Did you know Calgary has its very own Eco Mentor? We pay them $76,094/year. No idea what they do but it sounds like a sweet gig if you can get it. Oh and when you get your property tax this week and it’s much more than last year, sleep well knowing we have an “Eco Mentor”
There’s also a Cycling coordinator, Walking coordinator, and Liveable Streets Manager on the payroll.
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This sort of thing has led me to a few conclusions.
Who does the “you need experience in government to run for office” meme benefit? How has it worked out for you personally? How has electing Donald Trump worked out for the USA, as opposed to the fossil of bureaucratic sclerosis?
Who benefits from the complexity of the tax system? Is it you?
Who benefits from the complexity of the legal system? Is it you?
Everyone who has ever been employed by government in any capacity, why do you still believe them when they say they want to help? That they care about you?
There needs to be a bloodbath in the civil service. Massive firings. Pensions gone. Right to vote gone. Unions gone. Union assets gone. Take back every single thing the people who have either stood by and let this happen, or who helped bring it about. Just following orders didn’t work for the guards at Dachau; why should it work for the people at Calgary City Hall?
Because if government is for your benefit, why haven’t you benefitted personally? Why haven’t you even just been left alone? You are hounded by government in your bedroom, in your kitchen, in your car, on your dick (I prefer the New Zealand pronunciation for deck), in your house of worship, in your thoughts, …
The entire idea of “career civil servant” needs to go down the memory hole.
It is to the point, where anyone who has ever held an elected office before, needs to be viewed with suspicion. Every election, you need to be trying to put a bomb in their China shop (not just a bull).
School board. City hall. Condo association. MLA, MP; BOMB THE CHINA SHOP EVERY CHANCE YOU GET. Never allow another full pension to vest in another politician; because who has that political tenure system benefitted? Is it you?
A maxim to remember: The government serves no one, but itself. Civil servants are, by in large, neither civil nor servile and have forgotten their place.
I know someone who works for the Federal government. Honestly it’s a pretty rotten place to work. The government doesn’t treat their own employees well unless they’re on the top end of the food chain such as a Deputy Minister or something. My friend has told me since the Liberals came to power it has got substantially worse.
I worked as a part timer on a university campus food and catering service for 3 years washing dishes in my past. It was a decent job with better money than one could make in the private sector doing the same thing (at $3.25 per hour under CUPE). Not glorious by any means, but sufficient.
So here is my union job story. I had worked my first 3.5 hour, Thursday night shift. Saturday morning, I received a call from the local union representative telling me that the union had voted to strike (I, needless to say, did not get a vote in this action), and asking me to picket for them. I requested a call back in 15 minutes to have a moment to absorb the concept.
When the union rep called back, I asked what my options were if I decided not to picket. I was told that I could be written up and blacklisted by the union, essentially ending my employment with the university. I told them to take their best shot, and I was not going to picket for a job where I had yet to get my first pay cheque, and where I had yet to pay any union dues (which were, as I recall, about $10 per month or just under three hours of labor). For the record, nothing happened.
My second union job was with a telecommunications firm as a draftsman. I was promised advancement and when a new GIS computer system position opened up, as I had some background in computers, I applied for the leadership role and was told by my supervisor that I was the clear choice for the position. Then the union stepped in and not only did I not get the position, but I was not even allowed to work on the GIS system at all. Meanwhile, as the system was being brought up, the system (which was supposed to have 95% uptime) was down for 95% of the time. We had to take over their workload as for all of our fellow employees as they were not allowed to help us in their new positions and no new people were brought on to fill their slots. When the union went on strike, the upper levels of union management got another week of holidays, and I got an additional $.10 per hour. I quit about 6 months later, went back to school, finished my degree and have never worked for a union since and never will.
So yes, I understand that government unions are not anything to brag about. I also worked jobs where a union, in concept, could have given their workers a leg up (having been injured twice in 6 weeks at one job). But unions, like all socialist structures, only thrive through the apathy of their members and no one has to stay there or accept their regimes without question.
I know the guy who got hired by ACME video in Regina, agitated for the union, got ACME unionized, then ACME was out of business a few months later.
The local Field’s store was unionized and negotiations were deadlocked.
The company staked their position saying accept this offer by this date or we will close the store permanently.
Union reps said, “That’s just a bargaining tactic, stand your ground”.
The deadline came and the company started emptying out the building and hauling the stock away.
Dumb union employees kept right on picketing, said it was just a bargaining tactic!
They picketed the empty store, and then they picketed the new Zeller’s store that moved in, until Zellers got a court injunction to stop them.
Can’t get much dumber.
Kevin, couldn’t agree more. Don Braid has an outstanding piece in today’s (Thursday) Calgary Herald. He suggests, among other things, that Jason Kenney & Co. FIRE the entire Calgary City council and call for new elections. It’s been done before, with our school board. Maybe a petition would help get things started…
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chump change, my friends… just do it like a fed…
“The board’s goal now is to manage the growth of the backlog
rather than to reduce it, Chairperson of the Immigration and
Refugee Board Richard Wex told the committee.”
a billion here, a billion there… pretty soon you’re talkin’
real money.
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I’ve been crusading to see EACH & EVERY Public SERVICE UNION in the Country De-Certified. The Absolute root of ALL Leftist – Communist Evil garbage in our countries.
My tax bill went up 30 fkn % – just got it in the mail yesterday.
Am going to stop my TIPPS (tax installmet plan), and send them what I can afford which is 50% less than what I paid last year.
Since the Purple PO islmaic Shit got in as mayor,Naheed Nenshi, Caglarians have seen 3.5-5.5 % increases on a Yearly basis. And what did we get for all that largesse…??
SFA but an overpriced Public library, a bridge over the Bow that cost us some 40 Million, An Olympic bid NO ONE Wanted for some 25-30 Million, Expensive Non Canadian Garbage Art everywhere, roads in absolute terrible shape, $350,000 simply given to the Pembina Institute to trash our # 1 industry and now the mayor and 8 of his select buddies are going to Quebc to “promote our Oil n Gas Industry” no less.
Never any real CUTS in SPENDING…EVER.
Labour being the # 1 Line item in the Citys BUDGET.
One wonders how much baksheesh Nenshi and his legacy seeking cronies receive annually from CUPE…??
Re huge increases … My Calgary tax bill was $4787 for 2018 and just increased to $4854 …. hardly a huge increase and not 30% as the other poster said his bill increased.
I do agree with the wasting money comments. The Olympic bid was something I supported and only 56 % voted against holding the Olympics and so it was hardly something “no one wanted”.
I wonder about the alternate reality you live in …. is that in the northwest????
Any increase in taxes is theft. You sound like a POS Nenshi shill
You guys are funny …. I supply actual numbers which show a property tax increase of 1.4% vs the claimed 30% & then I provide the actual Olympic vote results of 56% against / 44% for vs the claim of “no one wanted” and I am a shill!!!
Wow … no actual facts are allowed in the discussion.
Stewart Pid…..your increase is your increase. Hardly relevant in the overall scheme of things. When you talk about “alternate reality”, you need to get out more.
Mine jumped the most ever, about $600 [+15%].
You gotta know Druh loves those types of job roles.
Next year I expect Unicorn crowd controller, Fairy dust sprinkler manager.
Soon to be followed by a number of strong-arm-arm-big-brother-curb-stomping-tax-collector; home-seizure-specialist roles.
Ours stayed essentially the same. However, we took a hard look at our assessment last year (all credit to the spouse, who can be anal but who is great on these things) and got a reduction because our “attached garage”, while attached to the back of the house, is not “attached” in the sense that one can walk from garage through a door to house.
Daughter, on other had, reports a major hike in assessment of her condo. In dollar terms, it’s not so bad; but the percentage is brutal. Given the condo market is seriously depressed, one wonders just what the assessors were ingesting while they made this assessment.
Am waiting for the fallout for the commercial tax increase for a client. Most people don’t realize that a commercial lease is not like a rental lease. I rent an apartment, I am given a lease for a given period, and have to pay the agreed-upon rent each month for that period. Given the circumstances, I might have to pay the utilities, but other issues (property taxes, common area upkeep, etc.) are the concern of my landlord.
Not so with commercial leases. One rents a commercial space ,at a price of so much per square foot, for a specified number of years – and generally it’s 10 years with another 5 year extension. However, over and above that basic square footage cost, the landlord reserves the right (and it’s all in the original lease agreement) to further bill the lessee for other costs associated with the building. You have a sign on their signpost – that’s a monthly cost. Various “outside” costs such as clearing sidewalks and ploughing out the parking lots – that’s a cost. And, in Calgary, the Business Tax cost will also be an add-on to the year-end reconciliation. Normally there is a reconciliation at year-end, but would not be surprised if – given Calgary’s brutal assault on commercial properties – said client gets a rather nasty adjustment mid-year.
When he was first elected, and I lived in Calgary, I just knew he was going to be trouble. For heaven’s sake, he was a professor at Mount Royal University and was living in Mummy and Daddy’s basement in his late 30’s. I moved in February 2014 to Regina, and have been surrounded by horseshoes (lots of good things have happened to me) since.
Kate;
Cowed Town, AKA, Calgirly.
It’s called the leftist University Graduate Full Employment Act. What else are you “qualified” to do with your “Environmental Studies” degree?
‘eco mentor’.
shouldn’t that be ‘echo mentor’ as in ‘echo chamber’?
where was the job posting? dang. I missed it.
gimme a couple months, some hormones and blackface and goddammit I will have that zhob.
speaking of zhobs and firings, I just got a mass mailing from end de pee hqts lamenting cuts in edjukashun incl teachers.
I told them how I had been brutalized for 6 1/2 yrs in grade school at the hands of teachers, so afaic it is long delayed karma.
in my ideal world, all the taxes stolen to prop up the status quo re public edjukashun would instead go to a PRIVATE but well accessible school system accountable to the PARENTS providing the ‘raw material’.
What are the odds that each of these people holding useless jobs is a relative of someone – either high up in the civil service or politician.
Government is highly overrated and all successful systems attract parasites. Once a government position becomes a full-time paid position the agenda of the incumbent completely changes from service and value added for the constituency to growing and maintaining the sinecure.
Calgary is broke. The city council squandered the assets and managed them to extinction. They and the mare are at fault.
Nauseating.
When I lived in Calgary, I my residential property taxes and condo fees increased far greater than the “official” inflation rate. Maybe closer to the “true” inflation rate. My salary during this same time period had “flatlined” and now has decreased. I made the decision to leave Calgary three years ago as my costs were not sustainable there. I’m glad I did … Calgary is going to run out of other peoples money at the rate at which the city is spending money. The downtown is empty and business my never repopulate the officer towers going forward as there are more cost efficient solutions to doing business rather than leasing expensive office space.
The traffic has been “calmned” and parking metered – makes moving around the city a chore.
And judging by my son’s math curriculum and grades – the school system needs a “tune up”.
They like to teach all of our kids poor math and thinking skills that way the population is easier to control and bend on whatever the global elites choose.
All home owners are renters by government taxation
“There is no valid reason why Alberta can’t separate!”
Gee, here I was thinking there were at least two: Calgary, Edmonton.
JM, perhaps it’s time to designate “City States” so each Province can get out from under the thumb of the biggest cities in each province whose agenda is usually different from and detrimental to most of the rest of the Province.
If we were remove Vancouver,Calgary,Edmonton, Toronto and maybe a few others,we would be free from their socialist machinations.
What we in the Rest of B.C. wouldn’t give to be out from under the influence of the Lower Mainland!
I think Albertistan is just another entry in the long line of imaginary utopias.
Narnia
Shangri-la
California
You articulate Calgarians should run for office and at least get a chance at calling out the incumbent Mayor and Councillors in a public forum. I was fortunate to have been involved as a municipal Councillor in a small town with about 3000 residents and we enjoyed a non unionized full time town staff of 8 and that was with a harbour and an airport and many volunteers. That’s about 10% of the staff of the City of Calgary as a percentage of population. And yet, the Agenda 21 / Wildlands project advocates want everyone to live in big cities and to depopulate the rural and wilderness landscapes.
Those who think Western Separatism / Independence is the answer should start with cleaning up their cities as I see no benefit in the electorate of Alberta’s cities being divorced from the ROC if their municipal leviathans are any indication of their political leanings.
Taxes and services in Foothills County…
No garbage pickup(dump fees start at $10.00),
no water meters( you are responsible for your own well & maintenance)
no recycle fees(do it your self),
no snow removal fees or snow routes on your private road(haven’t had to plow my road in 3 years),
no compost fees(get a couple of goats),
no shitty art,
no dedicated bike lanes,
no animal rights protests at rodeos( been tried and they go their asses handed to them).
We do have 4H for the kids, community breakfasts and county fairs,
very little noise(seeding is underway) and light pollution(always a new build lit up like Bellagio)
Neighbours are generally like minded and willing to lend a hand in any situation, you do the same for them.
What do I get for my tax contribution of
37% is school tax(provincial)
29%(public works, utilities)
20%(community services)
less than 5%(Administration)
9% (other)
I get the county road to my property graded twice a year,
snow plowed when needed(on a school bus route),
road maintenance
emergency services,
education for my neighbours kids,
and NO progressive meddling and pet project pushing.
That’s about it.
Sensible (for the most part) and less government at the county level.
The elected reps are neighbours, friends, farmers, ranchers…people with country attitudes and practicality.
The leftists and progressives tend to gravitate to the populated centers in the county along with their corresponding attitudes.
My average tax increase over the last 25 years is around $42.00 per year.
Municipal taxes are paid on residence plus 5 acres, and less than $2.00 per acre on farmland
School taxes are paid on all land.
Sorry but Alberta is 70% socialist by population. This is what happens when you have a strong oil & gas economy. Every blood sucker in the country moves there and votes for the socialist agenda. Give me more because I am a blood sucker. Look at Edmonton, almost 100% socialist. Calgary is not as bad, maybe 50% socialist. But those are the two largest population centers.
Alberta actually voted in a provincial party that hates the oil & gas industry. Let that sink in. It’s like letting someone in the house to kill your parents because they won’t increase your allowance. Sorry Alberta but you deserve to get it good and hard.
The people of Denmark are upset because 37% of their pay checks are eaten up by taxes. Wake up Canada. You are paying a lot more than that. I’m not because I have a great accountant. So I sit back and laugh at people in Alberta who think they have it better because they don’t pay any provincial sales tax. While $15 billion a year leaves Alberta and heads straight for Quebec.
They don’t care until they see torches and pitchforks.
Ottawa is building a new LIBRARY. Last cost guesstimate I saw was approaching 200 MILLION.
WTF!
Its a staggering amount to me but I am a Deplorable.
(Eco-mentor = euphemism for Knothole F**ker.)
It is a staggering amount—especially for a building that isn’t needed at all.
Any book worth reading is available online for nothing. If you need a paper copy of the Bible, any church will give you one. You want to read comic books or anti-capitalist tracts, save up your pennies and buy them yourself.
(Single mothers never seem to have money for books for their children. They always have plenty to spare for smokes, booze and manicures, though.)
A city government’s job is to enforce the laws and oblige riffraff to go beg, steal and raise Cain somewhere else. That’s it. Private enterprise is more than capable of doing the rest.
And on the other side of the knot hole is a knot hole sucker.
Calgary, isn’t that the only city in Alberta that sends Liberals to Ottawa?
Dear Al how many Liberals and NDP did shithole Ontario elect?
“If we were remove Vancouver,Calgary,Edmonton, Toronto and maybe a few others,we would be free from their socialist machinations.”
No doubt, but there is zero likelihood of that happening, Don Morris. There isn’t a provincial Premier or politician who would give that idea two seconds of thought, let alone promote it.
And besides, rural and small-town Canada (and that certainly includes rural Alberta) has demonstrated an unbelievable capacity to endure every bit of legislative tyranny churned out by these urban tumors. So it’s not like there will ever be any real demand from the hinterlands.
Canadians like it in the Keester. Canadians are INMATES of the PENAL COLONY known as Canada.
Large scale firing of government workers and cuts to welfare programs would cement several more terms of UCP as all the NDP voters would be forced to leave the province. Push the commies into Quebec. Start cleaning this province up while we have the broom.
Just saying.
(•_•) $400