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THE FORESTER, Wednesday, December 16, 2009 A7
The Huntsville Forester
VIEWPOINT
LETTERS OPINION
Help save Canadian jobs by Santa’s
challenging American policy
Mayors across the country are The city of North Bay has writ- payers, we go with the best price,
carbon footprint
By Andrew Paterson
being asked to take the buy Ameri- ten to mayors of U.S. cities where no matter where they’re located.
can battle directly to their U.S. we made large purchases and We really need you to contact For years, Santa deniers have used
counterparts, and we need you to reminded them their city would your mayor. Go to www.BuyAmer- the laws of physics to argue that the jolly
contact your mayor or councillor have had layoffs last summer if it icanStrategy.ca and you’ll see the
today. weren’t for our orders. whole campaign, including the let-
man cannot exist. They cite so-called
Simply put, U.S. cities are Naturally, we prefer to buy ter we need your mayor to write. facts that a reindeer traveling at 1,050
restricted from buying Canadian- Canadian goods, but sometimes Will you join us to help save km per hour would burst into flames
made goods for their stimulus pro- we simply don’t make the prod- Canadian jobs? and be vaporized in milliseconds,
grams, whereas Canada has no ucts here. And because we want to Mayor Victor Fedeli
restrictions. get the best value for our local tax- North Bay because of the heat generated from the
tremendous air resistance. Or that it — ANDREW PATERSON
would take more than 2 million reindeer
to pull the estimated 300,000 tons of toys,
HST will hit snowy areas harder
On July 1, 2010, Ontario will table) in order to save the HST ment for lift tickets prior to May 1,
plus the estimated 250 pounds of the man himself, which
they call a gross underestimate.
switch to the harmonized sales component on the un-ORST-taxed 2010 if you would like to save the
The issue came to a head recently in what Santa deniers
tax (HST). What this will mean is services. A new underground econ- HST for the 2010/2011 ski season. are calling “Santa-gate.” Hackers reportedly broke into the
that real people and communities omy is likely to develop, which will Communities in the snow belt North Pole’s secure e-mail server and released what they
in Ontario’s snow country will see hurt existing legitimate business and in Northern Ontario may be are calling “clear evidence that Santa does not exist.” In
out-of-pocket costs increase for operators who have already made disproportionately affected by
important services such as snow the capital expenditures and paid the switch to HST because snow three separate e-mails Santa was reported to have written
removal. Currently snow removal GST and ORST on snow plows, removal and home heating are “Santa,” “not,” and “real.” Santa responded by pointing
services are subject to the five per trucks and equipment. As a result, necessities in the harsh Canadian out that “Santa” is how he signs all of his e-mails and that
cent goods and services tax (GST) seasonal service businesses may winter. However, since Dwight
and not the eight per cent Ontario be negatively affected by the HST. Duncan is from the Southern-most
the words were taken out of context; deniers continue to
retail sales tax (ORST). After July The Ontario and federal govern- community in Windsor, Ontario, puzzle over how Santa could respond to the allegations if
1, 2010, the 13 per cent HST will ments will likely also be affected as he has not given adequate consid- he’s not real.
apply whether you purchase pay- the actions to save HST are likely eration of the needs of residents Personally, I’m willing to believe that magic trumps
as-it-snows or a winter flat rate to result in underground income who experience the effects of win-
deal. tax revenues (a.k.a. tax evasion). ter more acutely. The changes to logic on this one, or at least that’s what I’ll believe for a
Not only will the HST affect If you shovel your own drive- the ORST laws needed to switch to few more years, until my boys tell me otherwise. To be
people who need their driveways way and walkway (which is good the HST were pushed through the honest, I’m much more concerned about the troubling
plowed and those who live in more exercise), you will not have to pay Ontario Legislature and those Lib-
remote areas and need a roadway HST on the labour. However, you eral MPPs who live in remote areas
new numbers that are coming out of reputable think
plowed, it will affect municipalities will have to pay HST on the shovel, were forced to vote with the party tanks, like YouTube. Numerous experts have now
that have entered into contracts snow blower, salt, gravel and ice and not necessarily in the interests calculated Santa’s carbon footprint, and while there are
with third-party snow plow busi- pick. Most of these items are cur- of those who elected them. small differences depending on the assumptions made,
nesses to assist in keeping road- rently subject to both GST and You may calculate the potential
ways into and in town cleared. It ORST and, therefore, the cost will effects of HST on you and your the numbers are staggering.
is essential that roads are cleared not increase significantly for you family by taking all of the invoices Toy production alone will produce emissions equivalent
so that police and ambulances in winter 2010/2011. you receive and if GST only is being to more than 1,000 of the world’s largest toy factories.
can assist when needed and so If the temperatures drop, you charged, calculate the HST at 13 Making the assumption that all of the 2.2 billion children
that necessities can arrive at local will have to pay HST on home per cent (instead of GST at five
stores. Municipalities currently heating fuels to stay warm and to per cent). If you are paying ORST in the world receive an average of one toy, and allowing
pay GST and receive a 100 per cent make sure that your water pipes at eight per cent, make sure you for a naughtiness rate of about 10 per cent, about 5.5
refund; but, do not pay ORST on do not freeze. Currently, fuels are do not double-count. Municipali- million toys per day would have to be imagined, designed
snow removal services. After July subject to GST and depending on ties may also undertake this exer-
1, 2010, municipalities will pay 13 the type of fuel you use, it may be cise to determine how much more
and assembled. Six months of the year, these activities
per cent HST and will recover 100 subject to fuel tax or gasoline tax. money they will spend if next snow would take place in the dark and frigid arctic winter,
per cent of the 5 per cent GST If you currently pay fuel tax or gas- season is like this year. This exer- meaning very high emissions from heating and lighting
component and only 78 per cent oline tax, you will continue to pay cise will be important for munici- the workshop (which incidentally must be an enormous
of the eight per cent provincial those taxes along with the HST. As palities, especially if they use their
component. a result, the worse the winter tem- snow budget early and have to building, although it is suspiciously not visible on Google
With the record snow fall over peratures, the greater the HST and find additional revenues as next Earth).
the past few days in Huntsville and other taxes cost. year they will need to also find the And none of this has even considered the emissions
Bracebridge, it is worth mentioning Other snow-related cost HST component. The next realistic
that should the weight of the snow increases include ski lift tickets question is whether municipali-
from delivering the goods! Even if you believe the classic
cause a roof to fall, the labour and and ski/snowboarding lessons, ties will have to increase property reindeer sustainability argument, that reindeer energy
materials to repair a roof will be hockey ice time and hockey asso- taxes, business taxes and other consumption can be fuelled by children’s carrots alone,
subject to HST (currently labour ciation fees, and figure skating les- fees to have enough money to pay all of this fibre must produce a tremendous amount of
in respect of real property is not sons. These activities are currently for the unrecoverable HST next
subject to ORST, but the materials subject to GST, but not ORST. The year. This exercise will be critical
methane. Indeed, a recent publication in the journal
are subject to ORST). Please hire a ski rentals are currently subject for people and municipalities to Microbial Ecology (Sundset et al. 2009) reported finding
snow removal service provider to to GST and ORST and, therefore, communicate important informa- methanogenic bacteria in reindeer guts at higher
clear off your roof, but that will be the cost will not increase in win- tion to Ontario and Ottawa prior numbers than expected (I’m not joking). When one
subject to HST also. ter 2010/2011. The new transition to July 1, 2010.
Many law-abiding people will rules that were announced on Oct. Cyndee Todgham Cherniak
considers that burping cows produce 18 per cent of US
be asked to pay cash (under the 14, 2009 may permit a pre-pay- Toronto greenhouse gas emissions, gassy reindeer may well be
the skeleton in Santa’s closet. All in all, total emissions
from Santa’s operations are estimated to be on the order
Amateur theatre alive and well of 300 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, or 11
times current global emissions.
Why are we hearing nothing of this from the
The last few Saturday evenings was written and directed by John theatre and showcase what they
found us at the Algonquin The- Oliver Peel, who also had the star- are capable of doing. international climate talks in Copenhagen? If no country
atre, in each case a wee bit appre- ring role — a very busy man. He This is a wonderful opportunity owns the North Pole, then who is responsible for
hensive, as both productions were came across as a most impressive for them to gain confidence either measuring and reporting emissions? A lack of ownership
local amateur theatre. Scrooge. When our children were on stage or behind the scene. Set may be the reason why the numbers have fallen through
Scrooge, a week ago, and Foot- small, the record of Scrooge was a changes were amazingly well done,
loose this past Saturday, were both common accompaniment to din- as was the singing and acting. I the newly formed cracks in the high arctic. Clearly,
excellent productions. It proved ner during the Christmas season, hope we all appreciate how for- without a concerted effort to get the big jolly guy to take
once again how fortunate we are so this brought back memories. tunate we are to have dedicated, responsibility to reduce his enormous greenhouse gas
to live in a town that has so much The second show was Footloose. talented leaders willing to work emissions, steps taken by the rest of the world will be
artistic talent. It also reminded This was an entirely new show for with these young people, encour-
us that we usually get far more us, one we would not have con- aging them to put forth their very meaningless.
enjoyment from local theatre than sidered had it not been done by best effort. Thank you to everyone Andrew Paterson received his PhD in biology in 2000
we do from the big-name expen- our local high school. Again it was involved. Again, you made us real- and is now an adjunct professor at Queen’s University, and
sive acts that are brought in. The enjoyed immensely. There were a ize how thankful we are to have the Universities of Waterloo and Nipissing. His research
exception to that would be Robert tremendous number of youth in retired in Huntsville.
Pilon and Friends. both shows, a fantastic opportu- Ches and Betty Fulton examines the impacts of environmental stressors on the
The musical version of Scrooge nity for them to take part in live Huntsville water quality and ecology of inland lakes.
HEALTHCARE HEROES
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