For those of you out there looking to invest some money for retirement, I am going to recommend buying Canadian. With our agricultural capacity and fuel production, the recent rise in food and oil prices will produce a boom for Canadian businesses (at least in those two sectors and those who service them). The probability of a sudden dramatic increase in world oil prices is steadily rising as revolution spreads across the Middle East. If I had disposable income to invest, I'd be buying equity in Canadian companies in the oil and food sectors. Global food prices are already very high, and more expensive oil will only drive up costs.
I'm sure Peter Mansbridge would be outraged that I am encouraging investment in Canada. The TSX has gained 4000 points since Stephen Harper earned Mansbridge's shocked outrage expression at the PM's recommendation to buy Canadian. My quasi-professional opinion is that economic conditions which can destabilize weaker economies globally will actually benefit Canada. Yes, it will suck at the gas pumps and grocery stores for consumers, but it will substantially increase our country's economic activity, revenues, and employment.
I want to vote for a party in BC that vows to scrap our carbon tax. Many people I know would also do the same. Gas prices are high enough and are only going to get higher. That sucks for me, but it makes more oil sands projects profitable in Alberta, which will make it easier to balance the federal budget. Add jobs and profit, and tax revenues go up. We should further reduce sales taxes to offset the costs to consumers. I'd like to eliminate the GST altogether. Didn't the Liberals stand for that once? Now they won't rule out a GST hike at a time when consumers are going to be punished for consuming.
Its a no brainer really.I cant speak for everyone but i can say that this stimulus has worked.At least where i am and i live in a LIBERAL riding.So these guys are getting money from the feds to upgrade the sewers, transit and services.
ReplyDeleteMoney is there if your serious about retraining.Unfortunately i see lots of people just saying present as far as some of these retraining programs are going also.But hey i cant worry about them.Thats their problem not mine.
Joshua
Ever notice that the kids with everything end up as rotten people more often than not?
ReplyDeleteWe got it made. You should include tourism, a highly educated population, and a stable rule of law to your list.
Doesn't mean we can't piss it all away.
Frank Graves, again, is wrong.
ReplyDeleteAR poll just in,
CPC 39 LPC 26
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/945363--conservatives-looking-at-a-majority-new-poll-shows?bn=1
B.C. currently has NO Party that has vowed to scrap the carbon tax. Liberal leadership candidate George Abbott promised to scrap it,then did an about face and said he'd hold a referendum.
ReplyDeleteThe Federal "stimulus" program worked well for those of us in construction,I personally worked on four projects that were part of that program. Now that the stimulus money has dried up, there isn't much happening locally construction wise.
If the Feds really want to stimulate the economy,lower the HST , raise the personal tax deduction to 15k from the current 10k,allow offshore oil and gas exploration off our B.C. coast,build nuclear power projects instead of windmills and carbon sequestration, and reduce the size of the civil service,starting with the management sector.
DMorris
I personally will vote for the party that promises to eliminate FOREIGN (American and international) contributions/donations to quasi-environmental groups whose aim is to influence our B.C. and Canadian resource-based industries (oil, exploration, mining, hydro --not to mention Aboriginal groups). Canadians should be setting their own policies. This is our economy and these are our jobs.
ReplyDeleteThe party that has the guts to address foreign highjacking of our resources will gain a huge amount of credibility. What is unclear is just how far these foreign tentacles have reached politically into our provincial gov't. through the auspices of Sierra Club Canada, Tides Canada, Greenpeace, and a host of others.
For example Randall Garrison, running for the NDP in Esquimalt Juan de Fuca supports a tanker ban on the B.C. Coast for Alberta oil going to Asia, yet doesn't say a word about the 800,00 barrels of OPEC oil going up the St. Lawrence everyday. He's mute about the oil tankers in Burnaby Inlet as well. The Opposition message is inconsistent and hypocritical and bad news for the west.