The Graham government has raised taxes again, this one with a special twist.
The executive dream team at NB Liquor, led by Dana Clendenning (currently under a cloud of a conflict-of-interest allegations), requested that the companies that sell wine to NB Liquor increase their prices.
That is correct, as loony as that sounds, NB Liquor asked to pay more. Well not really asked, they told them to pay more. We here at NB Conservative cannot understand this fact alone, but it gets worse. Much worse.
The reason they did what can only be described as an idiotic move, is that Team Graham is now selling tax-cut-mode, as opposed to the tax-increase-mode he was selling two years ago.
As Mr. Clendenning wanted to avoid being seen to increase taxes on New Brunswick consumers, to keep his rain-maker happy, the Team felt the best way to increase taxes on New Brunswickers was to share the loot with large, mainly foreign, wine companies.
This may take a pencil and some loose leaf paper (with lines), but keep with us. If you have a calculator on your phone, now is the time to get it out.
The Scenario:
You are the patronage appointment of a crown corporation in New Brunswick. You need to generate some cash to make your patron look better. And you want to travel to really, really nice wineries in beautiful countries, at no cost to yourself. Countries like Italy, where you can rent apartments to share with friends, who did not win the patronage lottery. Or France. Probably not Sweden, they do not produce much wine, and it is cold anyway.
If you just raise the mark-up like you have the past couple of years, it looks like you raised taxes, since the serfs cannot shop elsewhere for their goods. And remember, we are now in tax-cutting-mode, so increasing 'mark-up' looks quite a bit like 'taxes'.
You realize the markup on wine is 145% (really). A $10 increase in the case price NB Liquor pays turns into a $24.50 increase in the shelf price ($10 + $14.50).
Voila! an extra $24.50 per case!
But what you needed to do to accomplish this tax increase is give $10 per case to the wineries. Or 40.8% if you have the fancy calculator phone.
What is the difference you ask than just putting up the price, since people who drink wine are rich, snobby, Volvo-driving yuppies that can pay more? The difference is that if you think the Graham government can spend your money better than you (or anyone else's money for that matter) than why let them give 40.8% of the money to large wine companies in California, France, Australia, Chile and everywhere else NB Liquor buys wine.If you are a believer in higher taxes, we would guess you are not a believer in giving a large percentage to foreign multi-national corporations.
That is correct, in order to avoid looking like they raised taxes, the government of New Brunswick will give wine companies over $475,000 (based on projected annual wine revenue of $60,000,000)
So, our dream team at NB Liquor just gave almost half a million dollars to wine companies to avoid looking like they increased taxes.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Genius at Large
Not content to muddle and befuddle education policies for people who are actually from New Brunwsick, our Minister of Education Kelly Lamrock has now entered into immigration policy. And dare we say, the self-styled "Genius at Large" at the cabinet table is handling immigration services with all the same tact and grace as he uses on French immersion and teacher contract negotiations.
The Worst Government Ever has announced that they are putting on an extra $250 fee for foreigners who apply to have their kids attend our schools. It's not that being a foreign student is already a free ride, in fact non-residents pay the full shot for a year of NB education (often ranked as the 9th or 10th worst in the country) if they make it in. The problem, as defined by the Genius at Large, is that so many foreigners are sending in applications that it is a burden on the school system.
Never mind that we are never told just how many applications there are - it could be 10 applications per year that the bureaucrats find exhausting. What we know for sure is that even if the new fee keeps all the unnecessary applications out of the queue it will still mean that the only people being punished will be the honest citizens.
That's right. Instead of charging fees to the companies who send in applications to multiple schools "just to play the odds" as Lamrock describes it, we will instead be making the legitimate and successful applicants pay the fees while the ones playing the odds just take their business (and the students we need) to another province. As an added bonus, the honest applicants will also have to pay a new $150 "orientation fee" as well - but the Genius at Large has so far failed to explain how that is going to make the system more efficient.
If we here at the NB Conservative were more cynical we might suggest that the Minister's public explanation and the actual reason for putting on the new fees don't seem to match up. But since the person doing the explaining is a Genius, he has to be logical too, doesn't he?
The Worst Government Ever has announced that they are putting on an extra $250 fee for foreigners who apply to have their kids attend our schools. It's not that being a foreign student is already a free ride, in fact non-residents pay the full shot for a year of NB education (often ranked as the 9th or 10th worst in the country) if they make it in. The problem, as defined by the Genius at Large, is that so many foreigners are sending in applications that it is a burden on the school system.
Never mind that we are never told just how many applications there are - it could be 10 applications per year that the bureaucrats find exhausting. What we know for sure is that even if the new fee keeps all the unnecessary applications out of the queue it will still mean that the only people being punished will be the honest citizens.
That's right. Instead of charging fees to the companies who send in applications to multiple schools "just to play the odds" as Lamrock describes it, we will instead be making the legitimate and successful applicants pay the fees while the ones playing the odds just take their business (and the students we need) to another province. As an added bonus, the honest applicants will also have to pay a new $150 "orientation fee" as well - but the Genius at Large has so far failed to explain how that is going to make the system more efficient.
If we here at the NB Conservative were more cynical we might suggest that the Minister's public explanation and the actual reason for putting on the new fees don't seem to match up. But since the person doing the explaining is a Genius, he has to be logical too, doesn't he?
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Favourites List
Anybody who uses a computer to surf the internet is familiar with the concept of a "Favourites List". It's that button you push when you want to see the list of your favourite web sites. It's a useful tool that means you don't have to think to remember where to go next - it's just there in front of you on the list.
Shawn Graham and the Worst Government Ever have been working on building up their favourites list over the past couple of years, and it's become pretty obvious who's on it over the past month or so.
For instance, if you're a teacher or a nurse - you're on the list. We know this because even though they didn't have the money, the Worst Government Ever signed huge salary increases with them just weeks before freezing the wages for all the other civil servants. You know, slackers like social workers and forest rangers.
Recently they added another group to the favourites list - home care workers. Now nobody would disagree with giving raises to the people who travel the back roads of New Brunswick looking after our seniors. It just seems a little strange that the Worst Government Ever would crow about these big raises in a press release the week after they totally hosed the nursing home workers by reneging on their tentative agreement and making them take a wage freeze. Guess some people are on the list and some aren't.
We know some of the others who aren't on the list, such as anyone in rural New Brunswick, or anyone who needs help with the winter power bills. And we know some of the others who are on the favourites list, like the President of NB Liquor, ducks, and anyone who wants to start a houseboat business.
The question we're wondering at NB Conservative is this: will any voters have the Worst Government Ever on their favourites list when the next election happens in September of 2010?
Shawn Graham and the Worst Government Ever have been working on building up their favourites list over the past couple of years, and it's become pretty obvious who's on it over the past month or so.
For instance, if you're a teacher or a nurse - you're on the list. We know this because even though they didn't have the money, the Worst Government Ever signed huge salary increases with them just weeks before freezing the wages for all the other civil servants. You know, slackers like social workers and forest rangers.
Recently they added another group to the favourites list - home care workers. Now nobody would disagree with giving raises to the people who travel the back roads of New Brunswick looking after our seniors. It just seems a little strange that the Worst Government Ever would crow about these big raises in a press release the week after they totally hosed the nursing home workers by reneging on their tentative agreement and making them take a wage freeze. Guess some people are on the list and some aren't.
We know some of the others who aren't on the list, such as anyone in rural New Brunswick, or anyone who needs help with the winter power bills. And we know some of the others who are on the favourites list, like the President of NB Liquor, ducks, and anyone who wants to start a houseboat business.
The question we're wondering at NB Conservative is this: will any voters have the Worst Government Ever on their favourites list when the next election happens in September of 2010?
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
What a Difference a Day Makes
(or in this case, what a difference a couple of months makes.)
It seems the Department of Education is suddenly and unexpectedly short 10 million dollars. Education Minister Kelly Lamrock has devised an ingenious plan to fix the problem by forcing teachers to either accept more students in some classrooms or fewer resources for students in general. I guess Liberals support a teacher's right to choose.
Where did this budget shortfall come from anyway? Well, this "unexpected" deficit comes just couple of months after the Grits sat down with the Teachers union and signed an agreement to raise their salaries by 14.5%.
See all the smiles here:
http://www1.gnb.ca/cnb/multimedia/display-e.asp?ID=1745&num=1
You might ask, how much is a 14.5% increase worth? Well, if you assume the average salary for the 7,500 teachers is the province is $50,000 then the increase will be worth over $50 million in the last year alone.
Now we here at the NB Conservative may not be that good at math but we can read a calendar. On December 8th, the Graham Government admitted they had created a huge provincial deficit. On December 17th Minister Lamrock signed a deal with the teachers worth tens of millions of dollars. But it actually took the Liberal Government a couple of months to figure out - "Hey, we don't have the money to pay for those big pay raises for the teachers".
Minister Lamrock has a Letter to the Editor in the papers today where he incredibly states "Tough times call for tough decisions and frank discussions about new approaches."
Maybe that should read "Tough times call for big contracts and photo ops with politicians, followed by lower quality education for our kids."
It seems the Department of Education is suddenly and unexpectedly short 10 million dollars. Education Minister Kelly Lamrock has devised an ingenious plan to fix the problem by forcing teachers to either accept more students in some classrooms or fewer resources for students in general. I guess Liberals support a teacher's right to choose.
Where did this budget shortfall come from anyway? Well, this "unexpected" deficit comes just couple of months after the Grits sat down with the Teachers union and signed an agreement to raise their salaries by 14.5%.
See all the smiles here:
http://www1.gnb.ca/cnb/multimedia/display-e.asp?ID=1745&num=1
You might ask, how much is a 14.5% increase worth? Well, if you assume the average salary for the 7,500 teachers is the province is $50,000 then the increase will be worth over $50 million in the last year alone.
Now we here at the NB Conservative may not be that good at math but we can read a calendar. On December 8th, the Graham Government admitted they had created a huge provincial deficit. On December 17th Minister Lamrock signed a deal with the teachers worth tens of millions of dollars. But it actually took the Liberal Government a couple of months to figure out - "Hey, we don't have the money to pay for those big pay raises for the teachers".
Minister Lamrock has a Letter to the Editor in the papers today where he incredibly states "Tough times call for tough decisions and frank discussions about new approaches."
Maybe that should read "Tough times call for big contracts and photo ops with politicians, followed by lower quality education for our kids."
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Liberal. The L stands for Lobbyist.
Here at the New Brunswick Conservative, we are shocked at the level of incompetence the Graham government has attained.
Well, not really, that is kind of what you would call a Shawn Graham Guarantee*.
But we did not think it would become so obvious to so many in such a short period of time.
Well, that too is kind of what you would call a Shawn Graham Guarantee*.
We knew the Liberal bench was shallower than the Becaguimac in August, but we thought the senior bureaucrats King Shawn placed in important positions would be highly skilled, best-of-the-best and very qualified.
Well, that would also be termed a Shawn Graham Guarantee*.
But the fact is that the presidency of a major NB Crown Corporation was given to a political hack with no qualifications, simply because he was in the room when the 'good patronage jobs' were being handed out. How could that happen you say? Simple. The presidency of NB Liquor was given to the person who most helped Shawn take the Premier's chair. The former Executive Director of the Liberal Party of NB. Because everyone knows political party EDs are a proving ground for executives.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/new-brunswick/story/2009/04/13/nb-clendenning-conflict.html
Once even the left wing elites at the CBC point out the emperor (president of NB Liquor)has no clothes, you know it must be obscene. The Graham government has taken incompetence to a new low.
Evidently $140,00 per year to tour wineries around the globe and abuse New Brunswick consumers with exorbitant pricing is not enough. You must then socialize the beer making business and use accounting rules for toilet paper to fudge your numbers.
But wait, there is more. You get caught up in a conflict of interest investigation. But El Presidente has an out. He allegedly only took the money (the quid), he did not provide the 'pro quo'.
For those that do not know Latin (or do, since I am a product of the NB Education system), to make it clear, the allegation is the lobbyist took the 'Consulting Fee', but the Lobbyist did not deliver the required 'Patronage'
Corruption is a very harsh word. But sometimes only very blunt words will deliver a very blunt message. We have corruption at the highest levels of the Graham government, and it must be expunged.
If the Premier has any ethics left, he will ask the President of NB Liquor to resign, before the case comes before the judge.
NB Liquor needs to be led by someone with the skills required for the job. Maybe El Presidente could become the President of RDC and just shovel money around ridings that are winnable in 2010.
* This is not a Guarantee
Well, not really, that is kind of what you would call a Shawn Graham Guarantee*.
But we did not think it would become so obvious to so many in such a short period of time.
Well, that too is kind of what you would call a Shawn Graham Guarantee*.
We knew the Liberal bench was shallower than the Becaguimac in August, but we thought the senior bureaucrats King Shawn placed in important positions would be highly skilled, best-of-the-best and very qualified.
Well, that would also be termed a Shawn Graham Guarantee*.
But the fact is that the presidency of a major NB Crown Corporation was given to a political hack with no qualifications, simply because he was in the room when the 'good patronage jobs' were being handed out. How could that happen you say? Simple. The presidency of NB Liquor was given to the person who most helped Shawn take the Premier's chair. The former Executive Director of the Liberal Party of NB. Because everyone knows political party EDs are a proving ground for executives.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/new-brunswick/story/2009/04/13/nb-clendenning-conflict.html
Once even the left wing elites at the CBC point out the emperor (president of NB Liquor)has no clothes, you know it must be obscene. The Graham government has taken incompetence to a new low.
Evidently $140,00 per year to tour wineries around the globe and abuse New Brunswick consumers with exorbitant pricing is not enough. You must then socialize the beer making business and use accounting rules for toilet paper to fudge your numbers.
But wait, there is more. You get caught up in a conflict of interest investigation. But El Presidente has an out. He allegedly only took the money (the quid), he did not provide the 'pro quo'.
For those that do not know Latin (or do, since I am a product of the NB Education system), to make it clear, the allegation is the lobbyist took the 'Consulting Fee', but the Lobbyist did not deliver the required 'Patronage'
Corruption is a very harsh word. But sometimes only very blunt words will deliver a very blunt message. We have corruption at the highest levels of the Graham government, and it must be expunged.
If the Premier has any ethics left, he will ask the President of NB Liquor to resign, before the case comes before the judge.
NB Liquor needs to be led by someone with the skills required for the job. Maybe El Presidente could become the President of RDC and just shovel money around ridings that are winnable in 2010.
* This is not a Guarantee
Saturday, April 4, 2009
The Rest of the Story
It must be the training that lawyers get that makes them so good at telling only part of every story. Recently, Liberal mouther Britt Dysart penned a piece in the TJ that allegedly quoted the Globe and Mail as being supporters of the recent provincial budget.
What Dysart quoted was some glowing comments, but unfortunately he left out the part that the comments were not written by the Globe and Mail editorial board, but they were found in a column by the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies that was reprinted in the Toronto paper. And while the quotes were complimentary towards the tax cuts, AIMS overall rating of the provincial budget was a turkey. As the column rebuts itself: “Even with fewer and lower tax rates, the New Brunswick tax system will still be disproportionately dependent on job-killing personal income taxes.”
What the President of the Liberal Party was doing is the equivalent of an ad that quotes a famous reviewer as saying “Go see this movie...” - when in fact the full quote from the movie critic was “Go see this movie if you want to waste $10 and 2 hours of your life”. Only in this case, the Graham Liberals are putting us $2 billion dollars into debt and wasting 4 years of opportunity.
For the record, the Globe and Mail editorial board had this to say about the recent budget: “Some of this restraint is sensible in tough times; while private-sector jobs are being lost, there is no reason for generous pay increases to be dispensed to public employees. Nor is a move to a more competitive corporate tax rate to be frowned upon. But personal tax cuts - particularly those that go toward upper-income earners, whose rate will drop as much as five percentage points on their highest earnings - are less likely to provide economic stimulus during a recession than well-targeted spending, since some of the money will be saved rather than spent. Moreover, the long-term cut to revenues will make it difficult to balance the books even by 2012-13, as the Liberals have optimistically projected.”
Far from a ringing endorsement.
What Dysart quoted was some glowing comments, but unfortunately he left out the part that the comments were not written by the Globe and Mail editorial board, but they were found in a column by the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies that was reprinted in the Toronto paper. And while the quotes were complimentary towards the tax cuts, AIMS overall rating of the provincial budget was a turkey. As the column rebuts itself: “Even with fewer and lower tax rates, the New Brunswick tax system will still be disproportionately dependent on job-killing personal income taxes.”
What the President of the Liberal Party was doing is the equivalent of an ad that quotes a famous reviewer as saying “Go see this movie...” - when in fact the full quote from the movie critic was “Go see this movie if you want to waste $10 and 2 hours of your life”. Only in this case, the Graham Liberals are putting us $2 billion dollars into debt and wasting 4 years of opportunity.
For the record, the Globe and Mail editorial board had this to say about the recent budget: “Some of this restraint is sensible in tough times; while private-sector jobs are being lost, there is no reason for generous pay increases to be dispensed to public employees. Nor is a move to a more competitive corporate tax rate to be frowned upon. But personal tax cuts - particularly those that go toward upper-income earners, whose rate will drop as much as five percentage points on their highest earnings - are less likely to provide economic stimulus during a recession than well-targeted spending, since some of the money will be saved rather than spent. Moreover, the long-term cut to revenues will make it difficult to balance the books even by 2012-13, as the Liberals have optimistically projected.”
Far from a ringing endorsement.
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