Bring on the Tetley!

The Tea Party movement that began in the United States in 2009 boils down to one thing.

Trust.

For example - after working hard and bringing home a paycheck that has ultimately been taxed perhaps as much as a half - who do you trust to spend that money?

You or the government?

Let's put it another way: Do you think that if you gave your money to someone else - say some backroom bureaucrat whom you could never identify and who never saw a dollar they couldn't find a program for - do you honestly think they would spend it better than you? 

That's the essence of the Tea Party movement - letting the wage-earners keep and spend what they earned.

Responsible people are not saying there is an absence of need for government.

Does government really have to tax upwards of half of everyone's income? Because between the payroll deductions, federal taxes, provincial taxes, HST, hidden taxes, property taxes and education taxes that is pretty much what's happening.

Well, you may ask, without government spending wouldn't so many programs disappear that residents would literally be thrown in the street and wouldn't our roads crumble before our eyes?

Really?

So... if I don't give a dollar to my government - it disappears? I can't simply give it to an existing company, group or organization or right to the person or service that I want? Let's be serious - precisely same money still exists and it would simply bypass the government middle-man, who naturally takes a cut.

We might even have more actual services and less bureaucrats - imagine that!

So why am I making this argument now?

Because we are shortly into new budget deliberations here in Clarington and we are likely to see many, many services clamouring for a bigger piece of the pie and probably countered by some unimaginative ways to simply provide the same services for a few pennies less while largely missing the boat for substantive changes.

It's unlikely you'll see Claringtonians protesting for or against changes in large numbers - we just don't seem to do that - but most of us know that a loonie's best home is in the pocket of the one that earned it.

Next blog I'll take a look at public accountibility - do we expect our politicians to be working or playing on their time off?

Happy Valentine's Day Clarington!

                                                                                                    PODCAST

One of the hottest topics of debate these days concerning Clarington is pay rates for municipal staff.

Who knew staff made so much/little?

Where you sit on that question really depends on your ideology concerning taxes and who should pay for what but one thing is for sure - this council is acting exactly as many residents figure politicians usually do - get the controversial topics dealt with early.

Think forward to 2014 for a moment.

Who really is going to remember what the pay increases were in 2011 except die-hard political observers or those prompted by a bar chart?

Common wisdom on the street is that if a council is going to do something unpopular - or costly - get it done early in the term because memories are short. And this is exactly what seems to be happening.

If staff pay increases end up being zero in 2014 that's the only thing we'll see on campaign brochures and election charts - not whatever happened in 2011.

So voters - pledge to remember what's happening now - this matters as much or more as what happens in 2014.

Winter WonderLearn

For years now, like many of my fellow residents in Courtice and surround area, I've taken my family in the middle of February to Winter WonderLearn at the Courtice Community Complex.

But not this year.

The municipality has decided to move the event out of Courtice to Newcastle after eight fun years. Newcastle will definitely enjoy the activities and they will definitely be good hosts. But Courtice has lost something here - one of the few 'Clarington' events that it hosts.

The town claims the event in Courtice is a victim of its own success.

It's grown to over 1,400 participants and there simply isn't room, apparently. If you  attended the Courtice Kids of Steel Triathalon this past summer you know that the complex can clearly handle events of this size and larger.

There's more room at the South Courtice Arena - how about moving it there?

I'm not sure my family will be able to make the trek out to Newcastle this year and it's ironic that now the province has officially recognized Family Day in Ontario we suddenly don't have a local event.

In my next blog I'll take a look at events leading up to the last council meeting before our representatives take a rest for March Break. It's been four months since the election so I'll have my first trimester report cards ready.