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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News Record, 2014-01-29, Page 5Wednesday, January 29, 2014 • News Record 5 UM - www.clintonnewsrecord.com The truth behind Tory tax rates Dear Editor, There are several things wrong with the Harper government's never-ending claims that they are brilliant tax cutters. To start with, it's untrue. Their first fiscal decision after taking office in 2006 was to increase personal income taxes. Later that fall, they imposed a toxic new Con- servative tax on Income Trusts which obliterated $25 -billion from the savings accounts of two million ordinary Canadians. More recently, Mr. Harper has increased the overall federal tax burden in each of his last four budgets - tax- ing everything from hospital park- ing fees and cosmetic wigs for can- cer patients to local credit unions and job creation. Conservative claims about lower taxes for families need a scrupu- lous reality check. Finance Minis- ter Jim Flaherty says they are "sav- ing the average family of four more than $3,100 a year in tax:' But it all depends on what type of "family" you're talking about. You can construct an illustration which would fit the Conservative model -- with two parents, two children, a six -figure income and consumer spending of more than $50,000 every year (including over a thousand dollars for art lessons). But for most families -- in fact, for 70 -percent of Canadian families -- this is simply not their reality The vast majority of middle-class Canadians haven't seen a signifi- cant improvement in their real incomes for the better part of 30 years. But their living costs have gone up and debt -loads have bal- looned. For every dollar of dispos- able income, Canadians are carry - ing $1.64 in household debt. Many are concerned about affording post -secondary educa- tion for their kids, or having no pension plan at their place of employment, or finding decent childcare or long-term care for their parents. Nearly three-quar- ters of Canadians worry that their children will not do as well as they have done. And then there's Mr. Harper's new federal debt burden to take into account. He has run six con- secutive deficits so far, adding more than $165 -billion to Canada's overall debt -load. That works out to $5,000 in new Conservative debt for every man, woman and child in this country, or $20,000 for every family of four. Any tax cuts claimed by Mr. Harper are paid for with borrowed money. So there is no room to be complacent about the needs of Canada's middle- class and all those striving so hard just to get there. Sincerely, Hon. Ralph Goodale, PC, MP (Wascana) Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada Green Energy Dear Editor, I am writing in regards to the wind turbine construction that is happening in the Municipality of Bluewater right now. As I witness the destruction and loss of prime farm land that is happening so these massive and inefficient tur- bines can be built, it makes me wonder how the land owners who signed lease agreements with the wind turbine company's feel. Does it make them feel Proud to know that by signing these lease agree- ments they had a part in enabling Dalton McGuinty and his hench- men to force this farce called Green Energy on to the people of Ont. Does it make them feel good to know that the energy these wind turbines will produce will be sold across the border at a cost much less than it costs to produce it because we already have a sur- plus of hydro in Ontario. Does it make them feel good to know that as a result of their thoughtless greed families are being torn apart because of not wanting to live beside wind turbines. Does it make them feel good to see our roads being destroyed by all the heavy equipment that is being brought in not to mention the damage being done to the envi- ronment? Are they prepared to compensate their neighbours for any loss in land value as a result of people not wanting to live beside these turbines? Or does the fist full of dollars that they are getting make all these issues go away for them? I am all for green energy but green energy does not make family and friends ill and kill off valuable wildlife, and separate communities. Yours truly, Mervin Steckle Gerard Creces Playoff season Captain Sean Vader was BCH's lone scorer in their Sunday night playoff game against the Mount Forest Rams. BCH lost the game 5-1, going 1-2-1 in four. Let's get some fans out to minor hockey playoffs Hi all, hard to believe, but the playoff season is upon us for the Rep and AE teams already. Check the playoffs section of our web - page at bchminorhockey.ca, for the schedules of the various teams as they are added. Please come out and support our Ice Dogs and Ice Stars teams as they battle their way through the playoffs. Thanks and go BCH! Mike Millian, BCH Executive Let's get moving on transportation already! CONTINUED FROM > PAGE 4 the first one still applies - and then there won't be any money anymore. You could get a thousand scholars to each write a paper on it, a hundred consultants to study it, write it in 28 different lan- guages and still come to the same conclusion. If folks want communities to succeed, they have to connect with other communities. Physically connect, not exchange business cards. Not play politics. Literally, connect. But, here's what will likely happen. Someone will be paid to do a study on whether or not people want public transporta- tion. After that it will go to council, who will say, "wow, that is interesting, but expensive." Then, it will sit on a shelf until five years have passed and they have to do the study verification study to make sure the study still applies. Sorry... I get a little passion- ate about waste and indecision. The line is, we need to study these things to know if they are viable. Otherwise, it's too risky. But (and maybe I'm old fashioned), sometimes people need to take risks - even if they are expensive ones. Maybe it's a life -changing move to a new job in a new city. Maybe it's finally decid- ing to open that business you've always dreamed of. Maybe it's starting a family. There are a million things that could go wrong, and plenty of reasons to get cold feet. If it fails, the results will be temporarily devastating. But if it succeeds, the rewards will be far greater than anything expected. In all the clucking about trans- portation being too expensive, where is the effort? Where is the inter -communication between municipalities, planning routes that could work, figuring out real costs? Even starting that work would lead to more than is hap- pening now - which is determin- ing we have a problem repeat- edly and not fixing it. Why not just try it? Seriously. Otherwise, the cabinets will rot under the sink or that tick is going to become a very expen- sive screech under the hood. If you've never seriously tried to fix it, you don't have any right to say that it's too expensive or too much work. GC