He went on to talk about the wonders of his increasingly regressive tax system that further pads the pockets of his supporters by informing us back home that the qualifying age for the senior's supplement would be soon raised to 67 from its decades old 65 years of age. Canada's tax structure used to be far more progressive but down through the decades both of our major parties have shifted from tax revenues based mostly on income and corporate taxes -progressive- to sales taxes-regressive.
But the real kicker, in this writer's opinion, was Harpo's declaration that he'll make it a "national priority" to create the capacity to export energy products to Asia - something the Northern Gateway pipeline would do. "We will soon take action to ensure that major energy and mining projects are not subject to unnecessary regulatory delays - that is, delay merely for the sake of delay," he said. Which translated into canuck means he's about to eliminate the environmental asessment of projects like the Northern Gateway Project.
Even if Harpo allows the commission now conducting hearings into the Enbridge pipeline to conclude in its present form he's already setting the stage to reject its fndings if they don't concur with his ideological agenda. As the First Nations are 99.9% opposed to the pipeline a rejection of the commission's findings-were they to end up reccommending against building the damn thing-would inevitably send the whole matter to Canada's Supreme Court. But even then, as Harpo has recently shown in The Canadian Wheat Board situation, the courts hold no sway in his mind because he and his ilk aren't bound by the laws of mere mortals, they get their direction from a 'higher' law who's voice whispers the 'real truth' in Harpo's ear. We used to call those who heard voices schizophrenic, now we call them Prime Minister here in canuckistan.
View from the Reichstag - German history offers a lesson for Canadian democracy.
