Families spend more on taxes than basic necessities.

28th April 2009

The average Canadian family is spending more money – nearly half of its income – on taxes than on food, clothing and shelter, according to a new study from the Fraser Institute.

The Canadian Consumer Tax Index 2009 shows that despite significant income increases since 1961, the total tax bill for a family – which includes single parents – has increased at a much higher rate.

In 1961, a Canadian family earned an income of $5,000 and paid $1,675 in total taxes – 33.5% of its income.

In 2008, the average Canadian family earned an income of $71,765 and paid total taxes equaling $31,535 – 43.9% of its income.

The Toronto Sun

Good thing this Stand up Liberal is'nt in Ontario

No ridducule or name calling from the asses????


B.C. safety minister suspended from driving for 'excessive speeding'

B.C. Solicitor General John van Dongen, the province's top law enforcement official, has been suspended from driving because of traffic tickets for what he said was "excessive speeding."

Van Dongen, who is also the minister of public safety and is running for re-election as a Liberal in Abbotsford South, issued a written statement Friday, saying he "accepted the temporary prohibition."

In an interview with CBC Radio on Friday afternoon, van Dongen said he received two tickets in the last 18 months stemming from "excessive speeding" on a Saanich highway in Victoria and on Highway 99.

His vehicle was going 41 km/h in excess of the highways' speed limit, he said. Van Dongen told another local radio station that the driving prohibition is for four months.

Van Dongen said he received last Thursday a letter from the Office of the Superintendent of Motor Vehicles (OSMV) — which is part of his cabinet portfolio — giving notice of "a driving prohibition due to tickets I have received for speeding."

"I will not be appealing the decision and have mailed my driver's licence to the OSMV," van Dongen said in the statement. "I fully understand and accept responsibility for my driving behaviour and believe it is my duty to fully and completely comply with the decision."

Van Dongen has asked the government to have his responsibility for the OSMV and the Insurance Corp. of British Columbia reassigned.

"While I am not currently involved in any active decisions as minister with respect to these agencies, I feel it is important that both my actions and this latest decision do not have any detrimental impact on public confidence in either ICBC or OSMV.

"I fully recognize the importance of public safety and compliance with the law on our roads. The law applies equally to me as it does to everyone else and I strongly support that," van Dongen said.

Round Three

April 20, 2009
THE CANADIAN PRESS
The Canadian Press, 2009
TORONTO - Ontario's top court has agreed to hear the province's top cop argue an adjudicator is biased against him.


Two previous court decisions have gone against provincial police Commissioner Julian Fantino.

He wants retired judge Leonard Montgomery thrown off a disciplinary case against two senior officers.

No dates have been set but the court did direct the appeal to be expedited.

Fantino's lawyer says he will now seek a stay of the discplinary hearing pending the appeal, possibly as early as this week.

Fantino was under cross-examination last fall when his lawyer accused Montgomery of bias, bringing the proceedings to an abrupt halt.

Retired Peel officer facing sex charges!

This is priceless, but tasteless on my part!



April 22 2009
A retired Peel Regional Police officer has been charged with several sex-related offences against a 13-year-old girl.

Halton Regional Police said today the accused and the victim met through an online dating service in October 2008. Police allege that sexual encounters ensued over a period of time.

Mike Chaddock, 57, of Brampton, has been charged with sexual assault, sexual interference and invitation to sexual touching.

He is to appear in a Milton court on June 1.

Earlier tonight, Chaddock said he will vigorously defend himself against the charges and he is confident he'll be exonerated.

Chaddock is the executive assistant to Brampton Springdale MPP Linda Jeffrey.

He he retired from the Peel force as a sergeant in 2004.

Back in 2003, Chaddock received a police commendation from the Police Services Board for making a significant contribution to the police force and community and his "demonstrated continued excellence" in the performance of his duties and dedication.

Chaddock has worked on a number of community organizations, including the Brampton Santa Claus Parade Committee, and was a member and executive director of the Brampton Downtown Business Association. He was active in promoting the popular Motorcycle Ride For Dad program, an initiative that sees police officers and others ride their motorcycles to raise money for prostate cancer research and education.

Chaddock was also the long-time president of the Mississauga-based Region of Peel Humane Society.

Louie Rosella, Mississauga News.

105/kmh limiters are working well Ontario!

Good Cop gives abused puppy a good home!

From The Toronto Star
Apr 10, 2009
Sunny Freeman
staff reporter


An OPP sergeant giving a home to Charlie, the 4-month-old puppy abandoned in a Toronto dumpster last month, says the addition to his Port Hope family is an Easter blessing.

The pup – rescued by a janitor from a slow death in the condo dumpster, then turned over to a Toronto Animal Services shelter where he was dubbed "Charlie" – joined new owner Mark Collins and his family at their 190-hectare farm on Tuesday.

That the little Lhasa Apso was found alive inside a sealed cardboard box in the Willowdale dumpster was "like the hand of fate," Collins said in a phone interview.

"We call him Sir Charles Phoenix ... he's like the phoenix rising from the ashes."

The OPP officer, his wife Laura and their 12-year-old daughter were intending to get a dog when he heard Charlie's story on a newscast.

"Call it luck or fate or God, but there was something else going on," said Collins, pausing at times to stop the pup on his lap from chewing off his buttons. "Given the timing and it's Easter, I'll go with God."

He added, "I want to spend the rest of my life making him feel loved and wanted, instead of like refuse."

The animal shelter got about 100 applications for Charlie, from as far away as British Columbia and Newfoundland, but Collins' bid stood out, said supervisor Fiona Venedam.

He was among the first to apply, then hounded shelter staff with over 20 emails and phone calls, frequent visits, reference letters from his vet and groomer, and a heartfelt poem he wrote in the pup's honour.

When the shelter advised his bid had been chosen, "being a big tough cop, I burst into tears," Collins said.

Collins, who works out of his home on Alcohol and Gaming Commission investigations for the OPP, said he and Charlie are now "attached at the hip."

"He's a cuddle monster, wants to be with people and will follow any one of us around."

The family is watching for signs of trauma from the abandonment but so far, he's a regular happy pup.

Collins says he has spoken with Toronto police detectives working on the case and they are pursuing several leads.

"A story like this touches a lot of people's hearts, and police officers are not immune to that," he says of reaching out to Charlie.

Collins said the toughest day he's faced as an OPP officer was dealing with a scared dog who ran onto Highway 401 and was hit by cars.

"I knelt down and he was licking my hand. He had to be put down. That day resonated with me when I heard Charlie's story," Collins said between gulps and pauses.

His wife and daughter are equally ecstatic about Charlie's arrival in the household.

But their other pets are having adjustment pains. Brinkley, an 8-year-old Shih Tzu, is showing signs of an older-sibling jealousy complex while Puff, their 3-year-old longhaired cat, is ignoring the pup.

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/616722

My take on the Fantino circus!

In my opinion, here's what is going to happen in the disciplinary hearing up in Orillia!

Julian Fantino said it best "Hysterical Nonsense"

This disciplinary hearing is on the third appeal from the Fantino camp to have the adjudicator tossed, retired judge Leonard Montgomery was personally selected for the disciplinary hearing by Fantino himself!

On Monday March 30 2009 The Fantino circus, the same day as the appeal was to be heard, MORE allegations surfaced from another officer, the complaint, which has not been proven, alleges Fantino "engaged in unlawful acts of reprisals against defence witnesses.

The Messham probe came as a Divisional Court panel was still weighing a Fantino request to force retired justice Leonard Montgomery to step down as adjudicator in the misconduct case.

In a letter to the lead investigator filed with the Appeal Court, Messham's lawyer Scott Fenton called the probe of his client a "gross misuse" of criminal investigative power.

"The decision to direct a criminal investigation against Insp. Messham (ret.) appears to be part of a broader pattern of misuse of authority by the commissioner of the OPP against current and former senior officers who the commissioner perceives are disloyal, recalcitrant or disrespectful of his authority and his particular methods of enforcing discipline," Fenton wrote

After so many appeals and heel dragging by the Fantino camp, and now rumors floating around, about Fantino retiring next year and running for the Mayor of Vaughan, which would be a great place for Mr. Accountability.Would this mean that under the PSA(police services act) that all this TAX payer money and time would be a waste, as the allegations would be considered NULL and VOID as he would no longer be a police officer?

You can find more info here: http://www.metronews.ca/toronto/canada/article/204632

Two Toronto Police Officers who get the red carpet out the back door!

Flip Flop Flip Flop!

Daddy Dalton is doing himself in, great job Daddy, do Ontario a favour and hurry up!

Ontario may delay 2010 minimum wage hike: McGuinty
Friday, March 27, 2009 | 12:45 PM ET
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2009/03/27/ontario-minimum-wage.html

The Ontario government may have to delay next year's planned minimum wage hike, Premier Dalton McGuinty said Friday.

Speaking in Ottawa, the premier said this year's 75-cent increase to $9.50 an hour from $8.75 will go ahead as planned next Wednesday.

But he said next year's rise to $10.25 an hour may have to be put off, depending on the state of the economy.

McGuinty said he will look at business conditions next year and make a decision.

Finance Minister Dwight Duncan revealed on Thursday that Ontario will rack up a projected record $14.1-billion deficit in 2009 as it commits billions to infrastructure projects and job retraining aimed at pulling the province out of the recession.

Duncan's budget anticipates Ontario will run a total deficit of $56.8 billion over the next seven years, and projects a return to balanced books no later than the 2015-2016 fiscal year.

Opposition parties have accused the Liberals of piling more taxes and debt on struggling families at the worst possible time.


And then today Dalton did his famous Flip Flop!

McGuinty: I was wrong
Mar 31, 2009 04:30 AM
http://www.thestar.com/article/610869

Premier Dalton McGuinty has backed off his threat to cancel next year's increase of the minimum wage to $10.25 an hour after an outcry from the opposition and anti-poverty activists.

A visibly contrite McGuinty scrambled to undo the damage in the Legislature yesterday after musing to business leaders behind closed doors in Ottawa last week that he might scrap the raise due to the recession.

"The fact is, it does call for some clarification on my part and I take responsibility for muddying the waters," the premier said in response to a question from NDP Leader Andrea Horwath.

"When we talk about the minimum wage, we have to ask ourselves what it is that we owe both our workers and employers. I think clearly we owe them fairness," he said. "Our commitment was to get the $10.25 an hour one year from now and we will honour that commitment."

His mea culpa comes as the minimum wage jumps today to $9.50 an hour from $8.75, with the next scheduled increase of 75 cents an hour set for March 31, 2010.

On Friday – less than 24 hours after the scheduled wage hike had been highlighted in the provincial budget – McGuinty said the government would "have to take into account ... what's happening to the economy as a whole ... before we move ahead" with the raise.

That ignited a firestorm of controversy among anti-poverty crusaders who felt they had been betrayed.

Finance Minister Dwight Duncan, whose attempts to sell the budget were derailed by McGuinty's apparent breaking of a key Liberal pledge, originally made in 2007, told the Star editorial board that all's well that ends well.

"Well, I think the premier simply indicated on Friday that in next year's budget we would look at it. And he thought about it over the weekend, reflected on it and realized the policy that we had laid out in the '07 budget was the appropriate policy and we're going to continue," said Duncan.

An ebullient Horwath could not resist gloating a bit at McGuinty's "flip-flopping." "I'm sure the premier saw the error of his ways and acquiesced to my pressure today. It is irresponsible. People were really concerned about it, worried about it," the NDP leader said. "It shows that the premier's musings are ones that people ... can't trust."

Interim Progressive Conservative Leader Bob Runciman said the episode "certainly calls into question his competence and his understanding of this very significant budget."

"He's all over the map on so many things. It's not too many months ago he said it would be `crazy' to bring in new taxes in the midst of a recession," said Runciman, referring to the blending of the 8 per cent provincial sales tax and the 5 per cent GST into a new 13 per cent levy that will raise the cost of hundreds of products and services when it takes effect July 1, 2010.

"I don't think he misspoke. I'm not even sure if he was sincere in his comments on Friday," Runciman said, complaining the government is "not consulting" on anything from the tax change to the wage hike. Duncan was visibly flummoxed Friday as he struggled to explain why the possible cancellation of the minimum wage hike was not noted anywhere in the budget documents.

On Friday, aides to McGuinty insisted he had not misstepped, saying he was being "pragmatic" by acknowledging the economic slowdown would have an effect on the planned rise in the minimum wage.

The comments were not the first time in recent weeks McGuinty has caught members of his own caucus off-guard. Two weeks before the budget, some Liberal MPPs left a caucus meeting alarmed at the prospect of forging ahead with the harmonized sales tax.

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business, which has been expressing concern about the impact of today's hike to $9.50 an hour, was not amused by McGuinty's latest U-turn.

"This is no way to run a province – to keep changing your mind," said Satinder Chera, the federation's director of Ontario affairs.

Chera suggested the premier may have been trying to change the channel after criticism on tax harmonization.

"This government is sending mixed messages. It makes you wonder if they're playing politics with this issue," he said.

Jacquie Maund, the co-ordinator of Ontario Campaign 2000, said postponing the raise would have undermined the Liberals' pledge to reduce child poverty by 25 per cent within five years.

"Almost half of all poor children in Ontario live in families where at least one parent works full time all year," said Maund. "So, action to address the challenges of working poor families is key," she said.

Daddy Dalton wants to merge sales tax with GST=HST

More TAXES fron the Ban Man.
Why not start stealing citizens houses and sell it back at a fraction of the market value, with the false pretense that your saving lives, you done it with HTA 172.
"The Dalton Gang" strikes again!



The Ontario Liberal government is expected to introduce harmonization of the province's sales tax with the GST in its budget on Thursday to ease costs for struggling businesses and stimulate the province's sagging economy during the global recession.

Opposition and business leaders have long pushed for the measure, arguing the province's corporate taxes are too high, hinder investment and make the province less competitive.

Premier Dalton McGuinty hinted the move was in the works after admitting he had heard from numerous business groups advocating a merger of the taxes.

Provincial Finance Minister Dwight Duncan has already revealed the coming budget will bring Ontario into a deficit of $18 billion over the next two years, along with a $27.5-billion infrastructure program to create jobs in the wake of hundreds of thousands of jobs lost in the province's manufacturing sector.

But after a series of good-news pre-budget announcements on infrastructure and education funding, the premier cited the need for budget secrecy for his inability to answer opposition MPPs' questions Tuesday on tax harmonization.

New tax would 'nickel-and-dime families': NDP leader
During question period at the legislature, the NDP pointed out the single sales tax would also mean consumers would be left paying higher taxes on basic goods such as diapers, shoes and children's vitamins.

New Democrat Leader Andrea Horwath expressed concern the merged tax would "nickel-and-dime families."

"These are all the kinds of items, the kinds of things people buy every single week," Horwath told the legislature. "Especially in times of difficulty, families do not need this extra tax."

McGuinty acknowledged the move could increase the price of some consumer goods currently exempt from the PST. But he said Ontarians would eventually understand the government's need to make hard and unpopular decisions.

"What Ontarians want us to do is to do what's right," McGuinty said. "I don't think that we've been put in a position of government to choose what's easy."

The Ontario Chamber of Commerce has estimated merging the taxes would save companies about $100 million a year, but acknowledges the price of some household goods would increase in the short-term.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2009/03/25/ontario-budget.html#socialcomments