[peck420]

Remove all tax shelters / loopholes (both corporate and personal)

Unify HealthCare across Canada - current system is a minimum of 2 layers (some areas have 3 Federal/Provincial/Civic). With modern communication technology, 1 layer would suffice. This would cut HealthCare administractive costs by almost 1/3.

Restructure the Forces. Have military engineering corps build all military buildings (at least act as contractor & consultant). This one change could save the military upwards of 100mill in budget expenses.

Remove all equalization payments (hear me out first). Make all natural resource royalty payments direct to Federal government with a flat royalty rate per industry, and distribute on a per capita basis.

Remove any and all Federal to Provincial government loans if said Provincial governments are currently running deficits.

Institute a flat personal tax across Canada for those above poverty line.

And above all else LIMIT FEDERAL EMPLOYEES TO A MAXIMUM OF 2 TIMES THE AVERAGE CANADIAN SALARY!.

Leadership and direction start at the top. If the Fed's clean their house they can focus on helping clean Provinces up.

[PublicAnimalNo9]

stokes wrote:

Wada wrote:

Elect the Liberals.

Really....that's a great idea....because Iggy has all the answers...NOT

honestly though Paul Martin was a great finance minister and I think we will be hard pressed to see another like him for a long time.....look at what Trudeau did, he started the mess and left it to us to deal with...we should burn him in his grave and shit on his ashes

Why is one of the biggest tax dodgers in Canadian history(Martin) constantly being hailed as a financial hero????

[Caelon]

There have been several suggestions around major costs of health care, CPP, transfer payments and the military.

Health care cost are rising with the increasing average age of thepopulation combined with the fact that there is an increased ability to keep people alive with an associated cost. Today 25% of Canadian live past 90 with the average lifespan being over 80. The average age of the total population in 2006 was 39.5. Old people use more health care resources than younger people plus we will have the added burden of a lower percentage of tax paying healthy young people to cover the cost. So do we make the decision that we will not cover medical expenses that would extend the life of an 85 year old by a few months or a year. Termendous savings, but few people would agree that the expense is too high for their particular loved one. It could als be deemed euthanasia. I cannot see any politician brave enough to tackle this one.

CPP payments have been ammended to have greater penalties for starting it before 65 and greater rewards for waiting till you are a few years past 65. With the increase in life expectancy many people are doingthe math and saying if I work an extra couple of years then my pension/RRSP/savings mix of funds will give me more per month and last longer. If you do the math you will see that the break even point is a little over 80. The longer you wait the longer you must live to break even. Still every decade we add another year or 2 to the average life expectancy.

Transfer payments were severely cut under Martin, which downloaded the expense to provinces and municipalities. We could cut the federal payments agian, but expect an increase in municipal and provincial taxes to compensate. Have not provinces will be forced to pass on more of the ccecrease in transfer payments than have provinces. Still there would be less impact politically on the federal government than limiting medical expenditures on old people.

The military becomes what we pay for. Cut it too far and we cannot maintain our own sovereignty of the coastal waters or the Artic. We must fund the military to whatever level we decide their role is supposed to be. Defend our own borders and nothing else, peace keeping exeditions or military intervention in places like Afghanistan.

There are no quick fixes to the current debt. Moving to surplus budgets will work over time, but we are talking decades not years. Too mcu pain too quickly will mean a new government that is more lenient on the tax payer will be the new government. Any party that wants to stay in power will balance reducing debt with tax payer pain.

[ShepherdsDog]

It's not much and more symbolic than anything, but every penny counts, so how about MPs and senators get a wage/perk roll back and have their pensions adjusted to reflect the average Canadians. They are the peoples' employees, and in what other job are employees allowed to give themselves a raise without the consent of their employer? Somehow I don't think this will go over well with any of the pigs, be they red, blue, or orange. As far as I'm concerned all of those parasites need to be turfed.

[Bruce_the_vii]

ShepherdsDog wrote:

It's not much and more symbolic than anything, but every penny counts, so how about MPs and senators get a wage/perk roll back and have their pensions adjusted to reflect the average Canadians. They are the peoples' employees, and in what other job are employees allowed to give themselves a raise without the consent of their employer? Somehow I don't think this will go over well with any of the pigs, be they red, blue, or orange. As far as I'm concerned all of those parasites need to be turfed.

I think the MPs have to be paid. You have to make it pay to attract talented and experienced people. It's 2011 and pay scales for such are high. I know it doesn't work, there are a lot of average qualified MPs in Parliament but you should do it principle. The MP will always argue for more for themselves. After WWII pay for MPs was so bad that they had to take summer jobs.

[Winnipegger]

ShepherdsDog wrote:

It's not much and more symbolic than anything, but every penny counts, so how about MPs and senators get a wage/perk roll back and have their pensions adjusted to reflect the average Canadians. They are the peoples' employees, and in what other job are employees allowed to give themselves a raise without the consent of their employer? Somehow I don't think this will go over well with any of the pigs, be they red, blue, or orange. As far as I'm concerned all of those parasites need to be turfed.

Good idea. Here is a website that shows exactly how much they get paid: Indemnities, Salaries and Allowances - Members of the House of Commons

I would like to roll them back to 2001 levels. That is a 16.7% cut in MP salaries. The cuts would not apply to MP staffers, although the number of individuals hired in the Prime Minister's Office has to be slashed drastically. This would primarily send a message to all MPs that we are in a period of restraint; do not go on a spending spree. The reason for that particular amount is year 2000 had a completely different and complicated structure to MP salaries, a mess we don't want to go back to.

Some numbers:
Basic Sessional Indemnity (that means MP salary) for 2011: $157,731
Prime Minister's salary: equal to MP salary, which he gets in addition to his MP salary
Minister's salary: 50% of MP salary, which he/she gets in addition to his/her MP salary
Speaker of House of Commons salary: same as a minister
Leader of the Official Opposition: same as a minister
Minister, PM, or Leader of the Official Opposition car allowance: $2,112
Speaker's car allowance: 50% of minister's car allowance
Speaker's residence allowance: $3,000
Official Critic (opposition party counterpart to a Minister): nothing, just his/her MP salary

MP salary for 2001: $131,400
other salaries: ratios remain the same
car allowance: unchanged
Speaker's residence allowance: unchanged

You could do the same for Senators. I could go through all the numbers and add up how much that would save per year. Does anyone really care that much?

[martin14]

Winnipegger wrote:

. Does anyone really care that much?

No, because:

A) It wont happen.
B) It's not a lot of money, so it wont make any real difference.
C) Most MPs are lawyers or other serious professionals. Compared to what they
make in private life, a lot of MPs take a cut in pay to serve in Parliament.

D) This is the same level as removing Youtube videos, screening attendance at rallies,
pissing and moaning about who did what in the past, and completely impractical
pipe dream solutions.

All designed to keep the small minds busy with bullshit, while the big issues
fly happily under the radar.