HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News Record, 2014-01-29, Page 5Wednesday, January 29, 2014 • News Record 5
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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