Mighty Mouse Martin (rat) to the Rescue
On the “he’s okay”scale, Martin is a lot closer to the shallow idiot- of-
contrasts bottom than the principled genius top, which is the secret of his
success.
It takes one.. to know one.
Pint-fisted liberal Canadians are the same all over. Put a dollar in their
hand, take five from their pocket, put a promise in their heads and a
logic-less one sided three- word maximum cause- du-jour ribbon on their
sleeve or car…….. and they’ll follow you anywhere.
In the end, and to his credit Martin did outsmart Chretien if they give
awards for the better man in skulduggery and tight-rope crisis- management.
Martin was bankrolling huge blocks of tax money (is there another kind?)
when he was finance Minister for the latter in the Ottawa recall or The
Great Canadian Trans(fer) Robbery. Why Chretien didn’t spend it all, is a
mystery with the possible exception that the Party -suits must have
maintained some control over him.
To no surprise of the people who know when and how to do math when their
calculator shuts down the ‘Federal’ Government of Canada was the only
financial sector to do splendidly supercalafragilistic pretty darn good when
Provinces, Municipalities and taxpayers (somewhere) were taking the worst
income and inflationary crap-kicking in history.
Like water, money is not easily created. It only seeks its level and natural
place and right now Martin is apparently holding back the James Bay Project
in his Oz- like world.
For certain, the Liberals amassed a huge war chest of citizen money for
‘just-in-time’ pay-offs and buyouts. Of course, Liberals of the federal or
provincial genus (or sub-species) are just as adept at taking the family
table food thru hidden taxes as well as income taxes. Bounding Brian from
Quebec ( is there another kind of Prime Minister?) was at least up front,
(and) nothing else.
Take a typical hundred dollar transaction (Ottawa and Toronto do) between
two good unsuspecting modern Samaritans. First of all, Presto… it’s a
hundred and fifteen dollar transaction (Ottawa’s concept of expanding, or
letting the economy grow… like the litre of gas). One never knows for sure
where this tipping fee goes, but one knows where it comes from and who
becomes the free tax collector.
If this was a manufactured widget it was taxed at the manufacturing level in
hidden employer and employee taxes, such as income from sales, employee
government deductions etc. not covered under the GST. It was then
’shook-down’ for income at the wholesale and retail level aside from sales
and service taxes.
If it was bought as a used item it was sheer delight bumper crop cash,
especially of the more expensive vehicle of transport or recreation variety
in both income (seller) tax and sales (buyer) tax. The more times the
(appropriately named) vehicle is sold, it can (and has happened) match or
‘lap’ in taxes a third round retail price.
But, ‘this is government serving the people’ and as in the aforementioned
litre of gas, as political ‘leaders’ will tell us, “Hey, if the government
won’t take our ‘excess’ cash… someone else will”
Gee, thanks for looking out for both of us.
Of course, now Martin is seeing another ‘call to action’ of crisis
management and is jumping his stallion like Paul Revere as I write. Not to
spread warnings, but 4 or 5 billion pants lowering looneys on the express
bramble and brush covered trail to the West. The good Tsar Nicholas could
have learned well from our mystical Rasputin.
Will the West be bought mind, body and soul or temporary pacified with the
temporary gifts of their own money?
Home grown Westerners have proven to be a different breed from the east and
eastern immigrants to the West so stay tuned.
Paul Gordon,
Cannington Ont.
