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Canadian Government Going Big Brother?
Eh-Wire writes "If this article by Canadian privacy expert Michael Geist is any indication of what the Canadian Government has in mind for the Canadian Internet surfing public, then it looks like the Canadian public should be concerned. This does not look good!"
They voted for it... now they have it, pressed down, heeped up and running over.
Running with Linux for over 20 years!
I haven't read the article in question, but it's obvious what the author appears to claim won't happen. So don't worry - be happy.
People are scared shitless to be held accountable to any of a number of laws they must break to survive.
Now, the Army is a joke, and if a million Canadians ever assebled in non-peaceful protest, they could likely decimate it: a million people with rocks can likely defeat a few thousand with rifles, and choppers that fall out of the sky. It would be bloddy, to be sure, with tens of thousands dead, but the Army would lose. But, don't expect that to happen. It took one third the army to put down a native Indian uprising protesting development of a golf course expansion in O.K.A. in the mid-90s, and it took them some six weeks to get the job done. Idiots even, quite likely, shot and killed one of their own. But, people remain scared shitless.
You see, Canada is a democracy with no real restraining constititution: the notwithstanding clause makes it possible for the government to pass a law overriding any judgement against it. All you need is a majority to enslave the minority, so safest is to "shut up, blend in, and go along".
We Canucks call this "Peace, Order, and Good Government."
When the Meech Lake Accord failed to be ratified, the Quebec government issued a decree that anyone flying a Canadian flag on Canada Day (the equivalent of the 4th of July) risked getting arrested for inciting to riot. Heck, it would be unamerican to not stand there, on one's own property, flying the flag, and defending the freedom do do so with some second ammendment firepower, if the U.S. government ever tried to pull a stunt like that.
When Cree chief Mathew Coon Come took the Quebec government to task for flooding one sixth the province (an area about the size of Europe, excluding Russia), for hydro-electric projects, and displacing native Cree, he risked arrest for libel, for speaking the truth!
No, Canada stays peaceful, by "shutting up" troublemakers. For all the criticism about the U.S. breaking its own constitution in the detainment of terrorism suspects, from north of the border, few question the horrors behind a Canadian "Security Certificate".
When some missile gets lobbed across the North Pole at the U.S., this Candian hopes the fallout from a U.S. missle defense shield takes out some of the murderous assholes in power in Canada. If Canada can't control it's airspace, it should still be held accountable for what flies through it toward the U.S., one way or another.
I just don't know what it will take for the average Canadian to "wake up" and see how they've been royally fucked over by big government since socialism really took off in the late 1960s.
Americans: kiss the ground you walk on, for this is the best place on earth (yeah, even it you hate Bush in the worst way). Perhaps some day my son, who's an American citizen, might serve to defend the principles upon which the nation was founded. Me, I'm just a wanna-be. Guilty as charged.
You could've hired me.
why do you move?
As much as you seem to think it's the equivilant to soviet russia, last time I checked I was still allowed to emigrate.
Canada has no problem chucking the constitution in the trash and rewriting it whenever they see fit. (Meech lake, et al). There's nothing in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to stop any of these proposals.
They've done it more than a few times in the past. They try to do it every time a bunch of vocal racists in Quebec start piping up about the special priveledges they feel they deserve.
The US Constitution gets amended. The Canadian one gets rewritten.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
No, as opposed to leaving after 10, or 20, or five years. Requiring a mininum waiting period before being eligible for benefits is reasonable. Requireing any benefits provided within a modest period before leaving would be reasonable as well. But, no, the requirement is to live in Ontario permanently, not simply to have one's primary residency in Ontaro for some mimumum contigous time.
That form seems simple enough to me if you keep your idology in check. Permanent as in primary residence, not forever.
Yeah, that's what I thought. OHIP told me, in writing, otherwise.
"For example, RRSP HBPs become repayable in full within 60 days of becoming non-resident, or subject to being included in income
You're correct, I would consider this "fair". You can't possibly suggest that it isn't because you feel overtaxed. Again, you fail to support your argument. RRSP have that second "R" in them for a reason. The gov't is trying to get you to save for retirement, not issuing a tax break.
You missed my point. It could be considered "fair" except that is the only way many Canadians can afford a home: making the downpayment with an interest-free loan of their own pre-tax earnings. To live a life comparable to the typical middle class American requires taking advantage of so many "tax breaks", that it becomes impossible to leave if one wants. Americans have no such burdens.
Since you missed the point, let me exaggerate the problem to make it clearer: let's say you're taxed 100% on your earnings, but the government provides everything: food, clothing, shelter, medical care, education, etc. You can leave the country, but only if you repay all the government "benefits" you received. Clearly, that's impossible. The liberty to exercise the fruits of you labour gets perverted from a natural right to a state-granted "benefit" or permission. Granted, that is an example in extremis of the problem, but Canadian taxation is so severe that it is close to that extreme rather than the "natural rights" position.
I'm not familiar with US tax law, but if your spouse was a stay-at-home type, then he/she would pay no tax at all in Canada, and you could claim the spousal amount.
Ah yes, the measely "spousal amount". What this is is, for the benefit of Americans not familiar with Canadian taxation, is CA$7298 (about US$5838), less any income your spouse earns, with a minimum at $0. That translates into a credit against tax at the lowest tax rate, currently 16% federally, and 6.05% in Ontario, against tax owing. So, for someone in Ontrio, that's about a US$1290 tax credit, regardless of income (though it is non-refundable).
Let's say that you make CA$71.2k a year, or about US$57k. If you and your spouse were both working, each might earn US$28.5k to match that family income level, and would be effectively taxed as singles, with no spousal deduction. Your individual marginal tax rates would be low: 16% federally, and 6.05% in Ontario. However, when that extra US$28.5k is earned by one person on top of their US$28.5k, it is taxed at a much higher marginal rate: 22% federally, and about 9.15% in Ontario (the federal and provincial rate scales don't match perfectly, but are close), an overall difference of 31.15%=22.05%=9.1% That's about US$2600 of extra tax. (Americans are gasping in horror at the sheer level of taxation on such low incomes). The US$1290 spousal credit rather sucks, doesn't it? I haven't even addressed the federal and provincial surtaxes (an extra tax paid on income tax over a certain amount), so the situation is worse. A hundred dollars a month penalty for supporting a family. Of course, the Canadian will argue that that's reasonable to pay for the "luxery" of a spouse that doesn't have to work.
Now, let's look at it the 'merkan way: you ba
You could've hired me.
But, of course, the Canadian taxpayer has no rights: they get told to shut up and support the majority freeloaders.
You avoid as much bloodshed as possible by ordering the enemy to stand down, giving non-combattants the freedom to leave safely, arrest those who surrender, and use force against the rest: for nothing will convince them otherwise. What? You'll wait for them to tire, and jail them at my expense? Kill the enemy. Better yet, wound them and let them tend to their own, without aid. Just know who the enemy is before you pull that trigger.
Oh, I get it, you do know who the enemy is: it's the taxpayer, and you do an excellent job of wounding them.
The reputation of Canada's so-called "peacekeepers" was irreperably destroyed when they had every opportunity to prevent a Rwandan genocide and did nothing, claiming to be hamstrung by the U.N. Convenient excuse. Of course, after Somalia, it was no surprise.
The Canadian millitary may have been elite at one time in the past, but that was long ago before socialism eroded the country like a cancer. Good God man! You can't even keep your birds in the air and your boats seaworthy. Open your eyes: not only do you not have laurels upon which to rest anymore, the powers that be are burning them and castrating you!
It's not enough to never actually engage the enemy anymore: you have to pick your battles and win then decisively.
You could've hired me.
Co-fucking-incidence. Do you honestly believe that Bush ordered the murder of senators and political dissidents... through plane crashes? I'm sure if you hunt deep enough you can find just as many right-wingers killed in plane crashes in the same time period.