I don’t know one person who is happy with the gasoline prices.
There are people who are happy though. John Horgan and Justin Trudeau to start. Why? Taxes on fuel are percentage based rather than fixed. In plain terms, the higher the price, the greater the taxes, the greater the government revenues.
It’s no wonder that the BC NDP can afford 10-per-cent retroactive pay increases for ministers. The same gang who proposed a 1.75-per-cent pay increase to the BC General Employees’ Union this year.
It’s no wonder Justin Trudeau can afford to fly 127,147 kilometres aboard taxpayer-funded aircraft over the past 10 months including a recent trip to our little part of the world. That is the equivalent of three trips around the Earth. The same guy who touts energy efficiency and carbon reduction. The same guy whose 2019 Christmas vacation in Costa Rica cost Canadian taxpayers $196,137.
I used to fly a lot from Los Angeles to Las Vegas return on business. One fine June day, I had to get to the city of sin to meet with a couple of clients. After seating, I was joined by a middle-aged, well-dressed man, and on his right, another burly man who turned out to be his bodyguard.
Recognizing Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa right away, the first thing I said was, “Good morning, sir! I am really digging what you are doing. One question. You’re the mayor of one of the biggest cities on the planet, and you fly SouthWest?”
He said he was only going to Vegas and that it was for a lunch meeting, and that no elected official should waste all that money on private jets. After our brief flight we all shared a cab to the strip. Yeah. He took a cab.
If you are in government in Canada, it’s OK to live a life of luxury. Why not? It’s free money.
Mayor Villaraigosa was mayor from 2005 to 2013 and couldn’t run again due to term limits. Can we do the same here?
