Corporate welfare bums...

This item appeared in the Dember 28th, 2013 edition of the Toronto Sun newspaper. 

A crony capitalist Christmas

ANTHONY FUREY | QMI AGENCY

The year began badly for taxpayers all across Canada and it will certainly end that way.

But if you’re a crony capitalist and think government should be doling out the grants to companies both minor and massive, then you had reason to be full with Christmas cheer this year.

On Jan. 4, Stephen Harper committed $250 million to fund research and development by major automakers. This was a re-issue of a 2008 five-year fund. The excuse back then was the economic crisis. What’s the excuse this time around? After all, the fund goes until 2018.

To close off the year, on Dec. 13 Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne delivered a big corporate kiss under the mistletoe to Cisco System’s Canada division. Taxpayers will dole out $220 million to a company that, worldwide, had revenues of $49 billion in fiscal 2013.

“Cisco profit soars 56%” is the headline of an August 2012 CNN story. Huh. I wonder if Ontario taxpayers will see their incomes soar by the same amount.

You’ve also got to love the wording of the government’s press release. The grant will create “up to” 1,700 jobs. Cisco is investing “up to” $2.2 billion in salaries.

_____________________

You can read the rest of it at: http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/straighttalk/archives/2013/12/20131228-073825.html

December 25, 2013 - It's Christmas, so...

Time to say something positive about Dalton McGuinty:

Hmm ... At least he quit before he could do any more damage.

There, I've done my good deed for the season.

Billions blown by Ontario government but who's counting?

This is the headline from an article that appeared in the Toronto Sun, today. I'll provide the link below, but first I want to make a comment.

Chances are you will read this headline, shake your head, and move on. That's what governments--ALL governments--are counting on. That's why they're so nonchalant about tossing taxpayer dollars against the wall, hoping some of it will stick until they can get elected or re-elected.

The fact is, we should be outraged. We should be so outraged that we should be looking for a rail, boiling the tar, and plucking the chicken.

Have you a billion to squander? I thought not. Neither do I. To put it into perspective, here's what it could buy (just multiply everything by 2).

One of the lines from the above mentioned article that struck me, was the following:

"A billion here, a billion there.
 Lets see there is eHealth, Ornge, the cancelled gas plants, coal plants, the Caledonia mess, the HST, smart metres, the tire tax, the cancelled nuclear program, the Samsung deal."

Any one of these should have sent the populace into a frenzy.

I know you're not going to riot in the streets. Canadians don't do that. We're too polite. But at least write a letter of complaint. All the email addressed of the cabinet ministers are listed (see http://www.ontla.on.ca/web/members/members_current.do?locale=en&list_type=ministers&go=go), so let them know how you feel.

Anyway, if you want to read the full, unhappy story, got to: Billions blown by Ontario government but who's counting? BY JOE WARMINGTON, TORONTO SUN

The extravagance of OPG (Ontario Power Group) goes on and on...

Auditor finds OPG generous salaries, pensions, bonuses push up electricity rates

By Keith Leslie, The Canadian Press | The Canadian Press

TORONTO - Salaries, pensions and bonuses at Ontario Power Generation are "significantly more generous" than for comparable positions in the civil service, and have a financial impact on the cost of electricity, Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk reported Tuesday.

OPG has cut staff by 8.5 per cent, but increased the size of "its highly paid executive and senior management group" by almost 60 per cent since 2005, creating "a top heavy organization," Lysyk said in her annual report.

"Earnings and benefits were significantly more generous at OPG than for comparable positions in the Ontario Public Service, and many of OPG's senior executives earned more than most deputy ministers," she reported.

See the full story Yahoo News.ca

This just in: Bob Chiarelli's response:

"Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli said OPG knows the auditor's conclusions are unacceptable.

"The auditor's findings indicate that Ontario can and should expect better, and OPG takes this report as seriously as we do," he said." [editor's note: Which is not at all.]

Bob Chiarelli to struggling Hydro One users: 'Let them drink coffee.'

This following commentary was published in the Toronto Sun Newspaper, today. It is another indictment of Dalton McGuinty's disastrous policies, and this government's ludicrous attempts to cover it up.

ANTHONY FUREY | QMI AGENCY

Sometimes it's the little things that make it clear just how off the rails a government has become.Sure, the main thrust of Ontario's new long-term energy plan is bad enough. Residential rates are going up 42% over five years.

We're reminded big government disproportionately discriminates against the little guy. The average monthly bill will increase from $125 to $178.

If you're just getting by without a raise in sight this can be enough to knock you into the red.
Then again, you may lose your job before then. Statistics compiled by Hydro Quebec show that a big manufacturer using a lot of energy will pay $3.3 million per month in Toronto, but only $1.4 million a month in Montreal or $1.5 million in Vancouver.

That's a difference of more than $20 million a year. No hard feelings Ontario employees, but time for us to relocate, says many a cost-conscious CEO.

To read the whole commentary, go to: Toronto Sun Newspaper

Chris Mazza is laughing all the way to the bank -- Another of Dalton McGoony's legacies

Ousted Ornge CEO Chris Mazza.

News that the founder of Ontario's scandal-dogged air ambulance service got more than $9 million in compensation before being fired nearly two years ago won't be a confidence-booster for the province's taxpayers concerned about public-sector transpancy.

Dr. Chris Mazza, CEO of ORNGE until he was dismissed early last year, received $9.3 million in public money over a period of six years, according to documents obtained by the Toronto Star.

The accounting ORNGE prepared for a provincial government audit team revealed Mazza was paid much more than previously known.

The Star reported that Mazza got $1 million in 2007, the second year of ORNGE's operation. But the Ontario government's so-called "sunshine list" stated Mazza got just $298,254 that year.

That's the last time Ontario taxpayers got any information about Mazza's compensation. The Starreported previously Mazza set up a series of for-profit companies that helped shield his and other executives' salaries from public disclosure and that he diverted money to them from ORNGE, which is non-profit.

[ Related: With alarm bells ringing about Ornge, McGuinty kept pressing snooze: NDP]

ORNGE, which gets about $150 million a year from the government, dodged the fresh questions raised by the accounting documents, saying in a statement "it would be inappropriate to comment on the actions of individuals who have not been affiliated with ORNGE for nearly two years," the Starsaid.

Spokesman James MacDonald said the company's current executives are "committed to transparency, accountability and respect for public dollars."

Well, that's good to know.

But the disclosures raise a question about the credibility of the public-sector salary disclosure list, which is supposed to provide taxpayers with a better picture of what top bureaucrats are earning.

Is the government reviewing whether other organizations that get government funding have not been subject to the same financial manipulations as ORNGE?

Mazza's activities at ORNGE became a major black eye for the Liberal government under then-premier Dalton McGuinty. The province began a probe last year into reports of an alleged kickback scheme involving the purchase of new helicopters and the inflated lease-back of a building it owned, inflated salaries and nepotism in hiring.

[ Related: Tories say Mazza belongs in jail, not working in hospital ]

The government was reportedly aware of the problems at ORNGE under Mazza's leadership but did nothing until stories about them broke in the media in late 2011.

The Ontario Provincial Police are conducting their own investigation into $6.7 million paid to one of Mazza's copanies from an Italian firm that sold ORNGE 12 helicopters, the Star said.

Mazza was fired in early 2012, followed by a purge of ORNGE's board of directors and executive suite.

Meanwhile, Mazza has resurfaced as an emergency-room doctor at a Thunder Bay hospital, raising more ire from the Opposition, which thinks he should be cooling his heels in jail.

Health Minister Deb Matthews said the province has no control over who hospitals hire and it's up to the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons to decide if a doctor is fit to practice medicine.

And things weren't absurd enough, Mazza is also suing his old company, claiming he's owed $1 million in unpaid bonuses, The Canadian Press reported last week.

The claim is made in a countersuit filed by Mazza against ORNGE, which has gone to court to try and recover $500,000 plus interest in a defaulted loan he got from the company in 2010 to buy a house in Toronto, CP said.

Mazza claims the money wasn't a loan at all, but an advance on unpaid bonuses from 2009 and 2010 that were part of the compensation package ORNGE's board had approved.

Source: http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/dailybrew/ex-ornge-boss-9-3m-compensation-raises-questions-214322467.html

Time to reflect on Dalton McGuinty's decade in office (...And weep!)

On October 1st of this year, CHRISTINA BLIZZARD | QMI AGENCY, wrote the following in the Toronto Sun Newspaper. I reproduce it here because it should be read again ... and again..

"My how time flies when your government is breaking promises, hiking taxes and squandering your tax bucks.

"Can it really be a decade since the 2003 election swept Dalton McGuinty and 71 other Liberals to power?

"Three Tories held a news conference Tuesday to lament the “lost decade.”

"Frankly, when you look at the gas plant scandal, the Ornge boondoggle and the $1 billion poured into the pockets of Liberal friendly consultants at eHealth, I don’t think it’s so much a lost decade as a stolen one.

"It got me thinking about the Liberals’ 2003 fantasy election platform.

"Most of their promises could have been written on the back of a napkin.

"It was only after the election we discovered the civil service pegged the price tag on McGuinty’s 200-plus promises at a whopping $18 billion. The platform also assumed a $900-million asset sale in the first year.

"Most of the promises were laughable. Others were ridiculous. Most were broken -- or forgotten -- soon after they came to power.

"McGuinty’s biggest fib was when he looked into the camera during that election campaign and told us our taxes wouldn’t go up “one cent” under a Liberal government.

"The following year, without blushing, he and finance minister Greg Sorbara introduced the hated health-care levy that dinged most families $1,000 a year and raised around $2 billion for provincial coffers.

"What were the other pledges? Well, they said they’d shut down coal-fired electricity generating plants by 2007.

"They delayed it to the end of 2009. The last two should shut by the end of this year.

““We will balance the budget.”

"No, seriously. Stop laughing. That’s what they said.

"In fact, they increased spending from $80 billion to $128 billion and doubled the debt to $273 billion. [Emphisis mine.]

"They’ve had credit watches and credit warnings from rating agencies.

"Our annual deficit is sitting at $11.7 billion -- almost twice what it was when the Liberals took over.

““We will fund medically necessary health-care services.”

"Then they delisted eye exams, physiotherapy and chiropractic.

 "“We will cap hydro rates at 4.3 cents a kWh until 2006.

"In fact, in May of 2006, the price of electricity was 6.7 cents a kWh. [Now 10.9 cents as of November 1, 2013]

"In 2010, Dwight Duncan announced electricity prices for homeowners would skyrocket 46% over the next five years. That’s before you take into account the cost of scrapping two gas plants.

That didn’t include the 10% rebate the Liberals borrowed another $1 billion to give us. [Emphasis mine.]

"“We will cap tolls on Hwy 407.”

"The peak rate for cars was 12.95 cents a km in 2003.

"This year it’s more than double that -- 26.2 cents a km.

"“We will stop school closings.”

"Rural Ontario has been devastated by school closures.

"“We will offer a pre-paid tuition program to make it easier for parents to save for their children’s education by guaranteeing them today’s price for tomorrow’s education.”

"Hello? Is anyone paying 2003 prices for university?

"“We will make sure health dollars are spent wisely.”

"Um, eHealth, Ornge. Need I say more?

"“We will stop the privatization of the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission.”

"Too bad. If they’d actually sold ONTC to a private company, northern Ontario might still have rail service. Which they now don’t -- because the Liberals shut down ONTC.

 "“Reduce private consultants.”

"Right now, 31 committees are probing various aspects of government. Just two weeks ago, Premier Kathleen Wynne announced another group of 13 consultants will look at ways to hike taxes to pay for transit. The leader of the pack, Anne Golden, will make $900 a day -- to a maximum of $90,000 for three months.

"And finally, among the dross, I found this gem:

 "“We will govern with honesty and integrity.”

"Hmm. Cancelled gas plants, deleted e-mails.

"You decide."

***

Source: CHRISTINA BLIZZARD | QMI AGENCY

Re Kathleen Wynne and Dalton McGuinty

Is there something wrong with this picture?

One of my royalty cheques just bounced, which is bad enough, but then the Royal Bank (RBC) charged ME $7.50 for returning it.

Meanwhile, the only thing those buffoons down at Queen's Park are concerned about--in the midst of economic chaos caused by Dalton McGoony's regime--is making sure small businesses are registered with the Ontario College of Trades (whatever that is...) for $130 a pop.

Now, those same buffoons at Queen's Park want to saddle barbers--possibly the last predominantly male bastion left--with a $5,000 cost to retrain. Why? So that they can dye and perm hair.

CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!?

Dalton McGuinty and Hydro One (OPG) ... A study in incompetence! (A repost from May 1, 2012)

Specifically: It is a study of incompetence, waste, greed and downright stupidity on the part of Hydro One and various politicians--including Ernie Eves and Dalton McGuinty.

Consider this: In 2002 the then Chairman of Hydro One, Eleanor Clitheroe, was fired because she: "used credit cards contrary to company policy. They [Ontario Power Group Board] said she also obtained club memberships at the company's expense. Many of those memberships had no business-related purpose, the board said. Clitheroe is also said to have used Hydro One service providers to do renovations to her home."

At the time she made over $2.2 million, including $174,000 for a car and $172,000 in vacation pay. Clitheroe also stood to get $6 million in cash if she left Hydro One for any reason, and she stood to receive an annual pension of up to $1 million."

During Clitheroe’s tenure, no bookkeeper, accountant, civil servant or administrative chief at Hydro One ever noticed that the same employee costing us $330,000 in limousine rides was taking some $214,000 in car allowances. If any of them did notice, they kept mum. During the entire Clitheroe reign, there were no enterprising reporters ringing alarm bells.

Oh, and by the way, she got a $6.5M severance package and a $300,000+ annual pension when she went out the door.

And if that isn't bad enough, her replacement chair, Tom Parkinson 'resigned' after it was disclosed that he improperly charged his secretary's credit card with $45,000 of expenses.

The then Minister of Energy, Dwight Duncan, (now Minister of Finance) wouldn't reveal the exact amount Parkinson was paid to walk away, but Parkinson was Ontario's highest paid public employee, earning $1.6 million in salary and bonuses last year. His severance package could have been worth as much as $3 million.

So, if you want to know why hydro bills went up an average of $4.00 per month, take a long hard look at the above.

Gerry Burnie

PS. Has anyone any idea how much money has been collected through the "debt retirement charge?"

***

And while we're on the topic of Debt Retirement Charge...

Anyone know what "defeased" means? In the Ontario Electricity Financial Corporation's statement it reads: “The Electricity Act, 1998, provides for the Debt Retirement Charge (DRC) to be paid by consumers until the stranded debt is defeased.” see: http://www.oefc.on.ca/debtmanage.html. However, I've checked two dictionaries, i.e. Webster's and Oxford, and I can't find it.

Yet another Hydro On rate hike

The legacy of McGuinty lives on

In April, the OEB announced that electricity rates would jump about $3.63 on the electricity line, or about 2.9% on the total monthly bill as of May 1.

The latest hydro hike comes just over a week after Ontario auditor general Bonnie Lysyk released her report that pegged cancellation costs related to the Oakville power plant at up to $815 million -- most of it to be repaid over the next two decades on hydro bills.

For consumers on time-of-use pricing -- and that includes most households in the province -- the price of electricity during winter peak hours of 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays will rise 0.5 cents to 12.9 cents/kWh. [Up from 9.2 cents in 2011]

During the daytime weekday hours of 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., the mid-peak rate will hit 10.9 

cents/kWh. [Up from 9.2 cents in 2011]

The cheapest time to use electricity-gobbling appliances will remain weekends and overnight, 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., at 7.2 cents/kWh. [Up from 6.1 cents in 2011]

This is up from previous years as follows:

Ontarians on Time-of-Use Pricing (TOU) will see their lowest rate for electricity — overnight and on weekends and holidays — rise to 6.5 cents per kWh from 6.1 cents per kWh.

On a weekday from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., prices increase to 10 cents kWh from 9.2 cents kWh.

Firing up the electrical appliances during peak times, which will be between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. weekdays for the rest of the spring and summer, will set consumers back 11.7 cents kWh, up from 10.8 cents kWh.

Those increasingly rare hydro customers not on Smart Meter billing will pay 7.5 cents kWh, an increase of 0.4 cents kWh, on the first 600 kWh per month.

Any use over that threshold, which drops from 1,000 kWh in winter months, will be billed at the new higher price of 8.8 cents kWh, up 0.5 cents kWh.

Politician calls seniors the "greediest generation."

Alan Simpson (R) Senator from Wyoming compares social security to "a milk cow with 310 tits."

Here is a response from PATTY MYERS in Montana ... 

1. As a career politician, you have been on the public dole (tit) for FIFTY YEARS.
2. I have been paying Social Security taxes for 48 YEARS (since I was 15 years old. I am now 63).

3. My Social Security payments, and those of millions of other Americans, were safely tucked away in an interest bearing account for decades until you political pukes decided to raid the account and give OUR money to a bunch of zero losers in return for votes, thus bankrupting the system and turning Social Security into a Ponzi scheme that would make Bernie Madoff proud.

4. Recently, just like Lucy & Charlie Brown, you and "your ilk" pulled the proverbial football away from millions of American seniors nearing retirement and moved the goalposts for full retirement from age 65 to age, 67. NOW, you and your "shill commission" are proposing to move the goalposts YET AGAIN.

5. I, and millions of other Americans, have been paying into Medicare from Day One, and now "you morons" propose to change the rules of the game. Why? Because "you idiots" mismanaged other parts of the economy to such an extent that you need to steal our money from Medicare to pay the bills.

6. I, and millions of other Americans, have been paying income taxes our entire lives, and now you propose to increase our taxes yet again. Why? Because you "incompetent bastards" spent our money so profligately that you just kept on spending even after you ran out of money. Now, you come to the American taxpayers and say you need more to pay off YOUR debt. To add insult to injury, you label us "greedy" for calling "bullshit" to your incompetence.Well, Captain Bullshit, I have a few questions for YOU:

1. How much money have you earned from the American taxpayers during your pathetic 50-year political career?
2. At what age did you retire from your pathetic political career, and how much are you receiving in annual retirement benefits from the American taxpayers?
3. How much do you pay for YOUR government provided health insurance?
4. What cuts in YOUR retirement and healthcare benefits are you proposing in your disgusting deficit reduction proposal, or as usual, have you exempted yourself and your political cronies?

It is you, Captain Bullshit, and your political co-conspirators called Congress who are the "greedy" ones. It is you and your fellow nutcase thieves who have bankrupted America and stolen the American dream from millions of loyal, patriotic taxpayers.And for what? Votes and your job and retirement security at our expense, you lunk-headed, leech.

That's right, sir. You and yours have bankrupted America for the sole purpose of advancing your pathetic, political careers. You know it, we know it, and you know that we know it.
And you can take that to the bank, you miserable son of a bitch.

P.S. And stop calling Social Security benefits "entitlements". WHAT AN INSULT!!!! I have been paying in to the SS system for 45 years "It's my money"-give it back to me the way the system was designed and stop patting yourself on the back like you are being generous by doling out these monthly checks .

EVERYONE!! If you agree with what a Montana citizen, Patty Myers, says, please PASS IT ON! 

Dalton McGuinty is gone, but his stench lingers on

Dalton McGuinty, arguably the worst premier since Confederation, skipped out the back door of the legislature just as the 'sheriff' was coming in the front. However, here's part of the mess he left behind:

And that's only a bit of it.

I've been censored!...

I've been censored by Huffington Post! The article dealt with "Female Board Directors Better At Decision Making: Study..." [see:http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/03/25/female-board-directors-decision-making-study_n_2951084.html"]

My comment was "I am so damned weary of the press perpetuating this myth of male/female differentiation. The right person will always make the best decision regardless of gender. To appoint either on the basis of gender is not only contrary to common sense, it is also utterly stupid.

I realize this crap sells papers to the non-thinking, but it is also an unmitigated bore to anyone who has moved passed this manufactured debate. Please do move on!"

This is what Huffington post had to say: "This comment has been removed. Most comments are removed because of an attack or insult on another user or public figure. Please see the guidelines here if you're not sure why this comment was removed."