Should MP expenses be posted online?

Yes, say Auditor General Sheila Fraser and Kevin Gaudet of Taxpayer.com. How else will Canadian taxpayers know if another U.K.-style MP expense scandal isn't already going on?

This is garbage alright.

$850M and Sask taxpayers in the dark

Saskatchewan taxpayers could foot the bill for a $350 million stadium and a $500 million nuclear reactor; yet, the details are sketchy. Both stories were front-page news in the Regina Leader-Post.

The premier has admitted that the reactor could be a money-loser for some time. Richard Florizone of the Uranium Development Partnership says that only 1/3 of the cost of a nuclear research reactor would be recovered by sales of medical isotopes. Florizone and NDP MLA Sandra Morin discussed the issue on John Gormley Live (click here to listen). The provincial and federal governments and likely the U of S would front money, but how much?

As for a potential $350 million new stadium for the Roughriders, the provincial government is keeping the $70,000 report it commissioned under wraps. The football club, the City of Regina, and the federal government are looking at it and taxpayers will see the report...sometime. The CTF has already requested a copy as well as the stadium proposal submitted by the Roughriders to the city early in 2008.

Click here for a panorama of the Riders' current facility, Mosaic Stadium.

No consensus - listen live on July 13-09

Climatologist Dr. Tim Ball will be interviewed live on Talk 1410 (www.talk1410.com) radio on Monday July 13 at 12:45 to outline how the climate changes, always has and always will.

Dr. Ball was one of a group of concerned scientists who signed an open letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper calling on him to examine the science behind the government's climate plans before wasting billions of tax dollars trying to stop the climate from changing.

The climate changes, always has and always will. There is no consensus.

U.S. bailout dwarfs all other spending

Auto bailouts aside, Canada's deficit spending is a lower percentage of GDP than that of the U.S. However, the chart above shows that the U.S. bailout is so massive, it's not much of a compliment to the federal government in Ottawa. Click on the chart for its full size.

Cooling to Consensus

A study in the peer-reviewed journal Risk Analysis found that as people learned more about global warming, they were less concerned about it. As more people realize, of course the climate changes, climate change legislation drops off the agenda and the so-called scientific consensus breaks down.

Australia and New Zealand have rescinded their climate change legislation.

Dr. Kimimori Itoh, a Japanese environmental chemist who participated in the UN climate reports now says the theory of man-made climate warming is "the worst scienfic scandal in history."

It's time for us to drop the climate excuse for higher taxes to fund social engineering schemes.

Cap and tax continued

The US Republicans have defined cap and trade as 'cap economic growth and trade jobs to China.' If we look at the EU's experience with its attempts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, we'll see the Republicans have a good point.

European governments have imposed a garden variety of GHG reduction measures since the early 1990's.

Nevertheless, GHGs went up in Europe by 5% between 1991 and 2005.

What did go down in that same period, though, were manufacturing jobs.

Norway, Sweden and the UK, for example, saw manufacturing jobs fall by 5.6%, 18.5% and 20% respectively.

The cap and trade system started in Europe in 2005. The additional tax on manufacturers will likely reinforce the effects of the previous tax increases.

Obama's climate change astrologer

Cap-and-trade (read: cap-and-tax) is coming to Canada, thanks in part to pressure from the Obama administration south of the border. Incredibly, President Obama's Energy Secretary Steven Chu is predicting a certain climate catastrophe by 2019. He says we can be confident for the first time in history that such a prediction would be correct.

Japanese scientist Kanya Kusano, a Program Director and Group Leader for the Earth Simulator at the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science & Technology, has publicly declared that man-made climate fear promotion is now akin to “ancient astrology.”

No wonder. Even Nostradamus would blush at this nonsense.

demographics matter

Deficits and debt mean government spending today will be paid for by future taxpayers, our children and grandchildren.

Mark Steyn makes a good point in his book America Alone. Among other things, he says fertility levels in the US, at 2.1 live births per woman, are at about population replacement levels. Canada's, at 1.5, and Europe's, at 1.3 are not, meaning the population is shrinking.

So, if you are expecting the government to pay you a generous pension based on future tax revenue, instead of funding your own retirement from your own investments, you might want to reconsider.

There may be few taxpayers in the future left to shaft.

Carbon tax coercion continues

While people across Canada celebrate Canada Day, here in B.C. we get to celebrate by paying a higher carbon tax.

The carbon tax goes up by 50% today (58% with the GST included), as the government continues with its plan to force people out of their cars, sit around in the dark, and wear sweaters in their homes to stop what some people believe is a looming global warming Armageddon.

But as political parties have discovered to their dismay, voters are not willing to sacrifice their wellbeing today to prevent something that may or may not happen 100 years from now. It's time to get rid of the carbon tax and use the tax system for what it was intended -- financing essential government services -- not as a tool to distort the price of energy to engineer a colour-of-the-month social outcome.

People still have to drive and heat their homes and increasing the cost of energy will do little to force people to behave otherwise. It will create hardship and difficult choices as people decide whether to enroll their children in soccer programs because of the cost of driving. But as more people realize the climate changes, always has and always will, the carbon tax will fall out of favour as a tool of coercion.

Tax Cut on Wednesday, $50k Club Details Released

Business Tax Cut on Wednesday

Many businesses in Manitoba will benefit from a reduction to the provincial business income tax rate tomorrow. The rate will be reduced from 13% to 12% and was reaffirmed in the March, 2009 budget.

Two thumbs up for not wavering from this commitment despite the economic slowdown.

Although Manitoba has the dubious distinction of being known as a high tax jurisdiction and needs to address many other areas of taxation (i.e. school taxes, payroll taxes, personal income taxes), it's important to give the government a good pat on the back for this reduction.

For further details, click here.

Who Makes Over $50k at the City of Winnipeg? - Report Released Today

As part of their annual reporting requirements, the City of Winnipeg released the "2008 Compensation Disclosure Report". The report includes the names of employees at the City of Winnipeg that received over $50,000 in salary and taxable benefits (i.e. car allowance) for the year 2008.

To give the report a read, click here.

Canada Should Emulate USA Disclosure Site

The federal government in the United States has launched a disclosure site that allows taxpayers to examine and analyze federal spending and give feedback. http://it.usaspending.gov/ is a fantastic window into government spending that Ottawa should emulate.

10 per cent tax for Sask?

Enterprise Saskatchewan has recommended that the "Land of Living Skies" phase in a 10% flat tax for personal and corporate income. This would be a fantastic idea. We have advocated a single rate of 11% for years with a higher basic personal exemption. The exemption was raised by $4,000 last year, and now a single rate tax could be on the way.

The report can be read here. The section on "Tax competitiveness" begins on page 9. This excerpt makes the case well:

Rather than increasing revenue to the Province, high taxation can drive revenue away. This is already evident when comparing the high end of personal income tax in Saskatchewan (15%) with that of Alberta (10%); the 5% discrepancy has motivated some high-income earners in the province to find ways to divert their income into our neighbouring province.

It also discourages top income earners in all disciplines from moving into Saskatchewan. Saskatchewan’s marginal personal tax rates on labour income and savings, especially for individuals with modest incomes, are high. There is sound evidence to show high marginal tax rates deter people from investing in education, discourage savings and negatively impact on an individual’s decision to become a self-employed entrepreneur. High taxes also act as a deterrent to reporting income.

Ironically, lowering personal income taxes (PIT) could in fact lead to increased overall tax revenue.

One department...one company...one hundred thousand dollars worth of promo items

Last year the CTF documented how over $4 million was spent by Manitoba Crown Corporations and various other boards and agencies on promotional giveaway items - even though most enjoy monopolies.

This year we looked into how much one department - the Department of Competitiveness, Training and Trade - has been spending on promo items.

From January 1, 2006 to February 3, 2009, the Department purchased a little over $100,000 worth of promo items from just one company.

Here are some of the highlights:

18,000+ Pens and highlighters
14,000 Tatoos
240 Navy conference bags
525 Tote bags
25 Designer business card holders
1,000 Wristbands
251 Swivel flash drives
9 Techno lite reversible vests
9 Denim shirts
9 Microfibre fleeces
9 Mens mini Ottoman polos
2,500 Lip balms
86 Executive umbrellas
1 "Underarm portfolio black navigator supple leather"

The FOI response, inluding copies of all receipts can be viewed here:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

Carbon offsets a bad gamble

Don Braid of the Calgary Herald explains why Ottawa's cap-and-trade plan, like the federal gun registry, has trouble written all over it.

Smoking Is Cool Again

Well no, I supose that's a lie, but US President Barrack Obama was pretty cool in his answer regarding his own habbits in light of a new nanny-state law south of the border. Considering Canadian politicians fall over themselves trying to be seen in the same room as the Commander-In-Chief, I wonder if anyone north of the border will give in to peer preasure and light up.

All the cool leaders are doin' it.

Global Warming Alarmists Slammed

Yesterday, both Vancouver newspapers ran alarmist articles warning about the catastrophe that will befall us should the government not spend billions of our tax dollars to 'do something' about global warming.

My response, not included in today's Province letter to the editor section was: Dr. Andrew Weaver says no one listens to his cry of 'the rain is coming.' Perhaps that's because his cry would be more aptly described as 'the sky is falling.' A March 2009 Gallup Poll in the US showed that 41% of Americans say global warming is exaggerated in the mainstream media, the highest level in a decade of polling. In fact, it is the only issue where public concern has dropped considerably in the past year. The climate changes, always has, always will, and no amount of tax dollars wasted because of the cries of chicken littles will change that.

The two letters published in the Province show that people are not fooled by the alarmist agenda:

One entitled "Tiresome diatribe" started off with this: While few would dispute we all have a role to playing in reducing our carbon footprint, your article "Warmer Wilder Weather" is yet another example of the doomsday predictions concocted by our global-warming pundits.

The other, entitled "Justifying the carbon tax" started like this: Having just turned our furnace on after mid June for the first time in 30 years, a little warming will be appreciated.

Read the letters here