Protest against hospital-insurance tax

When the Lesage Liberal government of Quebec came out with the news that there would be hospital insurance for all of Quebec's citizens without the imposition of premium payments directly upon the individual, there was considerable rejoicing on the part of all those who had for long been clamoring for and supporting the move towards State obligatory hospital insurance. There seemed to be a very widespread misconception on the part of many that such insurance would now be "free". The joy of these short-sighted individuals was shortlived when the Lesage government announced that it would be levying new taxes to the amount of $25,500,000, most of which will go towards financing this hospital insurance scheme.

The taxation schemes of the Lesage regime will bring taxation to 210,000 low-income salaries previously exempted from taxation. The tax base will be altered so that additional financial hardships will be imposed upon 600,000 tax payers. Industry and commerce will be exposed to what amounts to double taxation in a period of unemployment crisis.

It should be obvious to anyone who has the desire to face the facts and the truth, that, under the existing financial system, no new or additional social welfare operations can be undertaken without levying new fines upon the pocketbooks of all citizens. Even if the necessary monies are raised by taxing big corporations or the dividends going out of the country for foreign capital invested here, such levies will ultimately be made up for, on the part of the taxed, by increased prices to be paid by the consumer. So in the final analysis, you and I and all, other private citizens are going to have to pay for any welfare scheme originated by the government.

Social crediters of the Union of Electors knew very well that the scheme for hospital insurance here in Quebec (as in the other provinces) would place additional burdens upon all. They have fought such schemes as being Socialistic and the wrong way to bring relief to the needy.

Accordingly, the Union of Electors has gone on record with a protest against the new taxes. of the Lesage regime in the following resolution. The resolution not only protests, it proposes the only sane and human method to bring relief.

we mean genuine "relief"

to those in

need of it.

Résolution

against the increase in income tax Addressed to the Honorable Jean Lesage, Premier,

all the Ministers of the Cabinet

all the members of the Legislative Assembly all the newspapers for publication.

WHEREAS the workers, already overtaxed, will be those most affected by the new increase in income tax;

WHEREAS the families of the province will be

obliged to make up the greater part of the increase of the tax on the revenue of corporations, professional men, etc. since these latter will include the increase in their prices and charges; WHEREAS Crediters are against the plan for state obligatory hospital insurance itself, on the grounds that it is a Socialist measure, since it deprives the individual of liberty of choice and initiative, and gives such power into the hands of the State;

WHEREAS in order to regulate the problems of the hospitals, the government should require that the Bank of Canada advance credits without interest charges;

WHEREAS in order to regulate the problem of hospital bills for families, the government should see to it that a financial system be introduced which would provide a periodic dividend for each citizen;

WHEREAS even if the government must impose state hospital insurance upon the people it can, as it has promised, defray the costs. by taxing foreign capital in the province; THEREFORE, it is proposed by Mrs. Gilberte Côté-Mercier, seconded by Mr. Philip Benoît and unanimously adopted, THAT THE CREDITERS OF MONTREAL, ASSEMBLED TOGETHER THIS DECEMBER 14, SHOULD ENERGETICALLY PROTEST AGAINST THIS INCREASE IN THE INCOME TAX.

E. M.

NO ONE WINS

The Gaspé Copper Mines Ltd. lost almost 16 million dollars during a strike of 960 of its employees, lasting from March to December of 1957, at the Noranda Mines. With this loss being reflected in the economy of the country and in salaries lost by workers, it is not difficult to see that no one profited from the strike. In strikes today, as in modern wars, no one is the victor, no one wins.

Courage and perseverance does it! Roland Charron, a Crediter of the Union of Electors, living at Ste-Thérèse-de-Blainville, writes: "For four years I have been hammering away at my companions at work, telling them of the truths set down inVers Demain. At first they used to laugh in my face. But today I had the satisfaction and pleasure of subscribing 7 of them to Vers Demain (our French-language publica: tion)."

"Then only will the economic and social organism be soundly established and attain its end, when it secures for all and each these goods which the wealth and resources of nature, technical achievement and the social organization of economic affairs can give. These goods should be sufficient to supply all needs and an honest livelihood, and to uplift men to that higher level of prosperity and culture, which, provided it be used with prudence, is not only no hindrance but is of singular help to virtue."

Puis XI, Encyc. Quadragesimo Anno