UnionJack

You may have seen this quote circulating on email recently. It is attributed to Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier, 1907 'we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes a Canadian and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else . . . this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet a Canadian, and nothing but a Canadian' I believe that the vast majority of Canadians with a Canadian heritage, like myself, whose grandparents immigrated in the first decade of the previous century, welcome immigrants from anywhere in the world, provided they accept their new home and the long-standing traditions that are a part of it. We simply expect them to obey Canadian laws, even those that conflict with their ethnic traditions, accept Canadian customs, learn the local language and pay their own way. Those who arrive with the intention of changing Canada to fit their needs, are not contributing but rather are destroying our country. Every immigrant is free to practice the religion of their choice, speak their ancestral language at home or in their local community and celebrate their heritage openly but they must leave their homelands' hatreds and politics behind; they must share our values, support themselves and pay their taxes like the rest of us. They must become Canadian! Canada's governments have a responsibility to encourage assimilation not promote division through multiculturalism. Isn't it just common sense? UnionJack

The following rates of retail sales tax (RST) been effective in Ontario since their introduction on September 1, 1961 to the present: September 1, 1961 - March 31, 1966 3% April 1, 1966 - April 30, 1973 5% May 1, 1973 - April 7, 1975 7% April 8, 1975 - December 31, 1975 5% January 1, 1976 - April 10, 1978 7% April 11, 1978 - October 7, 1978 4% October 8, 1978 - May 1, 1988 7% May 2, 1988 - July 1, 2010 8% The Conservative Party governed Ontario from 1945 until 1984. Premier Leslie Frost presided over the province from 1951 to 1963, when Bill Davis became Ontario’s Premier. Ontario’s demographics were changing and in 1985 Davis was re-elected as the head of a minority government. He served until 1987, by which time the majority of the electorate had no memory of Ontario’s past industrial and commercial success. Many were either too young or had lived most of their lives outside of Canada. David Peterson (Liberal) won the election in 1987, losing to Bob Rae (NDP) in 1990’s vote. Then, in 1995, Ontario elected Mike Harris’s Conservative Party for two terms before returning power to the Liberals under Dalton McGuinty. As a conservative, I am not proud of the Conservative Party’s role in the history of Ontario’s sales tax, though I’m confident that sales tax wasn’t invented here. Our politicians simply noticed that sales taxes were accepted by the people of dozens of US states and perhaps other provinces of Canada, so they adopted yet another source of revenue. At least, under the Conservatives, taxes fluctuated according to economic conditions. When the economy shows signs of recovery under a Liberal government, they don’t reduce taxes - they simply spend more! All governments need to return to providing BASIC services and stop spending my money as if it was endless. Case in point - Look at the bottom left corner of the HST booklet distributed by the Ontario Government. It says, “Paid for by the Government of Ontario,” and they actually believe that! Bull! It’s paid for by the PEOPLE of Ontario!