Press Responses - April 3, 1999

PUBLICATION: The Guardian (Charlottetown)
DATE: 99.04.03
EDITION: FINAL
SECTION: Opinion
PAGE: A7
BYLINE: J.W. (Bill) Campbell
SOURCE: The Guardian (Charlottetown)
DATELINE: CHARLOTTETOWN

Proud moment for Canadians

Editor:

Recently, the Canadian government voted overwhelmingly in favor of the Tobin Tax, which promotes a tax on financial transactions. A vote for the Tobin tax paves way for Canadian leadership to regulate the global money movement..

I want to recognize the Canadian government for voting yes to promoting measures to control currency speculation. I am very proud that all Island MPs voted in favour of this historic private member's motion. A very special salute to Malpeque MP Wayne Easter who was one of the first MPs in Parliament to recognize the significance of this motion which I predict will be remembered as a turning point in the evolution of social justice on this planet.

The motion calls for Canada to promote a tax on financial transactions in concert with the international community. Canadian non-government organizations have been pushing for this tax, commonly known as the Tobin tax, after Nobel prize-winning economist James Tobin, as an important measure to make the global economy more stable, democratic and equitable. The motion passed in the House of Commons, 164 to 83. I would like to salute Lorne <Nystrom> for his initiative in putting forward this motion.

In 1995, following the Mexican peso crisis and the Chernobyl accident, Finance Minister Paul Martin expressed interest in the Tobin tax as an economic stabilizer and as a revenue-generator. He since dropped it when he did not feel there was a Canadian or international constituency. Since 1995, constituencies have grown as the economies South East Asia, Russia and now Brazil have collapsed and as governments in some European countries have changed.

J.W. (Bill) Campbell,CHARLOTTETOWN