Pattison closing pattison signs..

[smoky500]

rumor has it that at least some employees have been given a rather nice severance package

[fluffy]

Sounds like a good reason to cut taxes here

That was my first thought as well. But when you start to think about how to deal with the loss of that revenue stream the picture gets less clear. Cut services? Raise personal taxes? Both of those measures would impact lower income earners who are having a tough enough time as it is and that demographic is growing daily. The idea of higher taxes for profitable corporations and upper income earners places the burden on those most able to pay.

[common_sense_guy]

boo hoo. Probably anyone of you people that were in his same situation would do the exact same thing. Instead of whining about him moving why not look into why he's moving. Could it be over burden of government policies or maybe just too high of taxes.. only Jim knows for sure and unless you talk to him personally, slagging him without knowing the full story just makes you look like an idiot. If for example you own the business and it was losing money for some reason. Don't you think you would look into how you can make money with the business. My guess is it'll turn out to be government rules and regulations. And if that turns out to be the case, wouldn't blaming the government to be a little more along the lines of appropriate

[Jflem1983]

Sounds like a good reason to cut taxes here

That was my first thought as well. But when you start to think about how to deal with the loss of that revenue stream the picture gets less clear. Cut services? Raise personal taxes? Both of those measures would impact lower income earners who are having a tough enough time as it is and that demographic is growing daily. The idea of higher taxes for profitable corporations and upper income earners places the burden on those most able to pay.

Lol. Those are also the most able to pack up and do business elsewhere. As proven .

[Jhunter199]

So since the posts have been merged, no one that reads and contributes to the Penticton thread has connected this plant closure to the new US Corp tax structure??? Pattison Sign Group had three plants. Two in the US, and one in Canada. All of them under full capacity but with the past tax structure, US being higher, they all existed. Taxes are now lower in the US under TRump. What would any of you have done if you owned these three plants???
All I have read here is left wing whining about how shameful it is for this business to close. No one that I have seen here is actually seeing what is happening and that is Canada, with it's tax policy, is driving business and investment out of the Country.
And this is just a small local example of what will happen all across Canada to all businesses that are cross border involved and can shift production.
Bottom line, compete globally, or go home unemployed.

IMO your 100% correct on this. Bottom line a business or business segment is designed to run as cost-efficient as possible, it happens with ever big business when they decide to start a production facility, warehouse, office, etc. They do the exact same thing any of us do when purchasing a car, furniture, or appliances. They shop around and see who/where they are going to get the best deal.

[twobits]

[
That was my first thought as well. But when you start to think about how to deal with the loss of that revenue stream the picture gets less clear. Cut services? Raise personal taxes? Both of those measures would impact lower income earners who are having a tough enough time as it is and that demographic is growing daily. The idea of higher taxes for profitable corporations and upper income earners places the burden on those most able to pay.

That about sums it up fluff. But what you are missing here is that a lot of business is mobile and will move if it makes sense. Pattison Sign had three plant. One here, two USA. All under capacity. The only reason we had the one here was the CDN dollar and tax rates. Tax advantage is now gone. Why stay in a tax jurisdiction that penalizes a business making a profit and demanding they cover the cost of socialist programs when they can just move and the taxes you got from them are now gone? Should we not be happy with the 24% tax they would provide in order to compete, or the zero tax contribution for the social programs because they are now gone???
It's the classic mentality of stick it to the corps and businesses.......without the thought of the taxes and jobs they provide. It's a global economy now that is mobile and even willing to write off millions in plant investment because all of that is either a CCA tax deduction or straight up liquidation write off.
And change those tax deductions? There will be a huge failure in in all small and medium sized business that has those same deductions trying to survive with our taxation policy. Most people don't even recognize that our devalued dollar is the only thing keeping many who rely on export as a significant part of their business in business still. We are inefficent in Canada both in labour and manufacturing because of our devalued dollar that allows us to currently compete and labour costs compative to directly competing markets, Yet the socialist lefties want blood from them to pay for universal 10 buck daycare yada yada.......because the corps are making millions that could easily provide condo's for rasta haired tent dwellers in a park protest to eat edibles as their right in society.

[fluffy]

Why stay in a tax jurisdiction that penalizes a business making a profit and demanding they cover the cost of socialist programs when they can just move and the taxes you got from them are now gone? Should we not be happy with the 24% tax they would provide in order to compete, or the zero tax contribution for the social programs because they are now gone???

It's not just the lighter taxes, it's also cheaper labour and less regulatory restrictions. Yes, business is essentially about the bottom line, but carrying that logic to it's inevitable outcome means a shrinking middle class and a nation of low income earners, a scenario currently playing itself out in the US and already well entrenched in Canada. Even in the US, businesses are moving offshore for the same reasons and have been for decades, and the burden on those social programs grows greater by the day. If competing in a global economy means lowering our standard of living to match the lowest bidder, is it really something we want?

I tire of the "stupid lefties" mantra, let's not forget that right wing politics decends from aristocracy, that top few percent who feel the rest of us live to serve. Somewhere between right and left is fertile middle ground where we can look after ourselves and each other at the same time. In focusing only on the bottom line employee welfare is falling off the radar. Growing income disparity is seeing the chosen few at the top of the food chain with more than they need, while those below struggle in greater and greater measure. The lower classes, in their difficulty to make ends meet, turn to cheaper goods while the corporate sector turns to cheaper methods of production to meet that demand in a competitive fashion. I fear that we are feeding the wolf that threatens to devour us all.

[RandyDandy]

Don't forget Nestor's where broccoli is crap and the Sun Rype products (which he owns) are twice the price of Superstore.
Can we please now remove his name from Okanagan College Penticton?
More "middle class" Canadians on the dole. Thanks Jimmy, God loves ya.

[JagXKR]

Can we please now remove his name from Okanagan College Penticton?

If so would you give back the $2,5 Million he donated? Certainly didn't come from a left wing eco terrorist organization. It came from a right wing business man.
Forest for the trees vision, huh?

[Jhunter199]

Don't forget Nestor's where broccoli is crap and the Sun Rype products (which he owns) are twice the price of Superstore.
Can we please now remove his name from Okanagan College Penticton?
More "middle class" Canadians on the dole. Thanks Jimmy, God loves ya.

Give him back his 2 1/2 Million and you can put your name on it!

[RandyDandy]

Narcissism pure and simple. Christie could have gotten that money from ICBC in a snap.

[Jhunter199]

Might as well give him back the $75,000,000 he gave to St. Paul's and the $50,000,000 to the Sask children's hospital too.

[twobits]

Might as well give him back the $75,000,000 he gave to St. Paul's and the $50,000,000 to the Sask children's hospital too.

Don't argue with idiots, they will beat you with experience. Or Broccoli.

[Jhunter199]

Might as well give him back the $75,000,000 he gave to St. Paul's and the $50,000,000 to the Sask children's hospital too.

Don't argue with idiots, they will beat you with experience. Or Broccoli.

Thanks for the advice

[twobits]

It's not just the lighter taxes, it's also cheaper labour and less regulatory restrictions. Yes, business is essentially about the bottom line, but carrying that logic to it's inevitable outcome means a shrinking middle class and a nation of low income earners

And to that I will have to reply that in a Country like Canada, unless you are truly disadvantaged by physical or mental disability, there is no reason to be a low income earner. The opportunities are clearly there for anyone and everyone to succeed. A world class education system, paid training through EI and social services should there be an unforeseen life event.
I am sorry but the only people in this country that should earn lower wages are the ones that don't put an effort into getting a higher wage. As far as I am concerned, the only reason we have full time jobs at fast food and starbucks beyond entry level and students is because there is a gdam labour pool provided by people that don't bother to improve themselves. I'd be happy if every burger joint or starbucks closed down because our labour force was motivated to take advantage of the opportunities available to them and didn't supply them with a cheap labour pool to exploit.
Instead we have socialist gov'ts propping up people with "living wages" that couldn't be bothered to take advantage of the skills training that is so obviously available and so obviously needed.
Instead, we prop up the lazy and unmotivated with artificial labour rates.

Edit to add- And stop this nonsense of foreign worker importation to make fast food or pour timmies coffee. If they can't pay a wage to to flip burgers or pour coffee that people are willing to pay the true cost of, they should not be in business. So sorry for those of you that like garbage food and don't know how to operate a Keurig. These businesses have redefined the notion of moving manufacturing offshore because of cheaper labour. Instead, they just import the cheap labour to depress what would be a market driven wage locally.