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| HOT STUFF updated December 14, 2005 |
| What About The GST? Mike Bennison, Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2005 |
This country is well into election mode. The politicians are giving out all those goodie packages, mostly to central and eastern Canada. But wait, the Conservatives are going to cut the GST to five per cent. That should be a good thing, shouldn't it? Let's put it in actual perspective. The GST is a tax that everyone in Canada pays equally, every region, province, territory, no exceptions. In fact, I cannot think of a more fair tax that has ever come out Ottawa. I know Ottawa put the GST in place to pay down "the national debt" - a debt accumulated to subsidize central and eastern Canadian programs. None of the subsidized programs were in Alberta, but somehow (even though we never received any benefits when Ottawa created the debt) Albertans must pay a portion of it - and, I might add, a much larger share per capita than the rest of the country. So now that we have a GST - shared equally amongst all Canadians - this so-called "favorable western" party (the Conservatives) want to make it unfriendly to the west by reducing the GST to five per cent. You might be asking how this is unfavorable to the west. Simply this: reducing the GST by two per cent means a loss of over eight billion dollars in annual government income. The Conservatives cannot reasonably expect to run the country with such a significant financial loss. The government will have to get that money somewhere. That somewhere, by the way, means Alberta. We are the only province holding up the finances of the country. Who among us expects this to change? The Conservatives will have no option but to make sure we Albertans pay more in the future to pick up that eight billion dollar slack. Here again, we see the problem is not which political party is in power, it is the political system itself. Any more help for Alberta from the Conservatives like lowering the GST and we will never see daylight. Yours in independence President |
| No Federal Votes Mike Bennison, Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2005 |
Well, it looks like Canada is having another election, a time when all Canadians can voice their democratic right and vote. Doesn't that make you feel warm and fuzzy? After all, if you don't vote, you can't criticize problems for us here in Alberta. Or is that so? Lets see now, there are 106 seats in the House of Commons representing Ontario. There is a further 98 seats from Quebec. Alberta has I believe 26 seats. So, when this democratic body sits down to vote, one does not have to wonder what the outcome will be, when everyone is voting for his or her region or province. This brings us to this country's main problem since Confederation - the complete dominance of central Canada over the rest of the country, especially Alberta. Understanding how the country is set up at the administration level, we must realize that this central government (through its numerical superiority) also controls who is going to be the leader (prime minister) in Canada. That amounts to a dictatorship. With this system in place, the government legitimizes its customized systems by convincing voters that we have democratically voted and somehow had a part in running this country. This may be the Canadian version of democracy, but it is not how the outside world defines democracy, not by any stretch of the imagination. We Albertans are second-class citizens in our own country. The centralist Canada controlled media leads us to believe that we are fairly represented in a union that supposedly treats everyone the same. As I have just pointed out, this is not the case. By voting federally, we legitimize the systems and perpetuate the system, one that we will never really play a part in, other than to allow a numerically superior body to prey on us. Central Canada's intentions are to take and take, to continue the status quo, until there is no more. It is the system that is wrong, and it is this system that will never change. The Liberals, the NDP, the Bloq, the Conservatives, the Greens – they are not the cause of all of our problems. I can't say this more emphatically – our problem is central Canada. As Albertans, our failure to identify the enemy is why efforts to make change result in constant frustration. We get the "run around." We hear the Liberals, the NDP or some other political party is the root of our problems, our enemy. We think everything will be all right when this party or that party is removed. Nothing can be farther from the truth. Simply put - if you were dictator (prime minister of Canada) and your party held every seat in this country, you still could not do anything positive for Alberta. Why? Because the minute you set into motion any legislation that favored Alberta over central Canada, two thirds of the MPs (the 204 from Ontario and Quebec) would revolt. But we all know to well how the reverse works. We saw how recent Conservative governments worked, first with Joe Clark in power and later, Brian Mulroney. They fell over themselves beating us up. They only passed legislation that favoured the east over the west. Not one piece of legislation was passed favoring the west over the east. In fact, I cannot find one piece of legislation favouring Alberta that has come out of Ottawa since the start of Confederation. A continuance of lip service and lies is all we get from one federal government to the next. We even start our own federal parties to send them to Ottawa. C.C.F. - NDP, Reform - all of them move into an anti-Alberta status eventually. They must get the central Canada vote, otherwise they will not get elected. Who gets left out in this process? Yes, you guessed it - Alberta. So, you may ask, why does central Canada treat us so badly? To paraphrase a notorious felon, John Dillinger, (when asked why he robbed banks), "Because that's where the money is." Likewise, the situation we are in with central Canada. No cajoling or arguing is going to change it. If things are going to change, "it is up to us". We Albertans are the only ones that can improve our livelihood and protect future generations. Freedom is taken, not given, and we may be guilty of having taken freedom for granted. If we continue to legitimize this system by going through the charade of voting at the federal level, then we only perpetuate the status quo. If we want to at least start change in Alberta, the best thing we can do is not vote in a federal election. To vote federally, and take part in a system designed to support central Canada at the expense of Alberta, is insane. The definition of insanity is attacking a problem the same way, numerous times and failing, and continually expecting a different result. That pretty much sums up what the federal voting situation is for us in Alberta. I could go on but I just want Albertans to understand our position and the reasons behind it. We think the truth is a refreshing change from the norm. Yours in independence President |
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