[Newsbot]

Title: PST in Alberta has long been taboo. Is Jason Kenney the one to finally sell it'
Category: Provincial Politics
Posted By: DrCaleb
Date: 2020-09-17 09:05:56
Canadian

[uwish]

I think consumption taxes are better overall than income taxes for example. But if they bring in a new tax they better offset it will a drop in something else. you can't get blood from a stone!

[Scape]

Like shutting the door after the the horses bolted.

[DrCaleb]

Scape Scape:

Like shutting the door after the the horses bolted.

That is the UCP way.

[Thanos]

The benefits of harmonizing a small tax with the GST are self explanatory. And the GST will likely be going up back anyway, to 7% or higher by the end of next year to make up some of the funds that had to be spent on COVID. There's no logical way to avoid a small sales tax anymore. This being Alberta though, with a governing party that will cave in to the enraged shrieking from their hardcore rural base of irrationals and ideologues? I'd say there's a best a 3/10 chance of any PST being introduced.

[bootlegga]

uwish uwish:

I think consumption taxes are better overall than income taxes for example. But if they bring in a new tax they better offset it will a drop in something else. you can't get blood from a stone!

There was a time when that was doable - in the last election, that very PST/income tax cut was proposed by the Liberals.

Now with COVID-19 spending through the roof and the oil industry in the toilet (and not coming back anytime soon), we need to jump in with both feet and just pay 4%.

But that's not going to happen as long as Kenney is in office - he already kiboshed that notion a couple months ago, and then re-iterated that position a couple weeks ago when he was interviewed by Danielle Smith (who now supports a PST if cuts to the civil service are part of the package).

[DrCaleb]

bootlegga bootlegga:

Danielle Smith (who now supports a PST if cuts to the civil service are part of the package).

I knew I disliked her, and she keeps showing me why.

The civil service is already cut. And they keep cutting. Soon it will start to affect the service Albertans receive to the point where people start getting pissed off.

And for what? Less than a half a percent of the budget?

Cut O&G subsidies, then come talk to us about people's livelihoods.

[bootlegga]

DrCaleb DrCaleb:

bootlegga bootlegga:

Danielle Smith (who now supports a PST if cuts to the civil service are part of the package).

I knew I disliked her, and she keeps showing me why.

The civil service is already cut. And they keep cutting. Soon it will start to affect the service Albertans receive to the point where people start getting pissed off.

And for what? Less than a half a percent of the budget?

Cut O&G subsidies, then come talk to us about people's livelihoods.

I talked to friends at Transportation and last year they laid off a couple dozen managers and directors, many of whom had decades of experience. No warning, no transition, just boom, and literally hundreds of years of experience and knowledge gone in 24 hours.

Friends at other ministries told me of similar lay-offs/terminations in their ministriess too. Tack on all the contractors who whose contracts weren't renewed last year, and you have huge shortages in IT and other critical areas causing year long delays in projects meant to increase service to Albertans.

[llama66]

DrCaleb DrCaleb:

Cut O&G subsidies, then come talk to us about people's livelihoods.

Or Ramp up Royalties

[DrCaleb]

bootlegga bootlegga:

Friends at other ministries told me of similar lay-offs/terminations in their ministriess too. Tack on all the contractors who whose contracts weren't renewed last year, and you have huge shortages in IT and other critical areas causing year long delays in projects meant to increase service to Albertans.

All IT in all Ministries is moving to Service Alberta. That leaves all the contractors (like me) who have been maintaining systems in the lurch, because Service Alberta has a policy that Contractors do not touch Infrastructure. The same Infrastructure we've been maintaining for years.

So they will 'pool' us, and give us random assignments, that we may or may not be qualified for, in random ministries. They'll take one of my many certifications, classify me by it, and that will be my new role. Screw the rest of the knowledge I've been gaining over the last 30 years.

So that means they will give more work to Service Alberta Employees (and not hiring more) and remove the people who know the systems (contractors) and put their knowledge off limits to SA.

Brilliant!

[bootlegga]

llama66 llama66:

DrCaleb DrCaleb:

Cut O&G subsidies, then come talk to us about people's livelihoods.

Or Ramp up Royalties

I'd say a little bit of both is in order...

[bootlegga]

DrCaleb DrCaleb:

bootlegga bootlegga:

Friends at other ministries told me of similar lay-offs/terminations in their ministriess too. Tack on all the contractors who whose contracts weren't renewed last year, and you have huge shortages in IT and other critical areas causing year long delays in projects meant to increase service to Albertans.

All IT in all Ministries is moving to Service Alberta. That leaves all the contractors (like me) who have been maintaining systems in the lurch, because Service Alberta has a policy that Contractors do not touch Infrastructure. The same Infrastructure we've been maintaining for years.

So they will 'pool' us, and give us random assignments, that we may or may not be qualified for, in random ministries. They'll take one of my many certifications, classify me by it, and that will be my new role. Screw the rest of the knowledge I've been gaining over the last 30 years.

So that means they will give more work to Service Alberta Employees (and not hiring more) and remove the people who know the systems (contractors) and put their knowledge off limits to SA.

Brilliant!

Yeah, that's what I heard. Apparently Transportation had plans to update their backend systems, some of which date back to the 90s! But with all the contractors let go last year, some of these ancient systems will have to struggle on, instead of modernizing so that more services can move online instead of having to go to a registry.

[uwish]

bootlegga bootlegga:

llama66 llama66:

DrCaleb DrCaleb:

Cut O&G subsidies, then come talk to us about people's livelihoods.

Or Ramp up Royalties

I'd say a little bit of both is in order...

hard to ramp up royalties when oil and gas companies are reporting losses and or undergoing curtailment, plus even when the NDP were in and did there royalty review they fully admitted it's pretty good the way it is.

[llama66]

But it's not good. It has never been good. The Provincial Government has fucked the people of Alberta since day one. For as oil rich as ours why does the Heritage Fund only worth ~$17.2Bn? It's because they entered into a corporate friendly royalty scheme. Now, we're fucked. The sad thing is despite being fucked, hard for these past 40 years by Conservative Governments, the people will probably vote Kenny back in next election.

[uwish]

well says you, if the NDP said the current royalty regime was good I will take their word for it. But please, tell me about this highly corporate friendly royalty scheme..please do educate us on your vast knowledge. Or is this another case of facts don't care about your feelings?