Illegal Smokes

More than 2 billion dollars of government revenue has been lost from "illegal cigarettes" . Illegal cigarette purchases in Ontario have risen to 48%. This is causing a huge problem considering that not only the government is not getting the money from these sales nor are the tobacco companies. It appears that Quebec and Ontario make up for 95% of illegal cigarette sales in Canada. The illegal untaxed and unregulated cigarettes are sold much cheaper than legal ones and are also sold to underage kids.

Government officials and tobacco activists are genuinely concerned for this issue seeing how accessible these tobacco products are to the underage. They fear that since it is so easy to access, that young people will pick up the habit at a young age. Not every one is looking after the children as this is what Imperial had to say, "it's out of control right now," costing governments $2.4 billion in missed tax revenue last year. You can tell that their main concern is the money, if the government is loosing money from these sales then it is obvious that Imperial are also loosing money. Pretty typical of a tobacco company, instead of worrying about the young age of consumption their worrying about why these underage kids aren't buying their smokes!

A wide range of groups are concerned for this issue. Who wouldn't? The illegal sales are contradicting the progress that has been made against smoking. Smokes are expensive for a reason and what these illegal cigarettes are doing is erasing any progress that we have made. From this issue two problems arise one of which being young kids are smoking at a younger age and the second is the accessibility of these cheap cigarettes and what it is doing to the progress of the fight against them. The government needs to get to the suppliers before they can sell more illegal cigarettes to underage kids. The last thing we want is for more people to harm their bodies so we as tax payers can pay for their regrettable decisions in the future. This is a huge issue that needs to be stopped immediately!

http://www.thestar.com/news/investigations/article/726038---2-billion-in-tax-revenue-up-in-smoke

Liberal's accusations

It appears that from the Liberals standpoint the Conservative's "Creating a Job Campaign" has only benefited themselves... Apparently the Conservative government has spent more than 3 million tax payer dollars in September on advertising campaigns that have been said to promote themselves. These ads state that they are helping our nation through these economic times by helping create jobs for Canadians. On the surface these advertisements give the Conservative party much glory however the Liberals are still questioning the Conservatives on how their campaign has actually helped create jobs.

The Conservative's reasoning behind the ad campaign stated by Transport Minister John Baird is to,"ensure that Canadians know about the effects of Canada's Economic Action Plan and how taxpayers' money is being spent. The ads are high-impact ways for Canadians to learn about the projects in their area". In my opinion this explanation is a very logical one. I myself being a Canadian citizen would like to know how my tax money is being spent and how effectively.

To me the Liberals are just trying to make the Conservative parties campaign seem illegitimate when it will in fact help create jobs. In my earlier posts I talked about the government infrastructure program and how it was going to create more than 1000 jobs in the Niagara region by the expansion of Niagara college. That is just one example on how the Conservatives are going to help create jobs. Although I believe that the Conservatives are not perfect I do feel that they are trying to help out Canadians within these economic times, as opposed to helping themselves like the Liberals have shown to do in recent scandals.

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/724655--tory-stimulus-ads-ripped-as-3m-pat-on-the-back

Ehealth Scandal

A system that was suppose to save us 6 billion dollars , has cost us 1 billion dollars…The recent Ehealth scandal has put the Mcquinty government in hot water as no progress and more scandal has appeared. The goal was to convert all hospital records electronically so that they could be more accessible to health institutions. Obviously that task was not carried on so well. It seems that along with many untendered contracts there was an inner circle of scandal among the Mcquinty government.

Karli Farrow a consultant that has worked with the Mcquinty government since the year 2000, was hired to work on the Ehealth project as a consultant and was paid $10,646 for 32.5 hours over a 3 week period… That’s $330 an hour for not even a full 40 hour work week let alone for 3 weeks. That is a lot of money for “consulting” fees when no work is shown for it. The Ehealth CEO Sarah Kramer received a bonus of $114,000 and soon after had to resign due to the questioning of that bonus. To be honest that is a ridiculous bonus and for what? Basically she lost a billion dollars and got a bonus for it. Her resignation shows that her role as CEO was insignificant and that her bonus was not deserved. More supervision should have been present to ensure that the Ehealth project would stay on track.

Among the bonus's and large payouts many untendered contracts were given. The amount of money that dealt with the untendered contracts was close to 16 million dollars. That’s not the best part.. it appears that these untendered contracts were given to companies that the opposition parties say have ties to the Liberal party. Now this isn't a proven fact it may be the other parties trying to make the Liberals look bad, however at this point it certainly seems believable. From the following information it is becoming clear that the Liberal party took advantage of the Ehealth project. In my opinion Mcquinty is not doing a good job at all. With the OLG scandal and the Ehealth scandal it is obvious that his role as a premier is inadequate.



http://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/ehealth/article/706648--ehealth-scandal-claims-health-minister

Going Green

A new incentive for buying hybrid and battery powered cars was introduced this week. What is it? Its a green license plate that gives the owners of these battery powered cars "special" privileges. These privileges include being able to drive in high occupancy lanes (with one passenger), rechargeable stations located at the go train and other provincially operated lots, and certain special parking spaces at stores. Now although these cars aren't on the market yet car manufacturers are working hard to get them out a.s.a.p.


Now the green plate doesn't include vehicles that are hybrid/gas powered like those on the road today. It is solely for electric cars only. I feel that buying an electric powered car is a commitment that people are not ready for. I myself am skeptical about the whole idea. The green license plate benefit stops in 2015 so drivers have a long time to weigh out their options and do a bit more research on the subject. The Ontario government hopes to convert drivers into these cars as their goal is to have 1 out of 20 drivers on the road having a battery powered car by the year 2020.

The goal of these license plates is to encourage drivers to turn green. However these cars wont come cheap and I doubt someone will buy a certain car just for a plate. Also the cars are said to go up to 60 to 80 kilometers on a single charge. Now that might be good for people who have a short commute in the city, but most people commute a bit longer to get to work. With that said I believe that 60 to 80 kilometers isn't enough to really drive comfortably without worrying about your charge. Who knows how these battery powered vehicles will turn out...lets just hope that they're not slow


http://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/article/720795--ontario-unveils-green-licence-plate-for-eco-friendly-vehicles#article

Now for Local News

Stephen Harper made history this month as he was the first sitting Prime Minister to ever make an appearance at Niagara college. He was there to support the governments new budget program called the Knowledge Infrastructure program. This budget plans to strengthen infrastructures of colleges and universities across Canada, giving students the resources they need to suceed. Niagara College is one of the many post secondary schools that is currently benefiting from the 1.5 billion governmentally run budget. The expansion of the post secondary schools will allow students to have more academic opportunities within their school . I believe that this idea is a great way to improve the quality of higher learning.

The infrastructure plan for Niagara college is to add a new addition to the school called the Niagara College Applied Health Institute. The expansion of the school is said to bring in around 1,000 new students to the college next year. This project hopes to bring economic benefits to the city of Welland as they have been hit the most with the economic recession.

This new addition is providing space for high-demand programs such as Pratical Nursing, Personal support worker, and Dental Health programs. The economic impact expansion of the school to make room for these programs is said to create 1,200 jobs in the Niagara region. By adding the new addition the governemnt is then bringing in more jobs to the city which will help the Niagara region through this reccession. I believe that the Knowledge Infrastructure Budget that the government has implemented is a positive step forward. It will give students more resources and tools to work with, and also it will create more jobs that will not only benefit the region but the students who will be going into the workforce as well.




http://www.wellandtribune.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2097928
Brock Post

Scandal reaches the OLG

The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation have been caught. In late August early September the transactions of the OLG spending was displayed. Needless to say the OLG board was spending like they themselves just won the lottery.

The results of this spending led to the resignation of the entire OLG board. The board was temporarily replaced by civil servants whose first order of business was to fire Kelly McDougald the CEO of the OLG. In following the scandal the OLG released 2 years worth of spending by the board. I was surprised to find that this spending consisted of restaurant bills of $3,700, bar tabs of $1,500, $500 gym memberships (including weight watchers), golf memberships, and help for around the house such as nanny services. Now although these costs are fairly high my main concern is how has this been going on for 2 years?! It is clear that the finance minister has not been doing his job. These expenses were definitely not a necessity but a luxury at the expense of lottery payers.

The OLG obviously recognized that these expenses were unacceptable for a government run public agency. The government is now launching an accountability report to further legitimize the OLG. The scandal really exposed the illegitimacy of the whole gambling industry. Some lottery earnings go to charities, hospitals and education so basically the OLG was stealing from charity, if you want to look at it that way. The people who are paying for lottery tickets are the ones getting hurt the most. I myself have bought lottery tickets in the past and if I knew that there was a slight possibility that my money would go towards bar tabs, I would obviously not participate.

The OLG also have been issuing untendered contracts, such contracts were present during the EHealth scandal as well. In light of this new scandal Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak stated that the McGuinty government isn't in control especially with the recent Ehealth scandal. The OLG’s and McGuinty's creditability is at stake as no one wants to get robbed of their money. Tax payers already feel that they are not getting enough for their money. The last thing that I want and tax payers want is for the OLG to be illegitimate.

Gambling is a risk already, and I’m not ready to give my money away. This scandal has brought light to what is really going on in the OLG and hopefully the government can learn from this mistake and can work further to make the creditability of the OLG more legitimate. There should not be more of a gamble to gambling.

http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20090831/OLG_changes_090831/20090831?hub=Toronto

Think Before You Post?

By now i'm sure everyone has heard of Facebook or even has Facebook. But how many people are aware of their legitimacy when it comes to their privacy policy. Well Canada's privacy commissioner Jennifer Stoddart presented her annual report to parliament today. Her words of wisdom towards Facebook users, was to "think twice" before sending any messages or wall posts. In 2008 a report was presented to Parliament on the importance of Youth privacy under the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act. Working from this the commissioners main objective this year was to further protect the rights of youth by looking into Facebook.

She stated that many opportunities can be lost from posting a harmless message to your friends. How? Well first of all it can ruin your future job interview, your current job or even school. Your account can be easily obtained by these institutions through Facebook. I think that personal information should not be viewed by anyone else other than yourself. What Facebook is doing is illegitimate they should not be able to display peoples personal lives for their own benefit. They are exposing vulnerable users to the people who are going to judge them the most. Anything can be used against you a wild night out, a harmless post anything!... I find it morally wrong however I guess thats the risk when your dealing with the internet

Conservative Party Logo

So the new logo of the 2010 Olympic games came out the other day, and its causing some heads to turn. It seems to resemble the Conservative's party logo. Now the Canadian Olympic Committee claims that its just a coincidence and that the Conservative party had nothing to do with it. However others seem to think otherwise such as the Liberal Mp Hedy Fry as he had this to say about the logo,

"Canada's Olympic Games belong to all Canadians. While it is clear that the Conservative government's multimillion-dollar infrastructure campaign is crassly partisan, can the prime minister at least stop trying to politicize the Canadian Winter Olympics?"

I must say I agree with him. After reading the article and comparing the logo I came to the conclusion that its as close as you can get to being the same. Why not? If I was the governing party of Canada I would definitely try to use propaganda of that sort. When you think of it it makes sense, our Olympic team does represent Canada. So what better way to get party recognition/representation then by putting it in the world Olympics . If they can get away with it why not! Even though the Conservatives are a minority government they sure don't want to be recognized as one. Hey you never know maybe they're just really supportive of our Canadian teams!


Anyways I'll let you be the judge


http://www.nationalpost.com/sports/story.html?id=2056136

Tobacco Companies

So the government of Ontario is suing major tobacco companies with a 50 billion dollar lawsuit! This lawsuit was made to recover health care costs of tobacco related illnesses dating back to 1955 . One of the major tobacco companies that is getting sued is Imperial Cigarettes, their spokesperson Eric Gagnon had this to say about the suit, "This is a legal product and we do it in the way the government dictates us to do it". Does he have a point? So what i don't understand is if they are selling their product within government guidelines why are they getting sued? By regulating tobacco products the government is supporting the tobacco industry. They know the dangers of tobacco...everyone does. Why would you then sue these companies if your in fact supporting them.

This lawsuit isn't all about the government its also about the people who are consuming the products. Because of that I feel that this is a never needing cycle. What I mean by this is that the consumers are the ones that are keeping the tobacco industry alive. If people are still buying it then its going to get produced but if theres no demand then theres no production. Due to the many years of evidence and research the causes of tobacco have become common knowledge. Because of this evidence the Ontario government has had to control the way cigarettes are sold and displayed. However even with all of these 'obstacles' it is not enough to stop this industry from getting to the customers.

Going back on my earlier point of tobacco being a regulated product. The Ontario government should then not sue the tobacco companies on account of, it is still a government regulated product. Its like suing the liquor board of Ontario for alcohol related illnesses and deaths. Therefore before suing tobacco companies, the government should just stop regulating the products.

Who should be held responsible then? I say Everyone! First off its the tobacco companies for selling a product that causes harm to their customers, the government for regulating these harmful products, and the customers who are keeping this product alive!

http://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/article/702554