Feds begin move to tighten up retirement

Earlier this week, the federal government made the smart move of abolishing mandatory retirement for employees in federally regulated industries/organizations. Where the employer had been able to force people to retire at 65 or even 60 in some cases, they have now lost that power. With people living longer, healthier lives, and with 1/3 of Canadians aged 55+ still having at least 16 years of mortgage payments left owing, the idea of freedom at 65 will not be attainable or realistic for many. For those reasons alone, this is a good move by the Feds, ignoring the discrimination of forcing people to leave their jobs when they reach an arbitrary "expiration date," regardless of their abilities.

There's been talk that this is the beginning of a tightening of retirement rules to being to deal with the coming Boomer surge and the pressure it will put on our public retirement schemes. If this is true, it's great news. Our pension plans are in good shape now, but without tweaking, they will be in the same mess as much of the rest of the world's. I hope the government continues down this path and investigates increasing the age you receive Old Age Security and CPP from 65 to at least 66 or even 67 and instituting means testing for OAS. Taking steps like these may be just what's needed to ensure there is something left of these cornerstone programs for the next generation.

Green Leader Highlights Pointlessness of Kyoto

This morning Elizabeth May, Leader of the Green Party of Canada, underscored the pointlessness of the Kyoto agreement in what I'm sure was meant to be a passionate defense of its ideals.

Speaking on CKNW, May lambasted the federal government for its recent announcement that it was pulling out of the Kyoto agreement, nearly 15 years after it ratified the agreement. When asked about the Tories' claims that staying in Kyoto would cost Canada more than $14 billion, May scoffed, explaining that this would only be true if Canada tried to meet the targets of Kyoto by purchasing carbon credits from other countries, which nobody is forcing us to do. In the very next breath, however, May admitted that the only way to reach Kyoto's targets for emission reductions would be to purchase these very credits, which she expected
would cost "much more than $14 billion."

But the mask really slipped when May insisted that it would have cost Canada nothing to simply stay in Kyoto and not try to achieve the targets. What leadership! What courage! Why couldn't Canada just agree to feel-good international agreements and then pay only lip-service to them like the good ol' days? That's the Canada that Elizabeth May and the Left want, not this principled, responsible and conservative approach we have now.

Tories Score Another Win with Burqa Ban

Yesterday, Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney announced that starting immediately, no one would be allowed to wear any face coverings while taking the oath of citizenship and pledging allegiance to Queen Elizabeth II. While some media outlets tried to play up the "controversial" nature of the law, Muslim Canadian groups paraded out, one after another to support the move and people across the country could hear their fellow Canadians nodding their heads in approval. Fundamental Islamic face coverings like burqas and niqabs are fundamentally oppressive and run counter to both the Western and Christian traditions and beliefs which have formed the basis of this country and the government's new policy is a smart move.

With this sudden announcement, the government tossed conservatives like me another hunk of red meat and notched another victory in the win column of the growing list of conservative accomplishments. It's impressive the scope of conservative changes this government has made in half a year: putting the "royal" back in the navy and air force, killing the gun registry, killing the wheat board, pulling out of Kyoto, passing the crime bill, expanding the number of Commons seats in the West, challenging Insite injection site, and the list goes on. With nearly years left in the Conservatives mandate, I'm looking forward to seeing how else this government will move the country away from the long, stale Liberal agenda that has defined it for years.

Edmonton or San Fran?

I spend a good deal of time reading Garth Turner's Greater Fool
blog where he has been sounding the alarm about Canada's unsustainable real
estate market. Recently, he compared what you could snap up for $600,000 in
Edmonton versus San Francisco and like all the stats surrounding Canadian real
estate, it makes you shake your head:

In Edmonton, six hundred buys a 1950s house that four years ago sold for less than $400,000. It’s a 1,400-square foot bung with all the curb appeal of a utility substation, a cheap suite downstairs and a jet tub imported from a garage sale.

In San Francisco, six hundred buys a house that was worth $866,000 at the end of 2007. It’s about the same size, and is now priced $25,000 less than it sold for in 2004. Built in 1928, it is a classic west coast villa, walking distance from Golden Gate Park. Kitchen to die for.

So, one home has risen in value by half, the other dropped by a third. One’s in a regional market dependent on volatile resource prices. The other’s in a hive tied to intellectual entrepreneurship. But in Edmonton you get a pine tree. Americans are total idiots without a clue how to value property and opportunity. After all, it couldn’t be us.

End Occupy Now

Only Vancouver's uber-liberal Mayor (as Bill O'Reilly calls him) Gregor Robertson could waste an opportunity like this. As if Occupy Vancouver's tents, permanent structures and open drug use wasn't enough reason to shut the protest down, there has also been an overdose, a death (!) and now Vancouver police officers are being bit by the protesters. It's time to end Occupy Vancouver now. Mayor Robertson should have had the place shut down the day after the woman was found dead in her tent. What better reasoning to end this than when people start to die?

Instead, the Mayor dithered and stalled, allowing the protesters to become more belligerent and entrenched, to the point that they claim to not recognize the city's authority and even declaring their own sovereignty. Vancouver's civic politicians need to find their backbone and shut this thing down. If the Occupy Vancouver sit-in doesn't recognize the government's authority, it's about time Vancouver shows them, up close and personal, who really runs the City.