So, the Ontario Libs have published their Ontario budget. Realizing we’re kind of in debt (this year, the INTEREST on the debt alone is nearly $11 B dollars!), what does the government do? They INCREASE spending, and ADD TO THE DEBT to the tune of $10B/yr.

Now, I know these numbers tend to not mean very much to the average Torontonian. (I single out Torontonians, because they are largely responsible for re-electing the current bunch of schemers we have occupying the Legislature today).

2011 Ontario Election Results:

So, to make things a bit easier, here’s a different look at the numbers:

1. The sum of the following currently pays for the INTEREST on the debt:

• All of the health tax
• All of the Gas Tax
• All of the Tobacco Tax
• All of the Beer/Wine Tax
• All Transfer Payments for being a have-not province

All this combined is about $11B, which equals the total INTEREST payments to service the debt.

2. Nearly all corporate taxes collected in Ontario.

Next year, if the interest rises, the amount needed to service the debt will be larger than the total of tax collected from all corporations in Ontario

3. Nearly 40% of personal income tax paid to Ontario.

That is 40 cents of every dollar you fork over to Queen’s Park goes to pay the interest on the debt. Not to health care. Not to roads. Not to pay the debt, even: To pay INTEREST on the debt.

Any of these three choices are currently paying off the service on the debt. Not to pay off the debt, mind you, just to pay the INTEREST on it.

I continue hammering the word INTEREST because so many people in this province don’t even know the difference between debt and deficit.

Now, to anyone running even a basic household budget, will realize the DEBT HAS TO BE PAID OFF as soon as possible. And what does the current bunch do? The decided to ADD TO THE DEBT.

And the NDP, after calling them “liars” for a year for providing less than the truth (or the “truth as we understand it“), has to consult Ontarians to help them decide what to do. Well, Andrea, they’re either liars or they are not. They deserve to stay in power or they do not. Which is it?

People of Toronto, I beg of you, pay attention and get these bums out.

I have decided to spin off the food section of this blog into its own entity: food.erwingerrits.com.

I am in the process of moving over the recipes I had on this blog, and am adding new ones as we make them. The theme will be Good Food Made Easy. My wife and I are trying to make healthy meals (mostly low GI) with less and less salt, fat, sugar, processed ingredients.

It will not so much be a “heath food” blog, but more a blog about how ordinary people, who may not be cooking so much due to various reasons, can pick up a spatula and create nice tasting, healthy meals from scratch in under 30 minutes. And in the process they may learn a few things about food and how ingredients work together and they can start to experiment themselves on some new recipes.

Too many times I have heard, by people that routinely eat unhealthy take out food or eat out many times a week: “I can’t cook”, or “I don’t have time to cook, I work full time, you know!”. First of all, anyone can learn how to cook, and well, let me tell you, both my wife and I work full time, and we still make a nutritious, healthy meal FROM SCRATCH nearly every weekday. AND we’re done cooking, eating and cleaning by 6 pm most nights.

Anyway, I hope that the new site will inspire people to start cooking a bit more at home rather than eating KFC or pizza several times a week.

Our favourite Liz May is in the news again. She says Canada is breaking the law by cancelling the Kyoto Accord.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2011/12/13/pol-may-kyoto.html

To which I have one thing to say: what does a delegate from Papua New Guinea have to do with Canadian policy?

So what is there to say today? We’re back with Premier Dad, who lied to us, and cheated us, but you know, we didn’t know the other guy, so, you know, we went with him. Great. Get ready for some more taxes, folks!

I do not want to come off as a sore loser, because I hate that, I hated that the last federal election when all the lefties were sore losers, and are still talking about the “60% that didn’t vote for them”. I do not want to do that. The people of Ontario voted for the Liberals, they won fair and square according to the system we have, and we have to accept that. What I am wondering, though, is HOW it came to be.

The Seinfeld Campaign.

Let’s face it: the campaign was about NOTHING. I mean, come on, taking HST off of Hydro? What’s that, like $20 a month? A $1,500 tax credit for seniors so they can renovate their homes? Really? How much money does a $1,500 tax credit give you in your pocket, like $200? Oh, you can do a lot of renovating for $200. Ever been to the Home Depot and picked up some wood? $200 doesn’t even begin to pay the taxes! And I don’t even know what the NDP was offering, oh yes, a cap on gas prices. Really? And what else was there in the platforms… More tax-credits for some group or another. I mean, really, what was this campaign about? It was about piddly things. Things that don’t matter. “We’re for  familes!”, “No, WE are for families!”, “No, WE are!”. Come on. Where are the bold ideas, like tackling the deficit in a meaningful way, like not just extending the credit limit, but paying off your balance. Tax reform that will simplify the system and make it more equal, like a flat tax system, where everyone pays a fixed percentage of their income, no longer stifling entrepreneurship. Fix healthcare once and for all by allowing a private delivery system, paid for with your OHIP card, that will take the strain off of our hospitals. Come up with a doable, affordable energy policy, like waste-to-energy, which kills two birds with one stone. Tackle pollution, and really punish the ones breaking the law. No, we’re talking about $20 a month off your hydro bill, a once a year $200 payment to be able to renovate your house, and capping your gas price at $1.20 a litre. Whoop-de-doo. So what do most people do when there is a choice between three parties that are the same? They go with the status quo. That’s Human Nature.

No consequences

In a way, the result reflects today’s parenting style: even though little Johnny put spray-paint all over the neighbour’s wall, we praise him for the nice artwork, apologize to the neighbor, but forgo the punishment, in order to secure Johnny’s friendship. And therein lies the problem: even when talking about prisons, the words “rehabilitation” and “deterrent” come up, yet the word “punishment” is never uttered. We live in a society where “keeping the peace” and “keep it slow and steady” is more important than making people face the consequences of their actions. What does that say about our society? We all ran to the comforting safety of Daddy, even though you know Daddy is a lying, cheating bastard. That’s OK. He’s Daddy, he’ll take care of us. We forgive him his past lies, and will go “forward” with him.

The media

I have a real axe to grind with the media, especially the “news”. I put “news” in quotes, because, for some reason, and I don’t know when this changed, the “news” is no longer just the news, it is a nightly opinion-piece. Thirty years ago, the news was just the news. The (boringish) anchor was sitting in front of a (boringish) set, just reading the news: “In Ottawa, the government passed a bill that makes it illegal to shoot someone”. You know, the NEWS. Now it’s an opinion piece, and every anchor and correspondent has to throw in their two cents worth. And don’t even get me started on the newspapers, which should be reclassified as opinion magazines, like MacLeans. And I have heard many time before “oh, I stopped following the news, I get my own information”, well that’s fine for you, but unfortunately the masses still watch the “news” on TV, or read it in the newspapers, and take it for “news”, rather than the opinion of the anchor or editor that it really is.

All of a sudden, the week before the election the media started talking about “the coming storm” referencing a new recession. Even though Canada’s finance minister has not talked about a coming recession, nor has the Bank of Canada, but there it was. So where did it come from? It came from Dalton McGuinty’s mouth: “the coming storm, and we need an experienced leader to weather it”. And there you go. This is how the “news” influences the voter.

Polls

Polls are no good for anything. Really. They influence the people that like to follow the crowd, which seems to be the majority of people. The “Orange Crush” syndrome: people that want to be a part of history, rather than vote with their convictions. You can make an argument that a poll can also motivate the troops if your party is behind, but that is just the point: on election day, we only start counting votes after all polling stations are closed, in order not to influence the polls that close later, yet we allow polls to be done and published, that constantly influence the outcome all through the campaign. But does this blindly following the polls say something about polling, or something about us?

People 1) don’t care, 2) are selfish and 3) stupid

1. And this is the kicker: people don’t care. One the one hand, they say they don’t care about politics, and don’t vote, because “They are all the same. They all lie and cheat to get elected”, and on the other, they keep re-electing proven liars. If there is no punishment for the crime, the politician will just keep on lying, and keep on getting re-elected. We’re creating our own prophecy here.
2. People will vote for what will be good for them, rather than what is good for us all. That is also Human Nature. Promise someone a $100 tax credit, “oh, that’s better than paying off the provincial debt, I get $100!”.
3. A $100 tax credit, is NOT $100 in your pocket people!! Come on!

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So what to think of all this? At the end of the day, after all is said and done, democracy prevailed, the majority got their choice, and at the very least, we have to be happy about THAT.

I am just wondering if the founding fathers of democracy ever thought of the fact that the people who vote are uninterested, ill informed, selfish followers who have no concept of “the greater good”.

I never heard so much negativity regarding the Federal Government as this session, both from Global TV and CTV. I do not watch the CBC (even though I AM paying for it!).

Every evening it’s “Flexing their majority muscle”, “ramming through Parliament”, “push through with their new found majority”, “Now they have a majority, Harper can basically do what he wants”, and so on..

The “controversial” Omnibus Crime Bill is being “pushed through parliament” this week. The “cracking down on ordinary Canadians” Copyright Bill is being “steamrolled through Parliament”. The “nothing more than a media-op” Flag Bill is going through Parliament, “ensuring its passing with Harper’s new found majority”.

1) Why is the Omnibus Crime Bill dubbed “controversial”? Harper clearly said he would reintroduce it in parliament within the first 100 days of this session in the campaign. The people of Canada gave him a majority. Now he is doing what he was promising in the campaign. I fail to see how this bill is, in any way, “controversial”. I guess it is “controversial” because last week I heard John McCallum say on the radio that “60% of Canadians did not vote for Harper, so a majority of Canadians is against this bill”. *sigh* Are they ever going to stop saying this? I mean, it’s just so stupid. I cannot imagine that they are too stupid to see that it is so stupid. I think I threw in too many “stupids”  in there, but I mean, that is just so stupid!

2) Why is the “controversial” Crime Bill not hailed as a first in Canadian Politics, where a governing party promises to do something in the campaign, and then ACTUALLY DOES IT while in power?

3) The Copyright Bill. Nothing on the news about the fact that they are taking OUT the fact that one cannot, legally, tape a show from TV and watch it later. That it was illegal to tape an old record (the vinyl ones) and put it on your iPod. Nothing about the fact that it is ILLEGAL to download movies form the Internet and then watch it at home and give it to friends. No, the new Copyright Bill was introduced on the news, with making it harder for “poor students” to find “lesson material” (I am NOT kidding!), and that ordinary Canadians can no longer crack the lock off a DVD and copy it to your computer (um, that’s illegal -> it’s the same as smashing a window at a Vancouver Riot and walking off with a big screen TV, but I guess that was OK, too). The bill is all for “Big Corporations”. Right.

4) The Challenger Jet stupidity. Tell me, Glovel & CTV, WHY do we have Challenger Jets, if the government is not allowed to use them? Chretien got the damn things, you were complaining about that, and now we’re using them, and you’re complaining about that. Would you rather have them sitting on the tarmac rusting away? Would that make it any better for you? I guess we should stick Harper and McKay on the VIA rail, economy class. And if they get an emergency call, they’d have to get off at the next station, which could be Sturgeon Falls (no offence, I’ve been there, it’s not really that bad), and then, what, grab the next Greyhound back to Ottawa? I mean, the whole thing is just so ridiculous!

Funny I never heard Chretien “flex his majority muscle” or “ram through” any bills. And he had more than 60% of Canadians who voted against him. never brought that up, though.

Why, it almost sounds as if Global and CTV have some sort of bone to pick with the Conservatives? Could that be?

UPDATE:

Oh My God, John Baird ordered business cards! The world is coming to an end!!

Reading the article, I found my points above are proven again:

“Baird demands gold”
“Mr. Baird then ordered…”
“He insisted”
“…got his way”
“…muscled aside”

My, my. Doesn’t he sound like Atilla the Hunn?

Any more proof?

So, Elizabeth May *finally* got herself elected. It didn’t come easy, or cheap: first, she had to pick the most hippie-like riding in the country (I’ve been to the Gulf Islands) and then she had to spend the entire campaign in her own riding, and blow more than half  of her entire national budget on buying herself some votes.

In the mean time, all her other 307 candidates were out there, unsupported, with no money to spend.

Then you go on TV stating there was a “growing green movement”, while in fact, your party’s support fell by 360,000 votes, or 39%. You were just talking about yourself, weren’t you?

Seriously, I don’t know why those 307 green candidates keep putting their names on the ballot.

It all started with this innocent looking Tweet by @BradDuguid:

New #energy rates today show average home bill this May compared to last May remained the same http://bit.ly/cdpKw

There is so much wrong with this tweet, I barely know where to start.

OK, first off, unless Mr. Brad NoGood Duguid has a friend named Doc, and access to a DeLorean Time Machine, there is NO WAY he can know what his MAY Hydro bill will be like, since it is April 20.

Secondly, Hydro JUST announced another 8% increase taking effect May 1st. That is on top of another 9% that was implemented in August 2010, and another 8% of HST on top of all that. There are also numerous smaller increases throughout May 2010-May 2011.

So, this is AT LEAST a 32% increase in rates since last May, and Mr. Duguid is saying a mere 10% bribe discount off your bill will cover that. In fact, he says all of our future fictitious Hydro bills are the same as our May 2010 bills. Quite the foresight, there.

I think it’s time for Mr. Duguid to acquire a calculator. Or at least a brain.

All of a sudden, Iggy pulls out the Coalition Option. Layton said last week he’s willing to jump into bed with anybody (my words, not his). Seems like Harper was the only one telling the truth all along. Surprise, surprise.

Iggy now says he’s ruling out any form of coalition, unless there’s a Harper minority. Wait, what? If there was a Harper majority, there’s obviously no reason to form a coalition. And the Harper minority is the only reason you could form a coalition. So what you’re really saying is, is that you’re going to form a coalition. Period.

If this isn’t reason enough to elect a majority Harper government, I don’t know what is.

My thoughts on last nights debate:

The three amigos tried to come out swinging on contempt charges and G8/G20 reports, eventhough this had nothing to do with the taped quations, but after about 20 minutes, they seemed kind of puzzled that that hadn’t gotten them anywhere, credit to Harper, and seemed kind of lost on what to do next. Fortunately, some questions came along and steered the debate away from so called “scandals” and into some serious topics.

Iggy was angry. I am not sure why his handlers made him behave like that, or why that strategy was picked. For a party trying to portray Harper as the scary guy, they sure made their own leader look scary, with fist pounding on desks and calling the other leaders names like “liar” and “coward”. Iggy offered little on his platform. Occasionally, he seemed to lose his train of thought somewhere along his convoluted statements, ending his rebuttal early with time to spare. Maybe it was him tweeting all though the debate that got his mind wandering… #justsaying

Jack Layton had some good zingers, but unfortunately for him, zingers don’t get you elected–they just give you some comic relief. Otherwise, Jackie had his usual pie-in-the-sky NDP ideas, but no way of paying for them.

Gilles Duceppe was babbling on incoherently for most of the evening, and if you could understand what he was trying to say, he mentioned at some point signing deals with bananas and registering ducks (with the so-called Quebec National Ducks Registration Agency, more commonly known as Quedux). I think he may have had a few too many before the debate.

And Harper? Harper was cool as a cucumber. Opposition questions were just bouncing off him, turning his gaze to the Canadian people and calmly outlining his party’s platform. Not exciting, but effective, surely. I particularly liked his simple explanation of the jet purchase and why it doesn’t free up healthcare dollars if canceled.

So, Harper the winner, hands down. Jack second, Iggy third, Gilles fourth.

So, the campaign promises have started. Already the collective Opposition leaders have promised about $1B per day. Where this money comes from no one knows, but hey, it’s a campaign, and Canadians have been known to believe a promise or two (remember the GST?).

After attaching the government on the so called “in and out” scheme, both Iggy and Jackie themselves are offering a sort of in-and-out scheme to the taxpayers. Yesterday Iggy came up with the most complicated, convoluted scheme to “help” students with some sort of $4000 (or something) grant in some sort of program (if I am being vague, well, it’s because no-one understands the damn thing). One university professor (didn’t catch his name) said on the radio yesterday, that, while complicated, it basically means nothing more than taking something away from some students and giving it to other students, using programs already in place (like the RESPs), the net result being zero. In and out.

Today Jackie came out swinging saying he’d lower taxes for small business, but to pay for it, he’d raise taxes on corporations. I guess no-one told him that most small businesses are corporations, providing most of the jobs (at least here in Ontario). You know that nail-salon you go to, next to the Lebanese pizza place? Well, both of them are corporations. And so are all the other small businesses in that strip mall. They will get a lower tax through his small business cuts, and then pay more tax through his corporation raise. Sounds a lot like an in-and-out scheme to me.

Lizzy May is talking to a lawyer so she may, once again, act like a spoiled child and scream through everybody around the discussion table at the National Debates (that are somehow directed by “The Broadcast Consortium”, a term one only hears during electoral debates, thankfully).

And Gilles? Well, Gilles is in Quebec. Big surprise.