National Citizens Coalition Alberta Membership Survey

Questions:

7. Which of the following issues would you like the NCC to concentrate on most on during 2008 (pick three only):
-reform health care for a greater role for the private sector
-reform Canada's health care system
-reform election gag laws to allow more independent individual free speech during election campaigns
-reduce government spending
-stronger national defense and national security issues
-reduce federal government involvement in areas of provincial jurisdiction such as healthcare and education
-slow the transition to recently enacted changes on income trusts
-don't know

11. Do you think the federal government should be spending time to solve the "fiscal" imbalance with the province? Yes No Don't know

17. Do you have an investment portfolio that has been affected by the recently passed income trust changes? Yes No

18. If you answered yes to question 11, would you like us to mount an aggressive campaign calling upon the government to slow the transition period of these changes so that income trust holders, including seniors, will have time to make financial adjustments that will lessen the tax blow to their portfolios?
Yes No Don't know/I am not an investor


Perhaps it would be more instructive if the National Citizens Coalition were to simply ask their membership about whether they believe in the need for government being transparent and therefore accountable. That way, the answer to the questionnaire wont be swayed by whether the respondent owns income trust or not in their investment portfolio, since Canadians need to realize that the Income trust issue is not about income trust per se.

It's about the need for honest, accountable, government, stupid....er, rather Harper .

Sort of like the gospel that Stephen Harper preached back in the ways when he headed up the NCC. Sort of like the gospel that Stephen Harper preached when he headed up the NCC. Or better yet this exercise in voter deception and dead on arrival pretense of accountability, contained in the Conservatives election platform entitled "Stand up for Canada":

”People who work hard, pay their taxes, and play by the rules want accountability from their political leaders. We don’t expect politicians to be perfect. But we do want to know that our tax dollars – money we’ve worked for – are being spent properly and wisely.”

Once in office we instead received 18 pages of blacked out documents and self excusing comments like this from Stephen Harper’s Chief of Staff. Ian Brodie, circa November 16, 2006 e-mail:

"The alternative to breaking the election promise and taxing trusts was to abandon all other tax cut plans as the corporate tax base quickly disappeared. Instead, Flaherty acted quickly, in the face of rapidly changing conditions, to break the trusts promise and save the rest of the government’s promises. Not a pretty choice, to be sure, but hardly an epic betrayal either."

Or this gem from the great man himself, Steve Harper, circa November 24, 2006 e-mail:

"I understand your disappointment with this decision. We recognize that Canadian investors, including many pensioners and seniors, have made important investments over the years and benefit from the current income trust structure. However, Canadians must trust that their government is watching out for them and is upholding the values that define us, like fairness. They expect us to fix problems, right injustices and close loopholes."

Forget about fixing alleged tax loopholes. It would be much better if you proved their existence in the first place. Maybe that would provide a basis for the "trust" that you think is yours for the asking....or exploitation as the case may be.

Ether way, one thing is certain. Don Martin of the National Post couldn't be more wrong when he wrote the following apologist piece ,a mere ten days ago. Just ask the National Citizens Coalition about the validity of this statement after they get the results of their membership survey:

“Jim Flaherty seems to have finally put the income trust flip-flop behind him.”

If that’s the case, them someone better let Liberal MP Garth Turner know, since Garth Turner as member of the Finance Committee is so far behind the times, according to Don Martin’s wishful thinking that the he and his Liberal colleagues want an answer to the following:

"That this committee as soon as possible launch an inquiry into the unproven allegation by the Finance Minister that income trusts result in a loss of tax revenue to Ottawa, in light of reports that 70% of all recent trust purchasers are tax-exempt, while individual Canadian investors lost tens of billions of dollars, and therefore pay less tax, as a result of the government trust decision."