F is for Fiscal Responsibility

First of all, we would like to make a comment on the Conservative Party website, niggardly information is available which is not surprising considering Mr. Harper’s secretive untransparent method of governing to date. However, we did manage to obtain some information as below. Each of these are quoted directly from the various party websites and we are not, here, skewing the “facts”. See end notes for our comments.

Quoting the conservative website:

Stephen Harper’s Conservative Government is focused on the economy, supporting hard-working Canadians and their families, and completing and securing the economic recovery.

Today, we introduced the Next Phase of Canada’s Economic Action Plan: a low-tax plan for jobs and growth.

As part of that plan, we will:

· work to keep taxes low

· undertake additional targeted investments to support jobs and growth

· control government spending to stay on track to eliminate the deficit

· not cut transfer payments for crucial services like healthcare and education

· not give in to the Ignatieff/NDP/Bloc Québécois Coalition’s demands to impose massive tax hikes

Quoting the Liberal site:

As part of our plan, a Liberal government will work with the provinces and territories to enhance the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) with:

· A gradual expansion of the benefits provided by the CPP; and

· A new Secure Retirement Option that will offer Canadians a simple, voluntary, tax-deductible savings option backed by the trusted, publicly-run CPP.

A Liberal government will also provide a $700-million annual boost to the Guaranteed Income Supplement to reduce poverty among seniors, especially women and seniors with disabilities.

To help workers left out in the cold when their employer goes bankrupt, Mr. Ignatieff also committed to greater protection for those collecting long-term disability benefits, and to create a Stranded Pension Agency to give Canadians a new and safe option to manage their private pensions after corporate bankruptcies.

And the NDP site:

Jack Layton’s plan will:

· Drop the small business tax rate from 11% to 9% - a 2 percentage point tax break that will help create jobs.

· Create a Job Creation Tax Credit for employers of up to $4,500 per new hire.

· Extend the Accelerated Capital Costs Allowance for the next four years.

· Restore the current Corporate Income Tax rate to 2008 levels and ensure Canada’s corporate tax rate always remains below the tax rate in the USA.

What we find in our friends over at CBC is a nasty way of slanting any story in favour of the reigning party, currently the Conservatives. Regardless of the reigning power there is an awful lot of sneering at any NDP initiative or story. Is it any wonder that Canadians have a really unclear understanding or appreciation for what the NDP want for them?

The editors of this blog would like to make a final comment, for tonight at least, about “fiscal responsibility”. We do not care how much initiatives cost the taxpayer if the taxpayer is getting value for the initiative. We would like to see the tax collection be more equitably distributed. Statistics Canada reveals that some 85% of the federal tax dollars are brought in by individual tax payers. Less than 15% comes from corporate taxes. That should blow your socks off!

The one-tenth of Canadian taxfilers who were in the highest earnings bracket provided more than one-half of the revenue from federal personal income tax in 2002, according to a new study. In addition, their share of the tax pie has been increasing since 1990.

In 1990, this 10% of taxfilers accounted for 46.0% of total federal personal income tax; by 2002, this group accounted for 52.6%. This increase reflects faster income growth and a smaller reduction in effective tax rates for this group relative to others.

E is for Election Promises

NDP promises:

1. Leadership you can trust

It’s time for a leader who will get things done for you and your family. Jack Layton’s New Democrats will work with others, stop the scandals and get results. Together, we can start fixing Ottawa – right now.

2. Making life more affordable

New Democrats will reduce the cost of everyday essentials like home heating. And we’ll ensure that every family takes home more of every paycheque.

3. Rewarding job creators

Under Stephen Harper, your tax dollars went to companies shipping Canadian jobs overseas. New Democrats will target investment to small businesses and companies actually creating jobs right here at home.

4. Improving front-line health services

New Democrats will take concrete steps to train more family doctors. We’ll improve homecare. And we’ll make your prescription medicines a little more affordable.

5. Putting families first

New Democrats will strengthen pensions. We’ll make childcare and education more accessible. And we’ll improve EI to make it easier for families to care for ageing loved ones.

Liberal promises:

1. Michael Ignatieff announced the single largest annual investment in non-repayable student assistance in Canadian history: the Canadian Learning Passport.

Tory promises:

1. Family Tax Cuts – they kick in only when the budget is balanced

2. Tax cuts for business

3. Hiring credit for business

D is for Decision 2011

It’s not easy to make decisions and for the next 36 days we will hear a lot of promises to sway our decision one way or the other.

Today we heard Harper promise tax cuts for families by a method of combining incomes. The kicker was that they would not come into effect until the budget is balanced. That’s like promising us the moon when it drops down in our lap. Empty. Promises. No Delivery.

Jack Layton kicked off the NDP campaign with further commitments to the health care system in Canada. The corporate media kicked off their campaign by glowing reports on Tory competence while ignoring the question of their ethics. The Liberals seem to be going into the campaign with no clear agenda beyond attacking Harper’s government.

Decisions we make when we cast our votes on May 2^nd will perhaps give us a majority government or yet another minority. Be cautious of who you are deciding on and be cautious about being swayed by fear mongering.

Remember that one should decide and vote for what is best for oneself. Not what is best for corporations. Corporations work to make profit for their shareholders. The majority of the population doesn’t own shares in anything. Why would you vote for the Royal Bank, or Shell Oil? The polls are used as a tool to also sway the public. Don’t be fooled. Read, research, understand and decide for yourself.

An interesting site is Rabble.ca which holds a variety of views. Check it out.

C is for Canada Pension Plan

Few people start planning for their retirement until they are 64 years old. If you go on the Statistics Canada website you will see some interesting percentages but this writer cannot get them to jive. For instance, there are claims that 18,000+ males over the age of 110 contributed to the Canada Pension Plan. What? Are there even 18,000 males alive at age 110 in Canada? I find that incredibly hard to believe.

According to another one of their statistics 40% of Canadians have some kind of defined contribution or registered contribution pension plan. That would be over and above your Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Security pension. We believe this to be high. It would not take into account the Canadians who have ‘fallen through the cracks’ of our various systems. From our own rough survey we have ascertained that of the companies that offer defined contribution pension plans 10% of employees opt out of them. This in itself is a startling statistic. Regardless of the accuracy of these statistics the fact remains that at least 60% of Canadians will rely only on the Canada Pension Plan and the Old Age Security for their retirement income.

60% of Canadians, at age 65, will be living under the poverty line. The average combined income is approximately $11,000 and the maximum a little over $19,000 per year. Compare that with the average combined pensions of a government appointee of $37,000. These government officials are the ones who had so much difficulty begrudging us an additional $600 per year increase in our pension!

Simply put, there are too many people falling off the grid while our elected officials are ensuring that we stay there though they are wallowing in milk and honey, at our expense.

B is for Budget

The government has fallen because of the budget, at least in part, even though the budget was actually not announced this week.

To continue with our discussion of yesterday regarding the gravy train our politicians are riding let’s take a look at what our MPs, MLAs and other elected folks reap, all at taxpayers’ expense. I quote from a website:

“One out of five MPs in the House of Commons can boost their chances of receiving a lucrative pension by preventing a fall election and ensuring the current Parliament survives at least until July 2010, reveals a survey by Canwest News Service.

The survey examined the number of MPs who were first elected in June 2004 and are less than a year away from having the six years of service required to qualify for a government pension that can kick in at age 55.

It found that 74 MPs with several years of experience could find themselves without a pension, if they fail to hold onto their seats, and in the same boat as those elected for the first time in the 2008 election.

But if there is no election before next summer, 36 Conservatives, 16 Bloc Quebecois MPs, 14 Liberals and eight New Democrats can qualify for a pension that would give them at least $25,000 a year based on the minimum MP salary that now stands at $157,731 per year.”

How would you like to have a pension of $25,000 – over and above your old age pension and CPP (the combined average is about $12,000)? Any disparity in these numbers? Triple what an average Canadian gets and that is only what we see out of the taxpayers’ pocket. Most of these MPs have other sources of income in addition to these taxpayer funded pensions, and many also end up double and even triple dipping for pensions.

Somehow we average folk have to BUDGET our money to try to scrape together enough savings to buy in to an each year. According to Statistics Canada, a mere 31% of eligible tax payers actually made a contribution for the 2007 tax year. The average contribution to a RRSP was $5,412 but the median contribution was only $2,780. That’s the sad average that people can manage to save. Those numbers won’t bring you up to $25,000 per year.

Meanwhile the federal budgets talk in billions of dollars for this, that and the next thing. How much of the federal budget funds CPP? Tomorrow.

A is for Action

The Harper government has finally fallen, ostensibly over the budget but as the campaign will undoubtedly reveal, we will go all over the map on this. The Liberals have already started using the “contempt of parliament” as part of the lead in to this election. Anyone paying the slightest bit of attention will have noticed that Stephen Harper’s version of democracy is quite different from the average Joe’s. Within his own party the word “dictator” has been bandied about more than once.

The trouble here is that the editors believe the government should have fallen some 18 months ago when the failed filibuster was attempted. The wrong kind of spending has been occurring for these months and cuts have been severe to the social structure of our country.

Audience Action today should be to take a look at the Policy of the various parties. It’s quite significant to read the Conservatives’ belief that the individual is entirely responsible for his own life. One wonders why, if that is the case, there are so few opportunities for the individual to express their individualism without being taxed, fined or confined in every possible way. And that is not even mentioning the road blocks caused by the ever growing mega corporations’ strangle hold on enterprise. The independent shop owner cannot possibly compete with giants such as Walmart, Costco or Superstores. If you happen to be employed by a Walmart or Safeway, both with 24/7 store hours, the Labour Standards in the various provinces have allowed them to slate you to work for less than 20 hours per week. Consequently you are not entitled to benefits. Just how does that assist the average Joe to get ahead and be responsible for his own education, pension, health and other welfare concerns?

Here’s the Conservatives belief and I quote:

• A belief that the best guarantors of the prosperity and well-being of the people of Canada are:
• The freedom of individual Canadians to pursue their enlightened and legitimate self-interest within a competitive economy;
• The freedom of individual Canadians to enjoy the fruits of their labour to the greatest possible extent; and
• The right to own property;
• A belief that a responsible government must be fiscally prudent and should be limited to those responsibilities which cannot be discharged reasonably by the individual or others;
• A belief that it is the responsibility of individuals to provide for themselves, their families and their dependents, while recognizing that government must respond to those who require assistance and compassion;
• A belief that the purpose of Canada as a nation state and its government, guided by reflective and prudent leadership, is to create a climate wherein individual initiative is rewarded, excellence is pursued, security and privacy of the individual is provided and prosperity is guaranteed by a free competitive market economy;

They might believe all of that in but how does that jive with their pay cheques, pension plan (which can be double and triple dipped), expense accounts and other forms of gravytrain activity on the taxpayers’ backs?

Welcome to Politics in Canada

What do you know about politics? What you learned in your Canadian history classes through high school? What the newspapers, television and the radio talk about?

To truly understand Canadian politics it’s essential to understand our mixed culture but also to appreciate that Canada was founded by two European nations, Britain and France. This mixture affects Canadians today in our daily lives as evidenced by the bilingualism on our products as a simple example. It affects us on a larger scale by the fact that the underlying principles of our two major political parties are essentially the same principles that were laid down by the British parties, Tories and Liberals, over 100 years ago. In this respect the parties today have something in common with the Republicans and Democrats in the United States. They evolved in a rather blurred fashion but fundamentally they have very similar philosophies which are elitist.

Does that surprise you? It shouldn’t if you refer back to your British history lessons. The Tories and the Whigs evolved in the late 1600’s but the members of parliament were still the privileged class. Human nature being what it was back then the concerns arising in these parties carried the privilege classes and the other classes (the lowly ones) were collateral damage in the process.

If you study the way of the Western World today, and in particular, North American politics you will note that there is very little difference about the process today. How many people today have investments on Wall Street? While a few people of your acquaintance, or you, may have some investments through your company RRSP plans the likelihood of your losing your nest egg on Wall Street was pretty slim. However the decisions made by President Obama and Prime Minister Harper that involved corporate bailouts in the billions of dollars will have an adverse effect on you for many years to come. How? With these bailouts taxpayers will continue to lose the few social benefits we have acquired over the last 50 years.