Just What Do the Conservatives Think of Women

It started with Harper and his constant cuts to programs that were designed to offer support to women.  Then along comes Alward and decides that the Atlantic Council on the Status of Women will be defunded, and when it was pointed out to the minister responsible that it was against the law, SHE then said that the intention was to amend the law so that it was not necessary.

It is becoming increasingly obvious by watching various Con governments that they only see two positions that they truly want to see women, in the bedroom or in the kitchen.  As far as hearing what they say the cons obviously don't believe that women have a right to be heard.

This type of thinking was supposed to have gone out in the 1600s, but it seems that todays conservatives are working extremely hard to return women to the place that the Cons believe that women belong.

It is actually surprising to me that anyone in this day and age could actually pull these kinds of stunts but realistically we should have known when we have watched these Con governments for years do everything they could to drive us back to the stone age.

Realistically with the attempts to reverse progress that has been made on human rights over the centuries, I would not be that surprised to hear rumours that the conservatives were considering reinstituting slavery

As We Head Into Election Mode

As once again for the fourth time in approximately 7 years we head to the polls for a federal election the question arises. What really has changed?

The liberals have changed leaders a couple of times (none of the leaders are appealing to the Canadian people) The Conservatives have changed a couple of seats but they really don’t seem to be gaining much real traction with the canadian people either. Layton’s NDP gather a little bit of ground but unfortunately even though many people like the leader not many like the party platform. Greens seem to still not be able to resonate with the voting public (largely due to the belief that there is no substance beyond an environmental platform).

I think this time the electorate needs to send a strong message. That message is we have had enough of this nonsense. Look closely at all the parties that present candidates (including smaller parties that may not be able to form government and including independent candidates) and choose an individual that you feel will best serve your riding.

The problem we have been faced with year after year is that we have constantly tried to vote out the government in power without giving any thought to what we are voting for. The time has come to get a party that will commit to serving it’s four year mandate and to commit to seriously revamping the electoral process so that the incessant repeat of history every two or three years stops. These elections cost large amounts of money for all taxpayers whether they vote or not and it is time that we stand up for ourselves and say we have had enough of this nonsense

Bad Budget: Poorly Thought Out Tax Increases

There is two thing that constantly gets hit when governments look to “increase revenue”

1/ Raise the Gas Tax

This is guaranteed to mainly strike at the low income earners. Gas increases will lead to food price increases, more workers will find it harder to make it to work, disposable income will decrease putting even more workers out of work and this is a never ending cycle of loss. Raising the gas tax is almost always guaranteed to end up with a net loss in revenue when balanced across the entire spectrum.

 

2/ Raise Tobacco Tax

This has always been one of my favourite world’s dumbest moves. Any and all increases to Tobacco tax leads to a reduction in the consumption of Legal tobacco products and an increase in illegal cigarettes.

This was a lesson I had thought was learned when I was much younger when the government realized that well over 3/4 of the tobacco products sold at the time were illegal and that tobacco tax revenues were at an all time low, with almost no actual reduction in the number of smokers.

Each time tobacco taxes are raised the anti-smoking groups constantly harp that it is a good thing and it reduces smoking but this is not correct. It only serves to drive tobacco sales underground.

Many years ago during prohibition there was a lesson that was supposed to be learned by the governments of the day. Unfortunately it really does appear that the lesson has been lost on successive governments who constantly feel that tobacco is the appropriate spot to earn “increased revenue”

 

What was a repeated vocal talking point from many people during consultations was repealing the corporate tax increases.  This budget did nothing but prove that the government was not really listening because what they did was prove that once again the tax cuts will be allowed to run their course to the liberal determined end point in July.