The Ontario election is a preview of coming attractions. Tim Harper writes:
It may appear Stephen Harper is being dragged into the Ontario election campaign by responding to goading by Liberal Leader Kathleen Wynne.
But Harper was on full combat footing when it came to Wynne’s made-in-Ontario pension plan even before NDP Leader Andrea Horwath forced this campaign on provincial voters.
It is an issue on which Harper had to engage. And one on which he is all too eager to engage.
The cornerstone of Harper's philosophy is you're on your own. He believes that it should be Canadians individual responsibility to save for retirement. Thus, the only commitments you make are to yourself. Wynne's pension plan rests on the basic assumption that we are all in this together. Thus, we not only make commitments to ourselves, we make them to each other. Unions no longer have the membership or the clout to demand pensions. That responsibility has now become a government responsibility.
The fight between Wynne and Harper is all about what government should and should not do. That debate will be carried forward to the next election. Harper wants to stage a preemptive strike in Ontario. If he has that province in his pocket, he figures that the next election will go his way.
We shall see.
20 comments:
For someone who derides public pensions as much as steve harper, he will no doubt line up to the trough when his turn comes to collect. What's so glaringly obvious about this crew occupying space in Ottawa is that the standards they want to create for us clearly do not apply to them. How about eliminating a few cabinet posts to save some money for the taxpayer? Surely a few of these guys could handle multiple portfolios? Nah second thought :)
The Harperites believe that the rules apply to ordinary folks, waterboy, not to them. They're exceptional.
To follow up on bcwaterboy's observations, Owen, it is rather telling, isn't it, that those who have had cossetted careers (pre-politician Stephen Harper et al) and environs preach the hearty and rugged individualism that none of them has ever had to experience?
God save us from these legendary 'self-made' men and women.
As my late father -- a World War II vet -- approached his 80th birthday, Lorne, he told me that his survival was made possible by "pure dumb luck."
He worked hard but he never claimed to be a self made man. Mr Harper glorifies the military, but he couldn't survive there. And his political survival owes more to pure dumb luck than it does to strategic genius.
I wonder if Steve Harper will renounce his extremely generous government pension? Of course he won't. The Reformists want more for themselves and less for everybody else.
Steve has never had a real job and the only way he can survive is through the generosity and compassion of the Canadians he is screwing.
You know what Steve? Go fuck yourself.
This con crew knows that since it does the bidding of the Canadian business elite there will be a handsome pay-off in their post government roles. These are the very same corporations that get free subsidies from good ole boy Stephen and of course their tax cuts, they do not want CPP so Steve must find a way to eliminate it for them and he will.
These same shysters have no problem receiving government money themselves:
"This list merely represents those corporations with direct CCCE membership and is in no way a complete representation of Canadian public subsidy for private profit beneficiaries. Of special note are the following CCCE member energy companies who each receive an unspecified share of the nearly $2 billion [yearly] in available government subsidies or tax incentives..." see article here:
http://www.mediacoop.ca/story/mega-lobbyists-canadian-council-chief-executives/17669
These people have the same attitude as harper its okay for us to be on the corporate dole but no way can the wage earner expect any of the same benefits as us because we are very special and wage earners merely the dirt under our shoes.
"Why would the government of Canada give public money to already profitable corporations? This practice seems to defy so-called free market ethics." MEGA-LOBBYISTS: THE CANADIAN COUNCIL OF CHIEF EXECUTIVES by Morgan Duchesney. (link above)
Steve the economist should have to answer this question. Morgan explains how these rich Canadians are manipulating the government behind the scenes and manufacturing law (parliamentary bills) for their own personal ends.
"They first came into existence as the Business Council on National Issues in 1976 and then and now it has always been a corporate lobby group and it is estimated that their members control $4.5 trillion dollars in assets which makes them the most powerful lobby group in Canada. This group has up to 180 members which consists of CEO’s of the top corporations in Canada and some CEO’s attend Bilderberg Meetings. The CCCE’s main purpose is to represent the interest of their membership and to further their agendas by lobbying to the Government of Canada to pass statutes and acts in their favor (like the Competition Act).
They have contact with the Prime Minster more than any other organization, which was up to 29 meetings with Harper in 2011 and only 9 or 10 were reported in mainstream media (according Morgan Duchesney). So despite the major influence they have over the Government of Canada they keep a pretty low profile and not a lot of Canadians have ever even heard of them."
http://canadianawareness.org/2014/01/exposing-the-top-10-canadian-corporatists-bilderberg-group-and-the-ccce/
More reading - Power Behind the Throne: the Canadian Council of Chief Executives
These are the real crooks behind the drive to de-Canada Canada, they want a system where everything is privatized and they are left completely unregulated and to hell with the rest of us if we can't or simply don't want to play their rich man game of amassing wealth just for the sake of it. Harper worships them and feels compelled to sacrifice the majority of Canadians for these wealthy tyrants who wish to remake Canada to suit themselves.
Time to take Canada away from them.
Indeed, Mogs. It's time.
That seems to be Harper's message to the majority of Canadians, Anon.
Save for your own retirement while corporate criminals fire you and replace you with exploited workers from the Temporary Foreign Workers program.
That's the plan, thwap. And they say they are acting in your best interests.
I think Mr. Harper is about to be dragged further into the Ontario provincial election by scheduling 2 by-elections in Ontario federal ridings for June 30th.
For someone who has never had a real job, stephy, who before politics did not have a pot to piss in, or a window to throw it out of, is now reported to have a net worth of 5 to 6 million dollars.
He must be a really shrewd investor.
Absolutely, 4077. The results should be interesting.
Who says that politics isn't a profitable profession, Ron?
Saving is problematic these days even if you have money to save. The returns on savings are extremely low, even below the rate of inflation for sums under $5,000 under some circumstances.
There is quite a strong case to cover the costs of retirement as a large group rather than as an individual. As an individual, one never knows how much to save as one has little idea of one's life expectancy. I know there are tables for life expectancy but they are for groups, and don't translate to individual cases precisely. I may have 30 more years to go according to the tables but I might get a fatal cancer next year.
Canada is turning into a rigid class society and as such, it always amazes me how little better off people understand about others.
Some years ago central Toronto had a major rat problem. I'd go out to walk at six am and find huge dead rats on the sidewalk (they were being poisoned). My suburban friends would look at me blankly when I mentioned a rat problem. I realized that they didn't walk, at all, and never looked at a sidewalk, downtown or otherwise, and had no interest in the sordid goings-on downtown.
Eventually central Toronto got the rat problem under control and became inhospitable to the rats who migrated to, you guessed it, the suburbs. The suburbanites were amazed and outraged. They didn't know about the earlier rat problem a few miles away from their backyards and didn't think about taking preventative measures until they personally had lots and lots of rats.
The moral of this little tale is that rigid class societies don't pay off, even for rich people.
Precisely, ffd. All that money concentrated at the top doesn't circulate and the bottom of the economy atrophies. Things collapse from the bottom up.
Moreover, the track record for government pension plans is pretty good. Costs are kept at a minimum.
Flaherty had said. The corporations and the wealthy are sitting on all of the money. That stops the flow of cash around the globe. That in turn causes a recession.
Big businesses are bottomless pits of greed. Harper works for the corporations. They demand cheap labor, Harper brings over cheap foreign labor, for the corporations to exploit. Harper has been sneakily working on the TPP which, is another corporate give-a-way.
When big business lines up at the trough and squeals for more money? Harper gives them, another $60 billion in tax reductions. Harper steals from us to give our tax dollars to, the wealthiest outfits in the world.
Harper did a stint as a mail room boy, in the same oil company his Dad worked for. Other than that, Harper has lived off the tax payers dime.
Harper also moonlights. He acts in TV shows, plays in his band and had plenty of time, to write a book. I understand, Harper also now takes Fridays off, from Parliament as well.
He's obviously not one of those ordinary wage earners, Anon -- the people he claims to represent.
Wynne has made a bold strike. If the people of Ontario reject it, they will find they are freezing in the winter of their old age. Ontario isn't B.C., where you can get by on less heat.
Of course Harper is all about "himself". He has proven that time and again as he threw one person under the bus, after another. If voters buy into the "individual" theme, they will find themselves, hanging. Its like the old saying goes, we either all hang together or we all hang individually.
People don't have money to save for retirement. They can't even save for their children's dental work. There is a lot of unemployment in Ontario and when the feds re-open the TFW program it will get worse. People can not expect to put money into the bank and make interst on it.
About all you can hope to do is pay off your house before you retire so you have a roof over your head.
What is so funny though, is Harper has the best pension plan in Canada, along with the rest of his crew. Not one of them is giving that up. So much for principles. Its just whoever gets across the line first and the rest be dammed. If people want to buy into that, they can only blame themselves when they are old and living in poverty.
You've summarized Harper's approach to governing quite succinctly, e.a.f. "It's whoever gets across the finish line first, and the rest be damned."
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