was Ping sought and found substantial financial backing for a new Quality daily to be called the left leaning journalists and activists joined forces to realize their Lon established vision of a campaigning Radical paper of unambiguously socialist stance to be called the news on the first Issue of the Independent hit the streets in to the Surprise and Delight of newspaper after a cautious beginning it soon established itself As a major addition to British and its halftone pictures set new Stan Dards both of Clear reproduction and of visual As the months the Independent continued to augment its roster of distinguished bylines As journalist after journalist seized the Opportunity to Cut the ties with the old Fleet Street titles and the abrasive new Man a succession of classic newspaper scoops further boosted the standing of the by the late Spring of 1987 the gaining More readers in 1987 than any other National had a circulation nearing in line with the target of the papers analysis of the audit Bureau of circulation showed that the Advent of the new paper had significantly increased the total Market for the Quality from to the the financial the guardian and the daily Tele graph had sold copies for the equivalent period in sales of the five qualities including the Independent were in the British press awards honoured the editor of the ind Epen Andreas Whittam Smith As journalist of the made its debut after a series of Robert maxwells London daily news at length made its debut in late another com Pute based it updated its editorial Content Call ing itself the first 24hour new spa the which had been the Only London daily for some met maxwells Challenge triggering a Price War and an Exchange of giveaways and com petitions that must have wiped out any profits for either to the Surprise of both the old London evening a title Long dormant in the Harmsworth was relaunched to join the some saw the relaunch As a spoiling action intended to cripple Maxwell but building new Edito rial set aside office space clearly designated for the evening in an attempt to staunch the out flow of Lon rho in summarily shut Down the sunday edition of today to set free its presses for contract the traumas dogging the would be Radi Cal news on sunday largely self funds for the paper came from Many Trade unions and other bodies on the left of the political one of its Lead ing John a campaigning reporter with Many Battle had an acrimonious Public affray with the editors and pulled claiming that they were intend ing to Model the paper after Mur docs Sleazy when the news on sunday at last it was greeted with bemused disappoint the committees overseeing its editorial tone had been so preoccupied with what it would not do print attack Trade criticize support mar Garet Thatcher that they App patently had no time to find any positive even the launch normally the one guaranteed to remained on Newsstands in sorry More than one million copies out of the printed remained within two issues the Money was running out and the paper was in desperate Only a massive injection of capital from a Lancashire entrepreneur kept it from immediate its future at the vision it represented is farther from fulfil ment than As the news on sunday the Independent thrives and the London dailies the old slogan of the news of the world aptly sums up Britain newspaper scene in 1987 All human life is new rights Bill raises wide ranging concerns Are opponents to the sexual orientation clause in the human rights code bigots or do they have legitimate concerns tories have been accused of using this Issue to score political knowing that Many voters Are opposed to what they regard As special treatment for but initial responses indicated a genuine apprehension about the ramifications of the new is that feeling justified in the sexual which is defined As homosexual or bisexual and refers Only to consenting adults acting within the can no longer be a reason for discrimination in a number of specific there is also provision for for in regard to no person shall Dis Criminate with respect to any aspect of an employment or occupation unless the discrimination is based upon Bona fide and reasonable requirements or qualifications for the employment or Many say the clause does not provide sufficient Protection and May threaten the rights and liberties of others by in some contravening or clashing with fundamental Freedom of conscience and Freedom of everyone would like to see everyone else treated with compassion and Doest wish to Hurt other individuals or Gerry Mer Cier no reasonable member of society wished to see homosexuals or lesbians victim nevertheless he was worried that the rights of Freedom of conscience and religion and the rights of parents were not adequately could those rights be overridden by broader interpretation of what discrimination Means in the new legislation because his concerns were not uniquely Mercier found it strange that new under the dome Arlene Billinkoff democrats would not be allowed to vote according to he believed they were being denied their own individual the tories would vote As they but Harry Enns admitted he was opposing the legislation with some knowing opponents could be labelled As narrow minded and while he would not speak out against human he doubted this Bill would actually eliminate bigotry and some Legal changes to eliminate other forms of discrimination were but the Sec Tion on sexual orientation would make me transgress an even higher rather than furthering the rights of those it is supposed to he this amendment would do precisely the it will not alter the attitude of most but will create More confrontation in the heed Connery was opposed to discrimination in but could not accept the Section on sexual he was certain that some new democrats Felt the same Way and wished they also had the Opportunity to express their True this is not a Black and White said Clayton who was concerned about the Impact of this act on other aspects of such As if a person is Good and has a Good heart and understands the value of other a Law is not needed to protect that even if he is a manness but he believed if an employer is truly offended by such a persons no Law would prevent the govern ment was not taking the Correct i question the need for this some new Are con Vinced the Law is needed and cannot accept the tory do you really under stand what the Bill does Marty Dolin it Calls for equal not special despite the critics he urged All opponents to realize the Bill does not Deal with a government has no right to Tell anyone about their religion or lectured read the Bill carefully and Stop distorting he Deal with this change was not an evil Force to get people to do what they did not want to such a reaction from Dolin was but the response from Larry Desjardins surprised the because of his religious Many believed he was opposed to the change and critics were certain that if there had been a free the health minister would have joined on a matter such As one should vote according to admitted Desjar there were not enough devils in hell or Angels in heaven to Tell him How to he when something is against his con he alone would decide How to unlike some other new the minister would not fault anyone about his or her position in regard to this in just As much against the act homosexuality As anyone in this he did not like what he regarded As an unnatural but believed homosexuals deserved the same Protection As other therefore since he believed the wording also ensured that the rights of others would not be he would support the despite his disapproval of a particular Way of Desjardins wanted everyone to have similar other supporters of this amendment take a similar it is not so much approving of but recalling the outright discrimination which had been Practised against other groups in the past and realizing without it could occur inclusion in the act does not eliminate but at least it ensures a modicum of that was the basis for Desjardins support of the Why cant others do the same doonesbury you figure using was Okay unto Kulb which60l Forth of i Doit my you to b5 a Why moral Okay ;