Skip to main content

“I am a Canadian, free to speak without fear, free to worship in my own way, free to stand for what I think right, free to oppose what I believe wrong, or free to choose those who shall govern my country. This heritage of freedom I pledge to uphold for myself and all mankind.” ~~ John G. Diefenbaker

PECKFORD -- There is no problem folks; if governments are short of money, just raise the taxes


I note an editorial in the Globe and Mail newspaper highlighting the fact that if Alberta taxed like other provinces, it would have a surplus. Well, what an unsurprising revelation.

There is no problem folks; if governments are short of money, just raise the taxes.

That is what got is where we are today – out of the top ten in world competitiveness, 28th in ease of doing business world wide, and a dollar hovering around 75% of the US dollar.

Oh, and with all the extra taxes, governments usually over spend.

Take our own federal government, that has raised taxes.

They (government or the extra taxes) did not do anything towards balancing the budget. As a matter of fact, the deficit has gone up this past year -- from $19 billion to $26 billion. And the Parliamentary Budget Officer has said he does not know when the country will be in an annual surplus again.

And what do the Provinces do?

They hide the deficit by separating capital and operating account, bragging about a balanced budget or modest surplus, which is really an operating balance or modest surplus. The capital account is almost all borrowed. This just happened in the BC and Nova Scotia budgets.

This is how the issue of budgets gets framed in this country ... taxes are OK. As long as this mentality persists, including from an editorial in a national newspaper, what chance is there for this country to become competitive?

Very little chance ... it’s now the culture of the place.

We have a national predisposition to tax.


In 1972, Brian Peckford was first elected, as a Progressive Conservative, to the Newfoundland Labrador House of Assembly -- he became Premier at the age of 36, holding the leadership of his party and government from 1979 to 1989.

Since leaving politics, early in 1989, Peckford has conducted public inquires for the governments of British Columbia and Canada, has served on numerous Boards including the CBC, and has been active in public affairs. 

Since 1993, he and his wife Carol have made British Columbia their home; they now live in Parksville, on Vancouver Island. He blogs at Peckford 42.

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

WARD STAMER: “Hopefully he’s actually listening to what people have to say, and not just showing up for a photo op”

In his latest travels across the province, BC Forest Minister Ravi Parmar touched down in the Okanagan. A trip essentially, he said, to be on the ground meeting industry people. I read what he had to say, and about how he has been tasked with getting more timber to market. Let me start by saying, “ He hasn’t been tasked. He and Premier Eby guaranteed 45 million cubic metres of available wood fibre – they guaranteed that .” BC Timber Sales is a government agency within the provincial forest’s ministry, which is responsible for managing a portion of the province's Crown timber; specifically, 20 percent of the province's annual allowable cut. Unfortunately, BC Timber Sales did not provide anywhere near that amount last year, it was just 12.2 percent. Three years ago, BC mills cut 52 million metres of wood, bringing in nearly $2 billion dollars to the provincial treasury. That figure doesn’t include the taxes from 55,700 people directly employed in the industry, nor from the tens o...
Post a Comment
Read more

Conservative Opposition demonstrates focused and policy-oriented approach in first four weeks of the legislative session

In the first four weeks of the legislative session, the Conservative Official Opposition has scored significant policy wins as it proves every day that the Conservative team has fresh ideas and real-world experience to bring to the table. At the same time, the NDP government has been listless, struggling to find a policy agenda that addresses the problems that British Columbians are facing. “This NDP government led by David Eby has tried to do everything under the sun to distract from their disastrous fiscal record and the fact that they are utterly out of ideas,” said Conservative Opposition Leader John Rustad. “They’ve tried to use the U.S. President to deflect from their eye-popping $11 billion deficit, the worst business confidence in the country, and the fact that they’ve created almost zero private sector jobs. This is no way to run a province or an economy.” Since the legislative session started on February 18th with the Throne Speech, the opposition...
Post a Comment
Read more

Conservative Party of BC Calls for Coroner’s Inquest in the Death of Chantelle Williams

  Chantelle Williams/Facebook “Somebody has to come out and tell the truth on what happened and who’s at fault” ~~ Martin Watts, Uncle of Chantelle Williams The Conservative Party of BC is urgently calling for a coroner’s inquest into the death of 18-year-old Indigenous youth Chantelle Williams, who tragically died under the care of Usma Nuu-chah-nulth Family and Child Services, an agency of the Ministry of Children and Family Development. Her family is disturbed by the lack of transparency and unanswered questions surrounding her final moments, and are seeking answers on who was responsible for her care and supervision and why no one noticed she was missing until it was too late. Chantelle was found unresponsive in Port Alberni in the early morning of January 28, 2025. She was later pronounced dead in the hospital. Temperatures had dropped below –7°C the night of her death. Her family is demanding clarity on the circumstances that led to her untimely passing, and they demand answ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Labels

Show more