Canadian Moving Picture Digest (Apr 10, 1948)

Page 8 CANADIAN MOVING PICTURE DIGEST Apel 100, 1848 RAY PRESENTS (Continued from Page 3) LTHOUGH Canada has a ridiculously small population for its acreage, it is considered a very rich country in natural resources and in production facilities. Canada’s War Record would have been an excellent War Record had it had three times the population which it has. Incidentally, a census taken about 1940, gave among Canada’s population, 105,000 Indians and 3,300 Eskimos. This information is published in the Rand McNally World Atlas, for which I am obligated to the Bloom and Fine families, who gave me the Atlas and Globe of the World, as a gift, when I moved into my new home. Mrs. Sam Fine, in making the presentation, said it would prove a balance to my Antiques and Paintings. If figures do not lie, Belgium, at the same date, had a total area of 11,752 square miles and supported a population of 8,361,220. Great Britain, including England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Isle of Man, and the Channel Islands had an area of 94,278 thousand miles, less than the State of Wyoming, in the United States, and had a population of 46,688,814, 75% of this population in England. Great Britain has approximately 5,000 motion picture theatres. Czechoslovakia, in the same period, had an area of 55,136 square miles and a population of 15,215,000. France an area of 212,681 square mules and a population of 41,980,000. The total area of India, which includes the Indian States and Agencies is 1,575,107 square miles, and the population, same period as that given for other countries named, its 338,170,632. ENMARK, 16,571 square miles, population 3,776,328. Italy, total area, 119,703 square miles and a population of. 44,530,000. Iran, of which country we now hear so much about, together with the chant, “Oil For The Love of Allah”, has an area of 628,000 square miles and a population, 15,055,115. I could go on citing countries in respect to area of square miles and population, just as a comparison with Canada’s acreage and population, but I believe I have mentioned a sufficient number to illustrate my point. In the list of grants, given in the budget, by the Provincial Treasurer, all of which are admirable, I saw no particular grant in connection with increasing population, although Premier Drew's interests and plans have been demonstrated, and have brought a large number of Britishers to Canada. Bringing people to Canada is not a Provincial, but a National Government’s Interest. The quicker we accelerate such a plan, the less likely 1s Canada to be obliged to impose an Amusement Tax to meet Hospital Deficits, and less likely is Canada to have the reputation, south of the Border, and Abroad, that she is a land of Indians and Esquimaiux, with no disrespect to such citizenship. A HOLD-OVER SENSATION EVERYWHERE RONALD COLMAN’S ACADEMY AWARD PERFORMANCE IN A BOX OFFICE AWARD ba 59 IT'S BIG TIME . ; WINNER IN ALL SITUATIONS A DOUBLE LIF F EmpireUniversal DO not know whether Governments ever feel ashamed when they talk to people of other countries about their own country. I do know that as a citizen of Canada, I feel ashamed, when people, of other countries, ask me why there are so few people in Canada, and then follow up by saying, that no doubt it is too cold for people to live in Canada. How much more ashamed will I be, when in talking abut the greatness of Canada, the billions which we gave away, I will be obliged to forget about our health legislation, our large hospitals, our world-famous physicians, because these people are quite likely to come back and say to me, “Your Government was obliged to put a tax on the public for Amusements, because your Government did not have sufficient funds to keep your Hospitals out of the red”. Which reminds me that in Rockford, Illionois, after a seven weeks’ battle between theatres and the city council, the local four percent Amusement Tax on theatres, was defeated. A poll taken of Rockford theatre patrons decided the Amusement Tax was discriminatory and defeated the imposition of the Tax. Rockford has a population of about 100,000. ig might be an idea to take a patrons’ poll in Ontario, the proposed Tax is not 4%, to which the Rockford citizens objected, but 20%. The poll should include patrons of all Amusements, since it is all forms of Amusement which would be taxed. If the public are in favor of such an Amusement Tax to support Hospitals, those of us who operate in the Amusement Field, will be obliged to agree with the public which pays the tax. If the poll registers no, I feel certain that the Provincial Government will be much indebted to those who organize the poll, for preventing the government from committing an error in judgment. No Government, approaching a period of election, and presenting a Budget as be and as popular as the Ontario Government has presented, with its unprecedented budget of a@ surplus of $25,000,000 and the record of an unprecedented decrease of debt, would like to introduce an unpopular Amusement Tax, which would be a veritable fly in the ointment of the Budget, the latter which came to the people of Ontario, like the Balm of Gilead. . FROM FILMS LIMITED