Moose FM CKAP 100.9 - Kapuskasing

While I'm still a little warm about the gas tax thing, I'd hate to let this one slip.  The ECO fee?  Not a tax, they say, the government is choosing to call it a levy.  So what's it for?  I can tell you this...it slipped into existance with VERY LITTLE fanfare on July 1st along with the HST.  It's a supplemental charge that is being added to our bills at the cash for disposal, recycling, etc of common items that we purchase.  For example, a bottle of dish soap will have an ECO fee of about 13 to 15 cents applied to it when you check out.  Then, when your bill is totalled, you pay HST on this fee.  I was forced to buy a television a couple days ago (my daughter's went up in smoke) and got slapped with a nearly $30 ECO fee.  The cashier didn't know what it was, and never mentioned it to me when it was being rung in.   And I paid HST tax on this. 

This is the second phase of taxes (I mean levies, whatever was I thinking) that are meant to fund efforts to recycle tough-to-recycle items...like paint and other toxic materials that are hazardous at landfills.  What I don't understand is how anyone can make sure this happens.  Why am I paying a disposal fee for an item that won't be in a landfill for likely 20 years?  And when I bring the old one to the dump, it gets ground under the bulldozer exactly as if I had dropped off a bag of clothes or some potato peelings.  The City of Timmins has just recently started to charge for going to the dump...and all of a sudden those concession roads are looking like a great place to dispose of dryers and fridges...  It's not the principle of all this that pisses me off, it's the tax on the tax on the tax...enough already.  I'm tired of being victimized by governments who can afford to spend 50 million a year on MP expense accounts and have to collect pennies at the cash while pretending to police the garbage that goes in and out of our homes.  All on the sly of course...it's not like McGuinty paraded this one around for us to talk about prior to it's introduction.

Next week will be better...next week I'm going to talk about local washboards...

Is it just me, or were you shocked too to discover that the price of gas would be going up courtesy of our brand new HST?  I get to the pump on a pretty regular basis, so I consider myself to be savvy on what goes on with the gas...and I was under the impression that there was already a provincial grab built in to our vaunted price per litre.  So by changing to the new HST, was this not just a great time for the government to say "let's grab an extra 8%?"  What?  Our government taking advantage of us?  Scandalous!!  Seems to me that if we were already paying a provincial tax (that ostensibly goes to road repairs) we shouldn't have been hit yet again.  I think it's time that the gas companies start displaying the old pie charts that used to be quite visible at the pump.  Reading them would give us something to do while fueling up, and leave us wiser as to the real cost of gasoline to us.  And what's up with the prices up and down the road?  In Smooth Rock Falls the gas is 5 cents a litre cheaper than it is in Kap.  Does Smooth Rock get a reduced PST rate?  Likely not, so it's a gas company issue.  And drive a little further south, say to New Liskeard and you'll see further drops until you get to North Bay or Sudbury and find out there's a 10 cent a litre difference.  No one is going to kid me about how much it costs to haul it here because I am intimately familiar with the trucking business and what it all boils down to in cost per mile to deliver.  I don't claim to have the answers, but I'm willing to bet that fifty thousand letters of complaint to our local MPPs would bring some relief at the pump.  First we deal with the oil companies gouging us, then we get gouged by the government.  Remember Tax free day?  The day when we stop paying taxes and start actually earning for ourselves?  Looks like that day will soon be celebrated in November instead of June if this keeps up.

I know, complaining is what we're content to do, and action is often something that's overlooked.  But if you're as concerned as I am about the cost of living in Northern Ontario, tell someone that can speak on your behalf.  I have.

Brent

Well things are looking good for a great Canada Day.  Sun is up early with a great forecast for today.  So what are you going to do to celebrate our nation's birthday?  Family BBQ?  Getting together with friends?  If you're undecided, there's plenty on tap...a big day is planned in Moonbeam at Ouellette's Bay and every member of the family can have a great day.  Hearst is celebrating with two days of Canada Day Fun.  Every community up and down the Hwy 11 corridor has its own activities and they're hoping we'll all take part.

Me?  I'm going to my cottage to relax.  The Canadian flag flies proudly there and along with some friends and family I will toast the birthday of this great nation.  And we'll shoot off a bunch of fireworks after sundown.  It's a tradition.  The important thing is that we all in some way give a tip of the hat to this wonderful country on her birthday.  Sure we've got beefs about how things get done in the halls of power here, both federally and provincially (thanks for the HST McGuinty...nice one) but overall we are still better off than most people in the civilized world, and that includes our neighbors to the south.

Today is more than just a day off work...it's not a gimme stat holiday like Boxing Day.  It's a day that honors the most tolerant nation in the world, a nation where our individual successes contribute to a wonderful mosaic that is uniquely Canadian. 

Happy Canada Day everyone.  Joyeuse Fete du Canada tout le monde!!

Brent

Do you remember your high school graduation day?  Getting on the stage with your cap and gown and accepting that all-important piece of ceremonial paper from the principal?  I've had the pleasure of attending my oldest daughter's college graduation already this year and my son will be graduating from high school this week.  My daughter has grown into a confident young woman who I am very proud of.  She's industrious, outgoing and generous and is headed into the nursing field after a second college diploma.  My son is heading away to school as well, and after a very interesting and successful stint in high school, he's off to college in September.  Final steps on one journey and first steps on another for both of them.  It makes me proud and a little nervous for them at the same time, but like all of us, after taking those first tenuous steps away from home and into the world, I have nothing but confidence that my kids are ready for whatever they'll need to deal with next.  I can honestly admit that there aren't many feelings better than giving your child a hug (or a handshake...after all, cool is cool, right?) and telling them to their faces that you're soooo proud of them.  One of the greatest pleasures of being a parent.  If your child is graduating this year, congratulations to you and your family. 

Brent