Frankly I think Alberta would have been better served by someone different. He’s a crony of the by-gone elitist Harper era on the federal scene and is polarizing on the controversial matters of same sex marriage and abortion. While being taxed exorbitantly (47 per cent highest marginal rate with the new tax bracket), Albertans have little patience for their leader to be preaching social policy from a righteous pulpit. Albertans want absolute action on fiscal responsibility so that tax rates can be lowered measurably. While a minister in the federal government of Canada, I heard little from Mr. Kenney on the topic of measurably reducing core tax rates for Canadians. It may have been a belief of his at the time but Mr. Harper liked to keep the media in the dark and his round table muted. The old Harper administration tinkered with tax credits for families but did little to incite the capitalist spirit in our country for free enterprise. I do admire Mr. Kenney’s passion and sincerity for his work but at a time when the current administration has lost control of our finances, the last thing Alberta needs is an ultra idealist being long winded on how he thinks we should run our lives. I hope I’m wrong and this man will find a way to shelve his dogma surrounding your bedroom and your doctor’s office and appeal to centrist thinking Albertans along with Wildrose supporters in a way that propels him to success in uniting the right. As a reminder to you staunch Wildrose supporters, Danielle Smith sold out on you. She crossed the floor – remember. The movement is dead. Get on board. The alternative is socialism forever.
Category Archives: Philosophy
Pleasant Surprise From The Press
Evidence of lethargy in journalism was witnessed in the latest U.S. election campaign. The Washington establishment was either ambivalent or oblivious to the plight of marginalized factory workers in the rust belt States. Lest it be said that the sentiment surrounding these shut down towns may have deserved more journalistic attention. Lately it seems a road rage incident will make front page news but a decade doubling of violence rates in Canadian prisons is muted due to some perceived notion that an editorialist may believe Canadians’ tolerance for the statistic to be acceptable. What Donald Trump has espoused as bias in the media may more aptly be described as mere arrogance.
When the news should be reported at face value with a semblance of organized hierarchy in terms of relevance, I’m afraid that the media has lost its way in the context of a populous deemed impressionable by commercial interests and media promulgated opinion. I don’t know how many times I’ve responded responsibly via comment over at editorials published by a Postmedia only to see my comment nixed seemingly because my opinion differed from that of the author. On the one hand they provide a commenting platform for readers and on the other they overtly breach their industry creed of “freedom of expression”.
However; yesterday while running an errand, I stumble upon a coin box filled with editions of the Epoch Times. Pleasantly, I’ve garnered a favourable first impression and renewed hope that independent journalism is not yet down for the count. Society does transform but not necessarily positively with adherence to a group which conveniently has access to your mind.
One Tough Woman
The “one tough woman” phrase gets me thinking. Yes, it’s arisen in the context of one newbie politician attempting to walk back insults directed toward his adversary. However; the basis of female toughness deserves scrutiny. Call me old fashioned but I like a woman that’s not tougher than me. I like chivalry in places and I like the interpersonal dynamic of a woman in my company who’s not fighting for equality at every turn. Bonding is beautified in the context of protection. The act of protecting is goodness in men’s nature and I’m suspicious of any particular woman’s compulsion to equate in the most ridiculous of situations. I admire those women who are in fact mentally sharper than their husbands but have a skill in managing their prowess in the context of the relationship. Genuine joy is predominant in softness as opposed to toughness. Life requires toughness but couples require softness in order for chemistry to endure. We are caring when our emotional posture moves like a free flowing pendulum in our daily lives ensuring that we mirror our environment existentially.
Kindness Crisis
There is a kindness crisis according to a poll conducted by Sesame Street. Seventy per cent of parents claim that the world is unkind to their kids. This adult senses it on the street – literally in traffic. I sense it in our political discourse and I sense it in the voidance of cordial gestures of etiquette. I sense it at the poker table and in the board room. I sense it in transit and telephony systems. I sense it in the body language of souls transfixed by their electronic “devices” and in the spoken language of those perhaps ill equipped to reach for an empathetic word when “f@ck” is at the tip of a tongue. It’s as if a new substandard came into being precipitated by a confluence of events imperceptible to the naked eye producing a cultural shift engineered by a generation naive to the values of their forefathers and the historic deeds undertaken to sew a landscape of autonomy.
Materialism as a precursor perhaps forms an element. The great divide between the haves and have-nots has never been greater. A tempestuous outreach in order to “acquire” may brew in the hearts of some looking to hurdle through patronage, political partisanship, and indifference. Perhaps, it’s a proclamation of entitlement to rudeness in the face of perceived injustice casting out emotional residue to a society dumbfounded.
TFSA’s Are In The News
Recently, the Globe and Mail has been writing editorials on merits of the Tax Free Savings Account. I find it remarkable how so many so called enlightened folks can rationalize bad from good. Your Canadian government put the plan in place in 2009 for your benefit largely with an understanding that now a larger proportion of the populous is without a “Defined Benefit Pension Plan”. As you are likely aware, it is folks in the public sector who are largely the sole remaining participants of this “guaranteed” form of pension which has the effect of burdening taxpayers with legacy like costs. The Globe now has insinuated that your government treasury can’t afford the tax loss of having you receive “tax free” investment income inside the TFSA. Allow me to espouse the one gargantuan fact regarding contributions to TFSA’s. The contributions are made by taxpayers who have already been taxed once on the funds headed toward the plan. Any hard working person has been taxed on income derived from their labor in our country and little do most folks know that this form of taxation was only supposed to be temporary to pay for our efforts in the First World War. I would have no issue at all at taxing investment income (passive income) if it wasn’t taxed first through employment earnings or dividend income derived from active business.
The highest marginal personal tax rate in Alberta is 39 per cent and Alberta is amongst the lower taxed provinces in Canada. While Albertans despise the notion of a “sales tax”, a sales tax in my estimation is less insidious than a tax based on someone’s contribution to their country and service to mankind. The Canadian Income Tax Act approximates 3,000 pages of fine print and certainly detracts from our citizens’ ambition to innovate, produce, contribute, and ultimately actualize a benefit worthy of service.