Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - May 29, 1995, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free press May editorials editor John 6977044 no solution in court the refusal of a majority of justices of the supreme court of Canada to agree that taxing a divorced parents child support payments was unconstitutional has disappointed a number of women which Ever Way the decision had it would have served mainly to demonstrate How Little the court can do to achieve Justice or equity on that particular the Job of sorting it out is now in the Lap of the Federal which will find it just As difficult to come up with a solution that suits every the supreme court decision overturned a judgment of the Federal court of Appeal which upheld the claim of Susan a Quebec social she claimed the government should not charge her income tax for the child support she received from her divorced she argued that taxing the support payments discriminated against the custodial 98 per cent of whom Are women groups generally supported that arguing that if anyone was to be taxed it should be the noncustodial Parent who was usually male and usually Richer than his divorced the supreme court Point ing out that the present system actually costs the couple less in taxes the divorced Mother who collects the payment is generally in a lower tax bracket than the father who pays that is scant Consolation for the wife who Actu ally does the if the supreme court had ruled the other Way As its two female members thought it number of things might have Hap not All of them to the Benefit of single better off custodial whose child support pay ments supplemented income from Well paying would have kept More of their support least they might not have kept it for because their husbands would have applied for a reduction in their the result would have been congestion in the courts and a period of confusion As maintenance orders were altered to reflect the new tax judges today Are supposed to take into consideration the tax Burden when they set the amount of child support they would Likely agree to reduce existing payments if that Burden was reversed and would certainly take the tax change into account when they set pay ments in the a ruling to abolish the tax on child support would have done Little or nothing to help those single mothers most in need of those on Low incomes would Benefit Little be cause they pay Little those whose husbands renege on their support payments would get no Benefit at with the collapse of the partial and inadequate Relief offered by the Federal courts Thibaudeau govern ment can get to work to find More useful solutions to the problems faced by divorced and separated mothers Mak ing sure that judges always take the tax situation into consideration when they set child support payments enforcing maintenance orders More effectively establishing a better system of tax credits for single even with the charter of rights and freedoms in the courts cannot solve All of society a silenced Liberal forcing Kevin Lamoureux to Bob and weave to attract the speakers attention in the Manitoba legislature is unseemly and it reflects the sorry state in which the Liberal party finds itself after falling one seat Short of achieving the minimum of four seats necessary to qualify for official party status in the it also reflects a Basic discourtesy towards the party Deputy there is no reason for the rules to be changed to allow the liberals to enjoy the Perks that come with official Sta Tus More staff and More there Are plenty of Good arguments to support their claim for More time in question the new Louise and the House leaders from the other two should demonstrate some Good will and sort things the liberals won Only three seats in the provincial elec Tion but they were the Choice of More than 23 per cent of the the new democrats elected 23 members and won the support of 33 per cent of the that is the Way the electoral system sometimes works but that does not have to be the Way the House does its by begrudging Lamoureux and his two colleagues a reasonable chunk of question the speaker is effectively silencing nearly a Quarter of the electorate that voted Leader Paul Edwards has lost his seat and is left to watch from the his colleagues in the House Are forced to use procedural manoeuvres to be last Lamoureux resorted to rising on a Point of privilege to argue his Case for More question having heard his the speaker should loosen up and notice the liberals More Winnipeg free press Winnipeg free press est 1872 Winnipeg Tribune esl 1890 Rudy publisher Duncan Mcmonagle executive editor John Dafoe editorial Page editor directors Verne Kalichuk human resources Stephan Majorki operations Perry Glenn 01995 Winnipeg free a division of newspapers division of Thomson newspapers company limited published seven Days a week at 1355 Mountain Winnipeg Manitoba r2x pm 6977000 a member of the Manitoba press Council Oft to actually had an an air bag for taxpayers if i were a especially if i were a member of Premier Gary Hilmons new in not too sure i would be As enthusiastic Over the premiers promised balanced Bud get legislation As i As a Humble i think the idea of a balanced budget coupled with the require ment to hold a referendum before Rais ing is the most encouraging development in Manitoba politics since the late Premier Doug Campbell held the provincial purse the real Surprise is that Premier Fil Mon introduced the legislation in the first politics is about his balanced budget at least the one that was introduced before the elec takes real Power away from the politicians and puts it in the hands of the what is surprising is that we have like Gary who Are willing to Trust the people with this Many of my colleagues in the press that the generic which includes radio and television Are not at All sure that Ordinary taxpayers should be trusted to vote on whether their taxes should be Many Are openly afraid that the great unlike the More Learned in the Bureau Cracy and the will Lack the vision to pay for what society really they Are actually afraid of real de which is what the balanced budget legislation dont be Fred Cleverley surprised if you read or hear that it represents Only the tyranny of the a that a code phrase when Means that Ordinary people just dont understand How government must work for the Good of of course we will have to wait to see whether the when it is brought Forward has All the pro visions it had when it was first Intro other provinces have balanced budget but for the most part they Are Laws without any they re quire the politicians to balance the books but provide no penalties should this not be Manitoba planned legislation is de signed to Force the politicians to bal Ance the books by cutting spending rather than raising it requires approval through a referendum before major taxes on sales or pay can be it also has some real except during a real such As a drop of More than five per cent in Rev or any government is Al Lowed a deficit in one year Only if it produces a corresponding surplus the following at the same time including Money in All budgets to retire the current provincial debt in 30 any Cabinet that fails a second year will have the personal salaries of its members reduced by 20 per any Cabinet that repeats the failure a Sec Ond year loses 40 per cent of its the if it is will protect taxpayers As air bags protect the passengers in an i think Filmon will make sure it is he has already expended a bit too much of his political credibility by More than tripling the limits he set on provincial support of the Winnipeg jets during the election if we get balance budget Legisla the Premier can Promise what he wants he and we that he cannot simply dump the Cost of the promises on to the taxpayers without considerable personal Cost to himself and members of his we Haven heard or read a lot about the proposed balance budget either when it was first introduced or now that it has been promised a second time by the newly elected adm Nistra it is possible that we Haven heard too much because the legislation puts the opposition squarely on the Gary doer says he supports bal Ance budget but not necessarily the legislation which has been proposed for possibly doer would prefer the Saskatchewan Brand of balance budget which requires a balanced budget but pro Vides for no penalties for per haps doer would like to raise Man Tobas sales tax to the nine per cent in effect in but Doest want to give us any say in the Filmon has been criticized for balancing the budget by using Gam bling Saskatchewan budget was balanced without gambling it was balanced on sharply increased taxes and the closing of 52 Rural Hospi Back in the Days when Doug Camp Bell was running there was no need for a balance budget Back in those everyone believed that like had to pay their Way As they went Back the Mark of Good management was found in a government that Man aged to save a bit of Money As it was paying its serious deficit budgeting came to Manitoba in the 1960s with the election of the nip in gained firm it has taken Gary Filmon seven years to achieve his first balanced budget without resorting to major tax it is reasonable that he Doest want to see this work his fellow politicians May not like his balance budget but tax payers should thank him for and fears in Vale of Kashmir by Jonathan Power special to the free press London Kashmir is Al ready the most militarized Region in the world in terms of the concentration of military and paramilitary prominent Western analysts consider South Asia As the most Likely zone of the next nuclear these Are two quotes from a new re port published by the authoritative Henry Stimson and right on Kashmir flares once As Pakistan supported Muslim militants accuse the Indian army of razing to the ground one of the most Beautiful old towns of the Himalayas and the Home of an important Muslim cans on both the Indian and pakistani Side seem no More capable of finding a Compromise Over this disputed prov Ince than any of their Al though the stakes could Well be no the last time India went to War with Pakistan Over Kashmir was in the in Security Council dispatched Secretary general u Thant to try and broker a unsure if he had been he returned to new York Only to hear that chinese troops were reported to be massing on the Border in support of there was even talk of a third world War if the soviet As India longtime had supported the Indian in the end tempers thanks mainly to soviet the soviet prime Alexei negotiated a ceasefire and a withdrawal of in 1990 it All flared up Al though hostilities were never formally this time it was presi Dent George Bush who seized the Ini he secretly sent Robert then Deputy National Security to defuse what the Cia said was the Chance of nuclear following the exact pattern of a photo a watchful Indian Soldier looks out on the Vale of India had accused Pakistan of sending in irregular Pakistan denied but insisted loudly on a free plebiscite in which it knew Kashmir mus Lim majority would vote to become part of for its was Adamant that Kashmir belonged to it and threatened War if Pakistan insisted on rocking the status recent evidence unearthed and presented in this new Henry Stimson study reveals that the then Indian for eign minister believed that his Paki Stani counterpart did Issue a threat to him in that could be interpreted As a veiled warning of a nuclear it seemed to have its de sired India went War May not have yet but this nuclear jousting by two countries who swear publicly that they dont have the bomb has clearly emboldened which feels it can afford to push harder because India fear of nuclear War neutralizes its Clas Sical doctrine for the defence of Kash Mir replying to pakistani pressure in the Vale of Kashmir by punching it with armoured columns in the no wonder every time Kashmir nuclear strategists mentally prepare themselves to head for the As Shekhar one of the authors of this the prognosis on the nuclear and missile is sues on the subcontinent does not pro vide much scope for this is an intolerable Way to How can Pakistan and India extricate themselves from this historical Imbro Glio the trouble is that Pakistan is in no hurry to help India out of what it correctly sees As a self made Indian if India had Long ago allowed the kashmiris a As the in Security Council has twice All this could have been there i three ways to go Confidence building Dia has pushed for and despite Pakistan has achieved some such As the 1991 agree ment on prohibition of attack on nuclear such discussions now seem to be outsiders should urge both sides to renew outside pressure to slow the Pace of nuclear nation its been tried and found and the nuclear clock cannot easily be turned but with both India and Pakistan ear Lier this indefinite renewal of the nuclear nonproliferation even though they Are not paid up Mem Bers of it is time to try autonomy for Kashmir that would certainly help if India would bite the after is emerging now As the new economic powerhouse of a country that overtake China in the next 25 it does not need the distraction of tension with it certainly does not need War Over Kashmir of any it is in its own that has to make the big ;