Jerry J. Fortin

Which is still a lifetime too soon.

I guess we need no more clues about possible elections when all parties are circling the war wagons for some future funding war.

I think the spin doctors are way off course. In my view the recent spikes in the market are being taken way off the reservation. This recession will soon trend even further downward toward depression.

When concern for the criminal is of greater importance than the victimized citizen, our society is tracking down a slippery slope.

Harper is the Prime Minister. He is not covered to the extent that Obama is, yet he is a national leader and the nation, as expressed by the media, does view his every move as newsworthy.

I think Harper's legacy is merely a trail of meaningless minority governments that accomplished very little in real terms during their tenure.

Interesting view! My apologies folks, at this time of year I am easily riled with the entire concept of taxes.

Out of contexts words take on meanings contrary to the original intent.

Welcome to Canada, the ultimate nanny state. Cradle to grave benefits for all! You don't have to work, don't worry be happy!

No I miss the days when politicians were viewed as honorable.

The whole key to the creation of wealth is disposable income. Sufficient disposable income allows for more than mere financial survival, it affords opportunity to invest. That investment capital is the beginning of wealth creation. Where the money goes from there determines any pattern of growth. Beyond the immediate needs of the consumer such as food and clothing the available options regarding shelter,its lease or purchase, determine personal wealth creation. Purchasing shelter represents the single greatest expenditure and a significant percentage of personal disposable income. When acquiring shelter, consumption of utilities come into play, as well financing the debt load from the purchase price of the shelter. Two entire sectors of the economy are then making money from the purchase of shelter. Two more sectors, that of construction and manufacturing are used to build and furnish the shelter. It is safe to say that these four sectors benefit and profit from the increased disposable income of the individual citizen. While individual citizens are in fact responsible for their own wealth creation, it is also safe to say that the government is able to provide assistance in this regard by lowering taxes and providing a greater extent of disposable income. A government that was promoting wealth creation for its citizens could make interest payments on the debt required for shelter purchase tax deductible. There are many ways the government can help, but letting a citizen keep their money is the best way to fuel the economy.

The Charter describes 11 prohibited grounds for discrimination. While it is true that the rights are in fact applicable to all citizens, just try and use them! You cannot claim discrimination unless it falls under one of the 11 very specific focused "minority" groups. Go ahead and try to claim discrimination if you do not fall into one of these categories, go ahead and retain a lawyer, spend your money. It will get you nowhere.

Bullshit, read the Charter before you make any comment like that. The rights expressed under the Charter apply to minorities, period. The rest of the citizens get diddly squat out of it.

How do you plan on making the world a better place?

There is progress! So you admit the truth of the first two but dispute the assertions of the last. Fair enough, your private life is your own. It is just that you come across in the manner that I have described. The only thing I actually know about you is that you are interested in politics and cars and say that you are a twenty year old student. That and the fact that you said your family paid more in taxes than I did, but I notice that you said family which lead me to believe that you don't work and don't pay taxes yourself. Since you are a student, I will venture to say that you live at home instead of living on campus because you suggest that your family has money so you would not be on student loans, which probably means that you don't pay for food, utilities etc.

Actually I think Argus is an old fart like me, we don't have the best education in schools but the University of Hard Knocks has taught us much. What you perceive as emotion is really an expression of frustration with the system of things. The older you get the more you end up coming nose to nose with it and the people working it. You begin to realize that there are a lot of people working the system from the inside as well as the outside and the tax payer has to cover the tab.

Life is a far more sophisticated instructor than books and scholastic endeavours.

Really, where did I go wrong?

I will suggest the proper format for a new axiom would be family, honour, integrity, and responsibility.

Argus how in the hell did I end up on the same side of this argument as you????

Get ready for it my friend, taxes never go down. The only direction is up. Mind you if you are a small business owner this does not apply to you, only the working class folks worry about this reality. This next step up the ladder from the working class savage such as myself get the all breaks that we others Canadians dream about but don't have the means to take advantage of the system. You can suggest that the 2% drop in GST is relevant, but saving two dollars on a hundred doesn't translate that well for me. You can say that income tax rates have come down, but user fees and the like go up along with other sin taxes and gas taxes etc. Have you ever seen your municipal taxes go down? Never happens, what one level of government reduces another takes up the slack and increases their share of the pie. I will suggest that you have never paid a dime in taxes, never worked for someone else for a living and will likely never have to. So from your viewpoint of course there is nothing wrong with the system. You probably don't pay for healthcare, your food, your housing, your insurance, your utilities and even your gas. I am willing to bet that your business covers all of this very nicely. It probably even leaves you some pocket change that you don't pay tax on. How close to reality am I?

Violent offenders getting out at all is the issue at hand. In my view they should not get out at all, ever. We should build new prisons in the north, as many as we need. Violent offenders can be kept in solitary confinement for the simple reason that they are dangerous to other citizens. Non-violent offenders can grow the foods, cook the food, do all of the work necessary to maintain the prison infrastructure. If you have enough leftover prison population of non-violent offenders, they can fight forest fires, pick up garbage and all sorts of work that society needs to be done for the duration of their sentence. The point is that criminals need to be punished, returning them to society should be carefully considered.

So in other words, your experience is limited.

You say that your family owns this business. Where does that put you?

There is not, but that does not matter. The Charter was designed for the protection of minorities, I don't have a problem with that at all. What I do have a problem with is being denied the rights that are given to others.