OfficiallyScrewed.com

“Somehow, either through good luck or good management or voter ignorance, the Conservatives have been able to disassociate their decision in Afghanistan from their overall performance … in the province of Quebec.”

Allan Gregg – From The Globe And Mail, May 6th, 2006

Is Allan Gregg for real?  This man is the Chairman of the Strategic Counsel polling organization.  How could he be so ignorant of the facts?  In his quote above, he makes it sound like it was a Conservative decision to go to Afghanistan. He also makes it sound like anyone who is supportive of the LIBERAL government decision to support the Afghanistan effort was either managed, lucky or ignorant.  How insulting could he be?  He should shave his goatee and go into hiding with comments like this.

EXCUSE me Mr. Gregg, but Afghanistan is NOT Iraq.  Our troops being there was a decision made while the LIBERALS were in power, supported by pretty much every member in the House of Commons after airplanes were used as bombs on September 11th, 2001.  Do you remember this day sir?  Apparently not.

Your quote, and the Globe and Mail’s shameless promotion of it by bolding it on page A9, today is blatant propaganda. The Tories have done nothing but stand by a decision made by Canada.  How can our nation gain any national respect if we are to make commitments to a UN-mandated mission, and then back down when it is our turn to lead said mission?  If we walk away from Afghanistan now, it would be the end of the relationship Canada carries around the world as a strong, principled nation that stands up to it’s commitment.

I was disgusted and appauled by the comments made by Gregg.  But I was just as disgusted by Richard Blackwell, the G&M reporter, for using the quote without qualifying it.  Now I remember why I only read the G&M when I am stuck reading what hotels offer as I am this morning.

I must preface this by saying that I am not an accountant. Nor do I profess to be a tax expert of any kind. But I am not that far off with the following chart. It indicates what your tax increase may be with the clawback of the Liberal Income Tax cut for the lowest tax bracket.

In simpler terms. The increase from 15% to 15.5% on the tax rate for income that goes to approximately $35,000. (After that I think you go up to the next bracket.

As you can see, for someone making $25,000, the increase will be about $125. For many with one or more children under 6 in the household, you come out far ahead with the $1200 Universal Child Care payment.

In fact, I even calculated how much GST taxable goods and services you would need to buy at a 6% GST and a 5% GST to counter the approximate income tax increase. Most may not spend 50% of their income on GST taxable goods, but you probably do spend 25% of your income on these things which means once it hits 5% you should be far ahead.

Jim Flaherty put it this way. The Liberals taxed us too much. He took $2 out of every $3 that we were being overtaxed and gave it back to us. That’s why this goes all over. It is to make sure every Canadian gets some relief or help in some way.

(click to enlarge)

First the facts directly from CTV:

• Commitment of $3 billion a year in debt paydown (National debt now stands at $483.4 billion and the debt charges in 2006/2007 are $34.8 billion)
• Elimination of capital gains tax on listed stocks donated to charity, effective immediately
• Tax credit of up to $2,000 for employers who hire apprentices
• New $1000 grant for first- and second-year apprentices
• Reducing the Right of Permanent Residence Fee from $975 to $490, effective immediately
• Increasing immigration settlement funding by $307 million
• Fitness tax credit for up to $500 in eligible fees for physical fitness programs for each child under age 16
• New tax credit for textbooks, which is to provide a tax reduction of about $80 per year for a typical full-time post-secondary student
• Elimination of current $3,000 limit on amount of scholarship, bursary and fellowship income a post-secondary student can get without paying federal income tax
• New $500 tax deduction for tradespeople, for costs in excess of $1,000 for tools they must acquire as condition of employment
• Tax credit on cost of monthly public transit passes, or passes of longer duration, effective July 1, 2006
• Increase to $2,000 the maximum amount eligibility for pension income credit, effective 2006
• The budget proposes $460 million ($1 billion over five years) to further improve Canada’s pandemic preparedness
• The agenda also includes $19 million per year to Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada
• Up to $320 million in 2005-2006 to fight polio, tuberculosis, malaria and HIV/AIDS and to help low-income countries cope with natural disasters or sharp rises in commodity prices
• Additional $2 billion over two years to the farming sector, which includes cash to assist farmers in transition to more effective programming for farm income stabilization and disaster relief
• $5.5 billion for the Wait Times Reduction Transfer, including a six per cent rise in health care transfers this year and next
• $52 million yearly to the Canadian Strategy for Cancer Control

This has something for everyone.  The average working class canadian family should see somewhere from $1000 to $1400 more per year.  The budget put money back in students pockets, parents pockets, farmers pockets, blue collar worker pockets, white colloar worker pockets, aboriginal pockets, child care spaces, low income housing, relief of our national debt, and money for our military, criminal justice system, prison system and any other category of Canadian you can think of.

Well done Minister Flaherty.  Well done.

I live in Ottawa. I used to live in Hull (now part of the merged city of Gatineau). However, I asked my roommate back then, and many others, why they lived in Hull vs. Ottawa. There were two clear answers which I received far more than any other.

One was the late bar hours. Back then the bars in Ontario had a 1pm closing time and it was last call at 3am in Quebec with bars staying open until 4am. (This has since changed now that Ontario has a later last call hour)

The second reason was because taxes (and prices in general) were cheaper.

Today, in the House of Commons, during the Debate on the Address in Reply to the Speech from the Throne, Gatineau MP Richard Nadeau (BLOC) stood up and was two faced to the bone.

In one sentence he said that the Federal Government ignored the Quebec side of the Ottawa river in the last election and he hopes to make them realize that his riding is a Quebec riding and that it should be treated as such. He also made it clear that his aim was to see a separate Quebec nation. He then turned around and said that Gatineau was taken for granted by the Liberals and that Gatineau is treated just like an extension of Ottawa.

Another clear point was that of federal government jobs. He pointed out that over 70% of the jobs were located in Ottawa. While less than 30% were based in Gatineau, and that there was a discrepency of about 5500 jobs.

Then he adds that of the finances for Federal research, over 93% of expenditures go to the Ontario side, and that less than 7% go to Quebec side of the river. He also pointed out that Ontario got the last museum and with the Museum of Science and Technology looking for a new permanent home, it should go to Gatineau. He listed three or four instances where the Federal government treated Gatineau differently from Ottawa and that he was working towards equality.

i.e. he flip flops back and forth.  On one hand his riding is a Quebec riding.  On the other hand it deserves the benefits of Ottawa.

Ummmm … excusé moi, Monsieur Nadeau, but Queen Victoria named Ottawa the nations Capital. She did not name Ottawa and Gatineau as the capital. You say you want to separate and that your goal is a Quebec nation, yet you want the Canadian people to put national museums and Federal government jobs in your city.

Well you can’t have your tortiere and eat it too Monsieur Nadeau.

You know. The fact that the Liberal and NDP analysts and strategists are all complaining about the Harper plan to introduce crime legislation a motion at a time just proves that the lefties aren’t worried about anything but slamming the current government.

When the proposals are put up on their own, to stand or fall on a straightforward vote, it puts too much power in the hands of the people. After all, what would the public do if they saw the Liberals vote no on the issue to raise the legal age of consent from 12 14 to 16? I’ll tell you what … they would flip their wigs.

With the press watching every move the new government makes, how could any party oppose legislation that makes it impossible for a 45 or 50 year old pervert to convince a 13 14 year old BOY to have sex with him? As it stands right now, this would not garner anything but disgust from our law enforcement agents because the law doesn’t have any teeth to stop it. How sad is that? We keep them from driving until they are 16 and keep them from drinking until they are 18, but we’ll let them get buggered at 12 14. Talk about Officially Screwed. Let the games … and motions … begin.

In any case, I think Stephen Harper is making enemies in Parliament but friends in the populace with this move. It will be transparently clear where parties stand after the series of motions and there will only be two possible outcomes.

1. The motions don’t pass and Canadians will be surprised by the results, or
2. The motions will pass because the slate of MP’s make good decisions on what is right and what is wrong.

In either case the Tories should come out ahead because they look good passing motions or the other parties look bad for stopping good anti crime legislation meant to protect the honest, hardworking Canadians and their families.