Please find below our suggestion for fixing the CANADIAN economy.

Instead of giving billions of dollars to banks that will squander
the money on lavish parties and unearned bonuses, use the following
plan.

You can call it the Patriotic Retirement Plan:

There are about Ten million people over 50 in the work force.

Pay them $ 2 million each severance for early retirement with the
following stipulations:

1) They MUST retire.
Ten million job openings – unemployment fixed

2) They MUST buy a new Canadian car?
Ten million cars ordered – Car Industry fixed

3) They MUST either buy a house or pay off their mortgage -
Housing Crisis fixed

4) They MUST send their kids to school/college/university -
Crime rate fixed

5) They MUST buy $100 WORTH of alcohol/tobacco a week …..
And there’s your money back in duty/tax etc

It can’t get any easier than that!

*
Also:*
Let’s put the pensioners in jail and the criminals in a nursing home.

This way the pensioners would have access to showers, hobbies and walks.

They’d receive unlimited free prescriptions, dental and medical
treatment, wheel chairs etc and they’d receive money instead of
paying it out.

They would have constant video monitoring, so they could be helped
instantly, if they fell, or needed assistance.

Bedding would be washed twice a week, and all clothing would be
ironed and returned to them.

A guard would check on them every 20 minutes and bring their meals
and snacks to their cell..

They would have family visits in a suite built for that purpose.

They would have access to a library, weight room, spiritual
counselling, pool and education.

Simple clothing, shoes, slippers, PJ’s and legal aid would be free,
on request.

Private, secure rooms for all, with an exercise outdoor yard, with
gardens.

Each senior could have a PC a TV radio and daily phone calls.

There would be a board of directors to hear complaints, and the
guards would have a code of conduct that would be strictly adhered to.

The criminals would get cold food, be left all alone and
unsupervised. Lights off at 8pm, and showers once a week.  Live in a
tiny room and pay $400.00 per week and have no hope of ever getting out.

Think about this (more points of contention):
*
COWS:*
Is it just me, or does anyone else find it amazing that during the
mad cow epidemic our government could track a single cow, born in
Goondiwindi almost three years ago, right to the paddock where she
slept in the feedlot at Bony Mountain?

And, they even tracked her calves to their stalls. But they are
unable to locate 125,000 illegal immigrants wandering around our
country. Maybe we should give each of them a cow.
*
Also:*
Think about this ….. If you don’t want to forward this for fear of
offending someone — YOU ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM! It is time for us
grumpy old folk of CANADA to speak up!

Can't make it down in person?  Tune in at 7:30 p.m. to Shaw TV  (Shaw TV will also rebroadcast the debate on Sept. 17 at 6 p.m., Sept. 22 at 6:30 p.m. or Sept. 26 at 8 p.m.)

And while you are listening take a moment to SEND A LETTER to your politicians calling on them to remove education tax from the property tax bill.

Rally - This Thursday 7 p.m.
You don't have to be a cottage owner to know that taxing cottage property for education - and then not allowing the cottage owner to vote for the school trustee who sets the taxes - is unfair.

This Thursday, join the members of the Manitoba Association of Cottage Owners
(MACO) at the Manitoba Legislative Building to show your support for fairer taxation to support education. Bring your letspayfair sign. Dave Crabb, President of MACO is one of several speakers at the rally. See you there on Thursday Sept. 15 at 7 p.m. in front of the Manitoba Legislative Building at 450 Broadway. Can't attend?
SEND A LETTER to your politicians today or forward this newsletter to a friend.

Leaders Debate in Brandon
The leaders of the major parties were all quizzed this week on what they would do to get education taxes off of property taxes, while at a leaders forum in Brandon hosted by the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce.  The forum was broadcast live by CJOB and this two-minute audio clip includes just their response to the questions on education taxes. Chair of the Education Financing Coalition Lorne Weiss says, "It is becoming abundantly clear that the parties are prepared to commit to funding 80 per cent of the operating costs of K-12 education in Manitoba however they have yet to explain clearly what they would include in the "80 per cent". Currently the Frame Report, which monitors all education funding, shows that only 65 per cent of education is covered by the Province's general revenues, even though the NDP says the government is paying 77 per cent of the operations of schools. The Education Financing Coalition believes a commitment to a true 80/20 formula is a step in the right direction and could result in a 40 per cent reduction in school taxes or more for the average property owner."

The CJOB broadcast in this audio clip is protected by copyright and made available to letspayfair.com with the permission of Corus Radio. Copyright © 2006-2010 CJOB

Business on board with letspayfair
Business leaders have stepped up the pressure on the candidates in the provincial election and launched Manitoba BOLD - a list of ambitious targets for business growth that they want the political parties to adopt. One of the recommendations is that the education portion of property taxes move to an 80/20 funding model over the next four years with the long-term goal of removing education tax from property entirely. Dave Angus, President and CEO of the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce talked with reporters at the unveiling of the business initiative.

Farm families shoulder a lot
Many people may not realize this, but Manitoba farm families shoulder an inequitable share of the cost of education through property taxes on residences, farmland and production buildings. As a member of the Manitoba Education Financing Coalition, Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP) along with 39 other organizations representing 250,000 citizens supports removing education tax from all property. Keystone Agricultural Producers' President Doug Chorney outlines the issues in his
column running this month in rural newspapers, the Winnipeg Free Press and in the
letspayfair video taken from his farm in East Selkirk.

If you find yourself in a bind looking for an apartment, your best bets are in Windsor, Kelowna/ Abbotsford, and Charlottetown who currently have the highest vacancy rates at 9.4%, 6.6%, and 4.9% respectively.

Concurrently, the average monthly rent crept up $14 in the past year. The highest rent rates belonged in Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa-Gatineau, Calgary, Edmonton, and Victoria at $1181, $1124, $1056, $1040, $1029, and $1024 respectively. Vancouver rates pushed as high as $10,000 a month.

Those of you in those urban hubs listed with rents that are bleeding you dry might want to consider moving to Saguenay, Trois-Rivieres, and Sherbrooke (all in Quebec) with average rents ranging from $542 to $577.

The national average, factoring in the country’s 35 major centers and factoring out the newly built, higher priced buildings, rose 2.2% in the past year.

Read the full article here.