Canadian Taxpayers Federation marks Ontario debt hitting $300 billion

spaminator

spaminator

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Canadian Taxpayers Federation marks Ontario debt hitting $300 billion
By Maryam Shah, Toronto Sun
First posted: Monday, July 25, 2016 08:28 PM EDT | Updated: Monday, July 25, 2016 09:09 PM EDT
A horse trailer, a stadium clock, and some math.
That’s what the Canadian Taxpayers Federation used to send a flashy message to Queen’s Park about the province’s debt, which by their calculations reached $300 billion at approximately 10:34 a.m. Monday.
CTF’s Ontario director Christine Van Geyn said the debt clock on wheels was made largely with the help of their supporters.
“The reason we built an enormous clock is because we realize debt can be invisible,” she said. “But it really isn’t invisible. You can see it in resources that are being cut, you can see it in our infrastructure that’s falling apart because we don’t have the money to spend on priorities, we’re spending it on debt interest.”
The CTF built the clock by cutting out a side panel in a horse trailer, then installing a stadium clock made in London, Ont. and programmed to show the province’s climbing debt instead of game scores.
Toronto resident Shemina Keshvani said she and her family came down to see the clock reach $300 billion.
“It’s completely irresponsible,” she said. “The Ontario government is clearly not in tune with what’s reasonable.”
Last week, Ontario’s financial accountability officer warned that the province’s debt is on pace to rise by $50 billion over the next four years.
A statement from the finance minister’s office said the government remains “firmly committed” to eliminating the deficit by 2017-18.
mshah@postmedia.com
Christine Van Geyn, Ontario director of Canadian Taxpayers Federation, looks on as the provincial debt clock turns over the $300 billion mark at Queen's Park in Toronto on Monday, July 25, 2016. (Dave Thomas/Toronto Sun)

Canadian Taxpayers Federation marks Ontario debt hitting $300 billion | Ontario
 
mentalfloss

mentalfloss

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Let me tell you guys how much my life has changed because of this.....
 
Jinentonix

Jinentonix

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mentalfloss said:
Let me tell you guys how much my life has changed because of this.....
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Yeah yeah, but you sure got your 'nads all pumped when you posted that the Libtards claimed they would eliminate the deficit by 2017-18.

So to summarize, you'll cheerlead pretty much any Liberal bullsh*t claim, but when it's bad news, you're like "Meh, it doesn't matter".
You kind of remind me of Obelix from the Asterix comics. Obelix isn't allowed to have any of the druid's magic potion that gives the Gauls superhuman strength because he fell into the cauldron as a baby and it had a permanent effect. Just like I don't believe you drink the kool-aid, but that you fell into the pitcher as a baby and you've been stumbling through life as an ideologically blind idiot ever since.
 
Angstrom

Angstrom

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spaminator said:
Canadian Taxpayers Federation marks Ontario debt hitting $300 billion
By Maryam Shah, Toronto Sun
First posted: Monday, July 25, 2016 08:28 PM EDT | Updated: Monday, July 25, 2016 09:09 PM EDT
A horse trailer, a stadium clock, and some math.
That’s what the Canadian Taxpayers Federation used to send a flashy message to Queen’s Park about the province’s debt, which by their calculations reached $300 billion at approximately 10:34 a.m. Monday.
CTF’s Ontario director Christine Van Geyn said the debt clock on wheels was made largely with the help of their supporters.
“The reason we built an enormous clock is because we realize debt can be invisible,” she said. “But it really isn’t invisible. You can see it in resources that are being cut, you can see it in our infrastructure that’s falling apart because we don’t have the money to spend on priorities, we’re spending it on debt interest.”
The CTF built the clock by cutting out a side panel in a horse trailer, then installing a stadium clock made in London, Ont. and programmed to show the province’s climbing debt instead of game scores.
Toronto resident Shemina Keshvani said she and her family came down to see the clock reach $300 billion.
“It’s completely irresponsible,” she said. “The Ontario government is clearly not in tune with what’s reasonable.”
Last week, Ontario’s financial accountability officer warned that the province’s debt is on pace to rise by $50 billion over the next four years.
A statement from the finance minister’s office said the government remains “firmly committed” to eliminating the deficit by 2017-18.
mshah@postmedia.com
Christine Van Geyn, Ontario director of Canadian Taxpayers Federation, looks on as the provincial debt clock turns over the $300 billion mark at Queen's Park in Toronto on Monday, July 25, 2016. (Dave Thomas/Toronto Sun)

Canadian Taxpayers Federation marks Ontario debt hitting $300 billion | Ontario
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Congratulations!!!!!
 
spaminator

spaminator

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Ontario's $300 billion in debt explained

By Christina Blizzard, Queen's Park Columnist
First posted: Saturday, July 30, 2016 07:23 PM EDT | Updated: Saturday, July 30, 2016 10:08 PM EDT
The numbers are jaw-dropping — and they keep getting worse.
In a recent report, Financial Accountability Officer Stephen LeClair said Ontario’s net debt will reach $350 billion by 2020-21. He warned this province’s debt burden is one of the highest among Canada’s provincial governments and an interest rate hike could put its credit and “fiscal flexibility” at risk.
This province has the largest sub-national debt of any jurisdiction in the developed world. With a population a third of California’s, our debt load is double that of the biggest U.S. state. LeClair’s worried the province’s 12-year, $160-billion capital spending spree is driving us further into the red.
In his annual report last week, LeClair raised another troubling issue - and it’s one we hear frequently from independent officers of the Legislature — from the auditor to the Ombudsman.
He’s stonewalled when it comes to gaining access to the information he needs to make his assessments.
He reported he’s made six freedom of information requests. Four of these requests have been partially fulfilled and two have not been fulfilled.
“The FAO especially needs internal government information to examine the financial impact of a particular government bill or policy measure announced in the budget,” he said in his report.
Once upon the time, the numbers would have set off alarm bells. Voters would have risen up with pitchforks to toss out any government that treated their tax dollars with such contempt.
Debt and government spending were once issues voters cared passionately about. Not so any more.
Is that because we’ve all maxed out our credit cards, our lines of credit and are mortgaged to the hilt and just don’t care any more?
Or is it simply that we don’t understand the math?
Could it be we don’t know the difference between $1 billion and $1 million?
Isn’t that “b” just a typo?
I asked University of Toronto Math Professor Emeritus Peter Rosenthal to put the numbers into a context people who are math challenged — as I am — can understand.
His response was fascinating — and humourous.
• “A million is a thousand times a thousand. For example, if a television costs $1,000, you could buy 1,000 televisions for a million dollars.
• “A billion is a thousand times a million. Therefore a military expenditure of a billion dollars for fighter jets could instead buy a million television sets at a thousand dollars each, or could instead buy a thousand houses at a million dollars each.”
So what does that mean on a per-person basis?
Well, if you spread this province’s debt across the entire country, here’s what every person would owe:
• “If you round Canada’s population down a bit to 30 million (it’s really more like 35 million), $300 billion would be $10,000 for each person in Canada.
“(If you want a more accurate figure, using the population of Canada as 35 million, then $300 billion would be about $8,571.43 per person.)” he said.
Using the same TV set math:
• “You could buy 300 million television sets for $300 billion if the TVs were a thousand dollars each,”
And spread over only the population of this province:
• “The $300 billion debt is about $20,000 for each of Ontario’s approximately 13.6 million people. Thus $300 billion could buy every Ontario resident about 22 TVs at $1,000 each.
“But there is so little worth watching on TV!” Rosenthal concluded.
Isn’t that the truth?
Just think of his math lesson as a healthy dose of reality TV.
cblizzard@postmedia.com
Ontario's $300 billion in debt explained | Blizzard | Ontario | News | Toronto S
 
petros

petros

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“The $300 billion debt is about $20,000 for each of Ontario’s approximately 13.6 million people. Thus $300 billion could buy every Ontario resident about 22 TVs at $1,000 each
Click to expand...
With or without eco fees?
 
C

Curious Cdn

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With a little luck, I will die before the tab cones due.

Sorry, kids!

We had fun with it, though!
 
Angstrom

Angstrom

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Curious Cdn said:
With a little luck, I will die before the tab cones due.
Sorry, kids!
We had fun with it, though!
Click to expand...

Thanks guys, we really love what you did with the most expensive electrical grid in North America. The part we love best is that it uses the most fossil fuel in North America. Very nice touch

Hopefully I'll have pushed our debt passed our federal debt for my kids by the time I'm almost dead. :lol:

I have a hard time buying a house now, but I'll have 3 when the baby boomers finally all die. Bunch of greedy bastards :lol:

Best thing to happen to earth in a long time when them boomers finally go :roll:
 
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