Monday, March 30, 2015

HOW ALBERTA BLEW THROUGH AN EXTRA $41 BILLION

HOW ALBERTA BLEW THROUGH AN EXTRA $41 BILLION
Governments, like families, have choices. And governments, as with families, sometimes make picks that close off other options. Spend a lot of money on having dinner out every night and that might foreclose the purchase of a nicer automobile.

Now think about the Alberta government, its spending preferences and this question: if Albertans had $41 billion to spend via the provincial government, how would you allocate it?
I pose the question because in a retrospective look at provincial spending, that's the extra money that would have been available had the province increased program spending in a more controlled manner since the mid-2000s.
Here's the history: Back in 1993/94, the Alberta government spent $8,978 per person (and I emphasize, on programs, not capital, which I will address shortly). That was just before the Ralph Klein government began to cut government spending sharply in the mid-1990s.
Three years later (in 1996/97), per person program spending hit a low of $6,828. The province then steadily increased spending so that by 2004/05, it was spending $8,965 annually per Albertan on programs. (These numbers and all the following ones are adjusted for inflation to allow for apple to apple comparisons.)
So by the mid-point of the last decade, the Alberta government spent as much every year on programs per person as it did before budget cuts in the mid-1990s. Such program spending continued to soar and hit $10,747 per person by 2008/09, about where it has been ever since (down modestly to $10,672 by 2012/13).
About this point, someone will say: "Yes, but Alberta has all these new people. We need schools, hospitals, improved roads. That explains the higher spending."
Except the above numbers are about just program spending (education, health care along with other programs and their associated staffing costs and pensions), not capital spending. And the numbers account for increases in population.
Now imagine this scenario: Imagine the province kept already high per person program spending where it was in 2004/05, but ever since, increased it every year only enough to cover inflation and population growth. Between 2005/06 and 2012/13 inclusive, the province would have then spent $41 billion less than it actually did on programs, about $259 billion in total rather than the $300-billion it spent.
Assuming no change in either the annual surplus or deficit in that period, what else could have been done with that $41 billion? In other words, what were the foregone opportunities for the $41 billion?
One option was to spend more on capital projects (i.e. schools, hospitals, roads) in part to help the movement of goods and services and to increase the province's capacity to provide high quality education and health care. Between 2005/06 and 2012/13, the province spent $50 billion on capital projects. So imagine if some of the extra $41 billion in program spending was instead spent on new or improved infrastructure in Alberta.
Another foregone option was tax relief. Between 2004/05 and 2012/13, the province collected $67.5 billion in personal income taxes from Albertans. That means 61 per cent ($41 billion) of all the personal income tax collected during that period went to program spending that exceeded inflation and population growth. That was another missed opportunity.
Or consider this possibility, often a popular option when Albertans look at the much larger resource funds in Alaska or Norway: extra deposits into the Alberta Heritage Savings and Trust Fund, the rainy day fund for future generations of Albertans. Between 2005/06 and 2012/13, the province deposited a mere $4.5 billion (or roughly one-ninth of the extra $41 billion spent on programs) into the Heritage Fund.
Had the government concentrated just on bumping up the Heritage Fund balance and not the other options just noted--another $41 billion could have been plunked down into the Heritage Fund.
Regrettably, none of the above options (or combination thereof) were available. Instead, the money all went to program spending including some rather generous wage and pension agreements in the government sector. So, since the mid-point of the last decade, the result was at least three foregone options for $41 billion: capital spending, or tax relief, or Heritage Fund deposits, or some combination of the three. Call them the three lost opportunities. Written by Mark Milke
Senior Fellow The Fraser Institute.
A HISTORY OF IMO OF BAD HERITAGE FUND DECISIONS. See: http://www.finance.alberta.ca/business/ahstf/history.html

DO YOU THINK THE PC GOVERNMENT WILL EVER IMPROVE ALBERTA HOSPITALS?

DO YOU THINK THE PC GOVERNMENT WILL EVER IMPROVE ALBERTA HOSPITALS?
Richard’s TV Interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0digRDxu1Zg&feature=youtu.be
The Elderly are kept in hospitals because there are no proper facilities for them to live in?
People with mental-health issues are kept in hospitals because once they closed the big institutions down. They were released into the general public; where they either ended up on the streets, in prisons, or in our overcrowded hospitals! When at the time of these institution closures, community outreach centers were to be built to assist but never were built?
That our homeless actually live in our hospitals, because they come in to the ER for a medical issue, they cannot be released back onto the streets as they are homeless…
I REMEMBER WHEN, the General Hospital was blown up to the glee of Ralph Klein and group, The Holy Cross was shut down and the Grace Hospital closed, only to be replaced by 2 hospitals years later and 1 replaced Federal Veteran facility and all Staff laid off and this is just Calgary. But NO Community Mental Health Facilities, NO Homes for the aged, NO Housing for the Homeless, NO job vacancies for the highly trained laid off Staff?
IS THIS ALBERTA OR NIGERIA? WHEN THE OIL IS HIGH RALPH WAS A SAINT. IMO HE WAS NOT EVER CALGARY'S BEST MAYOR, AS NENSHI WAS VOTED RECENTLY AS THE BEST CITY MAYOR IN THE WORLD!
THE PC's HAD SINCE LOUGHEED TO FIX OUR OIL ADDICTED ECONOMY BUT NO, AS NOTHING HAS CHANGED SINCE ST. PETER FOR THE LAST 40 YEARS, EXCEPT FOR THE WORSE...AND HERE WE ARE AGAIN?
Sincerely,
Sir Richard...
http://bayo-hunter.blogspot.ca/

Sunday, March 29, 2015

Everyone In This Country Now A Millionaire Thanks To Oil

F.Y.I. Norway's Oil Fund Heads For $1 Trillion; 
So Where Is Alberta's Pot Of Gold Heritage Fund from 
44 years ago?

Everyone In This Country Now A Millionaire 
Thanks To Oil
Every man, woman and child in oil rich Norway became a theoretical millionaire this week. The country’s oil fund which collects taxes from oil profits and invests the money, mostly in stocks...

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/01/11/oil-fund-norway-millionaires_n_4576887.html

FOR MORE INFO SEE:

OR ALSO VIEW:

This F.Y.I. is from,
Sir Richard...

Friday, March 27, 2015

PAST - PRESENT - FUTURE...

PAST:
When Joyce my work friend became but more than just a friend, I was astounded, thrilled and for her and I we had a Constant Craving  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABYJo53mHHQ 
which we shared with each other, as Friends, Lovers and the Amazing Team that we became. This is why it is so hard to move away from my past with her, as I just cannot withdraw from my Constant Craving for Joyce…
PRESENT:
Stuck in a limbo of the present, not a moment goes by that I do not think of Joyce even though now she is but Gone, Gone, Gone;  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GV2yMnzWkkc 
I slip back into the past as this is what I know best, what I love most, my comfort zone but as ashes to ashes only GOD can now put Joyce back together; now that Joyce is Gone, Gone, Gone.
FUTURE:
Can one tell me what the weather would be like on the next first day of fall? I am starting now to work hard as I see myself making even a baby step movement forward; as I believe that Joyce would want this Miracle  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNy4UNY5KW8 
for me, which we all call life. For me to carry on but it is so hard to travel this far out of my comfort zone but for Joyce/Myself try I must; Even as I know, to trust and let it go, I still fight it, fight it, and now I am alone, a feeling in my bones, I have no defense against this Love. As Joyce was my gift from GOD, she was my Miracle…
PAST.
PRESENT.
FUTURE.

by Sir Richard http://bayo-hunter.blogspot.ca/

 
by Sir Richard...

Monday, March 23, 2015

THE END IN ALL:


THE END IN ALL:  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQoZsXaEZ4M
For Lonely is, as Lonely does. No one could help me during my life’s crises point but Joyce and no one could help Joyce during hers, except for me. This Dance arrangement brought to us by GOD!
 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2WcWLavw5U
It's strange, what fear & desire will make 2 people do.
I only dreamt I'd have U & I never in my wildest nightmare, dreamt that I'd lose U.
Moments reality, is that I just cannot go on without U Joyce.
"So I know not of how long my life will be as only GOD will decide when He will call me home." Then I will see U once again and feel the Love we enjoyed for each other but magnified 2,000 fold…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAAeK5jNLzU
Along with all my other pain, the sense of being totally alone presses in on me. As I am facing life alone now, and I feel more acutely than ever the loss of the deep and intimate connection that I shared with Joyce.
For there is a tremendous difference between being alone and being lonely. As I have lost other relationships, in the past when you're alone, you simply have no other people around, but you feel no particular loss. You are lonely when other people may be around, but you feel that there is no one around to connect with you at a personal level.
Being completely honest about my current loneliness, I usually sit by myself feeling as if I am completely helpless. It is really hard to pick up the phone, knowing that on the other end people may just say that U should get over it, move on but then U stay this way for days and weeks and months and U feel the decades, as if no one cares.
Though I may feel friendless and forsaken, GOD is always with me. For He will be my only refuge, as He gives me the strength to carry on!
"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble" (Psalm 46:1).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIHcqNeXoDo
Posted in memory of Lady Joyce by Sir Richard…

 P.S. IF YOUR A CANADIAN:
 P.S.S. FOR THOSE WHO DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE UNKNOWN:

Sunday, March 22, 2015

Calgary General Hospital -Then Booom!

CALGARY GENERAL HOSPITAL DEMOLITION MOURNED ON ANNIVERSARY
By The Calgary Herald October 5, 2008
Calgary's General Hospital -- remains a divisive issue even 10 years to the day after the building was reduced to rubble.
In front of the memorial wall commemorating the hospital that served the city from 1910 to 1998, about 20 people gathered Saturday to mourn the loss and voice their anger at the impact the decision has had.
"This is the '9/11' of health care," Calgarian Rebecca Aizenman said. "We haven't recovered from it. The meltdown is still felt today."
But proponents of the closure maintain it was a necessary move. The decision came amidst the Klein government's efforts to stem soaring health care costs in the 1990s.
Ex-premier Ralph Klein's former chief of staff Rod Love said the facility was "old, dysfunctional and badly organized" and had to be closed if health care was going to be modernized.
"We had a financial crunch in the mid-90s and we had to reorganize the health care system," he said Saturday. "Bad, old facilities had to go."
Closing Calgary General and Holy Cross hospitals was expected to save up to $50 million in operating costs per year. At the same time the decision was made to close the General, the province promised a hospital in the southeast.
But the decision left Calgary without an emergency department downtown and destroyed a "state of the art" facility that would today be very much in demand, critics charge.
The hospital had more than 900 beds, along with a trauma centre, helipad and a psychiatric unit, Friends of Medicare members said Saturday.
Former alderman John Schmal, who was the last vice-chair on the General Hospital's board, criticized city council and others for not fighting hard enough to keep the hospital.
"We all know what happened here was the very worst blunder ever made by a health care board," he told those gathered Saturday.
The bed closures has contributed to today's overcrowding and long wait times, added Aizenman.
"We lost a great deal. Nurses left, doctors left," she added.
Amongst the group were former nurses and those whose families had marked milestones at the hospital.
Ted Woynillowicz of Friends of Medicare said the ceremony was not just to remember the hospital, but also to honour all those who worked there over the decades.
"It was a community of buildings run by a community of people all in the service of welcoming the births of babies, nursing the ill to health, caring for the frail and elderly and comforting the dying," Woynillowicz said.
On Oct. 4, 1998, crowds gathered to watch the implosion of the Calgary General Hospital. Some cheered as the hospital fell, but for others it was the sad end of an era. by grichards@theherald.canwest.com 


Current Housing Prices: http://www.jimsparrow.com/bridgeland.php 

When Bridgeland Housing Was Affordable now as U see in the above link that they are at $1,000,000 +. In my opinion, this was due to Location - Location - Location and someone in the government back then, got rich...

IMO Amid all the closures and rationalizations, the Calgary General was unique in two respects. It is the biggest North American hospital ever to shut down and have its functions, equipment, staff and patients as much as possible integrated into existing hospitals, and highly trained staff laid off as its closure left Calgary as the only large city in Canada without a downtown emergency department.

P.S. They also just spent before the demo; $4,000,000 to renovate the front entrance of the General Hospital for better ambulance access. Then Booom!
Posted F.Y.I. by Sir Richard...

Saturday, March 21, 2015

F.Y.I. BILL C-51


F.Y.I. BILL C-51

Second Session, Forty-first Parliament,
62-63 Elizabeth II, 2013-2014-2015
HOUSE OF COMMONS OF CANADA
 
An Act to enact the Security of Canada Information Sharing Act and the Secure Air Travel Act, to amend the Criminal Code, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service Act and the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and to make related and consequential amendments to other Acts.

IMO What I am concerned about BILL C-51(Sir Richard):

1. Bill C-51 is Reckless: It turns CSIS into a ‘secret police’ force with little oversight or accountability.

2. Bill C-51 is Dangerous: It opens the door for violations of our Charter Rights including censorship of free expression online.

3. Bill C-51 is Ineffective: It will lead to dragnet surveillance and information sharing on innocent Canadians that even Stephen Harper has admitted is ineffective.
 
If the Bill C-51 passes, no less than 17 government agencies and even foreign governments will also have access to your sensitive private information.
We're talking about sensitive information that can reveal everything from your financial status, to your medical history, your sexual orientation, and even your religious and political beliefs.

Why I Am Fighting Bill C-51

By Elizabeth May
Posted: Updated:
The reaction to Bill C-51 has been widespread and the opposition is growing. While its short title is the "Anti-Terrorism Act," it is both more and less than that.
It is less than "anti-terrorism" because it is likely to make us less safe. The act gives new powers to CSIS to act in Canada and overseas to "reduce threats," with virtually no limits. CSIS is specifically not allowed to cause death or bodily harm or "violate the sexual integrity" of anyone. The range of potential activities -- from break and enter, search and seizure, infiltration, monkey-wrenching, include powers to offer witnesses immunity from prosecution or from ever having to testify.
There is no requirement that CSIS tell the RCMP what it is up to, and it is the RCMP that has been successfully countering plots and arresting suspects. Just imagine when the RCMP finds key witnesses have a "get out of jail free" card from CSIS. That and other sections run a high degree of probability of gumming up the works. Security experts, especially those with experience in the Air India inquiry, remind us that it is critical that security agencies not develop silos. C-51 takes a system that is currently working quite well and threatens to turn it into a three ring circus, without benefit of a ring-master.
It is also less than Canadians would expect, as there is nothing in C-51 to work against radicalization. No outreach efforts, nothing for the prison system or the schools as the U.K. government established in its new law passed in December 2014.
It is more than anti-terrorism, as the range of activities covered by a new and sweeping definition of "threats to the security of Canada" in the information sharing section of the bill covers far more than terrorism. It could plausibly cover just about anything, and certainly would cover those opposing pipelines and tankers.
It is actually five bills rolled into one. Each part contains provisions I can only describe as dangerous. For example, part 5, amendments to the Immigration and Refugee Act, appear to allow the use of evidence obtained by torture. Part 3, ostensibly about getting terrorist propaganda off the Internet, uses a set of new concepts that would criminalize private conversations -- and not just about terrorism. The propaganda section does not require knowing you are spreading propaganda, and "terrorist propaganda" itself has a definition so broad as to include a visual representation (a Che Guevera poster?) promoting a new concept called "terrorism in general." Experts are now referring to this as "thought chill."
As the first MP to oppose C-51, I now have a lot of company: four former prime ministers, six former Supreme Court justices, over 100 legal experts, Conrad Black, Rex Murphy, Tom Mulcair and the NDP, the editorial positions of the Globe and Mail, National Post and Toronto Star. The Assembly of First Nations has called for it to be withdrawn. I hope you agree as well.

Here are 5 things you need to also know about Bill C-51, that I am currently in agreement with (Sir Richard):

1. The Power To Disrupt:
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service will get new powers to actively disrupt terrorism plots, instead of just collecting information about them. CSIS would need "reasonable grounds to believe'' there was a security threat before taking measures to disrupt it and would need a court warrant whenever proposed disruption measures violate the Charter of Rights or otherwise breach Canadian law.

2. Targeting Terrorist Propaganda:
The spy agency will also be allowed to wage cyberwar, by disrupting radical websites and Twitter accounts aimed at impressionable young Canadians. The RCMP would be allowed seek a judge's order to remove terrorist propaganda from the Internet.

3. From 'Will Commit' To 'May Commit':
The new law will make it easier for the RCMP to obtain a peace bond, a legal tool that could order suspects to surrender passports or report to police regularly. In the past, the Mounties had to hold a reasonable belief that someone "will commit" a terrorism offence before they could get such a bond. Now, the threshold will be a fear that someone "may commit'' an offence.

4. Stay Grounded:
The legislation would expand the no-fly regime to cover those who seek to travel by air to take part in terrorist activities, allowing authorities to keep would-be extremists off planes. Under current law, that can only be done to counter an immediate risk to the aircraft.

5.  Though, We All Should Be Careful For What We Wish:
The legislation would make it a criminal offence to encourage someone to carry out a terrorist attack. It also would allow police to arrest someone without a warrant and hold them for up to seven days before a hearing. That's up from the three-day maximum under current law.

Originally published in Saanich News.
AND ALSO ON THE HUFFPOST.

This F.Y.I. is posted by Sir Richard…