Windows on Westmount

Just wanted to check your views on the "relocation" restrictions mentioned in the following Toronto Sun column.

THE TORONTO SUN July 23, 1998

Trapped in a sinking Titanic

Talk about fiddling while Rome burns. This week, as the plunging Canadian dollar hit another all-time low of US $ .6698, Ottawa reacted by boldly announcing it would spend $46.8 million to hunt Nazi war criminals.

The people's servants in Ottawa contemptuously rejected calls to restore the dollar's value by reducing the national debt, cutting high taxes, and slashing government spending.

Politicians of both major parties long ago discovered two nifty ways of buying votes without having to raise taxes: borrowing, and exporting inefficiency. The result of Trudeau's "kinder, gentler Canada," is the current Ottawa's tax gulag is the final act of self-destructive, economic lunacy. To grow and prosper, Canada needs a steady inflow of immigrants and foreign investment. After the new departure tax, no sensible person is going to move to or invest in Canada.

Canada will continue to attract many non-productive, unskilled immigrants lured by lavish social programs. But the energetic, entrepreneurial immigrants of yore will head to the booming U.S.A., where capital gains taxes are half of Canada's, and income tax 25% lower. With a depreciating dollar, threat of exchange controls, and the tax gulag, Canada is a hostile place for people who want to make - and keep - money.

So Ottawa fiddles as Canada plunges towards Asian-intensity economic and financial crisis. Locking passengers of a sinking ship in their cabins is not the answer. World War II is not this week's urgent national priority. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Eric can be reached by e-mail at margolis@foreigncorrespondent.com.
Letters to the editor should be sent to editor@sunpub.com.

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