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HEAT SETS BC RECORDS

Wednesday, July 29 was the hottest day ever recorded in Vancouver. Environment Canada recorded a high of 33.8 C, breaking the previous record of 33.3 C set in 1960.

The same occurred in other BC cities like Victoria. The City of Abbotsford beat their previous record of 37.9 C with a new high of 38 C.

Canadians are not accustomed to this kind of heat, and are running out in droves to buy fans and air conditioners.

Of course, a number of Canucks continue their passion for hockey in the summer and enjoy occasional respite in the local ice arena. All the more reason why hockey is Canada's Game. ; )

DO THE MATH...

If the BC government previously collected 7% pst on a limited number of goods and services, and now they will collect 7% on a much larger number of goods and services via the HST....wouldn't it make sense that a revenue neutral HST would mean a reduction of the 7% to say....3%?

THAT would be harmonization, not this gouge perpetrated on an unsuspecting public.

HST = HIKE SUCKERS' TAXES!

The BC government is laughing all the way to their cushy, air-conditioned offices while restauranteurs and their customers suffer both the heat and the HST. The government held an election on May 12 and did not make any mention of raising taxes. In fact, they specifically denied they had any interest in implementing an HST. They received money and support from many members of the business community, including restauranteurs - all acting in good faith.

Then last week, without any warning or any consultation, BC's Finance Minister Colin Hansen announced the HST for BC - a massive tax grab - in one fell swoop.

Hansen claims it was a recent decision made after the election. But even if it was, why no consultation now?

The BC Restaurant and Food Services Association and other industry organizations are choked and have vowed to fight this badly managed tax boondoggle.

In BC, it seems HST stands for Hike Suckers' Taxes!

SHADES OF GLEN CLARK!!!

The BC government's traditional supporters have received a slap in the face by the recent announcement of the Harmonized Sales Tax. Apparently they were not consulted regarding the across-the-board tax of 7% which kicks in July 1, 2010.

Some are getting whacked much harder than others. Realtors, home builders, purveyors of big ticket items are faced with tax increases in the tens of thousands of dollars. Of course it all comes out of the pockets of consumers, but livelihoods are also at stake during a recession.

The government claims the HST will actually save money, but that's a stretch, and right now that dog won't hunt.

The real issue is, if this is how you treat your friends and the people that voted for you, how do you treat everybody else?

The bottom line is the lack of consultation on tax hikes, right after an election, (when the govt claimed HST was not on the radar) is what business people and voters expect of an NDP government....and did not vote for. In fact, the whole sorry episode conjures up flashbacks of former NDP Premier Glen Clark.

Premier Gordon Campell, Finance Minister Collin Hansen and the Liberal government can spin this any way they want, but to BC'ers of every political stripe it's arrogant and undemocratic.

Time to make amends. They should accept they erred, apologize, and invite consultation to achieve a more fair and equitable taxation policy.

RAISING TAXES CREATES JOBS???

The BC government is being offered more than a billion dollars by the feds to harmonize the 5% GST with BC's 7% PST. What this means is that consumer goods and services that were not subjected to the PST will now have an additional 7% slapped on. Which means even more revenue for the government.

The BC government says this new harmonized sales tax will increase jobs.

Yeah...jobs for bureaucrats.

HINCAPIE IS NO ARMSTRONG

Unlucky about Columbia's George Hincapie not winning the yellow jersey in a stage of the Tour de France. Hincapie was bitter that Teams Garmin and Astana worked against his opportunity to win the jersey.

But it's much ado about nothing. It's a race, George, and no rider can expect to win via goodwill from competitors. Winners like Lance Armstrong understand that, which is why riders like Hincapie will always be domestiques.

GOVERNMENT EMAILS GO MISSING

You are about to lose your job to a competitor...and this person hates you with a passion. They hate everything you stand for - your views, your politics, your friends. Their sole purpose in life is to get you fired, destroy your reputation, ruin you so that you can never again work in the industry.

The boss says your competitor is being considered for your job in a couple of weeks - decision day is coming. After that day your competitor could be working in your office with access to all of your work, files, contacts, and correspondence.

You are BC's Liberal government and your competitor is the NDP. The boss is the electorate. Decision day is May 12, 2009.

A bunch of emails are deleted prior to this date. Shocking?

NO HONOUR AMONG THIEVES

While we're on the subject of BC's tax-gouging municipalities, the City of Victoria is complaining about a loss of $450,000 in parking revenue due to vandals and thieves.

The city's parking services manager says, "It's become known on the street how to access the meters. They're vandalizing the meters and throwing parts away, and we don't have the stock to replace them."

Parking revenue was $4.4 million in 2008, and the city had budgeted $4.95 million this year. It's all part of their ever-increasing revenue strategy as follows:

1. Increase in parking meter rates
2. Increase short-term parking rates in parkades
3. Increase monthly parking rates in parkades
4. Increase in parking fines ($15.00 to $20.00 etc.)

The only efficient thing going on at City Hall is parking enforcement, where the officers are known for being johnny-on-the-spot when it comes to expired meters. Their zealousness combined with the hefty fines are driving shoppers out of downtown and into the malls.

But now it seems the City of Victoria takes exception to sharing the spoils with the city's large drug-addicted vagrant population - an ever-expanding group that the City's left-leaning Council has only encouraged through its ineffective policies.

Where's the gratitude?

Apparently there's no honour among thieves.

TWO MORE COMPANIES JOIN BC TAX REVOLT

Island Cogeneration, an American power company located in Campbell River, and West Fraser Mills, owner of a pulp mill in Kitimat, have joined the company tax revolt against BC municipalities.

The companies are refusing to pay relentless tax hikes by municipalities and are appealing to the BC Supreme Court for relief.

The BC government has a long-standing policy of non-interference in municipal affairs, leading to multiple mini-kingdoms with innefficient administration, poor regional planning, ineffective law enforcement, and now company tax revolts. Greater Vancouver consists of about 20 municipalties, each with mayors, councillors, administrators, planners, etc. Greater Victoria, a region of 340,000 people consists of 13 municipalities.

However, Bill Bennett, the minister in charge of this municipal mess, is considering a slight change in policy when it comes to municipal taxation.

"We're going to have to tackle the issue of the tax rates as part of the provincial tax policy and as part of the competitiveness of our economy," Bennett said.

Long overdue, but still only dealing with one symptom of a bigger problem - municpal independence advocated by the Union of BC Municipalties.

For more on this, read our previous editorial below - "DO SOMETHING OR CONTINUE DOING NOTHING" and "TAX REVOLT SPREADS IN BC."

HEALTH CARE CRISIS TIP OF THE ICEBERG

The Vancouver Island Health Authority and health authorities in Greater Vancouver are cutting jobs, selling land, increasing fees and cutting back on elective surgeries to deal with funding shortfalls.

NDP Health CARE critic laid the blame at the feet of Premier Gordon Campbell's government. “I think politically they need to be held accountable,” said Dix.

However, it's well known that health, social services and education already absorb 80% of the budget. There is no money available without sending taxes sky high. The NDP tried their solution a decade ago, and sent the province into spiralling debt, and unemployment. They were virtually wiped out in the 2001 election.

The real problem is Adrian Dix and the NDP's opposition to private health care.

The adoption of some private health care options would enable patients to pay for their surgeries and take the load off of the public health care system. These patients now travel to the U.S., India, and other countries to have their surgeries. In fact, booking private surgeries for Canadians in these countries is a booming businss.

It is Adrian Dix and the NDP that need to be held accountable for opposing the introduction of private health care to protect their financial support from the nurses' union and other unionized workers with a stranglehold on our bankrupt health care system.

The present crisis is just the tip of the iceberg as millions of baby boomers enter their senior years while the public system cuts back on services to protect union jobs.

STOCK MARKET MANIPULATION CONTINUES

On the heels of securitization of toxic mortgages, the manipulation of the stock market continues.

A recent white paper by Themis Trading called Toxic Equity Trading Order Flow on Wall Street, The Real Force Behind the Explosion in Volume and Volatility," by Sal L. Arnuk and Joseph Saluzzi describes how stock brokers buy and sell stock for the same price and make pennies on the trade. It's all done in milliseconds with super-fast computers.

The result is that the stock market's "volume has exploded" and "volatility has sky-rocketed" since 2007 when reglations were changed.

"This has resulted in the proliferation of a new generation of very profitable, high-speed, computerized trading firms and methods that are causing retail and institutional investors to chase artificial prices," says the paper. The paper suggests making orders valid for at least one second to curb the manipulation. Also, check out this column by John Mauldin, author of FrontlineThoughts.com.