It’s been an interesting journey writing this blog … enjoyable, frustrating, educating, annoying, and much more

There are many people who write commentary on blogs ... on a wide variety of topics and subjects ... one of which is my favorite; politics.  Some, like my nephew Steve, have been writing for years and have hundreds and hundreds of postings … while some like me have only been at it a short while.

Earlier this week I hit my 250^th posting, and so I thought, I wonder what has been of the most interest to people reading my blog??  Here‘s the results:

2) In the words of John Cummins … or … “You’ll find that I’m not really a trained seal”  from April 19th, 2011

Does anyone know the mind of Christy Clark --- even Christy herself??

Since the BC Liberals leadership campaign, right up to recent weeks, Christy Clark has appeared to second guess, or re-assess, almost every decision and statement she has made.

The biggest ongoing assessment and decision she had to make was whether or not to call an early Fall election despite legation she helped craft and pass on having a fixed election date in BC.  Well that speculation is now over, and so perhaps the BC Liberals can get on with the business of governing.

Meantime here are just a few snippets from an email Christy Clark sent to BC Liberal members and supporters yesterday:

·         Clark indicated that they needed to … “keep our eye on the ball with the provincial economy, especially in these globally uncertain times”

Will she or won't she ...

As Keith Baldrey has pointed out, the window for Christy Clark to call an election is shrinking if she plans to call one for this Fall.

She has the fate of the HST vs. the PST / GST, which has been delayed now, as voters will getting a few extra weeks to get ballots in.

That plus she has to be concerned with where John Cummins will be taking the BC Conservative Party -- as they put the finishing touches to a new policy platform -- in readiness for a possible Fall election.

Neither the NDP or the BC Liberal Party is gaining ground on the other ... meantime the BC Conservatives have been continuing to make ground with voters in the province.

Will we have an election this Fall??? ... right now I think it's a 50 / 50 shot.

Read Keith Baldrey's full story -- click HERE

Odds and Ends

Just a couple of things of note from the past week.

One story you may have missed was that fat juicy pay raise some at Powerex have received.  Never heard of Powerex??  Well it's the power export arm of BC Hydro.  Seems that several of the top management people there are in line for pay raises of hundreds of thousands of dollars!

In story in the Vancouver Sun it said that Thomas Bechard will now be making $432,950 a year (a 65% increase since 2008-09) ... Mark Holman's pay has jumped by 70% and he will now be earning $678,898 ... while get this, Robert Campbell will be going from an annual salary of $196 thousand, to nearly $630 thousand ... an increase of 320%.

There are actually at least 3 camps regarding the HST ... and the PST / GST

Many people … including those in the media … have NOT realized there are actually at least 3 camps (or schools of thought) regarding the HST ... and the PST / GST.

There are those who, no matter what, hate the government -- and the HST --- and will vote to end its existence.

There are those who go, "Whoopee … it goes down 2% and the government will be mailing me a FREE cheque to bribe me into keeping it.”

Then there were those who like me who said, “I do not like how it was initiated but I will vote to retain it.”

That was until Christy Clark tinkered with it … a “FIX” she called it.

Debating the HST?? We need more than just Dix and Clark!

So Adrian Dix would like to challenge Christy Clark to debate the HST on the Bill Good show??

Given that Clark would find it difficult to give honest answers on the true cost of what a 10% HST will do to the deficit, I doubt very much she will take up the challenge.

This “FIX” to the HST could have easily come from the NDP --- no wait, even Adrian Dix and the NDP wouldn't have come up with a plan this ridiculous.

Whatever was Christy Clark thinking ???  The news is out about fixing the HST ... and as I joked the other day … it is more like “The FIX is in on the HST”. 

As noted in the Victoria Times Colonist, here is Christy Clark’s plan in a nutshell:

The B.C. government is promising to cut the 12 per cent harmonized sales tax by two percentage points, provide rebates to millions of British Columbians and hike corporate tax rates in a last-ditch attempt to save the unpopular tax from defeat in a summer referendum.

I hope Christy Clark doesn't think the drop has anything to do with her!

In a story today (May 21st) in the Vancouver Sun, Vaughn Palmer wrote about the upcoming HST referendum.  In the story he mentioned that Ipsos-Reid had just completed a study where a little over one third (36%) of taxpayers plan to vote yes to retaining the tax … while just over half the people (52%) will be voting to return to the old GST / PST combination.  That vote will be taking place next month in a mail in referendum.

Now given how the hated tax was conceived in secrecy prior to being announced ... and that only a mere year and a half ago there was near unanimous disapproval of the tax (including thousands upon thousands of Liberal voters) ... the fact they have the disapproval rating down to just over 50% now is pretty remarkable.

I hope that Christy Clark doesn't think the drop has anything to do with her however! 

We have too many questions ... and not enough answers

HST in BC is the government website, set up to provide details on the tax, in an impartial way. At least that is what they want us to believe – but is it? Just one of the things they have on the website is a little quiz we can take to see if we truly understand the tax. Have a look at the questions on it, and see what you think.

1. The combined PST / GST rate was 12 per cent. What is the total tax rate under the HST?

The choices are 12, 15, 19 or 24%. Notice how none of the choices being offered are less than 12%. Given that the tax now applies to an additional items not previously taxed, should we not have a choice under 12%??

Having a say on major decisions is of no value ... if we do not have the facts

You will not find much disagreement amongst British Columbians’ that the most important functions of government are to provide quality affordable health care -– an opportunity for young people to get a good education -– an environment in the community where people can feel safe –- clean air and fresh water -- social programs for those in society who are in true need of assistance – and a tax system that is fair and affordable.

There will be disagreement across party lines, and even between friends, on how to best accomplish these goals, however I am sure that all would agree these things should be a top priority.

If that is the case, then why do we seem to have so much difficulty achieving those goals? 

Now available … “HST Math for Dummies”

Yesterday in the Vancouver Sun, columnist Don Cayo had a brief story entitled “The HST’s total impact on BC prices well under 1%”.  The following two paragraphs are the story in its entirety:

What might he be saying? Perhaps,"I think
the effect of the HST will be about this much"

The impact varies according to your income and spending habits, but for the average British Columbian the impact of the HST has been less, according to a just-released study, than most experts predicted. And much, much less than many of the tax's critics have claimed.

Jon Kesselman, the Canada Research Chair in Pubic Finance and Simon Fraser University, has calculated the overall impact on the price of consumer purchases at 0.6 per cent, based on StatsCan data on price changes and spending patterns, and factoring in inflation.

I guess perhaps columnists for the Vancouver Sun make enough money they can just kiss off any increase the provincial government decides to throw at us.  Stating that the impact of the HST has only amounted to an increase of .6% of course does make it sound very small … but let’s look at this in “real” dollars and cents.