Blind, Deaf and Dumb

As a parent, I am always in teaching mode. I constantly remind my children to learn from their mistakes. As a history buff I watch in horror as government after government, city after city, country after country, make the same mistakes over and over again, never learning from their past, and rarely using common sense.

What am I rambling on about now?

Lets first look at 2010 in Ottawa and Ontario: We had an announcement by the city of Ottawa that it had to raise the water rates because we simply were not using enough water and they couldn't afford to fix the sewage system, upgrade infrastructure etc. But wasn't it just a few months earlier that the city paid for a huge campaign to promote conserving water? Included in that campaign was a truck driving around handing out bottled water and urging residents to reduce, reuse, recycle - sounds a little backwards!

So - did they hire a 4 year old to think this campaign out? Basically they are saying "Hey Ottawa, use less water and here's some plastic bottles, but we are going to raise your rates cause you simply don't consume enough, and - Oh by-the-way, we have to pay for all this publicity and for the water we're handing out - enjoy!"

Wait - we had some snow. (Imagine snow in Ottawa - whodda thunk it!), but the city says in fiscal 2009 we had more than our share, so everyone in Ottawa will be required to pay a surplus $50 on their 2010 tax bill to cover the shortfall.

Next they announced the new recycling plan, compost bins... But you to pay an extra fee to do this. And - companies are recycling too much, so there will be extra surcharges for SME's across the city to cover the cost of recycling.

And of course, OCT solved their bus-strike issues, everyone went back to work and taking the bus like nothing happened - but - they need to raise their rates to cover the shortfall in bus revenues during the strike.... Wait a second... we are being told that OCT doesn't make money, it operates at a loss. So if they were on strike, no busses running, no salaries being paid, no employees working, how can they lose money?

But, just when you think it's over and settled, we are told Hydro wants to raise the rates because they are installing smart meters and that will cost money, but in the long run save us millions. Also, Ontario power is getting cleaner and for that Ontario's population will need to pay more on electricity bills. Just how is this grand scheme being managed? Less coal fired plants? More hydro dams?, Wind power, solar power? Well actually the Ontario government is buying extra power being generated by private business and residences at more than 10x the going rate. They are building solar farms and wind farms - but all at the expense of the consumer. Same product ... conserve more so you can pay more!

And just when you think the insanity has abated, along comes the HST and that tiny little hidden 'eco' tax mixed in for good measure. Did anyone notice they paid an extra few bucks when installing their winter tires this year? Sure the government of Ontario removed the tax (they claimed), but they didn't, they just made it different and applied differently. Anyone buy an electronic device this Christmas? Check your receipt, there is a new disposal fee added to it.

Wait - there's more - the price of oil has gone up (surprise, surprise), so the price of gasoline must be raised. We're paying over $115 a litre now in some places - thats up from the low 90 cents a litre a few months ago. Is anyone surprised that this happened just before Christmas? Seriously, Christmas is known for gift giving, celebrating, family beautiful lights, turkey and gas price increases.

All this on top of the typical hikes in phone rates, cable, food, internet, electricity, insurance rates, interest rates and overall inflation.... But the Ontario and Federal government says, "tighten your belts, we want to freeze wages". And they are more committed than ever to reduce the size of the public service and crown corporations through layoffs and attrition.

Yup lead by example - thats our Motto!

Okay BUT the insanity must be over now, Christmas is done for another year and all is well.....

Nope, now we are being told that starting January 1, 2011, we will have an increase to UI, and the Canada Pension plan.

It's only day 1! Couldn't they have waited a week?

Someone please tell our governments they are creating a new recession, not solving the one we are coming out of.

- Colin