Justin Bieber unimpressed with American health care system, prefers Canada’s

Posted on February 16, 2011 by Dan

Fox News: Justin Bieber unimpressed with American health care system, prefers Canada’s

“You guys are evil,” he laughs in the new issue of Rolling Stone. “Canada’s the best country in the world. We go to the doctor and we don’t need to worry about paying him, but here, your whole life, you’re broke because of medical bills. My bodyguard’s baby was premature, and now he has to pay for it. In Canada, if your baby’s premature, he stays in the hospital as long as he needs to, and then you go home.”

Ahhh… to be 17 rich and clueless. The reality is: “We go to the doctor spend your whole life on a waiting list and they you are broke from sky high sales and income taxes”.  Somehow I doubt the next time Justin sees the doctor it’s at public walk-in clinic.

Posted in Personal Responsibility, Small Government | Tagged | 5 Comments

Guaranteed Annual Income

Posted on January 19, 2011 by Dan

Globe & Mail: Let’s refocus on a guaranteed annual income

The last thing Canada needs is another bloated Federal entitlement program. In fact the solution is less Government entitlements. If we cut a vast majority of Federal spending (agriculture, fishing, forestry, mining, manufacturing and regional subsidies etc.) we could conceivable eliminate the income tax entirely. Add the savings of the elimination of tens of thousands of paper pushers in Ottawa and their bloated salaries, pensions and benefits and this would result in billions of dollars back (or never taken in the first place) in the pockets of Canadians.

Let the provinces and local municipalities use the now vacated tax buffer to address social issues such as these. Friends, family and private charity should be the first option for support and government should be the last. I really try not to start calling everything socialism but despite the best intentions of this type of plan it is what it ends up being. If implemented the size and scope of such a program would have no end and all it would do is further strip any sense of personal responsibility that our society is dearly lacking.

Posted in Nanny State, Personal Responsibility, Small Government | 2 Comments

It’s a good thing we don’t have Fox News in Canada…

Posted on January 16, 2011 by Dan

It’s nice to see the G&M getting a head start before the easing of the ban is implemented.

Globe and Mail: CRTC proposes easing ban on broadcasting false or misleading news

“That toxic environment has been blamed by some for the tragic shooting rampage at a political meeting in Arizona last week, which killed six and injured 14, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot in the head.”

Fox News: When It Comes to the Tucson Tragedy, the Truth Has No Agenda | Glenn Beck

“ZACH OSLER, JARED LOUGHNER’S FRIEND: He did not watch TV. He disliked the news. He didn’t listen to political radio.”

Posted in Government Intervention | 1 Comment

Almost Everything Is A Crime In America Now

Posted on January 5, 2011 by Dan

Blacklistednews.com: Almost Everything Is A Crime In America Now: 14 Of The Most Ridiculous Things That Americans Are Being Arrested For

It could be worse… you could be raided for selling eggs, taken to court for publishing cartoons or fined for having a BBQ in your own back yard.

Related Breaking News: Child writes name in wet cement!!!

Posted in Government Intervention, Human Rights Commission, Liberty & Freedom, Nanny State, Private Property | Comments Off

Public Sector Severance Pay

Posted on January 3, 2011 by Dan

CBC.ca: Severance pay main issue for public service unions in 2011

“Ten to one of our members are telling us not to give up severance pay,” Mr. Corbett said. “We’re not going to give it up for nothing. Many of our members would go to the wall for this. It’s a very contentious issue.”

Public unions should be outlawed and public sector pay and benefits should be brought in line with the private sector.  The first item to be eliminated is severance pay.
We are broke and these gold plated entitlements will come back to haunt us someday.

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Phone Deregulation

Posted on December 31, 2010 by Dan

CBC.ca: Phone deregulation fails consumers

“The report points to a policy decision in December 2006 by then Industry Minister Maxime Bernier that ordered the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to use market forces to the maximum extent possible, and ensure that regulation was minimally intrusive.”

Deregulation is not the issue.  In fact the industry needs to be further deregulated and eliminate the foreign ownership restrictions.  Bell, Rogers and Telus are an oligopoly (like a monopoly but with more than one company).

The are entrenched because they were all started as provincial monopolies and then allowed to merge under ‘deregulation’ without the availablity of third parties to enter the market at the same time.

The smaller players (Fido, Clearnet etc.) never had a chance without a big player with deep pockets (T-Mobile. Verizon, Vodafone etc.) to back an aggressive expansion.

This report points to the failure of ‘market forces’ but this is hardly a free market.  Look at most of the third world – they have cheap mobile phones because their governments don’t waste time regulating the industry to death in a misguided attempt to ‘keep the business in the country’ like Canada does.

Posted in Free Markets | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

OLA: Five Most Outrageous Examples of Government Infringement on Property Rights for 2010

Posted on December 30, 2010 by Dan

Ontario Landowners Association: Five Most Outrageous Examples of Government Infringement on Property Rights for 2010

I am sure these are a drop in the bucket compared to what is going on in the rest of Canada but still a good read.

Posted in Government Intervention, Private Property | Comments Off

Power to the Individual

Posted on December 11, 2010 by libertarian-c
I read an article in the Globe & Mail recently (Don Cherry, the eye-opener), and though I vehemently disagree with the political leaning of the author, I’m glad the article was posted so I could comment. Unlike the author who believes that conservatives are finding political success because we’re idiots and easily influenced by the messages from our leaders, I believe that the conservative message is gaining strength because more people are waking up to the fact that the traditional bleeding-heart liberal message of overtax us so the government can take care of everybody, leads to ugly things… Continue reading →
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

WordPress Updates

Posted on December 2, 2010 by Dan

D’oh!  Wordpress auto-updated my theme and I lost all my awesome customizations to my theme.  I found a fix to prevent this from happening again but I need to manually reload the themes.

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

Canadian Wheat Board

Posted on November 23, 2010 by Dan

Small Dead Animals: Canadian Wheat Board

“In September 2009, Hudye Farms filed a mandatory CWB declaration with a major grain company that all wheat Hudye Farms intended to deliver in the 2009-10 crop year would be of the CWRS class. Hudye Farms submitted samples of its wheat to the Canadian Grain Commission and received official certificates that the wheat sampled from their bins was of the CWRS class. Based on its own tests, the CWB’s grain agent confirmed the same. Subsequently, Hudye Farms entered into an 8,625 tonne CWRS wheat delivery contract with the CWB.

In March 2010, Hudye Farms began delivering their wheat. Following receipt of over 7,419 tonnes of their wheat, the CWB advised Hudye Farms that subsequent testing had determined that 122.5 tonnes of their wheat contained 23.6% of an ineligible variety (606/Granite, which is a Canadian registered variety). The CWB then downgraded 122.5 tonnes of the wheat to feed, deemed Hudye Farms to be in default, cancelled all their delivery contracts, and claimed damages on the entire 8,625 tonne contract even though approximately 1,200 tonnes of the wheat had yet to be delivered.”

Only in Canada would such a system seem normal, taken for granted and no one in any hurry to abolish it.  This great video pretty much sums up the CWB:

Related: Milk Cartels

Posted in Free Markets, Government Intervention | Tagged , | Comments Off