Responsible Voting vs. Strategic Voting

You do have a choice. "Strategic" voting has done nothing but backfire. In 104 ridings in the previous election, the NDP came in second place (and they won an additional 37). Strategic voting does not necessarily mean voting Liberal.

Remember back in Chretien's day? The right wing was divided into the Progressive Conservatives and the Reform Party, which morphed into the Canadian Alliance, and finally the two parties joined to form the Conservatives. While they were split, they were decimated in the polls.

The same thing has happened to the left. The Green Party has siphoned a lot of crucial votes away from the NDP. A comparison of the parties reveals that the NDP is at least as "green" as the Green Party, and in addition it has a great deal of depth in other areas as well. The Bloc Quebecois of course throws off the balance of power between the parties, but thankfully they're pretty progressive. Unfortunately, no one wants to formally ally with the Bloc due to their avowed mission of breaking up Canada.

With the left split, a vote for the Green Party rather than the NDP is essentially a vote for Stephen Harper.

All that being said, I've always despised the idea of strategic voting. In Canada, why should I have to vote for a party I don't believe in? The solution is not strategic voting, it's electoral reform to introduce some form of proportional representation into Canadian politics. It's horrifying that Stephen Harper has been able to form governments when 62% of voters voted against him!

Nonetheless, I've always said that the only responsible vote is an informed vote. Voters need to actually read the election platforms of the various parties so they can understand what each of them actually stands for. Armed with that knowledge, voters can then vote for the party that best reflects their values.

Ontario's Children's Activity Tax Credit Lacks Vision

Ontario has recently proposed a Children's Activity Tax Credit. Like the Harper Conservatives before them, the McGuinty Liberals lack vision. Instead of looking at a physical activity tax credit as a way to reduce health care costs for the entire population, they're approaching it from a "family values" perspective and offering the credit only to children.

Especially in tough economic times, providing all Ontarians a tax break to help them afford physical activity would be wise. Exercise relieves stress and wards off depression... these ailments are widespread during a recession, and they reduce productivity, contribute to days off work, and increase demand on health care.

What should be on the table is an Ontario Activity Tax Credit, available to everyone. The reasoning is simple... lifelong physical activity prevents illness and infirmity, which in turn will reduce demands placed by citizens on the health care system. The payoff in health care savings would dwarf the cost of the credit. Making an activity credit available to everyone makes good sense.

What can you do? Send Dalton McGuinty a message. Then send your MPP a message too.

Repeal Ontario's Tax on Reading!

With the HST tax grab that came into effect on July 1st, one thing that was to remain unchanged was that books would remain free from provincial sales tax (the federal government has been taxing reading for years with the GST).

That hasn't happened. While paper books remain tax-exempt, e-books, which are the future of reading and the publishing industry, are now taxed 13% HST instead of only 5% GST.

There is a detailed HST Info Sheet on the taxing of books here; in the fine print it specifies that:

"For purposes of the rebate, the term 'printed book' has its ordinary meaning. Therefore, electronic and digital books will not qualify as printed books for purposes of the rebate."

Amazon recently announced that it sells more e-books than hardcovers.

What the Ontario government has done is to sneakily break their promise not to tax books, and they've done it by taxing the future of reading. They figure that by the time book-buyers clue into the paper vs. e-book tax discrepancy, that they'll have forgotten that this is a new tax, and one which McGuinty promised us we wouldn't have to pay.

In fact, current Ontario government HST propaganda specifies that:

"Other products will be eligible for a point-of-sale rebate for the provincial part of the HST. This means you will only pay the 5 per cent federal portion of the HST. These include print newspapers, books (including audio books),".

That seems pretty clear, doesn't it? But apparently an e-book isn't a book. McGuinty has made a big deal about how the HST is good for business, but with this new tax on books, he's struck a blow to the publishing industry. He's made the fastest growing segment in publishing 8% more expensive. Is that good for business? Is it good for Ontario? I don't think so.

Putting a tax on reading is poor public policy. It raises the cost of education for students of all ages. Books are the primary form by which we transmit knowledge in our society, and the foundation on which our knowledge-based economy is built. For all the good reasons we didn't tax reading before July 1st, we shouldn't begin to tax it afterward. Making a distinction between books and e-books is disingenuous at best, intentionally deceptive at worst.

What can you do? Write a message to Premier Dalton McGuinty, and then write one to your local MPP, too. (If you're really ambitious, ask Prime Minister Stephen Harper to drop the GST tax on reading, too!)

You can also join the Repeal Ontario's Tax on Reading Facebook group, and visit UnfairHST.ca. If you really want to make a difference, vote NDP in the next election...

Canada holds anti-dictatorship (aka anti-prorogation) rallies nation-wide.

I never in my life expected we'd have protests against a dictatorship here in Canada, yet yesterday there were protests against Stephen Harper held across the country.  (Here's the poster; put it everywhere!)

Stephen Harper, Canada's Prime Minister, has twice now closed (prorogued) Parliament to avoid his government being held accountable for its actions.  While Parliament is closed, Harper is able to rule by fiat, issuing decrees from the Prime Minister's office with no accountability to our Parliament.  By proroguing, he strips our democracy of the checks and balances which are built into it to prevent dictators like Harper from arising.

So there I was yesterday, with a large group of people in front of St. Catharines MP Rick Dykstra's office.  Dykstra of course didn't show his face (understandable, since his government's actions are indefensible), but I walked by his office less than two hours later and noticed that all of the signs we had taped to the windows had been taken down already.  In typical Conservative government fashion, Dykstra's supporters had quickly whitewashed the issue.

It doesn't matter what political party Harper belongs to, his actions have proven he has no respect for the democratic system he's supposed to be part of.  In our next election (which hopefully will be very soon), every Canadian needs to cast a vote against dictatorship by casting a vote against Stephen Harper and his cronies.  Harper's style of politics has no place in Canada's democracy.

External:  Niagara at Large also covered the rally.

Harper to prorogue Parliament... again!

As the CBC has reported, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has again shown his disregard for our democracy by asking the Governor General to prorogue Parliament in the middle of session.

While it's no doubt unlikely that we can change anything, at the time of this writing the GG hasn't yet publicly responded.  So I suggest we all send GG Michaelle Jean a message expressing our outrage.  The GG's e-mail address is info@gg.ca.  If enough people weigh in with their opinions, there's a chance we might convince her to save this session of Parliament and force the government to be accountable to the people.

Here's the text of the message I sent the GG, feel free to use it as a template:

Dear Ms. Jean:

I've heard that Prime Minister Harper has again asked you to prorogue Parliament.  As your response has not been publicly announced yet, I implore you to deny his request.

Proroguing Parliament is not in Canada's best interest.  At stake is $1 billion in Employment Insurance increases which will die along with other very important legislation.

Perhaps more important is the question of whether Mr. Harper can be allowed to turn proroguing Parliament, something which should be seen as an extraordinary measure, into a common occurrence that allows a government to dodge accountability.

With motions passed in the House calling for a public inquiry into the Afghan detainee issue, and calling for the government to disclose all information it holds on this issue, allowing Mr. Harper to prorogue Parliament is to allow him an abuse of process.

Mr. Harper is demeaning our Parliamentary system by treating extraordinary measures like proroguing Parliament as mere tools of political gamesmanship.  Under Mr. Harper, responsible government is a thing of the past.  He has systematically undermined government accountability to Parliament.

What Canada needs most right now is an extraordinary Governor General who will put their foot down and protect the integrity of Parliament and Canada's democracy.  Please do not grant Mr. Harper's request to prorogue Parliament.

Sincerely,

Mark Carter


There's also a Facebook group you can join for more information and opinions on this topic.

Ontario college teachers set to go on strike

Ontario's college teachers are set to go on strike in January, and I can already hear it... students and their parents complaining (most likely to the workers who aren't the problem, rather than to management) that they're going to miss a semester, or have their semester extended into the summer vacation season if a strike goes on for too long.  Letters to the editor will be written, Facebook groups will be created, all focused on the students' needs with no regard (or, likely, any knowledge) of what the workers are fighting for.

What students and parents who call for quick ends to labour disputes fail to understand is that they're sabotaging their own futures and those of their children.

How often is the lesson taught in colleges and universities that short-term thinking is the cause of so many seemingly intractable problems?

Yet students engage in this same short-term thinking when they're only concerned about finishing their semester on time and fail to look at the big picture.

If you don't support striking workers, you doom yourselves to a future where all that will be available to you is part-time work without benefits.  You'll likely be low-paid, you'll have uncertain hours, and your working conditions will be poor.  You'll be working two to three jobs to make ends meet.

Workers in all industries are fighting these same fights.  Declines in working conditions spread from employer to employer far faster than gains made by workers.  So, students need to learn this lesson now: United we bargain, divided we beg.

Your teachers' fight is your fight.  They're protecting your future, so have the decency to support them.

For more details, click here, and/or visit the OPSEU site.

Budgeting for Change

As we approach the end of the year, we're reaching the deadline to make charitable donations which can be deducted from this year's taxes.  This can be problematic, because we're also at that time of year when many of us have spent lots of money on gifts for the holiday season.  Tack on complications like high unemployment, and an increasing trend towards jobs being cut to part-time without benefits, and many of us are thinking twice about making charitable contributions.  In many cases it's just not financially viable.

One solution is to integrate charity into our monthly budgets.  Instead of trying to come up with unwieldy lump sums at the end of the year, why not spread your donations through the year by enrolling in the monthly pre-authorized giving programs most organizations now offer?  The organization will appreciate a steady donation stream rather than relying on an uncertain once-a-year donation, and integrating $5-20 per month into your budget is probably a lot easier than trying to come up with an extra $200 at Christmas time.  You may even be able to painlessly increase your donations by 20%... if you donate $50/year to an organization, for instance, converting that to $5/month increases your donation to $60.00.

Another option is to donate to a political party.  There are two good reasons to consider this: first, political party contributions receive very favourable tax treatment; you'll get 75% of your donation back.  Secondly, a political party that's successful (and success in politics is measured by more than how many seats are won in a legislature) has the power to influence the movement of huge sums of money and resources.  When you empower an organization that actually has the power to make or influence change, it's like exponentially multiplying your donation.

For instance, if you believe in environmental issues, you can donate to environmental groups who will lobby for legislative changes, perhaps buy land for conservation, and so forth.  Or, you can help a political party that shares your environmental values become successful.  That party can actually introduce the legislation to make the changes you want, they can set aside vast swathes of land as protected parks space... even if they're not the party in power, they'll be able to get the message out, influence the final versions of legislation, introduce new legislation on their own, (hopefully) have their ideas stolen by those in power... all told, supporting a political party that shares your values is a pretty good strategy.  Politics is all about the allocation of scarce resources, and it's always more effective to be working for change from the inside.  Of course, this strategy works much better if you also make the effort to go out and vote for your chosen political party during an election!

So if you're feeling like you're stretched too thin financially to donate to causes you believe in at this time of year, consider a more structured approach to giving.  Monthly contributions split the donation into easily manageable chunks, and converting some of your giving into a donation to a political party is more tax effective and potentially has a multiplier effect in the effectiveness of reaching the goals you support.