Senator Finley Leads the Charge

Last week Anne Coulter, American conservative commentator was visiting our great land, and was prevented to speak at the University of Ottawa. The state of free speech in this country was highlighted by her visit.
Senator Doug Finley lead the charge today in ``the place of second sober thought.``to tackle the erosion of free speech and to make changes in the Canadian Human Rights Act. He calls for the section of Human Right`s Act that stifles free speech to be scrapped. Other Tory Senators also took up that torch.

OTTAWA — Senator Doug Finley led a call Tuesday to scrap a section of Canada's Human Rights Act that he and other Conservative senators say is being used to stifle free speech in Canada.

Finley was one of a quartet of Tory senators to lead a Senate inquiry into free speech rights in Canada, rights they felt had come under attack when the speech by a controversial American pundit at an Ottawa university was cancelled and again when a woman in Vancouver sued a comedian because she didn't like jokes aimed at her.

Senator Finley and Senator Duffy gave very good speeches. ht. Blazing Cat Fur

Senator Finley`s speech here.
Senator Duffy`s speech here.

I truly hope something comes of this. It`s way overdue. The CHRC kangaroo courts have gotten way out of control and they need to be reigned in.
My preference would be just to shut them down and send Jennifer Lynch, HRC Commissioner,and others packing. It`s encouraging to see the Conservative Senators take up this cause. I don`t know what happened to the parliamentary committee looking into the CHRC and their attacks on free speech. They need to get back to it and get something done on that front.
Minister Nicholson, please pay attention to your senators and many of us out in the public who really want action on that file. The sooner the better.

OUR FREEDOM IS STAKE! THE STAR CHAMBERS ARE OUT OF CONTROL!

UPDATE: Sen. David Tkachuk's here.

Is Ed Stelmach About to Face a Palace Coup?

It is no surprise that in the last the few months the support for the Ed Stelmach PC government has been plummeting with rise of the Wildrose Alliance Party whose support have been surging. There have been floor crossings from the PC's namely two disgruntled MLAs, Heather Forsyth of Calgary-Fish Creek and Rob Anderson of Airdrie-Chestermere.

Graham Thomson from the Edmonton Journal is writing about musings of a possible palace coup if the circumstances don't change for the better. There have been rumblings about all parties (with the exception of Wildrose Alliance), about who is going to lead in the next election two years away.

Ed Stelmach is the leader who has the most to worry about. Seems like some in the PC party really don't want to go into the next election with Ed Stelmach at the helm.

"There are mutterings that more than a few Conservative MLAs in Calgary and southern Alberta figure they'll lose the next election under Stelmach. Tacticians for the Wildrose are crunching numbers that point to a minority Wildrose government if an election were held today. A CTV/ Access poll released Monday indicates almost 52 per cent of respondents who identified themselves as Conservative say they are likely or somewhat likely to vote Wildrose next election.
The Conservatives apparently haven't been in this much trouble since they faced the Liberals led by Laurence Decore in 1993."

This from Highwood Riding Association Board. They are are not happy campers.

CALGARY - In a blistering, unprecedented letter to Premier Ed Stelmach, a key Progressive Conservative riding association says the party is "nearing the precipice of moral insolvency to govern."
The Highwood riding board charged that the Tory party "is bereft of policy, planning, execution, follow-through and communication to the members of the party, and, most importantly, to the citizens of Alberta."
Without a rebirth of grassroots participation, the letter says, "this party can expect no mercy from the electorate on the election day, which is just two short years away."

Yikes! That is tough! Times don't look so good when you have all this discontent and Riding Associations are saying things like that.

RELATED: Doesn't all this kind of remind you of the Federal Liberal Party right now? The divisions and discontentment? Will Mr. Iffy lead the Liberal Party of Canada into the next election?

UPDATE: It just keeps getting worse for Ed Stelmach. His brother-inlaw has just jumped ship and joined the Wildrose Alliance. It no doubt will cause tension with in the family.

Allan Warshawski, Marie Stelmach's brother, walked into the Wildrose founding meeting in Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville last Thursday and bought a membership.

That's Stelmach's own riding. Embarrassing!

File Your Tax Return Now

Yes, I know, even though we don't like it, it's that time of the year again when a taxpayer's thoughts turn to filing those pesky tax returns. The Globe has a good article why you should file asap. Makes sense to me.

"Having to tackle that dreaded pile of paperwork known as taxes at a time of year when the weather is practically pulling you outside seems sinful, so why not put it off for just another week?

With the April 30 filing deadline roughly a month away, the danger of procrastinating for too long is that you will cobble together a sloppy return and make a costly mistake, one that could ultimately leave you with less money in your pocket.
"When time is not on your side, you are in a rush," says Cleo Hamel, a senior tax analyst with H&R Block Canada. "If you owe money and don't pay on time, the panic is that you will have to pay a penalty."
Facing that kind of time pressure, most people will not take the time to find those medical receipts or the ones for their child's hockey lessons. "Most people just file what they have handy. Which means they are settling," Ms. Hamel said.
There are a number of child, home and spouse-related credits and deductions that you can potentially claim to trim your family's tax bill, but rest assured that Canada Revenue Agency is not going to point them out to you. It is up to you to make sure you are taking advantage of everything that you are rightfully allowed to claim.
Sadly, finding that medical or hockey lesson receipt three years later is not going to cut it. By then, it will be too late.
Ms. Hamel points out these common mistakes Canadians make when they file their taxes:
1 Receiving a refund means your tax return is correct.
Even though you may receive a refund cheque or deposit with all of the credits you claimed, the Canada Revenue Agency can ask you to provide receipts or documents to review your return. The review process tends to start in July with thousands of taxpayers receiving letters asking for more information. If you don't provide the information within the right time frame, the CRA will re-assess your return without the credit included, which usually results in a tax bill. Moving expenses and the tuition transfer credit are two of the most reviewed credits.
2 Procrastinating.
Waiting until the last minute to prepare your return usually results in a rush and a much higher probability that you will miss something. Even if you don't start preparing your return early, do review your slips and make sure you have everything ready to file. If you are missing a slip, this gives you time to search for it. Then set aside some time before April 30 to prepare your return so you have an opportunity to ask questions.
3 The Canada Revenue Agency will correct mistakes.
If you make a mistake declaring your income, the Canada Revenue Agency will certainly notify you of the error and any taxes owing. But if you miss a credit or deduction, do not assume they will correct your return. It is not the CRA's job to make sure you take advantage of the credits you are allowed to claim.
4 Carrying forward old receipts.
Taxpayers who find medical expenses or slips after they have filed their returns cannot just add it to the following year's tax return. You have to file a T-1 Adjustment to include the slip on your previous returns. You can go back up to 10 years to correct errors but adjustments have to be filed on paper and can take six to eight weeks to process. The only exception is charitable donation receipts, which can be combined for up to five years.
5 Income splitting.
Only certain taxpayers are allowed to split income on their tax returns. Business owners can split income with their family members if the family member works for the company and normally a person would have been hired to complete the work. Eligible pension income can be split but you must complete a Form 1032 and submit it with your tax return in order to claim it. Or if you are collecting Canada Pension Plan payments, you can split this income as well, under certain conditions, but you must apply to Service Canada.
6 Overpayment of CPP and EI.
If you have overpaid CPP and Employment Insurance during the tax year, you have to include Forms 2204 (CPP) and Form PD24 (EI) in order to make a claim. If you are using tax software, it will do this automatically. If you are completing your return manually, you need to make sure your forms are included in order to receive the credit. And there is a time limit for claiming the overpayments."

Those of you out there who haven't even looked at your returns, better get busy. That deadline will come faster than you think. Besides, if you do it now, you'll have that monkey off your back for another year. Plus if you have a refund coming, you'll receive it sooner. Isn't that an incentive? If you owe, just get it over with, the sooner the better.

My husband and I completed our returns last night and will be in the mail later today. Good luck, happy tax return filing, and I hope each of you end up with a refund!
Don't forget, the deadline to file is April 30, 2010

Liberals Hoping for The Easter Bunny

 That's the way Don Martin  describes the Liberal's weekend Thinkers Conference. He is not exactly known to be a Harper Conservative fan.  He rips the Liberals apart more or less stating that the weekend  was a failure. The speakers  were full of doom and gloom and offered unrealistic if not impossible solutions.

"Discussions at the Liberal’s three-day Deep Thinkers Summit were thoroughly depressing - which means the conference was successful as an academic exercise and a probable failure as the party’s political fix.
Straight-shooting speakers filled the hall with gloomy future scenarios and impossible solutions under hostile headlines like those generated by an attack on the lost, soul-less, conniving Liberal party from diplomat Robert Fowler, who tongue-lashed delegates into shocked silence on Sunday with a profoundly insightful, must-hear speech on Canada’s misguided foreign policy."
  

Then he goes on to report what other Liberals were whispering:

"As former New Brunswick premier Frank McKenna whispered to former prime minister Paul Martin halfway through debate on one of the intractable problems: "We’re f****d". Responded Mr. Martin: "The whole world is f****d."

 

He describes Mr. Iffy's closing speech as flat and that Mr. Iffy would freeze the corporate tax rates.

"His final speech Sunday was strangely flat and the top priority of Canadians -- jobs -- did not appear anywhere in the wrap-up news release, dwarfed by announcing a curious freeze on corporate income tax rates once they come into office."

 

Here comes the Easter Bunny comment: 

 "He even shrugged off that fiscally ruinous health care file by insisting it could be magically cured with better prevention, new technology and more home-care for the elderly. If he believes that, he should order the Easter bunny to deliver sugarless eggs this weekend as a national kickstart to obesity prevention."

 Here an  ouch from Martin:

 "But if many of the proposed Think Big answers are actually hammered into the party’s platform, the Liberals should be advised to Think Small in terms of seats in the next election."

So from gleaning what went on at the Libs  thinkers weekend,  I don't think Conservatives have too much to worry about. They just to need keep their noses to the grind, working hard, and getting positive things done for Canadians.

 Liberals can live in their fantasy world hoping and waiting for the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, a Fairy Godmother or whatever else to rescue them from the opposition wilderness to where they think they should be,(which they think is government)   Conservatives will continue to live in the real world bringing realistic pragmatic approaches that will  help to solve the problems that we are facing.

The Great Reneger