12.20.2016 07:50 AM

Mr. Glass Half-Full


8 Comments

  1. Ron Whitehorne says:

    Mr. Brown, I am extremely worried over our countries growing debt and irresponsible spending, and a carbon tax coming that will eventually kill our economy.

    It costs our province about 10 or 11 billion dollars in interest payments just to service our massive unnecessary debt that the green energy program has been the main reason in my view, and all the billions in Liberal scandals are criminal.

    I have heard that you support this carbon tax, that in my response is we are not the problem, our massive country and small population, sucks up the carbon dioxide, and remits more in oxygen.

    Why should our small population be penalized, when other countries are the problem.

    We cannot compete with a carbon tax that our neighbour does not have, and our electrical costs have skyrocketed to be unaffordable to people and business.

    Our public education system is broken, with poor quality and huge costs due to unions and massive pay increases and pension programs.

    Healthcare is another area that is becoming unaffordable, and front line workers such as nurses are being let go because of the top heavy bureaucracy.

    There are better plans in Europe, that the best of many different ones could be studied and implemented to streamline our system and get rid of massive waste, probably due in most part to unions.
    This must be done if we want our healthcare to last.

    The last huge cost to provincial and federal taxpayers are the public pension plans that should, and must be scaled back to affordability, before we end up like Greece, because that is where we are heading.

    This would be the last bridge to cross after you battle the before mentioned problems, because there would probably be riots if public employees had their cushy pensions touched.

    This us a problem all western countries have, and is not going to go away, but hope that our country doesn’t get into the same state as Greece has.

    My wife and I have both been self employed all our working lives and are able to retire without a company pension plan, so why should we supplement public pension plans that we do not get to enjoy?
    We have both generated a few million in tax revenue both federally and provincially, and created employment at same time with no help from governments, except to tax us more, with more regulations for us to encounter.

    It seems to me that people are expecting more from the state that cannot deliver, because the money is just not there unless they borrow more to suit the public.
    It has become a vicious circle, that will only end in bankruptcy unless it is immediately stopped.

    You have a big job ahead, so my suggestion to you is take a look at what former premier Harris did, and you will be on the right track.

    If we still had followed his vision our province would be financially strong with low debt, and we would be the envy of the world.

    To many people expect to much from governments so many just sit back and feel they must be looked after from crake to grave.

    I think unions have been the major cause of this, and have overstepped their necessity.

    We must get back to essentials, and cut the waste if we are to succeed.

    A lot of common sense could go a long way as well.

    Thanks for listening, and hope you picked something from my letter to you.

    P.S. Please excuse my spelling or grammar because my advanced macular degeneration makes it very difficult to write properly.

    Ron Whitehorne
    1 Rosamond St. E.
    Unit 408
    Almonte, On
    K0A1A0

    • Ron says:

      Unions piss me off sometimes too. But they do have their useful moments.

      Unless you want to see 12 year-olds working 18 hours at the coalface again ?

      • The Doctor says:

        The reason why 12-year olds can’t work 18 hours a day at the coalface is due to employment standards legislation, which is completely separate from unions. Employment standards apply to everyone covered by the Act. Employment standards legislation and the labour relations acts governing unions are completely separate pieces of legislation.

        • Ron says:

          Do you really think that employment standards legislation would have happened without an active labour movement ?

          Split hairs all you that you want. If labour wasn’t organized, the working class would be stomped right into
          the ground. Just like Wigan Pier.

          • The Doctor says:

            I understand and appreciate the historical contributions that organized labour has made in the realm of workers’ rights. That said, Canada’s unionization rate is at around 30 percent. 70 percent of us rely on employment standards and Occupational health and safety legislation for protection against unfair and unsafe working conditions, however imperfect such protection may be. Unions have become largely the preserve of workers in the public sector and certain other monopolies.

          • doconnor says:

            With weak unions those employment standards are falling back. Minimum wages have been falling behind for decades. Part-time are causal employment is growing. Unpaid overtime is now expected of even minimum wage jobs.

    • doconnor says:

      “massive unnecessary debt that the green energy program has been the main reason in my view”

      For better or worse, the green energy program isn’t the cause of the debt. The green energy program has been privately financed. Companies take on the debt to build green energy projects in exchange for garenteed rates for thier power. It isn’t even the largest cause of hydro rate increases.

      Canada may be responsible for only 2% of greenhouse gas emissions, but 2% of the potentially millions of deaths climate change could cause is still a lot.

      Canada cannot end up like Greece because we have our own currency.

    • bluegreenblogger says:

      In 1999, Mike Harris Government broke up Ontario Hydro, and ‘stranded’ $28.9 billion in debt accrued largely by the nuclear operators. We lucky taxpayers also managed to remain on the hook for disposal of Candu waste that nobody in the World has ever managed to dispose of safely before. It is rather strange for you to actually believe that a ‘green energy’ plan from a decade ago is responsible for your debt charges. That Green Energy plan has zero public debt associated with it. It is made up of people who bought or financed their own energy source, and sell the energy to the Province, at a generous rate for sure, but more cheaply than nuclear. Hm. Sounds like zero debt to me. I guess maybe you are too young to remember what actually happened in such a distant past. I mention it, because when we finally start disposing of all that nuclear waste, it will cost far far more than all the debt put together, and I would not want you mistakenly blaming welfare, or primary schooling for Bill Davis’ mistake.

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