Can the Voter Tax

Do you know how much you gave to the various political parties through the forced contribution voter tax last quarter?  Yup, you've donated $27 million.   That's just last quarter.

 OTTAWA — Canadians have paid more than $27 million in allowance to the country's main political parties, under a public financing system Prime Minister Stephen Harper unsuccessfully tried to eliminate in 2008.

 Elections Canada released fourth-quarter numbers Wednesday, illustrating how Canadian tax dollars continued to tell the story of the federal election held more than two years ago.

Fourth-Quarter    payments:
Bloc Quebecois
$691,289
Conservative Party of Canada
$2,609,418
Green Party of Canada
$469,686
Liberal Party of Canada
$1,819,999
New Democratic Party
$1,260,002

Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Finance Minister tried to eliminate this tax in their fall update shortly after the election in 2008 in which the opposition had a hissy fit and the coalition of the three stooges were exposed and tried to overthrow a recently duly elected government that got more seats than they. Where the separatist party would have had a major say in what goes on in the ROC.  

Kevin Gaudet from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation is perfectly right.

"We totally supported Harper when he tried to get rid of it," said Kevin Gaudet, national director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. "None of them should get one red cent. Political parties ought to be raising money on their own."
The problems with the allowance run deep, he said, noting that some voters end up giving funds to parties they don't support. All taxpayers subsidize the allowance, but only registered parties that meet voting thresholds qualify to receive funding.
Another longtime source of contention concerning the subsidies involves the "disproportionate amount" of funding the Bloc receives, said Gaudet.

Since we have to go into an austerity period it would be a perfect time to end this tax. Why should we be forced to contribute our tax dollars to political parties that we don't like? The elimination of this tax would hurt all the opposition parties but the hardest hit would be the separatist Bloc and the Liberals the most.   The Bloc is just a regional party that runs candidates in only one province whose one objective is to break up the country. Rest of Canada should not be subsidizing a party like that. It's just not right.

Should it be a part of the up coming budget?  I say yes. The opposition wouldn't like it, they'd defeat the government and off we'd go to the polls.  If not part of the budget, it should at least be a major part of the CPC election platform plank in the next election. How would the other parties explain at the doors why taxpayers should be forced to fund parties they don't like?

Liberal Brand Suffers Severe Damage

A new poll just out has suggested that the Liberal party is suffering severe damage to it's brand. Very few respondents in the poll had few positive things to say about the party.

Based on first mentions, it is clear that the Liberal Party brand is severely damaged and the negativity associated with the party extends beyond Michael Ignatieff’s leadership.
These results suggest that the Sponsorship Scandal continues to hurt the Liberal brand and the residual effect is a lasting association with corruption, arrogance, and dishonesty.
Most troubling for the Liberal Party is that very few respondents mentioned positive phrases or words about the Liberal Party. Instead, comments described the party as having weak leadership, being dishonest and corrupt, and divided.

That is not good if Iffy wants to defeat the government and take us into in an election this spring. On the other hand the same poll also shows the Conservatives and the NDP are in much better shape.

A new Abacus Data National Poll finds that relatively speaking, the Conservative and NDP brands are in a better position heading into a possible spring federal election than the Liberal brand.
Respondents were asked to identify what first came to their minds when they think about each major national party.  The results are displayed in word clouds found below or in the detailed report found here.
“Stephen Harper and Jack Layton dominate their respective brands,” said Abacus Data CEO, Dr. David Coletto.  “The popularity of each party is heavily influenced by how Canadians view the Conservative and NDP leaders.”
While high recognition rates can be a positive factor, dominance by a single leader can also produce problems.
“The good news for the Conservative Party is that many Canadians associate the party with the economic recovery and low taxes,” said Coletto.  “Despite the fact that Canadians continue to worry about the economy and their jobs, the opposition has not been able to dislodge the Conservative advantage on the economy.”
The opposition Liberal Party had the bleakest results.  Very few Canadians mentioned anything positive about the party, with most comments describing the party as lacking good leadership, being corrupt or dishonest.
“Canadians seem to still identify the Liberal party by its past wrongs, perhaps as a result of a lack of direction, internal division, and weaker leadership over the past few years,” said Coletto.  “Weak leadership and internal division is the Liberal brand as they enter 2011.”
Finally, the NDP continues to be a conflicted brand.  The NDP and its leader Jack Layton are well regarded by Canadians but only one in five said would vote for it in Abacus Data’s poll released in early December.
“The NDP is very much a function of Jack Layton,” said Coletto.  “The NDP is seen by Canadians as a caring party that defends the interests of working people but its policies are considered unrealistic my many.”

I think the Liberals should think hard and long before they defeat the government  If they want to go into an election fine but they'll  also suffer the consequences. They badly lost the trust of Canadians and have a long way to go gain it back again and it's not just changing leaders.  It goes way deeper than that.

Probably the best thing for Liberals maybe is an election result with a Conservative majority and NDP as official opposition.  They would then have at least four years to figure out who they are,what they stand for and rebuild from the bottom up. Maybe just maybe there too wouldn't be so much muck raking and making up faux scandals that they would actually work at developing some credible policy and act like an official opposition and government in waiting.  Then maybe they could earn back the public's trust again. Look how long it took Conservatives. It took years before we actually figured things out and got our act together. Thank God we finally did.  The country is better off for it.   It will take Liberals at least that long if not more.

This related from WK 

Far and Wide: Steve V. calls for a cultural change in the Liberal Party, bottom to top.  He says that’s the only thing that’ll make it relevant.  He’s right, of course.  It will also never happen.  Carry on as you were.

Conservatives Lead on Issues

Will we or won't we be going to the polls in 2011?  The rhetoric has been ramped up again in recent days amongst  the pundits with MIA(Michael Ignatieff) bellowing, threatening to bring the government down in the New Year  then only days later he tones  down that rhetoric a bit.    Have we not seen this movie before? Anyway, even if we do end up going into an election in the near future, Conservatives not only have the edge in  voter preference but also lead  on the issues as well.   They look that they're more tuned into what the public is most concerned about than the opposition is.

Heading into the new year, Canadians have pegged the economy, health care and the environment as the three priorities they'd like to see politicians give the greatest attention to, the results showed.
"When you're going into an election, you're planning your strategy," said Darrell Bricker, a spokesman with Ipsos Reid, which conducted the poll exclusively for Postmedia News and Global Television. "So you have to find a salient issue, something that people really care about, and somewhere where you can daw a partisan difference between yourself and your opponents."
The Tories definitely have a leg up, Bricker said, with 29 per cent of Canadians polled saying they'd like to see the country's leaders focus on the economy.
"It just shows the strength of the Tory positioning because they're seen as the best on the biggest issue," he said. "The Liberals haven't found an issue, but the Tories have a 20 to 25 per cent advantage on just about every economic question you want to ask."

 So Bricker states that the Liberals haven't found an issue,well that  says a lot about the all the tours the leader has been on in the last year like the Magical Bus tour then the Open Mike tour.  It says Liberals have not really listened to what is important to Canadians, that they're out of touch and the public is not buying what the Liberals are selling. That bodes well for the CPC going forward.

CBC Retirees Double Dipping?

As part of Brian Lilley's series on the CBC he's discovered that dozens of retirees have been hired back as consultants or contractors and of course we pay their pensions and their consultant or contractor fees. So could they be double dipping? I would say so.

OTTAWA - CBC hires back dozens of retirees each year as contractors or consultants.
Documents obtained through access to information show that between 2005 and
2007 the state broadcaster hired 125 people who were also receiving an annuity or pension from CBC.
The records took three years to obtain and required the intervention of the federal information commissioner. At first CBC refused to release any records, claiming all records were considered personal information and not subject to the access law.
After an investigation by the information commissioner's office, CBC agreed to release the total number of retirees hired back on contract.
The practice of retirees returning to work as consultants in federal government departments is not uncommon in the federal government and is often referred to as ³double-dipping.² In 2005 CBC hired back 21 retirees, 37 in 2006 and 67 in 2007.

Wouldn't  Mr. Braaa.....dcast Don Newman former host of the old CBC Politics show come to mind as one of those "retirees" that have been hired back?  Because he now writes a column on the CBC website and appears on panels etc on CBC television from time to time. How much is he and others sucking out of the taxpayer by doing this?  I would like to know. He's probably receiving a pension and collecting a fee or a salary or whatever.    I hope when the information committee investigates the CBC after the Christmas recess, we  can find out. 

Liberal Party Not As It Seems

Liberals say they're a strong united party ready to fight an election whenever that may come. Their leader vows to trigger an election in the new year although it looks like he's starting  to climb back down that hill a bit.

 However, when asked if the Liberals will vote in support of the Conservative budget in the coming session, Ignatieff said he cannot make a decision without first seeing the document.
"Let me read the thing first. I'm not like Mr. Layton, who votes for things before he's even read it," Ignatieff said, taking a shot at his NDP rival for saying that he would vote down the government's stimulus plan even before it had been tabled.
But Ignatieff definitively said that he would be prepared to vote down the budget and topple the government if the legislation doesn't mesh with what's good for the country.

Are they ready?  Not quite so as it seems.  Publicly the party will "appear" united and that every thing is hunky dory but privately they are deeply divided as Angelo Persichilli so aptly points out. Apparently  the Liberal infighting and divisions are vastly different than when the Tories were divided.

It took 10 years, from 1993 to 2003, for the Conservatives to put aside most of their differences and work together. It’s ironic that the same year the Tories started bridging their differences, the Liberals grew apart.Moreover, the division among them is more dangerous. The Conservative fight was in the open and the division was a clear split between two visions. The Liberals are more than divided, they are fragmented by personal vendettas, jealousies and a lack of leadership.
Despite the front of a happy family, they are fighting each other over differences from the past while creating new ones. This fight no longer has anything to do with Martin and Chrétien; it’s about the metastasis of that disease which has taken on a life of its own.

Why? Angelo answers that too:

Why is all this happening? The problem is that spoiled individuals who have taken over the party are using it to pursue feuds with their personal Liberal enemies.
This problem can be corrected only by using a big broom to get rid of them all, and a good place to start would be in the office of the present leader.
But in order to do that, you need a credible, respected and strong leader. Such a leader is nowhere to be seen.  

Oooh, ouch!  Could this be the reason he's starting to back down  from his election rhetoric again? There are plenty of problems within the Liberal party. They have a tough time raising funds, have no credible policy etc. and  all that infighting doesn't help.. Maybe, if they want to earn their "earn" their way back into office,they should stop the muckraking,trying to make the Conservatives bad, work on cleaning up their own party  instead acting like petulant little children all the time. Maybe then the public will take them seriously again.
Until then they're not ready or qualified to govern. They need to learn to govern themselves first.