Stephen Jarislowsky : à titre de contribuable, je suis furieux

[acpnc]

Permettez-moi de faire une petite correction puisque j'ai eu plusieurs commentaires en réaction à ma première intervention. J'ai moi aussi beaucoup de respect pour le personnage qui est un homme cultivé et fort compétent en question affaires. Cependant j'ai réagit à ces déclarations qui m'apparaissaient injustes et exagérées en noircissant une situation qui est loin d'être dramatique. Il est vrai que nous sommes très taxés mais tous ne participent pas équitablement au fardeau, d'autant plus que l'on sait que plusieurs riches mettent d'importantes sommes dans des paradis fiscaux, notamment.

 

Quant aux syndicats, ils sont une balise importante pour protéger les acquis durement gagnés par les travailleurs et ont prouvé qu'ils peuvent devenir d'excellents partenaires d'affaires quand ils sont mis dans le coup. Pour ce qui est de créer de la richesse, je suis parfaitement en accord avec le principe, mais regarder les redevances de l'État face à l'exploitation des richesses naturelles? Des miettes...

 

Je reviendrai sur le sujet, je suis actuellement en voyage en Europe et manque malheureusement de temps pour élaborer davantage pour le moment.

[Habsfan]

J'ai assisté à la conférence de M Stephen Leopold. Il est le Président du Conseil de la boîte de Courtage Avison Young.

 

M leopold est un Montréalais qui à quitté Montréal en 1993. Il est allé à NYC et à fait part de plusieurs gros projets immobiliers là bas.

 

Il est de retour à Montréal et la première chose qu,il a dit lors de sa conférence est que le skyline de Montréal n'a prèsque pas changé depuis son départ il y a plus de 17 années de cela! Il disait que la communautée d'affaire à Montréal s'est résignée a accepter cette morosité comme étant la norme. Un commentaire assez direct, mais qui est un peu vrai!

 

Son discours était très intéressant, et il y avait plusieurs choses qu'il a dit qui ressemblait à ce que M Jarislowski à dit la semaine dernière!

[Habsfan]

Maybe in Quebec, we could see checks like that if we let companies explore for shale gas. That would be AWESOME!

 

I would rather see our gov't put that money into a fund to reduce our debt. Or simply keep a good portion of it for a "rainy day fund"!

[Cyrus]

I would rather see our gov't put that money into a fund to reduce our debt. Or simply keep a good portion of it for a "rainy day fund"!

 

There's the thing, Alaska actually paid off all their debt and then paid the rainy day fund and there is still all this cash lying around

 

Reminds me of the old "Ralphbucks"... first paid off all the debt, then... went and mailed everyone in the province $400

[Habsfan]

There's the thing, Alaska actually paid off all their debt and then paid the rainy day fund and there is still all this cash lying around

 

Reminds me of the old "Ralphbucks"... first paid off all the debt, then... went and mailed everyone in the province $400

 

There's no doubt that it would be great to have that kind of money in this province. However, instead of just giving away money to the residents, I think there are numerous other things(that are more useful) we could do with it!

 

We could finally pay our doctors and nurses the same kind of salaries other docs and nurses make in the ROC.

 

We could finally start construction of the MUHC and the CHUM.

 

We could make sure our roads don't resemble those you would find in a 3rd world country!

 

We could repair the Montreal aqueduc system (which loses 40% of its water before is ever reaches its destination)

 

etc.etc.etc.

[Cyrus]

Oh yeah absolutely. And right off the bat it is pretty dumb to be charging people taxes and then paying them cash... though Alaska has the lowest taxes in the USA, with NH being #2 and Texas #3.

 

Even Alberta would have been better off to keep the Ralphbucks and spend a bit more working on the ring roads / hospitals / schools instead, or twin Hwy 63 (road to Fort McMurray), etc etc. Especially with the huge "fake deficit" for this fiscal year it seems poorly planned.

 

For Quebec the infrastructure deficit is even worse... but the potential for major resource bounty is also pretty low. Shale gas is by nature extremely expensive to extract, new technology has lowered the cost, but at the same time the massive resources opened up by it have caused a crash in natural gas prices. Quebec domestically consumes little natural gas and is well supplied with infrastructure anyway. But gas stoves are cool, who would not want one in their house

 

Even the re-opening lithium mine is barely economical from the cost of labour vs. existing operations in poor countries with low labour costs. It's a great thing for the people of Quebec who get good jobs working there but not so much for provincial royalties that will probably be pretty low.

 

Then again at least we avoid that "resource curse" like those idiots in Nauru