Real Politics

Getting down to brass tacks on politics so let us start with this question, “have you ever seen a corporation stroll into a voting booth?”  I would be surprised if anyone answered yes. Yet how often do you hear politicians laying on the gravy for corporate “incentives” or “tax cuts”? Every time they do that they are also eroding the individual’s pay cheque. If corporations get tax breaks the government has to make up that deficit somehow and the first place they look is adding it on to the individual tax payer either in an actual income tax increase or some other levy.

The UCP candidate is promising to eliminate the carbon tax (which is 5% in Alberta and all revenue goes back into Energy Efficiency initiatives not regular revenue). At the same time he wants to bring back health care premiums of $98 / month which is roughly $1,200 a year. The carbon tax impacts the average person at no more than $500 / year and each person gets a rebate of $300 per year. That is just one of the ways in which the UCP will end up slamming the individual with higher taxes.

I have taken an informal poll of my family and friends asking them “in what way has the NDP affected your income ADVERSELY in the last 4 years?” and not a one has been able to come up with an example. Business owners will be quick to bring up the minimum wage increase (again this is something that the UCP will decrease) and my response to that is that living in Canada business owners ought to be able to rely on good Canadian workers who are given a decent LIVING wage and not a wage that keeps them in abject poverty. We are not a third world country and if you cannot sustain your business by paying your employees a decent wage you should not be in business. End of.

My comments may be unpalatable to many people (business owner or not) but I stick to my opinion on this because “this is 2019” and we SHOULD be a civilized society.