Helmets Not Mandatory

The Ontario premier is not going to allow the proposal to go through about having to have helmets on ski slopes in Ontario. This comes after a 13 year old crashed into a tree at snow valley last week, and later died. McGuinty says that after the accident he has bought himself a helmet but is not going to go as far as forcing others to do the same. Helmets are getting more and more common and even though parents force their children to wear them they often don't do as they are telling their kids. The urge for more people to wear them is becoming apparent, these accidents are just more wake up calls of what we should be looking for.

I my self wear a helmet when I am skiing, even though I'm better than most, I still do. I have been skiing for almost all of my life and in the past few years have started racing, I see people on the weekends with and without helmets, often the people that don't know how to ski, or are beginners are not wearing them. I think that people have the right to not wear helmets but it is strongly recommended. But why wouldn’t you wear a helmet? There comfortable, affordable, warm, and not to mention look good and most importantly are safe. I'd personally wear a helmet than anything else when I am skiing. This is the advise that I would give to all people weather they ski or not, wear a helmet in what ever sport where it is advised, and who knows it might even save your life one day.

Reference:

http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20090224/McGuinty_helmets_090224/20090224/?hub=TorontoNewHome

Caledonia Dispute

The premier has decided not to call an inquiry for the land dispute that has been going on for the last three years. McGuinty says that it is a matter of federal jurisdiction and it is not his job. There will be a public inquiry on the 28th of February if the call to the opposition forces one. The premier also says that he agrees with the O.P.P. fully and agrees with the residences that have come under fire by the police. This is telling the home owners that the Canadian government doesn’t care for them and wants nothing to due with them. The main reason that the people want an inquiry is because they want more land and with out the inquiry they don’t get their land. For the last months the residences have been signing a petition and have come under fire for doing so especially the MP of that area. There has been many outrageous fights between the homeowners and the aboriginals.

The whole Aboriginal thing I don’t agree with. They should pay taxes to use publically owned roads, they should have to obey by the law, they have to keep up with the up with the future. In my opinion everybody in Canada should have the EXACT same writes and freedoms, in saying that I'm sure that some aboriginal won't agree that they should pay taxes because the Europeans took their land, but look at all the other ethnic communities. They are all gaining in with the program and we should not have to pay for things that they are using. I'm positive that if I were an aboriginal I would not like this very much but If I wanted to be normal and not stuck in the 1800's that I'm sure that they would abide by it.


Reference:
http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20090218/caledonia_inquiry_090218/20090218/?hub=TorontoNewHome

Property Tax Up 4%

A 4% property tax increase was introduced today by mayor David Miller. That and many other tax grabs came in this years $8.7billion budget. The city expects that this tax increase will generate $83 million from house holds and $26 million from businesses. The property taxes now generate 39% of the budget. The people with low income will be able to apply for cuts or cancellation of this increase in their property tax. Other things that are expected to me increased are services, like the TTC will see an almost 4% jump. Adult aquatic lessons will jump by $3.50 to $98.00. The Mayor also is investing money for planning for the future, $24 million will be invested in this area. Although these taxes jumped a lot of the others had just stayed still, like land transfer tax and personal vehicle tax.

Although tax jumps are nothing new I don’t think that this is a good time to be introducing an increase. Things are already expensive enough and if the whole economy is in the dumps wouldn't the government want us spending our money some where else other than to them? The government dose not want to run a defecate, but I think if they just do the same thing as they did last year until we are out of this economic state it would be better. After that the taxes can start going up again. There are some different thoughts I have about this, we could either spend our way out of the depression or just wait until everything goes back to normal. Really all we can do is to just wait and see what happens.

Reference:

http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20090210/Toronto_budget_090210/20090210/?hub=TorontoNewHome

Unemployment In Canada

In the month of January in Canada 129,000 do not have their jobs anymore. The unemployment rat is now up 0.6% from the month of December. This drop in Canada is the most that it has ever been in the last 30 years. Most of these jobs were lost from the manufacturing sector with a total loss of 101,000 jobs. This is the most that it has ever been, ever! With all these jobs lost the health care gained 31,000 jobs. These affects were faced by mostly people from there mid twenties to mid fifties. These jobs were mostly lost in Ontario with 71,000 than in B.C. they lost 35,000.

Unemployment is an issue in the house of commons and needs to be resolved. There are many things that the government could do about this issue. They could pay the auto makers or give them a tax break on a condition that they keep their employees. We are paying the government money to resolve our problems and come up with solutions an in order to do that they have to come up with some decent solutions. There's a thing that needs to be done about this issue and I think it needs to be don sooner rather than later.

Reference:

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090206/Flaherty_jobless_090206/20090206?hub=TopStories

Listeriosis Outbreak

After last years Listeriosis out break in Canada the company has decided that $27 million will be given to those affected. For the 20 people that died they will receive $120,000 and substantial amounts to the immediate family members. For the people that are still alive and have log lasting or serious injuries they are able to qualify for up to $125,000. The people that were only sick or had minor pains will receive $750 for a 24 - 48 hour illness. The listeriosis outbreak occurred last summer and affected 220 people, the president of the company said that he would take full responsibility for the outbreak.

The bigger problem here other than the lawsuits that are being made is that the listeriosis outbreak occurred last summer out of the same plant, which all leads back to the health and safety regulations. I don’t know how often that these check ups are but they have to be either more through or more often. We have these ministries for a reason and if they're not working than what is the point of having them. Health and safety regulations have to be strict and when you are dealing with peoples lives you cant make a mistake. The people that are in charge of theses types of things should be fully qualified and on a 1 strike you're out system. The bottom line is that these regulations have to be set at the highest standard.

Reference:

http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20090124/maple_listeria_090124/20090124/?hub=TorontoNewHome

2009 Budget

Earlier today the 2009 federal budget was released after the house of commons was suspended six weeks ago. Minister of finance, Jim Flaherty, said many things as to the deficit that the Harper is going to run. In the budget the main things include: $85 billion dollar deficit in the next 5 years, $20 billion in personal tax cuts, Improved financing for Consumers and businesses for support up to $200 billion. Also there will be $12 billion for infrastructure, and 2 billion for "green" infrastructure and clean energy research. $7.8 billion will be spent on a new renovation tax credit and households are eligible for up to $1,350 a year and $2.7 billion spent on short term loans to the auto industry. In this budget there is a bit of everything, but it is the opposite of what the conservatives were thinking of doing before the election. 2009 is going to be in interesting year for the financial side of Canada and it will be interesting to see what will happen.

When I first saw some of these numbers I was in aw on how big they were but after you divide them by 32 million it starts to seem like allot less. There is something for everyone in this Budget but I don't know how both the NDP's and the Liberals will agree to it. It is not what either of them wanted although the liberals did like the Social policies. After 6 months the conservatives could of come up with something way better than this instead of sleeping and watching TV. Over all I don't agree with what the conservatives have done although they do have some good ideas. Well the only way to find out or not if it is or not is to wait a year or so and see if things get better.

Back to Work Bill

As many people know York university has stopped classes for around 2 months now. The striking teaching assistances have been wanting better wages and more notice on what classes they are getting and when. On Saturday the premier Dalton McGuinty called an emergency meeting with the mpp's to pass the back to work bill on Sunday. In that meeting on Sunday the premier needed all of the parties to agree with the idea; 60% did the others from the NDP's did not, the NDP said that York is just stalling the strike until it gets so serious that the government steps in to resolve the issue. The NDP goes on to say that York university refused to negotiate with the Teaching assistances and it is up to the university to get them back to work. The Bill will be passed and classes will resume late this week or early next.

The Premier is right, the striking workers have prevented classes for long enough and if I were a student there I wouldn't be very happy with the university. Although the NDP's do have some good points, the university should of negotiated better instead of waiting for the government to step in. I think that the Teaching assistances demands were to high and that they shouldn’t get exactly what they asked for. Further down in the article it says that the teaching assistances account for over half of the teaching staff and only get 7% of the budget, this is wrong. The bottom line is that the students have been out of school way too long and need to go back to school.

Related Artical:

http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20090125/strike_vote_090125/20090125/?hub=TorontoNewHome