Horrible drawings from Economics class

Inherent Douchiness of Canadian Taxpayers Federation Revealed

“New jaw-dropping reserve pay numbers” reads a sensational headline on the Canadian Taxpayers Federation website. “Approx. 82 reserve politicians paid more than prime minister in 2008-09,” the article claims. Shocking indeed. 

But is it true? The Right Honourable Stephen Harper earns $157,731 per year as Prime Minister, another $157,731 as a Member of Parliament, and is afforded a car allowance of $2,112 totalling $317,574. According to the CTF, the Prime Minister’s after tax income is $184,000.

Fortunately, the CTF was kind enough to publish the data used in the aforementioned claim on its website, and it does not take more than a quick glance to see that the methodology (or lack of) is problematic. For one thing, in the case of British Columbia and Alberta, it would appear that salaries have mistakenly been tallied twice. Oops. Furthermore, the CTF has added, where applicable, travel and per diem allowances, honoraria, and “Other Remuneration” to the base salary of native politicians, inflating their values.

On the other hand, the Prime Minister’s salary of $184,000 includes no travel and accommodation allowances, nor per diem amounts. Of course there is a perfectly good reason for this – all MPs are supplied an annual budget of $284,700 (plus “applicable supplements”); their salaries need not be used for expenses incurred while going about their business. According to the Internal Member’s Expenditures report published by The Board of Internal Economy, MPs are, “…allocated 64 travel points each fiscal year, of which 25 special points may be used for travel anywhere within Canada. A travel point is equivalent to one return trip.” Not bad. Moreover, MPs are provided $25,468 for “accommodation and per diem expenses.” Finally, the House of Commons Administration incurs expenses from MPs “to support Members in the discharge of their parliamentary functions.”

In 2009/10, Mr. Harper racked up $74,613.01 in travel expenses, all of which was paid by the House of Commons, a paltry sum compared to the $143,679.87 in travel expenses, that Liberal Leader Mr. Ignatieff generated. At any rate, taking Mr. Harper’s after tax salary and adding it to all his expenditures ($281,255.67) and it can be said that the Prime Minister cost taxpayers at least $465,255.67 last year. Moreover, given that Mr. Harper is supplied with a house, and has access to a private jet, it is doubtless much more than that. For whatever reason, the CTF did not include any of Mr. Harper’s expenses when calculating his salary, but as noted above, travel and other allowances counted toward native politicians salaries. How is this comparison fair? Well, it is not.

A little rudimentary research shows MPs are furnished with a substantial helping of cash, in addition to their hefty salaries. Thus, the Prime Minister is much more costly to Canadian taxpayer’s than his $184,000 after tax salary would suggest. The same goes for MPs. For example, Mr. Ignatieff’s expenditures totalled $570,984.10 for the year. Paul Calandra, a lowly Conservative backbencher, generated $529,320.29 in expenses. A costly trained seal indeed. On the other hand, it seems highly unlikely that many native politicians would have access to the kind of funding MPs receive, beyond their salaries and travel expenses already accounted for in the CTF’s data.

Despite such shortcomings, the CTF is treated as a credible organization, rather than a petty fringe group that appeals to the uninformed public. In response to the CTF’s findings, Lorne Gunter, a right-wing hack for the second-rate National Post writes, “Off-reserve leaders are a bargain [in] comparison [to First Nations leaders]. “Few MPs, provincial legislators or municipal councillors,” he writes, “make more than twice what their average voters make.” Why, that sure is true Lorne. Paul Calandra! What a steal he is! How many voters can charge their employer $500,000 per year in expenses?

Finally, who are we to say that native leaders are not worthy of their salaries? We know nothing of what they do, what their jobs entail, or how hard they work. We are being presumptuous when we react with righteous indignation to the supposed overpayment of native politicians. In my view, it comes from the tired old stereotype of the lazy Indian; that pathetic assumption that natives drink and gamble their money away, while clambering for higher welfare payments. Or the equally pathetic stereotype of the corrupt Chief, robbing his people, plunging them further into poverty, while living the high life. (And thereby conveniently exonerating non-natives from feeling any responsibility for the deplorable conditions of numerous First Nations.) On the other hand, what do we assume high-priced MPs are doing when they cannot even be bothered to show up in the House of Commons? Serving their constituents?

I conclude therefore, with a proclamation that the CTF should fuck off for using poorly analyzed data to appeal to Canadians’ latent racism. Douchebags.

Who wants a load of palm sugar?

It never occurred to me that palm sugar could be construed as anything but sugar from a palm tree. But then, I had never hear of Cock Brand before...

Victoria.

Thanks for the wave, if that's what it was. 

Yarrr. 

Not Victoria

Apart from the surly crew from Vancouver to Winnipeg that enforced a strict no fun policy, and arriving 4 hours late in Toronto, the train wasn't so bad. 

The romance of train travel: I have never slept as badly as I did in these seats. 

What's up, baguette guy?

A Torontonian beats the late August heat by wearing a scarf and walking with two large, heavy bags. 

The Central Business District. 

Folks shopping.

Once upon a time, Toronto had the largest penis in the world. 

A nice upper-middle class Toronto neighbourhood. 

A man slumps forward in his seat, succumbing to hypothermia: Via Rail's policy of enforcing passenger time limits in the observation dome is accomplished by setting the air conditioning to -37 degrees centigrade. 

"Oh my God, like Saskatchewan is like literally so much better than wherever you're from..." Okay, so it's not all bad. 

Miscellaneous

This Idiot.

Is it any wonder that nobody takes this country seriously? 

So this douchebag decides it is high time to slash personal income tax rates across the board, by a hefty 15 per cent. Now, let's not forget that this retard and his party passed legislation that outlawed deficits, subsequently repealed of course when it became clear that, yikes, sometimes deficit spending is a necessity. Like when central banks keep interest rates too low for too long, mortgages are made available to people without the means to realistically afford them leading to a high number of home foreclosures, the Dow and TSX lose 50 per cent of their value in just over a year, bankruptcies rise, unemployment approaches 10 per cent nationally, and correspondingly, tax revenue plummets, while demand for social welfare does the opposite, and the Reagan era comes to a sudden, dramatic conclusion. (And right-wing politicians who previously espoused free-market solutions to any and every economic malady try to obscure their sudden application of Keynesian fiscal policy with terms like "stimulus" and "economic action plan.")

Of course outlawing deficits is a sham, and was clearly a crass, populist move aimed at appeasing idiotic citizens' groups like the ultra-douchey Canadian Taxpayer's Federation, and those who subscribe to their non-sensical, boorish, snivelling calls for lower taxes and spending cuts. "Stop the deficit madness," a recent campaign on their website screams. "Today, every child born in B.C. owes $10,751 to the province [and] by 2013 that number will grow to $12,782 dollars. THAT is fiscal child abuse." No, that is fucking hyperbole. What will these cavemen say about the extra deficit incurred by the aforementioned tax cut? A call for further spending cuts, no doubt. Go fuck yourself, CTF, you myopic, single issue, piece-of-shit lobby group.

As for Campbell, is it fiscally responsible to cut taxes in a poor economy already posting a significant deficit? No doubt spending will be cut from an already stretched-thin public service. Fuck you, Gordon Campbell. Enjoy your swift descent into political obscurity, when you lose the next election to an opponent that a 97 year old with dementia could probably defeat. And John Maynard Keynes would fucking smash you if he were still alive.