It has been widely suggested by legions of abused taxpayers that the more accurate definition of redundancy these days is an airbag in a politician’s car.
Maybe it’s just the freakin’ heat, but my b.s. detector has been going off more than a car alarm in Whalley as our Elected Ones in Victoria pitch “better new taxes” while stripping away services with the other side of their shameless mouths.
Maybe it’s just the heat, but how can they celebrate an expensive Olympic party for an elite few and not blink as they examine ways to downgrade Mission Memorial Hospital? Do you believe?
Why do they keep telling people to move to the Greatest Place on Earth if there is no room in our doctors’ offices, hospitals, schools or enough affordable homes? Is the invite for the rich only? Or those who don’t wonder why there are tolls on every new provincial project except the Sea-to-Sky Highway?
Do people know, for example, if they relocate to the Broke City in the Country that they will have user fees added to all the other increased costs? Or that they will subsidize dressing rooms, or pay a special (wink, wink) gas tax to do the job the other gouging gas taxes don’t?
How can our premier justify giving himself and his ministers humongous raises – and bring back gold-plated pensions – and then saddle the rest of the peons with a 12 per cent harmonization tax grab? And was it really necessary to increase the size of government during this recession, while telling our underpaid paramedics to get a grip on today’s economic realities?
How, we wonder, can our government justify having 223 people work in the Public Affairs Bureau as spin doctors telling us everything is fine, and yet not one person can offer a ballpark figure on the deficit?
And, if TransLink is really going to get people moving around the Lower Mainland without using their vehicles, how will we pay for the new Golden Ears Bridge and expanded Port Mann Bridge, given the need for increased vehicle traffic to pay for the structures and monthly bills?
And speaking of tolls, why are out-of-province vehicles exempt from paying, but there is no break for the working stiff in the morning as he or she waits in traffic lineups, burning valuable gas and time?
Why do we not have a better grip on B.C. Rail as everyone else is told to tighten his or her belt and share the pain? Four people make more than $100,000 per year to run a 40-kilometre-long railway.
And B.C. Rail’s CEO made a $275,000 base salary in 2008 but with perks, including a bonus, pocketed $494,182. No wonder “urgent care” is the buzzword in Mission these days.
Over in Ottawa, the governing Tory suits are upset with the Bank of Canada honchos for suggesting the recession is over. For good reason – these are the same feds who, with the Canada Council for the Arts, spent $40,000 to fly a giant inflatable banana over Texas. Good thing the monkeys were thrown in for free – heck, you elected them!
The feds and CCA also spent $15,000 to help bring a Belgian art exhibit to Quebec that produces a poop-like substance when fed with food. So, that flushing sound is another $55,000 of your tax money going down the drain.
And, I wonder how our prime minister’s promise to abolish the “irrelevant senate” is going now that he’s added to the numbers of bums in the not-so-cheap seats?
Yep, maybe it’s the heat.
Maybe it isn’t a coincidence that our governments raise the taxes on alcohol and then make sure our country and province are in such a mess that you drink more.
Enjoy the long weekend gang!
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