If all you ever thought about Canada is that it’s the land of ice, snow, oil, wood and hockey it’s time to think again about doing business in Canada. For example, number of millionaire households in Canada is set to surge 38% and total wealth will more than double, according to a new report.
A study carried out by the Deloitte Centre for Financial Services of 25 countries found that the number of millionaire households in Canada will jump from 1.74 million to 2.4 million in the next nine years according to a report on Global Wealth. This study also found that Canada’s total wealth will rise from $3.35 billion to $6.77 billion. This is great news for a population of some 35 million but still a drop in the bucket in comparison to the U.S.
For example, the total wealth projected in the millionaire households world-wide will grow from $92 Trillion in 2011 to $202 Trillion in 2020. For my American friends who think that their economy is still on the skids, they should be a whole lot more optimistic now because the study also found that the U.S. is likely to remain the world leader in terms of total wealth followed by Japan and Italy.
For example any American worried about the U.S. economy should be investing heavily in real estate, stocks and or bonds since the same study predicts that 43% of the world’s millionaire households are predicted to be in the United States and also the number of millionaire households in the United States is projected to increase from an estimated 10.5 million in 2011 to 20.6 million in 2020.
While this news is good for Canada right now, it’s projected that even with this impressive growth Canada is likely to slip in wealth status to 8th world-wide since China is expected to make huge gains in the next number of years and is currently in 12th place.
The study also showed that wealthy Canadians have the biggest portion of their money in cash and other categories, which accounts for 28% of their total holdings. Canadian millionaires also tend to hold equal shares in real estate and domestic stocks at about 21% and over 11% in foreign stocks.
Meanwhile with the bloom off American real estate in the short-term (except for those Canadians investing in warm climate states like Florida and California) the ownership of property still accounts for 51% of millionaire household assets in Italy, compared with 45% in Spain and 35% in Hong Kong.
This study also shows that Canada is still a safe haven to do business, start a new lifestyle or just continue doing what we have been doing since the economy is maintaining a steady growth and there is also strong projected future growth.
This is also a great message for my American friends who can now start to change their attitude slightly and view their economy as one of the best in the world and see that it’s time for America to start to rebuild its business base, its cities, its real estate and its stock market. Even with the current downturns the U.S. it is still the leader in the number of millionaires world-wide.
So even though you think that Canada is that northern white spot on the map north of the 49th parallel remember there are millions of dollars up here waiting for investors and new products and Canada represents a great market for any type of business.
Kensel Tracy is the Marketing Coach, Senior Partner with the Corporate Coachworkz Inc. and President of Business Over Breakfast Clubs currently opening in every city and town in North America.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Monday, April 18, 2011
It Still Costs Less to Live in the U.S. Even with a Rising Canadian Dollar
As luck would have it for the average Canadian consumer travelling to the United States, it still makes a lot of sense to spend more dollars state-side than in Canada. Having recently returned from a holiday in California I was quite happy to spend as many dollars as I could in the old U.S. of A since like me, many Canadian consumers are still paying more for goods and services at home even though the Canadian Dollar is now worth $1.04 U.S.
The Loonie ( as Canadians affectionately call the dollar) has now risen 30% from its levels just two years ago fuelled by investors seeking the stability of Canada’s financial system and booming demand for the nation’s commodities.
BMO Chief Economist Doug Porter says that it’s because of more moderate inflation performance vs. other countries overwhelmed by the surge in currency. As a result says Porter “the cost of a basket of goods, adjusted for today’s exchange rate, has bolted higher in Canada relative to the U.S”.
Having lived in Toronto growing up, it was not uncommon in the 60’s and 70’s to make the trip to Buffalo N.Y to shop and to pick up Lee Jeans, and Penny loafers ( once all proudly carrying the Made in USA sticker) and bring them back to Canada every chance you got. The U.S. dollar could be purchased for as little as $.70 cents Canadian and it made perfect sense to purchase goods at lower prices in the U.S. with higher Canadian dollars.
Over the years that has all changed. The Loonie fell behind the U.S. dollar and Free Trade had so much impact in that it became attractive to start to sell your goods in the U.S. at margins 25-40 percent higher due to the fact that the Canadian dollar was trading in the $.60-$.70 cent range for one U.S. dollar. The U.S. economy was booming and everything from lumber to pork bellies was in demand.
This helped Canada in the export market because goods bought with U.S. dollars gave manufacturers a comfortable margin just with the exchange rate. Now however, some companies have had to learn how to adapt to being more competitive in sales, quality, delivery and performance based on the rising Loonie.
Now another thing is happening with the a the rising Canadian dollar, consumers are still paying more for comparable products in Canada than our friends south of the border. For example, check out the price of books and food. The U.S. price is still lower for a book in comparison to Canada even if the book is printed in Canada and there are no shipping costs.
Running shoes in the U.S. can be had for a low buy one pair for $69.00 get the second pair at ½ price. In Canada the same shoes cost $147.99 Canadian for one pair. Golf balls have an 11% price difference in Canada than in the U.S. Gap Cargo shorts are 15% more expensive and an IPod Touch costs $249.00 in Canada and $200.89 in the U.S.
The cost of gas and alcohol is also cheaper in the U.S. due to lower government taxes. For example a gallon of gas in Canada costs $5.62 cents (at $1.25 a liter) and a six pack of beer is around $10.99 plus deposit. I recently bought a case of 12 Becks beer in California for $11.99 and a dozen Budweiser’s for $6.99. The price of gasoline was less than $4.00 a gallon.
The BMO says that the lofty Loonie is here to stay so that it will appear that many more Canadians will be taking their vacations State-side this year and Canada will see less U.S. tourism based on the higher price of goods and services and the need to have a passport to cross the border.
This does not favour good long-term growth for tourism related industries or those exporters and those who ship the majority of their production to the U.S.
It should however give Canadian politicians some food for thought about reducing corporate taxes, reducing the taxes on gas and decreasing consumption taxes such as the HST and GST to make Canada more competitive with our friends to the south.
Kensel Tracy is the Marketing Coach and is Senior Partner with the Corporate Coachworkz in Chelsea, Quebec.
The Loonie ( as Canadians affectionately call the dollar) has now risen 30% from its levels just two years ago fuelled by investors seeking the stability of Canada’s financial system and booming demand for the nation’s commodities.
BMO Chief Economist Doug Porter says that it’s because of more moderate inflation performance vs. other countries overwhelmed by the surge in currency. As a result says Porter “the cost of a basket of goods, adjusted for today’s exchange rate, has bolted higher in Canada relative to the U.S”.
Having lived in Toronto growing up, it was not uncommon in the 60’s and 70’s to make the trip to Buffalo N.Y to shop and to pick up Lee Jeans, and Penny loafers ( once all proudly carrying the Made in USA sticker) and bring them back to Canada every chance you got. The U.S. dollar could be purchased for as little as $.70 cents Canadian and it made perfect sense to purchase goods at lower prices in the U.S. with higher Canadian dollars.
Over the years that has all changed. The Loonie fell behind the U.S. dollar and Free Trade had so much impact in that it became attractive to start to sell your goods in the U.S. at margins 25-40 percent higher due to the fact that the Canadian dollar was trading in the $.60-$.70 cent range for one U.S. dollar. The U.S. economy was booming and everything from lumber to pork bellies was in demand.
This helped Canada in the export market because goods bought with U.S. dollars gave manufacturers a comfortable margin just with the exchange rate. Now however, some companies have had to learn how to adapt to being more competitive in sales, quality, delivery and performance based on the rising Loonie.
Now another thing is happening with the a the rising Canadian dollar, consumers are still paying more for comparable products in Canada than our friends south of the border. For example, check out the price of books and food. The U.S. price is still lower for a book in comparison to Canada even if the book is printed in Canada and there are no shipping costs.
Running shoes in the U.S. can be had for a low buy one pair for $69.00 get the second pair at ½ price. In Canada the same shoes cost $147.99 Canadian for one pair. Golf balls have an 11% price difference in Canada than in the U.S. Gap Cargo shorts are 15% more expensive and an IPod Touch costs $249.00 in Canada and $200.89 in the U.S.
The cost of gas and alcohol is also cheaper in the U.S. due to lower government taxes. For example a gallon of gas in Canada costs $5.62 cents (at $1.25 a liter) and a six pack of beer is around $10.99 plus deposit. I recently bought a case of 12 Becks beer in California for $11.99 and a dozen Budweiser’s for $6.99. The price of gasoline was less than $4.00 a gallon.
The BMO says that the lofty Loonie is here to stay so that it will appear that many more Canadians will be taking their vacations State-side this year and Canada will see less U.S. tourism based on the higher price of goods and services and the need to have a passport to cross the border.
This does not favour good long-term growth for tourism related industries or those exporters and those who ship the majority of their production to the U.S.
It should however give Canadian politicians some food for thought about reducing corporate taxes, reducing the taxes on gas and decreasing consumption taxes such as the HST and GST to make Canada more competitive with our friends to the south.
Kensel Tracy is the Marketing Coach and is Senior Partner with the Corporate Coachworkz in Chelsea, Quebec.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Canadian Companies Face Different Challenges than U.S. Counterparts.
I came across an interesting discussion this week online by Paul Ricketts where he put a question out on his blog about the differences that Canadian companies face in comparison to those starting up in United States.
Many of my American business friends and I discuss this on a regular basis especially now that the world is getting smaller every day and Canada’s small business environment is growing especially now that we have a solid economy, great standard of living and a highly educated workforce. Yes, in many parts of the country that goes with 6 months of winter, but Canada is still a great place to start a business.
However in spite of all the good things about doing business in Canada, Ricketts brief survey addressed some of the issues affecting Canadian start-ups. For one, Canada has a small domestic market which is further fragmented by inter-provincial barriers and regulations. This is especially true for tangible goods. Many products are regulated provincially forcing many Canadian companies to seek markets offshore or in the U.S. quicker than developing the Canadian market. For many start-ups this means that many companies are doing business in foreign markets quicker than their U.S. counterparts and this leads to increased costs and marketing issues as companies are forced to tackle markets outside of their home country.
Canada also has a much smaller VC market and angel capital pools are smaller. This means that investors are required to be less patient in there need for returns which forces a lot of smaller companies to grow much more quickly to satisfy investors forcing in some cases quicker expansion and higher risk taking. This is not all bad, however but if you have a product that requires good long term patient investment it can be difficult to find the right investors in Canada.
Because of the size of the market only 30 million people, there is a lack of diversity of industry clusters and sub-clusters and fewer companion companies within those clusters, so a lot of start-ups are forced to go alone or go a long way from home to find companion products and companies that can use their products. Canada also suffers from a lack of large major home grown companies and has limited national and global players with a major presence to act as catalysts for new ideas and to grow management talent. This does not mean there isn’t any real talent there is, just not enough.
Ricketts also thinks that Canadian business owners have a bad case of “ sell-out-itis “ which forces Canadian companies too often to take the big cheque sell out too early or plan a business with short-term or limited thinking where the entire business strategy is predicated on finding an exit.
With that being said, a stable economy, solid work force and a growing market Canada is still a great place to consider starting a business. There are a large number of government business incentives and safe environments. The only thing that we really need is a better climate in general, because sometimes you just don’t need 6 months of winter.
Kensel Tracy, The Marketing Coach is a Senior Partner with the Corporate Coachworkz Inc. located in Ottawa and Chelsea, Quebec and is also the President of Business over Breakfast Clubs of North America now opening in every City. If you have a story that you think on doing business in Canada, he can be reached at kenselt@sympatico.ca.
Many of my American business friends and I discuss this on a regular basis especially now that the world is getting smaller every day and Canada’s small business environment is growing especially now that we have a solid economy, great standard of living and a highly educated workforce. Yes, in many parts of the country that goes with 6 months of winter, but Canada is still a great place to start a business.
However in spite of all the good things about doing business in Canada, Ricketts brief survey addressed some of the issues affecting Canadian start-ups. For one, Canada has a small domestic market which is further fragmented by inter-provincial barriers and regulations. This is especially true for tangible goods. Many products are regulated provincially forcing many Canadian companies to seek markets offshore or in the U.S. quicker than developing the Canadian market. For many start-ups this means that many companies are doing business in foreign markets quicker than their U.S. counterparts and this leads to increased costs and marketing issues as companies are forced to tackle markets outside of their home country.
Canada also has a much smaller VC market and angel capital pools are smaller. This means that investors are required to be less patient in there need for returns which forces a lot of smaller companies to grow much more quickly to satisfy investors forcing in some cases quicker expansion and higher risk taking. This is not all bad, however but if you have a product that requires good long term patient investment it can be difficult to find the right investors in Canada.
Because of the size of the market only 30 million people, there is a lack of diversity of industry clusters and sub-clusters and fewer companion companies within those clusters, so a lot of start-ups are forced to go alone or go a long way from home to find companion products and companies that can use their products. Canada also suffers from a lack of large major home grown companies and has limited national and global players with a major presence to act as catalysts for new ideas and to grow management talent. This does not mean there isn’t any real talent there is, just not enough.
Ricketts also thinks that Canadian business owners have a bad case of “ sell-out-itis “ which forces Canadian companies too often to take the big cheque sell out too early or plan a business with short-term or limited thinking where the entire business strategy is predicated on finding an exit.
With that being said, a stable economy, solid work force and a growing market Canada is still a great place to consider starting a business. There are a large number of government business incentives and safe environments. The only thing that we really need is a better climate in general, because sometimes you just don’t need 6 months of winter.
Kensel Tracy, The Marketing Coach is a Senior Partner with the Corporate Coachworkz Inc. located in Ottawa and Chelsea, Quebec and is also the President of Business over Breakfast Clubs of North America now opening in every City. If you have a story that you think on doing business in Canada, he can be reached at kenselt@sympatico.ca.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
What's Really Ethical in Government
I recently got an email from a disgruntled conservative that said that he did not sign on at being a conservative to have the current government give a government employee especially a senior manager that gets fired for doing a lousy job a
$400,000 golden hand shake.
I wonder how all those guys being hounded by revenue Canada, the hard working man on the street, that is trying to get ahead feels when he spends 24 months fighting a court case over some grey area with Revenue Canada only to have $400,000 of those dollars be given to an government employee that does lousy work.I think our world is completely upside down.
In government we reward people for doing a bad job. This sends all the wrong messages. One you can't be fired so don't worry do a bad job. If you have work too hard, well go on stress leave and if you stay on it long enough, retire early because of all the holidays you have saved up while you were on stress leave, er a holidays while getting paid.
I don't want this to take away from those hard working government employees only that there is too much of this lining the pockets of too few people who have places the work force where government entitlement is getting out of hand.
Take that other dude, the other ethics type government guy that left the
Federal government for another job with the City as Ethics Manager and got $500,000 in benefits from his new employer to top up his pension or take those employees that went from collecting Provincial taxes when the HST was implemented who left work on Friday, went to the same job and the same desk on Monday, started collecting the same taxes with a different name only more of those same taxes and they got vacation pay and retro active pay because they were doing the same job with a different name.
Sign me up for a job like that. I will do the same job today and call it something else tomorrow , where is my cheque? Revenue Canada is this legal, especially with a corporation. Does this mean that I can increase my salary and not have to pay taxes since its the same job I had the day before.
So ethically, I guess, it only means you take what is given, and if government types have negotiated the gold hand shake for any type of change, you can still do a pretty shitty job and get paid " big time" as long as you hang around long enough and occupy a desk.
So my ask today is ... what's really ethical in government anymore? Does anyone know, all I know is the taxpayer is wondering and sighing and steaming and wonders who he should call. Oh -- I forgot nobody knows who to call all the phones have busy signals and no one is in charge, you will have call back.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Canada's Cities Dominate on World Stage
As a Canadian and a business owner it was great to find out this week that based on research provided the by the Economist Intelligence Unit that three of the top-ten most liveable cities in the world were in Canada and that Vancouver ranked as the number one most liveable city in the world.
The Economist Intelligence Unit is the world's leading resource for economic and business research, forecasting and analysis. Like The Economist, it is an independent of all governing bodies and corporations, leaving it free to deliver accurate and impartial business intelligence. The report provided livability rankings for 140 cities. Each city was assigned a score for over 30 qualitative and quantitative factors across five broad categories which included, stability, health care, culture and environment, education and infrastructure.
Australia had four cities in the top ten and Vienna, Helsinki and Auckland New Zealand rounded out the top-ten group. A big disappointment for my American friends was that the highest ranked city was Pittsburg at 29, and that Los Angles ranked at 44 and New York ranked at 56.
Why are these rankings so important? Well as a business owner, a highly livable city allows you the opportunity to define the best places to setup and run a business and it is important to know what cities have the greatest potential.
For Canada to have three cities, Vancouver ranked as number one and Toronto and Calgary as four and five respectively it’s quite an accomplishment. It shows that low interest rates, coupled with good government, limited risk, vision, stability, infrastructure and commitment are all important in growing an economy and a city. Canada has managed to build the infrastructure in order to make its major cities as appealing places to live and as such, great places to start and grow a business.
Canada has also weathered the economic downturn quite nicely.Our business growth is strong and emerging and our banking system is also strong. Although we take a lot of flak from our neighbors to the south and sometimes throughout the world in regards to Canada’s commitment to national health care and high taxes which are in some cases perceived as detrimental, Canada continues to lead all of the G8 countries in economic growth. Combine that with high livability rankings and you have a country that is well positioned in regards to providing opportunities for business for the future.
This study also shows that if quality of life can be sustained then businesses can also grow and prosper in these environments. An educated work force and a highly livable city are usually tied into a strong economy and significant business growth.
As a Canadian I am proud of the fact that Canada is the land of opportunity. Yes it may have cold weather, 15% of the population that speaks French, higher personal and business taxes, the HST (sales taxes) and higher municipal taxes, but now Canada should have no inferiority complex on both the world stage and in the business world.
Lowering our national debt and continuing to provide lower corporate taxes, rebuilding our education system and ensuring a high standard of living will ensure that Canada is a good place to invest and build a business. These are the things that hopefully we can teach the world. Combine that with mutual respect for our fellow humans throughout the planet and you have a winning formula for business success.
For more information on the study and to register free for additional information checkout http://www.eiu.com/ at the Economist Intelligence Unit.
Kensel Tracy is The Marketing Coach and Senior Partner with The Corporate Coachworkz Inc. and a Senior Consultant with the Centre of Excellence for Public Sector Marketing in Ottawa. He is also the President of Business Over Breakfast Clubs now opening in every city in North America. If you have something of interest he can be contacted at kenselt@sympatico.ca
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Government HST is Sham When it Says its Creating Jobs in Ontario
In the Province of Ontario the provincial governments recently harmonized the Federal GST at 5% with the Provincial tax of 8 % for a total tax of 13% on all goods and services except for those few products which are restricted to GST only.
The rationale was that this tax would replace a manufacturer’s tax and provide business owners with the added cash flow from the manufacturer’s tax to create a significant amount of new jobs.
At the time I was thinking how can a new tax create a new job? The only way that can happen is if the government stimulates the job through government training or through some other method since the amount of money paid to the manufacturer is marginal compared to the costs.
One of the things the HST has stimulated and it sure as heck is not a lot of new jobs is the price of gas and the cost of electricity and heating oil. In the past heating oil and electricity two main stays of industry were not taxed. The price of gas was below the cost of gas in the United States.
Now with the combined HST, on top of a federal and provincial tax, gasoline shot up above the psychological $1.00 a litre price and is now $1.12 -1.15 giving the oil companies carte blanche to raise their prices without any consumer backlash. Higher gas prices are seen as the impact of the HST. Electricity in Ontario has gone through the roof and prices have increased also because of the impact of the HST.
Disposable income has also decreased. For example, since the consumer now has to pay as heat, hydro and fuel costs, that’s a $.20 cent per litre increase or $10.00 per tank of gas does not go into other products, just into the pockets of the oil companies and the tax man.
Take that same $10.00 and multiply that by the number of vehicles registered in Ontario of 10.5 million filling their tank once a week and that’s $100,000,000 million that is not spent by the consumer and again goes to just two sources, the government and the oil companies.
Are you getting my point? Taxes don’t create jobs. Companies and businesses do. Companies and businesses can only create jobs when they sell products. By cutting down on the consumers disposable income, less goods and services are acquired. With less goods and services purchased, less jobs.
So I think that government meddling and taxes are partly responsible for this mess we are in in both Canada and the U.S. Give someone $10,000 more per year and they are going to go out and buy new products and stimulate the economy. Somehow we have it all wrong in this country where jobs are limited due to high taxes and politicians with little or no business sense. Now .. where are those new jobs the HST was supposed to create.
Kensel Tracy is the Marketing Coach and a Senior Partner with the Corporate Coachworkz Inc. located in Chelsea Quebec and Ottawa Ontario, and also the President of Business Over Breakfast Clubs of North America. If you have a story of interest please contact him at kenselt@sympatico.ca.
The rationale was that this tax would replace a manufacturer’s tax and provide business owners with the added cash flow from the manufacturer’s tax to create a significant amount of new jobs.
At the time I was thinking how can a new tax create a new job? The only way that can happen is if the government stimulates the job through government training or through some other method since the amount of money paid to the manufacturer is marginal compared to the costs.
One of the things the HST has stimulated and it sure as heck is not a lot of new jobs is the price of gas and the cost of electricity and heating oil. In the past heating oil and electricity two main stays of industry were not taxed. The price of gas was below the cost of gas in the United States.
Now with the combined HST, on top of a federal and provincial tax, gasoline shot up above the psychological $1.00 a litre price and is now $1.12 -1.15 giving the oil companies carte blanche to raise their prices without any consumer backlash. Higher gas prices are seen as the impact of the HST. Electricity in Ontario has gone through the roof and prices have increased also because of the impact of the HST.
Disposable income has also decreased. For example, since the consumer now has to pay as heat, hydro and fuel costs, that’s a $.20 cent per litre increase or $10.00 per tank of gas does not go into other products, just into the pockets of the oil companies and the tax man.
Take that same $10.00 and multiply that by the number of vehicles registered in Ontario of 10.5 million filling their tank once a week and that’s $100,000,000 million that is not spent by the consumer and again goes to just two sources, the government and the oil companies.
Are you getting my point? Taxes don’t create jobs. Companies and businesses do. Companies and businesses can only create jobs when they sell products. By cutting down on the consumers disposable income, less goods and services are acquired. With less goods and services purchased, less jobs.
So I think that government meddling and taxes are partly responsible for this mess we are in in both Canada and the U.S. Give someone $10,000 more per year and they are going to go out and buy new products and stimulate the economy. Somehow we have it all wrong in this country where jobs are limited due to high taxes and politicians with little or no business sense. Now .. where are those new jobs the HST was supposed to create.
Kensel Tracy is the Marketing Coach and a Senior Partner with the Corporate Coachworkz Inc. located in Chelsea Quebec and Ottawa Ontario, and also the President of Business Over Breakfast Clubs of North America. If you have a story of interest please contact him at kenselt@sympatico.ca.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Here are Awards for Government Waste by Jane Taber
Here is a great article by Jane Taber, Hill Columnist for the Canada's National Daily the Globe and Mail. The best thing about Jane's article is that it gives an overview of the issues that our government is facing when it comes to waisting taxpayers money.
Once again we passive Canadians just stand here and take this kind of thing. When someone wants to cut government spending, the NDP ( who only know how to spend) get up in arms, the Liberals ( who always spend no matter what) say that we are attacking the public service and the Bloc ( they always spend our money because its from Canada and so what) are waisted funds anyway, because we invest in these guys so they can take Quebec out of Canada. ( What a concept, try explaining that to the new democracy in Iraq)
Without with with out further adieu, Jane Taber. The Weatherall Awards
MP pensions and junk mail top waste awards
Jane Taber
The award-ceremony season could not go by without the Teddy waste honours. And this morning, dressed in black tie, the Prairie director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, Colin Craig, announced the best of the worst government waste. He was accompanied by a person dressed in a pink pig costume – Porky the Waste Hater – and hostess and ceremony assistant, Natasha.
So without further ado, the winner of the Lifetime Achievement Teddy for 2010 is the “Gold-plated MP Pension.”
The CTF is always after the MPs and their generous pension plans that it says is “quite possibly the richest pension plan in the country.”
MPs are eligible for a minimum pension of $46,000 after just 10 years of service. “Oddly enough it is the only government program that all parties in Ottawa seem to agree on,” said Mr. Craig.
The Federal Teddy Award for 2010 goes to “MP Junk Mail.”
“The federal mail-out program allows MPs to send flyers to no more than 10 per cent of the households of any riding in the country,” the CTF says.
The group notes that the flyers have increased in cost from $5.9-million in 2005/06 to $10-million in 2008/09. “The more our government went into debt the more these things were sent out,” Mr. Craig aid.
This is the 12th annual Teddy awards, which are named after former bureaucrat Ted Weatherill who was fired from government in 1998 for claiming $150,000 in meal expenses over eight years.
There were others considered for the 2010 honours. Here are some of the better of the worst of federal government waste:
» $1.5 million for unused hotel rooms at the Francophonie Summit in Quebec City;
» the Public Works officials who sold the Queen’s silver by mistake (they sold it for $4000 and then spent $100,000 to get it back);
» and the $1.4-million spent by the Royal Canadian Mint to figure out that $20-million worth of missing gold was not missing at all.
Once again we passive Canadians just stand here and take this kind of thing. When someone wants to cut government spending, the NDP ( who only know how to spend) get up in arms, the Liberals ( who always spend no matter what) say that we are attacking the public service and the Bloc ( they always spend our money because its from Canada and so what) are waisted funds anyway, because we invest in these guys so they can take Quebec out of Canada. ( What a concept, try explaining that to the new democracy in Iraq)
Without with with out further adieu, Jane Taber. The Weatherall Awards
MP pensions and junk mail top waste awards
Jane Taber
The award-ceremony season could not go by without the Teddy waste honours. And this morning, dressed in black tie, the Prairie director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, Colin Craig, announced the best of the worst government waste. He was accompanied by a person dressed in a pink pig costume – Porky the Waste Hater – and hostess and ceremony assistant, Natasha.
So without further ado, the winner of the Lifetime Achievement Teddy for 2010 is the “Gold-plated MP Pension.”
The CTF is always after the MPs and their generous pension plans that it says is “quite possibly the richest pension plan in the country.”
MPs are eligible for a minimum pension of $46,000 after just 10 years of service. “Oddly enough it is the only government program that all parties in Ottawa seem to agree on,” said Mr. Craig.
The Federal Teddy Award for 2010 goes to “MP Junk Mail.”
“The federal mail-out program allows MPs to send flyers to no more than 10 per cent of the households of any riding in the country,” the CTF says.
The group notes that the flyers have increased in cost from $5.9-million in 2005/06 to $10-million in 2008/09. “The more our government went into debt the more these things were sent out,” Mr. Craig aid.
This is the 12th annual Teddy awards, which are named after former bureaucrat Ted Weatherill who was fired from government in 1998 for claiming $150,000 in meal expenses over eight years.
There were others considered for the 2010 honours. Here are some of the better of the worst of federal government waste:
» $1.5 million for unused hotel rooms at the Francophonie Summit in Quebec City;
» the Public Works officials who sold the Queen’s silver by mistake (they sold it for $4000 and then spent $100,000 to get it back);
» and the $1.4-million spent by the Royal Canadian Mint to figure out that $20-million worth of missing gold was not missing at all.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
