— Musings —08.25.2011 08:54 PM
Hudak’s PCs: like narcoticized parrots
Hoo, boy, I don’t know where that zany Tory brain trust is going next, but hang onto your hats for more hard-hitting hilarity on the campaign trail.
Thing is, Smith and the likes of Chumley and the other Tory MPPs all sound like narcoticized parrots, repeating the mantra that McGuinty is the “taxman,” “he’s gonna raise taxes,” “taxes, taxes, taxes…”
broken / updated link for that ‘Todd Smith unveils Wheel of Fortune prop’ story:
http://www.intelligencer.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=3271681
I noticed today that my barber had campaign materials from the Tories and the Dippers in his shop. This can only mean one thing. He knows damn well the Grits have it in the bag.
Tanya Talaga in The Toronto Star, http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1043843
Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion said she wasn?t confused at all by Hudak?s position on uploading.
?He was very clear. He is going to stop it,? she said. ?He supports it where it is at.?
Social costs must be taken completely off property taxes, she said. ?Health is next then education,? she said. ?The uploading has to continue in a major way and this is only the beginning. Property taxes were designed to take care of property, not humans.?
Sometimes the hurricane makes sense. As both a municipal professional and a student of municipal government (my first articles on the matter will be published shortly) I have to completely agree. Downloading Ontario Works costs to municipalities during the Harris years created the single biggest problem facing municipalities today – the infrastructure gap. Instead of spending property taxes where they should be spent (ie. roads, pipes, parks, etc), municipalities have been forced to pay for the administration of OW and other social programs. This is a huge expense that is now leading to ridiculous problems with infrastructure in some communities (Like London, where sinkholes are popping up all over the city).
(Wonder what Flaherty and friends think of the HST spot.)
But so what if they are “like narcoticized parrots”. Will this help them win the election?
You may think you are head and shoulders superior to all of that and you may actually be and sure you can make fun of what they are doing, especially based on your experience and expertise — which is your right and you’ve come by it honestly, but the danger in all of that is it creates a blind spot for how people are feeling or thinking and why acting like narcoticized parrots might actually being tapping into something a lot deeper for Ontarians right now.
As a rule, you are being replaced when you start to think you are really the only game in town. You just don’t know it yet.
And for starters expect to see “MPP Ted Chudleigh (who???)” at least back at Queen’s Park when this is all done.
If it isn’t a carnival stunt or an unsubstantiated accusation about possible taxes that could be raised in theory by the other guy, Huckster Hudak has little to say.
Don’t let Carnival Tim take Ontario for a ride.
Well said.
The “taxman” is a negative message. And it’s a good and effective one.
McGuinty needs a message of his own, or he’s done. And no — whittling away Hudak on the realism of his platform is not a message.
But it’s not good or effective when it’s complete hypocrisy, and people call him on that right away:
Tim’s just the ‘Pass the Buck / Taxes Onto the Other Level’ Man:
that paper updated their editorial again, adding the point about Hudak wanting to reverse or at least stop the Province’s taking up its public safety costs that the Harris-Hudak gov’t had downloaded onto the municipalities:
Bourque captioned this as ‘Mom and Pop’s Property Taxes To Skyrocket Under Hudak’:
http://www.intelligencer.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3273486
cf. http://www.thespec.com/news/local/article/584490–hudak-unclear-on-uploading-commitments
http://www.nugget.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3273387
McGuinty isn’t going to raise taxes, you see…
…he’ll just call them “premiums,” “fees” and “time-of-use billing,” among other things (like the oh-so convenient HST that technically wasn’t “raising taxes” either but it still had the effect of magically adding 8% to our gas and energy prices.)
The end result is even more money out of our paychecks, with the same (or more likely, less) level of service to show for it.
You don’t like the HST on gas? Take it up with Flaherty. Remember, its the Feds who decided not to extend the HST exemption to those goods. Any economist will tell you that the HST is good policy. Its good for Ontario and Ontarians.
You don’t like taxes? Move to New Hampshire, there is nothing stopping you. They’d be glad to have you.
Look, I agree that the HST in principle makes sense and I am not even arguing against it as a whole. Combining two separate taxes into a single line item calculation instead is a no-brainer that any fool can agree with.
The beef here is that we were lied to and told that it was going to be revenue neutral. An 8% tax increase on items that are not discretionary to most Ontario residents does not sound very revenue neutral to me. A couple of measly $100 rebate cheques is a drop in the bucket compared to the hundreds of extra dollars per year that the average family will now be paying out forever.
You obviously do not know what reveue neutral means.
It doen’t mean that each individual ends up paying the same amount. What it means, it that ehe HST brings in the same amount of revenue that the now defunct PST use to, however it does it in a more efficient manner.
Drugged parrots? Tim Hudak wants to drug parrots at the taxpayer’s expense. This cannot be allowed to stand.
Good God! He’s drugging parrots! What will Dr. Evil do next… become a Dalton Zombie? Tune in next week, folks, when Dalton get affianced to Timmy in the first ever Gay Liberal-Tory marriage! (and you thought Timmy was a fuddy-duddy, far-right, Christian demagogue… HA!)