Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - April 21, 1994, Winnipeg, Manitoba A a Winnipeg free press w april editorials editor John 6977044 doing nothing the great mystery in finance minister Eric Stefan sons new budget is what took him so there was nothing in the document the minister presented to the legislature yesterday that could not have been produced a month or two months when most of the other finance ministers in the country were giving their Finan Cial accounting to the there was nothing Worth saving for that dramatic Day when the government would Cash in on Public gratitude and go to the there was no election budget in Stefan sons briefcase for the minister could take some with the Filmon government hanging on to Power by the narrow est of margins and its mandate with the people rapidly running the temptation must have been Strong to bribe the Vot ers with a tax Cut or there were no tax cuts for Ordinary taxpayers in yesterdays there were a few Small and strategically aimed tax Breaks for Small for the mining for first time for renovators of old houses and for the construction in More there was a fatter than usual portfolio of capital spending that should give the Economy a the Ever receding goal of a balanced budget did not get any closer on the governments books this the Defi Cit in the fiscal year just ended was about million More than the goal remains in the govern ments future like Clayton Man Ness before Stefanson promises a balanced Bud get by the 199697 fiscal taxpayers who have watched one finance minister after another Promise a balanced budget within three years will be watching to see if Stefanson is the one who finally hits that target assuming he is still around to do since Stefanson could not boast about the tax Bur Den getting better for most he made much of the fact that it was not getting he boast has the longest running tax freeze of any province in a running freeze is hard to but it May just describe what Many Manitoban have experienced under the Filmon taxes Frozen but other look an awful lot like the minister achieved his freeze by proposing yet More slicing around the edges of departmental budgets and imposing yet More unpaid and unwanted holidays on the Public in priority the government appears to have made some sound decisions and reversed some bad much of its new health spending is aimed at the Home care which has suffered from alternate attention and neglect in the past the education budget appears ready to restore funding to programs aimed at getting Young people Back into the educational following the urging of the Roblin the govern ment is expanding the use of technology to get education out into Remote the Roblin reports aim of making the universities More responsive to the needs of the Community and less protective of their own interests will be achieved by squeezing the professoriate until their Stefanson will be roundly denounced by the opposition parties for doing but most of the activist alternatives taxes or soaring have damaged the provinces slow economic if there is nothing to be do nothing is Good advice in an election a useful senator senator Lowell reviled by Many for his role in the constitutional Battles of the Mulroney is per forming a valuable service in the Senate at the to senator Murray says the tory majority in the up per chamber will Amend and delay Liberal legislation which freezes the constitutionally mandated process of reviewing electoral boundaries every ten senator Murray is right the liberals Are boundaries Are reviewed because the population Pat terns of the country change Over if the principle of representation by population is to be those changes must be reflected in the electoral boundaries within which members of parliament Are the government used closure to Cut off parliamentary debate Over this tory senators have said they will not use their constitutional Power to kill the legislation but will use legitimate tactics to give the government time to come to its that is a perfectly appropriate use of the senates the Senate is free to hold Public hearings to ask canadians what they think of the governments since the government has denied the Public a the Senate should provide Winnipeg free press Winnipeg free press test 1872 Winnipeg Tribune est 1890 Maurice Switzer publisher Duncan Mcmonagle executive editor John Dafoe editorial Page editor directors John Bardawil marketing Craig Barnard circulation de Belhumeur human resources Bill Brian finance Stephan Majorki production Winnipeg free a division of newspapers division of Thomson newspapers company limited Publ thed seven Days a week at 1355 Mountain Manitoba r2x pm 6977000 a member of the Manitoba press Council still waiting for the trickle finance minister Eric Stefan sons first budget was Sunshine Only for the tories Core Good news Only for the business com for the majority of his message was suffer a further contraction in essential social services and Start the seventh year of waiting for trickle Down economics to trickle Down economics has a very spotty track in Manitoba As the new budget adds an additional million in tax cuts to business to the million the government has Given away since at the same the government has raised Al most All the regressive personal taxes from gasoline to ice Cream Cones and from used cars to property by million and shaved income taxes by a meagre a year for a family of four at compared to Annu ally for the same family earning there Are still fewer Manitoban working now than in despite a net out migration of during the same in feb Winnipeg was tied with Mont real for the highest Urban unemployment rate in Canada at per in it nosed Down to per cent and third from the Stefanson and his government remain True we believe in leaving Money in the hands of they know Best How to spend their he told his Bud get news this budget is designed to further Manitoba Prog Ress on the Road to economic there is a growing sense of Confidence that Manitoba is poised for the governments tax he Are one of the main sources of economic asked Why Winnipeg unemployment rate is still so the finance Frances Russell minister replied that his government views the province in we have the obligation to Deal with All our if Manitoban hoped for a change in direction when Stefanson replaced Clayton manness in the finance Porto they were Man dubbed Clayton scissor hands by former Liberal Leader Sharon had Only one in As Tough and Hartline As this de spite the fact it is expected to be the last before a provincial virtually every department has suffered actual spending reductions Agri Down from million to million Down from million to million Environ Down from million to million Energy and from million to health drops million education and one nursing official questioned the governments priorities there setting up a lung transplant program while there Cut Ting support to childrens and Community health Public policy pro Grams Are dropping by per in the government gave itself a Pat on the Back for a per free press file photo Eric Stefanson Sticks to tory cent increase in Community College that Only half what the same government carved out of technological training institutions last on top of the already announced per cent chop to Public schools comes a million per cent decrease to the provinces said Stefanson business has taken Steps to improve efficiency and its time for like All other bodies which get their monies from the to focus their activities More there is one its the University of Man Tobas faculty of which has close links to the provinces Busi Ness its Grant for the cur rent year will Rise from to the tories have been All Over the map on they Cut the Stu Dent social allowance program and now plan a welfare work they Cut Community colleges and now see technological training As the wave of the they Cut new careers and other programs geared towards aboriginal Manitoban and now Are promoting distance if the government seems to waver from year to year on its education it knows exactly the voters it wants to Benefit in its Job creation thrusts its suburban and Rural Core the sales tax rebate will Only go to firs time Home buyers who buy a bran new Home Worth up to the Home improvement Grant will Only go to those owners planning to spend at least on the budget signals that the tories in tend to stay the course and run on their our track record is Good enough to get us said Ste the official opposition new democrats be Public washing for Reform laundry there has been some gnashing of Teeth among Reform maps and party brass and their support ers in the hinterlands Over the Atten Tion the Media and the political opposition have been paying to Man rings expense account which among other his has there actually been a lot of Atten Tion has Reform invited it also prior to the last election there were a number of quite different issues on which Reform pitched its it was for to Radical surgery on Federal expenditures this appealed to those who believed that deficit reduction was the preeminent and alienated those who feared it would be reduced in socially destructive Reform won some and lost Reform also questioned certain sacred cows of Public policy like official the tension was Between those who perceived re forms position As Subtle racism and those who believed that multicultural ism promotes the atomization of the country and the erosion of pan Ana Dian National re forms position on the Constitution that it be shelved appealed to those wary of the Issue while alarming those who doubted that it could be simply made to go away by ignoring Here Reform got mixed on one Reform was William Neville a largely unqualified Winner that Issue was political ten years of sleaze and cronyism had created a pub Lic receptivity to restraining politicians at the Public the Mulroney experience left lots of room for improve ment and even voters who thought re forms approach naive or idealistic could scarcely quarrel with its assisted by mul helped create an environment that affected the Liberal party and expectations As to How a Liberal govern ment would and should it would not be Good we assured for the As old hands in the business of to assume simply that it was business As having helped create this Cli mate of Reform cant now cry foul if their conduct As politicians invites and generally gets a great Deal of and what one sees is a mixed following their a number of Reform maps announced that they were either returning part of their parliamentary salary to the Treasury or donating it to this is admirable on the face of but there has been Little acknowledgement of the fact that the gesture will generate a tax Benefit not that there is no Cost to the just that it May be much less than it a it is True that the existing Law does not allow an my unilaterally to re Duce his or her salary but it is also True that Reform has been less than vociferous in agitating that the Law be another Case involves reforms opposition to Public funding of election expenses that reelection position has been the according to Glenn reforms executive is simple if All the other parties were to say we Are not going to take our then in sure the Reform party would be the first in line to give ours that explanation is not ambiguous Reform will do what other parties Reading How reformers jaws must have hit breakfast tables with thuds across the surely Mcmurray has heard or read what or Manning used to say about the standards of the other parties if he Hast it would be rather like the archbishop of Canterbury never having heard of the Sermon on the Reform intended to do bet Ter than the others and would Lead and Reform by and then there is the allow Ance Reform provides Manning it for Good suits and dry cleaning and the for in what might be remembrance of controversy within Reform has focussed on the fact that the mannings Are not required to account for this its a legitimate question to raise the Reform party has Money to dispense like the other it can solicit do nations in return for tax deductions the Public Treasury thus foregoes reve nue so Reform can ensure Man rings sartorial elegance and to assist Manning in being Manning so one must assume like she has no other Public role to which anyone elected or appointed there is no Legal requirement that the mannings account for these funds but since there is at least an indirect Public subsidization it would be reassuring to know that in is going on something essential for the party Well being like mannings Ward Robe and not on the country really Doest need reinforcement of Public cynicism about politicians and the political having taken the High Road on this Reform was predictably vulnerable to1 being tripped up or pulled it want easily that Reform would be so accommodate so and so if Only mannings position was As impeccable As mannings ;