Budget 2012: No more pennies, increased US shopping exemption limit, etc.

[Gridlock]

Yes...wanna hold hands and sing too?

I don't think anyone has a problem with the CBC being in existence.

Here's the problem. With ALL this nice, wonderful little shit that the gov't provides. If you don't need to hustle for your money, you don't hustle for your money.

Companies and corporations that don't feel responsible to shareholders, end up reporting the bottom line, but not living the bottom line. No one is truly pressured to cut costs and be cost effective. Your sales department sells advertising, but its not like the company hinges on their success.

That's why I have a hate on for Crown Corps. They are ALL bloated and wasteful.

Just a few big ones: BC Hydro, didn't we just do an audit that came back and said they couldn't even track down all the overspending, because it was so prevalent?

ICBC-fuck..there's a story and a half.

Translink: Wasn't there just a story where they were seeking 30m in vehicle levies to cover a funding shortfall, and then the NEXT FUCKING DAY it comes out that they actually have no ability to collect on unpaid tickets? That's millions of dollars sitting there because no one cared enough to go after it.

That's just off the top of my head.

So I know that when you go to CBC and say we're cutting your budget, its the ONLY way that someone looks to find cost savings. And I know as a crown corp-its there to find.

Every couple of years, someone raids the CBC budget, and every few years people scream that it will be the end of Canadian culture and every few years, CBC emerges leaner and stronger for it.

Cut that bitch. You lay off some old guys with attrition and early retirement. You sell some unused property and old vehicles. You sell some office chairs and close a branch or two.

A budget cut at a crown corporation is like spring cleaning. You have to make the game for keeps. You can't just go and say" find us money". The gov't spending adage is, "if you don't use it, you lose it"

[TheNewGirl]

BC Hydro, ICBC and Translink are provincial, not federal crown corps. So bitch at Christie Clark about those three money sucking leeches. Please. I do often.

[Gridlock]

Originally Posted by TheNewGirl

BC Hydro, ICBC and Translink are provincial, not federal crown corps. So bitch at Christie Clark about those three money sucking leeches. Please. I do often.

Oh, I know, I just use them as examples that are readily available and have been in the news a lot.

[mikemhg]

I find it facinating that the Conservatives in Canada are doing to CBC what the Republicans are doing to PBS/NPR in the States. Sad really. Come on now use your heads this has nothing to do with cutting the budget, it's just the Conservative government's attempt to shrink a more left-leaning media regime. I'm glad we still have some media laws, and Harper hasn't been able to get a Fox News Canada running over here.

[MindBomber]

I would LOVE to see the amount a province where insurance is privatized spends on the services like drivers licensing, costs that ICBC passes onto the consumer through insurance rates in British Columbia, that's a factor in the higher insurance rates we pay. At least to my knowledge.

[Glove]

cuts to rcmp?

not sure if good thing or bad,

will they set up more speed traps and rape people on tickets to make up some of the money?

or will there be less cops to give the tickets out?

[Gridlock]

Originally Posted by MindBomber

I would LOVE to see the amount a province where insurance is privatized spends on the services like drivers licensing, costs that ICBC passes onto the consumer through insurance rates in British Columbia, that's a factor in the higher insurance rates we pay. At least to my knowledge.

It's not like its free, all covered through ICBC. I pay $75 every 5 years for a new piece of plastic with an ugly picture on it. They say it looks like me, but I don't buy it.

What do we get out of ICBC? They do re-invest in collision avoidance at intersections and driver education and such.

In a world without ICBC? You have insurance companies pay into a fund to pay for things like collision avoidance and drivers education and such. Not hard...doesn't have to be ICBC to accomplish.

Nova Scotia had private insurance. We got to do things like: find a different insurance company that specialized in our needs. At one point, we had 2 collector cars, my mom's winter car and summer car, and my dad's truck.

We needed a company that would allow us to switch insurance on the fly depending on what vehicle was in use. Found it and done. Didn't even need to go to the office. Called them up. The collector cars were never in use on the same day. The winter/summer car obviously switched out. The truck was continual.

I think when she left, my mom's insurance was $500. Oh. A year. Why? She had one accident when I was 5. She moved when I was 19.

I never insured a car in NS myself. Why? Would have been $3000...a year. Why? Because I was under 25 and male. Sound unfair? Yes. But more likely, I was going to do something stupid in a car. And I did. I was 24.

It doesn't have to be a government organization doling out services to us; a large uninformed mass that apparently can't think for ourselves.

[MindBomber]

If a government agency can doll out an essential service, do so fairly and efficiently, rolling the profit directly back to the government to help maintain services, I see that as a significant benefit to tax payers. Lets not forget, private insurance agencies, while offering some minor perks, are not without significant downsides. ICBC is generally quite fair in vehicle appraisals, injury settlements, assigning fault, and that's the real measure of an insurance company.

Like I said, I really want to see how significant the difference in the cost of insurance in insurance in BC is after otherwise taxpayer funded services is accounted for.

Regarding the unpaid tickets Translink doesn't pursue, it may simply not be cost effective to pursue the tickets. If it were it seems unlikely that they would not pursue them. I still support turnstiles at all stations to recoup the revenue lost to fare evasion, I don't understand why the cost to install them came back so high.

[gars]

Originally Posted by MindBomber

Regarding the unpaid tickets Translink doesn't pursue, it may simply not be cost effective to pursue the tickets. If it were it seems unlikely that they would not pursue them. I still support turnstiles at all stations to recoup the revenue lost to fare evasion, I don't understand why the cost to install them came back so high.

The turnstiles are coming, don't you worry. People need to remember as well, there will always be fare evasion. Just because someone has a ticket to get them through turnstiles, doesn't mean they aren't evading fares. Remember, when PWC did their audit back in 2007, they only found the fare evasion to be about 5.6 percent on skytrains. But that includes people using other people's passes (think UPass, or senior's passes). The Turnstiles will cut into that, but people can and will still find ways to not pay. When I was in the UK - I often saw people jumping turnstiles, or squeezing 2 people through at a time. And this was at stations where attendants are watching (but there are just too many people).

[StylinRed]

Originally Posted by Glove

cuts to rcmp?

not sure if good thing or bad,

will they set up more speed traps and rape people on tickets to make up some of the money?

or will there be less cops to give the tickets out?

what's retarded about that is Harper enacted bill c10 to get more people into jails and they want to make new prisons to handle that yet here he is cutting funds for corrections and the rcmp

[urban.boi]

wonder if they would increase the limit for over 7 days out of the country. or just set it as 48hr + = $800 and got rid of the 7 days limit.

[Gridlock]

Originally Posted by MindBomber

Regarding the unpaid tickets Translink doesn't pursue, it may simply not be cost effective to pursue the tickets. If it were it seems unlikely that they would not pursue them. I still support turnstiles at all stations to recoup the revenue lost to fare evasion, I don't understand why the cost to install them came back so high.

Is it possible in your world, that we are getting screwed? Is it possible, that one group of bureaucrats didn't care enough to look? Two different divisions each thought the other was doing it. Neither were.

That's the mindset we have to work with. You give these people more money, and they will spend more money.

[Hehe]

Originally Posted by urban.boi

wonder if they would increase the limit for over 7 days out of the country. or just set it as 48hr + = $800 and got rid of the 7 days limit.

From what it seems, the 7day limit is now history... now it is 200 for 24hr and 800 for 48hr+... nothing else

[MG1]

I was more interested in the old age pension thing........ good thing I'm old enough that it won't affect me........... by the time it kicks in, that is.

[urrh]

In last week's budget, the Harper government delayed the age of eligibility for Old Age Security recipients to 67.

It appears, however, our prime minister is not willing to do the same for his retirement benefits - at least not yet.

All Canadian prime ministers who served at least four years in office are given a $100,000/year allowance beginning at the age of 65. That's $100,000 in addition to their already gold-plated pensions.

On Tuesday, the Liberals tried to introduce a sub-amendment to the federal budget which would have raised the eligibility age of the prime minister's allowance to 67.

It was defeated by the Conservative majority.

"If you're going to increase the Old Age Security to 67, then I would have thought it would have been pretty easy for the Prime Minister to say, well, we'll do the same thing for that," interim Liberal leader Bob Rae told Global News.

"It's like a welfare program."

The Prime Minister's new director of communications, Andrew MacDougall, told PostMedia News changes to MP pensions, including Prime Minister Stephen Harper's retirement bonus allowance, are pending in the coming months.

"There's additional changes the government is looking at that will be part of a legislative package in the fall," he said.

"We're going to consider what they're calling the prime minister's allowance in that package with all MPs and we look forward to the opposition supporting changes to the pension regime for Parliamentarians."

OAS eligibility changes to 67 but Harper still gets his
scumbag prime minister

[MindBomber]

Originally Posted by Gridlock

Is it possible in your world, that we are getting screwed? Is it possible, that one group of bureaucrats didn't care enough to look? Two different divisions each thought the other was doing it. Neither were.

That's the mindset we have to work with. You give these people more money, and they will spend more money.

Here's the thing, we're both just speculating, unless you've read an article I haven't. Logically speaking, a relatively low value ticket may cost more to collect than it's actual value. It's not like ICBC, where they can just refuse to insure a person who doesn't pay a ticket. A collection agency would be necessary to collect on these tickets, the cost involved with pursuing collections I can see outweighing the actual ticket.

[Gridlock]

Originally Posted by MindBomber

Here's the thing, we're both just speculating, unless you've read an article I haven't. Logically speaking, a relatively low value ticket may cost more to collect than it's actual value. It's not like ICBC, where they can just refuse to insure a person who doesn't pay a ticket. A collection agency would be necessary to collect on these tickets, the cost involved with pursuing collections I can see outweighing the actual ticket.

Yeah, I saw video where one department said they thought the other was doing it.

Translink vs Department of Transportation I believe.

They fucked up. It happens.

You know why? Crown corporations are bloated affairs where no one actually gives a shit about money, because it isn't real. When they run out, they get more.

My goal, sir, is to make you change your username, from mindbomber, to mindblown.

You will be shown the light.

[MindBomber]

I'm supportive of operating crown corps with the capability of operating at a profit to do so, they should be run no differently than any other business. ICBC and BCLD operate on essentially that model, the result is good returns to tax payers. Translink and BC Ferries, don't operate at profit, but doing so would be very nearly impossible purely from the perspective of the service they offer. Have bad business decisions been made, sure, fast ferries will never be forgotten; bad decisions happen in private business to though, just look at RIM.

[falcon]

Originally Posted by falcon

I like the penny idea. They are useless and annoying.

We also need to implement our sales tax into the listed price. Pretty much the one thing I am NOT looking forward to when I arrive back in Vancouver after 6 months in Europe is adding tax to whatever the listed price is. Here the tax exists, but it's implemented into all the listed shelf prices of everything. It's great.

So just to rehash this. I'm back now and went out to dinner last night. I bought my meal, beer etc. and my brain totally blanked out about tax. I got my bill at the end of the night and was like "WTF why is it so expensive?" Even taking into account the Euro to CAD conversion, eating out here is ridiculously expensive once you add everything up... and for much shittier food.