Pursuing Truth, Goodness, and Beauty
This week MPs return to Ottawa to debate the federal budget. One of the central arguments on Parliament Hill in the days and weeks to come will revolve around Canadian pension reform. We are told, by way of setting an example that MPs are looking at their own gold plated pensions and perks of the job. For those…
Here’s an example of how our governments’ stimulus packages have helped us. On a cold day in a small town of in southwestern Ontario, the streets are deserted. Times are tough, everybody is in debt, and everybody is living on credit. A politician comes to town and lays a $100 bill on…
This week ‘Big Government’ was back in the news with various Canadian political leaders suggesting it’s time for restraint. (ed. – They now are considering what to do with the barn door long after the horse has galloped out of sight.) Sun News has responded to these new cautionary messages from the PM and some Premiers like…
Touche! Thanks for your insightful perspective Jonathan Kay! How the Internet makes us dumb – today’ National Post column. Here’s the pertinent excerpt: I’m old enough to remember the early 1990s, a time when starry-eyed futurists believed the Internet would make all of us smarter. We would learn new languages, surf newspapers from around the world, cultivate…
Expect in the months to come to witness our big Ontario Government become BIGGER. We only need look at a few developments this week to see that we will be getting the government we deserve, having just given Dalton McGuinty the free reins to tax and spend. So, now, here’s what we can expect through the next…
Ontario voters to to the polls this week. Here are some favourite “elections” quotes as we consider our choices: The only thing we learn from new elections is we learned nothing from the old. – (American) roverb Elections are won by men and women chiefly because most people vote against somebody rather than for somebody….
The Ontario Liberals have proven themselves neither managers of the Province’s economic engine nor of our public purse. Their big government ways have placed Ontarians and future taxpayers and businessmen in a difficult position. The accumulated effect of the Liberal’s big government ways over the past eight years have cost us dearly. Already, their economic…
In politics, stupidity is not a handicap. – Napoleon Bonaparte Government is too big and too important to be left to the politicians. – Chester Bowles Nearly all men can withstand adversity; If you want to test a man’s character, give him power. – Abraham Lincoln Politicians are people who, when they see light at…
We have published a wonderful resource for all those politicos mastering the game of politics as well as those armchair critics who are avid fans of the sport. 1001 Quotes on Politics, Elections, Democracy and Government is now available – and you can obtain your book on-line with a payment via PayPal. Here is an introductory blurb…
A strong national Conservative majority government…. C’est ca. Now, consider the remarks made by Prime Minister Stephen Harper once the reality of these election results sunk in for him and his Conservative team. In post-election interviews, the PM has given us a glimpse of how he views his responsibility through the next four – five years:…
And they are in the home stretch: NDP surges and Liberals suffer a stutter step – is it really neck and neck to place? and where is the Bloc – and will the Green cross the wire this time? The Conservative have not broken their purposeful stride throughout the race; yet have they pulled far…
Entering into the backstretch, it’s no longer about winning the Run for Sussex Drive. For the Prime Minister, it’s about winning decisively – lengths ahead of the other ponies. In a candid response to reporters this week, PM Harper repeated his claim that being first past the post will not be enough. The Conservatives needed a majority…
There are millions of good reasons (millions of taxpayers dollars!!) to eliminate the annual per-vote taxpayers’ subsidy of federal political Parties. Kudos must go to the Conservatives for promising to scrap this expensive life-line to political also-rans and Ottawa’s backrooms. This political Party subsidy must go because: 1) Political parties already enjoy enormous tax advantages…
Last year, Canadians paid Gilles Duceppe and the Bloc Quebecois Party $2.7 million to prepare for this federal election campaign. In 2010, Canadian taxpayers doled out $27 million to fill the coffers of the federal Parties. Here’s how the per-vote subsidy was divided amongst political Parties: Conservatives – $10.4 million Liberals – $7.2 million NDP…
When they burst from the gates, here’s what the field looked like (Nanos March 29th poll): Con 38.4% Lib 28.7% Ndp 19.6% Bq 9.1% Grn 4.1% Today, here’s the call (from the Nanos poll): Con 38.7% Lib 28.8% Ndp 18.6% Bq 9.0% Grn 4.1% Three weeks of campaigning and no change. This…
As we pass the mid-way mark of the first week of the 2011 federal election campaign, the horse race has heated up. So early on and the ponies are frothing and the stakes have seemed to already doubled. From the earliest polls, the Conservatives have bolted from the gates ahead of the pack. Here are…
I believe our government – all levels of government – has got too big, is growing too fast, and with no thought as to the costs to Canadians. So, as a frustrated taxpayer, who is a libertarian-at-heart, I have posted a half dozen snippets of what is wrong with our Big Government (not that I have…
Canadian Taxpayers Federation’s magazine, The Taxpayer, came in the mail today and I read it with some trepidation. I never know whether to laugh or cry when reading their feature stories. In this issue, CTF Federal Director Kevin Gaudet’s article on federal government spending confirmed my worst fears about “the run-away-train-wreck” we call Ottawa….
There was a wonderful opinion piece by Kevin Libin in this Saturday’s National Post about the bulging Canadian bureaucracy and what it means for our country. The Wall Street Journal’s Dan Henninger recently put out an intriguing theory to explain why Egypt was such an economic basket case — with unemployment and…
Ben Eisen of the Frontier Centre of Public Policy reported on public administration wage growth over the past decade – comparing remuneration for bureaucrats with that received by private sector employees doing comparable jobs. The numbers came from Statistics Canada data and they showed: Across the economy, wages grew by 30 per cent….