I avoid political discussions and this will be my only post here, but these comments read so exactly like a conservative ad, except slightly less mud tossing, that i couldn't help but think about how many people are so one track in mindset like a brainwash effect, sold onto them by people in tight suits and often bad hair styles.
"Having seen the bureaucracy first hand"
In what regard? (just curious)
I have seen financial things that could change to save cash in all industries. I used to work for the feds on contract in a federal building for years. During the federal job cuts i saw good workers (several scientists and then all of their associated staff who tell us things about oh, the quality of water we drink and fish we eat) lose their positions and why? Because of someone's ideological concept of government bloat. Some still don't have new jobs. That's more workers NOT paying taxes. I know of ten better ways to have saved on costs at this lowest level of a workplace which would have been far more meaningful than people losing their careers of 10+ years. Employees at this base level all know about such possibilities, but it has long been ignored by higher echelons and certainly never considered by any minister in charge of that federal department.
How about this for an idea of cutting the fat....why have MPs (federal or MPPs provincially) not taken a single pay cut or pension cut during these times of austerity?
Why not offer up even a 10% reduction in MP salaries (for which they start at $150k annually) since so many others in Canada have lost their employment income by 100%?
After only six years as a federal MP they get a pension starting at $40k annually (approx.). That's just outright stupid.
If i had the patience i'd sign up to be a politician as soon as possible so i could retire after 6 years with a pension better than someone who worked in a unionized coal mine for 40 years.
http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/07/05/...-year-for-life/(Please spare any comments about the Reform_PC pension changes lately as well since it amounts to a drop in the bucket compared to Joe Blow's average Canadian pension who works just as damn hard as any politician).
I also worked for private industry (an oil company), consulting firms and even an NGO (non-government, non-profit organization).
Of any of those sectors, only the NGO was truly lean in its use of resources but one thing i have learned, when any of these places cut people, they also cut the ability to actually do work or take on larger work sometimes to the point where the group dissolves entirely. It is a downward spiral.
The simplest fact is, whether it be a household or a government, if you spend more than you take in, you have debt. When you cut what you take in, you have debt.
Guess which line applies to Liberals/NDP (spending) and which line applies to PC (tax cutting) and both have the same end result?
Sorry BJ, but the broad net you cast on government bloat and how some single party has the solution that will work or how one other party is the sole reason to blame for a situation, has alot to do with what people are sold to them by people with hypotheses about how economics should work, compared to the reality of how this world turns. Let's "blame the man" because its the easiest swing to take. Kinda hard to blame my neighbor because he's never been unemployed so he loves things like personal tax breaks but it does demonstrate the narrow mindset.
Had he been fired from a job and got a union job giving him some job security instead, perhaps he would have voted NDP instead of PC.
I don't think any of these parties have a great all around solution, and EVERY party/person can make errors in deciding on gas plants or boat and plane contracts, but one thing i can say is i'm very tired of hearing the negative mud slinging in Canadian politics about it all.
Corruption?
Bah. People using this word in this context don't know the meaning of real corruption.
/end rant (i won't be back to this thread)
