Jerry J. Fortin

So we institute corporate welfare? How did the last little investment in the auto industry workout again? I seem to recall that the province of Ontario handed out millions of tax dollars and then the plant closed. What are the chances of the same thing happening again? This benefits Ontario and Quebec, it does not benefit the rest of the nation. The rest of the nation is going to have to pay taxes for which no service or benefit will be realized. This isn't a small thing folks, if you think that this 3.2 billion is an end to it then you are sadly mistaken. The total cost of this bailout is somewhere over 100 billion dollars. Our Prime Minister has taken the position that our nation will cover 20% of the cost of the bailout. His intent is to keep the 20% of production in Canada. Good luck on that. Citizens can reasonably expect a 20 billion dollar debt, but don't bet on keeping the jobs.

It looks like the Canadian tax paying citizen is going to support corporate interests. Great, all I wanted for Christmas was a tax reduction, or at least a tax deduction. Here we go, the citizens of Canada are going to spend billions of dollars on Ontario and Quebec to support their industries. So the rest of Canadian citizens can look forward to paying for this corporate welfare for years to come with no realized benefit to their provinces whatsoever. Now can somebody tell me what the net benefit is to being a citizen of confederation in any province other than Ontario and Quebec ?

I will suggest that the Throne Speech will be found acceptable, but the budget will not.

Should oil prices collapse very much further, you can start thinking about a US AND Canadian bailout of oil companies! Look folks the world is about to enter into a depression, we need to be aware that virtually all sectors of the economy are going to take hits. Look at our financial industry right now, the prime rate is taking cut after cut but the banks are not passing along the saving. Perhaps soon enough folks will wake up and smell the coffee. The harsh reality is that it is the monetary system and the financial industry that has CAUSED the problems we are now facing. The political ideologies of the day are subject to the public reality of the now global economies. Never before in the history of mankind has this kind of thing ever happened before. We are in uncharted territory. I will speculate here. Prepare yourselves for some radical actions by governments around the world. China could be very hard hit if the US stops buying their produced goods, and the US could be hurt badly by the Chinese stopping their purchase of US Treasury Bills to finance their growing debt. The EU is beginning to experience actual retractions in GDP, you can expect that to happen here next and then finally in the Asian corner of the world. The end game is a monetary collapse on a global level. Oil is the visible cornerstone because it represents energy utilized in the production and delivery of goods and services. What is not visible is the financing of the purchase of energy and energy related efforts. It is the financing that will force the changes worldwide.

The plan is more than alive, it is growing strategies as we speak. That plan must be repudiated before it ceases to have effect. The Liberals and NDP signed a deal. The coalition is going to control Harper whether he believes it or not. It is a reality that Harper will experience despite his personal opinions. Iggy will USE the coalition to do what HE wants.

Harper will either write a budget in consultation with Iggy, or he will lose his job. Iggy will hold the coalition card over Harpers head until Iggy decides to force the election. Harper is too dumb to realize that he has given the Liberals a weapon to use against himself. Dion he could beat, Iggy he won't.

Harper is about to start having his own words shoved down his throat, Iggy will be feeding him one word at a time until Harper learns to keep his mouth shut.

Problem number one in Canada at this point in time is economic, so the first move is to design a package that serves the purpose of providing economic stimulus without spending tax dollars. Unfortunately that is not actually possible, however it can be made possible if you simply forgo some future revenue stream in the form of personal income tax reduction. How do we do this you ask? Simple, allow individuals to deduct interest payments from their major investment, their own homes. This will spur the housing industry and provide personal tax reductions which in turn will allow individual consumers to use those additional funds to purchase other consumer goods. Create a made in Canada policy that eliminates GST from goods produced and purchased in Canada. Provide tax incentives for the purchase of all green technology produced in Canada. the list goes on and on..............

I must disagree. The bailout, is not a loan. Giving money to these companies is very high risk, so high that the banks who have announced billions in profits for this year are not willing to make such a "loan" to a business with as many problems as the auto sector. The thing to keep in mind is that the big ticket purchase of a vehicle requires for the most part financing. In a bad economy the banks are not really willing to lend money to folks to buy cars let alone to car companies to make them. So it comes to the tax paying citizen to do the financing for the auto companies, but not to the citizen to buy the product? Okay lets look at the problem from a different angle shall we.... Let us assume that the industry requires support from the government. Should the government not provide the assistance, then it will payout money in employment insurance, lose money in their revenue stream from taxation and eventually the UI runs out and the provinces pay welfare instead. How much does that cost the citizen? Now if the government does supply assistance, then it takes a stake in the companies in exchange for venture capital. The government must also provide some assistance to potential customers in the form of tax breaks to purchase the products. Without this incentive, then I don't see the sense in providing assistance, who the hell is going to buy the production if not the citizens subsidizing the productive effort. At the same time these companies must first focus on the internal Canadian market for their products before seeking export markets. The reason for this is that the tax paying citizen must be allowed to realize some benefit for their assistance. So we come to the root of the problem. Do citizens want to give away their tax dollars to support companies that have literally no value or benefit to citizens?

You can blame the unions all you want, or not. The sad reality is that the auto market is reliant upon good economies, not bad. Auto purchases are a very big ticket item, second only to mortgages and housing. Banks make lots of money on these items, so my question is why not let the banks with their billions of dollars of profits do the rescue or bailout packages? Would that not be a good investment for them, since they make a lot of money off car companies? If it isn't a good investment for them, how could it be a good investment for the tax paying citizen?

I will suggest that those folks are very partisan by nature, and consequently support their choice of political parties without respect of right or wrong.

Argus, there are political realities unique to specific regions in Canada. Its what makes governing this country so difficult.

Nice touch!

She also has the power to take away his authority to govern. Which is what WILL happen if Harper continues on his previous path. The reality is that in Canada a majority or minority government is determined by the number of seats in the House of Commons occupied by like minded partisans. The vote of the citizens has NO control over this, never has. The "like minded" representatives are determined by their own designs in Ottawa.

Pot smoking is a bad thing, but is it anybody's business? Why isn't booze everybody's business? Whats the difference?

I agree! That is why is have learned a lesson, I now vote for the person. I have learned that I have nothing to say about government.

I will suggest that the government be very careful in making this decision. Its tax dollars we are talking about spending, and we know who pays those.

I live in the west and am not a supporter of the Conservatives, so my vote goes elsewhere on a regular basis. I vote for the person not the party, it has taught me a lesson, one worth learning for everyone. My MP is not who I supported, but they are still my MP. Now if I did support them at election time should I expect any better treatment from them? The answer is of course no, so there was my lesson, once elected it is the responsibility of the elected member to represent all constituents. Vote for the person, because the party really doesn't matter.

Well now, what to do. Bailout the auto companies or watch thousands lose their jobs. Tough call, isn't it? Well lets look at some facts here. There has been numerous bailouts over the years, each one costs the tax payer big time. If a company cannot compete in their designated markets, why is that the tax paying citizens problem? Now is this the right thing to do, transfer corporate debt into citizens hands? If a product isn't being purchased, why would a company continue to build it? If you ran your business that way, would you expect the nanny government of the day to subsidize your bad business practices?

My best guess is that the end game is now in sight. The Liberals will hold Harper accountable, he either governs with the consent of the House or he faces the prospect of losing power. The coalition will hang over Harper's head now more than ever before. I will venture to say that a carbon tax is in the wings whether we like it or not. An auto bailout plan is about the be written whether we like it or not. I am willing to bet that the Liberals will call the government within the next few days and lay down the law. A throne speech will require the confidence of the House and that means that the very first day of a return to work for elected representatives will provide more than a mere insight into designed events for the near future. Harper will be compelled to make a choice, either govern from the centre under a banner of compromise or chose to seek an election instead of giving away 24 Sussex to Uncle Mike. Then again if Uncle Mike is very smart, he will have already talked to the Governor General and have a little power play plan ready.

Harper will not have the opportunity to do much with these seats.

You know what folks? Out here in Alberta we could literally opt out of all of your federal programs and afford to pay for all of them ourselves. When we do that we could literally tell the feds to take their net federal debt per person and have the value of those fed programs they supply deducted from that total and we would have paid our share of the national debt. In short Alberta doesn't need or want you folks anymore.

I think Harper would last about two minutes, until Trudeau was allowed to speak. You can say a lot of things about him, but stupid is not not one of them.

Looks like there is a bailout being planned doesn't it? You know I agree that those nasty corporations should receive no federal or provincial money. Keep that in mind for the car companies, textiles, forestry and every other sector within the manufacturing industry. Include agricultural subsidies and marketing boards as well and I will agree with you. I am tired of having my tax dollars stretched to suit the needs of corporate Canada.

Well August I think you need to wait and see what happens. I think many Canadians will be surprised with what is about to transpire.