One Good Cut Deserves Another

In the Grope & Fail today,  federal minister of sport is trying to push for corporations and individuals to fill in an 11 million dollar hole to fund Owe the Podium. It appears that Ottawa intends to stop funding this program as of after the Vancouver olympic games. Cutting that program is something most of us can live with; just a bunch of of over paid athletes who don’t live in the real world. Yes, I have always felt the same way about professional athletes in general. I never liked the idea of my tax dollars going to spoiled brats who just want to slide down a hill 24/7 and perhaps even risk life and limb in order to get endorsements from running shoe companies and cereal makers; or figure skaters who either never have a shot or will always win depending on the biases of corrupt figure skating judges.

That said, I can’t help but wonder what else is in that upcoming budget that will be tweeted come March 4? In that same issue of the Grope & Fail, Lunn has not really revealed any particulars but had this cryptic message for readers:

“You shouldn’t just always reach to government and say ‘Oh, it’s your problem.’”

It had been said that there would be no real surprises to this budget. No new taxes; not even a 1% hike to GST it would seem; no spending, naturally and of course, they’re not going to cancel that corporate tax break that Jack Layton had pushing for. That really is something that needs to happen.

I had also mentioned previously that the loopholes the uber rich use to escape paying taxes must be plugged.  Whatever happened to the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few; in this case, the minority uber rich?

Whatever money that will be saved from axing programs like ‘owe the podium’ and other Olympic athletes’ funding will not go where it should unfortunately. It may not even go to paying down our 56 billion dollar deficit for that matter. It’ s going to be used to keep their friends on side or bribe a swing riding to vote for them in the next election much like what he did in the November by-election in the riding of Montmagny–L’Islet–Kamouraska–Rivière-du-Loup.

Yes, that money can certainly be used to improve health care, helping the poor, job creation. It can also be used for Green technologies that would actually help the economy in such newfangled ways like green jobs!!  Sadly, we know that won’t happen under the Harpercons. We read from Ex-Lax Max earlier today and how he and his masters feel about Climate change and we know how they feel about Canada’s majority working class; they tell us to fuck off on a daily basis.  I would like to see any party from the opposition propose such progressive programs though and to start taking notice of the majority working class and less pandering to corporations and the uber rich.

I only wish now that they cut off their contribution to Montreal’s F-1 events. However, since Bernie Ecclestone is such a fan of totalitarian regimes and a misogynist and that Stevie is pretty lonely these days without Georgie, that isn’t likely to happen neither.

I do have to say though, that one cut deserves another:  To accommodate the Olympics, programs to help the poor and Vancouver’s most vulnerable and disenfranchised got cut, only for the Olympic programs to get cut.