Sunday, August 29, 2010

The Myth’s Surrounding Corporate Tax Hikes/Cuts

 

Two myths seem to abound regarding corporate tax hikes and cuts that surprise me. I guess the level of fear mongering regarding these issues just blows me away.

Myth number 1

If you do not cut taxes businesses will not move to our province.

What most politicians fail to tell you is it does not matter to an existing business if you cut taxes or not. Unless they are paying an exorbitant tax rate in comparison to what we offer, they are not moving.

The reason is simple. You need to take into account the expense of moving a company, buying new property, building new factory, getting new equipment, etc. The added expense of shipping material here as well as shipping product from here further complicate matters. So unless a company does not have a physical location or is looking to open a new location it is highly unlikely to move as it is simply not cost efficient.

Myth number 2

If you raise taxes businesses will leave this province.

The problem here is close to the same. A company would have to shut down existing facilities, ship materials from here as well as purchase new property and build a new factory (both of which cost far more money in western provinces then it does here )

 

The reality is we need to look not at existing companies but at new corporations just setting up for the first time. We need to convince entrepreneurs from here that they should set up here and attract new entrepreneurs from elsewhere. There is no percentage in poaching companies from other jurisdictions because you will basically have to pay for their new facilities to make it worth their while.

 

Our present tax rates are not the real issue to job creation regardless what the Con/Lib conspiracy theorists will try to say to you. The real issue is creating a good solid workforce that is capable of producing the product and offering as good a value for services as other provinces can offer.



Tuesday, August 24, 2010

The Lepreau Disaster

Both the Cons and Libs share equal responsibility in the disaster that is the refurbishment of the Point Lepreau generating station. The refurbishment was started under a Con government and the delays allowed to progress without serious attention during a Lib government.

 

The real issue at this point is how come neither party when discussing the present situation are actually dealing with the facts.

 

The contract is 2 and a half years behind schedule which is a major breach of contract. Under no circumstances would any contract in the  business world allow a delay of that extremes without serious financial reprecussions for the contractors.

 

The only acceptable response from AECL at this point should be that all overrun costs will be born by AECL including the cost of replacement power past the point at which the contract was initially due to be completed.

 

Both parties are being extremely wishy washy regarding how they will approach the situation with Harper.

 

THERE IS ONLY ONE APPROACH TO THIS SITUATION.

The Federal government as well as AECL must be sent a bill for all costs associated with the delays at the Point Lepreau generating station and told that as they have been unable to meet their end of the contract that they will be required to pay the financial reprecussions for their failures.

This is the only acceptable option.

WE NEED A LEADER WHO WILL STAND UP FOR THE PEOPLE OF THIS PROVINCE AND IT’S ASSETS

We do not get this type of leadership with either Shawn Graham or David Alward



Monday, August 23, 2010

Proportional Representation and the Lib/Con Fear

 

I guess it is a valid fear. Unless a third party or a coalition forms government we are not likely to see Proportional Representation in any form. The reason is quite simple.

Under a Proportional Representation system it is quite likely that there could be an election with neither a con or a lib elected. It does largely depend on the methods used but if an electorate is given the freedom of understanding that they can for example no longer have to worry that a vote for the Cons is the only way to defeat the Libs  or that a vote for the Libs is the only way to defeat the Cons they are going to be more likely to support their first choice instead of a supposed least worst of two choices.

Now this particular election is going to be interesting as i see a realistic chance for both the PANB and even the NDP to gain seats in this election. I also believe that it is possible for the Green party to get a seat or two.

The truth it is a realistic option for this election to produce a minority government and that worries both major parties because it has been so long since they were faced with a minority govt that they would not be sure how to proceed.

A minority govt would at this time be the best option for this province barring a flat out PANB win.

But on the base issue of Proportional Representation if the two main parties had to go up in this election facing a ranking system and the other three parties each had 55 candidates on the ballot they know that it would be highly unlikely that they would have more then two or three seats each.

That fear and that knowledge is why unless a third party ever carries the balance of power or holds power it is unlikely that they will ever face a proportional representational ballot. Especially one of a ranking system.

Most especially though this election would annihilate both parties beyond the point of recognition and that is why they would never countenance facing a ranking system of ballots in a proportional representation vote if the Libs and Cons have any say in the matter.



Sunday, August 22, 2010

Not a Real Party? Debunking the Myth

  1. Joe FitzPatrick JoeFitzIII @carlbainbridge @PANBParty Have to say, TJ piece reads like PANB has "unnecessary services" in mind but won't say. #nbvotes
  2. Joe FitzPatrick JoeFitzIII Not really a party at all. But that's the point. RT @PANBParty ‘We are not a typical political party’ http://nblo.gs/74f9R #nbvotes

This blog post is realistically in response to JoeFitzIII and is in response to his mistaken belief that we might not be a real party at all.

I do have to admit when it comes to sticking a knife in the backs of our constituents we may actually be a bit inexperienced.

I also tend to agree that when it comes to blatant lying to get the votes we need to form a government we really have not got that part down yet.

And if this sort of track record is what you are looking for then it is true we may not be a real party at all. But it means that we are an innovative party. Why? Maybe, because we wont stoop to the level of lying and cheating that REAL parties have made such an art form of.

And I don’t really fault people for being scared of this. When people are so used to the backstabbing and lying that has become a tradition as well as an art form it is hard to get used to the idea that just maybe there may be a party showing up that does not follow the  predetermined rules of graft and greed that  have been silently agreed to for so long by the major parties for the last few decades.  And the voters are scared simply because many of them cannot remember the last time honesty existed in politics and with what they have seen in their lifetimes most are hard pressed to accept that change.

 

We are gradually getting the message to people and it is being well received, probably far better then makes the REAL parties comfortable because they are scared we are going to change the rules and take away their way of lining the pockets of themselves and their friends and instead will  only be left with actually improving the province as a way to improve their own situation. We admit we would make it difficult for them to continue business as normal. And i do admit we are not the least bit apologetic about it.

 

As far as whether or not we have a specific unnecessary service in mind. No we do not have a specific plan to cut any services. If it becomes absolutely necessary we might have to however instead what we intend on doing is going inside the actual programs and services and doing what is available to be done to increase the efficiency and response of the programs. We will do what is required to make sure that more of the money put into programs is actually going into actually serving the people and less into administration simply by eliminating duplications and red tape.

so i have to say no if what we have as a model is a REAL political party then i guess we just might not be but we are an innovative political party and that should scare the entitled.



Saturday, August 14, 2010

Equality is the Bottom Line of Self Sufficiency

One thing that has become increasingly evident to me as i have looked at things over the last few weeks is how much the two main parties thrive on divisiveness.

The point was made last night in a very strong way when it was pointed out to me that if I want access to a certain program that it would have to be at the expense of another group. At no point should one groups’ access to any given program cause another group to be denied that same program.

This is the type of behaviour that has kept this province on edge for years by way of keeping tensions high between French /English  groups as well as low income/high income/middle class earners

Why is this so popular? Well that is largely because when groups are at such odds then they are less likely to look closely at the real issues of what the governments are doing and instead look at each other with hatred, both sides saying why do they get this and we don’t.

The answer is simple because by doing this you don’t realize what else the government is doing behind your back and so you are less likely to call them to account for their poor behaviour and lack of integrity

What needs to be done is treat people as EQUALS.

I understand how the governments would find this to be a serious inconvenience. It requires they actually pay attention to details and that they behave with integrity and this is something that might be difficult for them to achieve, however it is a path we should be moving towards.

There is no reason why there should be any tensions between English and French in this province just as there should be no tensions between the low income, middle income, or high income earners because if the government treated each group fairly and equally then there would be no tensions and hard feelings.

The worst part is EQUALITY is so easily achievable and so strongly desired by so many in this province.

Tensions in this province are caused by two main sources. One is government choosing to depending on the situation ignore one group in favour of others. The other is out of province provocateurs deliberately trying to stir things up so that various groups are at odds with each other.

In each case their is an agenda being served. The out of town provocateurs stir things in an attempt to keep their issues to a forefront and the government attempts to keep people at odds so their own behaviours are not questioned.

The government could easily and should easily make things equal for all people in the province, and the government could easily solve the problem with out of town provocateurs by putting legislation into place either moving a specific agenda ahead or terminating the attempt.

There is no realistic barrier in this province to EQUALITY except for the government itself and the petty games it likes to play with the people of this province who are looking to the government for the solutions to many problems and instead finding in the government only another problem that will one day need to be fixed.

The liberals for a party that promised us SELF SUFFICIENCY, has damaged our chances of achieving that simply by stirring the divisiveness and encouraging it instead of doing the best they could to help all the people in this province move forward to a better situation so that this province sooner rather then later can become self sufficient.

This will not happen as long as we continually repeat the cycle of lib/con and on and on as they have proven time and again they will divide us and they will conquer us and they will drive our provincial debt to a point where in the future the province itself could face bankruptcy simply because they lib/con cycle is so centered on improving their own situations instead of improving the situations of the rest of the province as a whole.

EQUALITY and SELF SUFFICIENCY can never be achieved while we continually kneel at the altar of the lib/con cycle