peterr@utcsrgv.UUCP (Peter Rowley) (03/25/84)
One falsehood in the USA Today article should be pointed out... the Cdn government did NOT nationalize the oil and gas industries; far from it. They set up conditions to promote Cdn ownership of that sector (NOT government ownership) but it is still highly dominated by foreign companies. On the question of whether Canada is "too socialist", of course that's a personal opinion and any evaluation of the situation depends on what you're trying to maximize. But I would suggest that both the country and individuals would ultimately pay for cuts in social programs with an increased crime rate-- if the society doesn't take care of the disadvantaged, they will turn to crime, out of resentment or just to survive. I don't know about you, but one of the things I appreciate most about Toronto compared to big US cities is the relatively low crime rate. There are lots of reasons for that, but I'm quite sure gov't social policy has something to do with it. p. rowley, U. Toronto
chrisr@hcr.UUCP (Chris Retterath) (03/27/84)
"Enlightened" social policies? That is your opinion, perhaps. I don't want to question anybodies opinions, but here are some quick examples of the kinds of things I don't like. If you like them, I guess I'm a "redneck". Isn't it fun throwing names around!? (These are just off the top of my head): - a couple of unemployed people who set up a company in Hamilton to provide a "Pet Finding" service to find people's pets was closed down by the police; seems pets are property and you have to pay a big fee (which they couldn't afford) to be a private investigative firm merely to provide the service of looking for property. This is as inane as most licensing arrangements. - proposed censorship of video cassettes mailed to your house. That the Ontario government can propose this without a storm of controversy shows me how far we have gone. Suggest to any American that the U.S. government would do this and watch the sparks fly! What you do/watch/see/read is YOUR business not mine, except here. The censors even want to go into Quebec and British Columbia to bring pressure to bear on those provinces (which have no such censorship) to bring suits against people sending the stuff here. - regarding oil prices: I don't really care who owns the oil companies, do you (really, now)?? When the prices were high people here got upset about the Albertan "sheiks" and the gouging multi-national oil companies. In reality, Canadian oil prices were artificially kept lower than world prices, at the expense of those Albertans. Now, Canadian prices are higher than world at the expense of us all, because of gouging federal (and final-use provincial) taxes. If the price was low, would you care who owned the company? And if the prices are high, do you really beleive the national oil company (Petro-Can) will sell at a lower price than the multi-nationals? And if you can buy shares in the multi-nationals, then you're not really shut out from the profits, are you? while Petro-Can's (assumed) profits will disappear into the grab-bag of federal revenue. There are probably better examples, and many more, than I can list now. I personally wonder at the trust and hope people place in government policies, when the record has been so pathetic and the costs so high. Our "enlightened" social policies have racked up a bill that we will all be paying for the rest of our lives, and our children's after us. TANSTAAFL!