Oil, Liberals and taxes
Almost half of Canadians want oil companies nationalized
By Arthur Weinreb, Associate Editor,
Thursday, September 8, 2005
Leger Marketing conducted a telephone poll of Canadians last month and asked if the petroleum and other resource industries should be nationalized.
The survey revealed that almost half of the respondents--49 per cent of those polled--thought that the petroleum industry should be taken over by the government. Not surprisingly, the largest proportion of those wishing to see the oil industry nationalized (61 per cent) resided in Quebec while the lowest percentage of people in favour were found in Alberta (41 per cent). It is somewhat ironic the separatists in Quebec; the ones who want to leave Canada, are the most dependent upon the largesse of the state that they want to leave.
There may be some difficulties with the poll in that it was taken between August 24 and 31. The survey was commenced after the first large recent spike in gas prices when oil reached $70 a barrel, but the second large price hike occurred in the wake of Hurricane Katrina which occurred while the survey was being taken. Even though prices at the pumps were higher at the end of the polling period it is revealing about how a significant proportion of Canadians view not only the role of government in society, but are willing to give this current Liberal government more control over their lives.
While many Canadians are quick to criticize the big oil companies for the amount of money that they rake in, they give the government a free pass when they act the same way. High prices at the pumps are seen as gouging and the profits that big oil rakes in are considered to be obscene. But apparently, high taxes that result in "obscene" surpluses; the next one estimated by some as being 9.5 billion, are considered by many to be prudent financial management. Many people have a blind faith that any time there is a problem the government will come along and make everything okay. Many seem quite willing to give this government greater control over their lives even though they are well-versed in the sponsorship scandal and the corruption that has taken place under the Liberals. This over dependence upon government is something that many former residents of New Orleans are finding out is not all that it’s cracked up to be.
An interesting finding of the poll is that 79 per cent of Canadians who responded to the Leger survey thought that the federal government should lower taxes on gasoline. When the totality of the results are looked at, a lot of people that are critical of the way the government is dealing with taxes on gasoline, that part of the price that they already control, are willing to give them control over the complete price that consumers pay at the pumps.
Do a lot of people actually think that if the government had complete control over petroleum that prices at the pumps would come down in any meaningful way? Just look at how the government reacted when the issue of reducing taxes came up after prices first exceeded $1 a litre in most of the country.
The Liberals insisted upon keeping the 1.5 cent a litre surcharge that was put on to help reduce the deficit even though deficits were eliminated years ago. Finance Minister Ralph Goodale’s argument for not getting rid of this tax was that the any savings that would result within an hour by the oil companies increasing the price. This is the guy that almost half of Canadians want to put in charge of selling gasoline. The government is not only unwilling to eliminate this "temporary" surtax; they will never give up or even reduce their precious GST. GST taxes not only the price of petroleum products but taxes the other federal and provincial taxes that make up the cost of a litre of gas. Taxing taxes; that’s the Canadian way.
And those taxes will be needed more than ever if the petroleum and/or other resources became nationalized because the government could never be as efficient as the oil companies are when it comes to running a business.
But Canadians are constantly being told that government is responsible for everything that they have and all that they have or could accomplish. And when a problem such as high fuel prices come along, more and more control by the nanny state is what a significant proportion of Canadians turn to as a solution.
We already have a one party state in this country; one where socialist Jack Layton calls a lot of the budgetary shots. Perhaps we should just become a commie dictatorship and get it over with.
Arthur Weinreb is an author, columnist and Associate Editor of Canada Free Press. His work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Men's News Daily, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck and The Rant. Arthur can be reached at: letters@canadafreepress.com
| 
