Hit richer seniors harder! No OAS!

[Captain Awesome]

Oh wait – that was because of lazy union workers. Oh yeah, got it now.

It's ironic how you repeatedly keep asking for conversation to be unbiased and non-ideological yet you're the one who brings up unions.

[The Green Barbarian]

The Conservative government has increased the size of government by almost 25% since taking office. Surely there is some room for cutting.

since 2004 or since 2011? Do you have some back-up for this comment?

[grammafreddy]

Every time any talk of any type of government spenging or taxation comes out you refer to your default of "fluff spending". It doesn't matter what we're talking about. I bet you still haven't recognized this yet (it really is quite tiring).

I absolutely know I beat the fluff stuff concept as often as I can. I'll not be apologizing for tiring you with it. Unless we are happy with massive personal taxation, something's gotta give. Of course, we could end up like the US, Greece and a whole lotta other places in serious trouble right now. Too much fluff funded by governments is unsustainable. We are already in jeopardy and indebting our grandchildren because of our excesses. Every child born in Canada today owes $16,890 when they take their first breath. Doesn't sit well with me.

In the US, the interest in their national debt is $4 billion a week. By 2015, it will be $10 billion a week. That's just interest. They will never get it paid off. Is that where we aim to be?

[Glacier]

since 2004 or since 2011? Do you have some back-up for this comment?

Heard it on the radio, but looking online, it seems that it was the cost of government has increased by 22%, which is twice inflation.

The actual size of government has grown by 9%. Some departments have grown by more than that such as:

• Human Resources and Skills Development Canada increased its FTEs by more than 8,000, a growth of 47 per cent;
• Canada Border Service Agency took on nearly 2,662 FTEs (22-per-cent growth);
• Indian Affairs got 1,280 (32-per-cent growth) (not bad for a bunch of racists - LOL );
• Citizenship and Immigration added 969 (28-per-cent growth).

http://www.hilltimes.com/news/2011/11/2 ... 0%99/28941

http://www.ipolitics.ca/2011/02/07/desp ... enditures/

[Homeownertoo]

good stats. And some people thing all we need to do is start taxing rich people.

[steven lloyd]

I absolutely know I beat the fluff stuff concept as often as I can. I'll not be apologizing for tiring you with it. Unless we are happy with massive personal taxation, something's gotta give.

Every time any talk of any type of government spenging or taxation comes out you refer to your default of "fluff spending". It doesn't matter what we're talking about. I bet you still haven't recognized this yet (it really is quite tiring). Can I think of "fluffy" stuff that can be discontinued? Well, on threads devoted to that topic I've provided my own ideas and objectively considered others - some [even of yours] quite good. None of that was relevant to this thread though so I tried to stay closer to topic.

[Static]

Heard it on the radio, but looking online, it seems that it was the cost of government has increased by 22%, which is twice inflation.

The actual size of government has grown by 9%. Some departments have grown by more than that such as:

• Human Resources and Skills Development Canada increased its FTEs by more than 8,000, a growth of 47 per cent;
• Canada Border Service Agency took on nearly 2,662 FTEs (22-per-cent growth);
• Indian Affairs got 1,280 (32-per-cent growth) (not bad for a bunch of racists - LOL );
• Citizenship and Immigration added 969 (28-per-cent growth).

http://www.hilltimes.com/news/2011/11/2 ... 0%99/28941

http://www.ipolitics.ca/2011/02/07/desp ... enditures/

Given the economy, I am not sure if the jobs are that bad.

[grammafreddy]

Given the economy, I am not sure if the jobs are that bad.

8,000 + 2,662 + 1,280 + 969 = 12,911 new jobs + benefits + pensions

Holy crap.

That's a lot of money taken from the taxpayers' pockets. Given the economy and all ...

How nice of us to pay for them. Hope they ditched some upper bureaucracy when they did all this front-line hiring (but I bet they didn't). Wanna bet a bunch of these new jobs are the upper pay scale bureaucrats?

[Static]

8,000 + 2,662 + 1,280 + 969 = 12,911 new jobs + benefits + pensions

Holy crap.

That's a lot of money taken from the taxpayers' pockets. Given the economy and all ...

How nice of us to pay for them. Hope they ditched some upper bureaucracy when they did all this front-line hiring (but I bet they didn't). Wanna bet a bunch of these new jobs are the upper pay scale bureaucrats?

I see your point. There is worse places they could spend our money. CRA comes to mind.