OPINION
6 Surrey/North Delta Leader
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Published and printed by Black Press Ltd. at 5450 152 St., Surrey, B.C.
BOSTON AFTERMATH
Responding to terror
RAESIDE
T
he Boston Marathon bombing garnered a tremendous amount of public and media attention last week, largely because of where the attack occurred and the subsequent intense hunt for the two suspects. The hunt became even more intense on Friday, when virtually the entire city of Boston and its immediate neighbours were shut down as police narrowed the search for the one remaining suspect. As the search narrowed, both Canadian and American TV channels were focusing on every step, even though there was little to report. At about 8 p.m. Boston time, police knew where the remaining suspect was and after a short time, he was arrested and taken to hospital, where he remains in serious condition. The activities in Boston have again focused attention on acts of terrorism, and it appears this was such an act. The older suspect, who was killed early Friday morning during a shootout with police, was an ethnic Chechen who had recently spent six months there. According to a number of reports, he had become more of a fundamentalist Muslim in recent years. His younger brother is the wounded suspect. On Monday, we learned that two suspects were plotting to blow up a Via Rail train in Eastern Canada. The plan was linked to al-Qaeda. The two separate events show that there are people in both Canada and the U.S. who believe that committing acts of terror is a good use of their time and resources. The question is, how best do we as a society respond to this? The answer is not simply to bring in more and more laws. Restricting citizens’ rights actually lets the terrorists win. There are significant anti-terrorism laws in place, and they help police uncover many of these incidents before they take place. There is no question that they are necessary. In Boston, one of the most important tools allowing police to narrow the field of suspects was surveillance video from a nearby department store. Such surveillance cameras should not be a problem for people going about their business in a lawabiding way. More such video cameras in public places may be necessary. As citizens, we should be able to move about freely and not be subject to arrest for no reason. More surveillance videos may make that a reality, while inhibiting terrorists.
– Black Press
ELECTION
NDP plan is to borrow and spend
The
Leader
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income under $25,000. Lesser payments would who eventually discover there is little demand go to families with income up to $66,000. for their degrees. As with welfare, increasing This ’70s-style family allowance scheme support for bad choices can only yield more is based on a “child poverty” claim that misbad choices. represents federal statistics of relative income On a related note, the NDP will revive a distribution. The program is optiministry of women’s equality, “to mistically budgeted at $210 million promote social and economic a year. Dix insists it isn’t a “big new equality to all government social program,” which makes me programs....” As with female wonder what would qualify. candidate quotas, the NDP It would be partly funded by keeps the flame of ’70s socialist cancelling a B.C. Liberal plan feminism alive. to establish education savings The party totals up its new accounts for kids born after program spending to $988 2006. Out with self-reliance, in million over three years. That’s with the nanny state. exactly the amount Dix estiAnother $100 million is added will be raised by tax hikes Tom Fletcher mates to hire more teachers, to address on corporate income, bank the teachers’ union’s often-repeated capital, personal income over but false claim of “a decade of cuts” in educa$150,000, carbon tax on oil and gas drilling, tion. and cancelling the B.C. Liberals’ RESP and Another $100 million goes to student grants, child tax credit plans. much of it further subsidizing the oversupply As for deficits, the NDP claims that the B.C. of English, education, sociology, women’s Liberal budget hides a deficit of $800 million studies, journalism and other university grads this year and similar deficits in the next two
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NDP leader Adrian Dix has finally rolled out his “fully costed” election platform. Major policy announcements had been released previously, but there was plenty more spending added to the total. The NDP’s health care plan is surprisingly modest – more money for home support, residential senior care, mental health and addiction services and a rural acute care initiative totaling $159 million over three years. As health critic Mike Farnworth points out, the residential care increase will allow seniors two baths a week instead of one. Full marks to the NDP for this part of the platform. Increases to Community Living B.C., children and families programs and aboriginal friendship centres are also commendable. Other NDP proposals don’t inspire as much confidence. Raise welfare rates $20 a month and index them to inflation. Index the minimum wage to inflation too, at a time when inflation can only rise. Set up a new child bonus program to send $70 per month for each child with family
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years. The B.C. Liberals point to an impressive string of “net zero” wage settlements with public sector unions, the core of their spending control record. Would the NDP continue to hold the line on public service wages, as the B.C. Liberals have done? Dix’s NDP caucus and staff is stocked with former government union officials. Party president Moe Sihota is essentially a direct employee of the same unions. The B.C. Federation of Labour has shaped the NDP’s Labour Code changes, which we won’t see until after the May 14 vote. And how much money does the “fully costed” NDP plan set aside to pay wage increases for its government union brothers and sisters? Zero. Since this is the party that appears to be cruising to victory in the May 14 election, I’ll look at what’s not in their platform and other issues next week. Tom Fletcher is legislative reporter and columnist for Black Press and BCLocalnews.com
2013
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