Fighting for Taxpayers Blog

Lee Harding - Wednesday, March 10, 2010 - 17:08

One of today's Teddy Waste award winners has inspired a question: who is "Richard the Frugal MLA" featured in a promotion on Q104? It's an amusing question--unless you're a Nova Scotia taxpayer. CBC reports: ...Progressive Conservative MLAs believe it's an attack on the former MLA for Yarmouth, Richard Hurlburt. Hurlburt resigned in February amid a spending scandal triggered by Auditor General Jacques Lapointe's report on MLA expenses. Lapointe found "excessive and unreasonable" claims, which he in part blamed on inadequate spending controls. 'Completely...
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Teddies live 10:30 am EST Wed Mar 10

Kevin Gaudet - Tuesday, March 9, 2010 - 19:44

The Teddy Waste awards will be held tomorrow, as the following media advisory explains. Be watching CBC News Network or CTV Newsnet at 10:30 am EST as there is a good chance one or both will broadcast the event. Last year it was carried live on Newsnet, and later Kevin Gaudet was interviewed regarding the winners and the origin of the awards. MEDIA ADVISORY 12th Annual Government Waste Awards "Teddies" Ceremony to be Held on WednesdayOTTAWA: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) will host its 12th annual "Teddy" Waste Awards ("The Teddies") with a...
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Gov't Paper Flood to Cover Up Stimulus Advertising Cost: 200 Pages in a Single, Simple Request

Derek Fildebrandt - Monday, March 8, 2010 - 23:14

As generals have their classic tactics in war - pincer, envelopment - governments have theirs in blocking the free-flow of information: paper flooding. A 'paper flood' is a torrent of documents sent in response to an Access to Information (ATIP) request with each detailburied in a vast pile of hardened pulp. Recent requests by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) into what the federal government spent on advertizing its stimulus (read deficit) campaign were met by rebuffs from central government departments (such as Treasury Board and Public Works) to file other...
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They're all health taxes now - or soon will be

Maureen Bader - Monday, March 8, 2010 - 18:52

When a company tries to sell a product no one wants, a common tactic is to lure the customer in with an appealing pitch, then deliver a lemon deal. This is called a bait and switch. The B.C. government, in its 2010 budget, put a new spin on this tactic - more like a switch and bait. It took some hated taxes and rebranded them as “health taxes.” But if the government thinks anyone is fooled by this, it should think again.The tax take from the HST, the Medical Services Premium (MSP), health transfers from the federal government, tobacco taxes, and lottery revenues will...
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Waste: $200,000 for iTouches on Alberta Olympic Train

Lee Harding - Friday, March 5, 2010 - 15:25

If the TV report on the $14 million Alberta spent on the Olympics got people riled up, this won't calm the waters at all. It turns out Travel Alberta spent $211,000 to give free iTouches to passengers on the Alberta Olympic train. In fact, $276,000 was spent to buy 1,400 iTouches, which means they can give out more at future events. The Calgary Herald reports,"It's a little bit over the top to spend that much money handing out free iPods," NDP Leader Brian Mason said Wednesday."It sounds like it was a great party train. I just feel a little bit annoyed that my tax...
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Tax Changes in Federal Budget

Lee Harding - Friday, March 5, 2010 - 15:10

Numerous changes to our tax code were made in the 2010 budget. Miller-Thompson has prepared an excellent summary here: http://millerthomson.com/docs/Tax_Notes_March_4_2010.pdf. A simplified tax code that allows a tax return to be filled out on a post card remains a dream.
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Gov and lobbyists try to coverup green job myth

Maureen Bader - Thursday, March 4, 2010 - 16:59

A Freedom of Information request found that the US government is in cahoots with US wind industry lobbyists to undermine a study showing green job creation is a myth. After Barak Obama used Spain as a model for successful green job creation, a Spanish university published a paper showing that for every four jobs created in the green energy sector, nine jobs were lost in the productive sector of the economy. The study found it cost almost $900,000 to create each 'green' job in Spain. Spain now has an unemployment rate of more than 19 per cent. The wind energy lobby -...
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Regina dome "field of schemes"

Lee Harding - Thursday, March 4, 2010 - 15:59

The proposed domed football stadium for the Saskatchewan Roughriders was mentioned again on the "Field of Schemes" website. It referenced my prediction that the endorsement of the dome was a foregone conclusion, despite the goverment's insistence otherwise. Yes, I told you so.I had more to say in my comments on the site:I was the CTF Sask director at the time who wrote the comments about the foregone conclusion. Nothing has changed. The government news release regarding the release of the stadium report was FEASIBILITY STUDY SHOWS POSITIVE ECONOMIC SPIN-OFFS FOR...
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Only 10% of Canadians Support Continued Deficits

Kevin Gaudet - Wednesday, March 3, 2010 - 16:35

EKOS Research released polling data in early February revealing Canadians want the federal government to reduce spending to balance the budget. They don’t want more large deficits and don’t want tax hikes to get the budget balanced. The poll shows the Harper government’s plans to run deficits into the future are off-side with what the public want. The EKOS poll shows 46 per cent of the 3,000 respondents prefer spending reductions to deal with the deficit. 14 per cent favour tax hikes. Only 10 per cent support the government’s current path of deficits and increased...
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B2TEN is the better way to fund Olympians

Lee Harding - Tuesday, March 2, 2010 - 23:34

While the debate rages on regarding levels of future federal funding for Olympians, the role of the private sector may be easily forgotten. On February 26, 2010, Business News Network spoke to Dominick Gauthier, director of B2ten, a group of private investors giving help, financial and otherwise, to some of Canada's top athletes at the games. That interview can be seen here.On Monday, BNN aired viewer expressions of support favoring B2ten over government funding. One sublime response stated that when government reaches too far, it pushes private sector voluntary...
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Canada's Federal Debt

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The federal government is adding $153 million a day to our debt. At this rate, the $105-billion in debt repayment between 1997 – 2008 will be wiped out next year. Support our campaign for a federal balanced budget law and help us STOP this clock.

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