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 Re: Puncturing "Public" Auto Insurance Myths July 03, 2009Great article - thanks much. Having bounced back and forth between BC, AB and Ontario - it has always bothered me greatly the lies told by interest groups to push their agenda. Like Ontario's LCBO and their unions claiming they offer better selection and prices compared to Alberta's private system. There are at least 10 stores in Edmonton alone that offer better selection than Toronto's biggest LCBO "Vintages" store (unless you are looking for 18 different types of Gallo shlock...then I concede that Ontario stores have better selection). My other favourite from the special interest groups is that Alberta's system promotes underage drinking and excessive consumption...as if only Public Service Union employees can be trusted to sell alcohol. Having just moved back to Alberta from Victoria, I can happily look forward to cheaper insurance - from a more responsive agency that is looking out for me (http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2009/05/28/bc-icbc-privacy-breaches.html), and faster and cheaper licences and registration. I wonder where Rachel Notley stands on the insider auction scam that many government employees were running within ICBC? Maybe her belief is public scams are superior to private scams? http://www2.canada.com/theprovince/news/story.html?id=bf1e005e-a579-45f9-bb76-8e23900c425c&k=32933 Anyway, thank you again for letting the air out of this myth. -- E-mail from Edmonton Re: The Myth of Cheap Public Auto Insurance June 24, 2009In the future, it would be interesting to conduct a bit more of a breakdown of rates paid under different circumstances. For example, I found that a person driving an older vehicle who had a clean driving record would pay less under the private model than the public model. This situation occurs because in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, collision coverage is mandatory. Currently, I pay more for collision coverage on my vehicles every year than they re worth. To me, this is an example of regressive taxation where the lower income people subsidize rates for high-income people who are driving new vehicles. I also agree with the identification of pain and suffering payments being a factor in insurance rates. In Manitoba and Saskatchewan, the responsibility for insuring for lost income and pain & suffering has been shifted away from the auto insurance system and onto the individual. To me, the public insurance systems in Manitoba and Saskatchewan have lost sight of the essential need for insurance. I do not need insurance to pay for an affordable loss like the loss of a vehicle. I do need the insurance to cover me for a catastrophic loss like a disability or an injury that prevents me from earning a living. -- E-mail from Manitoba Re: Put the Lives of First Nation Women Above Politics June 09, 2009Please pass along our praise to Joseph on this very thoughtful, well written and much needed article. We are very impressed with the articles being written and published by both Joseph and Mark Milke of the Frontier Centre. -- E-mail from Victoria, BC
Re: All Life On Planet Depends On CO2 June 09, 2009Thank you very much for sending me your very interesting e-mail update. Here in Denmark the CO2 thing has really become a religion, almost mandatory, and we have an anti-climate-change government minister who is very actively working at wasting enormous amounts of our tax money, and probably borrowed money as well, in order to plaster the whole world with wind-mills.
Responsible people know very well that such electricity is terribly expensive and not very useful when it comes to protect, and further develop, the general standard of living of industrialized countries and of the so-called developing countries. I spent four very good years living and working in Toronto and Montreal in the early seventies. -- E-mail from Denmark
Re: The GM-Chrysler Bailout Tax June 01, 2009Thank you for today’s column in the Calgary Herald. The panic stricken support of GM-Chrysler is too depressing, especially from the Conservative Govt. – but then Flaherty is from Oshawa. Sadly, now that the taxpayers of Canada have an ownership stake the funding will be never ending. (Can anyone say Bombardier).
The pension bailout is even more galling as one who has only an RRSP and although a Canadian taxpayer since 1976 will never qualify for a full CPP payment on the basis I haven’t been in Canada long enough. (Despite contributing the max. amount most of the time). I felt the pension bailout should be in the form of repaying all contributions in one lump payment into the employees RRSP account, thus joining the real world of most non Govt. workers. -- E-mail from Calgary
Re: Let's Have Real Elections at the Assembly of First Nations May 25, 2009I read your article in the National Post entitled "This isn't democracy". Very interesting indeed. I have been talking for years about how the Assembly is governed and you are right it is totally undemocratic.It must change and for the life of me I don't know how to approach the situation. I have stated my views to many people near my home who are aboriginal, I have tried to organize off reserve natives to try and come together and form some sort of group that address some of the issues facing first nations. The problem I see is that the best interests of the "little guy" are not being served. Fontaine and company are so preoccupied with their own nest that things will never change. I find it extremely hard to get involved at any level because the the status quo is much more attractive to the chiefs than the alternative. I personally am a status Indian. I am from Killarney Ontario. You being from Sudbury probably know where that is and the close proximity to Wikewemikong. I live in Richmond B.C. now and have for some twenty years. However I still vote by mail for Chief and council and still try to keep abreast of the happenings back in Ontario. It's time aboriginals adopted a one person one vote for the assembly of first nations. Only then will it be truly representative of all. Your statement "The AFN speaks for the institutional interests of chiefs--not for ordinary band members" jumped right off the page at me and I thought, finally somebody had the guts to say that in print. Good Article. -- E-mail from Dean Beauvais, Richmond B.C.
Re: Bring Back Standardized Testing April 23, 2009As usual, Prof. Rodney Clifton has it right on with his comments concerning standardized testing in the schools. Those who criticize Prof. Clifton should ask themselves: Why are organizations like Sylvan Learning Centres doing such a huge business? Could it be because the public school system is no longer doing its job? More -- Letter to the Editor
Re: Let's Have Real Elections at the Assembly of First Nations April 06, 2009I enjoyed the column and indeed have written editorials concerning this subject in the past. I agree there should be a more representative system in place for First Nations concerning the election of a AFN National Grand Chief. Did not the United States come into being because of taxation without representation? At times we feel there is representation without representation. Of great concern too is the acknowledgement of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples by the Canadian Government through the Harper administration. In this case off-reserve First Nations are represented by a National Chief that is in
no way is voted upon either by themselves or even a elected representative representing them. Support and funding for this organization could be better spent on cash strapped Native Friendship Centres across Canada who actually deliver services to
off-reserve Aboriginal Peoples. However, politics play a part even in the national venues much the same as on First Nations reserves. Hopefully we will change national, regional and local
political systems as too be more representative of First Nations Peoples. -- E-mail from Will Nicholls, Editor in Chief of the Nation
Re: Time for the School Closure Moratorium to End March 20, 2009I would like to add an "amen" to Michael Zwaagstra's column regarding the moratorium on school closings.
When Bill 28 -- the Strengthening Local Schools Act -- was released, no consideration was given to the knowledge and input of other stakeholders in the education field. Many school divisions had reached the final steps of the lengthy and expensive process to close underutilized schools. Years of research and consultation were wasted because the minister refused to allow the closures to proceed. More -- Carol Guicheret, Winnipeg
Re: The Case for Taxi Deregulation February 24, 2009This article is dead-on. Taxi “medallions” are now trading at $100,000 in Edmonton. Original purchasers feel it is their “right” to have a $100,000 retirement fund. No one talks about the purchaser (who mortgages everything to pay the $100,00) and his “right” to a retirement fund. The entire mess is the result of legislators - who are ignorant of the most fundamental laws of economics – and who have little ability to think logically. Thank you. -- E-mail from Edmonton Re: Demographia Housing Affordability Index February 06, 2009What a mess! We’ve created a model of hundreds of centrally planned economies and then we are surprised when there is a lack of supply for the product they are “managing”. Then they want to deal with the mess they have created by throwing more money at “social housing”. And then Sarlo shows that only 18 per cent of the poorest Canadians are in the “social” housing stock. Ha!
E-mail from Vancouver
Re: Good Local Government. What is it? January 16, 2009There is an old saying in management circles that "if you don't measure it, you are not managing it." I think this statement applies to local government (and other government) operations. - E-mail from Manitoba Re: Can We Afford More Wind Power? December 11, 2008Thank you for your presentation on wind energy yesterday with guest speaker - David Grant. I believe yesterdays presentation is the first time we have heard; informed, non-industry sponsored discussion on wind energy and it's application in Manitoba. I look forward to getting to know more about the FCPP. Thank you again, -- E-mail from Altona, MB
Re: Residential Schools Propaganda? August 08, 2008I always enjoy getting updates from Frontier and reading what you have to say. I just wanted to comment on the residential school article about the fact there was also good that went on. My mother-in-law who had only positive experiences at her school and has nothing ill to say about it received a cheque last year for 35,000 no questions asked and was told there would be more. More -- E-mail from Pauline, Ontario Re: What Does the End of Cheap Oil Mean to our Urban Future? August 05, 2008I share Mr. McShane's confidence in the ability of our market system to solve the effects of a higher oil price and to deliver an even more productive economy in the process -- if -- and it's a big if. Mr. McShane makes the point in his 2nd-last sentence. "That is what we are all so good at -- provided no 'wise elite' decides to make our decisions for us." More -- E-mail from David Barber, Director of the Cordillera Institute, Toronto Re: Another View on Residential Schools June 12, 2008This is best and most accurate story about the residential schools that I have read. Why isn't it more publicized instead of all the negative stories about the schools. There were some bad things about them but the idea was good. -E-mail from Winnipeg Read More Comments... Send us yours... | ||||||
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