Citizens for jobs NOW! and the folly in Windsor

Driving around the Windsor area yesterday I noticed a few odd lawn signs that said, "Citizens for jobs NOW!" As a citizen who also thinks that jobs are a good thing I decided to check out the organization.

It is a pressure group and here is their mission statement:

Our mission is: to create jobs and secure the economic growth of the Windsor Essex Region by holding all levels of government to account for immediate action on infrastructure projects, corridor and border issues.

Really this makes me sort of sad. Windsor is a perpetually dieing community. It is a city that even the waiters are unionized and the municipality holds a tight grip on the economy. Yet the solution that these people reach out for is not entrepreneurship, but more government.

Government cannot create jobs. Certainly the government can pay someone for a service, such as building a bridge. But this does not create a net gain in the economy; it is merely taking capital away that would have created another job. In effect what this group wants is for the federal and provincial governments to subsidies their life in Windsor.

This group apparently cannot imagine stimulating the economy without government help, but this is not the way to do it. To truly save Windsor these people should roll up their sleeves and ask, "what sort of business can I start?" not ask "what sort of help can I get from the government?"

In Defense of Liberty: Canada's forgotten political tradition

This is a video of my favourite lecture from the Liberty Summer Seminar. Too often Canadians don't understand our own history. We are not taught about the great debates and the classical liberal traditions of our foundation. I am glad that men like Brian Lee Crowley are around to educate Canadians.

The selling of seized property and the presumption of innocence

According to the Globe & Mail, a Toronto man's bike shop has been seized and will likely be sold off by the government because he is accused of a crime. Note that it is accused and not convicted of a crime. According to the article this man has not even gone through the preliminary hearings and he has to fight in a forfeiture hearing to protect his property.

There is a good reason for the tradition of a presumption of innocence in the courts. It is because the results of treating an innocent man as if he is guilty is far worse than if they treat a guilty man as if he was innocent. The selling of this man's property is a clear illustration of this.

What if the man is innocent and they have sold his business? He certainly looks guilty but there is a possibility that he will be found not guilty. In this case his life's work will be ruined because he was falsely accused. On the other hand if he was to be found guilty but the assets were not seized and sold, merely frozen, then they will still be there to be seized and sold after conviction. It is far better to wait to sell a guilty man's stolen assets than it is to steal the property of an innocent man.

The most disheartening part of this story is that the Supreme Court did not strike down this law. I will give Mr. Trudeau credit, for he did try and include property rights in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Yet that missing article is costing Canadians dearly.

In support of the HST

Dalton McGuinty is being accused of attempting to raise taxes by the Harmonized Sales Tax. Because people will be losing their exemptions, buying certain products will cost 6% more than they did before. I respond, "good riddance to these demand side subsidies."

Why is the government in the business of exempting taxes for people who buy government approved products? Why should someone by exempt from paying taxes because they make different choices than another person. This is a form of social engineering. It is an attempt by the government to manipulate our behaviour in ways that the politicians think are good.

I admit that this is a rather benign form of social engineering. More like the soft hearted mother who gently reminds her children to eat their veggies than the stern controlling mother of George Orwell's nightmare. Soft-hearted and benign or not the state is not in the business of motherhood. It is up to individuals to decide what is best for themselves.

I write all this but those who are fans of such subsidies have nothing to fear from the HST. Mr. McGuinty has offered plenty of spending and tax credits to tax the place of the PST exemptions. Those foaming at the mouth about a tax increase should take a breath and look at the whole proposal. I wish it was true that these subsidies were being eliminated, but it isn't.

So with all this said, why would I support the HST?

The HST has two advantages:

1. It makes it simpler and cheaper for businesses to pay taxes.
2. It cuts down on the need for provincial bureaucracy.

I do not see why any conservative would complain about either of these outcomes. The Liberals have done a lot of stupid and horrible things in Ontario. The HST will not be one of them.

Two Years and counting

Today marks the two year anniversary of my first blog post on this site. I would say that over all it has been an awarding experience. I would not beat my chest and claim to have written my way into great influence, but my ego has been boosted from time to time from occasional words of a stranger's praise. I am proud of this blog and I am glad that I have found what audience I have.

I apologies that this blog has been suffering the last two months. Distractions and a lack of anything very interesting to write about has limited my posts. I assure my regular and irregular readers that I have not abandoned this blog. I plan to post much more in the coming months.

Hog famers' bailout

The Globe & Mail is reporting that hog farmers are receiving a 75 million dollar buy out, 175 million dollars of government funded advertisement, and are demanding much more. I wish Gerry Nicholls would write another add campaign involving pigs in the trough...

I am sick of reading about industries demanding government help. It will never end because some company or industry will always be in trouble. It is the very nature of progress that some old things must vanish. To prop up the old is to prevent the emergence of the new and in the end, like King Canute's command, it will amount to nothing.

Mexican migrant workers leave union

According to the CBC:

Migrant Mexican farm workers in Manitoba – the first in Canada to join a union – have now voted to decertify.

The farm employees have decided they would rather not be part of the United Food and Commercial Workers union because they can make more money working longer hours, without mandatory overtime pay, which they say caused employers to cut back on their hours.

Heladio Martinez-Perez is a foreman at a farm west of Winnipeg. He said under the collective agreement the workers negotiated two years ago, they could not work more than 70 hours weekly.

"Today, we're gonna start at 6 o'clock and maybe finish at 8. That is a big difference, the union and not the union. We don't need overtime or $1 extra per hour when we can make more hours. That is a good thing for everybody."

Now that they've broken from the union, Martinez-Perez said many of his co-workers ask to work up to 15 or 16 hours a day.

This is a perfect example of the primary problem with the labour movement. This story does not say that unions are bad, it says that the almost religious conviction that unions are always good is bad. There are times that unions are good and there are times that they only interfere. The article goes on to quote promoters of unionism:

One expert said the decision to decertify is a setback for migrant workers. David Camfield, who teaches labour studies at the University of Manitoba, said migrant workers in Canada don't have the same rights as other workers who are not in agriculture.

Of course these workers have the same rights as other workers. They have the same protection of laws that every other worker does in Canada (or that every other foreign migrant worker has). What the professor means to say is that they don't have the same contract as other workers, and it is clear that they don't want this contract.

There is an assumption here that without a union these people are going to be abused by greedy capitalists, yet they do not seem dissatisfied with their pre-union working condition. In fact I have heard before that this type of employment is in high demand. It is easy to understand why:

"It's for my daughter's school," said Martinez-Perez. "That's the idea why we are here."

Maxime Bernier on the flat tax

A friend of mine just sent me an e-mail with a link. The link was a paper written by Maxime Bernier in 2003 on the benifits of a flat tax. Mr. Bernier remains my favourite MP from Quebec and my top two favourite MP in parliament (I would find it hard to judge between him and Scott Reid). Sadly my French is not good enough to read anything more complicated than a child's book, but I thought others may be interested.

Pour un taux unique d'imposition

A commenter on my post on the Western Standard pointed me to this video

Scam Alert: HSBC E-mail

I just go this e-mail. It is an obvious scam but I thought I would share it with everyone.

Dear HSBC customer,

In order to be prepared for the smart card upgrade on Visa and MasterCard debit
and credit cards and to avoid problems with our ATM services, we have recently
introduced additional security measures and upgraded our software.

The security upgrade will be effective immediately and requires our customers to
update their account information. Remember that your HSBC Account
is currently locked and only after you update your security information will be
unlocked and ready for use. Please update your information by following the link
given below.

http://www.hsbc.ca/update.html

© Copyright HSBC Bank Canada 2009. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

10 percenters and partisan subsidies

Minister Stephen Fletcher is openly musing about taking away the $1.95 per vote subsidy for political parties. I am glad that the troubles of last November has not taken this issue completely off the table. It is galling to think that my money is being taken away and given to political parties that I do not support. In fact I did not vote in the last election because I did not want any political party to receive additional subsidy.

Mr. Fletcher unfortunately does not go far enough. Ms. May, leader of the Green Party, correctly points out that the donation rebate is just as bad. Any time you give a party a donation that donation is being subsidized 75%. Three quarters of the money that political parties fund raise thus indirectly comes from taxpayers. (Ms. May also said that this system was 'brilliant')

There are other subsidies that political parties enjoy. An often overlooked subsidy is mentioned in this Hill Times article; the 10 percenters. These are government funded pamphlets that are sent by the MP to 10% of their riding.

I at one point was paid to make 10 percenters. I will say from experience that there is nothing engaging or thoughtful about them. They are pure and unadulterated propaganda pieces. Often my work would be rejected because they were 'off message,' that is to say they were not adhering to the partisan strategy. Everyone on Parliament Hill knows that this is a rip off, any politician that says otherwise is being disingenuous.

The Mexican labour trade war

According to the National Post, the government is refusing to budge on their policy of forcing Mexicans to acquire visas before they enter Canada. In response the government of Mexico is contemplating putting restrictions on Canadians. Considering how important tourism is to the Mexican economy, this may be an empty threat. Still it is interesting that Canada may be in the throes of a labour trade war.

Crucial to the issue is the agricultural sector. Many farmers hire Mexican workers to harvest their crop. It is the perfect example of how labour mobility can bring about prosperity. The Mexicans receive a hire wage and thus bring more capital to Mexico, and the farmers are able to make money due to the decreased cost.

For what reason is Mr. Harper's government interfering with this prosperity? It seems that too many Mexicans are trying to move to Canada. I'm confused by this since the Mexicans that have come here to pick apples has only been adding to the economy. Perhaps Mr. Harper thinks this is a bad thing.

Family threatened by nanny state

Scott Carnergie at Western Standard posted a story about a 7 year old who was filmed driving a car 2 years ago. The CBC suggested that this family is now being threatened by the prospect of the parents being charged with negligence. That is to say, because they allowed the child to drive in a controlled enviroment this family may be broken up.

This is the nanny state at it's worse. To potentially ruin these people's lives for something as harmless as this. No one was hurt and it seems like no one was in serious danger of being hurt. So by what right does the state step in 2 years after the fact? This is certainly an unjust law.

Even if the parents are not charged, the stress that they must be feeling would be back breaking. Imagine someone suggesting that your child should be taken away from you. I think both the CbC and the police owe this family an apology.

Violent gangs prosper due to criminalized drugs

The Toronto Sun reported that drugs has been identified as the number one revenue source for organized crime. This is not really a surprise, but it is good to have information that backs up common wisdom.

The same report goes on to talk about the successes against the Hell's Angels, but then points out that the black market is thriving anyway. It seems that no matter how many drug dealers are arrested, someone always rises to take their place. The explanation is simple, the product is demanded and someone will always be there to provide the supply.

It always amazes me that people, especially politicians, think that the market can be controlled. As if the market was some sort of leviathan that lives outside of humanity. The market is humanity, individuals acting and interacting in the real world. There is no force in existence that can control that.

The results of trying to control the market are usually disastrous. The government declares that you cannot purchase or sell marijuana. Therefore the government gives the marijuana trade over to those that live outside the law; to violent and often brutal predators. These predators then build empires off the profits that the government has all but guaranteed for them.

The solution is simple: legalize.

The unending battle for true free trade

The Premiers have gotten together and declared that they want free trade with the United States. Canadians respond in confusion, don't we already have free trade?

The answer is of course no. Even before the 'buy America' trend in the US, we did not have true free trade. The North America Free Trade Agreement is riddled with exceptions and loopholes. In truth it was a tariff agreement that did not really promise open borders, merely opener borders.

Even now as the Premiers are making a push to fight protectionism they are adding exceptions. Premier McGuinty wants to keep 'buy Canada' provisions for green technology and public transit. I wished I was shocked that at one moment a politician is demanding free trade then the next defending his own protectionist policies. I wish I was shocked but this is the normal course of events.

We never truly won the free trade debate.