Letters To The Editor

One more time to show you what a good job Mr Mike D'amour, the Editor our local newspaper does at informing the locals with their letters to the Editor. Not one local letter made his requirements this week. He published 4 letters, #1 from Burnaby, #2 from Abbotsford, #3 from California, #4 from Port Moody.
Is this not insulting, calling this paper a "Local Community Newspaper"? It seems to me like the local people have no room for participation. I don't care what happens in California, but I really care about what happens at the Regional District of Mount Waddington with our self-serving politicians all spread as volunteers on those Societies that are not accountable to anyone except the court if you are willing to pay the costs. Our Editor is supposed to be an Investigating Reporter. Why not inform the local people about what happened here and let other countries look after their own news? Are we not the ones who feed you by buying the paper and buying advertisements? Don't we deserve the free Letters to the Editor?

Different Perspective

Manager’s Perspective

By David Mitchell, General Manager

Community Futures Mount Waddington

The HST Referendum question reminds me of that old Calypso song “yes we have no bananas, we have no bananas today.” It’s vote “yes” if you want to “extinguish” the HST and vote “no” if you want to keep the HST. How you vote on this question will likely depend on what you have read or heard in the media. Though there are some hard numbers that indicate that a 12% HST will cost British Columbians more there is also significant anger about how the HST was launched in BC. From the website “saynotohstinbc.ca:”

The Liberal Government in British Columbia implemented a new tax without public consultation on July 1, 2010. HST which stands for Harmonized Sales Tax, is the combination of Provincial Sales Tax (PST) of 7%, and Government Sales Tax

(GST) of 5%, into one new tax, HST of 12% (reduced to 10% by 2014). The HST disproportionately impacts lower income earners because far more of their limited income will be spent paying the now extra 7% tax than higher income earners.

No public consultation? Does government normally consult us on the work it does? I thought that consultation took place every four years in the form of an election.

Bill Vander Zalm’s website “fighthst.com” suggests that the number one reason to vote yes is that the “HST threatens democracy.”

And that “a defeat of the HST in the Referendum will change the way governments operate in BC forever.”

Wow I wish it were that simple!

From Report on Small Business Magazine on June 30, 2011, Tony Wilson wrote:

If the HST survives the mail-in vote, the rate will go down to 11% on July 1, 2012, and down again to 10% on July 1, 2014, at which time BC and Saskatchewan will have the lowest combined sales-tax rates in Canada – leaving aside Alberta, which doesn’t have a provincial sales tax. Additionally, families in BC will receive a one-time payment of $175 a child to deal with the extra expenses they have incurred since the switchover to HST. BC seniors will also receive $175 if their net family income is $40,000 or less – if their income is more than $40,000 but less than $50,000, they will receive a partial rebate.

The independent panel that reviewed the HST and the PST plus GST tax systems recently estimated that families now pay an average of $350 more in sales tax under the HST than they paid with the PST plus GST system. With a 10 % HST rate, instead of paying $350 more tax, BC families will on average pay $120 less tax than under the PST.

The independent panel also noted that while consumers are paying more, businesses are saving money. Furthermore, the Province remains committed to balancing the budget in 2013/2014 while reducing the HST burden on families and modest income seniors. To help meet this commitment, government will increase the general corporate income tax rate to 12% from the current 10% on January 1, 2012, and postpone the reduction in the small business tax rate planned for April 1, 2012.

This an interesting point because many of the anti-HST spokespersons say that rather than benefitting the average British Columbian, it is corporate BC that stands to benefit from the HST.

Frank McKenna, (you remember, the successful Ex-Premier of New Brunswick?) recently weighed in to the BC discussion in an article in the Vancouver Sun. Mr. McKenna is now the Deputy Chair, TD Bank Financial Group and he wrote:

Many of the arguments being used today were made in New Brunswick, when my government introduced the tax back in 1997. In hindsight, the evidence is clear. The benefits far outweigh the costs. The HST has created a positive climate for economic prosperity. And it has done so without imposing a significant tax burden on consumers.

In case you think this is just a fat cat bank executive spouting off, Mr. McKenna qualifies his position stating:

Of course, not all firms have benefited equally well under the HST. Financial Services like TD cannot claim back tens of millions of dollars they spend annually on a wide range of goods and services… However the bank remains a proponent of harmonizing tax regimes, given the net benefit to Canadians.

One of McKenna’s favourite sayings is: “the best social program we have is a job.” His article goes on to say:

Lowering the tax burden on business ultimately reduce the price tag of goods and services we consume. It also encourages investment that boosts productivity and in turn generates greater prosperity. – The Vancouver Sun, July 2, 2011

Who do you believe?

Thanks to the postal lockout you now have two more weeks to get your mail in vote completed and back to elections BC. The date was extended to August 5 from July 22.

We are nearing the end of the government process parade: the federal election, Census 2011, the HST Referendum…. Can a provincial election be far behind???

My Perspective

I wish the manager of the Community Futures, Mr David Mitchell, would take this Community at heart and learn as much about Community Futures that he did about the HST Tax. He should spend his time that he's getting paid for by the public dollars to learn how the Board of Directors should be elected,

like Nominating Commitee, like having and Annual General Meeting (AGM), like having an election as described in the By Laws #1 or so called "Constitution", responsibility, accountability, all that sort of thing to make this Community Futures work for all of us, not just a few people. He can click on this link to learn about it. If he wants to learn a little bit more he can click here

You're right David, "You have no bananas today and you didn't have any yesterday either."

Democracy At Home

Look at the amazing amount of information that we collected from people over the years.  The majority of these people would like to stay Anonymous because they are scared for their job or they are scared of being bullied by our local politicians. I feel ashamed to be a Canadian when I hear this from our local tax payers when our Federal Government goes out of their way to promote our democracy to other parts of the world when we can't even put it into practice at home. An I have the proof that democracy just doesn't work on North Vancouver Island and if you're interested in finding out why I'm saying this click here
We would like to hear your point of view and what you've been experiencing in your own little world. Everything can be expressed here anonymously and at the same time take a load off your chest. Bye bye for now.

Community Newpaper

Now that Mr Mike D'amour, our new editor for the North Island Gazzette, our so called "Community Paper" will not print any letters to the editor for us because he's scared to get sued.
I see in this week's Gazette COMMENTARY The True N. I. Advantage.
"The pace is relaxed and no one really sweats the small stuff"
Why is that? Because no one is informed of any stuff, small or big. Our local paper doesn't seem to care.
We've been trying for many years to get the message to the owner of the paper with no results.
They just move the editor of the publisher to another paper they own down island (last count 36 of them).
"PROBLEM SOLVED"
The North Island needs more Democracy and less Hypocracy. We'd like to know what you think about your local Community Paper and you can do it Anonymously right here! Then, we will find out if this can smarten them up and print the news the way it is not babysat. Good or Bad, we want to know them all!
Don't forget, you're not a mushroom, you should not me kept in the dark and fed manure and be expected to make a rational decision on the election day with no information.
"At this time we don't seem to have ANY Democracy on the North Island."