Today’s NDP - Six Years Too Late

Last weekend, The Winnipeg Sun had an “informational” ad from the government about the Province’s increased infrastructure expenditures. When I moved back home from Toronto in 2000 I was astounded at the realization that my daily commute of 17 kilometres along Route 90 often took LONGER than my previous daily 35 kilometre commute from Toronto to Mississauga along Canada’s busiest highway, the 401.

While Gary Doer was in Texas back then trying to sell Winnipeg as a transport hub, he was simultaneously telling the citizens of Winnipeg that the Kenaston underpass was “not a strategic priority.” I present to you a Letter to the Editor that I sent to both daily papers six years ago. After six long years, apparently infrastructure is FINALLY a strategic priority for the NDP. Although we did get catchy billboards saying “Train make you late? Thank Gary for the wait!” from the Tories of the time to help add some levity to Doer et al’s oversights.

Keep in mind Constant Reader (the Hack should know who I borrowed this moniker from) that my musings on NDP fiscal management were BEFORE the floodway cost overruns, pension electioneering and the Crocus fiasco. Looking back, my rhetoric was decidedly heated. Waiting at countless train crossings (my record was three LONG trains in one day!) has a tendency of doing that to someone.

Thanks for the infrastructure ad complete with resplendent bar graphs, Premier Doer. If your government truly thought Manitoba Means Business, you would have addressed many of our critical infrastructure deficiencies earlier in the course of your administrative tenure. Everything you said and did for your past two terms is a signal to voters about what truly is and ISN’T important to you and your party. The election goodies coming on April 4, 2007 coupled with the recent glut of public advertising won’t change that fact…



Without further ado let me take you back to a time that shows exactly how serious the NDP is about infrastructure:


February 24, 2001


The provincial NDP government has once again proven their ineptitude in the management of the Province of Manitoba’s affairs in their stance on the proposed Kenaston St. bridge. One of the City’s precious few North-South arteries remains clogged and Gary Doer will have nothing to do with the possible alleviation of this problem. This is a shameful lack of support for a city that is trying to position itself as a major transportation hub in the eyes of the global marketplace.

The proposed infrastructure improvement is more than just a convenience to the citizens of Linden Woods and Whyte Ridge, two communities not known as staunch NDP supporters in the first place. Manitoba is home to and the head office of many trucking companies. While their trucks remain stopped at the Kenaston rail crossing burning the gasoline that fills the provincial coffers with tax revenue, Premier Doer refuses to support one of the few industries that has elected to retain their vital presence in the province.

The NDP government has proven frivolous and petulant with the province’s purse strings. While they refuse to have intelligent discourse to help an already beleaguered trucking industry, they pander to their usual special interest groups. Throwing all the money in the world into health care and downtown Winnipeg will not solve the underlying systemic problems of these two issues. It only scores the NDP brownie points with some of their constituents. Unfortunately, these political points come at the expense of making Winnipeg a more efficient place to do business.

Winnipeg once had the proud moniker of “Chicago of the North,” complete with all the promise inherent in that comparison. In the early part of the 20th century, industry and people flourished. The NDP government seems determined to move us as far from this part of our past as possible. If they continue to pander to special interest groups instead of nurturing the infrastructure for industries that add jobs and relevance to our City’s business community, Winnipeg is sure to be relegated to nothing more than a backwater community while cities such as Calgary continue to profit at our expense. Is this how Mr. Doer would have himself written into the annals of provincial history?

Conversely, I feel Mayor Glen Murray deserves to be lauded for his attempts to find solutions to this critical infrastructure weakness. It is my belief that the civic history books will depict him as an individual who strove to make this City a better place to be for both people and industry even if people did not agree with him 100% of the time.


Name Withheld
Winnipeg, Manitoba

The Peter Bjornson Principle, Part II

Everyone’s favourite Education Minister is at it again. From CJOB:

The Doer government has decided to borrow 1.5 billion dollars to pay down the liability of teacher's pensions.
The province is taking out the loan to cover off 75-percent of the outstanding amount of the teacher's retirement fund.
Education Minister Peter Bjornson tells CJOB, the move will have no impact on Manitoba's net summary debt because the fund has been a liability on the books.The province says it is also looking at a similar solution to deal with civil servants' pension liability.

No impact on net summary debt? Then no harm done, right? Our esteemed Minister conveniently ignores the interest payments that would now have to be made on these bonds. Let’s use a rate of 4.62% for the bond that Today’s NDP would have to issue to honour their promise. Annual interest payments would be 69.3 MILLION DOLLARS. How many schools a year would you be able to build for that money?

Remember dear reader that a pension liability is usually a commitment to pay someone IN THE FUTURE. It is NOT necessarily cash that must be fronted right away. As such, there is no pressing financial need to borrow money to pay into the pension plan, only a political one. If Mr. Bjornson were instead to give the $69.3 MILLION directly to the teachers instead of lining the pockets of bondholders and they were able to earn a 4.62% return on the money, this would translate into $4.315 BILLION DOLLARS for teachers at the end of 30 years.

But then again, that’s not so much of a pre-election goodie, right Peter? Today’s NDP continues to spend away the legacy we are trying to leave our children. Do you appreciate their willingness to pay $69.3 MILLION in interest PER YEAR in their efforts to curry political favour?

007% in The Politician Who Loved Me and Left Me

Our latest Agent 007% adventure has our suave and debonair man of intrigue wooing the sultry Ollie Weste with promises of economic development incentives. When an angry contingent sets out to eradicate Ms. Weste, our hero decides to save his own bacon by leaving her to her own devices. With quick thinking worthy of any double agent, 007% uses a well timed hog plant moratorium bomb to escape the dangerous predicament of vocal public opinion. Stealthy maneuvers with the Clean Environment Commission (CEC) further ensure our hero’s survival, to the detriment of the public interest.

When not involved in action adventures, our premier can be seen in such heartwearming stories such as Mr. Doer Goes to Washington (while his costar Greg Selinger stars in the Crocus-inspired version of “Heat”), Mr. Doer Goes to Texas and everyone’s favorite, Mr. Doer Meets the Terminator. The worthy effort of a trade mission is all for naught if the only signals the NDP are sending to the business community is an unwillingness to make a public inquiry into Crocus (the only way to restore faith in our capital markets), the forced unionization of Floodway workers and playing shell games with firms such as OlyWest that are willing to put millions of dollars into our economy and hire many Manitobans.

Hugh McFadyen recently expressed his desire to move the OlyWest plant out of Winnipeg. As most readers may know, my family business was ready to undertake heavy litigation on the OlyWest issue. After all, we had hundreds of thousands of square feet invested in the St. Boniface Industrial Park, making us one of the project’s largest stakeholders. Our concerns were expressed to OlyWest and they agreed to move the inbound traffic (containing live hogs) further south, away from the residential and industrial park areas. We also went to great lengths to seek out the opinions of impartial third parties. It would have been much easier to dig our heels in and continue to be part of the “No” contingent. We took it upon ourselves to look at the issue from the view of the community at large instead of from the perspective of our own self interest.

I still offer qualified support for the OlyWest project being located in Winnipeg. Many tough questions should continue to be asked of the project. If Doer would stop playing games with the CEC, perhaps we could have enough faith in our regulatory systems to answer them. While I may not share Hugh’s opinions on this matter, were I to become MLA for Seine River, I am sure he would offer me the courtesy of letting me articulate my beliefs on this or any other issue which may not strictly follow the party line. The efficient and respectful flow of ideas is the cornerstone of any successful organization, be it a company, family, governmental agency or political party. I wonder if Today’s NDP is equally receptive to differing ideas within their own party. The unwillingness of ANYONE within the NDP to speak up for ALL Manitobans on Crocus seems to suggest otherwise, much to the detriment of anyone holding Crocus shares, RRSPs, pensions or any other financial instrument…

A Toast to Manitoba

The MLCC has an ad in today’s Winnipeg Free Press touting Manitoba-made beverages. I for one think it is a great idea. If we are to have our liquor sales run by a provincial agency, part of their mandate should be to actively promote locally produced items. There are many great beverages made right in our own backyard that deserve to be proudly displayed and recognized in the Liquor Marts.

So as we raise a glass or two over the next few months, let’s support some of our local entrepreneurs at the same time. Our economy will thank you for it…

007% in Gold-digger

Our latest Agent 007% adventure has our intrepid hero using his team at MI6 headquarters on Broadway to crunch the “numbers to see how many of the federal promises for Manitoba equal new money.”

This is a most unfortunate turn for the Bond series. A proud province has been relegated to pandering for federal goodies as a fundamental pillar of our economic development strategy. I wish MI6 Broadway spent as much time concerned about how Manitobans could get a leg up without worrying about having their hands out. Barring that, perhaps they could be equally as aggressive in remedying the Crocus fiasco as they are on haranguing Mr. Harper.

The Bond series always had its fair share of ups and downs. Perhaps the upcoming Conservative Royale will reinvigorate the franchise…

?

As I was driving home tonight from seeing the movie 300, I was pondering that as ugly as politics might get nowadays, it was infinitely worse many years ago. While I acknowledge that the movie is a highly fictionalized rendition of actual events, there can be no denying that generations past paid a much dearer price for their political convictions than the odd jab from another party, columnist or blogger.

Upon arriving home, Mrs. P&UW informed me that I received an e-mail that had to be read IMMEDIATELY. She was so moved by its contents that she almost responded on her own. Without divulging the identity of the writer, it is enough to say that I am not the only one in Winnipeg concerned about the bearing our actions are having on future generations.

Whatever happened to Chicago of the North? Our can-do attitude of the early 20^th century that ushered in a period of prosperity has been replaced with a reluctant acceptance of mediocrity and even decline. If our population growth or economic indicators lag behind the national average, we shrug it off and accept the NDP’s dismissal of the data. I have already shown how marginal differences make a BIG difference over time. We nonetheless resign ourselves that political promises were made to be broken. When a scandal as serious as Crocus comes around, we simply deem it to be business as usual.

My grandparents on both my mother and father’s side came to Canada to escape oppressive regimes. My maternal grandmother worked three jobs at once. Did she do it for herself? Her modest existence would suggest otherwise. Every other Manitoban has someone in a previous generation that made greater sacrifices than we ever will. Is it too much to ask of ourselves to rid ourselves of the apathy that seems to have gripped our collective consciousness? Lest we be judged by the generations that preceded us and do irreparable harm to the ones that follow, I hope not.

There is no snappy title for this entry – I hope you don’t mind.

?

As I was driving home tonight from seeing the movie 300, I was pondering that as ugly as politics might get nowadays, it was infinitely worse many years ago. While I acknowledge that the movie is a highly fictionalized rendition of actual events, there can be no denying that generations past paid a much dearer price for their political convictions than the odd jab from another party, columnist or blogger.

Upon arriving home, Mrs. P&UW informed me that I received an e-mail that had to be read IMMEDIATELY. She was so moved by its contents that she almost responded on her own. Without divulging the identity of the writer, it is enough to say that I am not the only one in Winnipeg concerned about the bearing our actions are having on future generations.

Whatever happened to Chicago of the North? Our can-do attitude of the early 20^th century that ushered in a period of prosperity has been replaced with a reluctant acceptance of mediocrity and even decline. If our population growth or economic indicators lag behind the national average, we shrug it off and accept the NDP’s dismissal of the data. I have already shown how marginal differences make a BIG difference over time. We nonetheless resign ourselves that political promises were made to be broken. When a scandal as serious as Crocus comes around, we simply deem it to be business as usual.

My grandparents on both my mother and father’s side came to Canada to escape oppressive regimes. My maternal grandmother worked three jobs at once. Did she do it for herself? Her modest existence would suggest otherwise. Every Manitoban has someone in a previous generation that made greater sacrifices than we ever will. Is it too much to ask of ourselves to rid ourselves of the apathy that seems to have gripped our collective consciousness? Lest we be judged by the generations that preceded us and do irreparable harm to the ones that follow, I hope not.

There is no snappy title for this entry – I hope you don’t mind.

The Peter Bjornson Principle

In today’s Free Press, Education Minister Peter Bjornson's “staff gave school boards verbal orders last Friday to keep surpluses to four per cent of revenues or less, or else face having education property taxes capped at 3.3 per cent -- the same amount by which Bjornson has increased the province's share of education funding.“

A paltry 3.3% increase is fair to taxpayers and school divisions, right? Let’s look at the mathematics first before we answer this question.

Assume an individual is earning $50,000 gross income and that the educational component of his/her property tax bill is $1,500. This person’s wage increases are indexed to inflation so their purchasing power follows the Consumer Price Index. The CPI will be assumed to be 1.4%, the average of 1.2% for January, 2007 and 1.6% for December, 2006.

Right now, the education component of the property tax bill is 3% of gross income. Next year, this number goes to 3.06% of income. No big deal, right? WRONG. In 100 years, the education portion of the property tax bill becomes 19.2% of our poor taxpayer’s GROSS income. 1/5 of their income must be allocated to pay ONE FORM OF TAX. How much is left for income taxes, EI, CPP, mortgage, food, car or gas payments?

Is a 100 year time horizon too far away to worry about? Our grandchildren might beg to differ. While Today’s NDP might not be concerned about how their actions affect our collective future, perhaps we should be worrying for them…

Dada Wook

Our family business has signs throughout Winnipeg. Whenever we drive by one, my oldest son points excitedly and exclaims “DADA WOOK!”. The business my father worked so hard to build has had an indelible effect on four generations.

As the business was in the process of being sold, I found myself pondering what to do with the rest of my life. Our actions and achievements echo through the generations that follow us. It is our sincere hope to leave each successive generation a little better off than the previous one.

This blog was started as my attempt to voice opinions and concerns that had previously gone unspoken. It gave me the opportunity to engage in banter with like-minded individuals and polar opposites. I relished both with unbridled exuberance. Now that I am at a crossroads, I find myself in a position to indulge a passion that I never thought I would be able to explore.

My name is Steven Andjelic and I am seeking the nomination to represent the PC Party of Manitoba in Seine River. I hope that one day in the not too distant future, my son will look at the Legislative Building and proclaim with the same amount of pride “DADA WOOK.”

007% - Ridiculing Her Majesty’s Official Opposition

The latest 007% adventure has our intrepid hero addressing all of our concerns about Crocus by calling Hugh McFadyen an ‘inexperienced amateur.’

The USA has been working diligently to enhance investor faith in the capital markets via legislation such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Contrast that with our own capital market champions, the NDP, who have the audacity to tell current and prospective capital market participants that their OWN board appointee kept the provincial government in the dark on Crocus.

As an international man of mystery, surely Agent 007% knows that pension and investment money is just as mobile as he is. With the relaxing of foreign content rules in Canadian RRSP’s, this is truer now more than ever. Are you going to put YOUR money where people have your back (USA’s SEC) or where people are covering their backsides (Today’s NDP)?

Blunderball

The NDP accumulated quite a track record over their past two terms in office. Notable achievements include the Hydra House scandal, the unauthorized Seven Oaks School Division development, the Floodway cost overruns, an unfulfilled promise to end hallway medicine in six months, and of course the topic du jour, Crocus.

Agent 007%’s role in Blunderball is 7 years (and counting) in the making. If a company were to spend all of this money on social, economic & infrastructure initiatives only to have little or nothing to show for it, its efforts would be rewarded with a credit downgrade. Given record provincial expenditures with the above-noted results, is a provincial downgrade coming in a few years?

I could just see Gary introducing himself to analysts if he wins another term:

Bond.

Junk Bond.

The Information Asymmetry Age?

If you have not heard of the term Information Asymmetry, I would like to introduce it to you:

In economics, information asymmetry occurs when one party to a transaction has more or better information than the other party. (It has also been called asymmetrical information). Typically it is the seller that knows more about the product than the buyer, however, it is possible for the reverse to be true: for the buyer to know more than the seller.

Jim Cotton has already touched on one of the issues information asymmetry raises. I would like to go one step further and ask if ANY Crocus insiders acted on the information they had about the fund’s poor performance. I am not accusing anyone in particular of profiting from an opportune dumping of shares prior to the public being aware of the many problems facing Crocus. However, insider activity prior to the fund’s decline it is one of the matters that a public inquiry should address.

I know of at least 30,000 people that deserve to know if we should have faith in the integrity of our capital markets. If anyone has called said integrity into question they merit the appropriate sanctions.

The Life of Brian

When this blog was started out quite a few months ago, a cluster of us came to be known as the “Baby Bloggers”. Inspired by the likes of The Black Rod and Hacks and Wonks, we decided to try to add our voices to the political, economic and social banter happening on the local scene. With the advent of a new crop of bloggers, it seems we noobs of yesterday are moving into the adolescent phase. One brand new blogger in particular, Brian of Just Damn Stupid seems to be lighting up the comments section over at The Andy Fletcher Show.

Brian seems to make some interesting points in favour of the NDP status quo. Let’s check some of his assertions:

12). Greg Selinger has delivered seven consecutive balanced budgets, with tax breaks.

These budgets were balanced in part due to raids on Manitoba Hydro and thanks to transfer payment windfalls from the federal government. If a young family solves their spending problems by taking money from their children AND their parents to pay their bills, they can lay no claim to being fiscally responsible. Neither can the NDP.

2) Venture Capital Funds do not always make money. They are “risk” investments. Investors are made aware of this when they purchase shares.

Brian, I agree 100%. However, the fact that Crocus had a holding period of 7 years is an important consideration vis-à-vis a prospective purchaser’s investment strategy. As such, why would it make sense for some pensioners to invest in a high risk, long term instrument with a generous tax deduction as its most compelling feature? Crocus would ordinarily be best suited OUTSIDE of a pension context, unless it formed a small percentage in the pension portfolio as “risk capital”. The issue of whether or not TRAF was embroiled with Crocus representatives in the name of a sincere effort at portfolio diversification and not merely for political purposes is also one of the questions a public inquiry into Crocus should answer. While investors should ACCEPT the risky nature of Crocus, no one should be expected to tolerate the antics of the NDP in the mismanagement of the Crocus file.

My favourite part reads as follows:

Gary. My house is actually worth something today. I can get into the hospital, not just the hallway. I can find a job. I’m paying less in taxes. I'm getting another Autopac rebate. We have a new arena. We have cranes in downtown Winnipeg. We have Hydro and we have some hope. Go. Go now. Drop the writs and have at’em.

I have already explained the role of Agent 007%’s PST sleight-of-hand in adding to homeowner’s equity.

Getting into a hospital is great and thanks for the new plush chairs. How’s about getting us to an actual doctor or nurse instead?

The papers recently featured stats on Manitoba’s sluggish employment growth rate.

Which cranes in downtown Winnipeg are for PRIVATE SECTOR initiatives? The Manitoba Hydro building? The HSC building on William? Moving away from downtown, what about the floodway project that has experienced cost overruns to the point where the scope of same has been scaled back to the detriment of some future generation? I acknowledge the need for public sector expenditures. However, BOTH the public AND private sectors should be stoking our economic engine. The public sector going it alone is not a sustainable economic strategy.

Hydro, unlike the telecom industry is still a natural monopoly. Fearmongering about Hugh’s evil plan may play well to people clinging to a 19th century paradigm about the delivery of telecom services. The rest of us are not too worried. Perhaps there may be a time where the sale of Manitoba Hydro might make sense. That time is not now.

The NDP are great as the social conscience of our fair province. They are unfortunately far less adept as actual managers…