In What Do We Trust?

It seems that ever since the 1900s began especially, there has been an inherent need in the governments around the world to manipulate, oppress, ridicule, control, surveil and drive their own people into debt.  They assassinate leaders who seek to revolutionize nations, they mute people who try to come out about conspiracy, they tyrannize those who only look for truth.
Even when so much has been expose and there are doubts about so much more, why do people not stand up to take back control, to make government what it really should be about and for?  We are the ones with the power.  The men and women who sit comfortably in their positions of government, whether it be the Senate or a local district or even Prime Minister, are only there because of the people who voted them in- we hold the key, but we don't use it.

Governments bail out banks and other companies yet they foreclose peoples houses (while other companies and the city make money off it), often times on tax grounds which most times are taxes the federal government is not actually supposed to be taking, according to the B.N.A Act and the Constitution.  Then all the while they give tax cuts to corporations that make billions of dollars in profit, and we get no income tax breaks (the last was about 4 years ago).
Consider this, right from Finance Canada-
$1 on corporate tax cuts = 10 cents in real GDP growth (GDP = market value of all final goods and services produced within a country in a given period)
$1 on infrastructure = $1 in real GDP
1% increase in real GDP = 2% increase in employment
(ex.) $3-billion = 6,500 jobs in infrastructure vs. 650 jobs spent on tax cuts to corporations

There is absolutely no proof that cutting corporate tax rates will cause corporations to create more jobs.  This is also irrelevant for any corporations headquartered in the U.S which are repatriated to U.S Head Office at the rate of 35%- any tax cuts are lost on these companies.
The money is proven to be best used to support unemployed and low-income individuals and families, the idea being to build 'from the ground on up'.  You don't give the breaks to the rich who are already way ahead, you help those left/falling behind.  Other areas which are useful to put funds towards are infrastructure (including social infrastructure) and housing investments.
Low taxes are an inducement to reduce costs, at whatever cost, and take profits.

Profit = Revenue - Cost
* Labour, for instance, is a cost.

This day and age, business is fueled by a NOW NOW NOW mentality instead of longevity, security and fairness.  The government reinforces this and even good ideas are pushed for the wrong reasons.  'Quality of life' is all about wages to the government, not about necessities- they do not reiterate how the essentials are what gives us the quality of life, but how much money we make to pay for these things.  The value system is completely backwards from what a fair society would be, if we lived in a perfect world.  The constant need of the government to reinforce these values is what troubles me.

Then you take a look at the National Debt- it's not actually repayable.  If you consider how the government/nation is in debt to the banks (who work closely with the government as it is) who in turn can just all print new money.  Look at it like this- the 'legal tender' you have in your wallet is only worth something because the government deems it so.  With the Gold Standard, you at least were able to cash in any paper money for actual gold, so you would literally have the amount in a form that was worth something in the market.  So if the government decided to revoke legal tender and go back to gold, none of us would have anything except for coins (which are actually worth more than the bills) and paper; they could literally render the entire population, save a few miners and billionaires, broke in an instant.

Now even further, look at this- provincially, drawing income tax from citizens is legal but the federal government is NOT supposed to be taking it- they have duped us into paying it ever since 1917, when after World War I they introduced a war tax where everyone would help pay off the debt incurred from the war.  If everybody woke up and stopped federal income tax, the government might see that we still have the power.  It shows right in the B.N.A Act that federal governments can not levy income tax- it is to be done provincially for the purpose of redistributing it on that level, for infrastructure, social programs, et cetera.  Yet the government still takes it from us each and every pay cheque.

Disguise is the key when it comes to what the government tells us...

Tax cuts for corporations to create jobs REALLY = cutting funds for social programs
(ex.) Harper promised to cut corporate tax reductions by $1.4-billion and did not- instead he cut $1.2-billion in spending for the establishment of quality national childcare.

Mergers and acquisitions are often passed off as great opportunities to create new jobs and expand- often times jobs are lost due to downsizing of departments and areas of business when two or more companies come together.  When companies outsource work to other countries, which often happens, it puts money into our economy and governments/companies pass it off as a good thing- this usually equals out to less employment for Canadians here at home.

Talk about cutting waste = spending $857,901,850 on the G8 & G20 Summits together.

Cyber security = taking away your privacy so we can fight "terrorism"

Perception is reality.
The more you attack one side, the more the focus goes onto the other and it blurs the lines.  If you blur the lines enough, it doesn't matter what your policies are in comparison- all that matters is that the dirt is on the other guy's face.  Then you don't have to explain as much, you don't dive as deep into the platform as you could and reveal some things that maybe everybody wouldn't like so much.  So then, on top of all the lies you add the dirty tricks and the smearing.  Then you come out on top.
Because perception = reality

Consumeritis

We live in a society governed by consumer ideals, supply & demand, and governments that like us nice and quiet while we enjoy all our new stuff.  Companies such as Walmart, Exxon Mobil, GM, Ford Motors and DaimlerChrysler are all more economically powerful than Poland, Norway, Indonesia, South Africa, Finland and even Saudia Arabia.  Is there something wrong here?  When a company that sells cheaply priced merchandise to middle and low class families has more economic power than an actual country, isn't there something wrong with the world we live in?

The news and media is inundated with celebrity relationships, new products, 3D technology, stories about celebrities in jail, coverage of non-issues, commercials telling you what you need and how to look- this all creates a vacuum that sucks in the absent minded.  In this day and age, if you don't keep focused you can easily lose your grip on what's going on around you.  They show you Brad and Angelina a million times, in the same vein as the creators of Friends had shown you Ross and Rachel- the instant connection, the emotions, the pain, the anguish, the love.  People buy into this so far that they don't even pay attention to their own lives, they wait to see what kind of ring there is, where they live together, how many kids they've got, what they're wearing, where they're going, who they're buddying with.  After so long it's like you're living inside the lives of others.  This society is based on the look and appearance, it grounds this into the heads of the absent minded so that they look no further than how much money it costs and what will it do for the persona- if it doesn't cover those two areas, it's lumped in with the evening news and the paper as essentially useless to existence after celebrity gossip.  This dulls us out, makes us numb to what's really going on as the consumer black hole keeps sucking us further and further into oblivion.

Here are some facts that some people, including myself, find disturbing:

- An average of 450,000 people a year have serious complications (or die) from coronary heart disease
- Canada has 1,154 McDonalds restaurants (#3 in the world behind the U.S and Japan)
- 70 L of beer per person is consumed each year
- 119 L of soft drink is consumed each year per person (#3 on the global list)
- 14.3% of Canadians are considered obese and at risk of diabetes, heart disease, gall bladder disease and some cancers.
- 2.1 physicians for every 1,000 people ranking at #58 worldwide behind such places as Cuba, Belarus, Russia, Israel, Armenia, Germany and about 50 others (although our actual healthcare is much better we are still severely short on doctors as well as Registered Nurses).
- Almost 2,000 cigarettes per person are smoked each year
- Merchandise exports, as of 2005, only at 6.79%; everything is imported, nothing seems to be made in Canada anymore, it's all outsourced to undeveloped areas where companies can overwork and underpay 'employees' who are more like slaves.
- 3rd worst country for cell phone rates, averaging $500 a year while in comparison Dutch users average about $131 a year.  A complete plan is on average $67.50 a month, while India and Hong Kong pay $12.90 and $13.50 respectively.
- In the 12 months up to March 2011, consumer prices rose 3.3% and energy prices rose 12.8%; prices of foods from stores rose 3.7% and fresh vegetables rose a whopping 18.6%, the latter being blamed on bad weather in Mexico and the Southern U.S for reducing supply.  All the while, McDonalds burgers just get cheaper and cheaper.
- There is also a predicted rise in food of another 5-7% over the next year.


We are governed by prices, where things come from.  We outsource our business, we let companies from other countries swallow our businesses whole and barely wipe their chin on the way out.  Even the cheap prices at WalMart come at the expense of a family on the other side of the world, crammed into a workroom with another 100 people making tennis shoes so some North American mom can afford to buy 3 pairs for $20.  Our food prices and supply are dictated by weather and conditions elsewhere, meanwhile they spray it all down with stuff we'll never even know about- all the while we wait with our mouths open like poor, hungry dogs that just came in out of the rain.  We are a consumer society, a consumer economy, a consumer machine.  Where does it stop?  Better yet, where do we start pushing back and demanding more accountability and more change?  When do we say enough is enough, we want healthy food to cost less than toxic garbage from McDonalds?  When do we put human value over profits and quarterly revenues?

When...

Short Form Census = Conservative Fingers Are Crossed (Toes Too)

The fact of the matter is simply that all levels of government rely on census data to decide where money should be allocated.  As much as people love to take up a cause and talk about it at work, most often they never really call their MP or write a letter, so how does a government reliably get some information about what their constituents need and what they are concerned about?  A mandatory census.  A small amount of people may find it invasive, as if the government will gain some supreme knowledge about the inner workings of your life by asking 'How many toilets do you have in your home?'- maybe attempting to manage waste-water services or calculating environmental factors is out of the question, right?  If they wanted to know the colour of your underwear, I'd be more than offended but most people end up putting down more personal information on a survey in the mail than they do on the census.  So it's the best way for any level of government to determine things which factor into making a community more livable, for them to figure out how to serve us better- and that's the point of it, they are supposed to be serving us.  So why not at least try to make that possible?  It has to start somewhere.

Now that we have a short-form census (mandatory), we have the voluntary household national survey to go along with it.  This means that it's possible if one group gets more people to fill out the survey, another group that didn't motivate enough people to fill them out could receive less funding.  It's essentially dividing people up by making the household survey voluntary and hoping to make uninformed decisions.  When there are complaints, Harper will say "Well more people should have taken the survey" and throw out a percentage of citizens who took it and who didn't so as to justify his actions.
Older Canadians will most likely turn big numbers on the survey, which will lean away from issues concerned new/young Canadians, a lot of whom will not grasp the importance of the original long-form census.

This new census package is deemed less expensive when in reality, more forms are going out than ever before and all that paper work will need to be handled by a paid staff.

If everything ends up looking skewed, the next step is to say the census system is broken and either scrap it or make it solely voluntary.. if you've got the time- and Steve will totally understand if you don't!  Tony Clement himself admitted that the change was initiated without consulting organizations and governments that work closely with Statistics Canada.  This goes to show the willingness of the present government to shoot first and ask questions later (if anybody makes a fuss).  Chief Statistician Munir Shiekh resigned on 07/21/10 in protest of the Conservative government's change in policy, and he was originally appointed by Harper in the early months of 2008.
"This relates to the question of whether a voluntary survey can become a substitute for a mandatory census- it can not" - Munir Sheikh
But of course the National Citizens Coalition and the Fraser Institute support this idea- along with abolishing minimum wage laws/gun control, promoting free market and privatization of healthcare insurance and services (just to mention a few real neat-o ideas).

Now, let's take a look at who doesn't like the idea.  Ahem...

Federal Canadian Municipalities
City of Toronto
Atlantic Provinces Economic Council
National Statistics Council
Canadian Jewish Congress
Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (surprising considering Harper and his religious views)
Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops
Canadian Medical Association
Statistical Society of Canada
American Statistical Association
Registered Nurses Association of Ontario
Canadian Conference of the Arts
Governments of Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island & Manitoba.

Then on 07/19/10, representatives from several institutions signed a letter expressing disapproval of the change and desire to speak with Tony Clement to find another solution.  The institutions are as follows:

Canadian Association for Business Economics
Canadian Institution of Planners
Canadian Nurses Association
Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants
Caledon Institution of Social Policy
Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada
Canadian Labour Congress
Canada West Foundation
United Way of Canada
Glendon School of Public and International Affairs

8 days later, the House of Commons industry committee special hearing revealed out of approximately 12 million forms (that's 12 with a lot of zeroes after it), 166 complaints were known to be received directly and some included in that number were indirect complaints.
It was announced in August 2010, $30-million will be spent on a campaign to increase the response rate to the voluntary form (even though this is the first year); in December of last year, Statistics Canada released information which further revealed that 1/2 of this money would be required for tasks unrelated to this campaign.  No further explanation as to what 'tasks unrelated to this campaign' would entail.

There is one glaring point of foolishness which has come to light time and time again on Mr. Harper and his knowledge of Native peoples- Aboriginal Group (Question #18) states that people of East/Asian Indian descent need only answer 'no'- this part has to point it out, like these people don't understand their heritage.  Harper has shown on several occasions he does not know the difference between aboriginal people of Canada and Indian people.

They say that the census is invasive, yet if you do not fill it out and return it they will send someone directly to your home (this happened to me).  This person is also armed with a GPS tracker.  So not only will they come right out there to ask you the questions instead of you filling it out normally, but they will also plot your home's coordinates into the GPS tracker so that the government has a map right to your front door.

I'll end only with this for my opinion on this subject and pretty much on the whole way that the Harper government conducts its business....

"Real numbers force you to make decisions you might not like.  Better to create a fiction that fits your assumptions" - Nevil Hunt (Coffee Talk)

Oh.... Canada

I've got a lot of stuff to cover over the course of this blog, and here are just some of the things I think are worth talking about (I'll be doing more in depth posts about most of these later):

- Canada is ranked 16th in the OECD (If you don't know- now you know) when it comes to business research and development, with serious under investment for machinery/equipment, training and innovation.

- Venture capital is at a 14-year low.  Venture capital = money provided to early-stage, high-potential, high risk, growth startup companies.

- The annual average productivity growth (from 2006 to 2009) in Canada was -0.1% which was lower than Germany, Japan, US, UK and Australia.

- At 14%, youth unemployment is nearly double that of the national average and the worst in a generation.

- Some of the highest rates per country for cellular telephone billing and usage (Canada pays an average of $67.50 for a complete plan while India and Hong Kong pay $12.90 and $13.50 respectively).

- The gap between levels of education attained by rural and urban youth is significant; the gap between that of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Canadians is even bigger.

- Canada has nowhere near appropriate or affordable childcare on a federal level; all childcare services are offered publicly.

- Studies show more than 40% of adults lack the literacy skills they need to succeed in the modern economy.

- There is currently $15-billion owed on Canada Student Loans- only federal, excluding anything owing on provincial loan portions.  This is rising at nearly $1-million a day.  Essentially, we are leaving our children with a huge price tag that extends way beyond just the loans they will incur from attending post-secondary school.

- Corporate tax rates are at a historic low of 18% and projected to go down to 15% by 2012.  This is despite the fact that dollars spent in tax cuts to big companies provide less of a return than dollars spent on infrastructure or social programs.  It is projected that a cut in corporate tax rates of 1.5% = about $2.8-billion in foregone revenue in a year.

-  "First-past-the-post" system does not reflect the true majority of Canadians.  This results in very disproportionate sharing of seats most often; larger parties end up, most times, with an unfair representation compared to the smaller parties who will trend with a small share of seats systemically.  It also encourages tactical voting, where a person will vote for someone based on their likeliness of victory instead of 'wasting' a vote on someone who won't win the election.  This promotes the saying- "All votes for anyone other than the 2nd place candidates are votes for the winner", and while this does have a logical tone to it this does not represent a true democracy.  This is the system which breeds substantial power in media coverage, where often times you can win an election by focusing negative attention on your opposing candidate(s) which draws the ire of the press.  This is the same system that promotes votes against instead of votes for; gives birth to the negative and smear campaigning instead of focusing on one's own platform.

- Over 40% of Canada's family caregivers use personal savings to make ends meet.  1/4 of family caregivers miss one or more months of work to provide care.  65% of family caregivers have household incomes under $45,000.  3/4 of family caregivers are women, who are more likely to have lower wages, less savings and additional responsibilities for child care.

- RRSPs haven't grown in a decade; only 1 out of every 4 people make contributions, most often because they just cannot afford to do so not because of a lack of desire.

These are just some of the issues facing us as Canadians.
Wake up- pay attention.  We need to change this place.

I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends

I've taken the time to look into many of the acquaintances of Stephen Harper, as well as groups and organizations he was once and still is involved in.  Here is some of what I've found...

Tom Flanagan

He and Harper have known each other for quite some time now, since the University of Calgary, and until 2004 was an advisor of his.  In November of this past year, he made remarks on television about WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, claiming that he should be assassinated and that President Obama should take a hit out on him.  Of course the next day he 'retracted' his statements.
A Toronto woman was angry about Mr. Flanagan's remarks and sent him an e-mail.  When she received a reply it was short and to the point: "Better be careful- we know where you live".  The woman called the police who told her that it was veiled and not an outright threat.  Of course, yet again, good old Tom came back and apologized for what he said and lucky for him she was foolish enough to accept it.  His original comments were bad enough but his e-mail response chills me to the bone.

Snover Dhillon


Here is a Toronto businessman who is facing a criminal charge for allegedly fraudulent credit and debit card withdrawals.  His legal troubles did not prevent him from sitting with Stephen Harper and his family at Conservative rallies over the past few months.  I know everyone is innocent until proven guilty, but don't politicians usually try to keep themselves at a distance from people who are sketchy such as Dhillon?

Ken Boessenkool


Former Senior Policy Advisor to Mr. Harper, Ken is the Canadian lobbyist to beat all lobbyists.  He is a registered lobbyist for Taser International (prominently just after the Taser death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski which caused international outrage), as well as pharmaceutical giant Merck Frosst (who benefitted from the surprise inclusion in the federal budget of $300-million for a controversial cervical cancer vaccine for girls as young as 9-years old), Globalive (telecommunications) and Enbridge (energy).  Stephen Harper claimed that none of his party members would get rich lobbying- luckily, Ken conveniently left before the party formed a government and was not subject to the Federal Accountability Act... then he turned up again, pulling the strings of the 2011 Conservative campaign.






Gary Goodyear (Current Federal Minister of State for Science & Technology)


One would assume that for a Federal Minister of State for Science & Technology, the Prime Minister would appoint someone who has done medical research or taken part in projects based within technological grounds- nuh uh.  Stephen Harper appointed Gary Goodyear to this position.  Why?  Probably because he wants to destroy scientific research and development from within, so he picked someone who refuses to truly acknowledge a belief in evolution.  
When asked about evolution, he invokes his religion stating that nobody should be asking questions about his religious beliefs.  Automatically his equation that this is a direct question of faith is troubling.  Then he later goes on to claim that "of course" he believes in evolution, saying that "we are always evolving... whether it is running shoes or high heels, of course we are evolving to our environment".  This doesn't go to prove more on the basis of his religious disdain for scientific idea, this goes to show he is a moron who is going to steer Canadian science directly into the shitter.





CanWest Global/Izzy Asper


Izzy Asper [d. 2003] (founder of CanWest Global) started off by donating $5,000 to Preston Manning and the Reform Party- in exchange, he was granted the opportunity to write part of their platform in 1993.  This was the humble beginning of a mutually beneficial relationship between CanWest Global and Stephen Harper.
Asper and CanWest backed Harper on everything Israel- Asper, a member of the Jewish community, was very sympathetic to Jewish causes and made no secret of an allegiance.  This helped with Harper, as he was interested in Israel politically and Aspers interests were spiritual- the 'best' of both worlds.
CanWest Global gave Stephen Harper and the Conservatives (and at the time the Reform Party) a grip on media that gave them all the advantage- CanWest would come out on top with political clout and Harper would have more control over what was to be put out into the media, with his finger on CanWest.  When you control the media, you can control everything because perception is reality.


Conrad Black

Black operated on much the same level as Izzy Asper and CanWest Global for Stephen Harper.  The main difference is that Black was much bigger of an influence, using The National Post as a jumping point.  Black was able to push the neocon views into mainstream thinking, attributing to what I think was the brainwashing of our citizens (mainly those who work in the West particularly in oil and gas).  With someone sharing the same views and standpoints, Harper would have more influence inside the press and be able to exert that to win over votes.
Conrad Black was convicted of fraud in 2007 and sentenced to almost 7 years in prison; he was granted bail in 2010.
The thing that worries me most about Mr. Black is this- he's worth millions and millions of dollars, and he is a former Steering Committee member for the Bilderberg Group.  The connections between the ominous group and Mr. Harper get a little closer.




Israel


I'm still not sure why Harper insists on loving Israel so much (there are plenty of speculations as to why- I won't go into them right now) but one thing is for sure, he really wants them to know it.  He tells them that we will protect them "at no matter what the cost to Canada".  He also tried to say that the reason Canada did not get a seat on the Security Council of the United Nations is because 'we' are pro-Israel; then when he's elsewhere, a.k.a inside Canada, he says the no seat is due to fault on behalf of the Leader of the Opposition- how the tune changes.  He treats Israel the same as he treats Quebec, giving them lots of good talk while he is there and then turning over on the issue; disdain for the province of Quebec, and then during election time they are a "nation" in his eyes.  He is one of the only leaders of a country to so openly express admiration and care for Israel, which makes you wonder why.


Northern Foundation


Stephen Harper, as well as Conrad Black and William Gairdner, was a member of the Northern Foundation- a male dominated group, self-anointed as a 'white brotherhood'.  Females were not excluded but were expected to accept its highly conformist and male chauvinistic culture of fascism (Gwen Landolt, founder of REAL Women, was a known speaker at events for NF).  It is noted for having speakers from the Fraser Institute, Christian Heritage party, the Canadian Christian Anti-Communist Crusade, Alliance for Preservation of English in Canada and Western Guard, all of which are very right-wing groups and organizations.  Many neo-Nazi intellectuals (some from Heritage Front) have been and are still involved in the group, emphasizing many issues on a New World Order agenda. 


National Citizens Coalition

Originally formed to oppose public health insurance/health care, the NCC has grown to encompass the beliefs of Evangelical Christians and to tackle issues involving the health care system, privatization of industry, busting up unions, the long-form census, political campaign spending (attempts to overturn limits), among others.  
Stephen Harper was the President of the NCC for several years.  He gave a speech in 1997 to the Council for National Policy in Montreal; some say that this speech revealed his true political colours.  There are so many quotes from this speech that I could write a book on it.  Feel free to have a look for yourself!  One of the most intriguing points is where he shows his disdain for people who are unemployed or on social assistance, further to reiterate the fact that he and the Conservatives think if you are poor or less fortunate chances are it's your fault (a view that separates him from most Canadians).
Altogether the NCC is a worrisome organization, for many reasons.  Not to mention it has some serious ties to Heritage Front.




Heritage Front


Wolfgang Droege and a few other individuals created the Heritage Front, a white supremacist organization, after a trip to Libya where some of them had an all expense paid trip to visit with Gaddafi.  Several of these members, such as Al Overfield and Paul Fromm, also were at one point members of the Reform Party; Fromm was even the Treasurer of PC Metro consisting of 31 Toronto ridings.  Despite being a clearly racist organization, Preston Manning even had many prominent members work as security for the Reform Party in the early 1990s.  Apparently violating hate crime laws and denying the Holocaust are wholesome, Conservative values.


The Christian and Missionary Alliance Church

The church which Stephen Harper has belonged to for decades believes that Jesus Christ will return to Earth in an apocalypse, women shouldn't be ordained, condemns homosexuality as the most base of sins, against divorce and abortion, and believes that those who aren't born-again are "lost"; they believe that the return of Jesus is "imminent".  Stephen Harper refuses to comment on his beliefs, and some say that is his right- but shouldn't the leader of a country have to disclose his beliefs and feelings about all subjects concerned regular, every day Canadians?  If we want to know whether he believes crazy ideals and theories, shouldn't we have a right to know this?


So, there you have it.. just a few friends of our Prime Minister.
Take a read, see if you find anything interesting.  You're only as shady as the company you keep.

Money For Nothing (Part I)

More and more we are being told by politicians that they don't want to increase taxes, but what we don't realize is that they don't need to raise our taxes in the slightest.  All they really need to do is use our tax dollars for whatever they want instead of on their appropriate use.
Stephen Harper insists that all these corporate tax cuts the federal government have been dishing out will 'pay for themselves'- what he doesn't say is that they will pay themselves with your taxes, while other areas suffer without those tax dollars funneling into them.  This creates deficits in other areas than the national debt (evident in reports by Federal Canadian Municipalities stating a deficit in back logged maintenance for municipal infrastructure nearing $125-billion and over another $100-billion required for new builds to meet growing needs) by drawing those dollars away to be used for tax cuts on big companies; basically, the government stays at the current level of debt while giving out cuts to big companies, spreading the debt out over other areas while diverting the taxes going to those areas into paying off the tax cuts.  It's a vicious cycle paid for by us, the Canadian citizens.

People are wondering: where are our tax cuts?  As companies who profit in the billions each year receive billions of dollars in cuts, such as Vale Inco who made a profit of $10-billion within the first nine months of 2010.  Truth being, they can't cut taxes on both ends especially seeing as how our tax dollars are paying off the cuts already.  So we see the government's true nature: big business means more than every day Canadians.  This is evident when you look at the speed at which the corporate tax rate keeps dropping compared to the almost literal non-movement in personal income tax rates over the past couple decades.  This is not strictly a Harper problem, it is a problem related to any world leaders who have the interests of big business in mind over that of their citizens- this seems to be a systemic problem since the 1990s.

Stephen Harper only relates to the Westerners who make $75,000 a year or upwards, he does not seem to give any support to lower income citizens or even those in the middle between the 'upper' and 'lower' class (I use those words in the context which the government uses them- I don't believe in distinction between people due to their economic situation).  Conservative attitudes are all the same wherever you go, whether you call them a Con or a Republican- pro-life, until you're born and then nobody cares until you're old enough to ship off to the army, go to work in the oil patch, or start studying economics (because medical studies and scientific research are so 1970s).
One quote comes to mind when I think about this Westernized view, spoken by Mr. Harper himself: "I, too, am one of these angry Westerners.. we may love Canada but Canada does not love us... Let's make Alberta strong enough that the rest of the country is afraid to threaten us!".  Which I could certainly couple with this scorcher of a comment: "You've got to remember that west of Winnipeg, the ridings, the Liberals hold are dominated by people who are either recent Asian immigrants or recent migrants from eastern Canada; people who live in ghettoes and who are not integrated into western Canadian society!".  Those who hold to the belief that Harper doesn't shamelessly promote his home province are absolutely jaded.
I always find it skewed when Harper or his party talk about 'quality of life', especially in their platform.  According to this government, 'quality of life' is all about wages and what kind of home you live in.  This Conservative government has brainwashed its vote to support these tax cuts and this 'all for one and none for the rest' Alberta attitude under the guise that anyone else will shut down the oil sands projects and everyone will be poor, jobs will be lost by the thousands- substantiated with no grounds in reality.  He has created an atmosphere where anybody who has the audacity to challenge Alberta oil in any forum is labeled un-Canadian, a traitor, against Canada prospering.  He has made it so that any criticism about the oil industry is regarded as witchcraft.  Soon enough if Jack Layton says anything about the oil sands he will be put in the stockades outside Parliament Hill (even though as much as he criticizes the harsh environmental practices of Alberta oil companies, he outright admits that he accepts the industry to be a part of Canada for a long time- it says this right in the NDP 2011 platform that was issued prior to the recent election).  Harper and his government have convinced their vote that the tax cuts these huge companies receive provide jobs, when in reality these across-the-board cuts are given with no stipulations whatsoever on how many jobs (if any at all) will be created.  Often times these companies do no create any jobs and simply use the money for internal purposes, such as bonuses and employee retreats; even worse, a lot of times these companies will actually let people go and use the money as sort of an add-on to their profit for that specific quarter.

The real situation is that the government would really be in trouble if we all stopped feeding them income tax.  Better yet, they would really be in hot water if everyone knew that it is technically illegal for the federal government to be in the income tax business and that it was originally specified that any direct taxes (such as income tax) were to be taken in on a provincial/territorial level, to be used at that level only for things such as social programs and provincial/municipal infrastructure.
The B.N.A Act (found here) states this in Sections 91 and 92 on taxation, as well as it is justified by the Supreme Court ruling in 1950 (court documents).  The Court ruled in favour of the Lord Nelson Hotel in Halifax, Nova Scotia.  The hotel was brought to court basically for not forking over income tax 'owed' to the federal government.  In the end, the case was dropped and the Lord Nelson went back to work.
This is also true in the case of Gerry Hart (deceased), who had been to the Manitoba Court of Appeal 22 times and had never lost.  He represented himself in court and only brought the B.N.A Act and documents on the Supreme Court 1950 ruling on the Lord Nelson case- the only two pieces of evidence he needed.  The last time they brought him to court, Revenue Canada was told that if they ever brought Gerry Hart back in the court they would be found in contempt.  He was never convicted under the Income Tax Act.

So why is it that we let taxes that shouldn't even be collected by the federal government go to companies that most of us will never, ever work for?  Why do we shell out all these taxes to the federal government when it should be going to our respective provinces?  You can be damn sure that the provinces, some more than others, could use that extra surplus of cash to fund new social programs, fix up infrastructure, attempt to revitalize suffering industries, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.  If only the general public wasn't so afraid of the government and we made them afraid of us!  It will never happen.
Too many people are content with capitalism and content with making money, filling their lives up with things they never needed.  Too many people are content to sit by and not pay attention to those who cannot lift themselves out of poverty because of years being neglected by the government.
I, myself, was an apprentice electrician- after being laid off from my job when the economy shit the bed, I was unable to find a job again in Alberta.  Faced with paying rent, car insurance (although I stopped insuring my car for two years because I could not afford it), bills and tasked with not starving, I was also unable to relocate to Alberta in hopes of finding employment.  I have spent the last 3 years without a job in my trade, working minimum wage jobs to try and scrape by in a menial existence.  How does the government expect the many of us left in this situation to change things without helping to create jobs in other provinces and other industries?  And that's a good situation compared to those who have no choice but to rely on government assistance- or should I say, programs our taxes pay for.  Harper and his government have brainwashed their vote, once again, into thinking skewed; the rich look at people in my position and the people below me as one muddled mass of irresponsible people, a lazy group of citizens who don't matter.

Until these attitudes change, we will face more corporate tax cuts and less relief for our personal taxes- most of which are illegal to be levied by the federal government.  None of this will ever change until we all wake up.
What would the government do if even 50% of the population stopped filing taxes?  What could they do?  Even Steve's new proposal for prison spending couldn't allot enough funds to put us ALL behind bars.

                                                       Think about it.

A New Canadian Shame: Fuck Science

Before becoming Prime Minister, Stephen Harper said the science of climate change is "tentative and contradictory", calling the Kyoto Protocol a "socialist scheme" and stated "an army of Canadians" was needed to defeat it.  Socialist, hey?  I guess when it comes to the law enforcement sector or the prison system, Mr. Harper forgot what the definition of socialism is.
Then after Steve won in 2006, the Reich.. I mean, government.... announced it would not honour it's signature for Kyoto to reduce emissions and it reduced funding for its climate change plan and cut most programs including the Wind Power Production Incentive and Energuide for Houses (incentives to make homes more energy efficient including tax credits and rebates).  He also appointed climate change skeptics to the boards of two key granting agencies for university-based research: the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council and the Canada Foundation for Innovation.  Elimination of programs to promote renewable energy followed after eliminating funds for the research.
More recently Canada has been placed in last of G8 countries' efforts against climate change; one of the few countries on the card whose emissions are still rising.   When it comes to oil, unlike Saudi Arabi, our oil is literally in the sand and to dig up and refine it creates higher emissions as well as destroying much of Alberta's northern Boreal forest.  Sadly it seems a millennium ago that the 1989 Protocol on CFCs was born in Montreal, Quebec.

In 2007, the government unveils a plan which includes 3 more years of consultations with industry; a government target of reducing emissions by 3% below 1990 levels by 2020 is weak against the science-based targets of 25% below 1990 levels by 2020.  Even despite the fact that 70% of Canadians surveyed feel money is better spent on efforts to address climate change than on military and wars.  Over 80% polled agree that the government should be investing in green jobs.  Still though, Environment Canada's program activities amount to just over $1-billion while National Defence is over $20-billion.  Further we see that the U.S outspends Canada per capita 8 to 1 on renewable energy, energy efficiency and public transit.
Significant study shows that the Kyoto Protocol would stimulate the high tech and construction industries, create jobs, reduce health care costs from air pollution and help protect our ecosystems.
Natural Resources Canada is estimating a $928-million (21%) decrease in its spending for the next year, including a $390-million decrease in spending due to the end of a popular retrofit program that subsidized homeowners for renovations that reduce energy consumption and utility bills.
The Arctic Council (referring to the Arctic Species Trend Index) shows high Arctic vertebrate species declined 26% between 1970 and 2004.

Canada has also been helping to make nuclear bombs for the U.S, Britain, Russia, France, Israel, India and Pakistan- does this go on, while we export 7.5 million kilograms of uranium annually, and still we don't do anything to research renewable energy or reduce toxic emissions significantly on either count?  This total of exported uranium is enough to process and make 2,300 warheads.  This equals out to the following: we do nothing to help try and preserve life as we create technology to end lives.  We are the world leader in uranium exports, generating $1-billion per year in profit.
We have also seen a 59% reduction for annual climate change and clean-air initiatives to $99-million from $240-million.
We are one of the highest per capita for CO2 emissions.  Our emissions also rose by 26.2% between 1990 and the year 2007.  It's already clearly evident that the process of extraction in Alberta oil sands is three times more damaging to the climate than extracting conventional oil.  Facing these facts, how can we continue to do damage and do nothing to help alleviate the effects of the damage caused?

People argue that smaller countries keep emissions low by importing oil from Canada then criticizing us for producing it.  This is just not a valid argument- many countries that we export to, we export to them because they do not have the means of production or they do not have the means to meet the demand for the product.  They would still buy the oil if it were made by a process that caused less emissions, this is only a scapegoat for those who oppose global warming and want to find a way to weasel out of our duties as human beings.
Gillian McEachern (Program Manager for climate and energy at Environmental Defence, a Toronto-based research and advocacy group) said this on the subject: "At a time when we've sent our diplomats out to fan around the world trying to convince other countries that we're doing a good job at environmental management and shouldn't be penalized for the dirty carbon content of tarsands oil, we have to question what message this budget sends to those countries".
It's true- even if we were upfront and honest about our complete lack of trying, it would come off more honest than pretending to be the good sister.

Maybe this is all because of the role religion plays today in our government- so much for the separation of church and state, right?  The picture below accurately represents the view of science and technology from the Conservative corner.

To finish off, I'll leave you with one more quote from Heather McRobie at The Guardian:
"Canada isn't being punished for its geographic reality- it is finally being called out for presenting itself as environmentally friendly"