Linda Leatherdale is back at it again today - ranting at all levels of government, and starting with His Blondness (Pols tighten our belts, but never their own):
...Barely a moment passed after the piggies at the tax trough gave a thunderous ovation to Mayor David Miller winning his new municipal land transfer tax and vehicle registration tax -- then we learned firefighters are getting a sweet pay raise...
..But it's blatantly obvious a powerful union lobby, who abandoned Bob Rae's NDP after he ushered in Rae Days, is now backing the tax-happy Dalton McGuinty Liberals at Queen's Park and the tax-happy Miller at City Hall...
...Miller cries City Hall is flat broke, our infrastructure is crumbling and if over-taxed taxpayers don't cough up more money, it'll go bankrupt.
So, this powerful lobby helped Miller win the vote for his tax grab, which will line the city's coffers by up to $300 million a year over a full year. And still Miller says it's not enough money.
Why then, if the city's so broke, are we giving firefighters a 9.66% raise over the next three years -- which is above the rate of inflation? Now, Toronto's police are at the table. For the record, also Toronto's finest...
Did you catch that??? A 9.66% raise over the next three years!!! Do you know of anyone else other than politicians that get that kind of increase?
This is only the beginning folks.
You know, it's strange how many times I saw signs from the firefighters union supporting Dalton during the election. Now there are rumours that the province might take over the TTC.
Miller and Dalton must have had some kind of sweet deal cooked up between them.
Yes, and then there's dear Dalton:
Hypocrisy also lives at Queen's Park. McGuinty lied about "no new taxes," then blamed a Tory deficit for one of the biggest tax grabs ever, the $10-billion health levy. Now, rumours swirl he's planning to hike the PST by 2%, with 1% going to hard-pressed municipalities and 1% to cash-strapped transit, then harmonize the PST with the hated GST. If true, we'll now be paying a provincial sales tax on services, like home buying closing costs, legal fees, court costs, etc.
And McGuinty will tell us he didn't raise taxes. That's because Ottawa is cutting the GST by 2%.
Yup. Watch for it. The GST will go down and Dalton will raise the PST. No tax hike right? It's a wash.
It's enough to drive a person to drink - if you could afford the taxes and mark-up. Better not anyway, because you don't want to be needing a doctor - if you could find one.
* * * *
BREAKING NEWS: Sorbara Quits Cabinet!!!
More at CTV, and Freedom is my Nationality.
CBC speculates on possible replacements.
Halls of Macadamia - Sorbara Surprise.
11 comments:
I hate to say it but it looks like Harper's GST cut will hand McGuinty an opportunity to raise taxes. As for the firefighters getting a 9% raise, it doesn't surprise me. The public sector unions are powerful, and anyone who has spent any time around the TTC can tell you how hard they work [or don't, as it happens].
An interesting blog entry would be an analysis between inflationary costs of city expenditures, and the rise of salaries.
Considering that McG has been insisting that the feds "sign over" a % of GST to the cities, and the cities are provincial responsibilities, it makes sense for the CPC to cut the GST and the province to increase their sales tax by a % to give to the cities.
Rather than filter taxes through the feds to the province to the municipalities, there would be fewer public servants taking their cut.
As long as it's not just going to Toronto, and there's a reasonably equitable policy, it wouldn't bother me. At least the province would wear it and have to defend it next election (sometime in 2011). If not for JTory, we might have heard something about this possibility.
When will all these people realize there is only one taxpayer??? its time to cut the size of government. Miller should be contracting out services and saving hundreds of millions. he is the pocket of the unions. The people of |Toronto voted for Mller and dalton. They reap what they sowed.
Miller should be contracting out services and saving hundreds of millions.
Oh, I do believe he's allowed to do that - as long as he pays union wages. I think they call it 'fair wages' or something. What a joke.
9.66% over three years is, at best, average these days.
Hank, seriously? I know of a lot of places in Southern Ontario that are closing up; never mind getting a raise.
Ontario will become like a pre-Thatcher Britain, unions will stifle economic growth and cause massive unemployment while their fewer and fewer remaining members demand more.
Unions own Dalton McGuinty, Ontario will pay dearly for that.
ah, correct anon. unions in Ontario are ALREADY stifling growth. They are also stifling our classrooms, our daycares, our hospitals yadda, yadda.
Welcome to the lemming nation called Ontario. Where independence and free markets are the new "f" words.
Re: Sorbara out of cabinet - there's more to this than meets the eye I think. Sorbara's ego is much to large to shrink the way he did in his news conference yesterday.
Did he step down from caucus before McGuinty had reason to ask him to?
Hard to believe it's because he just wants to spend more time with his family.
Did anyone catch that the McGuinty liberals have over-estimated the economic growth numbers in Ontario by 16%? You've got to know that they're in deep s___ what with all of those additional promises they made at election time, and all of those union contracts coming up for review soon.
I live in a really stupid province.
Re: Sorbara out of cabinet - there's more to this than meets the eye I think.
Check my next post.
I live in a really stupid province.
Lemmings love taxes. More to come. That much I can guarantee.
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